I got a PR on today’s SF Half: 2:08:30, which is 9:49/mi. (About 12 minutes faster than my SF Half time last year!) I felt pretty good through most of the run, though my left Achilles/ankle was bugging me on the bridge. Amanda and I ran together for about 10.5 miles, but I pulled slightly ahead when Amanda took a walk break on one of the hills after the bridge. There’s a long downhill after that when I was feeling great, but the gradual uphill for miles 11-13.1 nearly killed me. I was feeling nauseated around mile 12, so I ate another Gel, which helped a bit. (As an aside, as I was grabbing the Gel from my waist pack, I heard someone yell my name, and I looked up to see Ross, one of my pace group members from my marathon training in ’05!) I was feeling pretty wiped as I entered the park, but seeing all the finishers and hearing all the spectators gave me a bit of an energy boost, and I was able to sprint in to the finish. I grabbed a bottle of water and turned around to wait for Amanda. I overheard the announcer say that someone who just finished was born in 1933, and looked up to see an elderly man cross the finish line and start yelling, “Catch me! Catch me!”, followed by a younger woman yelling “Catch him! Catch him!” so I grabbed him and basically bear hugged him until he was able to stop and stand up. Then I patted him on the back and said, “Nice finish!” A few seconds after that, I saw Amanda cross the finish line and cheered her in. (She got 2:09:30, exactly 1 minute behind me.)

My time was certainly a long way from the sub-2 I was originally aiming for, but I’m still feeling really proud, especially since this was not just training for a half, but really just getting back into running shape. Considering I went from basically zero running about 3 months ago to a PR without totally injuring myself, I’m feeling pretty good.

GPS data here.

Last night Walter threw a birthday party for Sprog, and he got pies from Z-Pie! Yum! Happy Birthday, Sprog, and thanks to Walter for organizing!

For a few weeks, Amanda, Sara, Jeff and I had a backpacking trip planned for this past weekend. The original plan was to stay two nights, but all four of us were busy with work, so we decided to cut it down to one. Friday night, Amanda and I headed up to Sacramento and spent the night at Sara and Jeff’s. While packing our gear, we decided to save some weight by not taking the rain flies, since Jeff and I both checked the weather forecasts, and they never made any mention of rain. (This, dear readers, is what we call ‘foreshadowing.’ Pay attention.) After everything was packed up (including Dora’s doggy backpack), we picked up some sandwiches for lunch, and headed out. We got to the trail head around 1:30, and after a slight off-brand hydration pack debacle (damn you, North Face,) we were on our way! The hike was pretty strenuous, but it didn’t bother me too much because 1) I think I might actually kind of be in shape, 2) my pack was the lightest out of everyone’s (hooray being tiny!), and 3) the scenery was totally mind blowing and distracted me. The weather was beautiful, and the trail took us through the forest, across creeks, scrambling up rocks, and around several beautiful lakes, and I had a blast taking pictures. I decided to take my 20D instead of my 5D both to save weight, and so I could use my (crop-sensor-only) 10-20mm lens.

After about 5 miles, we reached a potential campsite, and Amanda, Sara, and I took a rest while Jeff went to check out a different campsite at slightly higher ground. As we were resting, the wind started to pick up, and a bank of ominous looking clouds started to blow in. After a little while longer, it started to sprinkle. Eventually, through a series of indecipherable hand signals, Jeff told us to come up to the higher campsite where it was a little more protected from the wind and rain. By the time we got to the second campsite, we were pretty soaked, but decided to try to wait it out before making a final call. After 20 or 30 minutes, it became clear that it wasn’t going to let up, and none of us really wanted to sleep in a non-waterproofed tent, so we turned around and headed back to the car. On the way back to Sacramento, we stopped for pizza, and all basically passed out once we got home.

Sunday morning we slept in, made a delicious brunch, then went wine tasting. Quite a change from camping and backpacking, but I didn’t hear anyone complain.

Despite the rather abrupt change of plans, I had an awesome time, and I really hope to go back to the Desolation Wilderness again. Next time I’ll take a rain fly.

Photos ahoy:

(Image from the GPS data from my 11-mile run. Go here for more GPS data.

Sunday we went on an accidentally-too-long 8.5-mile training run, which was pretty rough, but we slogged through it. More importantly, we finally put the fondue pot YGB gave me to good use and had a fondue party! AllRecipes once-again came through with amazing cheese fondue and chocolate fondue recipes. I wasn’t involved with the making of the cheese fondue, so I can’t really comment on the recipe other than the fact that it was DERICIOUS, but if you decide to make the chocolate fondue, I took the advice of some of the commenters and used chocolate chips (half milk chocolate, half semi-sweet) instead of grated chocolate, and instead of instant coffee, about a third of a cup of brewed coffee, and it turned out great. The fondue pot performed like a champ and the glass insert was super easy to clean. Given how easy and delicious fondue is, I’m kicking myself for not doing it earlier.

In general, I’m happy that my runs no longer feel like torture, and even though I have the occasional terrible day of climbing, I do feel like I’m slowly getting stronger. I think the difficulty with exercising so much (besides the ever-present threat of injury) is that my body is usually tired. During climbing on Tuesday, I think my legs were still tired from Monday’s run, and they were shaking while I was up on the wall. Hopefully I’ll build up my strength and endurance and get my body used to being so active. That, or I’ll just be terrible at everything. Always. Whee! Project Eating Mindfully is going really well, too, and I feel good after meals instead of super stuffed. If I can stay healthy (read: uninjured), I think I could soon be in the best shape of my life!

It’s actually been going pretty well, and it’s kind of nice to feel good after a meal, instead of uncomfortable. Hopefully I’ll eventually retrain myself so that this becomes the norm, not the exception. That said, some friends and I have reservations for this coming Friday at Alexander’s Steakhouse, so we’ll see how that goes. It’s probably not a good sign that we’re calling it “The Great Meat Extravaganza”…

1) Memorize one phone number from my cell phone’s contact list per week.
2) Get back into running shape (half marathon at least)
3) Shoot pictures more in Manual
4) Finish my photography website
5) Beat Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect
6) Finish the many, many wedding albums I have on my backlog.
7) Go camping
Climb an 11b
9) Get a puppy
10) Think of a #10 for my goals list.

So I turned around and headed back, went past the Academy of Sciences, which took me onto JFK. I somehow found myself back at a stoplight, so I decided to just call it a day and turn back, but not before another biker yelled at me for turning around in the middle of the road. It just wasn’t my day, apparently.

In other news, I’m pretty sure there’s a dead rat in the walls of my bedroom.