Walnut Creek Half Marathon finish

 Official time: 1:55:11

Thanksgiving, cold-weather training, and Half-Marathon PR

After a short run in 24*F weather

The holidays are always such a busy time. Even though it is the start of a hectic season, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because its focus is on family, spending time together and appreciating all of the blessings in our lives. Especially with the knowledge that so many families are missing loved ones at this time of year, I am especially grateful that my parents and parents-in-law, brother and brother-in-law, my husband, myself and especially my daughters are all healthy.

This year we were in northern Indiana for Thanksgiving, where it was in the 20s and 30s. Having been born in Buffalo, NY, I rather like the cold, as long as I'm appropriately dressed. It was 24*F on Sunday, Nov. 24 when I went out for a run around my in-laws' neighborhood. With my face completely covered (by yellow instead of black, much less frightening!) and several layers on top, I was relatively comfortable. It was good preparation for our return to Northern California, where we've had some really cold weather (20s and 30s!) over the past 2 weeks! Normally, we are pretty spoiled with temperatures in the 40s and 50s throughout the winter, so it has been good to remind myself what all of the east-coasters do all winter long to train for Boston!

34*F in San Rafael on 12/8/13

Yesterday my husband and I had the rare privilege of running the same race, the Walnut Creek Half Marathon. Our girls stayed with friends overnight so we could stay at the Marriott in Walnut Creek and not have to leave home before 5am. We picked up our bibs at the Elite Sports Authority and I bought a Batman shirt to run the race in - the story of SF Batkid has inspired so much goodwill (not to mention increasing the country's awareness of childhood cancers); I wanted to run this race with Miles in mind and maybe bring a smile to some of the supporters on the course.

We ate at Denny's (oatmeal, and egg-white omelet and wheat toast for me) and bought some throw-away sweats at Walmart since temperatures were predicted to be 32*F at the start. The Marriott was about a mile or so from the start, so after a donut and some coffee in our room, we hopped on a shuttle to Civic Park and arrived at about 6:35. There was hardly anyone there yet, which was odd given the 7am start time, but I was happy not to have to wait too long for the port-a-potties. Just before the start I took off my Walmart sweats and draped them over a parking meter, with the thought of possibly retrieving them later. A woman in the same start area asked if I was going to leave them there, and mentioned wanting to leave her gloves to pick up later. I asked her what her target finish time was and when she replied 1:55, I said "Oh, great, mine, too - why don't you tuck the gloves into my sweatshirt so they won't get blown away or taken. Then hopefully we'll finish around the same time and you can pick them up!" A minute later, a local pastor led us in prayer, and then the race began.

I started just behind the 1:50 pace group but didn't try to keep up with them, knowing their pace would not be sustainable for me. My goal was to stay between 8:40 and 8:50 per mile on the flat portions of the course, and having done the 9-mile race at 8:35s a couple of weeks ago, I felt pretty confident that I could achieve that. I knew there were a couple of hills, including a great big one, but after Tiburon even the hills didn't scare me. I knew they'd slow me down, but I knew I'd be able to get up them without walking!

The first few miles, through downtown Walnut Creek, were flat, and it seemed like there were lots of people running with me.  At mile 5 there was a little hill, and a few of the runners around me made comments like "That can't be the only hill." and "Oh, there's a much bigger one coming up!" By then the crowds had thinned a bit; we had left downtown, passed some residential areas on Cowell, and turned right onto Ygnacio Valley Road. Running up the hill, through some of Walnut Creek's beautiful open space, the line of runners was almost single file. The hill crested at a summit of 476 feet, in the Lime Ridge Open Space, surrounded by chaparral. It was beautiful!



Even though the ascent was difficult, I still felt strong, and, knowing there were no more hills to come, I let myself fly down the hill, which felt great! I passed runner after runner on the downhill and continuing through mile 10. I was a little disappointed that I started to feel tired around mile 11, and slowed down quite a bit the last mile, but about half of that last mile was on a trail instead of road, and I'm always a little ginger-footed on trails. It was narrow, windy and the ground was uneven but frozen, so I was a little tentative. It was a cute path through a park. Just before the finish, there was a tiny hill up to a pedestrian overcrossing, and Edward was cheering me on as I crossed the bridge. "It's a race!" he reminded me, helping me kick it in for the last tenth of a mile to meet my goal of 1:55 (plus a few seconds), a new personal record! (My previous best was 1:57:21 in August 2012, on a flat course.) I felt like a champion.

