Running Ruminations

Finally, on Sunday morning, the headlining event of the weekend rolled around: the inaugural Silicon Valley half marathon (and 10k). After being excited over this new event for the past almost-year, and then getting really jazzed about it in the preceding week by participating in a community run out of Lululemon Santana Row on the previous Saturday, a community meet-and-greet run with Meb on Wednesday, the Food Truck 5k and the kids’ race on Saturday, finally — at long last — it was time for the event we were all so excited about.

My singular goal going into the SV Half was simple: to finish. I had no pace expectations or guidelines, and Lisa specifically instructed me to treat it as a “glorified long run,” to go enjoy the course and the crowd and just have fun with it; if, and only if, I were feeling good should I try to pick it up the last 3-4 miles (and even if I felt good but simply didn’t want to pick it up, that would be fine, too). The race, 10 weeks post-stroke, would signify my longest continuous run and would be a milestone in the 5 ½ weeks I had been running since getting cleared at 4 ½ weeks post-stroke.

My very soft (mushy) time goal for the race, if I had to have one, was to stay within 8-8:30 range for most of the race and then see what happened from there, based solely on how I felt from racing at the Sactown 10 the week before. Again, though, I didn’t really care much about my pace and said that I wanted to “party-pace” it, to just go out, be comfortable, and build up my endurance again.

Fortunately, Janet was also running the SV Half as part of her MTB training plan, so we carpooled over to the race and ran a couple warm-up miles together. I woke up feeling pretty bad and spent a lot of QT with my bathroom because my stomach was in shambles, so I was worried that the race experience would be rather unpleasant. The weather was just lovely and really great for running, and once we ran over to the starting area, two miles later, we connected with many other RR ambassadors and Wolfpack runners who’d be toeing the line. I finally got to meet Margot in the starting corral (yay social media!), too, which was sweet. I knew there’d be just a handful of Wolfpack harriers racing that day, but there’d be a lot on the Alameda, serving as course volunteers. It was going to be a good morning and promised to be fun as hell (potential stomach issues be damned), heavy on the “woohoo let’s go have a good time and fun run this experience” and light on stress and self-inflicted pressure.

Before too long, we were off, and I comfortably settled into a pace that I thought felt manageable for 13.1. I didn’t clock-watch and instead relied on how I felt to dictate my effort. I recalled reading on the race site that the course would be different from RNRSJ and that it didn’t run on the GRT bikepath at all, and when I looked at the map beforehand, it looked like it’d be an interesting mix of a bunch of different areas of the city, some familiar to me and some not. We first began by looping around SJSU before eventually making out way over to Coleman and the Rose Garden area of the GRT. I felt comfortable and in control, and I was making a conscious effort to try to bring my pace down from 7:40s closer to 8s or even 8:30s. I didn’t feel tired or anything like that, but I also knew that I hadn’t run 13.1 continuous miles in months and that I was carrying significant volume on my legs from the week’s training. More than anything, I wanted to be careful. I felt well, I felt like I was actually running almost uncomfortably slowly, but c’mon: in longer endurance events like HMs, most people feel that way in the front half. I didn’t want to push early on only to absolutely tank later. My training and endurance just aren’t there yet.

Usually we read online posts urging you to never try anything new on race day, and most of the time, I’d absolutely heed that advice because otherwise, I’m sure I’d be the runner completely beset with crazy blisters or diarrhea down my backside due to poor-fitting shoes or not-so-GI-friendly gels. When I was at the Meb run earlier in the week, I tried Generation UCan for the first time (post-run), decided it tasted pretty good, and that I’d take it on course when the volunteers gave it out. Similarly, when I was preparing for the race, I couldn’t find my trusty AccelGels, only some Science in Sport (SiS) samples, and instead of freaking out about it, I figured what the hell. (It’s so unlike me to be so cavalier about race-day nutrition, but I think I figured eh, what have I got to lose). The AS were about every two miles for the first 8-9 miles and then just about every mile thereafter, and fortunately — and somewhat miraculously — neither the SiS nor the Gen UCan destroyed my GI system, and even better, they both went down smoothly. My stomach was still pretty uncomfortable and hurt through the first 5 miles — like 5/10 uncomfortable — but praise the universe that the discomfort passed, and the new fuel choices didn’t seem to exacerbate anything. Again: super lucky.

After we exited the Rose Garden area of the GRT, we began to return to downtown and looped around Cesar Chavez Plaza, right outside the Fairmount Hotel and the Tech Museum, before returning in the direction of the Alameda. This out-and-back, around mile 5 or so, was one of the first sections where we incoming runners could see those outgoing, which is always fun. By about halfway, I was still feeling well, running along comfortably, and just enjoying the experience of the inaugural race. Plus, my stomach felt better. I had no complaints in the world.

Once we hit up the Alameda — a familiar place if you’ve run other SJ races, like the 408k or RNR SJ, to name a few — I began to anticipate seeing my teammates on the sidelines. Sure enough, before too long, I began to see many of my teammates on each block lining the Alameda, a nice pick-me-up for sure. I recalled reading from When that we all tend to begin to slog a little in the middle of our endeavors — everyone does it, regardless of whatever activity or pursuit you’re undertaking, because the middle just doesn’t have the same type of momentum or urgency that, say, the beginning or the end has — so having my teammates present, even if only for a minute, helped keep the middle mile blues at bay.

