Confessions of an Amateur Athlete

  I can't tell you how excited I was to meet Runner's World's Bart Yasso !  The San Francisco Marathon had hosted a contest, "TSFM Lucky 7".  One lucky winner chosen a month, for a total of 7 winners.  All got to have lunch with Bart Yasso the day before the race!   I entered (answered a question/posted on social media) and won!!! I actually was the FIRST winner so I had SIX MONTHS to wait until the lunch.  And last weekend, the day finally came! Besides the lunch, the SF Marathon teamed up with Bart Yasso to host a "shakeout run" the day before the race. So I went to that as well.  Tons of people showed up!  We're talking a good 200 runners.  Everyone jostling to get a pic with THE Bart Yasso!  Bart also loves to take big group selfies (apparently they're called "Barties" haha).  Here's ours before the run! I figured since I was having lunch with him later, to best just sit back and let ev...

gogorunning.com So one week out from The San Francisco Marathon , and I was feeling good. Was doing everything right... and getting excited. Until Monday I woke up and could barely put pressure on my heel. Plantar Fasciitis had struck... with a vengeance! Apparently my foot had had quite enough and was fed up. (Here's a great article on PLANTAR FASCIITIS for more detail on this injury) I iced my foot, stretched it, took plenty of ibuprofen... It was getting "tolerable" but I could tell there was no way it was going to be Marathon-ready in just five days. So I weighed my options. If my race were local, I'd resort to just cheering from the sidelines. But I've been eagerly waiting for this race for the past YEAR! Running across the Golden Gate Bridge has always been on my bucket list, and this was supposed to be my "fun" marathon of 2014!   s1.hubimg.com Friends had told me about getting a Cortisone shot. I'd never gotten o...

I'm running the San Francisco Marathon  next weekend, and I have finally reached the final stage of my Tapering: Acceptance. As many of us runners know, as we end our marathon training and start backing off our mileage, we go through a series of emotions.  Let me break it down for you. STAGE ONE: EUPHORIA p.gr-assets.com You've put the mileage in. You're feeling good.  Legs are sore, but it's a good sore.  Now you can just sit back and wait for the race...which you're going to ROCK of course! Everything is AWESOME!   STAGE TWO:  ANGER sharegif.com Dang it! You need to go run! And your IT Band/Knee/Hip/Foot feels achy.  You'd better NOT be getting injured.  It's too late in the game!  And you feel fat.  Just FAT.  Now...who hid the @&#*#@ Cookies!?! STAGE THREE: DEPRESSION 31.media.tumblr.com Yep.  This race is going to be horrible.  What if you don't finish?! Did y...

Peak-Week over!  Time to Taper!  In other words, I finished up my last "really long run" before the San Francisco Marathon in Three weeks! I'll still run, but nothing over 12-15 until Race Day!  The excitement is building. Most of the questions I get from friends, family, and followers revolve around my routine BEFORE and AFTER my long runs.  So I thought I'd take some time to focus on what I did the night before my 22-miler, and my routine afterwards for recovery.  In order to beat the heat, or at least, beat the SUN, I had to START my run around 5am. So I had to go to bed super early.  On a Saturday night.  Oh the sacrifices we runners make! lol.  Anyway, some people ask "what sort of exercise do you do the day before a long run like that?"  Well, I try to usually keep it light.  This time I did some light strength training and ab work.  Also, I took to my foam roller to work out any tight-spots like my IT band and d...

People ask me a lot "do you ever have 'bad' runs"?  The answer is yes, absolutely.  If you only ever have easy runs, you're not doing it right.  My long run yesterday, was anything but fun or easy.  It was  a 20-miler, so I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a piece of cake.  But I also knew I'd pull through.   However, what I wasn't anticipating was the fact I was still getting over my cold and I was zapped of all energy.  My pace was super slow but I was determined to finish my goal.  By mile 17, I thought my knees would buckle. By mile 18, everything ached and was seizing. By mile 19, I was near tears.  But by golly I made it to 20! The pic snapped of me a few weeks ago is only partially what I must of looked like chugging along on the canal!   Luckily, I had a friend running with me for the last really tough part (15 miles worth in fact).  Had it not been for him I might still be out there trying to finish. ...