It took us some time until we got started. By that time my fingers and toes felt like icicles. But I have enough winter running experience to know that this won't last long once you got going. And so it was. Mile 2 to 4 ensured that we got warm quickly. Uphill on Tennessee Valley Road. And, if we needed a proof for how early it was, we met a Turkey in the middle of that road. He wasn't really sure what to do and kept running from one side of the road to the other. Which, in turn, made us run from one side of the road to the other as he seemed upset, spreading his feathers out and cocking his head back and forth. But, he was as silent as a you would expect a Turkey bird to be... Eventually, we managed to pass him and he calmed down and vanished into the bushes. Poor thing.
Further we went. Downhill towards Tennessee Beach. It was such a lovely morning. The sun already reached through the gaps in the hills, the grass and leaves were covered by a light mist and the downhill trail to the beach helped to recover from the previous hill. However, once we reached the beach we had to turn around and it was all uphill again.
The beach trail was the nicest part of the run. Once we got back to Sausalito, we ran back and forth on the flat sidewalk and bike/pedestrian path that runs from Sausalito to Tiburon and is frequented by cyclists, runners, and tourists. Fortunately, at this time of day, not that many tourists. Only athlete cyclists, not the "Bike the Bridge" dudes, who have never ridden a bicycle in their whole life but think that it's a good idea to start doing it in San Francisco. Only to post pictures of them crossing the Golden Gate bridge on a rented bicycle. I hope that the sum of their pleasure offsets the sum of annoyance they cause for all runners, bikers, car and motorcycle drivers as well as pedestrians.
Anyway, back to the run. From mile 9 it was mostly flat and hardly any shade. Hence, every water stop was more than welcome and I was, once again, happy to have my racerback shirt. Even though my roommate makes fun of me when I leave the house with it. "It's astonishing, what you are able to accomplish, considering your condition." is what he said when he saw me with the "hunchback" caused by the two liters of water on my back. I don't care. Being able to drink anytime I want to makes it worth it.
At mile 12 I spotted two of my friends on their bicycles. I knew that they wanted to go on a ride so I had been screening the passing cyclists. But with their jerseys, helmets, and sunglasses, they all look the same. So when I did recognize them and they managed to stop to give me a sweaty hug it gave me the boost that I needed at that rather boring but nevertheless exhausting part of the run. I'm really looking forward to the actual run. Having all those Team in Training members and maybe some friends, and Tracey who will be coaching runners on the course, should hopefully give me the energy I need to run the last painful miles.
Back at our starting point at mile 13, I got rid of superfluous clothing and fluids, had half a banana, and started the last 5 miles of my run. Initially, I thought I could just pretend that this was a short 5 mile run like I hadn't done the 13 miles before. This worked out pretty well. Until the first incline. Your body knows bloody well that you did not just start running but rather two hours ago and he does make sure that you do, too. (At this point I need to explain why I refer to my body as "him". Body in German is masculine. And, while this is certainly not true for mine, that's what I'm used to. And, honestly, he's a strong dude who can deal with some serious stuff :-)). Faced with that kind of resistance, I referred to one of my "How to get up that hill when your legs hurt like hell and the only thing you want to do is stop running, go home and sleep?" strategies. I turned up my music and started singing. What do I sing? Well, this strategy works with a wide range of music from The Carpenters to Foo Fighters. Singing while running not only distracts you from the effort but, more importantly, it helps you get all the oxygen you need. You focus on the lyrics and breathing becomes automatic. And, before you know it, you're on top of the hill (or "the Top of the World looking, down at creation...").
This time I had the opposite experience than during the last miles of my previous long run. My body was fine, nothing hurt really bad but I just could not get myself to run faster in order to increase my average speed. I also noticed, that I had relied on my own water supply too much and drank too much, too early. And, to make matters worse, I had to skip the second last water stop because it got pulled over by the police for not letting pedestrians crossing the street on a cross walk. Ha, those pedestrians were fine and far from being in any danger whatsoever. But this poor thirsty runner had to run another 1.5 miles before she was able to replenish with half a liter from very tiny cups... But that's very good to know for the race day, the real marathon.
