San Francisco- why couldn't you be FLAT?!!?

Rise and shine! It was 6am on Saturday and today was our 10 mile coached run in San Francisco. So I got ready and then proceeded to drag Kyle out of bed too (he is NOT a morning person). Once we were finally in the car, we headed over to Sara and Don's place so we could all ride together. It was a 40 minute drive before we arrived at Sport's Basement in San Francisco.

Due to the length of our run today, we had varied start times based on our regular running paces and because I'm slower then everyone in our car I was supposed to be there at 7:15. When we arrived at 7:25, I saw my group on the go already. I was bummed because they all pretty much run the same pace as me and that means I was going to get left in the dust with the next group that went out....they all run 9 minute miles and have legs that go on for days and we all know neither of those are true for me! GRRR. So I signed in, ran a quick half mile warmup before stretching with the group and getting started on my first ever, double digit run. The group pretty much left me in the dust but lucky for me (unlucky for Sara), her knee was bothering her and she took it pretty easy with me the whole run.

I could tell pretty early in the run that it was going to be an "off" day. Unlike the week prior, I was feeling tired very early in the run and with all the hills we had to run up, I was having trouble getting my breathing in rhythm. As a new runner, breathing correctly is still a very hard thing to control sometimes.

For the course, our first 4 miles was from Crissy Fields all the way to Pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf) and back, the last 6 miles were running past Crissy Fields, up a HUGE hill, through some trails, (with beautiful views of the ocean and GG bridge), down steep wooden stairs to touch the gate below the GG and then finally back to the finish.

Overall, Sara and I finished in just over 2 hours. I'm so glad I had a running buddy for a couple reasons, one, I really needed the extra motivation, two, it was a really confusing course, three, it made the 10 miles seem much shorter than it actually was. Thanks Sara for your support! And even though it was a tough run, I'm feeling great, no pain or soreness, a day after the run. Keep your fingers crossed it stays that way!

I'm looking forward to another week of training, and I hope my long run next Saturday (12 miles!!) goes much better than this week's. Thanks for checking in and thanks to everyone for your support and donations. I truly, from the bottom of my heart, appreciate your support in this crazy journey I decided to embark upon.

Pictures: Views along our 10 mile run and me getting as many electrolytes and gummi bears at a water stop as I can in hopes it will make me move faster!

Peace, Love and a Cure!
~Clara

PS. If you haven't already, you can donate here at my donation page!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/cwebster