About
Running Muir Beach 2008
This blog comes to you courtesy of JW, who lives in Northern California with her husband, three boys and Jack Russell Terrier.
JW grew up in Houston, Texas, and also had the wonderful experience of living in London, England.
She is proud to call herself a member of the South Valley Running Club, a group of a fabulous people in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy, California, who run at all levels.
JW is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame. Established in 1995, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame honors those who have made extraordinary contributions in the sports world.
She has finished the San Francisco, London, Prague, Silicon Valley (2X), San Diego, Top of Utah, and Bizz Johnson Marathons; the Way Too Cool, PCTR Sequoia, and Skyline Lake Chabot 50Ks; and the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run. She took 2nd place overall (female) at the 2008 Mt. Madonna Challenge 12K trail run and 2009 Livestrong Challenge 5K San Jose. She was the 2009 assistant race director and is the 2010 race director of the Mt. Madonna Challenge.
tedd said,
February 7, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Hi JW, I was delighted to find your Web site. I live in Aptos, and I run 30-45 miles per week (ok, sometimes only 25). I have been training and running intensely for about a year now…PR in the half is 1:43, PR in marathon is 4:03 in SF last August (given this hilly course, I’m convinced I can run a 3:45 or thereabouts, if the stars align). Anyway, I ran 5 halfs and two marathons in 2008. I’m 44 years old, and I share your passion for this discipline, and I really enjoy how you use it as a “window on the world” as seen in this Web site. I do the same…not too many people understand me, though! Anyway, I love how grounded and humble you seem to be; as I’m sure you’d agree, endurance running demands humility! Not to say that it can’t be mixed with a certain kind of pride, however…the pride you express when you say that you embrace your results, both good and bad. Anyway, just wanted to say that I am enjoying your site. Maybe I can run with your group sometime…I run in the Forest of Nisene Marks, but those rollling hills beckon also. Regards,
Tedd
runrunrunrun said,
February 8, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
Wow, Tedd!! What a lovely comment. Thank you so much!
I used to live in Aptos. I lived right by the beach and could walk to the cement ship easily from my house. I have run the Forest of Nisene Marks too. And I have to say, the Aptos Coffee Roasting House is the best coffee anywhere
I still take my kids to Capitola Pediatrics and we always stop by the coffee house on the way home.
Sounds like you are doing great. Two marathons and five half marathons and you’ve only been training seriously for a year. Incredible! You will be able to do a 3:45 marathon. That is my target too as it gets me to Boston. My marathon PR is 3:52.
I highly recommend if you like running Nisene Marks, you check out some Pacific Coast Trail events (http://www.pctrailruns.com/).
You can’t beat them. A group from my runninging club will be doing Sequioa (http://www.pctrailruns.com/Sequoia_Wntr.htm).
I am running the 50K and everyone else is running the 30K. Let me know if you decide to go and our group could try and find you.
All the best,
JW
run4change said,
February 9, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
JW, you lucky girl. How and the heck did you make it into Way to Cool. This is nearly impossible. HAHAHA Just searching wordpress for endurance running. I just did my 8 th marathon yesterday and have done 4 ultras. I lost 130 lbs with running and Weight watchers. Keep up the good work. Like your blog
runrunrunrun said,
February 9, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
Hi Run4Change
First, great name! Second, congratulations on losing 130 lbs! That is incredible. I got into Way Too Cool by being Johnny-on-the-Spot with my registration. I was sitting by my computer with active.com open and I just kept hitting “refresh” until registration opened. I was registered within 2 minutes. That is the only way to do it.
You can try the PCTR events. They are a great alternative. I run them often and they are beautiful!
