Say hello to marathon #15

Still a bit sore in the quads...to be expected after such a lot of downhill without really training for it. Everything else is feeling darn good though...no problems at all. 

I did 30 min of walking Tuesday and 30 min of biking Wednesday and some upper body weights. Probably even ready for an easy 5 mile run tomorrow.

After having so much fun for so little $$$ at San Lorenzo, and such a good recovery, I decided to do more trail runs this summer when I can.  My wife is away visiting a friend in San Diego on the 14, 15th of July so I checked the calendar and found that the Golden Gate Trail Run is the 14th! 

So, I signed up. For the full marathon of course. 8)   Not the 50k though...I'm not totally crazy.

It's in the GG National Recreation Area. There are no redwood forests on this trail..instead it's all open grassy, chaparral hills with views of the Pacific, San Francisco Bay, the GG bridge, Angel Island,  etc. If it is clear you might even see the Farallon Islands. (Did you know there are islands in the ocean off the coast of San Francisco?? Bet you didn't ;)

This marathon is very similar in some ways to San Lorenzo: two half marathon loops (the pink loop below)..about 4800' of hills, etc. I plan to focus on building more uphill and downhill (quad) raw leg strength between now and then.  I don't plan on much of a taper. 

I have no time goal, but I would like to even pace for each loop better than San Lorenzo a bit.  Under 6 hours would be fantastic extra plus.

A difference from San Lorenzo is that the two biggest gut busting climbs are at the start and at mile 4...then it's smaller stuff until you are back to the start at 13.1. This may work better than having the hills in the middle of each 13.1 loop ....I think that because the last 6 miles of the last loop will be more clear of massive long ups and that's a good thing.

After this race, I will shift to speed-work to be totally ready for the relay in mid-September. Berlin (and of Sept)  will just ride on the coat-tails of all this other stuff.  (Yes, I will a 20 or two in there but nothing else specific for the marathon)