Point Reyes Lighthouse

After my half marathon this morning I was ready to take a nap, but it was just too beautiful outside for sleeping! I decided to get out my motorcycle and go for a drive through the redwoods and then along the ocean. I thought a picnic lunch at the beach would be fun. On my way, I stopped of at Lombardi's Deli and picked up a sandwhich for when I arrived. Before I headed out I checked out my maps on my iPhone and glanced at the street names. Then I turned on Pandora and headed off to the ocean. However, I never went through the redwoods or even ended up where I thought I was going. I ended up going south on highway 1 and going toward Point Reyes. As I crossed over onto the point, I saw signs about a lighthouse. So I followed the signs. Well, little did I know that May is the windiest month at point Reyes and the winds were above 35 mph. On my motorcycle, this was at first obnoxious, then strenuous, and after 20 miles of it; chilling! The view beautiful, if a bit windy, was worth it. I sat on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and ate my lunch, all the while strongly holding onto my backback, gloves and napkin. Then I walked the mile down to the Point Reyes Lighthouse and looked around. Water as far as the eye could see. It was a nice thing to do, but if I ever take a friend I'm going in my car. ^_^

My First Half Marathon!

Today I got up at 5:30am. Why!? You ask? Because today was my very first half marathon! I met up with Trisha at the Stony Point starbucks in Santa Rosa and we went and picked up her sister-in-law Jaime. Then we went and picked up Irene and wala, our jogging team was complete and ready to compete!

(Left to right: Jaime, Ross, Irene, Trisha)

We've been training most saturdays by jogging through Annadel State Park. Our goal is to prepare for a full marathon. In the meantime, we're running other events and working our way to that crazy 26.2 miles. Today's event is the Windsor Green Half Marathon. I was very excited and even a bit nervous, as I've never done anything like this in my life. It's thanks to Trisha, for helping me discover what a passion I have for jogging. Thanks Trisha!!!

We got together as close to the starting line as we could and as we heard the announcer calling out the countdown you could feel the excitement in the crowd. As it reached 15 seconds I started "Shiela" (my Runkeeper Application on my iPhone) so I could track my progress and listen to some music. The first mile I just tried to avoid the crowd. Then the second through fourth miles I focused on passing the people in my way. By the time the fifth mile came around I was averaging 8 minute 15 second miles and I knew I needed to slow up if I was going to pull off the whole 13.1 mile track. By the time the sixth mile came up I'd had my first energy pack and was settled into my pace. It felt great! I really enjoyed the run through the back country roads around the small city of Windsor. It wasn't until the last mile, running headstrong into the sun, with Shiela on the glitch that I struggled. That last mile was really rough! But I made it with these final numbers:

Total Distance: 13.1 Miles
Total Time: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
Average pace: 8 minute 50 Second miles
Finish List

It was a GREAT first half marathon and I'm looking forward to more!

Bidnight Madness

After having a good rest following my morning jog, I got ready and went to Sonoma State University for the eleventh annual Bidnight Madness! This event is held to raise money for the athletic teams at the University so they can fund their activities. I met up with several co-workers out front and as we walked in the Athletes were there to greet us and give us our beer or wine glasses for the evening. Then we were escorted to our tables where we had pretend gambling chips we could use at the various gaming tables. I tried my luck at black jack and did ok. Then I headed over to the poker table and racked in a good win with trip 7's. Then I went in on a pair of 10's and lost most of it. All in good fun!

I walked the silent auction tables and bet on gift certificates to the Cheesecake factory, Outback Steakhouse and Vlopis (a local italian restuarant). There was kind of a theme with my auction items :) Then I noticed a two person full day ski pass that hadn't been bid on so I bid on that as well. Long story short, after all the bidding was done I won the Outback and ski trip auctions. I'm looking forward to using them!

It was a fun night with co-workers, faculty and students. I'm already looking forward to next year.

12 Miles!

Today I was up at 5:45 am, got my jogging gear together and headed to the parktrail entrance of Annadel State park. My co-worker Trisha, her sister-in-law and Irene were all prepared to jog 12 miles. April 17th we ran 10 miles, but for me this would be the first time ever running 12 miles. When I ran the 10 miles I was having shin splint pains on my left leg, so Irene had me take a tylenol before our jog. Trishsa had brought along some "Gel" for extra endurance boost as needed, and I had my iPhone with Runkeeper monitoring the jog and pumping out tunes.

Annadel State park is absolutely breathtaking. Evertime I jog there I end up stopping at some point to take a picture. This time I took a picture as we were rounding out "Marsh" trail on the back side of the park. This was one of several natural creeks or springs that flowed down across the trail.

I lost track of how many deer we passed. They are so used to people that when we jog by them they just look at us as we pass within feet of them. There are also wild turkey's and I have yet to see the mountain lions and cyote's that signs around the park warn of. There are a lot of other poeple out enjoying the park, too. And it's common to come across other joggers, walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers.

We finished our twelve miles at a record pace! It took 2 hours, 29 minutes at an average pace of just over 12 minute miles. Much slower than street running, understandably as we ascended over 1,600 feet on our jog. The paths are mountainous and occasionally very rocky. The "upside" to the upward climbs is that the higher up you go the easier it is on the way back down!

Trisha and Irene have been training for a marathon held in August. We're going to do a half marathon in May and I think I'm going to keep on training with them for the marathon and give it a shot. I never thought I'd say that- I'm looking forward to it!