Julianne
tedd said,
February 9, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
JW, I once scoped out a PTR event, a trail half marathon in the park above Pacifica last summer. I turned out that I didn’t get to run it, because my neighborhood caught fire last summer, and I had to stay around home and deal with that (everything ok). But when I walked the train, I came to the conclusion that single track just wasn’t for me — I felt that the steeple chase aspect (scratchy bushes, poison oak, nettles) plus the deep ruts in the trail from mountain bikers, was something I just didn’t want to deal with. Was this course anomalous? I like fire road, but remain sceptical of single track trail runs…fear of ankle injury and poison oak.
runrunrunrun said,
February 9, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
PCTR events have a lot of single track. Your experience was probably pretty standard. Way Too Cool would be a good one for you. It has single track, but also fire road. I am signing up for the Bizz Johnson trail marathon in October. Maybe that would be one to look into?
tedd said,
February 11, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
Hi JW, Looks like I’m down with a calf pull, probably for two weeks — guru quack Warren Scott says that I’ve been pounding too much downhill, and need to lay off that some when I’m up and running again…so just in the gym cross training…lucky its raining alot, so I don’t feel like I’m missing too much. Every time I get beyond 35 m per week, some injury pops up. Making me nuts. Onr idea I have is to get down to the bottom of my acceptable weight range (rather than the top). Maybe I will be less injury prone.
Tedd
runrunrunrun said,
February 11, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
Hi Tedd
I had the same problem of getting injured after adding miles. Then I adopted the approach of increase for 3 weeks, pull back on week 4. I also do a lot of easy runs. I probably push it 2-3 days a week, and go easy 3 days a week. And I stretch. See my article on plantar fasciitis.
Put all of that together and I now average 50 miles a week.
I hear cross training also really helps, but I can’t muster up the interest. Too many others things I want to do with my time
Hope that helps!
Julianne
tedd said,
February 15, 2009 @ 11:21 am
I hate cross training also! But my idea was that maybe I was getting injured, in part, because my core strength was not good enough.
JW, here is a interesting exchange I had with another runner, a 55 yr old man who is going to run his first half marathon in May at the Avenue of the Giants (I may decide to run the first half with him in order to keep myself on a relaxed pace through 13).
ML:
“I…have to make myself get out the door at 5 am; after the first 15 minutes, and I start to warm up, I really start to enjoy it. I love the crisp air, the rhythmic breathing. I don’t carry an iPod on anything like a lot of people. I like listening to the sounds around me; I feel it keeps me tuned into what’s happening around me. Over the course of the last few months I’ve also learned to listen to what my body is telling me and am pretty good about adjusting pace, method, foot placement, breathing.There’s no science to it; I just use my intuition and do what my body is telling me. What got me hooked, was when I was [one time that ] I happened to run farther than I had previously, and after about an hour I started to feel a sense of euphoria and tingling sensations all over my body. I had never felt that in all the years I had been exercising. The feeling was so overwhelming that I started to have tears in my eyes–that’s how great it felt. It has been the watershed moment for me. I haven’t felt that since, but no matter. I still like running and if I get that “high” then it ’s a bonus. I’d just like to stay off all that medication that people in my age group turn to.
TS:
I really relate to that description of euphoria “with tears in the eyes.” I get this way too! I have a particular run that I do, its an 18 mile out and back, with 1500 foot elevation gain in the Forest of Nisene Marks. Sometimes I find myself out there, 15 miles out in the woods, running like a maniac, and I think, man, I’m 44 years old, and look what I can do! I find such honesty and dignity in this discipline. Basically, running for me is a form of spiritual practice — runnning is a prayer. I think of it like this…running is the pure form of trying (anything at all). It has preparation, visualization, a preamble, a beginning, a middle, and an end. Across these moments, the entire spectrum of human feeling plays out…I feel like I replay every trial I have ever faced in my life, and in doing so, I rehearse for future challenges. I shake hands with suffering, and also with the breathtaking seriousness of purpose that is (our) human courage.
runrunrunrun said,
February 15, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
Very nice! You should write a blog!
Race report: PCTR Sequoia 50K | trailrunningSoul.com said,
March 5, 2009 @ 8:08 am
[...] Granted, I had no intention of finishing in the top 10 or anything. My goal was just to finish, not too battered, and enjoy myself. I finished. I enjoyed myself. I am a bit battered. [...] Full report at neverstoprunning.wordpress.com Written by JW [...]