Tag Archives: marathon

California International Marathon 2012: Epic Effusions

Epic Coaster of a Medal

Epic Coaster of a Medal

This will no doubt be just another of the hundreds of blogposts that will be filed about this day, but I need to get this down since:

  • CIM 2012 was my first-ever marathon.
  • 2012 will be remembered as the year of the epic rainstorm.

Warning. This is waaay too long for to be of interest to anyone except myself, really, but – for what it’s worth…

On Friday, though I was still checking the weather every couple of hours, hoping beyond hope for some change, I was pretty much resigned. Yes folks, all indicators pointed to a deluge of not-insignificant proportions in the beginning, middle and most likely by the end of the marathon.

So that was that. My goal – of finishing anywhere from 4-4:15 — did not change drastically because of it. I figured that I’d start running, and adjust goals from there. Having never run a marathon before, and certainly, having never run long in pouring rain before, left lots of things up in the air. I kept telling myself that ultimately, the true goal was to finish, and finish strong. A good time would be icing on the cake. Also, beating Oprah would be icing on the cake. 🙂 Continue reading

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CIM 2012 Weekend

Wow, it’s truly been a while. The last time I posted I was just starting training for my first marathon, ever, and that was back in September, when I managed to run 46 miles in a week – my highest mileage week ever (even during the “peak” of my cycle). I achieved this 46-mile week was only because I started Labor Day Monday with running the Zombie Runner/ Zoom Running Lake Vasona Half Marathon in Los Gatos.

Now, I find myself 2 days before my first-ever 26.2.

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It’s been a while – 16 mile milestone

Highest mileage week, yet!

It’s been a while… but before I get sucked up into other matters yet again, I need to get this down to help with future training.

16 miles is the longest run I’ve logged yet, ever, and it went surprisingly well. I attribute its success to a number of factors.

The Day Before

Though I woke up early (6:45am) to take the car in for service, I snuck in a nap around mid-day. I also bought a pastry and soymilk chai and had somewhat of a breakfast on the walk home from the dealership. For lunch I ate an ear of fresh corn and the leftover Santouka miso ramen which still had a goodly amount of noodles. Perhaps my body was trying to tell me something but I was constantly hungry and snacked a bit throughout the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime, when we had some Bun-Cha Rice Noodle Salad and Vietnamese meatballs for dinner. Bedtime at 10:30pm. Continue reading

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A Trip to Napa

Gorgeous Wine Country

San Francisco’s proximity to the Napa Valley is another one of the zillion reasons as to why we love living in the SF Bay Area. However, DD did not choose his first marathon to run exclusively because it was in Napa. He chose it based on  a friend’s recommendation that it was a fast, downhill course, excellent for beginner marathoners – and it fell pretty much on a date ideal for his goal of completing a marathon before he turned the big 3-0.

Part of the training plan involved running part of the course before the Big Day (March 4th), so DD chose the weekend of his 18-miler, which also conveniently fell on the MLK Day holiday, to head up. For those of you curious about a marathon (or half) training plan, DD and I generally run at least 2 short runs during the work week (3-5 miles each), and make sure to never skip a long run on the weekends. Long runs start at 3 miles and increase by a mile or so a week. If you are marathoning, once you get up into the teens, you can drop down every other week until you reach 20 miles. After DD reaches his 20 miles, he starts a gradual 3-week taper period where weekly mileage gradually decreases to leave him in strong, tip-top shape for the main event. Continue reading

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