There have been many events since the last post.
DSE Summer Race Series (7/24, 7/31, 8/14): Great idea, a low key summer evening series at Lake Merced. Of course, in San Francisco, summer is as likely to mean cold, fog and wind as it is sun. Cold is good for running, though. I made three of the eight races with a little sun and little fog. The aim was to run fast but not all-out with a finishing time a little under 30 minutes for the four-and-one-half mile course. I was able to sneak-in with a third place age group finish for the series thanks to the tie between Steve N and Gary B for first place. Next year is a 12-week series. We will see if I have the durability for that.
DSE Lake Merced Half-Marathon (9/21): This was the goal race for the fall. I had hoped to pace myself with 6:30 miles and no individual mile above 7:00. After the first of three loops of the lake I realized I did not have it to hold that pace for the rest of the race and backed off. I came in at 1:28:15 and took first place for my age group. Any half-marathon below 1:30 is good. Although it was not as fast as I had hoped, it was still a good race.
Bridge to Bridge 12K (10/5): This is one of the larger annual races. It goes from the Ferry Building (sort-of in the shadow of the Bay Bridge) to Fort Point (the base of the Golden Gate Bridge) and finishes (after a sight rise that is a killer at the end of a race) in the Presidio. My time of 49:49 was actually my slowest 12K of the year, but the fast people all stayed home from this race. I was lucky enough to get an age group second place finish with that time. If you are not feeling fast, it pays to be lucky.
Ballpark 5K (10/19), Sawyer Camp Trail 5K (11/2), Great Highway Run (11/23): I decided to do a number of shorter runs this fall rather than to put everything into the Run Wild 10K. All fun races. My times are not what they were early in the year, but I still managed to sneak into the top five overall at the Great Highway Run. The DSE runs have become more competitive the last couple of years (it's good to see more people at the races). Those top five finishes are now harder to get. Probably one more race in December and that will be the year.
