RACE WEEK

It's the Tuesday before the Portland Marathon and the future is cloudy. Woke up with a cold on Sunday morning. I responded by vegging all day Sunday and knocking myself out with Nyquil-on of the world's greatest inventions. The forecast for the race is rain and since it's Oregon, there will be lots of rain and it will be cold. I've been through this before, many times in fact. The deal is that its been years since I've raced in Oregon in the fall-college in fact.

It's obviously I'm suffering from pre-race jitters, the ones that all racers get. "Have I trained enough?" "Am I sick, injured?" "Why is my calf hurting?"  The usual. It's not unexpected and I know I'll be ready by Sunday.

A sublime ending to the 2011 Season for the Oakland A's.

Mixing the awful (dental appointment) with the great, (A's game), on my day off resulted in some serious reflection between innings of the A's vs. Texas game. This season I went to more games than I have since my college days when tickets were cheap and I had more free time than I needed. To my delight, my wife the lovely one became an A's fan and we spent some great time together at the games. She teases me that I am like Jimmy Fallon's character in "Fever Pitch."  I might be, but, I haven't been able to find an Oakland A's shower curtain, but, I'm still looking.

It may be a long cold winter until spring training. But I've already put down my deposit for season tickets for next year. Also, Hollywood, or more specifically, Brad Pitt have produced a movie about Billy Beane and the 2002 Athletics. I hope the movie creates more fans because we sure do need more bodies out at the ballpark! 

I haven't set the date yet for my annual Baseball Movie Film Festival, but announcements should be made shortly. In the meantime, I will gaze fondly at the above photo and I hope you do too until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.

My Escape from Reality

Most of my summer was spent working on my backyard. We decided to make some major changes and I am so glad we did. Now when I come home from work, I go outside and sit on the swing and read or watch netflix movies on my ipad, enjoying the cool breeze and the quiet. Here's a sampleer.

What used to be grass, weeds and bare dirt is now this:

And this:

and this:

It's Been a Long Time!

Back again to post an update. Since my last post, I've run in a view trail races, ran the Oakland Half Marathon in 1:31 finishing 2nd in my age group, ran the 100th running of the Bay to Breakers in 50:14 and most recently, 30K trail race in Oakland where I finished 1st in my age group only because I was running against myself. My next race is the Portland Marathon in October, the first travel race I've done with my wife which is why I am starting up with this blog again, so I can chronicle our trip.

I've also been coaching a few runners for their own races which gives me a chance to write or say the word "I" less often. It was very satisfying seeing them reach their goals. It is true that men tend to do a poor job at running easy on "easy" days and that some women aren't so good at pushing themselves when running becomes painful. That said, it was a great experience and I am hoping to do more coaching in the future. 

Intervals

With the Bay to Breakers a mere 5 weeks away, it was time for some speed work, so off to the local track I went.

Memories of my high school track came flooding back as I warmed up. Familiar red cinder track crunching under my feet, I regained 35 years. Almost empty, except for one dog walker, I remembered going into oxygen debt on the 3rd lap, the elbows thrown while jockeying for position and the black spots in my eyes as I sprinted around the last curve to the homestretch. Today, I ran my intervals, not as fast as in high School or college, but the pain was oh so familiar. I could have worked at the state of the art track at the other high school in town

1st Race of the 2011 Season

To find out what kind of shape I'm in, I ran in the 2011 Oakland Half Marathon.  This is a failrly small race with less than 10,000 runners for both the Half and Full Marathon.  The event was well organized and I recommend it for all levels of runners. There is even a moonlight 5K that goes around Jack London Square. The expo was at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland and it was fast and efficient with loads of booths for products and other races.

The start of the Half was set for 9:00 a.m on 3/27/11.  I drove to Oakland, arriving at Franklin and 14th Street around 6:45. I walked around the start, noting that all the runners had to sort of funnel through a inflatable staring gate. I decided to get in front to avoid any crashes in the iron gates near the start. I watched the start of the marathon at 7:30, saw that there was no problem getting through the starting gate and went back to the Jeep for my warmup. I stretched for a bit, then did a 10 minute per mile jog around the lake for about 3 miles.

At the start, I lined up at the front and got off all right. The pace felt quick, but I wanted to see what the split was at the first mile. It was 6:25, so I turned it down a bit, my goal being 6:50-7:00 per mile. From then on, I was able to keep a consistent pace, skipping the water startions because I felt pretty hydrated and it was very cool. If the sun had been out, I would have drank water after the halfway point. Around mile 10, the course wound around some muddy and curved trails at Lake Merritt. I lost some time here going around walkers and people hanging around the park. This is the only section of the race course I would change. Other than that, I liked the course.

Throughout the race, I was able to keep my pace consistent, but there was no speed. Not surprising because I haven't done any speed work so far this season. I was strong enough to have run the marathon if I had wanted to, probably in the 3:35-3:40 range. Instead of sprinting at the finish, I cruised in and my time was 1:31:45,  good for 2nd place in my age group and 62 overall. 

I'm happy with my level of fitness, but I need to focus on speed (intervals and surges) between now and May 15th, 2011 when I run in the Bay to Breakers.

On the Comeback Trail

Yes, it's been a long time between posts.  Life, as they say, got in the way.  That said, racing season is here. On March 27, 2011, I'll be racing the Oakland Half Marathon to see what kind of shape I am in. Then in May, I'll be running in the 100th Bay to Breakers. I was able to get in the first corral, so I don't have to spend the first mile weaving in and out of traffic. Then, there will be 2, maybe 3 trail races in the summer. The most important race for me this year is the Portland Marathon in October.  

So, that's my season. I'll do better with the postings, with photos etc.