This month has been particularly busy with a hectic work week on top of the racing spent on the weekends. I really can't wait till this month is over!
On May 5-6, my 11 man team, Dolphin South End Runners, and I ran for a total of 199 miles in The Relay, clenching 2nd place overall
(finishing time of 21:49:30) after a tight bid with 3rd place, Sandbaggers Track Club, by two minutes! Team Google wins overall with a time of 20:43:26. They won fair and square; I mean how can you compete with guys who used to run for Stanford! Also Team Sandbaggers (finishing time of 21:51:10) were Dartmouth alumni. So the top 3 teams were highly competitive, even though the other 180+ teams were just out there for fun.
http://penndesign.smugmug.com/gallery/2849426#152834304-M-LB
The Relay had not been an event I was aiming to do well. My teammates produced better results than I could have since I was trying to salvage every bit of energy for the Lake Merritt 12 Hour event on Saturday, May 12. I had managed to shell out 59.9 miles that day. Ouch, so close to 60 miles but there's no point to do another lap when you just stepped onto the timing mat (yes, it was chip timed) at ~11 hrs. 55 min. The following lap wouldn't have counted since it would exceed the 12 hour mark. Originally, I was aiming for 70-75 miles, but I had to redefine my goal since the overall winner could only muster 76 miles, which I would later find out. Perhaps a 100K would have been possible, but it was my first 12 hour event and I would just let the day play out as it did. It wasn't a super easy loop, but very managable and quite pretty. It sounds crazy, but the day went by fairly quickly from sunrise to sunset. There are certain tricks to fool your mind so that your legs don't seize up and make you give up. You really have your highs and lows and there are people who are in their 60s who can give you great advice as well as place higher than you. Sometimes you'd see musicians bang on their drums or a guy play on his saxophone during some of your loops and then move to another part of the lake and then they would be gone. Life really does flash before your very eyes! Either that or I was hallucinating or zoning out...which has happened in a blip before reality kicked in. Sarah and Wendell of PC Trail Runs are the organizers of this event made possible, who help the runners finish (either the 6 hour or 12 hour race) with great aid stations and friendly volunteers. As you can imagine, I was not running as smooth as I could have on the following Monday adidas run. But as any other Monday, it should be a rest/easy day and noodling the run would be fine.
This Sunday is Bay to Breakers 12K. Now I wouldn't normally do this event because it's not particularly one of my favorite ones, but I'm in a centipede this year. The centipede is sponsored by VegNews to promote vegetarianism and veganism. It will be fun since I won't be going all out like the sub-seeded centipedes.
And finally, on the last Sunday of May (thank god!), I will do a 5K. I haven't done a 5K in a year 'cause I hate them. But it's good to see where you stand and if you've made any progress. I'd like a sub 20 minute 5K, but we'll see. All the conditions have to perfect!
-Adrian
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