a bit of alcohol makes me run faster

My company holiday party was this afternoon and like all company-sponsored parties, there's an open bar and unlimited booze. So, I partook in said free booze. With track practice later that night, I figured what's a couple margaritas going to do? Well, I had a couple and then I moved up to Pinot, then a glass of Syrah before leaving.

An hour later, I'm at Kezar warming up with the rest of my group when my friend jogs up to me, takes one whiff of the air between us, scrunches her nose, and announces for all to hear, "eeeeewww, you reek of alcohol. What the hell are you doing here?" I broke into a huge grin and gave out every lame reason I could think of from "I was carbo-loading" to "running is the quickest way to sober up" while the rest of my fellow runners continued to smirk at my intoxicated state. Yes, well, I'm a lightweight.

Our coach, who's hearing my incessant banter (I talk a lot when drunk) decided that we're going to do 800m repeats in 5k pace with a 2min rest between. Eh, it's doable, I'm thinking. We started off around the track and I'm still babbling away about drinks and trivia after. No one's listening to me so I sprint off. During every rest period, one person or another tells me to slow down or I'll vomit. I'm ignoring the advice because I've been leading the group so far so why should I slow down? Halfway around the track, I take a sharp right and nearly upchucked in the nearest garbage can. I managed to run 6-800m before calling it a day and heading off for trivia and more alcohol with my non-running friends since I didn't learn my lesson.

Loading up on races

It's been a while since my last race post. Since the SJ Half, I decided against running Cal. I wasn't physically ready for it and rather than injure myself, I'd rather buy myself more time to train correctly for a future one next year.

So, I ran the US Half the first weekend in November.

I wasn't happy with my time (2:00) but with all the hills along the course, I know what I need to do in terms of training.

I signed up for three more: the Turkey Park Trot (Formerly the Turkey Beach Trot before the Cosco Busan oil spill occurred in our beloved bay waters), the Academy of Science Run Wild, and the North Face Endurance Challenge.

Another half under my belt

I ran the SJ Half yesterday and I didn't PR. It wasn't a completely disappointing race. I clocked in at 1:55:05, a decent time. I know I could have done better if I trained more and prepared mentally for the race.

I must admit that I hate running in warm weather and even with the flat course, San Jose is not my kind of town. Spectators were out in full force but the race itself lacked the kind of "rock n' roll" feel in comparison to the other Rock n' Roll sponsored races I've run.

My boys faired better than I. They ran well and had consistent pace times. That is something I need to work on..pace. I have a hard time pacing myself.

So, I signed up for another half scheduled three weeks from now. It's the US Half in SF. Or so I think I'm signed up for it. At the SJ Half expo, I handed over $50 of my hard earned cash to the guy behind the US Half reg booth and in return, he gave me a piece of paper that had his first name on it and the words "$50 Paid US Half". This is my receipt. Now, I'm worried I just gave a guy free money because I have yet to receive an email or any sort of proof that I am indeed registered for the race. Yes, I think I'm a naive idiot but I won't know for sure until Wed. I'm holding on to the hope that the man I handed money to behind that expo booth is an honest one. We shall see.

still moving

I'm off track with my training but I figure I have about two months before the Cal International Marathon. If I can squeeze in two 20 miler weekend runs, I'll be fine. I ran 16m last Sat and felt good enough to sign up for the San Jose Rock n' Roll which is less than two weeks away. I'm excited about the race as I'm hoping to PR.

We shall see how things go. I've started using my bike as a stationary one and it's helped me somewhat. I also signed up for a three-month free membership with Bay Club, courtesy of my friend Chuck. I'll have use of the swimming pool and this will give me an opportunity to take group exercise classes such as the abs/core and road cycling. I just need to find time in my chaotic schedule to squeeze in a trip to the local pool for an additional cross training workout.

Chasing people in banana costumes

I made a last minute decision to run the Banana Chase 10k yesterday and surprisingly, I placed 2nd in my age division! That's not saying much since I was 130th overall and I had a slow, warm-up start. But I won't complain. I was really sweating a lot that day...

I'm gearing up for the SJ Half in October. Less than a month away and I don't feel quite ready for it.

And then I took a wrong turn

After several months of mediocre training, I completed the 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon in an official time of 2:04 and I'm very disappointed in myself.

To start off my race day, my alarm went off at 3:30am that Sunday morning. In darkness, I got dressed and hurried over to a friend's house, picked him up and then we ran to his other friend's house for our ride to the start. They weren't there because they were ringing our doorbells. They found us nevertheless and we arrived at the Ferry Building well before the approximate 5:30am start.

I paced myself. I ran conservatively. I was on track to sub 2 hours. I powered over the hills and didn't stop moving. With less than a mile to go, I turned right instead of left at the Full and Half Marathon route split. I realized my mistake when I crossed the other 13.1m split pad before turning around and cursing my way back up the f***ing hill I sprinted down just to get back on track. I estimated that I ran an additional 3/4 mile and added about 8 minutes to my real time.

Presidio Relay

On Father's Day, my friends and I participated in the Presidio Relay and placed 4th. I think we were all a little disappointed, especially me and my slow time. Oh, well. It was fun nevertheless and hanging out with my friends was a treat.

Weekend Warrior that I am

I did it! I can call myself a weekend warrior after completing two relay races back to back in one weekend. My times weren't the greatest and I probably could have done better if I trained more but it's over.


Clocked in at 1:29 for Leg 3 (10.3m) in the Lake Tahoe Relay with my team finishing in 11 hours, 4 minutes.


Clocked in at 1:04:55 for the Muddy Buddy. I'm nearly covered head to toe in mud.

