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PrintRace Results for the James Cunningham Seawall Race are available.
winningtime.ca
winningtime.ca
Friday morning, in the wake of a rainfall warning in Vancouver, Tu Anh and I said goodbye to our water-logged city and traded it in for the sunny hills of San Francisco to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon. It was a highly anticipated event for several reasons ..
- it was a lottery system to get in
- it was an all women's event
- the highly coveted Tiffany's necklace as your finisher "medal"
- the red carpeted finish line ... lined with very attractive and fit firemen dressed in tuxedos
Now does Nike know how to get women to run an event or what?! I can't even begin to list the ingenious ways of Nike's marketing team .. - "Like a Girl" motto .. run like a girl, shop like a girl, etc.
- Free photos & printouts at Niketown
- The Wall at Niketown with every racer's name
- Ghirardelli Mile
- Personalized Race Gear
- Free Socks en route
- Free Wrist Bands with motivational sayings en route
- Free Mani's
- Free Pedi's
- Free Skin Consult with Samples from Dermatologica
- Post Race Party at Niketown the next day with massages
Normally, I go into a race with a race plan in mind .. everything is planned with purpose down to the smallest detail. Normally. But this wasn't under normal race circumstances. I was focused on the "big picture" .. the California International Marathon in 6 weeks. The big picture plan had me finishing 7 consecutive days of running, ending on the Thursday prior to the race, with a total of 120kms - the most i had ever run. And my body felt it .. i had a bruised ligament on the top of my right foot from rolling it at the Cross Country race 2 weeks prior and i had a slighty torn/strained tendon in my left calf.So .. with that in mind, you can tell what sort of expectation I had for this race. On top of the body aches and what not, it was a hilly course and I, for one, am the first to admit that I am terrible at hills!
This was more of a girl bonding trip .. I was meeting two girl friends that I went to high school with who had moved to the Bay area. So "Miss Planned-Down-To-The-Smallest-Detail-For-A-Race" did the following leading up to the race:
- Friday, late late dinner then went out with my friends until the weeeeee hours of the night, after having a drink or two. (that's roughly 20 hours in high heels!)
- Saturday, after 4 hours of sleep, i got for a 1.3 mile "jog" to the expo
- Saturday afternoon, walked around all day in flip flops shopping
- Saturday night, light dinner but then inhaled a bunch of Japanese junk food before going to bed
Exactly. :)
Race day morning, we walk/jogged to the start line but i had to do a pit stop to the porta-potty. Line ups are as line ups are - disastrous! I stepped out of the porta-potty and they were starting to count down to the start. My friend Judy and I bolted across Union Square, ducked under a start carrall banner and jumped into the start area. Then, of course, slowed to a halt because no matter how well you organize it, there's always congestion at the start of a race. I'm about to cross the start line, finger over the start button on my watch and as i pass under the clock, i noticed the time was just over 2 minutes. I pushed the button my watch and it gives me a funny sound .. i look down and realize that it has reset because I waited too long to start it! Scrambling to get my "Satellite signal", i fumbled with my watch and finally got it to start ... not quite sure how many seconds it took to start it after I had already stepped over the timing mat. Darn it!
I bolted as soon as i crossed the start line, trying to get a bit of breathing room amongst the 20,000+ runners, but also trying to be mindful not to sprint like stink and run out of steam in the first 2 miles!
Now, some habits just can't broken .. so, even though i didn't have a goal pace in mind, i was still keeping track of my mile splits .. missed the 1 mile marker but caught myself at mile 2 - 14:46 .. (which was actually 14:52 after i figured out the discrepancy in time between my watch and the race clock). Normally, i would calculate that down to mile pace but decided not to .. i was more focused on getting to the next mile and clearing my path a bit more.
Mile 3, 4, and 5 came and went and my mile splits didn't seem too bad (7:23, 7:31, 7:21) .. but what I was really anticipating was THE HILL. The elevation map showed a 295' gain over 1 mile at Mile 6 - now i'm not hill expert but that seems like a terribly long and steep hill!!! But once you're on it, what can you do? Head down, arms relaxed, and plod along ... so that's what i did. I plodded. and plodded. and plodded. I looked up several times but it seemed neverending .. and when you thought it was over, it actually wasn't .. it was just a "mini-break". yay. I started to lose steam and felt that urge to .. walk. But then i remembered being at Boston and how Heartbreak hill broke my heart .. and thought about my "big picture" plan of the Sacramento marathon .. and ultimately going back to Boston .. and how i was NOT going to let it beat me. So what got me through that crazy long hill ... and every subsequent hill after that?
"Heartbreak Hill my A$$..... no way it's going to break me this time!"
And surprisingly, it worked! Each hill, although difficult, was conquered.
