M.O.R.E.: October 2012

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Nike Women's Marathon & Half

We came, we ran, we conquered the Nike Women's Half-Marathon. By we, I mean Patty,Marisol, Megan, Caryn and myself. I think I would be safe in saying that we all had a fantastic time. Most of us had never been in a race of this size and the energy from all the participants, not to mention the amount of estrogen, was really something to witness. Our fears about the hills were never realized and in fact, it seemed our training prepared us well. I guess that's one of the benefits of training in a hilly valley. The only thing we were unprepared for was the number of people, particularly the number of walkers. Dodging the walkers was the hardest part, other than that, it was one of the easiest races we've ever done. Maybe it was because we didn't run it particularly fast, running for the experience and to remember the sights along the way. But for whatever reason, I remember coming down toward the last half mile as I looked over at Patty and remarked how this was probably the best I've ever felt in a half-marathon. She admitted feeling the same but didn't want to jinx it by saying so.

The weather also was perfect. Although typically San Francisco wet and foggy, it also kept the weather really cool, a welcome relief from running all summer in the heat of the Santa Clarita Valley. And of course, there's the Tiffany Necklace. We were all so worried that we wouldn't like it, but it really is perfect. I think we're all hoping that we'll be lucky again next year and will get picked in the lottery again. Hopefully it wasn't just beginner's luck.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Are We There Yet?

Today's run was our last "long" run before the race. We are tapering down and attempted to do somewhere around seven miles. Depending on which GPS device we decide to go by we either exceeded our goal or fell just short. Personally I think we fell just short because the Garmin is usually pretty accurate whereas the Nike+ app on my iPhone has been very spotty. The last two times I used it, it shorted me a mile for every three I ran. Today it gave me an extra 3/4 mile. Maybe it's trying to make up for the last couple of miles it shorted me? Today, it read that we ran 7.44 miles while the Garmin read 6.61. Marisol's Garmin was about the same as mine so I think we only ran 6.6 miles. We were debating on whether to go back around the train bridge to get the additional miles, but at this point in our training, it was probably wiser to go shorter than run too far and tire out the legs close to the race. Either way, we were really moving today with an average pace of 9.3/mi.

That being said, I am getting super excited about our trip. It's weird to think that we won't see Bonnie for almost 3 weeks between our different trips. Also weird to think the next time we see Marisol will be in San Francisco at the Nike Women's Marathon.

Favorite Trails

South Fork 3.1: Start from dirt parking lot on Magic Mtn Pkway and run to the loop at Wiley Bridge and return the same way.

Tesoro 3.25: Start in Albertson parking lot and take sidewalk/trail until it ends and then enter the water tower road to the top two towers where the ends. Return the same way.

Chesebrough 3.25/4.60: From Chesebrough Park, N. to Copperhill, So. on Bike Trail, turn around at Decoro, back up trail to power lines to bridge at park. Turn around at Heritage will give you 4.6 miles.

Chesebrough 3.5: Chesebrough Park down to McBean, south to Northpark Dr., the paseo trailhead. Take the paseo to Helmers and back. Very hilly.

Bridgeport 4.0: Fairly flat, run toward Lowes and under Bouquet bridge to RiverPark community until you reach the closed gates and return. For a hilly run, go north into Helmers and run up the paseo switchbacks into Northpark where the paseo ends and return the same way.

Chesebrough 4.0: N. to Copperhill to west side of river trail, run S. on Bike Trail past Decoro bridge, across Decoro to the east side of river trail, up back to power lines trail, back to park.

Chesebrough 4.0: From park down power line trail to Heritage Park and back same way.

Bridgeport 4.0: From School, cross McBean via bridge or street and head into industrial center on Ave. Scott Bridge and enter bike trail going south toward the train bridge. Turn around at train bridge and return same way or cross the bridge and head toward Peet's after crossing train bridge and back onto the Lowes Trail.

Heritage 4.0: From park, run up bike trail to Decoro, over McBean Bridge into Helmers, and into Bridgeport through lake trail back to park. Can be done in reverse. Moderately hilly.

Chesebrough 4.25: Chesebrough north to Copperhill, left to Albertson side of bike trail. Run south on trail to Decoro and cross over bridge and head north all the way to Copperhill on east side of river trail and back to the park the same way as started.

Cheese/Decoro/Helmers 4.25: From the park, down dirt trail to bike path, south to Decoro. Leave bike path at Decoro and cross paseo bridge at McBean. Stay on paseo up hill towards Helmers. Run up water tower trail once then continue on to switchbacks and paseos back to park.

Heritage/Bridgeport 3.3: Heritage Park south to McBean Bridge @ Panera. Cross and head toward Lowes bike trail and head east toward Bridgeport Park. Halfway mark is at park bathroom, head back by entering trail along the lake and back onto the bridge.

Lowes 4.25: Lowe's parking lot to McBean, cross the bridge and to South Fork. At Valencia Bridge, enter trail behind Hart Baseball diamonds. Continue on trail to Bouquet and across the bridge on the east side and back under the bridge again towards Lowes.

Peet's & Decoro 5.2: Peet's Coffee to train bridge path; to Decoro and across bridge; back down McBean side of bike trail back to Peete's.

Peet's & Wiley 6.0: Start at Peet's Coffee and head east toward South Fork trail and past the Wiley Bridge. Keep running another 200 yards to where the trail forks left and right. Turn back same way.

Peet's & Copperhill 6.0: From Peet's to bike trail heading north to Copperhill and back.

Albertson 7.0: From the Albertson parking lot on Copperhill, enter the westside bike trail and head south until the train bridge. Return the same way.

Peet's 8.5: Run to Copperhill on east side of river trail and return via train bridge on other side.

Lowes 10: Start in the Lowes parking lot. Enter the bike trail heading west. At McBean, cross the bridge and head east toward SouthFork trail. Continue on trail until you come to the Wiley bridge and head back the same way.

McBean 14: This route can be done from anywhere along the trail route. Starting from McDonald's across the post office, run to the end of the South Fork trail and return the same way, cross the McBean bridge and run on the Lowes trail until you hit Bridgeport Elementary and then cross Newhall Ranch via the bridge or street and run back towards McBean. Continue north on McBean until you hit Copperhill. At Copperhill, cross McBean and enter San Francisquito bike trail and run south on the trail until you are back at McDonalds.