25 March 2012

2012 Oakland Running Festival Marathon Relay Recap

It is so different participating in a race where you are really just focused on finishing and not hurting yourself vs. hitting a challenging time goal.

It is so different running for an hour vs. running for two hours.

I'm kind of digging these hey, let's just run for a little while because we can kind of "races."

Of course, I'm largely digging them because I haven't been training with any intensity or volume for several months. My cumulative mileage over the past 2 months might just barely break 20 miles...then again, it might not. Injury does, indeed, suck.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was running today's race on a wing and a prayer.

In keeping with the concept of minimal preparation, we had chocolate cake for dinner last night. I'm not kidding.

How's that for pre-race fuel? Now, had I been running a 2-hour race instead of a one-hour race, this would probably have had a real negative effect on my performance. But since today was all about survival, simply moving and breathing would constitute "performance." For this, the chocolate cake proved sufficient.

This morning I awoke before anyone else in the house and began my preparations. Hmmmm...didn't need to pack Gu-type stuff...didn't need to bring water...was the Garmin charged? Who knew? I tossed it in the bag...expecting... whatever.  I got dressed. Knowing that at any minute during the race the sky could open up on the course and deliver a deluge, I dressed to minimize chafing...but knew that I would only need to endure whatever hand was dealt me for about an hour instead of two. Even with that knowledge, I liberally applied the Body Glide all over. Luckily, the rain stayed away :)

I left the house an hour before my expected hand-off time even though early on a Sunday morning traffic is usually non-existant and I live 12 minutes away. The sky was clearing. The drive was a breeze. Parking was beyond easy. But... they only had two port-a-potties to serve this exchange/aid station. The line snaked around and around and around... it was probably a 30-35 minute wait. This is my only organizational beef with the Oakland Running Festival. Who doesn't understand this:  You can NEVER have too many port-a-potties! Right?

Time to go find my Leg 1 chick. I headed over to the exchange area, which looked like this...


She was right on time with her "about an hour" prediction :) She ran past me, calling my name. I leaped out and grabbed the little wristlet timing chip and took off...too fast. The incline a block later snapped me back to reality.

My plan became:
  • chill on the flat.
  • survive the uphill portions.
  • destroy the downhills...however big or small they may be.

 Given that the first 5 miles were dominated by uphill portions, slow and steady survives the race :)

Leg 2 – 2012 Oakland Marathon Relay

My splits over the first 5 miles were all over the place and entirely dependent on the terrain, ranging from mid 11's to as fast as mid 8's. And then came that monster downhill...the BIG one...

THIS one...


Last year, I pissed myself going down this thing. This year I held it together. No peeing.

Just FLYING!

Flying for me, anyway.

Yes, it's a screaming downhill. I acknowledge that. Nonetheless, it was quite refreshing to see 6 as the first number in the split window for a half a mile :)

I tried to hang on once things leveled out. But. Just. Couldn't. Quite. Do. It. Was I surprised? Absolutely surprised to run down that hill as fast as I did and absolutely NOT surprised that I slowed down dramatically upon hitting the flats. My Leg 3 receiver was fantastically ready to go and saw me before I saw her...even though she was wearing a neon yellow jacket! I gave her the strap, and away she went!

I was done.

Time: 1:03
Distance: 6.6 miles

I am not going to go on and on about how hard I found this because there were folks running alongside of me who had to keep on going...for another 14 miles. They are total rockstars, each and every one of them. The full marathon in Oakland is a toughie...not what one would call a "BQ course."

The takeaway from this race for me is huge, though...

Hip? Solid. Fitness? Sucky. Desire to run? Sky-high!

And that, my friends, is a winning combination. Having a body that (at the moment) works and a desire to work it can change the fitness component. I just need the right approach. I think I'm on the right track.

38 comments:

  1. Glad you had a great run! Sometimes you just need to run without worrying about time :)

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  2. Yay! Congrats, girl!! You did great! Chocolate cake for the win! ;)

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  3. Woo-hoo! Great job. Maybe chocolate cake will become a new pre-race food. :)

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  4. Great run, esp if you haven't been able to train much! I would love to have chocolate cake as my pre-race food...it's a carbo-load, right???

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  5. I think chocolate cake sounds great before a race! And it's better than plenty of dinners I've eaten pre-race. The marathon following a dinner of hot wings and Malbec was...interesting.

