Since I am doing much more exercising this year, I am seriously considering doing the Bay to Breakers race and finally finishing this goal. It would be great to do it with my boys and enjoy both the challenge and the oddity of this classic San Francisco event!

The event is on May 19 and it should not be difficult to spend the weekend there and come back on Sunday night. I’m getting excited just thinking about it. :-D 1 month ago

I ran the 101st Zazzle Bay to Breakers 12K which is a race that goes from one side of San Francisco to the other on May 20, 2012. This was probably the most fun race that I have run so far. It’s kind of hard to describe it purely as a “race” because although there were some serious runners, many people doing it were walking it without actually finishing and were just there to have a good time. Many of the runners and walkers were in costume, and it seemed like a strange combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras.

My goal was to finish the race in an hour, but I didn’t quite make it. There are a couple of reasons for that. One was being tired. I think I must have gotten a maximum of two hours of sleep the night before the race. I stayed in a crappy motel, which despite its crappiness still cost almost $200 per night, where the walls were so thin you could hear everything going on in the other rooms, the people partying on the street and the buses that seemed to run all night long. I also had a hard time getting to sleep just because I was excited to be doing this race. In addition to not getting enough sleep, my starting time was screwed up. Apparently, the timing chip attached to my bib didn’t register when I crossed the starting mat which I’m told can happen when a lot of people are crossing the starting mat at the same time and so my start time was defaulted to the gun time. The problem with that is that it probably took me at least a minute or possibly longer to cross the starting mat after the gun which means that my official time is longer than my real time. If I really did finish in just under an hour, which is possible, I guess I’ll never know. Anyway, not making my time didn’t detract much from the fun of the event.

Riding the Muni, one of the subway systems in San Francisco, at 6 AM from where I was staying in the Castro district to the Embarcadero where the race was starting was an interesting experience. The train was packed with people wearing running clothes and costumes of various sorts. Even ignoring the people with costumes, I have to admit that people do look kind of silly wearing running clothes out of context, especially when so many of them are together at once. Someone commented about the Five Fingers shoes I was wearing, and I said that since I’ve been using them I can’t go back to any others. Anyway, I made it to the starting corrals about twenty minutes before the 7 AM start of the race. I was in Corral A, which was closer to the start line and less crowded than subsequent corrals. The weather was clear and the temperature was comfortable, neither of which can be guaranteed in San Francisco at any time of year. The atmosphere was rather festive, and there were tortillas being thrown in the air. One landed near me, and I picked up and threw back into the crowd.

Once the race started, it took a good mile before I get reach an optimal pace because there were so many people. Then about two miles into the race there was a steep 11.5% grade incline over the Hayes Street Hill. Though I had been training running up hills over the past couple of months, this hill just about “killed” me. I think it was partly because I was so tired, and I had a hard time recovering to an optimal pace after this hill. At least, I made it over without walking, and I didn’t vomit like I saw one guy doing. It was mostly “smooth sailing” after that through Golden Gate Park and to the finish. Though I was somewhat closer to the “front of the pack” with the more serious runners, I still saw quite a few interesting things like people running as a group connected together like a centipede, people dressed in salmon costumes running “upstream” in the opposite direction against the crowd, various characters and lots of colorful outfits which I couldn’t tell exactly what they were trying to be. I didn’t wear a costume, just a colorful beanie if that counts…

Here’s how I did:

Overall: 1,726 out of 23,072
Men: 1,458 out of 11,272
M 30-39: 507 out of 3,246
Finish: 1:01:54 (hours:minutes:seconds)
Pace: 8:19 (minutes:seconds per mile) 11 months ago

...it was absolutely exhilerating. My training paid big dividend and I finished better than what I had expected. My official time is 1 hr 10 mins.

A few things I’ve learned that I’d like to share – please read my “how I did it” entry.

Cheers! 12 months ago

...I’m taking it easy this entire week, though I’m still doing my routine weight training.

But I don’t plan to run until race day. I want my legs to be fresh and ready to go that morning.

Well, wish me luck! Cheers~ 12 months ago

It’s my last run before race day on Sunday. Nothing out of the ordinary…it’s just like any other Sundays…so the race should be a run-of-mill for me. Not so worry so much about time yet as I know I can improve upon it. I trust that my training will pay off. Cheers~ 12 months ago

...although I’m not competing with the elites, I do want to improve myself.

For the most part, I can taper off my training in final week. But if I feel strong, I can continue my regiment. No need to load carbs unless I’m running a marathon or half marathon.

Also, additional training in the final week will NOT improve your fitness. If anything, you might injure yourself. Trust that you’ve done what you can to prepare.

Don’t introduce anything new into your usual routine. This might put undue stress on the body and affect your performance on race day.

Do check the weather ahead of time and gear up appropriately. Most importantly, visualize that you’ve already win.

I know I’ve prepared enough, I just wish to clock in less than 1.5 hrs. If I miss, I’ll have next year to improve upon. This is an amazing journey.

