running in Oakland, observations

Fortunately, I have a full range of run routes with the house as a starting point. I can run into Berkeley towards the College or the hills, I can run towards Emeryville (and then into Berkeley or Oakland), I can run into the foo foo Oakland neighborhoods like Rockridge, I can run through the 'hood, I can run towards Lake Merritt, or I can run to downtown Oakland.

Running downtown into Oakland requires me going down Telegraph or Broadway.

What I've noticed, or thinking:

  • There are a lot of condos and I mean a lot of condos popping up in downtown Oakland.
  • The art deco buildings in Oakland are gorgeous and some just need to be polished. I hope some of the new buildings get some character too instead of looking San Jose-ish.
  • A lot of people seem to be coming back to urban centers from the boonies. The commute I think has just been killing people.
  • There needs to be a few more grocery stores in downtown Oakland. I'm guessing the new Ferry Plaza like market in Jack London Square will be it. But hopefully something pops up near the Sears building.
  • Downtown Oakland was hit pretty hard with the '89 earthquake. I think we're just turning the corner.
  • Temescal is really nice.  People will start taking notice as more businesses pop up.  Temescal is like an early phase Rockridge/Elmwood/Piedmont Ave.
  • Every store in Emeryville should also be in downtown Oakland. And Downtown Oakland needs a few anchor tenants — Sears is not it. We need to go the urban boutique route to make some inroads. The Sean Johns and the Ecko need to set up shop downtown.
  • Not downtown but new.  Trader Joe's just opened up in Rockridge near Zachary's Pizza.  Very cool.

Clearly, I love Oakland. Probably because, like me, we've got a chip on our shoulder to prove that we're actually not bad. We got a lot more going on than people think.

"good morning" runs

I do these runs that are between 3 – 6 miles (6 on a good day) in the mornings.  I call them "good morning" runs because I like to say good morning to whomever I run past.  Sometimes I just say good morning to buildings or landmarks too, there's a lot of cool buildings in Oakland and Berkeley.

I also like running to see my neighbors and to see what's going on around the neighborhoods (like that 2 bedroom house that's for sale for $789,000! yikes!).  It doesn't seem like much crime happens in the mornings.  I'm not sure why that is, and maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it seems like.

I'd like to think I can be Mayor of Oakland one day and run the streets surveying the City on my morning runs.  People will come up and say, "good morning, Mayor" and I'll say "good morning" back.  Maybe when I'm 70 :-)

I do these good morning runs twice a week and then I try to do a longer run on the weekends.  That's pretty much my run program.  Running can be good for the soul too.

IMC 2007 race report


This was the 25th anniversary of Ironman Canada and my fifth Ironman race overall (four Canada and one in Arizona). This was also my second race within a year which wasn't actually that bad.

Here's some of the highlights:

— This year I drove (w/ Mom) and it was a stupid thing to do. We drove to Seattle and then headed up to Penticton. It's just too long a drive and I was tired before and after the race. The drive was harder than the race itself but I love my car. The X3 aka Greta rocks.

— The race itself was good. Did it with IronTeam again. I know the course pretty well now and the people are great; Penticton is such a beautiful place and Canadians are really nice.

— I wanted to do the race in 12:30 or even 13:30 but ended up with a 13:51 time which is fine. I'll come back again and do better one day. There was nothing different from last year except that there was more people, the weather was nicer (except for some wind), and I was able to run most of the first half of the marathon.

I'm glad I'm not doing another race for a while and I guess with five Ironman completions under my belt I can chill out for a few years and find something new. To think I've spent five days out of my life where that whole day was spent swimming, biking, running, in total it's 12 miles of swimming, 560 miles of cycling, 131 miles of running for those 5 days. It's a little crazy.

near death – training update

I'm closing in on another Ironman season so doing some reflection.  Training for an Ironman isn't the most safe thing in the world.

  • Every time I get in the water, I think about drowning and potential for drowning whether it's at the pool or at Aquatic Park or at an event.  When I swallow some water sometimes I remember that and when I first get in, I remember it.
  • The bike is probably the most dangerous because at any time I can get hit by a car for no good reason.  I could also just fall off my bike and I do reach 50+ mph on descents.  My biggest fear is descending 30-40 mph on my bike and a car swerving to avoid a bicyclist on the other side of the road comes into my lane and we both hit each other.
  • The run, well, I've almost lost my legs a couple times.  People don't stop at stop signs when they drive, they do what's called the California rolling stop.

