Yesterday I was picked up at 8am by Carolyn and Danielle and we all drove to Half Moon bay for our Team in Training long Saturday run. It was pretty nice in the morning leaving Palo Alto, so I assumed it would be about the same, but slightly cooler and more wind. We made our way through the beautiful landscape and passed numerous greenhouses, pony rides, berry farms and finally to the destination next to a pier and a group of restaurants.
I had already known that I would be a little late in starting my run, my group was starting at 8:45 and we arrived at around 8:51. I was expecting to catch up with the group along the 14 mile course, so when I saw my group just leaving as I was pulling up I frantically tried to get all my stuff together and get going. It took me about 5 minutes, and they I had to get directions for where to join the group.
I began the run and after about half a mile made a wrong turn, it figures, I was pretty tired after getting about 6.5 hours of sleep and kind of frantic to get going. I just simply missed the arrows (wouldn’t be the last time) to turn right. It wasn’t a big deal, I ran along a street that was kind of run down and with 10 more years of aging would look abandoned.
I figured I had gone down the wrong road so I went back to the last flour marking and then saw the arrow pointing to the right. Continuing on, I saw a couple familiar faces and just decided to run with them, after asking I found there were about 2 miles that were missed by cutting in with them. I talked with a couple people, going at approximately 9:45 pace, which is close to what I want for the marathon.
At this point we were on a paved road with the Pacific Ocean on the right enjoying the roughly 65 degree weather and slight breeze. We moseyed along for a while until some slight turns and changes of surface, mainly on pavement and dirt trails. It was excellent having people to talk to and a beautiful view, helping dull out the pain I would experience for about 10 minutes toward the beginning of the run and later on. I had some sort of side cramp which was pretty annoying and painful. I figured that if running was still possible it couldn’t be too bad. It was interesting, as soon as I mentioned the pain to the person I was running with, it subsided and did not return for the rest of the run.
There were a lot of people out on the beach and nearby, surfing, walking dogs, biking, running, horseback riding, and various other activities. During the course of the run we saw many of the other Team in Training runners and often the words “Go Team; Good Job; Keep it up; Hey” or merely a smile were exchanged. It really is an incredible group of people and organization. We passed the numerous water stations and talked with the mentors, captains, volunteers and other participants at the stops, filling up on pretzels, water, sports drinks, gummy bears and energy.
During many parts of the run I found myself alone, which I really enjoy at some points, being able to focus on my breathing and zoning out, just step, step, step, step, breathe, step, step, step, step, exhale, or something like that. I’m still trying to figure out the breathing techniques without depleting myself of necessary oxygen. I walk every once in a while to either take a drink or eat something, it’s nice that my water belt easily spins around my body so that I can take and put back the bottle with ease. At the turnaround point, I failed to trust my own intuition. We had been running for a little over an hour and I figured we would be turning around soon, but then I saw the X and just continued running, not sure if it was the group running 10 miles, or if there were another one for the 14 mile group. Luckily there was a fork in the road which made me stop and look for chalk, I had 2 choices, a bridge or a forest looking adventure. Then one of the people yelled for me to turn around, because I had missed the clearly marked X. As I mentioned before, I was tired.
On my way back I kept saying those same phrases and smiling at people telling them there was only a little bit further until the turnaround point. I continued on for about 3 miles and then decided it was time to make up my 2 miles I had missed at the beginning. I turned around and ran for 9 minutes, constantly being bombarded with odd looks and questioning for why I was going the wrong way when I was so close to finishing. I had expected the questions so I just told everybody that I had 2 miles to make up for being late. This is about the point where my legs wanted to rest and chaffing began on my arms. Believe me when I tell you this, chaffing really, really sucks. I stopped at the next bathroom and took off my shirt hoping that it would do some good, it made the pain drop from about an 8.5 to 7 on the 1-10 scale. It was nice though, running with a gentle breeze with the Pacific Ocean on my left. Now that I had turned around and done my last 2 miles, I was basically one of the last people to finish up and pretty much saw nobody I knew for the last 2-3 miles.
Finally I came back to the point where I could see the basic area where we were meeting and to my left were a bunch of the team in the really cold water being iced down for recovery. I wanted to run over there and just jump in knowing that it would alleviate much of the pain during the course of the rest of the day and the following days. I resisted the urge and finished the last ½ mile. I stretched and then gathered my belongings and headed over to the water and simply couldn’t wait to get in. Right as I got over there the last people were getting out, so I was left in the Pacific Ocean by myself, counting down the 10 minutes in solitude, minutes go VERY slow in near freezing water without conversation or other stimuli. I basically meditated and kept my mind on a friend who recently passed. This was nice because I hadn’t been thinking about it too much as of late, and owed it to her.
I finished up my 10 long minutes of freezing water and gathered my stuff and headed over to the washing off station and bathroom to get into warm clothes and head back to where Carolyn and Danielle were located. We decided to head back and forego the breakfast with the rest of the team. I’m sure it was very nice, the day was perfect and the team is always in great spirits.
I got home and drank a bunch of water, ate a bit and then took a nap. The rest of the day was spent at the little league field, at dinner, and out at a bar for a short while until I was about to pass out and my sister took me home. I got ready for bed and immediately fell asleep. In all it was one of the most fulfilling days I can remember, and longest. 7am – 12:30 with 1 hour of sleep in the middle, 14 miles of running, freezing water, perfect days in Half Moon Bay and Palo Alto, a legitimate baseball stat builder game (sorry Lions 12-0), an excellent dinner, and some time with family and friends.
In all, it was very depleting but incredible.
And that was my Saturday
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