Event #2 of 30 -- Time is on Your Side

I haven't made the time to sit down and blog lately. Here's a short recap of the sprint triathlon last week in Pleasanton. My sister-in-law helped me to kick of the year of events by encouraging me to sign up for the Tri for Fun. We had a great time and I felt like I accomplished my goal of a good swim leg. This has been an area of anxiety for me because an open water swim with hundreds of people in a mob is vastly different than swimming laps in a pool. It's difficult to train for, but I've learned a couple of things each time. A couple of tips that worked this time: starting near the back of the pack allowed for a bit more room without taking an elbow or foot in my side. I also focused more on breathing and sighting than on swimming technique and tried my best to not panic. It seemed to work well and my overall time wasn't too bad.

Today marked another event under my belt for the year of 30 events. A neighbor reminded me that the Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders was hosting a 5K/10K run today. I decided at the last minute to combine this event with my long run this morning as part of my training for the upcoming Portland Marathon. So I ran down to the lake (about a 5K distance), signed up for the event a couple of minutes before it started (thanks to the volunteers for helping me speed through the sign up process!), ran the 10K, and then ran back home (another 5K). It made the run go much faster for me to be surrounded by these laid back and friendly runners. The unique aspect of this event was that instead of listing the finishers by fastest time, the winners were the people who could guess their pace the best. I'm not sure what time I ended up running, and hope to find the results online later this week, but my guess was 50:30 for the 10K.

UPDATE: The results are in: http://www.lmjs.gwebservice.com/. My guess was 1:01 off.

When I reached by neighborhood after the run, I celebrated by sucking down a chocolate milkshake as a post-run snack. :)

Set a new PR today for longest distance run: 18 miles

Set a new PR today for longest distance run: 18 miles

Completed 1st of 30 events today! Pleasanton Tri for Fun: 1:15:01

Back in the Game

O.k., the cold was annoying and slowed me down a bit, but I'm back to a full training schedule, with over 30 miles of running in the last week. My bro was in town during the last week and a highlight of his time here was a bike ride that we took into San Francisco (with the help of BART), along the Embarcadero, Fisherman's Wharf, Fort Mason, etc. and over the Golden Gate Bridge and back. We were astounded by the chilly, foggy, and windy weather near the bridge after having sunny, warm weather in Oakland. O.k., not that surprised by the change in weather, but we weren't quite prepared. Thanks for riding with me, Bro.

Two weeks until the 22nd Annual Tri For Fun in Pleasanton. This event will kick off the 30 events in my 30th year! Help me celebrate by sponsoring a race or two, donating to the American Heart Association, or donating to Students Run Oakland. (See the links in the sidebar for more info)