#letsgo510

Midterms and papers done SO, time for a bunch of race reports!

Let's Go 510!

So I already alluded to the fact that this is one of my favorite races I've ever done. I served as an Ambassador and I couldn't be happier to have put my support behind a truly well run and FUN event. I picked up my packet the night before (I volunteered too! Shout out to the other lovely Ambassadors/volunteers there!), so I was able to sleep in on Saturday. Race start was 10AM. HUGE fan. I got to eat, drink coffee, wake up, get dressed comfortably, etc. I headed down to Golden Gate Park around 8:45. Parking was a breeze. I got my Ambassador swag and then kinda just hung out. Closer to race time I actually warmed up, weird. I was feeling really good and excited for the race.

Once we were off, I felt even better. I was intentionally not pushing hard. I kept telling myself: stay comfy, stay happy. Before I knew it BEEP Mile 1: 7:10. WHAT. SLOW DOWN. So I slowed down and a mile later BEEP: 7:12. Ok well whatever, I told myself, just run. After four more beeps I crossed the finish line in 45:55. Freakishly respectable. This is the girl who, a little more than a year ago, was struggling to run a sub-27:00 5k. 

As for the course? Gorgeous. This has to be why I ran so fast. Sweeping views of the entire SF Bay, including the Golden Gate (see below).

The, BY FAR coolest part, though was running down the home stretch at Golden Gate Fields to the finish line. It was unlike any other race I've won. There was even a horse! It was so so so cool. Atop that, I WON MY AGE GROUP! I got 6th overall out of the ladies as well-- a very successful day!

BOOM. Day 1 of my Tour de Bay is in the books. The Let's Go 510 Race was absolutely 100% a race I will do again next year. Incredibly well run, like... ridiculously organized, on time, marked, etc. Massive medals. Some of the best views I've ever seen in a race. In all seriousness, this race is gonna be huge. It was big this year, but word will spread and it's gonna be just enormous. Best part? I got to pet a racehorse and pose with it. Full race recap + pics a bit later :)

Meet Ambassador Alison: Alison has lived in the Bay Area for 5 years and spends her time running, cycling, and making sure your appliances are energy-efficient through her work at Berkeley Lab. Alison started running (really running, for a purpose at least) four years ago, when she trained and completed her very first half marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program.

Why I "Run Local" By Alison Williams

Sometimes after you start running, you get addicted. And when you get addicted, sometimes you sign up for too many races. Training for races on a repeated basis means that I often end up having to run while traveling for business or vacation. It turns out that this is one of the running gifts for which I am most grateful.

My favorite runs have been a 10 miler along the gorgeous beach in Ventura; a 12 miler through the fabulous Balboa Park in San Diego after a massive rain that caused swelling streams to ford; and early morning runs on the Mendocino Headlands and at Asilomar. I have run through a cherry blossom-filled park in Baltimore; along the Charles, rife with sailboats, in Boston; into agave at night in the Tucson foothills (with a scar to prove it); along the Cherry Creek path and down to the river in Denver; past empty fields owned by the City of Los Angeles in Bishop (think Chinatown); and through neighborhood flatlands in Fresno. I have been run-sightseeing in Washington DC, taking pictures of all the monuments I wouldn't have time for otherwise in my one evening free. I see things I would never see and explore places I would never go if I didn't make the time to run: the sun filtering through an early morning marine layer with seals honking in approval, another person's way of life told through their backyard. 

But in the end, running at home sometimes makes you "stop and congratulate yourself for being smart enough to live in the Bay Area and [run]". (Well technically I stole this quote from my wonderful cycling coach, but he uses "ride a bike" instead of "run." I think they're both great.) 

“Runners are a different kind of person” by Tara Cuslidge-Staiano

Runners are a different kind of person

Embarrassment was setting in as I made my way into a friend’s birthday party more than an hour late.

That morning a five-mile “for fun” run had turned into a 10-mile training run mostly on accident. It was a cool morning. I was running well. When I got to the point to turn off and head back home, I decided to go back out and go longer.

I nearly forgot about the party.

“I’m so sorry,” I told the birthday girl. “My run went long this morning.”

She laughed and asked me how many miles I got in before I realized I had to run home and shower.

“Ten,” I said. “It was a good run.”

As I gathered some appetizers on my plate, which I earned during that run, another guest looked at me with confusion.

