San Francisco Marathon and Vacation Recap

We have returned from what has to be the best family vacation ever, for our family that is as of yet; plans are already in work for something bigger and better. The reason this trip cam about was this is the year that I turned the big 40, and I wanted to run the San Francisco marathon as a present to myself. Jennifer took the idea, and planned a great vacation. We flew out on July 25th - that is Jennifer, Me, Elizabeth (who is 6) and Baby Caroline (who is 11 months). We flew into Detroit and had to catch another plan to San Fran. We had 10 minutes, before the second plan took off and over between gates. It was crazy - I was running with four different bags around my neck and back, Elizabeth was running harder than you could imagine, she would run on the moving sidewalks to keep up. Jennifer was pushing baby Caroline in a tiny stroller. We made it, all sweating like crazy. Elizabeth loved the plane rides and baby Caroline traveled well. It would take way to long to write about everything we did over the 7 day trip, but will list most of them: Jelly Belly Factory Muir Woods Golden Gate Bridge China Town Little Italy Presidio - this is a Great Place to take the family Drove around the city - Lombard Street - crazy Fisherman’s Warf Boat Ride - around the bay After all of this I ran the marathon on Sunday morning, start time 5:32. It was a dark and foggy start. The route is a great way to see the city. Check it out on youtube. My training was not all that great leading up to the run and I was not all that rested, so I am happy with my 3:42 finish time. Jennifer and the girls have their own story about trying to meet me at the finish; just know it did not go as planned, and I walked back to the hotel alone. I used the hotel desk phone to call Jennifer to let her know where I was, so her and the girls could walk back. We got ready and left for Santa Cruz, as soon as I got out of the shower. Santa Cruz was nice, baby Caroline got the croup, which slowed us down a little, but we still had a good time. Elizabeth loved the Boardwalk area; she rode rides two nights in a row. The trip home was uneventful, and we were all super glad to be home. It was a great time - which I hope we will all remember fondly. I am so thankful that we are able to have these great experiences together. Not sure where the next big race will be, but I will be taking the family with me.

Well, we are getting ready to head to San Francisco in one week. I will be running the marathon on the 29th, for my 40th birthday - should be one to remember. The pace will probably not be that great, but I hope I will make it. I am in the process of getting my weight down, my thought is the lighter weight will help my overall rune times, and if not, at least I will be skinny. The goal is to be 150 or under for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Looking forward to a great trip. David

Made It!

It has been a while but I have achieved the Ultra-marathon goal. The last few months have been very busy. I started back to school in January on my EdS., I now have two classes completed, that is when I turn in a final later today.
On the training side of life, I have been doing OK. After this weekend I know for sure that I have not put in enough miles. I will double the mileage for next year, if I do the same event. My weekly totals were mostly 30 - 50 miles a week and I need to be doing that on Saturday and Sunday with shorter runs during the week.

Race Recap - The week leading up to the race was stressful but not overwhelming. As everyone else I never seem to find enough time or get enough rest, but everything seems to fall into place any way. I do hope the next time I try something like this I will get more rest, but enough about the do better list.
We traveled to northern Virginia on Friday with little complications. We checked in and found a cabin to stay in for the weekend. Elizabeth loved camping, she played outside and found lots of bugs. The people that organized and the other participants were great. We met a lot of great people and that may be the best part of all the events that we do, the people. We got our safety briefing on Friday night and we went back to the cabin to rest. It was very relaxing no TV, no radio and not telephone - yes we had phone reception for the weekend; Jennifer did have to drive out and call to let family know that we had made it safely.

Race Day - I woke about 5:30 and felt good. The race started 7 am so I could take my time and get ready. The weather was Hot really Hot. I ran a couple of loops with Keith Straw who is an elite runner that has completed Badwater (one of the toughest races in the world) he was great and gave some solid advise as we ran and just chit chatted to pass the time. It did not take long before the heat and my lack of drinking enough water during the first two laps to take affect. I got really sick and every person that past kept asking are you OK and my response after the first two or three was, "I don't know", but as I said before the people at these events are great and the lady who won the female division slowed when she caught up to me and then walked with me to the aid station. If it had not been for her I would not have been able to make it, at the aid station I drank a ton and set off again. I went slow and made it back to the check-in point and drank several bottles of water. I took of again this time with two water bottles and it only took a few minutes and I was back to running. I was drinking 40 ounces every four miles. As the day went on my right foot began to hurt worse and by 2am I could not walk on it, so I called it a day after completing 64 miles.

