A Last Minute 7k

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October 8th, 2008

After finishing my two triathlons, I had planned on taking a break for awhile….but that didn’t last very long.  At the last minute, I decided to run in the Bridge to Bridge 7k again this year.  The race was on Sunday morning and I registered for the race that morning.  The race starts at the Ferry Building and goes along the Embarcadero through Fisherman’s Wharf, Aquatic Park, Fort Mason, the marina, and Crissy Field then finishes in the Presidio.  It is a really fun race, probably one of my favorite runs.

Results.  I beat my time from last year by over 4 minutes!  My pace was 7:35/mile, which is probably the fastest I’ve run since high school. See the Full Results

2 Triathlons in 2 Weeks

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October 3rd, 2008

I competed in triathlons the past two Sundays.  First was the Sentinel Triathlon – an Olympic distance tri in Santa Cruz, CA on September 21st.  Then I did the Granite Bay Sprint Triathlon with Basile last weekend.  Both races went well and now I am looking forward to taking a break and getting some rest.

Sentinel Triathlon

The Course.  1.5km Swim, 40km Bike, 10km Run.  The swim is in the ocean and goes around the Santa Cruz municipal wharf. When you get out of the water, you run up a short hill and across the street to the bike transition area.  The bike route is basically just an out-and-back on Highway 1.  Unfortunately, the road is not closed to traffic, but they do a good job of regulating the traffic and keeping it safe for the bikers.  Finally, the run is an out-and-back along the coast.  There are beautiful views of the cliffs and the ocean the whole way.  Overall, the course was surprisingly flat and very scenic.  I would definitely recommend it.  The only downsides were that the bike course is not closed (i.e. on Highway 1, you have to share the road with cars), which is not ideal for a race, and one part of the bike is ridiculously bumpy (although they said this would be re-paved by next year).

The Race. For some reason, they decided to have the Clydesdales start last (yes, despite having lost over 20 lbs this year, I am still in the heavyweight/fat-ass division).  So this meant that I got to spend most of the race passing people, which is pretty fun.  Ok, to be honest, I passed a ton of people on the bike but I was usually the one getting passed on the run.  But back to the beginning – the swim.  It was pretty cold at the start and I was wearing my full wetsuit (although there were a few people going without).  At the end of the wharf, there were a bunch of sea lions that were barking at us as we went by.  I also saw a seal swimming about 10 feet in front of me as I came around the pier.  The bike was my best event as usual; I ended up averaging almost 22mph.  The run was a little tough, but I was surprised to find out that I had made it in about 8 minute miles.

Results.  I was pretty shocked by my time; I did way better than I had expected.  I beat my time from the Wildflower tri by 20 minutes!!  Of course, this course was much flatter and therefore I think the times in general were much faster for this one. Full Results (Use ‘Find Athlete’ – Bib #119)

Granite Bay Triathlon

The Course.  .75mi Swim, 13mi Bike, 5mi Run.  Same course as last year, although this year the water level had dropped even further so the run from the water to the bike transition area was 3/4 mile up the beach.

The Race.  For the swim I used a wetsuit this year.  The water was warm and it was hot out, but I still wanted to wear it for the buoyancy.  After getting out of the water, I briefly tried running in flip-flops before deciding to just run up the beach barefoot instead (.75 mi!).  The bike went well, although I was a bit surprised that my time was so similar to last year’s…maybe partially due to the longer run up the beach.  The last leg was the run.  This is where the race suddenly got very, very difficult.  The main problem was the heat – it was about 90 degrees by the time I started the run.  The run course seemed to go on forever and seemed to have more hills than I remembered from last year.  After walking up a few of the hills, I finally made it to the finish line.

Results. I ended up beating my time from last year by 4 minutes.  I know I can do better, but given the circumstances, I was happy with it.  Overall Results :: Division Results