#7 San Francisco

Completed marathon #7 of the 12in12in12 in San Francisco this weekend, and it was memorable.  I must say, I knew going into this challenge, that it would be an experience, but honestly I wasn't really sure what to expect.  And a lot has happened so far, including arriving in Myrtle Beach 4 hours before the marathon after driving all night, and running in jeans for two of the marathons.  But this weekend may have topped it all for one reason: DEAN!

For a while now I have followed the ultrarunning adventures of Dean Karnazes, and to say he is amazing, just is the understatement of the millennium!  I can't list all of his accomplishments, they are things you wouldn't even believe.  And his story about how he became the ultimate ultrarunner is incredible. You have to read about him for yourself, here's his website: http://www.ultramarathonman.com/web/  He's got two great books, Ultra Marathon Man and Run! that tell his story, and will inspire you to do something incredible yourself.  Honestly, they are incredibly motivating.


So, back to San Francisco.  Craig and I are running around mile 3 and guess who runs by us?  You guessed it, DEAN!  I lost it.  I yelled "Dean" and he kind of startled him.  Then I ran up next to him and got a chance to talk to him.  I am not sure how to describe it, but it was AWESOME!  We talked about, well, him of course and the Badwater race he had recently completed and about his books.  Up to that point, I think he hadn't really been noticed by anyone, he was just blending in with the marathoners, even though he was really just out for a training run, probably one of his 2 four hour training runs that he does each day.  Someone else came up and introduced themself to Dean so I thanked him for chatting and then left him alone.  I tried to take a couple pictures together but they didn't come out very good because we were moving, but here they are anyway.

Back to the marathon.  It was a great race, very scenic and I must say very hilly which is to be expected in San Francisco.  But I felt really good throughout it so it wasn't difficult for me.  We had the chance to run over the Golden Gate bridge, but it was early in the morning so it was still shrouded in fog and we couldn't even see the top of it.

That is the Golden Gate from a mile or so away, you can see the fog and clouds sitting right on top of it.

 Here are some of the other San Francisco sights we ran past.

 These were two unique marathoners: one was a naked woman (really it was a naked suit she was wearing) and a guy in a dominatrix outfit, which included a collar, attached chain, and tight leather underpants.  Sweet outfits, they make my jeans marathon look unbelievably tame.

 Famous hippy Haight and Asbury streets

 Uh, not really sure, but had to take a picture of the legs out of the second story window on Haight street

 Unique marathon sign

 AT&T park where the Giants play.  But Craig and I got a better view of the park the day before.

On Saturday we decided to go down to the Giants v. Dodgers game and see if we could get tickets.  Tickets at the window for seats were over $100 each, and for standing room only they were over $50 each.  Scalpers were selling them for around the same outside the stadium, even though we got there in the 4th inning.  So we went to a gate and bribed a security guard $20 and he let us both in, it was great, he even did the whole shake hands, exchange money trick.  I have to remember to smile when I take pictures of myself, that's my concentration face I guess.

That's San Francisco, marathon #7.  Next month is a very small marathon in West Virginia, should be a very different experience.

Interesting training runs - July 2012

So in between #6 Lake Placid marathon and #7 San Fancisco marathon that is coming up this weekend, I've had some interesting training runs.  First, were some summer runs in the heat.  We've had some hot days here over the past couple weeks, and I mean days that topped out over 100 degrees, and that is not heat index, that's degrees.  All the news channels talked about it like it was the end of the world.  "Don't leave the house!"  Of course I took that as a personal challenge, and had to run on those days.  I set out for a 10 mile run on the 100+ degree day, and although I love a good challenge... well, it was freaking hot!  So I ran 8 that day.  We'll call it a draw.  Then recently we had a mid 90's day where the heat index was over 100.  I ran to the track and did 3x1 mile repeats at 6:40 pace, a total of 9 miles which is what I set out to do.  So I won that one.

My most interesting run came two weekends ago.  There is an event in Philly called the Back on My Feet Lone Ranger which is a 24 hour ultrarunning event.  I volunteered to be a pacer for the race, a race I did a few years ago.  It is a great event.  I was not sure what to expect as a pacer, especially because I had volunteered for the early morning hours, 2am to 6am.  When I got there they set me up with the girl who was leading the female race, Sabrina Moran.  She is the American record holder in miles run over 24 hours.  She's a machine.  Check out her blog http://notallergictoadventure.blogspot.com/
So I ran with her from 2:30am until 6am, 17 miles.  Then she continued on until the end of the 24 hours and won the race completing 139 miles.  Incredible. It was very interesting to run with her and see what she went through pushing her body to the limit.


This past weekend I was at the beach with the fam and got in two great 10 mile training runs on Saturday and Sunday, running on the beach.  I started around 5:30am each morning and ran as the sun came out.  Well it came out one of the two days, the first day was completely overcast so I couldn't really tell when it became lighter, as you can see from the below pictures, but Sunday was different.  Got to see a GREAT sunrise.  Check out the pics below



Saturday's no sun, sunrise run

 These are the pics from Sunday.  It started out also overcast, but there was a break in the clouds, right on the horizon, so I hoped that the sun would appear.

 And then it started getting brighter...

 ...and redder!

 And the waves were great too which added to the view

 until

 I also had the chance to save a puffer fish that got washed up on the beach. 

 As the red disappeared, the clouds also broke apart.

 I got some good pics of the seagulls flying through the view as well

 Love this one because of the birds

 And by the end of the run, the clouds were gone and the sun was completely up.  Awesome run.

 So we are now 6 marathons down now!!! Here we are at the end of The Lake Placid marathon which was our 6th of the 12in12in12. At least Craig was smart enough to do the #6 with his hands the right way for the picture!  But it was definitely a memorable marathon for the views as you can see from the pics below. 

The next couple pics are from the drive into Lake Placid.  This was another "in and out" marathon, meaning we arrived into Lake Placid at 8 on Saturday night, ran the marathon the next morning, and then were on the road back home by 1:30pm Sunday.

 Craig posing as an Olympic speed skater.  The race started right at the Olympic ice rink and outdoor speed skating oval, which was a pretty cool starting point.

 Right before the race.  The building to the right is actually Lake Placid High School.  Pretty cool place to be a teenager.

 Some pics from the course.  Bear statue holding the flag as the marathoners pass by.

  

 This was also a pic from the course.  The tall building are actually the Olympic ski jump ramps.  The pictures don't do them justice.  THEY ARE HUGE!!!!!  And you can see them from all over Lake Placid, looking like they are just growing out of the trees.  

 

 Craiger with the ski jump ramps, waaaaaaaayyyyyyy in the background.  Like I said, the pictures don't do them justice.

 I thought I would take a break a sit down around mile 23... ON THE WORLD'S LARGEST CHAIR!!!!!!

 Oh yeah, and I almost got eaten by a bear.  I "bearly" made it out of there alive.