Oh, and I could also die from over exertion, hyponatremia (basically drink too much water and drown my lungs), or just pop my heart from getting my heart rate up to redline (I get pretty close sometimes).

I'm not so cavalier about these things.  I'm careful and get pretty scared and do get into some close calls.  But, if I'm going to be alive I'm going to be alive and not half-ass or sleep through life.  Because for all those near death experiences:

  • Being able to swim in the Caribbean (Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos) and swim and snorkel in Hawaii…pretty cool.
  • Doing a 100 mile bike ride with friends in Marin where Levi Leipheimer trains and enjoy the sights, Tomales Bay, Redwood trees, as well as enjoying the Berkeley Hills and other beautiful places in the Bay Area bike…pretty cool.
  • And to run through the streets of Oakland and Berkeley and Alameda and wherever and discovering new places to eat, places to shop, enjoying the sights, and just seeing people on the street…pretty cool.

So, I'm actually nearer to death when I don't swim, bike, run, take risks, and live life.

Ironman Canada training update

I'm basically done with Ironman training for Ironman Canada that's coming up in August.  The rest of the month is called "taper" where we get to work out like normal people and rest up our bodies from the last 9 months of wear and tear.

Last weekend was intense but I've gotten used to it over the years, a 2 hour run and 1 hour bike ride (indoors) on Friday, a 4 hour bike ride up in the hills on Saturday, and then a 8-9 hour workout on Sunday which was 2 hours on the bike and 50 minutes of running times 3 in the heat.

I basically need to watch my weight and nutrition, stretch, stay injury free, and maintain my muscle memory.  The best part of taper and for the next couple months, I'm just a big ball of energy so *everything* else becomes so intense it's pretty sweet.  There's a reason why people keep doing Ironmans.  You can kinda guess why.

Wildcat Canyon,etc.

Here's a view from top of Wildcat Canyon in the Oakland Hills. Didn't notice the writing on the log until after coming home because it was dark when I took the photo and the flash unlocked the hidden message.

So anyway, Wildcat Canyon is a nice place to go to watch fireworks. I ride my bike up here too a bunch (like today) via Claremont ave.

I mentioned I don't like to put photos up of people (friends/family/etc) but Joe (left) and Ferdinand (right) are cool. Plus I'm usually on the other end of the camera taking the pictures and I don't photograph well. This is in Danville a couple weeks ago; we put in some good mileage — Morgan Territory plus Mt Diablo. About another six weeks of some hard training and then Ironman Canada in August, and then I'm done. Last Saturday, we did a 100 mile bike ride. That was fun too.

Garmin Edge 305

 

The hottest toy on IronTeam of late is the Garmin Edge 305.  It's a pretty wicked bike computer/heart monitor/GPS device.  It's about $275 at Amazon.

For runners, the hot item from Garmin is the Forerunner 305, which is more or less the same product but you wear the device on your wrist.  It's about $215 at Amazon.

Anyway, I don't actually want either of these.  I really don't care about bike stats, kinda takes the fun out of riding a bike.  I do have a bike computer, which has ended up being a very expensive clock (not totally true since I do use it for knowing total distance but close enough).

Some people love bike stats and many bike computers are able to hook up to laptops and you can monitor a workout by distance, time, elevation, etc.  Pretty comprehensive.  Here's an example.

2008 Madone 5.2 Pro

Just when I thought there was nothing left to buy…here comes the 2008 model of the Trek Madone 5.2. I can get this in a frameset woohoo if I'm a good boy. Trek's color choices lately haven't been great (the top of the line bike is black and orange, WTF?) but luckily they make a blue.

I had a 2004 Trek 5200 that had a frame issue due to chain suck. My current Madone 5.2 '05 bike has been through three Ironman seasons and will go through it's fourth Ironman in August. I don't even know how much mileage that is. I'm sure it has a few more seasons left, so maybe next year for a new bike. Maybe?

Usually when I set my mind to liking something I go get it. I need to start doing that with stocks and stuff more.

wax on, wax off

Things I do for IronTeam (sigh). I will be a participant in a "waxing" fundraiser where people can bid to wax different parts of my body, clearly to inflict much pain. I have my chest, arms, and legs for sale? Brazilian wax is off limits.

I've never had a body wax before, it's a very metrosexual/gay kinda thing to do. Athletes like swimmers and cyclists do shave their legs though and I've done that before (for cyclists it's basically when you fall, wounds heal a little more cleanly).

Anyway, here are the details – Saturday, June 23rd, Crissy Field in San Francisco at 12:30pm. There will be lots of food and lots of hair flying around. And lots of men crying.