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Here we go, here we go again

Here we go, here we go again

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I’ll quickly skim over how horrible a blogger I am since I rarely write these days… I seem to have way more ideas than I do willpower to sit down and write… but at any rate, it’s pretty hard to believe that Houston is just a hair over a week away (precision, yes, I know).

In the past 6ish weeks, my training has taken me to two weeks in Ohio, visiting family, to a week in San Francisco, to another 2.5 weeks in northwest IL (again, visiting family), then back to Ohio for a week (where I am now), and come Sunday, my final runs will be back in the Chi.  It has been awesome to have all this travel under my belt, in terms of getting a change of scenery, but it has also been bad in how it has thrown off my routine a bit (and here, I’ll blame my lack of writing on my travels… haha).  The good thing, of course, is that runners can run anywhere, so my running hasn’t suffered at all.

Anyway.  Houston!  Super exciting!

I’ll soon begin to stalk the weather.com extended forecast for race weekend, but until then, I’m suspiciously cool and collected–while also really effin excited–about this race.  I’ve heard favorable things about it, particularly that it’s flat and fast and therefore well-suited to PRs, so that’s my plan.

Remember when I wrote that 2013 is going to be the year that I go balls-out and shoot for a sub-3:30?  Something I never thought I’d even be physically capable of doing?

Well…

a) I am

and

b) Houston will be my first go at it.

When I initially admitted to myself (and my online running community) that I wanted to push for a sub-3:30, I got butterflies, and maybe even a wave of nausea, admitting that aloud.  Granted, don’t get me wrong, the butterflies are still a-flying, but the nausea has pretty much gone away at the thought of this goal.  At this point, just 8 days out from race day, I feel about as calm as I did before the Illinois Marathon, when I was going to try to BQ and PR with a 3:35.

Lots of things, mantras, are running through my head these days, as I’m now knee-deep in taper madness, that blessed time when I need to run less so as to preserve some energy for my race… which just makes me jittery… and of course I can’t run off these nerves… so I’m a bit stuck.  I’m sure I’ve been a riot to be around of late.  Anyway, these mantras I’ve been talking to myself about?  Yep, they include the following (my favorites):

There will come a day when you can no longer do this.  Today is not that day.

All it takes is all you’ve got.

“You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.  You’re on your own.  And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” [c/o Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!]

and perhaps my personal favorite, something that I often tell myself when I need to remind myself to slow down, be patient, or take a breath…

Keep calm, and rock the fuck* out.

  *(or eff, depending on my audience)

It’s pretty awesome that race day is practically here, considering that it has been nearly an affair seven months in the making, thanks to the NYC marathon not transpiring in November.  I don’t think I’ve ever really trained this long for ONE marathon (with the exception of my first, back in 2007), so suffice it to say that I’m curious… and cautiously optimistic… about how things will go.

Running San Fran

Running San Fran

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It’s been a solid two years and change (so I guess not so solid, after all) since I was last here for the San Fran Marathon in 2010, the one I ran freshly pregnant (as in, freshly-conceived-and-didn’t-realize-I-was-pregnant type of pregnant).  I had a super pleasant experience at this race and have been itchin’ to get back here when C’s here for work, though my school/A schedule usually prohibits it.

This time around, I got lucky.

I’ve been able to run every day we’ve been here, in part because I wanted to take in and see as much of the city as I could, and also in part because I was trying to streak for the month of December.  I’ve since decided to forgo the streak–not because I’m not running regularly (hello? <40 days til Houston!) but because I think it ends up being junk miles–but from Sunday on, I’ve done some pretty great running here.

Some of my runs were little baby ones, between 2-4 miles, though Monday’s was just shy of 16 and today’s (Friday) was just over 11.  Both of these runs were my week’s highlights.

On Monday, I tried to replicate the first part of the marathon course by running along the Embarcadero, through Fort Mason, and up and over the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a beautiful day, and since I had my phone with me (safely nestled in my sports bra or on my hip… more on that detail in a minute), I got some great pics.

Yup, about 9 and change into the 15+ run… just making sure you knew I was legitimately there, haha
Made the trek totally worth it for this picture. Gorgeous!
Made it over the GG Bridge! Note the shadow… yours truly 🙂
Good morning, San Francisco… pleasure running you!

Apparently, two Masters degrees isn’t sufficient to make me realize that it’s not a good idea to keep my silly-expensive smartphone in my sportsbra (or on a hip in a pair of tights) for 15.7 because holy humidity, it gets hot in there.

My phone worked the entire time I was running, since I was snapping away pictures and rockin’ out to some music (a rarity), but later that day, as I was coming back from Alcatraz, it started wiggin’ out, and a visit to the TMobile store first thing the next day revealed the worst: that I had water-damaged my phone and thus, voided the warranty.

Auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

Of course, that meant no functioning phone from Monday afternoon onward.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem being unplugged, but not having a phone when you’re not in your home city is something of a challenge, to say the least.  Anytime I’ve wanted to go anywhere (which is everyday), I’ve come back to the hotel, looked up all the directions and times I could possibly consider taking on GoogleMaps, have taken copious notes on my routes and route options, and then have gone about my business.

It has made for a lot of out-and-backs and backtracking, as you can imagine.

That said, my runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were much shorter and much closer to home–around and through SoMa, Tenderloin, and Chinatown, though I had the pleasure of getting lost in the latter in the pouring rain during morning rush hour.

Today’s run, on the other hand, took me back to the middle part of the marathon course,  Golden Gate park.  This was a super cool area of the marathon, even though we didn’t run it in its entirety, so I was thrilled to come do it today.  I started on Haight and ran toward the ocean, saw the bison/buffalo guys that I recalled seeing from the marathon, stopped and soaked in the ocean view for a couple minutes, and then turned around and somehow managed to get “disoriented,” let’s call it, a few times before making my way back to the Academy of Science and, eventually, the same place I started (more or less).

By then, I was pretty close to the Panhandle, so I thought “let’s keep going…” and eventually, when I thought I’d stop at 10, I knew I was getting pretty close to Market (and thus, just a couple miles away from the hotel), so it didn’t make any sense to stop running and catch a bus for only a 1-1.5 mi ride.

Oh, how we distance runners rationalize things…

My run really came to an end, at 11.16 miles, once I made it back to the hotel and, with less than half a block to go, once I had the privilege of seeing a dude pissing on the sidewalk on Folsom/First, in a hugely crowded and public area, at probably 10am.  I don’t usually see penis on my long runs (or any runs, for the matter), but hey, I also usually don’t see ocean or bison, either.

When in San Francisco…

This is such a great city, in and of itself, but also such a great place to run.  My legs (read: quads) are tired, and my muscles surrounding my calves and shins are a bit tight when I first start running, but otherwise, no aches and pains… and I’m convinced (or, at the very least, optimistic) that this week of solid hills-running will be helpful come Houston in <40 days.

Tomorrow?  Back to the midwest.