• http://www.marathonguide.com/training/coachmindy/everybreath.cfm
• http://www.mamashealth.com/run/breath.asp
• http://www.talkinmince.com/articledetail.php?artid=8507&catid=147&title=Improve+Your+Running+with+Proper+Breathing
• http://www.brianmac.co.uk/economy.htm
• http://www.runnersrescue.com/Side_Stiches_Running.htm

So far, I do 3-3 in my warm ups and switch to 2-2 near the very end of a run. If I start doing 2-2 too early, it seems to strain my diaphragm too much with the frequent breathing. But I'll try to experiment a little bit in the future and see how different patterns work for me.

Not the best weather (rained and strong wind by the ocean), but it could have been worse.

Course Map (not to scale). The run mostly goes through SF Golden Gate Park

Butt shot not just happens when climbing. It took the entire time when I ran towards and past Mud for the camera to turn on.

Got a finishers medal.

Now, a not-so-brief report:

I never liked jogging or running. But I started jogging in spring of 2007 hoping to help improve my cardiovascular shape for bicycling. Then I found a welcoming and encouraging group of people at work that run everyday during the lunch break, so I tagged along. For a long time, I did one run a week for 5 miles. Only in the last couple of months, I started adding another run in the week, and sometimes made it a 7 miler. When I received an email about this race, there were only three weeks left. Will I be ready? I went out for a 11 mile run and got back in an hour and forty minutes. It looked like I would be able handle a half marathon, so I mailed in my check.

But I had an even bigger question mark: considering the weather had been crappy for a while, how would the weather turn out on the race day??? I checked the weather forecast everyday in the week leading up to the race.

	==>		==>
Thursday's forecast		Friday's forecast		Saturday's forecast

The weather was not bad in the first half of the run. Then it started raining off and on. At one point, I thought it was going to hail. The sun broke out for a couple of very brief moments too. As soon as people turned around going north on Great Hwy, everyone was treated with headwind. I had been given the advice to draft — tuck behind some big runners and let them block the wind. It didn't seem to work for me. I just couldn't find anyone whose pace matched mine, so most of the time, I was on my own. But it was okay because by that time, I knew the finish was not far any more. I was running at a conservative pace so it never got to a point when I had to labor to make every steps. On the other hand, when I saw the finish line, a wave of energy came out of nowhere, and I fully sprinted passing a few runners on the way. I almost wished the finish line had been a bit further away. When I crossed the finish line, I had 1:42:10 on my watch. The official clock time for me was 1:43:00 (7:52 minute/mile). That was a time I feel very happy about and I went to sleep at night chuckling.

Stats:

• 4692 Total Finishers – 2208 Males / 2484 Females

Links and References on the Internet:

• Information on Active.com
• Results on Active.com
• A few pictures of the top finishers by Martin Taylor on Flickr
• Among them are: Crosby Freeman, Men's winner and Anita Giusti, Womens Winner Close to Finish
• The route in Google Map (to scale and interactive)

Postscripts:

It's been two full days since the run. I've felt a shortness of breath from time to time when I tried to take a deep breath. That's interesting because I thought I didn't overly exert myself during the run. If anything, my legs were feeling heavy near the end (except for the last hundred yards when I sprinted), and I didn't think I breathed hard throughout the run. It reminded me that after I returned from my climbing trip to to Temple Crag (11000'-13000' in elevation), I also experienced shortness of breath for a couple of days. Because it was an unfamiliar feeling, I went to a doctor for it, but nothing came out of it. It's interesting how elevation and physical exertion have similar effect.

I also have had headaches at night during my sleep the last two nights. One thing I knew I neglected to do was taking in recovery drinks and protein right after the run. As a matter of fact, I did not eat my lunch until 6 hours afterwards. I shall learn the lesson.

More Photos:

The official event photos by Brightroom have been made available. I found following photos of mine:

That's what would have happened if it had not turned out to be another rainy weekend. Instead, Strom went to work on Saturday, and I sank into our couch whole day and worked on my website. To balance it out, I designed a full day workout program for Sunday and put the open invitation out on the forum. I was expecting enthusiastic interests from people all over the Bay Area — aren't the masters of mud supposed to be active people so they can make fun of couch potatoes? As it turned out, everyone actually had a life.

Strom and I arrived at the gym at 8:30am (I almost never go to work that early!). The one hour spinning class was taught by a girl with legs bigger than a tree trunk and wearing shorts that had "Death Ride" printed on the sides. She was strong and really good — she had an insanely fast spin while sprinting that I could not mimic no matter how hard I tried. By the end of the class, our spinners and we were all floating in the puddles of sweat we produced. Oh and I finally got to meet Strom's friend Jocelyn whom I kept hearing about. I look forward to mountain biking with her some day.

The spinners before the class.

After a shower, it was time to eat. According to the plan, I would jog to the Deli at Marina Market in Cupertino (5.1 miles). Before I stepped out of the gym, I saw the sunshine outside, so I happily applied sun block and put on my sunglasses. But by the time I started jogging, the sun disappeared behind some thick clouds and it started raining again. Dangit! Immediately, I felt fatigue in my legs. But as I got used to the rhythm, I started feeling better. I think the fatigue was still there, but I just got used to it. The rain actually made the air smell fresh despite the traffic next to me. Strom took the car and he stopped on the way and took some photos of me running like what only a model husband would have done.

Half of the time, I had to jog on the sidewalk.
The last few steps.

When we walked into the Deli, I had a feeling that it was a mistake. It was really chaotic and loud. But I was starving and was ready to stuff myself so that I could eat every single calorie back that I had lost in the past few hours. And that was exactly what I did. But the noise obviously got on Strom's nerves and he ate quitely and excused himself as soon as he was done eating and stepped outside while I worked on my second round. Oh, I guess we would not go back there again in the future. But my stomach was satisfied when I got out.

Did I say it was chaotic?

So, we headed back the gym. F4 and Jenny walked up while we pulled into the parking lot. Perfect timing. Later, Landshark and his little baby showed up too for some cilmbing. Then we saw Joe on the floor. It was crowded in the gym, but we had a fun session.

Jake guarding a stroller
Look, there is actually a baby in it. A cute one too.

Strom and I attended the yoga class at 4pm as I had planned. The stretching was just what we needed after a day of workout.

The highlight of the day though was the curry chicken that Jenny made for us. Hmmm… yummy!

That was the best rainy day I have ever had.

P.S. For all the photos, please visit the gallery.

P.P.S. This post was first posted to the forum.