At Mile 9 to 10, there was a steep downhill (after climbing an uphill, of course) and I let gravity propel me down when, out of nowhere, I stepped in a pothole on the course .. with the foot that had the bruised ligament. I know! Yes, it hurt .. but i wasn't going to let that stop me from finishing and finishing somewhat respectably, ESPECIALLY after climbing all those insane hills!
Now, i'm not sure if you know but after you roll your foot, that ligament goes all loosey goosey .. so the chances of rolling it again are quite high .. and even planting your foot using that joint can be painful. And it was. With each and every step.
At Mile 11, I finally glanced at the clock above the marker. 1:25 .. I finally did my first calculation in my head .. 1:25 .. 15 minutes to run 2.1 miles and I'll finish in 1:40 .. but I can't run a 7:30/mile at the end of a half marathon - that pace is faster than my fastest half marathon. My best time to date was 1:39:25 - average 7:35/mile. So I figured I would finish in 1:42ish .. maybe 1:43 .. which was fine because I was predicting a 1:45 so that'll be close. But then it donned on me! I crossed the start at 2 minutes and some change ... which means.....!!!!! I know!!!!! I could get really really close to my best time .. and I didn't feel too tired so definitely doable. Even if i don't beat it .. coming close would be phenomenal!
Realizing that just gave me a extra spring in my step and i started to pick it up just a tad .. now, i know what you're thinking - she'll get it. So, in around this time, i take another breath .. and i'm a mouth breather ... i somehow managed to swallow some saliva down the wrong tube and start choking like someone who needs the Heimlich maneuver! I didn't have a chance to look around to see if anyone was staring but believe you me, i did NOT sound pleasant.
But.... I was able to clear my throat in what was probably 5 seconds but seemed like a lifetime!
Fast forward to the finish line .. I'm coming down the stretch and see the bright pink FINISH and i run as hard as i can to the finish but there's no mistaking the gigantic smile across my face as i see the race clock JUST flip to 1:40 as i cross the timing mat. And as i raise my head and stumble forward a few steps, i look up and see a fine looking male specimen in a beautiful tuxedo handing me my Tiffany's box. :D Yes, the smile is STILL on my face. I'm shuttled through the finish area, pick up my shirt and continue to walk through the finish area. I'm thrilled. SO SO SO SO Thrilled, with a capital T. I look at my watch and it says 1:37:27 .. BUT i know that's off by some number of seconds .. maybe even up to 20-30 seconds .. but even still, it's faster than I've ever run a half marathon before. EVER!
AND on top of that, I feel great .. my bruised ligament hurts but physically, this is better than I've ever felt after a half marathon. I was cruising around the area .. jogging from this tent to that tent to the gear check busses .. and ending up at the First Aid tent so they can tape my foot for that added stability. I'm stupidly happy but I'm not stupid. I didn't need my weak foot to get hurt even more.I walked around the area a bit more and then i hear someone call my name and it's my girlfriend Judy. And she had just PB'd! By almost 4 minutes! We were both elated - she conquered those hills WHILE she was sick.
For the rest of the day .. and even days afterwards, we were both walking on Cloud 9.My official time was 1:37:29. I still can't believe it. Now onto the bigger picture ... Sacramento .. and hopefully ... Heartbreak Hill my A$$ - I'm going to break you.
onward and upward .. literally ..
linda.
Submitted by Linda Wong [/html]
Just wanted to do a quick report .. Greg Welwood and I got back from the Loop the Lakes 8k/15k Trail race up in Alice Lake. We jumped into this race on a last minute whim for a friend's birthday - yes, we raced for a friend's birthday! What happened to sit down dinners and birthday parties?!
Seeing as I was on a "recovery" week after running the Disneyland Half, I opted to do the 8k. Greg was back in the full swing of things with school and had registered for the 15k. However, a week out from race day, became injured .. having worn trail shoes that were slightly too small, causing two large open wounds on the backs of BOTH of heels. So he dropped down to the 8k - the lesser of the two evils seeing as he had EXPOSED RAW SKIN on the backs of both heels. Nothing a bit of tape, second skin, and bandaging won't fix ... ugh.
Seeing as I was on a "recovery" week after running the Disneyland Half, I opted to do the 8k. Greg was back in the full swing of things with school and had registered for the 15k. However, a week out from race day, became injured .. having worn trail shoes that were slightly too small, causing two large open wounds on the backs of BOTH of heels. So he dropped down to the 8k - the lesser of the two evils seeing as he had EXPOSED RAW SKIN on the backs of both heels. Nothing a bit of tape, second skin, and bandaging won't fix ... ugh.
Now .. this is technically my first trail race. I LOVE trail running .. but had always been hesitant about racing on trails. It's hard to pass people and i hate to be in people's way .. and i know when I get tired, i get really sloppy and tend to roll my ankle.
The website describes the course as follows:
At the start line, there were few younger fellows kicking around. I pointed out this 12 year old boy to Greg and said,"You see him? I bet he's going to kick my butt.