The Weekend is here!

I've been keeping my stress levels at an even keel the last couple of days but today, I'm not doing so well. I had trouble sleeping last night from worrying about the drive up to S. Lake Tahoe, the relay tomorrow, the long and painfully boring drive back down, and the muddy buddy the very next day. Why do I do this to myself?

This past Wed, after my dodgeball game, my team and I went over to the Pig & Whistle for pub trivia. I limited myself to a half glass of wheat beer and my teammates wondered why I wasn't drinking. I'm running back to back races this weekend, I said. The looks on their faces were amusing. "Are you crazy?" They wanted to know. "Are you having a nervous breakdown?" Good question, I might be indeed having a breakdown of some sort.

Or I just want to see how far I can push myself physically before I collapse.

Following my training schedule

I wrote up a two month training schedule leading up to the SF Half Marathon which I hope will keep me on track.

Jogged around the Lake Merced last Thursday with Ed. He paced me at 8:30min/mi. Rested Friday and ran 8m around the Lake at a slower pace of 9min/mi. Both knees bothered me a bit after the 4m mark. Eventually, the knee twinge went away but the right knee started to click. I iced and massaged my knees when I got home and I'm doing fine today.

Let's see how the rest of my body will hold up in the next five days.

Getting down to the wire

In a week, I'm going to be physically pushing myself past my limit. Next weekend will be hectic and stressful and demanding but I'm sure it will also be fun and exciting.

My plan is to drive up to Tahoe next Fri after work, run my leg of the Lake Tahoe Relay, drive back to the city, crash, wake up early, drive to San Jose, participate in the Muddy Buddy, drive back to the city and crash until work on Tuesday.

Lots of driving and running around that weekend. It will be fun and very hard on my body but I know if I can put my mind into it, I'll be fine. From experience, races are partly mental and I can psych myself out if I need to.

more running, more races

Since I'm still riding on the race relay rush from two weeks ago, I signed up for the San Jose Muddy Buddy race on June 10th. And without thinking too much about it, I agreed to run the Lake Tahoe relay on June 9th.
Yes, it's going to be a hell of a busy weekend for me but I know it's doable. And worst case, I can flake on the muddy buddy.

I even went ahead and gathered a team (Team P.E.E.R) for the Presidio Relay on Jun 16th!

My knees are holding up just fine save for the few kinks that come and go after a run. I'll just keep taking the Glucosomine and my body will take care of itself. I even dropped down to a size 4. I'm not sure if that's positive given my stature but I won't complain.

3rd place!

My team, Blisters on a Run, placed 3rd in Corporate and 12th overall in the Big Sur Marathon relay. We improved our time by 16 min from last year for a chip time of 3:19:38 (7:37min/mi pace) with three new runners and two returning. I can't be more proud of my team!

two more days until Big Sur

I'm not even close to physically ready to run a 5.5 mile relay leg. I completely slacked off on my running this week. Other than a short 5k run this past Sunday, 40min bike on Tues, and hopefully a 5miler after work, that sums up my month of training. Thank goodness I'm running the 4th leg of the relay and not the 3rd. I just hope I can run a 9min/m on Sunday.

TnT, Big Sur, and Pamakids

Some time last month, I fell into a funk and with the limited amount of exercise I have been doing, I decided to join a number of activities to keep my body moving.

Now, I am less than a week away from the Big Sur relay weekend. On a whim, I decided to volunteer my time as a mentor for the TnT summer season and I signed up for a couple Pamakid group runs.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Emotionally exhausted, that is. Physically, I'm capable of running five miles this evening with my relay teammate, Ed. Other than that, I can't wait until the weekend arrives.

8 miles and I can still walk a straight line

I ran 8m with the TnT group this past Saturday without any knee pain. I ran slower than molasses but I am back on track! How wonderful is that?

(I'm the non-blurred runner on the left..)

Where did my ass go?

It's been several weeks and I've noticed this for a while now. My jeans, sweats, and dress pants are all loose on me. I actually see sagging material on my lack of a behind. What happened? I've lost an ass! Some women would be grateful but not me. I didn't have much of a posterior end to begin with but at least I had something. Now, it's pretty much flat as a pancake and resembles an extention of my thighs.

This is awful. Pathetic, really. I'm thin enough as it is but having a bit of ass would be nice. I don't think I'm eating less than normal but I am exercising less than I used to a year ago. So, it's muscle mass that I lost in the last several months. I've been a lazy ass far too long and I blame it on my bone marrow edema.

Time to pound the pavement, hop on the bike, and doggie paddle in the local pool again.

Just too much water

Earlier this week, a Sacramento radio station held a "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest. Many of the contestants got sick and one woman died from water intoxication. Check out the story..

I'm well aware of water intoxication. Last year during my Avenue Half, I got noxious and my stomach was hurting badly. I assumed I didn't drink enough water but that wasn't the case. I drank too much before the start of the race! Three-16 ounce bottles in a half hour period. The electrolytes in my body were off balance. I did finish the race with a PR but not before stopping at a couple water stops to sip gatorade and try to force myself to throw up. Learned that lesson.

Preparing for kaiser half

I've been running fairly regularly on the weekends and my knees have been holding up for me thus far. But after my 9 miler last Saturday, my calves were tight and my right knee started to swell a bit. Other than that minor detail, I'm feeling good today and I might run five miles later tonight and see if I can manage 13 miles this coming Saturday.

My friend, who will be running Boston this year, is on a different training schedule than I and she's racking up the miles quickly. I'm hoping to get back to her speed. We shall see.