The snacks after the finish were plentiful, but I couldn't eat anything except an orange slice. I was tired! Happily, when we reached the start, my pink sweatshirt was still sitting on the parking meter where I'd left it, with my sweatpants and the other runner's black gloves underneath. (I was a little sad that the other runner hadn't met her goal and we weren't at the finish at the same time, but happy to have my sweats back!) I left her gloves on the meter and put my warm sweats on for the walk to find a shuttle bus. It had only warmed up a few degrees, so I was grateful for the sweats!

With no shuttles in sight, we walked back to the Marriott. A few minutes into the walk, for the first time ever, I had a really bad cramp in my right leg, and couldn't put weight on it for a minute. I stretched it out, tried to walk it off and was able to resume the slow trek back to the hotel. We showered and enjoyed a buffet breakfast before heading back to San Rafael to pick up the girls. I'm pretty sore today and did not run, but will go out for a mile or two tomorrow.

No official photos from the race yet, but I'll post when they are available.

Daffodils

Just heard about this amazing project by volunteers, planting daffodil bulbs all along the Boston Marathon route:


Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston
 
http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/23924481/2013/11/09/organizers-plant-daffodils-along-boston-marathon-route

That is sure to bring some tears on race day!

Races #91 and 92

Two weeks ago (on Sunday, November 3), race #91 for me was the inaugural running of the Tiburon Half Marathon. It was my first half since the Seaside Half Marathon in February, and I was nervous. Even though I run along the Tiburon waterfront frequently and am used to the wind, I had never run out along the Strawberry peninsula.

At right is a photo taken from downtown Tiburon at dusk, with Angel Island and the San Francisco skyline visible. If you've never been to Tiburon, it is absolutely worth a visit, especially in the fall.


The half marathon course is gorgeous - easily the most beautiful half marathon course I've run - but has some killer hills! Having driven the course on Saturday, I knew I'd have to take it pretty easy in order not to die on the last half of the race. So I kept about a 9:30-9:40 pace, which is pretty much where I run my easy training runs, for the first 5 miles. Then miles 6-9 were the hills, on average about 110-120 feet of elevation gain over each mile, and I was so proud not to have walked at all. Even though sometimes my paces were reading 13+ minutes per mile on the uphill, I managed to average under a 10:00 pace throughout miles 6-9. By mile 10 I knew it was downhill to the finish, so I was able to get back under 9:30 for miles 10 & 11,  then at 8:45-8:55 for miles 12 & 13, and 7:46 for the last tenth of a mile. I was thrilled to have negative splits, especially given that the hills are all in the last half. It was a great race and I hope to do it again next fall!

Today, race #92 was the DSE Double Lake Merced 9-mile race. I used to run the DSE Summer Series around Lake Merced just about every week, so the course is really familiar to me, and I was looking forward to it. It was foggy in San Rafael when I left, so I was quite surprised to find it gorgeous and sunny in San Francisco. I was feeling pretty good, decided to try to run at an 8:30-8:45 pace, finished in 1:17:08, and was surprised to find I was the 2nd female finisher! (Now who knows, maybe only 5 females ran the Double today... but I'm happy anyway!)

Tomorrow I'm at UC Davis for the day, and Maggie's track workout is in the dark at Tam High, so I'm not sure when I'll get a run in. I've been averaging about 30 miles per week for the past month or so, running 3-5 miles five days a week and 6-10 on the sixth day. Tuesdays are my day off, because typically that's the longest surgery day for me. It's harder to get a run in after work now that it's dark by 5pm! I may have to start doing some treadmill miles. It beats getting up early when it's 45*F!!

Today's Tribute: Karen Lynch

Four years ago yesterday, my friend Karen underwent a mastectomy for treatment of breast cancer. Although the surgeons were confident that they had been able to render her cancer-free, she nonetheless endured months of radiation treatments and chemotherapy, to ensure that no single cancer cell remained.

From the moment she was diagnosed, all through her treatment, and into the years following, Karen has been an inspiration to everyone around her. She faced cancer with courage, wit and grace. I think she was surprised to learn that we all found her just as gorgeous with a pixie cut as with her signature long locks!

Karen has always been a trailblazer. Born and raised in San Francisco, she graduated from U.C. Berkeley and, in 1981, became one of the first female police officers in the San Francisco Police Department. Despite their ubiquity as characters on today's TV crime dramas, female homicide detectives were a rare breed when Karen joined the force. Seeing the worst of human nature every day at work, it would be easy to become hard-hearted. But Karen remains open, outgoing, friendly and giving.

