Like last year, the Sacramento California International Marathon (CIM) was the last race of my running season (more like a full year really).

While I was complaining of the cold weather last year, I should have bit my tongue because that was nothing compared to what we got this year. The race started with a sub-freezing temperatures (low 30s) and never reached higher than the upper 40s. Like someone else mentioned to me later, I think I did not feel my fingers for the first 20 miles of the race.

My goal was to finish in 3:20, a challenging goal based on my latest races. Still, I thought I would give it a try and try to run with the 3:20 pace group. Unlike last year, I found the pace group at the beginning of the race and managed to stick with it for the first half marathon where I was still right on pace (1:40). Not surprisingly, that pace was too fast and I soon lost the group. By mile 22, I had slowed down almost 1 minute per mile. I finally completeed the second half marathon in 1:45 for a final time of 3:25:25.

After running so hard, I was really looking forward to some food but I have to say the after race food area was really badly organized with only one very slow line.  Frankly, CIM is really well organized in general but that sucked. Gladly, Alicia was here to take care of me and bought me 2 hot dogs that I swallowed without thinking about the culinary/dietetic consequences. Those were yummy and definitely helped me recover faster.

I am happy with my new marathon PR beating last year by more than 4 minutes. Still, I am not running fast enough to hope to qualify for Boston anytime soon. So, for the next year, I will focus on getting faster and to do that, I plan on running mostly half marathons until I am able to complete one in 1:30 or less. I want more speed!

The San Francisco Half Marathon 2007 was my first half marathon ever. I had been training pretty well but I was not ready for the distance and the treacherous hills of San Francisco. By the end of the race, I was completely dead and cold (the mist over the bridge had not helped). Still, this first race gave me enough desire to go on with my running and I guess it will still hold some special place in my heart.

I did not run last year because I was in France. I was not to miss it this year. First, it was fitting well in my schedule and it was a great way to see how much I have improved in 2 years.

I woke up early and drove to San Francisco, found a parking spot very easily 1 block away from the starting line and got myself ready. The race is very well organized and running over the Golden Gate Bridge is always something special. My friend Luc woke up early and managed to get station himself in the middle of the bridge and took some beautiful pictures of the race (including the 2 pictures in this post).

My race went well. It felt very different than 2 years ago. The hills did not seem as bad and I felt strong throughout. I am definitely a stronger, better and faster runner: 10 minutes faster to be exact :).

Now, I really want to run the full marathon… maybe next year?!

The closest park to home is Shoreline park in Mountain View. I run there most of the time via the Stevens Creek trail that is 1 mile away from home. I usually reach the center of the park on my long runs (over 10 miles round trip).

Right now, I find the park particularly beautiful with its trees in bloom and the multicolored marshland grass. Alicia and I went there for a walk today and I took some pictures.

I thought I would share:

Today, I ran my first race of the year. After the Sacramento marathon in December, I took it easy and did not run much in December. Then the demands of the new job and the cold weather have kept me (read: I got lazy!) from training as much as I would have liked early this year. To remedy to that, I signed up for the Santa Cruz 1/2 Marathon race this morning because knowing I have a race coming always keeps me motivated in going out running.

Anyhow, My goal was to have a good race. I had initially set a 1:40 finish time goal but then, based on my training, I could not see that happen…

I woke up early and drove to Santa Cruz. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and moderate temperature in the high 50s. Getting to the starting line seemed like it would be hard when I got stuck in traffic 1/2 mile away but then, I got good parking karma and found a spot waiting for me with only a short direct walk to the start.

While waiting for the race to start, I got into a discussion with a man that looked to be in his 50s and in good shape. Along the way, Ricardo told me he has been running over 30 marathons and many more other races since he started running 15 years ago. Today was his first race after he injured an ankle some weeks back so his goal was to finish in less than 2 hours, pretty far from his all time best of 1:45. He won several gold medals at the senior olympics last year and he is running again this year. And the most amazing thing I discovered was that this gentleman is 71 (yes, seventy-one) years young! If you do the math, that means he started racing at 56. Kudos to Monsieur Ricardo Guidolin. What an inspiration.

The race went well, I paid attention to my pace at the beginning as usual to not let myself be carried away by the adrenaline rush of the other runners. I felt a bit tight for the first 5 miles and though it might become hard by the end. But then, I and my body relaxed and things got smoother, I started accelerating. The views along the Ocean cliffs were beautiful and kept my mind busy as I was pushing harder. I kept on passing runner after runner giving me an even bigger moral boost. By the time we were back on West Cliff Drive, I was so pumped that I felt like I was flying (lack of glycogen does that you… some also call it the runner’s high). To make a long story short, I finished in 1:43:04. Really happy with my race and my results. I will be back next year to run that awesome race again.

Next in line is the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon in July. It was the first 1/2 marathon I ran when I finished it in 2007. It will be a good way to see how much I have improved since then ;).

And by the way, Ricardo finished in a bit more than 2 hours taking first in his age class by 25 minutes! I just wish I can still run when I am his age.