And, finally, I made it. And thanks to a sprint on the last 200 meters, even managed to cut off a couple of seconds off my average speed but not enough to break the speed record in my running app. Broke all other possible records with that run, though :-).
Further we went. Downhill towards Tennessee Beach. It was such a lovely morning. The sun already reached through the gaps in the hills, the grass and leaves were covered by a light mist and the downhill trail to the beach helped to recover from the previous hill. However, once we reached the beach we had to turn around and it was all uphill again.
The beach trail was the nicest part of the run. Once we got back to Sausalito, we ran back and forth on the flat sidewalk and bike/pedestrian path that runs from Sausalito to Tiburon and is frequented by cyclists, runners, and tourists. Fortunately, at this time of day, not that many tourists. Only athlete cyclists, not the "Bike the Bridge" dudes, who have never ridden a bicycle in their whole life but think that it's a good idea to start doing it in San Francisco. Only to post pictures of them crossing the Golden Gate bridge on a rented bicycle. I hope that the sum of their pleasure offsets the sum of annoyance they cause for all runners, bikers, car and motorcycle drivers as well as pedestrians.
Anyway, back to the run. From mile 9 it was mostly flat and hardly any shade. Hence, every water stop was more than welcome and I was, once again, happy to have my racerback shirt. Even though my roommate makes fun of me when I leave the house with it. "It's astonishing, what you are able to accomplish, considering your condition." is what he said when he saw me with the "hunchback" caused by the two liters of water on my back. I don't care. Being able to drink anytime I want to makes it worth it.
At mile 12 I spotted two of my friends on their bicycles. I knew that they wanted to go on a ride so I had been screening the passing cyclists. But with their jerseys, helmets, and sunglasses, they all look the same. So when I did recognize them and they managed to stop to give me a sweaty hug it gave me the boost that I needed at that rather boring but nevertheless exhausting part of the run. I'm really looking forward to the actual run. Having all those Team in Training members and maybe some friends, and Tracey who will be coaching runners on the course, should hopefully give me the energy I need to run the last painful miles.
Back at our starting point at mile 13, I got rid of superfluous clothing and fluids, had half a banana, and started the last 5 miles of my run. Initially, I thought I could just pretend that this was a short 5 mile run like I hadn't done the 13 miles before. This worked out pretty well. Until the first incline. Your body knows bloody well that you did not just start running but rather two hours ago and he does make sure that you do, too. (At this point I need to explain why I refer to my body as "him". Body in German is masculine. And, while this is certainly not true for mine, that's what I'm used to. And, honestly, he's a strong dude who can deal with some serious stuff :-)). Faced with that kind of resistance, I referred to one of my "How to get up that hill when your legs hurt like hell and the only thing you want to do is stop running, go home and sleep?" strategies. I turned up my music and started singing. What do I sing? Well, this strategy works with a wide range of music from The Carpenters to Foo Fighters. Singing while running not only distracts you from the effort but, more importantly, it helps you get all the oxygen you need. You focus on the lyrics and breathing becomes automatic. And, before you know it, you're on top of the hill (or "the Top of the World looking, down at creation...").
This time I had the opposite experience than during the last miles of my previous long run. My body was fine, nothing hurt really bad but I just could not get myself to run faster in order to increase my average speed. I also noticed, that I had relied on my own water supply too much and drank too much, too early. And, to make matters worse, I had to skip the second last water stop because it got pulled over by the police for not letting pedestrians crossing the street on a cross walk. Ha, those pedestrians were fine and far from being in any danger whatsoever. But this poor thirsty runner had to run another 1.5 miles before she was able to replenish with half a liter from very tiny cups... But that's very good to know for the race day, the real marathon.
And, finally, I made it. And thanks to a sprint on the last 200 meters, even managed to cut off a couple of seconds off my average speed but not enough to break the speed record in my running app. Broke all other possible records with that run, though :-).
No comments:
Post a Comment