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Recap of Quicksilver 1/2 and Silicon Valley Marathon

Posted by ToshiMoshi Nov 9, 2008

Quicksilver 1/2 Marathon

Summary: I ran well considering the sore abs from the day before. Accomplished most of my goals except meeting Chad. The weather was a little warmer than I expected and taking the Ultimate Direction bottle with me worked out well. Note to self: Do not work on conditioning too hard the day before.

My goals were as follows:

1. Make it to the race on time.

Accomplished: Made it on time, thanks to Judy my love.

2. Finish the race without major injuries

Accomplished: Finished the race without major injuries. Although my legs were pretty sore after the race and I had a stomach cramp too.

3. Try to break 1:40

Accomplished: My time was 1:35:42, so I broke 1hr 40min. Good enough for the 1st place.

4. Meet Chad

Did not accomplish: According to his e-mail, he had a big party the night before and woke up with a bad headache long after the race had finished.

5. Get into top 3

Accomplished: My time was good enough for the 1st place this year, but normally this time is 3rd or 4th place finish time. From what I know, my time is the slowest 1st place time of all time, which sucks. My goal for next year is to beat this time and show improvement.

Here is a quick table comparing the time from my training run (9/21) vs. the race time (9/28).

		time (h:mm:ss)
	miles	9/21/2008	9/28/2008	Path
	1.15	0:10:23	Forgot	Hacienda to Capehorn pass
	2.22	0:22:41	0:31:44	Capehorn to Bull Run
	2.3	0:14:26	0:13:44	Bull Run to Randol
	4.5	0:35:28	0:33:29	Randol to Capehorn
	2.67	0:17:44	0:16:59	Capehorn to Hacienda
total	12.84	1:40:42	1:35:56

Silicon Valley Marathon

In its 11th year, this year’s race had a smaller field (690 finishers) than the last year’s at 763.

Summary: Even though I did not meet my key goals, I PR’d on my marathon time, met fellow runners from previous races including Mt. Madonna and Quicksilver. The time difference between the first half and the second half has improved from 2006 (14 min), but still has room for more improvement (8 min). This race has made me re-evaluate my training plans. For future marathon training I will focus on 1) pacing the first half and 2) keeping consistent pace after 2 hours when my pace dropped from 6:50min/mile to over 7min/mile.

My goals for Silicon Valley Marathon were as follows:

1. Get to the race on time.

Accomplished: I got to the start line around 6:20am and had a plenty of time for warm-up. The temperature was in the low 50s and the sky was clear with hardly any wind.

2. Finish the marathon with no injuries.

Accomplished: I did not cramp up during or after the race. My legs were hurting a little after the race, but it went away after 15 min.

3. Finish under 3 hrs.

Did not accomplish: I finished in 3:01:52. The first half was 1:26:52 and the second half was 1:34:56, almost 8 minutes slower. For future races, I will make sure to pace the first half.

4. Finish in the top 10

Did not accomplish: I was 11th overall. At first half, I was in 11th place (according to the people at the aid station). I passed the guy in front of me around mile 18 when he slowed down. I passed two guys around mile 20 where one guy was cramping up. Then, Ken (pictured below) passed me at mile 22 and a guy in a red shorts passed me at mile 23. A guy with a backpack passed me and the guy in the red shorts shortly after. I tried to catch up to the guy in red shorts at mile 26, but he saw me and he started booking it too. My last 0.2 mile time was 1:25, so not too bad. I ended up getting 2nd place in my age group (30-35), but the 1st place guy was also 2nd place overall, so the organizers bumped me up and I got a first place prize for my age group which was a free coupon for Etonic shoes.

5. Get sponsored by my company

Did not accomplish: It was unlikely that they would sponsor me since I did not finish in the top 10. However, my boss has spread the news to the president and I got a big pat on the back from the president for doing so well right for coming back from London business trip two days prior to the race. Actually, I used that trip as a taper, so it wasn’t so bad, but there may be a chance that they will at least pay for my next registration fee.

