Wahoo!!

Seth and I took part in the San Francisco Marathon today- we did the Progressive Marathon, which is where you do 23.1 miles ahead of time (accumulated however you like) and then run the 5k on race day. And? The best part? We actually RAN it. Well, almost a third of it. Which is about a whopping mile, but I tell you that that is the most I've EVER run.

We started out jogging and I was pleased that we actually did that for about 3.5 minutes. Seriously- when I last timed myself, I could run for about a minute before I started sucking wind. I wanted us to push ourselves today, and we did. Our shins weren't thrilled with us, I got a side cramp, and I was sucking wind and wanted to throw up after I crossed the finish line, but it's the best we've ever done! I ran for about 12.5 minutes total, with an unofficial time of 43:12 or something like that, with a pace of a 13:55 mile. That is awesome! My goal before for walking was to get to a 15 minute mile, and we've been averaging 18 or 19 minutes when we walk at the park. Seth ran a bit more than me and his time was 42:17. I'm very proud of us.

The nice thing was that we were done way before most of the marathoners, so we were able to easily partake in the free massages after! We got our t-shirts, medals, times, and massages, and then we wandered back to the car.

Strange bonus on the day- we stopped to eat breakfast at a little diner in San Rafael, and Carlos Santana was there. My first famous person sighting in California. I should have asked him if he knew James Hetfield.

Less, but more

We've been having a good couple of weeks of walking. Seth has started making a point of getting out and walking more often, and the past two Sundays we've had good days with distance.

Last Sunday, we ended up doing about 8 miles wandering through the parks near our house. One trail we took was a bit more of a hill than we would have liked, but it was good for us. Today, we were planning on doing 10 miles, but the desire just wasn't there at all. Instead, we did about 4.6 miles at the park- twice around the lake, with some wandering on new trails here and there. Our average pace was pretty pathetic (we did much better last week), but we weren't really trying to push it. For me, it was about getting out there and working even though I didn't feel like it. We ran a bit- I think that I had the longest spurt of running I've had so far. Go, God!! My lungs are getting better.

As far as races go, I was looking forward to the San Francisco Marathon, mostly, I'll admit, because of the cool shirt. But being that we have to put money somewhere else right now, I can't really justify $140 in entry fees for a race. What we may do is something called the Progressive Marathon, which is where we basically register (for half price) and do most of a half-marathon the week or so before, and just finish the last 5k or so on race day on the course. Still get to participate, basically buying the shirt. I think we'll do it- it's a lot of fun to be a part of a race.