Following her diagnosis, she retired from SFPD and followed her dream of becoming a writer. Her essay, "The Road to Kyra", in which she describes the journey to adopting her daughter, won the 2012 Notes & Words essay contest. In her forthcoming memoir, Good Cop, Bad Daughter, she describes her extraordinary childhood in Chinatown, her relationship with her bipolar-afflicted mother, and her decision to become a police officer.

Karen and her daughter, Kyra

Having two biological sons, she adopted a daughter from China, which made her a member of a world-wide community of adoptive parents, and eventually led us to meet. I was a new mom when I first met Karen, and she became like a big sister to me and an auntie to my daughters.

Through her career, at church, with other gymnastics moms, fellow writers, and adoptive parents, Karen has touched many lives. With her openness and giving spirit, Karen has become like family to friends near and far, of diverse backgrounds and broad experiences. Strong, smart, beautiful, confident, generous and giving, she is not only surviving, but thriving after her cancer diagnosis. She is an inspiration to us all.

Karen with my daughter, Ella, February 2013

Karen with my daughter, Maggie, October 2010

Maggie and Karen ice skating, November 2010

Maggie and Karen, August 2006

Feel free to comment on this post if you have something nice to say about Karen! You can also make a donation to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Karen's honor.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Today I ran my 90th race, the DSE Great Halloween Highway 4-mile race. It was cold and windy in San Francisco, so I ran in capris, with a long-sleeved shirt over a short-sleeved shirt and arm-warmers. I even started with gloves on! It was fun to see many of the runners in costumes. Since I have been feeling pretty slow on my training runs, I was happy to finish in 32:25.

One of my friends from high school shared a link on Facebook to this article: http://www.viralnova.com/wifes-cancer/

I found it moving, haunting, and inspiring. I am so thankful to be healthy, to be able to run almost every day, to help my girls get ready for Halloween... Angelo and Jennifer's story is, sadly, repeated in homes all over the world. Cancer affects us all - in small villages and big cities, in one-room huts and sprawling mansions, in young children and the elderly, all races, all walks of life: loved ones are lost to cancer every day. Dana-Farber is working to change that. And I am grateful to be able to help.

Let the Fundraising Begin!

I am happy to announce that my fundraising page is active! Please consider making a donation in memory of a lost loved one (furry family members included), or in honor of someone who has battled cancer. I would also love to read tributes to your loved ones in the "Comments" section of my blog.

October 21, 2013 - Exactly 6 months until Boston!!

I received my welcome e-mail from DFMC today, containing my registration appointment information. After that telephone appointment on Thursday 10/24, I will be officially registered on the team, and will be able to set up my fundraising page. In the coming weeks, I will be posting background about the people in whose honor I am running. Their courage in the face of the worst possible circumstances is what inspires me to keep running, even when I'm tired, or sore, or would just rather sit on the couch and watch TV. The knowledge that their children soldier on in their absence is what helps me speak more gently to my kids when they're driving me nuts. And the desire to prevent other families from enduring the pain of losing a loved one is what sparks my desire to run for DFMC.

In addition to the blog serving as an introduction to these courageous people, I will also intermittently post here about my training cycle in preparation for Boston. I had a moderate-mileage week last week, logging a total of 22.7 miles. I have yet to complete a run longer than 10 miles in preparation for the upcoming Tiburon Half Marathon, which is on November 3, and in general I'm running more slowly than I did in my training cycle for the 2012 Chicago Marathon, but I've got six months to get in better shape for Boston. The Tiburon Half will mark my 90th official race entry, going back all the way to the 1998 Bay To Breakers. Back then I was unable to complete the 12K (7.4 miles) without a couple of walk breaks, and the Hayes Street Hill killed me, but that race is all about having fun. At right is a photo from the 1999 Bay To Breakers, which my husband and I ran together. (If you look closely in the upper left corner, you will see one of the reasons why this race has a reputation as a migrating 3 hour party!)

October 15, 2013 - An Amazing Day!!

