Saturday, October 20, 2007

San Francisco 12 Hour - San Francisco CA

This race is held on a one mile loop around Crissy Field in San Francisco. I was always a little dubious about such "multihour events" around a loop course. But it seems to be a popular way for ultrarunners to get some mileage in before big races. Given that there were no local ultras this weekend, it seemed like a good opportunity to try this.

It was great weather for it with the sun shining down on the San Francisco Bay shortly after race start. I dialed into an 8:20/mile pace and tuned into the iPod, which I usually avoid when out on the trails. On each lap we ran west on Marina Boulevard to the edge of the lake, out towards the Golden Gate Bridge.



The wind was coming from the ocean the whole day at a good clip, so this stretch was tough each time. Turning right we ascended a small hill and then turned right again on a dirt path back to the start area.

It was nice to be able to stop at my bag after each lap, pick up water bottles, drop off excess clothing and grab snacks. After I finished my first water bottle a few laps in, I saw Keith Blom there, crewing for his wife. He kindly offered to refill my bottle for the next lap and kept it up for the whole race.

For the first hour or so, I just enjoyed the beautiful day: the views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, the sailboats, the happy San Franciscans enjoying Indian summer.

But after about an hour the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walkathon started up _on the same course_. This was a bit shocking as the walkers of course didn't respect the cones that were set out for the runners.

After twenty miles the repetition and the half mile of asphalt bike path pounding removed the remainder of my enthusiasm about the race. I resolved to just stop after a full marathon, which was 26 laps since each lap was slightly more than a mile. If I had known that I was just going to do a marathon I might have done faster laps. But I wasn't going to set a PR regardless as there was just too much wind. As I got to the 26th lap, I realized I had less than 8 minutes to finish under 4 hours. So I kicked in a 7 minute lap to finish in 3:59:15.

So, it was probably a good 26 mile workout on a beautiful day. And I learned that lap courses are not for me.

4 Comments:

Blogger Michael Hayden said...

Way to go Adam! Did you apply for Western States 100 next year? I saw ya at Bull Run Run 50-Mi(You told the RD I took the wrong route on the Mini loop. It was not my fault for not paying attention) and White River 50-Miler in July. What was your time there?


see you in a few miles...Michael Hayden

11:40 AM  
Blogger Adam Blum said...

Michael,

Great to hear from you. I'm a big fan. Good to hear that shortcut was an accident. White River was a blast. Don't remember my time but its on the blog. Maybe I'll see you at JFK in a few weeks.

6:28 AM  
Blogger Adam Blum said...

and yes, I applied for States, but its too much to hope for getting in on my first year.

6:29 AM  
Blogger Brian Rook said...

Nicely done, Adam.

Your resume is quite impressive... that's a far cry from the days of InAir.

I began running about almost two years ago and have run the Chicago Half Marathon twice, the St. Louis Half Marathon twice and will be running the Austin, Texas Marathon in February and the St. Louis Marathon in April.

If I pull those off successfully I hope to attempt an ultra by the end of '08.

We'll see...

I also make it a habit to run one of several trails here for my daily runs.

8:23 AM  

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