Walter - "I don't Roll on Shabbos !"
Saturday is Shabbos. Jewish day of rest. Means I don’t work, I don’t drive a car, I don’t f*cking ride in a car, I don’t handle money, I don’t turn on the oven, and I sure as sh*t don’t f*cking ROLL !
– Walter – The Big Lebowski – 1998
Running Log – Summary
- Days to Marathon: 176
- Training Week: 1 (Jan 24 – Jan 30)
- Day: Sat, Jan 30th
- Distance: 3.1 miles
- Time: 37 minutes
- Pace: 12 minute miles
Saturday has almost always been my day of rest. However, signing up for the SF Marathon Training program changed all that. In fact our training schedule for Saturdays usually has the longest distances of any of the other training days of the week !
For this first Saturday’s run, everyone gathered across from Java Beach Cafe in the Outer Sunset district in San Francisco. After checking in and leaving our bags with the Training Co-ordinator for the day, we made our way towards Golden Gate Park.
Just outside of Golden Gate Park, we were all asked to assemble in a circle. One of the many great features of The Training Program is that periodically, we have various experts come and speak to us before or after certain training days. Today, the program had arranged to have Samuel Harvell as a guest speaker and coach.
Samuel is a very well known local track and field coach. Don’t let his chiselled i-don’t-have-an-inch-of-excess-body-fat-on-me appearance intimidate you. Samuel is very kind and attentive, and is quite deeply involved in the science of running. With a combination of volunteers from different sections of the training groups, Samuel showed us the right way to land our feet while running. He also shows us how to lean our body correctly and how to maintain proper running stance to reduce the chances of injuries on long distance runs.
Samuel also ran with some of us during our run today and gave corrective free advice to quite a few runners.
Running Log – “Java Beach” at Golden Gate Park
After Samuel’s demonstrations and advice, we were off to our run. I joined the 4:30 finish time pace group. In my group were Larissa, Kate, Jay, Andrew and Eduardo.
We had run for about a mile, when Larissa, our Pacer stopped us to do some stretching excercises. So we stretched for about a couple of minutes and then resumed our run. Shortly thereafter, I saw the historic Dutch Windmill of San Francisco on my right ! This is one of the best parts of the Training Program. You get to discover lots and lots of hidden San Francisco Gems – Parks, buildings and places that you would otherwise rarely come across, because you are either riding in a car, whizzing past everything in a motorcycle, scooter or bicycle, or simply sitting inside a bus or van.
The Historic Dutch WindMill in San Francisco (photo credit: Terrence B)
We finished our run in about 37 minutes, which put my pace over 3.1 miles at roughly 12 minute miles. Larissa told us not to worry about pace at this stage, and instead focus on completing the distances successfully. After hearing that, I felt less disappointed in myself.
Back at the Home Base near Java Beach Cafe, they had Bagels and Energy Drinks waiting for us. Yum !
I was so hungry I quickly gobbled down a big bagel and headed home.
