Hikes

March 23, 2009

Well, at least I crossed the finish line, but I really got my ass handed to me on this one!

The start for the Pirate's Cove 30K trail run was just over the Golden Gate bridge in the Marin headlands, right by the coast. Skies were overcast, but the views from the hillside were truly breathtaking. Luckily, my puffing and panting may have helped prevent vertigo from some of the potentionially dizzying heights.

It took me almost 4 hours. I finished 75 out of 119 people, and second to last in the 29 and under crowd. My running buddy, Kingston, finished 15th, and the winner of the 50K ultra marathon finished 15 minutes after me... haha. I guess I should do some more running-specific training before the next time. Lesson learned.

The Pirate's Cove run was put together to help promote trail running in the bay area. I have to give props to the organizers who were extremely helpful and did a great job pulling things together. The trails were all very well marked, so I was never worried about missing a turn.

What I didn't realize is that unless you're one of those 2 or 3 people at the front, it's pretty impossible to do the race without walking at some point. It's brutal when you're 10 miles in, and suddenly you come across a humungous stair case leading up the side of a hill. I also learned that even though the gummy bears and beef jerky taste AWESOME when you make it to a pit stop, I should not stuff my face unless I want to get a major muscle spasm in my left quad!

At the moment, I'm expecting one of my toe nails to fall off any day - casualty of war, it happens. While I was only hobbling around yesterday, I'm feeling better today and was even able to do 25 minutes of an upper body workout.

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I think 20K is much more reasonable for me, but I'd be willing to give it another shot, if for nothing else except salvaging my pride. Yes, yes - my friends and family have said "at least you finished the race" and "most people wouldn't even run one of these", but I suppose I'm just not satisfied yet.

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March 20, 2009

Pre-Run Jitters!

Tomorrow's a big run for me. I'm heading over to Pirates Cove for a 30 kilometer trail run. I signed up on a whim about 2 1/2 weeks ago, figuring if I'm spending all this time working out, I might as well use it for something! But 30k works out to just under 19 miles, and that's sounding like a BIG challenge now that I need to be at the start line in less than 24 hours.

It looks as if all the races (8k, 20k, and 30k) are sold out except for the 50k length. I don't know who's crazy enough to do a 50k trail run, but I'm definitely going to stay out of their way!

As long as it's sunny, I'll be running in plain old running shoes. I was breaking in some trail runners and realized that the difference in impact was quite significant.

Fastest times in '08 seem to be under the 3 hour mark. We'll have to see how I measure up! I really hope this queesy feeling in my stomach goes away before I get there.

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About Me

I'm an entrepreneur who's steadily become interested in health, nutrition, and fitness over the last couple years. With this blog I'm hoping to keep motivated to get ripped and beyond!