Thursday, October 26, 2006

Photographic Evidence


Around Mile 5 (near Ghiradelli Square)



Rounding the bend out of Golden Gate Park



Still smiling!



Where's my necklace?


More pictures on Flickr.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

I did it!

I ran a marathon.

I finished in 4h55min.

I'm happy and tired and sad that it's over. Will post details soon.

Monday, October 16, 2006

California Here We Come

Current SF Forecast for Sunday, October 22:

Sunny
High 66°F
Low 56°F
Precip. 20%

Awesome.

My flight departs JFK tomorrow morning at 7. Ack! I'm going to spend tomorrow and Wednesday in Santa Cruz, Thursday in San Jose, and will head to SF on Friday. The TNT Pasta Party is Saturday afternoon. The NYC Chapter is expected to be the largest and rowdiest of the bunch. I'm sure I can contribute to that! Updates this week may be sporadic (although they do have the interweb in California).

Team Langenberg

Waterloo, Ontario Team Langenberg had a pretty OK finish in yesterday's 10th Annual Oktoberfest 10k Run through the streets of Uptown Waterloo. The weather was a crisp 8 degrees Celsius, which Ms. Gutenberg commented might have hurt the couple. "It's freaking freezing out here," she stated. Mr. Langendoen, however, seemed pleased with the results. "Wunderbar!" he exclaimed as they crossed the finish line.

The couple had prepared for the gruelling race by carbo-loading at Altes Muchen Haus on Friday night, where they were also treated to a very special concert. Mr. Langendoen was fortunate enough to meet Canada's Polka King, (and even had his new Oktoberfest hat signed by the Grammy-award winner).

Following Sunday's race, Ms. Gutenberg and Mr. Langendoen enjoyed a delicious meal, surrounded by family and friends.

The pleasant young couple returned to their home in Brooklyn on Sunday night. "Next year we'll be more prepared," vowed Ms. Gutenberg. "We're going to start training next month!"

"Wunderbar!" said Mr. Langendoen.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Long-Range Forecast for San Francisco

Sunday, October 22

Mostly Sunny
High 61°F
Low 52°F
Precip. 10%

In other words, perfect weather for running a marathon!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Who's Freaking Out?

Tonight I attended the Team in Training Fall Season Sendoff for Chicago and Nike marathoners. We received our race weekend packets, which include detailed instructions on where to be and when, as well as the fabulous Barney-purple TNT singlet (a version of which I can be seen modeling in this unflattering post-triathlon photo. Ramon asked repeatedly who was freaking out, and I realized that while I kind of am (see: Nerves), I also feel really ready to do this thing! He also promised us that after a full 5 months of behaving at practice, we'd have plenty of opportunity to misbehave after the marathon. Coach Lisa pointed out that we'll probably have some new aches and pains this week and next, and that that's nothing to worry about. She observed that running has probably become a kind of therapy in our lives, and during tapering our bodies (and minds) are adjusting to not having that as much.

Only 12 more sleeps until I wake up and run a marathon! Yeah, I'm definitely freaking out.

(At right: But I look ready, right?)

Nerves

The other day I was reading an article about being a spectator for the NYC Marathon, and the author mentioned that she liked to be at the Mile 25 marker to cheer the runners into the finish. When I read that - the Mile 25 marker - my stomach did a total flip-flop. Ack! I'm actually going to run far enough to *see* a Mile 25 marker! That is just insane. It was crazy enough seeing the markers on Saturday go up to Mile 17, but Mile 25?

Speaking of the NYC Marathon, after Sunday's race I need to run 4 more qualifying NYRR races for guaranteed entry to next year's marathon. I'm seriously considering it. Ack again!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Pancakes and Bacon

This morning, fueled by my usual Clif bar and coffee, I headed to Central Park for the NYC Marathon Tune-Up, an 18 mile run consisting of 3 loops of Central Park. At the advice of several people, including Coach Lisa, I'd planned to run only 12 of the 18 miles. OK, I confess, I was having a really good day and a really good run, so I did the whole thing. I took it really easy on the last loop, and having a bit of soreness in my left ankle/shin, even walked for a few minutes in the last 2 miles. However, I'm proud to say that I ran up all the hills (the last time going up Cat Hill - 1/4 mile with an average 3.7% grade - was tough), finished in 3:11:27 with an average pace/mile of 10:38, and feel super extra ready for my first marathon in just 2 weeks!