I knew after the Alameda we wouldn’t have too much longer before we’d begin our “back” portion of the race, once we looped around Lincoln HS, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember how far we’d have left on the Alameda after running around LHS. As we looped around LHS, we had another opportunity to see the outbound leaders (and eventually, other inbound runners), and it was a lot of fun to cheer for so many friends and teammates running mid-race around their mile 10/11. It seemed like we were running through part of the super-pretty Rose Garden neighborhood of SJ, just as we do in the 408k, and before long, we had looped around the HS and began to inch our way towards the Alameda. It was somewhere in this stretch that I passed a guy running in a full-on suit (which I couldn’t help but think had to be terribly uncomfortable), and I fistbumped a bit for my friends running Boston the next morning when we turned onto Boston Ave. I was still feeling pretty well, tired for sure and beginning to warm up slightly, but by mile 10 of a half, I really couldn’t complain.

Around mile 10, I recalled Lisa’s suggestion that if I felt well, and if I wanted to, I could try to pick things up that deep into the race, so I tried to begin picking people off as much as I could. I didn’t feel like I had a ton left in my reserves at that point, but I figured what the hell… if I run faster, I’ll finish faster. No doubt was I buoyed by the onslaught of cheers from the inbound runners (which I enthusiastically reciprocated), and I hoped that between those cheers, the pretty comfortable pace I had run earlier in the race, and seeing my teammates again along the Alameda for the final 2/2 and change that I could finish the race strong.

Historically, HMs have been a bit of an Achilles’ heel for me. I tend to not run them very well — usually either blowing up mid-race because I’ve paced it poorly or because I’m in the thick of marathon training and am exhausted AF and/or because my GI becomes a royal shit show and just implodes (explodes) for some reason. At the SV half, fortunately neither disaster transpired. Sure, I was getting tired toward the end because I hadn’t run 13.1 continuous miles since sometime in January (and thus, fresh off CIM fitness), but I wasn’t tanking so heartily as I often do in other HMs, nor was my GI system giving me the finger.

For being 10 weeks post-stroke and relying on 5 ½ weeks’ worth of training, I couldn’t be happier when I strolled into the finish chute at 1:43 and change for 13.2x (my watch had measured the course long almost from the get-go; it’s USATF certified, though, so I’m guessing it was just me). I was happy to be finished, but more than that, I was happy to be well enough and in a sufficient amount of fitness to be able to both start and finish the damn thing. That it and of itself was enough for me.

Shortly after finishing, I collected an inordinate amount of hardware from the race — the huge finish medal, a 2.0 challenge medal for having run the 5k the day before and the HM that day, and another for running the 408 and the SV races. I’m not particularly into medals — truth be told, I donate most all of them — but I was genuinely impressed by the size and weight of these things, in addition to the little silicon chip-like detail (heyoo, Silicon Valley).

Soon after finishing, I found Janet, who had run a great race in her MTB marathon prep, and after we chatted with Dennis (whom I had seen the day before at the 5k as well) and performed some obligatory silly jump-shot pics, Janet and I went back re-ran the final mile of the course in reverse to cheer for more runners (allowing us to see Sonia and Christina in the process), talk to our teammates, and run a couple cool-down miles. By the end of the day, together we each had posted 17 miles between the race and WU/CD miles, which in turn put me at over 50 miles for the week: both new volume milestones for me post-stroke.

…and I felt great.

Neither Janet nor I were interested in the free adult beverages that our bibs entitled us to, so we gifted our vouchers to someone who looked particularly thirsty, and we left. (In doing so, I missed all the post-race celebratory stuff from the ambassadors, but alas. It was nice to see them all before the previous day’s 5k race).

We lucked out with beautiful, running-friendly weather on race day, and with that, a fun (and very flat and very PR friendly) course, and great race day-organization and attention to detail, I think it’s safe to say that the inaugural SV Half went over without a hitch. Of course, by virtue of being a SMA for Represent Running races, the company comps my entries to these events, but hopefully by now you’d trust that I’m transparent in my evaluation and criticism of races that I run. I’ve raced a lot in the past decade-plus that I’ve been doing this stuff, and honestly, I would have had no idea that this was the inaugural year for this race. That, itself, is telling of how smoothly and successfully RR executed the race, IMHO. Being able to tell a race is new is, in general, not a good thing.

I hope that the SV Half becomes a mainstay in the SJ running scene, and if it does, I have no doubt that it’ll just continue to grow and improve. Having an early spring half on the calendar is advantageous because it’s a distance that’s accessible to a lot of people, and it’s one that can compel people to train through what is typically sometimes challenging “winter” conditions in SJ (though we bypassed a lot of that this year). Plus, realistically, even if you don’t want to commit to the HM distance, you could run the 10k or 5k; there really is something for everyone. Finally, as I mentioned before, the hardware was impressive (a big draw for a lot of people); the 5k participant shirt is a tech tee that I would actually keep and wear on training runs; and HM participants received a weekender-style duffle bag, which was a nice departure from the standard swag, as well as a genuinely good-looking quarter-zip tech long-sleeve tee that’s free of sponsor logos anywhere, one that I wore for days after the race. Plus: free race pictures! All good things, all good things.

You don’t have to run fast and PR or even train particularly arduously in order to have a positive race experience; this isn’t news, but sometimes I think it’s worth reminding myself. I went into the SV Half with zero expectations and nothing much in the way of goals, save for finishing the thing, and I couldn’t have been happier or enjoyed my morning (and really, the entire race weekend) more. I’m excited to see this race grow in the coming years and to cementing my “legacy” status.

If you find yourself in Silicon Valley next spring, I hope you’ll join me at the SV Half weekend. You’ll have a good time.