Here’s a good link to read…
http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=race_week_preparations_to_take_leading_up_to_your_race_day 12 months ago

...I was able to squeeze some personal time to go the distance. I haven’t ran more than 4 miles for at least two weeks, and was afraid I lost the stemina to do it.

Surprisingly, I still have the juice, though I felt a bit more tired than before. The race is 2 weeks away. I plan to run my regular 3-4 miles this week, and then do one long distance in the weekend, taking a full-week rest before race day, May 20th. Woohoo! 12 months ago

...I actually do look forward to this event. I know it’ll be a lot of fun…woohoo… 13 months ago

...I love the morning smell. How do I describe it? It smells like a flower bouquet mixed with morning fog and a little bit of garbage, that’s because today is garbage day in our neighborhood, lol.

But really, garbage smell aside, it’s really refreshing. I definitely smell spring in the air. And I love it! Cheers~ 13 months ago

...but I’ve only been running 4-5 miles 2-3 times a week. Yes, I admit, I got lazy or I got tired is more appropriate. I know I certainly can run it, it’s just I don’t feel as strong as I want.

A few nights ago, I felt really cold and my wife was sweating. Usually it’s the other way. I just feel really exhausted. I think what I need is rest, not exercise, I should just listen to my body. 13 months ago

...the starting lineup depends on your finish time. It’s divided into 5 categories. Those who are elite competitors, i.e. w/ finish time around 35 mins, would obviously go first. Next are those whose time is less than 59 mins. 75 mins come next and then 90 mins.

I think I’m qualified to do 75 mins, but just to be safe and I don’t want to get in the way of anyone, I registered for the 90 mins crowd. Can’t wait to get started, really!!! 13 months ago

I’ve looked forward to this date for 10 straight months. And now it’s almost here.

If you can run 12k [7.5 miles] in 45 minutes, you’re qualified to be a seeded & sub-seeded runner. Unfortunately, I’m still a way from this. My time is more like 75 minutes. But hey, this is my first year and my goal is just to run nonstop and complete the race. And 75 minutes is acceptable to me as a starter. Here’s the website if anyone is interested in the event. Cheers ~

http://zazzlebaytobreakers.com/ 13 months ago

...and trying to maintain the stemina…it’s getting a little harder now that our baby is here. But I’d be happy if I could run 2-3 times a week, with at least 1 run close to B-2-B distance. So far, I’m close to doing just that…cheers ~ 13 months ago

...what nicer way to spend a beautiful spring morning than enjoying a short run…cheers ~ 14 months ago

...so I headed out and went for 3…exhilerating!

Cheers ~ 14 months ago

...this sucks…I so want to run…you know what though, we DO need the rain. It hasn’t rain much this winter. So it’s a good thing…I guess I can do other exercises. Cheers ~ 14 months ago

...skipping in between days…but I’m still kicking it…hopefully, when our daughter borns, I’ll still have time to train…

Cheers ~ 14 months ago

... 14 months ago

...seem to up my endurance. I ran 8 miles yesterday and I didn’t feel quite as tired. But interval training is tough…but I’ll keep at it.

B-2-B is still at least 2 months away…but I’m all set…I know if I were to run it today, my time would likely be 1 hr 30 minutes. Question is if I want to improve on that time, which means more training. 15 months ago

...this is when you jog and then run really hard for a minute or two and then jog again. Not sure how that helps, but I sweated a lot…hahaha! 15 months ago

What an inspiration?! 15 months ago

I ran just 4 miles on Sat, but I did 5 yesterday. I could have gone another 2-3, but due to lack of time, I reluctantly scaled back. I look forward to run more this weekend. Woohoo ~ 15 months ago

I ran yesterday. When I left the house, it drizzled, but I said what the heck. About a mile in, oh shoot, it started to shower and I quickly turned around and ran home. It was actually fun running in the rain, I felt like a kid again! Woohoo ~ 16 months ago

...rest at least two days in between runs. When I ran this morning, my legs weren’t as strong because I ran 8 miles on Monday. I find that if I rest and let my muscle tissue repairs itself, I tend to do better in the next run. I think I’ll make this adjustment, or at least do smaller runs in between my long runs in the weekends.

Cheers ~ 16 months ago

...I paid much less attention about my pace. I just went easy as I normally did. And you know what, it was much more enjoyable and I ran much further without getting too exhausted. Not sure if it was because I rested the last couple days. In any case, I think I’ll just keep this pace for now.

Perhaps next year, I can embark on a new goal to up my pace. As of today, I’m happy with an hour and 15 minutes for 7.5 miles.

Cheers ~ 16 months ago

I picked up my pace. I’ve been running at 10 minute per mile, but I wanted to up that. At my current pace, it’ll take me about 75 minutes to finish B-2-B. I want to get it down to an hour, which means I have to run at 8 minute per mile.

It’s quite tough. At this new pace, I was exhausted after 3 miles. I know I can do this if I train hard enough, but I’m not sure if I want to sacrifice that much time, especially when the baby is due soon. Hmmm… 16 months ago