The awards and breakfast was at 7am so I hobbled over the the main area and we all ate breakfast together and congratulated each other on our individual accomplishments. Jennifer and Elizabeth got to spend Saturday with Jennifer's sister and her boyfriend who had came down from D.C. for the day. Elizabeth had so much fun Camping she cried when Jennifer told her we had to leave.

All of this said it was a great weekend and I hope to do more of these events. I had posted an update in another forum and some people said they thought what they were doing was now diminished. I want everyone to know I was not running like this five years ago, I have progressively ran longer distances over the past several years. I want everyone to know that you can do what you REALLY want to do. We all make statements that we wish we could do something but how many times do we really adjust our lives so we can accomplish what we wish for, so that said; Change your Wish List to you Goals and start checking them off.

Take Care and Get Outside,
David

South Carolina 50k

I have read over the last several weeks the controversy of wither a 50k is really a ulramarathon. I would have to say it is but of course not by much, just about 5 miles after the first 26.
A couple weekends ago, I ran a trail 50k in South Carolina and a pretty good time doing it. The trail had plenty of dips and rises with fair amount of hills. I would definitely not call it a hard 50k but it is all I wanted at the time. I have had very limited training over the last several weeks, with the start of school, driving a bus almost everyday, Eds. class, and trying to be a good Husband and Dad.
We started the weekend on delay as I had to change oil in the car before we left. We could not leave on Friday because I had a game Friday night. The drive down was good we got to the trail and scouted the area for a few minutes, then we went to find a campsite. This did not go as planned, we went to the campground and found out that it was closed. I then I thought I could drive and find a new campground, well after an hour of driving I decide to go ask a local. We were given great directions to a new campground.

We arrived out our new campground with limited light to check the place out. We quickly found our site and started to have a great time. We were camping beside Strom Thurmond Lake, we had beach front and views of a Bald Eagle. http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/lakes/thurmond/camping.htm I would recommend this area to anyone that likes the outdoors. We got early on Sunday morning, broke town the tent, cleaned up in the nice bathhouse and headed back over the dam to South Carolina.

The race had about 100 people registered with about 90 of those showing up. The race was well organized and the start was uneventful. I ran the first hour very slow behind a large pack of people. Myself and another runner passed the pack and took off. We talked just a little and set a pretty good pace. About 30 minutes or so and we were finished with the first 7.5 miles. It was nice to come by the same aid station as Jennifer and Elizabeth were waiting on me. The went well, as I did not get lost and only fail twice. I finish a couple minutes short of 6 and half hours. http://ultrasontrails.com/history/FATSresults2010.html
Not sure if I will run this one next year but I had a good time.

Jennifer drove us home and I thin we all had fairly good time together. Jennifer and I were really tired because I did not get the air mattress out for our night of camping. Next time it will be in the tent. O I would say that a 50k is a ultramarathon just not a long one.

Till next time,
David

Feeling Fat and Lazy

I have done absolutely nothing in relation to physical fitness in almost two week and I feel fat and lazy. My foot is feeling really good, so I may hit the road tomorrow for a few miles. I am still planning on riding the Tour de Vino bike ride on Saturday for about 32 miles.
The next big challenge is the 24 Hour Bike Ride - http://www.24hoursofbooty.org/site/TR/Bike/General?px=1221883&pg=personal&fr_id=1100
I have to get some miles on the bike as I have only ridden about 200 miles since January. I am also planning my next big run event. I have found a ultra series in South Carolina that looks really good, no entry fee just donations.
This is it for tonight, I need to get up early and get something done before the world wakes up.

Until next time,
David