Def.: Crazytown

I don't know if you've been to Crazytown or not. Most people call it Bay To Breakers, but they are one and the same. Today was the big day. The 12K I've been busting my legs for. I took a record four ice baths this week trying to make sure I was as ready as I could be.

I am very lucky to have had Karl, Bec, and Adam to help me through the day. I stayed over at Bec and Adam's. I spent more than an hour trying to figure out the best way to get to the start by public transportation. It seemed easy, but the race website had very little information. The MUNI (SF's bus and subway system) seemed to indicate that I could get on a train at 6:01, 6:21, or 6:41 to get there early enough. The race had 22,000 finishers today but I think about 70,000 participants (many of them bandit partiers). I wanted a good position at the start so I could stick to my goals for pace. Being a total nerd, I had A, B, and C time goals. I wrote all the cumulative mile times I needed to hit for each upside down on my bib number. I was on a mission. So I left Bec's at 6:12 and walked to the train stop. As I walked, I saw a train pull up in the distance. Okay, so clearly the times on the MUNI website are wrong. I waited for 20 minutes for the next time...freezing. Today was a foggy, cloudy day in SF. Great for running...bad for waiting around in shorts and a t-shirt. The next train pulls up and the guy says, "seven dollars." What?!? Seven dollars to ride the train. The fare is $1.50, but apparently, there is Bay To Breakers pricing. I didn't have $7. I only had $4, to cover me in case I needed another train ride later. The guy I was talking to at the train stop was going to pay for me, but I felt bad about that...and about to cry, so I got off the train and ran back to Bec's. I rang her buzzer for a while, knowing I was waking them up, but I had no choice. I grabbed my keys, my phone, and my GPS and set off to drive to the start and pray for parking. I called Karl and asked for a pep talk if he could ever give me a pep talk. He's pretty good at leveling me, so he talked me through my drive. You might notice that I didn't grab my wallet...all I had was $4 and a credit card. After a bit of circling, I found a lot with some room. Again, B2B pricing. Normally a $6 lot on weekends, it was $20 for "special events." I used a gross port-a-potty, had my Gu and Accelerade and was on my way to the start. Karl reminded me to "run fast, not hard," and "make sure you have your keys in a safe place." All good reminders given my mood.

Okay, so after fighting back tears for much of my morning, I did my skipping and grapevine to the start. Mind you, I am running past people standing on sidewalks drinking beer and liquor...at 7:45 in the morning. I waded through the people (and flying tortillas-hundreds of them, tortillas that is) and tried to get as close to the start as I could but after a while, you just feel bad pushing your way to the front. The first two miles were pretty miserable...there were so many people I could hardly run, although I think in the end, all the people kept me from going out to fast. My first two miles were each one minute slower than I planned (I had to make a pit stop during mile 2) and then I hit the hill. Somehow, I was able to get through that mile a minute faster than during my training run a few weeks ago. There's something to be said for the race atmosphere...all those people definitely got me up that hill. During mile four, I felt somewhat hopeless. My pace was totally off and I felt like there was no way I could reach even my C goal (the slowest). Shortly into mile five, I saw Bec and Adam...perfect timing! They got me pumped and feeling good (as did the rolling downhill roads of the park). I was able to kick it into high gear and finish under my B time! Yay! My running time didn't match what I had on my bib until I hit the 6 mile marker. Once I realized I could get my B goal, I started booking it.

Bec and Adam met me in the park and brought an amazing homemade breakfast. After some confusion about where we were meeting and the use of a stranger's cell phone, we found each other and I got some warm clothes. It was a "cold" day. Actually, no, it was cold. No quotes. Just cold...for standing around in shorts and a t-shirt

Highlights:
-Negative splits for every mile (that means that each mile was faster than the one before).
-Finished #59 in my age group and #146 for women overall. Sweet!
-A few weeks ago, Karl asked if I thought I could imagine running under 8 minutes a mile for an hour...I said no. Today I ran exactly 8 min pace (overall) for an hour. Nice!
-My ice bath today was awesome!
-Eating my homemade strawberry jam on Bec's homemade rhubarb muffins.
-The "dog sled" team--five Cal cross country guys tied together, pulling a shopping cart with a keg, a woman running while holding onto the cart...all running faster than me.
-Seeing the salmon as they ran against us on Hayes Street Hill.
-Dance parties every 10 feet on the walk home.
-Methodically getting up the hill (down, down, down...)
-The band Meshuggah...guys dressed like Hassidim, playing Hawaii-like beachy music.
-I didn't get hit by any flying tortillas.
-At the post-race festivities, they had sensors that read our chips and printed out our time and place. Awesome!
-The lifeguard blowing her whistle and yelling "No Running!" That cracked me up.
-The genius idea (Karl's) of writing my goal times on my bib...that kept me running fast at the end.
-Miles 5,6 and 7 were almost a 3-mile PR for me...slower by only 8 seconds.
-The end result being a reminder to always, always trust the training.

Not so highlights:
-Many, many naked men. Most of them were not really the kind of men you want to see naked. It's quite jarring to just be walking down the street and then realize that your arm swing was just about a foot from someone's genitalia.
-More public urination than you can imagine...we literally saw more than a hundred people leaning up against or squatting below trees in the panhandle. You have no idea. The homeless guys were heard saying, "And we have to live here..." Bummer.
-The naked female teacher next to me at the start with her heart rate monitor right under her huge breasts. What's the point of the monitor at that point?
-Having to take a pit stop after mile one. It wasn't that bad...just discouraging to stop and wait.
-The chafing of my awesome new sports bra (honoring Joan Benoit's Olympic marathon win). C'mon Nike! You know how to make a better product.

Bec took pictures and video...hopefully, we'll figure out how to post them here.
Next up: 5K in four weeks (hours before I leave for Nic.) to help me set up my training paces for the summer. Half Marathon training starts June 16 in Nicaragua.