Yesterday was an amazing day! First, October 15 is my dearest friend's birthday. Rose and I met when we were just 10 and 11 years old, respectively, when I moved into the house next door to her in Barrington, Rhode Island. Through the tumultuous times of middle school and high school, she was my rock. Whether we were roller skating through our neighborhood, mucking stalls at the horse stable, or just hanging out at home, we always had a good time together. Even after I moved to Massachusetts halfway through high school, then went to Indiana to college and finally to California for veterinary school, Rose was there for me. So on October 15 I celebrate her kindness, her generous spirit, and our friendship. She is a gift in my life.

me, Rose's Dad, and Rose

October 15, 2013 was also special because I got to meet a lifelong hero of mine, Dr. Jane Goodall. Dr. Goodall was the recipient of the WildCare Environmental Award, and I was fortunate enough to attend the ceremony and reception. She spoke to us about the things that shaped her: her mother, who never squashed her curiosity and who encouraged her to pursue her goal of working with animals (even though that's not what girls did in those days!); her dog, Rusty,who taught her that animals experience the same emotions humans do; and Dr. Louis Leakey, who took a chance by hiring her as his research assistant in Tanzania when she was in her 20s. Although she is approaching 80 years old, Dr. Goodall travels an average of 300 days per year, spreading her message of hope and the importance of caring for our planet. I was in awe just being in the same room with her. Once upon a time, she was just a little girl with a dream. She grew up, achieved that dream,and changed the world!

Marin IJ article about Jane Goodall's visit

Finally, yesterday was the day I received word that I was accepted to be on the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team, running the Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014. Having grown up near Boston, the Marathon has always been a big deal to me. I cried every time I watched it, moved to tears by the elite runners pushing the limits of what is humanly possible, by the soldiers running 26.2 miles in full gear, by Dick Hoyt pushing his son, Rick, and by the ordinary people, doing what they thought they couldn't do and raising money for charities in the process. When I first started running, I could barely run a mile without stopping. My husband Edward and I did a few "fun" races, like Bay To Breakers (with lots of walk breaks for me) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I had an ovarian tumor removed in 2002, and didn't run for a couple of years after that. Having moved to beautiful Marin County, Edward and I enjoyed hiking, and once we adopted our first child, we spent lots of time on the trails. My husband started running regularly in 2008, and he inspired me to run, too. I started slowly, and entered 5K and 10K races, though I was always in the back of the pack. I began enjoying longer runs, as they provided solitary, almost meditative quiet time. With Edward training for his first marathon in 2008, I was inspired to try a half-marathon.

My first half-marathon was in February 2009, the weekend before we traveled to China to adopt our second daughter, and Edward ran his first Boston Marathon that April. Although I continued to run several half-marathons each year, I was convinced that I could never run a full marathon. But in 2011, I was in the final phases of co-authoring a major veterinary textbook, a challenge I also had once thought I could never complete. I decided to take a leap of faith in myself and signed up for the California International Marathon, which I ran in December 2011. I loved it! The weather was cold and sunny, the course was gorgeous, and the crowds were cheering. I didn't hit the wall until mile 23, and I was able to meet my goal of finishing in under 4:20.

Running the 2011 California International Marathon

That year, my Mom asked when I might run Boston. My reply - "Oh, I'll never run Boston. I'm not fast enough!" But as I prepared for my second marathon, Chicago in October 2012, I started wondering if running Boston for a charity team might be an option. By then, three of my friends had died of cancer: two were under 40 years old, and one was 45. In each of those situations, young children had lost a parent. Three additional friends were undergoing treatment for cancer. I knew that the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a nationally-renowned research and clinical facility whose doctors and scientists are making strides every day against the myriad forms of cancer from which humans suffer. I started thinking about joining the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team in 2012 and signed up to be on their e-mail list. We were planning a trip to China in April 2013, so I set my sights on 2014. My husband had qualified to run Boston again as well, so I thought it would be wonderful for both of us to run it in 2014.

After the horrific events at the 2013 Boston Marathon, and with so many runners who weren't able to finish the race, I wasn't sure what would happen with the 2014 field, and whether I even had a chance of joining the DFMC team. But as I continued to run almost every day, I kept thinking about it, and thought about ways I could raise funds. As soon as they began accepting applications in September, I applied for the team. I was so excited to receive word yesterday that I was accepted!

The doctors and researchers at Dana-Farber are pioneers, performing ground-breaking research into the genetic and environmental causes of cancer, and offering cutting-edge therapeutic options to patients. As a veterinarian, I have dedicated my life to helping prevent pain and suffering in animals and in doing so, I am also dedicated to improving the quality of life for their human companions. I want to see Dana Farber achieve its goal of stamping out cancer globally!


On this blog, I will be chronicling my training and fundraising efforts on the road to the 2014 Boston Marathon. I hope you will join me on this journey.