2003 Chinese New Year Marathon
I am notoriously bad at being able to accurately measure the mileage of my runs because I normally underestimate my distances. Sometimes I can be off by as much as several miles. However, I have finally gotten around to playing with the TOPO! geographical software I purchased five years ago and can now accurately measure the distance of my runs, as well as create elevation profiles of my running routes.
I am currently training for the 2003 Napa Valley and Boston Marathons, and on Sunday, February 2nd, the day after Chinese New Year, I set out on what was supposed to be a mere 3 hour training run. One thing led to another, and after finishing my run and mapping out the exact route in TOPO!, it turns out my run was a bona fide marathon--26.21 miles to be exact! Had I not measured the course, I would have just chalked it up to be around 22-23 miles. In addition, the route had a total elevation gain of 2193 feet. No easy course for a full-length marathon--I might as well have been running up the Great Wall! Plenty of hills, hills, and more hills, but such is the topography of San Francisco. The following is an elevation profile for the course of my Chinese New Year Marathon. Full course map is at the end of this report.
OK, OK, I should note, however, that I forgot to include a lap around Stow Lake when I was mapping the route in TOPO!, so this was technically an ULTRA-MARATHON, amounting to about 26.96 miles.
Since this was at the very least, a legitimate 26.2 miles, I feel I
can include this in the list of marathons that I have completed since1986.
Therefore, the 2003 Chinese New Year Marathon marks the occasion of my 20th
marathon! This, of course, deserves my usual post-marathon report.
Gung Hat Fat Choy, Sun Neen Faai Lok!
Just a little cultural background to my Chinese New Year Marathon: "Gung Hay Faat Choy" is a common New Year's greeting used to wish prosperity on others. It is often followed by, "Sun Neen Faai Lok," which translates to "Happy New Year." Chinese New Year 2003 marks the Year of the Ram in the lunar calendar. The New Year is typically welcomed in on New Year's Eve with a big family dinner, as well as on New Year's Day and another big dinner. This year, Chinese New Year fell on Saturday, February 1st. Chinese New Year celebrations extend over the course of two weeks. In San Francisco, Chinese New Year culminates in the annual Chinese New Year Parade--this year on February 15th.
Most important, every Chinese holiday must revolve around food, and lots of it. The more food, the better...........
Carbo Loading (Chinese style)
Chinese New Year started on Saturday, but tradition dictates that you celebrate by having
dinner with the family on New Year's Eve (ie. Friday, January 31st), so only two days
before the Chinese New Year Marathon, I was gorging on Mom's Chinese home cooking.
Fair enough, I could stand a little more fat and grease once in a while, but my sisters
and bros-in-law couldnt make it to dinner on Friday night, so yet again, on Saturday
night, I had an even BIGGER dinner with the whole family, including my puny niece and
nephew. Dinner was quite entertaining, as my nephew, who's all of 17 months old, quickly
learned to say "Duuuuuuuude!" at the dinner table and would not stop. Dude, that
was cool.......So Saturday night I went through a second culinary gorge:
The Menu
Mmm-mm, good. Gotta find me a nice Chinese girl who can cook.
More Simple Carbs and Fats
So anyway, I gorged for about an hour, then was OK for the next several hours and didnt
eat anything. "I'll be good," I thought. "I'll eat oatmeal later tonight,
nothing else." Well, around midnight, there was an old BBQ pork bun I had to have.
That went quickly, and of course there was still another Chicken Bun (this is Chinese
food), and devoured that too. Couple handfuls of peanuts couldnt hurt,
right?.....TASTEE!.......Then there was the leftover monk's stew my Mom gave me--I had
that with Stoned Wheat crackers. DEEEEELISH! Then a couple of caramels, and I was all set
for the night and ready to sleep.
The Big Day: Pre-Marathon Dim Sum
On Sunday, the day after New Year's, Mom calls and says theyre going out to Dim Sum--do I
want to go?????? "DO I WANT TO HAVE DIM SUM?????????" Asking me that question is
like asking Galloway if he likes to walk!!! Sure thing, I had dim sum for lunch, but ate
relatively lightly b/c I had my long run to do in the afternoon. I stuck to the
steamed scallop, shrimp, and chive dumplings, pork buns, and chow mein noodles.
After dim sum, I went back home, surfed online to procrastinate my long run, had several
handfuls of peanuts and caramels at the same time, then finally got myself ready to run
and out the door at 2:25PM.
"Runner, get on your mark, get set.......run clueless as usual!"
So what's the point here? Isnt this a marathon report? Well, this really wasnt supposed to
be a 26 mile run. Last Sunday, I ran 22 miles in about 2:50, and I thought I'd just run
maybe 3 hours today. But I was a little tired from my 15 miler on Thursday and my heavy
weight session on Friday. 3 hours was doable, I decided.
Initially, I had planned on running my flat and scenic, albeit unexciting, long run
through Golden Gate Park, along the beach, around Lake Merced, and back, but it was such a
BEEYOOTIFUL day (clear skies, high 50s/low 60s) I couldnt resist running along the
Northern end of the city (SF), even though there are quite some big climbs getting there
and back.
So, I figured I'd just run from home, through the Presidio and Marina, past the tourist
traps (ie. Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39), along the Embarcadero, out to Pac Bell Park,
turnaround and come back home. Little changes in the course along the way threw off my
sense of mileage calculation, which isnt very good to begin with. 1 legitimate mile can
equal anywhere between only 0.5 to 0.99 "Woo-Miles." By the time I reached
Golden Gate Park, I knew I was in trouble. The sun was starting to set. Out here, sunset
happens at about 5:35PM. "Shoot, Ive been running over 3 hours!!" However, I had
already planned out the last 3 miles of my run, so of course I couldnt change my plans,
regardless of whether I had already run the 3 hours I set out to do.
I finished my run to see the clock read 5:55PM. Great, I was half an hour over my allotted
time. Ran for 3:30 today, but I still had no idea how many miles I had run......I just had
to hurry up and change, drink my two glasses of milk, then drive to the gym before it
closed........Got to the gym, biked for 5 minutes, did a mini weight session on the legs
(just to keep my bum knee honest), biked 10 more minutes, then came back home, anxious to
map out my route on my TOPO! software to see just exactly how far I ran.........DRUM
ROLL................
26.21 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!! What are the chances of that happening? Nope, I did
not plan the mileage to come out like that--must be in my blood or something!
26 miles, great, Im screwed. Boston is like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there, like 11 or so
weeks away, and Im already at 26 in my training. Napa is in 4 weeks, but that's supposed
to be a training run. Aaaaaaaarghhhhhhh.
Overall Impression and Marathon Rating
Overall, I would give the San Francisco "Chinese New Year Marathon" big thumbs
up. The course was beautiful, the spectators/people on the street were plentiful, aid
stations sucked (there were none), and the organizer was top notch--though he couldnt
measure a mile if his life depended on it. I look forward to running this one again within
the next month, and highly recommend it to anyone. I won my division, as well as overall.
I got no prize money, and that really sucked. Neverthenonetheless, my inaugural
Chinese New Year Marathon was a great success. This was originally meant to be a
training run of under 26 miles and my finishing time was slow compared to my other times,
but hey, I am still claiming this as Marathon #20!
GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!!!!!!!!!
