Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Run: 30:28 ( 6:06 per mile avg)
Triathlon season is officially over, and i was feeling that competitive itch so i convinced Stephen again to sign up and do the SF turkey trot with me while we were home for thanksgiving. Nothing like signing up for races on a couple days notice right? I hadn't done a running race for a year to the day when i ran the long beach turkey trot, but looked over last years times and was hoping for a top 3 AG finish, and a top 10 OA finish.
Then came race day. It has been raining all night, and was still raining the morning of the race. No big deal i thought to myself, i have run in the rain before. The one thing i didn't think about was that this was a trail run and i only brought my racing flats up north. Meaning muddy trails + no traction. uh oh.
I warmed up by running ~ 1 mile @ 8:00 - 10:00 min pace and timed it perfectly where i edged my way to the front of start line, waited for about 30 seconds and the gun went off for the start of the race. I know my limits so i start off at around 5:30 - 5:40 pace for these, and usually settle into around 5:45 - 5:50 pace. I try to never let anyone pass me, and i try and do negative splits to slowly creep to the front of the pack.
This was a fast group of runners. The lead guys were going out at 5:00 min flat pace and were soon lost out of site. I knew my pace was going to be slow after turning the first corner and almost eating shi*t when my shoes lost traction. This led me to my new strategy. SPRINT every straight away, WALK tentatively around the corners, and TIPTOE through the giant puddles of water. Well i might be exaggerating on the last two, but i did have to take it easy on a lot of the course.
The rest of the race wasn't that interesting... passed 3-4 people.... didn't let anyone pass me ... finished with a 30:28. Ended up 4th AG out of 135 and 15th OA out of 793. This was a little slower than i wanted but i had a great time. After i finished i realized that i really like running, and with the weather getting all crazy for biking, and the pool shutting down for december it couldn't be better timing.
Thanks to my friend Erin Wagner for volunteering at the race and sitting out in the rain to cheer me on, stephen for running it with me, and to all our family & friends that greeted me with turkey, pies, wine and beer after i finished.
Run: 30:28 ( 6:06 per mile avg)
Triathlon season is officially over, and i was feeling that competitive itch so i convinced Stephen again to sign up and do the SF turkey trot with me while we were home for thanksgiving. Nothing like signing up for races on a couple days notice right? I hadn't done a running race for a year to the day when i ran the long beach turkey trot, but looked over last years times and was hoping for a top 3 AG finish, and a top 10 OA finish.
Then came race day. It has been raining all night, and was still raining the morning of the race. No big deal i thought to myself, i have run in the rain before. The one thing i didn't think about was that this was a trail run and i only brought my racing flats up north. Meaning muddy trails + no traction. uh oh.
I warmed up by running ~ 1 mile @ 8:00 - 10:00 min pace and timed it perfectly where i edged my way to the front of start line, waited for about 30 seconds and the gun went off for the start of the race. I know my limits so i start off at around 5:30 - 5:40 pace for these, and usually settle into around 5:45 - 5:50 pace. I try to never let anyone pass me, and i try and do negative splits to slowly creep to the front of the pack.
This was a fast group of runners. The lead guys were going out at 5:00 min flat pace and were soon lost out of site. I knew my pace was going to be slow after turning the first corner and almost eating shi*t when my shoes lost traction. This led me to my new strategy. SPRINT every straight away, WALK tentatively around the corners, and TIPTOE through the giant puddles of water. Well i might be exaggerating on the last two, but i did have to take it easy on a lot of the course.
The rest of the race wasn't that interesting... passed 3-4 people.... didn't let anyone pass me ... finished with a 30:28. Ended up 4th AG out of 135 and 15th OA out of 793. This was a little slower than i wanted but i had a great time. After i finished i realized that i really like running, and with the weather getting all crazy for biking, and the pool shutting down for december it couldn't be better timing.
Thanks to my friend Erin Wagner for volunteering at the race and sitting out in the rain to cheer me on, stephen for running it with me, and to all our family & friends that greeted me with turkey, pies, wine and beer after i finished.