"We were told that the first 3.5k were up hill .. then you get some undulations .. and some downhill. Well, up hill they were, so much so that at the steepest hill, i decided to walk. Yup, i walked. But, of course, when the dude that i passed not too long ago starts passing me on the hill, I started to trudge along and slowly but surely passed him by. I saw that there was a woman ahead of me but she was slowly working her way up the hill too .. and i had nothing to catch her. When we got to the top, it was flat'ish, with a bit of a downhill so i thought maybe i would catch her there but nope. So we come down the top section and hit the mountain bike area .. I'm guessing this is the "Tracks From Hell". We were told that we could run alongside the tracks if we found it too hard. Let me tell u now. You can't run alongside the tracks. The tracks are made of chopped wood seemingly haphazardly nailed together, making for a very uneven surface. I nearly fell off the first few steps I took so I jumped off to the side .. but there's really no area to run .. so i hopped back on and thought walking would be easier. But it's not because of the unevenness of the tracks. So .. pray to God I don't fall, and pretend that the pieces are flat and away we go! And watch for signs on some of the tracks - one of them was clearly labelled "DO NOT STEP ON THIS" .. so i side-stepped it .. almost falling off. A few minutes later, i hear a big crack and some woman screaming. I guess she didn't see the sign. Apparently, it was a teeter-totter.
Anyway, i held tight to my position .. not being passed by anyone and with that woman in front of me just out of reach. I crossed the finish line 39:35 .. 10 seconds behind the woman ahead of me, which happened to be the first woman in.
Greg, under the alias of Chronic Fatigue, came in 4th overall in a time of 33:54. Woohoo! Now imagine what he could have done with skin on the backs of his heels!
All in all, my first trail race was tough .. much like my first cross-country run. Am i hooked tho? I'm not sure .. I did, however, partake in a much needed nap en route back to Vancouver. Thankfully, Greg didn't need the rest and drove me back to my home, so i could walk my puppy.
Oh yeah, and that 12 year old boy who i said would kick my butt .. he did. I passed him about 3k .. and then he ran past me at about 3.5k. And i never did see him again .. til the finish area where he was resting with his mom.
Submitted by Linda Wong
The website describes the course as follows:
The 8 km short course route is perfect for first time trail racers or those who want to enjoy nature at high speed! It is mostly on park road, or well worn trails. We've added a short technical section to give racers a taste of West Coast trail running at its finest. It follows the very scenic Four Lakes Trail (clockwise), Cliffs Corners and Tracks from Hell.
At the start line, there were few younger fellows kicking around. I pointed out this 12 year old boy to Greg and said,"You see him? I bet he's going to kick my butt.
"We were told that the first 3.5k were up hill .. then you get some undulations .. and some downhill. Well, up hill they were, so much so that at the steepest hill, i decided to walk. Yup, i walked. But, of course, when the dude that i passed not too long ago starts passing me on the hill, I started to trudge along and slowly but surely passed him by. I saw that there was a woman ahead of me but she was slowly working her way up the hill too .. and i had nothing to catch her. When we got to the top, it was flat'ish, with a bit of a downhill so i thought maybe i would catch her there but nope. So we come down the top section and hit the mountain bike area .. I'm guessing this is the "Tracks From Hell". We were told that we could run alongside the tracks if we found it too hard. Let me tell u now. You can't run alongside the tracks. The tracks are made of chopped wood seemingly haphazardly nailed together, making for a very uneven surface. I nearly fell off the first few steps I took so I jumped off to the side .. but there's really no area to run .. so i hopped back on and thought walking would be easier. But it's not because of the unevenness of the tracks. So .. pray to God I don't fall, and pretend that the pieces are flat and away we go! And watch for signs on some of the tracks - one of them was clearly labelled "DO NOT STEP ON THIS" .. so i side-stepped it .. almost falling off. A few minutes later, i hear a big crack and some woman screaming. I guess she didn't see the sign. Apparently, it was a teeter-totter.
Anyway, i held tight to my position .. not being passed by anyone and with that woman in front of me just out of reach. I crossed the finish line 39:35 .. 10 seconds behind the woman ahead of me, which happened to be the first woman in.
Greg, under the alias of Chronic Fatigue, came in 4th overall in a time of 33:54. Woohoo! Now imagine what he could have done with skin on the backs of his heels!
All in all, my first trail race was tough .. much like my first cross-country run. Am i hooked tho? I'm not sure .. I did, however, partake in a much needed nap en route back to Vancouver. Thankfully, Greg didn't need the rest and drove me back to my home, so i could walk my puppy.
Oh yeah, and that 12 year old boy who i said would kick my butt .. he did. I passed him about 3k .. and then he ran past me at about 3.5k. And i never did see him again .. til the finish area where he was resting with his mom.
Submitted by Linda Wong