Race results (I'm 11th)

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=9641

Pics!

This is a guy I met on the way – forgot his name.

Third finisher Matt Fitzgerald, the author of such books as Brain Training for Runners, Complete Triathlon Book, and Guide to Cross Training (I have his autograph for Brain Training for Runners and Guide to Cross Training. No, they're not on Ebay ). He finished 3rd in 2:41 which was also his PR (You can read about it in his blog at http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/?p=163)

Ken, who placed 8th.

Jolly Mexican runners I met at Mt. Madonna Challenge. Whoa, I look so pale!

345 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: quicksilver_challenge, matt_fitzgerald, silicon_valley_marathon

San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon 07, Inspirational Finish

Posted by ToshiMoshi Oct 19, 2007

On Sunday 10/14/07, I went to downtown San Jose to cheer on my clinical psychologist friend Dr. Jorge Wong, and also Matt Fitzgerald, the author of Brain Training for Runners and my training bible, Guide to Cross-Training, which helped me get through IT Band syndrome.

Me, Matt, and my girlfriend

Matt was amazing. He finished the half marathon right on his target time of 1:14:55. He was right on the time down to the very second! Not only does he write about training for runners, he is also the living proof of his training strategy. For those of you who have never met Matt in person, don’t be alarmed by his tall, lean, and extremely fit body. He is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He even went down on his knee to sign my books (and my girlfriend’s), even though it must have been painful after running 13 miles and sprinting to the finish.

Matt sprinting to the finish.

And then, he said good-bye to us to wake up his spouse. How sweet is that? He must have told her, “Honey, I know you had a rough week. Why don’t you sleep in while I finish a half-marathon?” Unlike me, who woke up my sleepy-eyed girlfriend to help me finish the poster for Jorge that morning.

The poster for Jorge

I was cheering at miles 1, 4.2 (estimate), and 13.

The elite pack at mile 1

The elite pack at mile 4.2

The weather was in the low 50s at the start, but after the morning layer cleared out, it got warmer around 60s.

Judy and a beagle near the finish line.

I saw Jose Pina, one of the top amateur runners in San Jose. He is a quiet and modest person, but may be that’s because he doesn’t speak a word of English and I don’t speak Spanish. He was just behind another local master runner Jeff Hongo. I had seen his name many times, but I didn’t know what he looked like. But, now I know he kind of looks like Jose. Jose improved his time by almost 3 minuets from last year (from 1:17:19 to 1:14:30). He was the 2nd local runner from San Jose, after JT Service.

Jose at mile 13

Jose and me. I hope he remembers me from the Almaden Times Classic.

The winner was a Kenyan, but it was a neck-to-neck race for the last 0.1 mile against a Tanzanian. They were sprinting hard like a wild animal.

Kenyan McDonald Ondara on the left, Tanzanian John Yuda on the right before 13-mile marker.

Jorge finished an hour later, improving his time by more than 3 minuets from last year (2:28:24 to 2:24:58). Way to go!

Jorge at mile 1. Still smiling.

"Owww, I've gotta cramp!" Jorge in pain at mile 13. But, he finished in one piece.

It was weird to be on the spectator side of the race, but it was fun looking for familiar faces, cheering them, and watching them finish.

I saw a fellow Japanese runner, Nobutomo Nakano, who had been in four of the races I ran in the past. I have never talked to him, but whenever I check the results, I would see his name right under mine or above mine. I talked to him for the first time and I’m glad he recognized me. He told me he was also checking for my name. He had improved his time by almost 2 minutes (from 1:24:27 to 1:22:42), beating my time from 2006 (1:23:26). It’s very encouraging to see him and other runners at my level improving their time. That means he hasn’t been slacking off and there’s still room for improvement. He said he will run the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon on 11/4. I told him I’m running the Big Sur Half with my girlfriend, so I will only run a 5K race there. But, I know we will be running together again at another race soon. I hope I can show some improvements and encourage him like he did for me.

343 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: half_marathon, san_jose_rock_n_roll, matt_fitzgerald