Spur of the moment 12k - Bridge to Bridge Run

Well, I am currently recovering from my 12k (7.46 miles) run this morning. It was good training for the Nike in two weeks (eek.. two weeks!!). So, I wasn't planning to do this run until Thursday I think. I was driving home from work and heard an ad for the Bridge to Bridge, to support the Special Olympics. I thought, "what a perfect training run." Unfortunately Becca wasn't able to join me, but I was joined by Vinay (who ran past me in the first mile) and Maeve and Caroline who were perfect cheerleaders.

We arrived at about 8am to register, drink copious amounts of water, use the port-a -potty, and stretch before the race.

Ok, so don't ever underestimate the joy of a good poop before taking off on a long run. Really it is essential and if you can't go, it can really screw things up out there! Lucky for me I have been eating lots of green veggies and good fiber which passes through very well. Actually, I had a beautiful, very healthy dinner at Allyssa & Andy's last night and it was a perfect pre-race meal with a balance of carbs and protein. And I controlled myself with the wine.

I drank a ton of water. I had to pee a couple times before we started and I had to pee the first 4 miles of the race. This is probably not the best tactic. It's good to hydrate the entire week before a race and some in the morning of. But, I think in the future I will bring my water bottle as I have been during training. Today I thought I would try something new: a race belt with a pocket for gels and my phone and two little bottles for water, gel or sport drink. I used the later. This wasn't a good plan, so it's good I tested it out. It was bouncing around too much which was really bugging me. Also, I was really thirsty (Did I mention how freakin' hot it was out there?! It was blazing which must have something to do with how thirsty I got.) and the sport drink wasn't cutting it. I was also unable to eat a gel or shot block because I didn't have enough water to wash it down. At the Nike I will bring my hand held water bottle with water only and try to go pee right before the start.

VInay and I took the time to stretch and warm up with the group before the start. It is always good to do and I am delinquent during most of my training runs. I am glad I took the time. I need to remember to stretch and warm up a bit in 2 weeks.

The route was good and flat: along the Embarcadero at the Bay Bridge, through Fisherman's Warf, Aquatic Park, up a short steep hill that comes out just above Fort Mason, then along the Marina and out almost to the edge of the water and finally up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Then the course tracks back to a street right by the Sports Basement and up, up, up a hill to the finish line. The last hills were killer. I would have been happier if I had known ahead of time exactly how far it was going to be to the finish line. At one point I thought I was almost there and then the course turned and I actually had another 70 yards or so to go. Once I was finally in the chutes at the finish line I was behind a bunch of people who suddenly stopped. I wanted to really run across the finish line, but they were definitely in my way.

The clock read 1:32:08 when I crossed the finish line. That makes my pace about 12:20 minutes per mile. If I subtract the 4 minutes I spent in the bathroom, it would have been 11:48/mile. I was happy with that pace. I was working toward a 12 minute mile or less, so I pretty much hit it. Now, the trick is to be able to do something similar in two weeks... with an added 6 miles!! I am feeling confident.

Thanks everyone for all of your incredible support! I really appreciate it!
HAPPY TRAINING!