Spectacle Island 5k

Saturday, June 18^th – the Inaugural Spectacle Island 5k (3.1 miles)

Signed up for this run with fellow City Sports run club veterans Anna, Betty and Jan. We were also joined by Jan’s wife who ran the 5k and their two adorable young girls who ran the kids run. Met early at the pier to hop on a ferry for the 15 minute trip out to Spectacle Island located in the Boston Harbor. Also saw my buddy and fellow TMIRCEr Adam S. at the pier who came out for the run as well. This was the day of the celebration parade through the city for the Boston Bruins' recent Stanley Cup win, so lots of black and gold through the streets before and after the ferry to the race.

There’s not much on the island itself except for a visitor’s center, two drumlins (small hills) and a mixed gravel / dirt path in and around the island. It’s a small, very peaceful island. In fact the island is so small, the 5k course required making two loops of the outer perimeter to cover the entire distance.

For an inaugural event, the race was well organized. No timing chips for this one, just simple, old school bib numbers. The course was pretty much gravel and dirt paths the whole way with a couple tiny hills / inclines. There was no tree cover either, and with the weather being so hot and humid this made me struggle. My first two miles were right around a 7:00/mile pace, but that third mile I slowed down considerably, closer to a 7:30/mile pace. Ouch, ah well – a couple people passed me that last mile or so which took me out of age group contention.

The deal for the race was pretty good: $25 got the ferry ride to and from the island, the race, a t-shirt and a bbq lunch (though the veggie burgers left something to be desired). They gave out awards to top overall man/woman and age group three deep. Adam S. took 1^st in his AG and came in 2^nd overall (strong work!). Jan also took 1^st in his AG (11^th overall), and Betty took 2^nd in her AG (20^th overall). Anna ran a great race and I came in 15^th overall, keeping me well within the top 10% of the overall field of 247 runners.

I wasn’t feeling myself fully that day, and didn’t prepare as well as I normally should have for a race from a nutrition and hydration standpoint, but had a nice outing with friends nonetheless.

Finish time for 5k (3.1 miles): 22:32 -- 7:16/mile pace

Pictures below (click on an image to enlarge).

Jan, me, Anna, Betty - ferry ride to Spectacle Island

Arriving on the island

Making my way to the starting line (credit Justin Knight Photography)

Coming around the island perimeter, Jan (bright green shirt) on my heels with
Boston Harbor and the John Hancock and Prudential tower in the far distance.
(credit Justin Knight Photography)

Runners make their way along the ocean side of the island perimeter.
(credit Justin Knight Photography)

Post-race shot

JPMorgan Chase Corp Challenge

(Catching up on some old posts...)

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge - Boston, MA

Thursday, June 2^nd, 2011  --  7:15pm  --  3.5 mile road race

An annual tradition of running this race: a 3.5 mile weeknight jaunt through Back Bay (steps away from home). Proceeds from the race benefit a local charity such as Camp Harbor View, a camp in the Boston Harbor geared towards inner city youth. Every year I organize my corporate team’s participation in this race. In the past, I’ve had up to 35 runners – but this was our smallest team yet, only 6 runners since the race filled to capacity before many of my colleagues had a chance to register. The prior day saw catastrophic tornados in Massachusetts. The day of the run was dark and overcast – quite ominous actually in the afternoon, even raining briefly but magically cleared up just before race time – an evening run at 7:15pm.

Team shot pre-race

With a total of 12,000 runners and three turns within the first half-mile of the race – you can imagine the clogged start! Not to mention the many people who seeded themselves too close to the front so that many of us have to endure a weaving obstacle course for the first mile or so. It’s always the case with this run, I’ve learned to accept it. In the end I had a good run and was satisfied with my time (given my recent lack of training). Here are my approximate mile splits, good solid even pacing once I got past that first mile and the road opened up a bit.

Mile 1.0 : 7:39 (slow due to turns and weaving through other runners)
Mile 2.0 : 6:51
Mile 3.0 : 6:50
Mile 3.5 : 3:26 (last half mile at 6:52 pace)

Finish: 24:46 (3.5 mile run, 7:05/mi pace overall)

As usual our group hit SilverTone for post-race beverages.

Mount Tamalpais hike

(Catching up on some old posts...)

Great hike up Mount Tamalpais (Marin County, CA) on Saturday, May 28^th with friend Christian.

Here's Christian's EveryTrail link:
  http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1113033

(Click on pictures to enlarge).

I arrived to find Christian cooking up some tempeh to make sandwiches for our hike up Mt. Tamalpais (Mt. Tam). Quite an operation he had goin' there.

Everything laid out for me to assemble the sandwiches.

Great sandwiches - so good on the hike! Fine bread, olive spread, pesto, another amazing homemade spread made of walnuts, peppers & pomegranates, then tempeh, sun-tomatoes and arugula.

Making our way up Hwy 1 to the mountain.

A view of the mountain and east peak.

The planned Hike, though I believe we detoured a bit on the way up.
We went 6.22mi for 3hr38mins including stops for lunch and at the summit.
It rained the whole way down.

Trail savvy man on the mountain

The day started out bright and sunny so was able to get some views looking back at the SF bay area.

Closer look at the SF bay area.

Relaxing during a long lunch break

Savoring some chocolate

Pretty little flower

Checked our GPS gadgets once in a while.

Um, what? Rattlesnakes? On a mountain top? Really?
Ok, luckily didn't see any, though I did spot...

Little chipmunks

Chipmunk scurrying around the summit

At the summit of Mt. Tamalpais

It had started sprinkling earlier, but on our way down past the visitor center, it became a full on rain.

We had hiked up some fire roads and Fern Creek trail to get to the summit. Then hiked down Miller Trail (this picture looks back up the Miller Trail and waterfall) and then further down Hogback Trail back to the parking lot.

Encountered a scary scene on the way down one of the fire roads. A mtn biker must have taken a very bad spill (gory). Thankfully another rider had called for the paramedics who arrived just as we approached them.

Post-hike meal at Viks Chaat House

Viks Chaat House menu

Getting ready to chow down

Yum