Survived. Barely.
Finished the Lake Tahoe Marathon in about 3:21, and apparently as the 7th male runner. As happy as I might be with the result, I am never coming back here again! I don't think I'll catch my breath until I get back to sea level.
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Finished the Lake Tahoe Marathon in about 3:21, and apparently as the 7th male runner. As happy as I might be with the result, I am never coming back here again! I don't think I'll catch my breath until I get back to sea level.
So I'm in South Lake Tahoe, resting up for the marathon tomorrow and couldn't resist blogging from my cell phone. Technology's come pretty far. I just hope I don't get carpal tunnel from this.
Things aren't working out so great with the altitude. I went for a 5-miler yesterday morning and could definitely tell the difference. What really scared me was whenever I stopped (e.g. at a traffic light) I'd feel light-headed and start to breathe very hard. The 2.5 miles this morning were better comparatively, although I made sure to run very slowly.
I also happened to drive the marathon course yesterday, and between the altitude and the terrain... this one's going to hurt.
And speaking of hurting, I randomly found myself running into (and with) people doing the first leg of the Tahoe Triple yesterday. That's three marathons in three days! The one guy I talked to looked to be in such bad shape I figured they were close to the finish... But they were only on mile 16! I can only imagine what he'll look like by the end of the race tomorrow.
That's my slogan for this weekend, because I am running in the San Francisco Race for the Cure. In case you live on the moon (or, I suppose, outside of the USA), these are races put on by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization that does a lot of things, but is centered around funding breast cancer research and supporting people who are affected by it.
I've never really understood how and why an athletic event is a reason to donate money to a charity, but these races are big money-raising events. I think it would be more fun if you could play a game of chicken with the donation. For example, you promise to donate x amount if a runner comes in under 25 minutes, x + $10 if the runner's under 23 minutes etc.
Alas, you can only pay set amounts. If you're in need of some good karma, I encourage you to make a donation from my fundraising page or from the main page directly. I believe it's a worthy cause.
I feel a little wary about racing a 5K exactly six days before I am supposed to run a marathon, but I've only ever done one and I feel the need to better my PR over this distance. Barring disaster, I will, especially since my tapering has me feeling extremely fresh. In a couple of days, I'll be at the bouncing-off-the-walls, jumpy legs NEED TO RUN phase... but right now, I am perfect.
After missing the boat on getting myself registered for the Berlin marathon, I considered my options. The idea was to put all my hard training (60-70 mile weeks) to use and find a fast, flat course to try and go sub-3 hours. Toronto seemed like a good option. Sacramento is close by and has a little event going. I even considered going to Corning, NY -- and I live in California.
But nothing really appealed. Running a fast time lost all its luster once Berlin went out the window. And the online reviews for Toronto and Sacramento ranged from, at best, boring, to, at worst, poorly organized. So four Sundays before my target race day, I figured 'f&%k it' and signed up for...
The Lake Tahoe Marathon that is run at about 7,000ft above sea level. The Lake Tahoe Marathon that is most certainly not flat. The Lake Tahoe Marathon that has a climb dubbed "The Hill from Hell".
Life is too short to run crappy races. Once I stopped fretting about blowing my chance at Berlin I realized I didn't actually care about besting my PR, or having a "2" in front of my marathon time (after all, what if an hour had 62 minutes? I'd already be a sub-3 hour marathoner!)
The runs that resonate with me aren't the ones where I PR'd. The memories that refuse to fade include my painful ascent of Mount Diablo, to a stunning view of the Bay Area. The wind blowing in off the ocean on Highway One while running the Big Sur Marathon. Having the red suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge on either side of me climbing into the fog, then reappearing and descending again, in the San Francisco Marathon.
Who wants to run down a barren highway in downtown Toronto instead?
So I am registered, and I feel pretty excited about this one. I don't know how I'll handle the altitude, but there's not much I can do about it. I am not about to move to the Alps so I can acclimate. I will drive up to Tahoe two days early though, so I don't completely shock my system.