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Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003)
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Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003) - Run
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Comments: Finally, we are almost ready to start - we all gather under the overpass - a nice rain shelter as it was sprinkling a bit and why get wet if you don't have to? After about 10 years, I see heads moving ahead of me... we start moving too, and we are off! I am feeling really good - after a clif bar breakfast (traditional pre-race meal) a good night's sleep, and most importantly, no working out for 3 days, I am ready to go. I start my jog - and am feeling good as I am actually keeping up with a few people and passing a few race walkers. As I pass one group of ladies I hear one of them say "It'll be so much nicer when it clears out and all these runners get out of the way" - which leads to the question in my mind why (if she doesn't want to deal with the runners in the beginning) she started right up at the front? Just wondering. Interestingly, slow joggers were bearing right to let faster people by, but the race walkers were not moving over at all - so it made for a definitely congested start. I was not trying to go fast (like I could anyway) just trying to settle in at "training" pace. This is the farthest I have ever run in my entire life - so don't want to run out of gas at mile 10 or something. (Yes folks, I was just racing to finish) I am feeling pretty good for the first mile and then see the 1 mile marker and hit my watch for the split - hey! 13:20! that is great! I congratulate myself on going faster than I thought I was until I see the REAL 1 Mile marker w/ a volunteer calling out split times... oh well, real 1 mile pace at 14:20. Most of the rest of the race was around this pace - I know this is abysmally slow compared to most people on this board - but this is definitely good for me. In fact, an improvement, as I think I was doing 16 minute miles at the beginning of this year. The race continued, mostly level w/ a couple of not too bad hills. The worst thing was that the pavement was very uneven so you had to pay a lot of attention so you did not trip over your own feet. On the way out, it is also mostly gradually uphill, so when you are coming back, it's kinda nice as you are heading in a downhill direction most of the time. Also, a gorgeous location, out in the middle of the redwood forest - huge trees, ferns, flowers, just a great place to be. And, yes, it rained, but who cared it was part of being in the forest. Turn around was at 6.5 miles - aid station at 6 miles - the .5 to the turnaround seemed to take forever! Where the heck was it?? Finally found the turn around and then - hey, just gotta get back to the start! The last 3 miles I was definitely tired and slowing down, the last mile was a killer, it felt like my legs were going to fall off. Every inch was hurting below the waist for the last mile. I kept thinking I should be pushing it harder, but then was afraid my muscles would go into a major cramp or something and I wouldn't be able to finish. Anyway, finally got to the end (waited for a couple of fast marathoners to go ahead to the finish line) and then it was my turn, I did it! What a feeling! What would you do differently?: Nothing  Post race
Warm down: I hobbled down to where they took the chip off, and then someone put a finishers medal over my head, wow, that was cool. I was supposed to meet my sister and friend at the end of the race (they finished before I did) but didn't see them anywhere - so very slowly hobbled to where the food was, and pigged out on orange slices - as that was the only thing that looked remotely appealing - I was dealing with a bit of post race cramping - so nothing real solid was looking too good. Had a lot of people congratulate me on finishing, including one very cute guy w/ cool sunglasses - obviously my brain was still fried as I did not even get his name. Did some stretching and so on, and finally found my sister, and we left. Also, nothing feels better than putting on dry clothes when everything you are wearing is soaking wet. The most challenging part of the weekend was getting home, as 101 southbound was closed due to a landslide, which meant a 4 hour detour - doubling our ride time home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Results - Time: 3:16:08 - I wanted to finish in under 3:15, almost made it, oh well - I know I lost that minute in the last mile. Weight. Event comments: Beautiful venue - awesome location. Last updated: 2005-07-03 12:00 AM
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 2005-07-03 10:48 AM |
Elite  3020   Bay Area, CA |  Subject: Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003) |
| 2005-07-04 6:09 AM in reply to: #189237 |
Master 1557  Maine | Subject: RE: Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003) It's always fun to look back and get some perspective on what you've learned and gained in experience since then... Couldn't get home because of a landslide - yikes! That's the nice thing about the east coast - we had the good sense to build it out of rocks! |
| 2005-07-04 3:31 PM in reply to: #189237 |
Elite 3020 Bay Area, CA | Subject: RE: Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003) Yeah, well out here in the west, we'd rather have that sense of adventure...  |
| 2005-07-06 7:51 PM in reply to: #189237 |
Extreme Veteran 557 | Subject: RE: Ave of the Giants (old RR from 2003) That was great to read, and it makes me really look forward to our virtual training and race in January! |
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United States
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 716/855
Age Group = NA
Age Group Rank = 64/79
This was my first 1/2 Marathon.
I, my sister, and a friend head up to Northern California on Saturday. My preference would have been to go up Friday night, so we could spend Saturday sightseeing and enjoying the redwood forest but it was not to be. On the other hand, it rained like demons on Saturday so maybe a good thing we were in the car.
We leave San Francisco about 12:00 and make our way north, through reams of traffic in SF, on and off torrential downpours driving up 101 to finally arrive at our motel - a last minute change from our original stay in Eureka netted us a very recently converted to non-smoking room in Garberville - so instead of being 40 miles north of the race, we are now 40 miles south, which did matter to our commute time. However, as beggars can't be choosers, the room was ummm... an experience, no matter, we then all used the exciting pre-race strategy of conserving our energy by taking a nap. Waking up just in time, we head up, get our registration packets (consisting of the chip) and then venture into Weott to find the Spaghetti feed - as we were all still a bit out of it from the nap, it was a good thing they were still serving, as none of us had a lot of brainpower to find other food venues.
We arrive at the race site in good time and sit in the car for a bit, as we are all deciding on our "race clothing" strategy - burning questions, will it really start raining? and do I care? Finally, we have dressed, discussed what everyone else is wearing (what does that person in the tank top and shorts know that we don't?) and make our way gingerly through the mud/rocks to the beginning of the race. The first thing we do is get in line for the porta potties - as it is always good strategy to have that out of the way. After 1/2 hour, we go look at the shirts - they had sweatshirts - I wanted one, but like a doofus had left all money in the car - so oh well, have to be happy w/ just the T-shirt.