Tom Sawyer in 8 days

I'm now a little over one week away from my next triathlon, and I haven't been on my bike since the last - over a month ago. My feet are still healing from the SF Marathon, and are sure to get gharled up even more in this next event. Luckily, it is only a sprint and not an Olympic distance or longer. I have also skipped the pool the last 2-3 weeks. However, despite this lack of training, I'm feeling pretty good about competing in this next tri. I think having done 4 sprints and two olympics so far this year has really boosted my confidence. Not to mention the three half and one full marathons. I am, however, a little peturbed that I have not either toned up or lost any weight despite competing this much in the past year. I know it's my diet, and I should start eating better. I'm a slave to junk food however, and it's hard to eat healthy when time and money are always a factor. Regardless, I feel healthy and happy and would say that I could not imagine going more than a month without some kind of training or event. It's not quite an addiction yet, but it has definitely become a big part of my lifestyle.

SF Marathon

Arrived back in town yesterday after completing my second full Marathon in San Francisco. Took an extra couple of days to visit the sights: Alcatraz, Giant's game, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Chinatown, and all the other touristy things there is to do in that great town.

Alicia, Shane and I got in about 10:30 a.m. the morning before the race and checked into the hotel before grabbing lunch and heading to the expo to pick up our race packets. For as large a race as SF is, the expo was quite small and congested. The swag wasn't too great, and not a lot of good clothing options on extra gear. I did get a stellar retro green track jacket though, and picked up some Gu's for the race - a marathon staple if you ask me.

Being tired from the long flights, we hit the bed fairly early, but not before having two to four too many drinks at the local pub. Not something you really wanna do the night before a marathon, but we were all so excited to be in a new city that we couldn't help ourselves. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel room - had to be up at 4:00 a.m. to shower, dress, and walk to the start line about a mile or so away.

Shane took off in the 6th wave, while Alicia and I were in the 8th. Us girls had talked about trying to stay together throughout the race - something we have only been able to pull off the first mile or two of a half - but with this being Alicia's first, and only my second full marathon, we stuck by eachother which really helped boost my moral throughout the run.

The first half of the race had some pretty steep hills, and running over Golden Gate Bridge and back was incredibly awesome. I didn't start to really feel tired until 12 miles or so into the course, when the half marathoners broke off to finish their race. I know it was mostly a mental thing at that point, but it didn't help the fact that I knew I would be hitting the wall soon.

Coming up on mile 14 that is exactly what happened. A few people had told us that the second half was easier than the first, as it was flatter. Well, I guess by flatter they meant less steep hills, because the number of hills in the last 13.1 miles sure surpassed the first 13.1. I could tell the run was taking a toll when I looked down at my watch around mile 17 and saw that it had taken us 52 minutes to run just 4 miles. At that pace, it felt like we would never finish the race - with another 9 miles left to go.

Somehow I caught my second wind at Mile 20, and felt good until around Mile 24. Alicia took off around this time, stating she was in a groove and wanted to push herself to make the goal time we set for ourselves: 5:30. I was okay with this, as I know if the situation had been reversed, I would have left her as well. Plus, with only 2.2 miles left to go, my fatigue turned to excitement just knowing I would be crossing the finish line and done with this torture soon enough.

The last mile seemed to take forever - as it always does - and by this time I was doing 3:1 intervals (we had started out with 6:1, then fluctuated between 4:1 and 5:1 for most of the second half). I was able to pick it up and actually sprint through the chute to the finish line, and overall felt pretty decent for having just finished a marathon.

Alicia finished just 3 minutes before me, and Shane 57. We were all very happy with the race, and definitely endorse it for other marathon runners. We're all talking of doing Miami in January, and of course I have a few small races and triathlons between now and then. Alicia says she is now hooked on marathons, and Shane - well, this was #19 for Shane, so he's been addicted for a while.

2 weeks to SF!!!!!

Well, only two weeks 'til my second full marathon, and the training has been going quite well. I haven't been doing too much of anything during the week, but am at least getting the long runs in on the weekends, and did a 17.5 miler, 19 miler, and 13 miler the past three weeks, respectively. Probably do a ten miler next weekend, and then we're off to California!

Knee was giving me some problems during the 17.5 miler - and the last 5-6 miles went incredibly slow with a lot of walking. Bought a knee brace though, and the nineteen miler went a lot smoother. Not a problem at all with this mornings 13, and - knock on wood - I hope to have no problems with that, or any other area in the next few weeks.

Did a lot of hill work today - spent 3-4 miles just going up and down these steep and long inclines. Probably need to get some more of those in before SF. Hills always kill me -whether on a bike or on foot - mostly cardio rather than muscle fatigue, so I'm hoping they won't hamper my marathon time much. Would be a shame to do all this training (unlike for Chicago) and still get a shitty time due to getting tuckered out on hills.

VERY excited though - Shane just got our tickets for the Alcatrez tour, and we've got a Giant's game planned for our last night there. Looking forward to the trip as a whole, but especially the marathon - I just can't wait! Also have another tri I'm doing in about 3-4 weeks and need to sign up for it. After that, it's back to my roots with my second annual "original" triathlon that I first completed in Sept. 2009. Will be celebrating my 34th bday with my 8th tri in 12 months!