My Splits:




MileMiles 1-6Miles 7-12Miles 13-18
1/7/1310:5110:2110:51
2/8/1410:3610:2411:02
3/9/1510:119:5910:58
4/10/1610:1610:0810:54
5/11/1710:3910:4911:34
6/12/1810:2310:1511:20
(Since the run was made up of 3 loops, miles 1, 7, and 13 had the same profile, as did miles 2, 8, and 14, etc. Reading from left to right, the table shows how my time for the same mile the 2nd and 3rd time around changed. Reading down the columns shows my consecutive splits. I had a lot of time to think about how to display this information while I was running!)

After the run, I came home and made pancakes and bacon. Neither have ever tasted so good.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Je Suis Malade

The cold that's kept many of my co-workers at home this week has made its way into my sinuses and throat. My amazing runner friend Leslie tells me that people always get sick during the tapering phase, so I guess I'll just ride it out and keep sleeping lots.

I emailed Coach Lisa about whether to run 12 or 18 miles on Sunday, and she told me to stick with the 12. It's hard to believe that 12 miles is a short run!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

A 5 Mile Race

Last night I trekked up to Central Park for my final Tuesday GTS with the Summer 2006 Marathon Team. (Next week we have sendoff, and the following week I'll already be in California, wondering why I didn't sign up to run the nice flat Chicago Marathon.) Ramon reminded us that the marathon is <3 weeks away (holy crap!) and that we should all be freaking out. Check!

He then announced that the evening's practice would be 3 lower (1.7M) loops, run as a race, and paced as we would pace a race. Pretty straightforward. I ran with Denise, who runs about the same pace as me (maybe a little faster, which is good) and we finished in 48:23, with even splits of the 1.7. I felt a little tired in the last loop, and as usual I'm pretty sure I should hold back more at the start to make sure I have enough juice left to kick it at the end. I'll be able to practice pacing more at this weekend's event.

I was feeling a little under the weather when I woke up this morning (sore throat, sniffles) so I'm going to stay well-hydrated today and get to bed early tonight. There will be no pre-marathon illness! I also had nightmares last night about handstands, of all things. (I was practicing before bed so I guess it isn't that surprisng, but it was rather disconcerting anyway!)

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Body Glide: A Girl's Best Friend


Last week's 20 miles left me with a lot of nasty chafing, particularly around the edges of my sports bra. This week I very generously applied Body Glide, and had a relatively chafe-free day! Yay for Body Glide!

Oh, and while I was out in Jersey running on the trails, DLang ran his longest distance yet - 6.2 miles! - so that he could say that together we ran a marathon. Hee!

The marathon is 3 short weeks away, so now we're in the tapering phase. How nice. Next weekend I plan to run the ING New York City Marathon Tune-Up (probably just 12 miles), and the weekend after that the Oktoberfest 10k in Waterloo. Then, I fly to California to relax for a few days before the marathon!

Another 20 Baby!

Yesterday morning I left the house bright and early to meet the Brooklyn-based Chicago and Nike marathoners to carpool to New Jersey, where we would undertake a 20-mile run on the trails at the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park. It was a cool, slightly crisp morning, and I was the first to arrive at the meeting spot. For a moment I thought I'd misread the email, and resigned myself to running loops of Prospect Park - however, within a few minutes some of my teammates began to arrive.

We piled into the cars and drove to Jersey. I rode with husband-and-wife team Pete & Jamie, and learned in the 45 minute car ride that women speak an average of 20,000 words/day, and men average 7,000. Heh, seems about right. I also learned that Pete runs about the same pace as me (10:45 minute miles on a long run), so we decided to run together.

The cars congregated in the parking lot of the state park, and Head Coach Ramon gave us his usual razzing and then an overview of the run, which would basically involve running along a trail for 10 miles, then turning around and running back. The coaches had set up water stations along the route for us (aw!) but most of us came equipped with our Fuel Belts and were packing Gu.

Pete and I set off together, and pretty quickly shook the morning chill. The run was very flat and very pretty. Running with Pete was great (thanks, Pete!) and we finished the 20 in 3:45 (or ~11:25 minutes/mile) - a little slower than I ran it the previous week, but still respectable, and I didn't really push myself - I just wanted to finish it strong. (At left: A teeny tiny picture of me looking rather happy after running 20 miles!)

My goal pace for the marathon is closer to a 10:45 minute/mile, which might be aggressive with the hills, but I think the energy of the crowds on race day will help me along. And I hope the SF hills don't slow me down too much!