This was Week 10 of our 24-week training program & yet we’re already more than halfway to our marathon goal of 26.2 miles! Yesterday we ran 14 miles (a new personal distance record)! And yesterday was our first training run with any appreciable elevation gain (& by appreciable I mean that there were some BIG-ASS hills).
We ran from our usual starting point @ the Berkeley Marina up into a residential neighborhood in the North Berkeley Hills area (around Codornices Park & the Rose Garden). It was a beautiful clear & crisp day without too much wind — perfect for running. The view of the Golden Gate was stunning from the top of the Berkeley Rose Garden. Everyone in our pace group did great & we finished strong together.
During the run, we were trying to choose a team song for our pace group (the “Cathy O’Brien’s”: 11-minute-milers; “GO, GO CATHY O’s!”) & I suggested “I Ran” by Flock of Seagulls. Don’t know if there was consensus on that, but @ least it gave me an idea for the next “’80’s Video-of the-Week” — check back tomorrow! (Even if we do settle on that song, I doubt we’ll all be sporting elaborate ’80’s-band hairdos for the actual marathon!)
After the run, the entire training group was heading to T-Rex in Berkeley for Bloody Mary’s & BBQ (with a portion of the restaurant’s take that day going to the SF AIDS Foundation). Unfortunately I couldn’t attend as we went to our niece’s Sweet 16 party in Placerville. I was dreading a two-hour car ride after the long run, thinking it would make me stiff as a board, but actually everything went well & I feel great today. I’m giving credit to the ice bath (OUCH!) that I took as soon as I got home from running yesterday.
The following pics are stolen from pace group member Karin Felderer’s blog (karingoesmarathon which has add’l pics, plus her take on the training program, in Deutsch, nonetheless, for all you Heissescheisse readers). In the last pic, I’m the one behind the gals, sitting on the ground, stretching. Sorry, Karin wasn’t quick enough with her camera to get a pic of me applying BodyGlide to my nipples beore the run. Perhaps next time…