“You do that for fun?” he asked. “Run 10 miles?”

In the nearly four years I’ve been running constantly, I’ve learned two very important things about running: Some people get it and embrace it. Other people will never understand.

I’ve also learned that nothing replaces crossing a finish line.

I ran my first 5K in 2008 somewhere around 38 minutes. Two years later I ran my fastest 5K in 26 minutes, shaving 30 pounds off my weight and 10 minutes off my previous time.

I spent seven months working up toward a 10K. It only took me five months after that to run a half marathon. By the end of 2011 I had run my first marathon.

I like to call that first 10K the “gateway run.” I figured if I can run 6.2 miles, then 13.1 shouldn’t be so bad, right? And after the half, the 26.2 didn’t seem too horrible.

Just think: If the Let’s Go 510 - The East Bay's 10K is your first of the distance, it may provide the spark that ignites your passion for longer distances.

I’ll never claim to be fast. I had to work hard to get a 2:16 half marathon finish this year. But the fact is, I love the journey. There’s something inspiring about getting out there with other people who share the interest. The encouragement propels you forward. The camaraderie keeps you going when you feel like you can’t anymore.

It doesn’t matter if you’re running a 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon or an ultra – each step forward is a reason to celebrate.

So yes, I do this for fun. I do it along with hundreds or thousands of other runners, depending on the race, who are there for the same thing. It may mean we’re a little bit crazy, sure.

We set our alarms for 5:30 a.m. to get in 20-milers. We cut out hours in our day to get in a quick five or six mile run. We struggle on the days we can’t lace up and head out for an easy run. We know what taper madness is and how crazy it can make a person. 

Runners are just a different type of person.

“The Diary of a 4th Place Champion”  by Ambassador Olivia

My running career is categorized by placing precisely one spot outside of medaling. If the podium goes up to third, I get fourth. If there are nifty plaques for first and second, you can guarantee I’ll get third. First gets some cool piece of branded race swag? Why thanks, I’ll stick with second place. A few years ago this blog would’ve been a rant. Now however, it’s a reaffirmation of why I run competitively.

Don’t get me wrong: for years this streak of lack of medals and titles was just too much for me. I would cry after every race lamenting the fact that “if this” or “if that” I “could’ve” won. My lovely mother would console me and tell me that every person behind me would have loved to call fourth place his or her own. For a youthful me, this didn’t make it better. Even when I trained harder, swearing that this would be the race I won, I was inevitably handed an invisible fourth place plaque. 

Fortunately, as I’ve grown older I’ve also grown wiser. I like winning. I want to win. I also want to stay in one piece and finish the race without puking or passing out. Along with that, I’ve developed strange feelings toward running. Some might even call it love. Indeed, that feeling of lactic acid pumping through my veins and sweat running down my back is strangely soothing—especially coupled with gorgeous views of the Bay, a guarantee in the Berkeley Hills. 

Ironically, even though I’m faster now, running is less about winning. Running is about finding myself and other hilarious, awesome, beautiful, and downright strange things. It’s about almost running into a deer on Euclid. It’s about looking out from the top of Grizzly Peak and seeing the incredible expanse. It’s about getting lost in bad neighborhoods and being a little bit afraid. It’s about running past the man in a full, furry, and horned bull suit telling each passerby “happy new year.” Most of all, though, it’s about escaping my hectic life as a student and focusing on the true beauty of sweat, lactic acid, and a rapid heart rate. Put as plainly as possible: I love the challenge of running. I love the beauty of running. And hey, every now and then I sure do like to win at running. All my fourth places only make every first even more special.

Let’s Go 510k should combine all my favorite things about running into one fabulous package. I won’t be gunning to win. I’m running a half marathon the next day (can you say crazy?) and I know there will be plenty of speedy 10k’ers out there (I’m looking at YOU). What I’m most excited for is seeing that view of the Golden Gate and experiencing the camaraderie of the East Bay running community. Also, it finishes on the race track. Can we talk about how cool that is? I can’t wait for October 19th.

Meet Ambassador Olivia: Olivia Cusimano is a third year undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Legal Studies and English. There she is an active member of the current National Championship holding Cal Triathlon Team. Olivia has been running since in utero as, according to her mother, she would spend somewhere between one and two hours kicking her soon-to-be mom each evening. Olivia chalks this up to a head start on training.