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  6. it is all about the choc cake dinner...clearly...!!!!
    I am so happy to read this post!
    you did GREAT
    of the 3 things on your report
    fitness is the easiest to fix
    you ARE on the right track
    for sure

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  7. That's a nice post. Made me laugh about the monster downhill. That was a beotch of a slope. I ran the full 2 years Ina row, but not this year. I missed running in my former hometown. Your post makes me want to sign up for next year. Congratulations on your finish!

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  8. the hip held out...Bravo ;)
    I love the cake...love, love, love the fact that you peed your pants on that hill last year...I can't run anymore, at all, without completly saturating myself...and it's quite stinky when mixed with sweat btw!
    you are on your way back...i think that is an excellent time for 6.6 miles...just excellent!

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  9. Chocolate cake for dinner? I'm moving in stat! :) Well, I'm sure it was just all quick carb loading,.

    I am very impressed with your time. For averaging 20 miles in the past two months and those killer hills. You are awesome, girl and I am very proud of your valiant performance!

    Your desire to run though, that's what I'm high-fiving and smiling the biggest today for you. No aches and pains and ready to run? Yes!!!!!

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  10. You did great! How awesome that your hip felt good too. Hopefully you are still grinning from ear to ear. Well done!

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  11. hip solid!!! that is the best best news. I forgot to tell you, that your daughter in her chocolate cake fest is actually the much more gorgeous version of myself as a kid, not a dead ringer. She's so striking!

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  12. Congrats! I'm totally down with chocolate cake for dinner. :)

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  13. Great job today! Chocolate cake for dinner sounds like a winner to me.

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  14. So pleased for you having such a good day. Very solid performance and absolutely perfect attitude!

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  15. Nice job! I have found cake to be excellent pre race fuel!

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  16. Nice job! Best part of the post was reading "hip=solid"...things are healing! yippee!

    Chocolate cake for dinner - yum...

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  17. You're so awesome! Cake for Dinner? Ummm...yes please!!

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  18. Can you be my mom too? Chocolate cake the night before a race sounds like the perfect carb up dinner!

    Great job on the race, nice pace for the hills!

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  19. Nice work! Sounds like you might find yourself in more relays in the future! Gotta say that relay people must really throw off the people doing the full marathon, because all of a sudden at an exchange point you have a person next to you running super fast, lol

    And no Hunger Games, NCAA bball or Idol? Wow that eliminates my whole post, haha

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    Replies
    1. It just makes me a dork, I think :P

      And yeah, I know it was distracting for some of the full runners. We were all supposed to have little signs on our backs saying either 'relay' or 'full'...but I didn't get one in my packet. I almost made one at home but then just bagged it. There were a lot of relay runners faster than I was...they blew by me and were distracting to me! LOL

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  20. Great job, and so glad the pain wasn't there!

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  21. YAY!!! LOVE hearing that things are going in the right direction! Great job!

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  22. Ok first, Bill Cosby tells us that cake has all the needed ingredients so you did well! Second, YOU ROCK! Great, great job!!!!

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    Replies
    1. "Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!" I love that sketch! "It has wheat, and eggs, and milk..."

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  23. YAY! So glad you had a good run. That was an insane hill!!

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  24. great job. See, you smashed those hills. Now you have a year to prepare for the whole whammy. Congrats and great to meet you.

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    Replies
    1. Nice meeting you too! You are such a badass for doing the whole...I mean it!

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  25. Great job! Glad you survived and felt good physically. The fitness level you can regain as long as your body cooperates. Way to not pee yourself on the big downhill, my husband laughs when I say that I pee myself sometimes (as if I'm joking) it's an annoying perk of birthing people.

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    1. I think my 3-month long taper helped ;-) And the peeing thing... a "perk"...interesting choice of words :)

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  26. freaking love it!
    YAY for flying!
    YAy for not pissing yourself!

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    1. Thought of you in the last 1/2 mile when I saw a giant sign...YOU'VE GOT THIS! they forgot the "freakin'" :) Dry pants are always nice ;-)

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  27. You sound positive about the whole experience. Dig it. And now you can go tell the foosball table at the gym to go suck it, right?

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  28. Yay! I love the positive attitude and I'm so glad you didn't pee yourself :)

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  29. Congrats!!! Must have been the chocolate cake. All those hill pictures you've been posting have scared the crap out of me. They make me want to run in Kansas where there are no hills.

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  30. Job well done! So happy to hear the hip is solid! Look at you go girl, no sooner do you get the "go-ahead" that you're going ahead!

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