San Francisco 1st Half Marathon

San Francisco, California

The draw of this race is the course. It was a very iconic tour of San Francisco. I walked down from a few hundred yards from the Hyatt, where Lori and I were staying. The race starts on Embarcadero at the Ferry Building and runs through Pier 39 and Fisherman’s wharf. Alcatraz looms off the left in the early morning fog. We all got hungry as we ran right past Boudin’s Bakery as they were baking some early morning bread. Then it was up the hill by Fort Mason, down through the park and on to Chrissy Field which I remember well from my Alcatraz swim. At about mile 5 we head up a steep hill to the Golden Gate Bridge. Running the Bridge was the highlight for me. The bridge comprised 5 miles of the run. By the way, I never noticed that the bridge is not flat. You notice these things 5 miles into a run. After the bridge it is up another hill through the Presidio and then up and down, up and down through some residential neighborhoods until we hit Golden Gate park. I was looking for some flat course to make up the time I lost on the hills, but you won’t find it, even after you hit the Park. The hills and some occasional congestion cost me some time, but I went into the race with the attitude of enjoying the Experience more than fretting about time. I reached down and powered the Chrissy Field miles and the bridge to bring on some pain. All things considered, it was a good run for me. The race was only a small part of this great trip with Lori to San Francisco. San Francisco is the perfect summer get away. When the rest of the country is suffering in the heat, San Francisco is bundling up to go out for dinner. I wore gloves on my hands the entire run by the way.

Frontier 5K

Bountiful, Utah

This race was part of the celebration of Pioneer Day, which is a big deal in Utah. I ran this race with Christian and my nephew Skyler today. Skyler finished faster than I ever have. He needs to keep running.He didn’t even train. I finished good enough for a second place trophy. I left it at my parent’s house since it was a handcart and I thought they would like that. This race started with a canon blast. It went slightly uphill for about the last half of the race. There was a good free breakfast after this race. I was running on the slow side. I don’t know if it was the elevation or more likely all the overeating I have been doing this summer during my many various trips and vacations.

Mountain Man Triathlon

Flagstaff, Arizona

I had a surprisingly difficult swim. The water was muddy from recent rains. Visibility could be measured inches, and not many. I Started next to a former Olympic swimmer. I decided to try to stay with him. That was a mistake. Within about 300 yards I was gasping for breath and my muscles were cramping for lack of oxygen. I forgot I was swimming at 7,000 feet. That is 6,000 more than I am used to. I actually had to breast stroke for a few seconds for the first time ever in a triathlon to catch my breath. I have never had to do that before. This is not the first time I have swum at high altitude. I couldn’t seem to recover after that. I was almost done with the swim by the time I started feeling ok. This course is just beautiful. I had a good bike ride and my run was ok. I felt the elevation a bit again on the run. I don’t know what my deal was with that today. Christian won his division and was jazzed to get a trophy.