Pier 39 and a traditional Japanese dinner

After only a couple of days out of Eugene we are well back on the tourist bandwagon and today continued our discovery of San Francisco.

After a long run around Alameda, just ten minutes drive from our Motel and a nicer area (ie looks like there may be less chance being shot), we headed into downtown San Francisco. We had a couple of items on our itinery for the day - firstly a trip to Pier 39 - home of the sea lions and hoards of fellow tourists and then onto Doug’s house (who we met on our Kiwi run tour) for a spot of dinner and socialising.

Pier 39 didn’t disappoint despite us feeling a little chilly in our shorts. The pier consisted of lots of typical souvenir shops and a number of delicious looking (and smelling) café’s. We marvelled at them for a while whilst sat outside eating our squashed homemade cheese sandwiches, planning what we would buy when we come back with nice fat juicy bank accounts. We didn’t stay too long as I was keen to see the sea lions. I have to admit to not really knowing what a sea lion was - I thought they were basically seals. I wouldn’t have been so far wrong except they are absolutely huge! Bigger even than me, and not something I’d like to have fall on top of me that’s for sure (not sure I‘ll ever be in a situation where that could happen though so it‘s all good). They had attracted quite a crowd, and were entertaining everyone by barking loudly and plopping off the pier into the water for a swim.


Pier 39 Sealions


Crazy backflipping breakdancers in town

After negotiating the street car back to Doug’s house, we spent the rest the afternoon and evening with Doug, Doug’s wife Kazumi, and Emi, Doug’s daughter, aswell as another couple of Doug’s friends. We had a really enjoyable evening and Kazumi cooked a traditional Japanese meal which was delicious and more than made up for our budget lunch. After dinner, I was challenged to some Wii fit by Emi and I was horrified to achieve a ‘Wii Fit age’ of 37!! I’m going to blame that on the couple of glasses of champagne consumed beforehand, either that or the machine malfunctioned just when I stepped on and then was fine for everyone else!

Our fantastic hosts

San Francisco

The great news about our rental car meant that we would be able to spend some time in the bay area and central California. We were both really excited that we would be able to see a bit more of the area than we had initially anticipated and today we made the most of it.

After renewing our car rental agreement in central San Francisco we had some lunch in Union Square, where there was some street dancing and filming going on for some tv program. We’ll never know which one, but our performance of ‘excited faces in crowd; number 100 and 101’ means that we are probably going to be in high demand as we venture south to Hollywood in a couple of weeks.

After lunch we set out on our driving tour of San Francisco, which was a great way to see some of the cities most famous sights in 3-4 hours. Our first stop was Lombard Street, the wiggliest street in America, which was born out of a need to reduce the 27% gradient so that cars could still drive down it. It is also made famous by movies ‘Bullitt‘, ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Herbie the love bug’! The top of the street is also one of the highest points in downtown San Francisco and gave us some great views of the city and also of ‘Alcatraz Prison’!


Lombard Street, America's turniest street!


Alcatraz - home of some naughty naughty men

We then took a drive past Golden Gate Bridge, which is what most people think about when they think about San Francisco. We managed to find a free car park (of course) a hundred meters away from the really touristy pay one. It is an amazing sight and we were pleased we managed to get some good shots. We then drove along some of the headlands, through some of the posh areas of San Francisco and through Golden Gate Park, which is similar to New York’s Central Park, I.e. massive. It was very pretty and green and unsurprisingly very busy. Everyone likes to go to the nice parks on a sunny day!!


My face ruining the Golden gate photo


That's better!!

We had a great day and so far, as tourists, San Francisco is our favourite area of the US so far. Looking forward to another days sightseeing tomorrow…

Stanford Invitational

We made it to San Francisco in a mere eleven hours yesterday and were able to get a good night’s sleep despite our Motel being virtually on the Freeway itself. We were excited because today was the Stanford Invitational. The track season is officially underway when it comes round to Stanford and the start lists for the distance races looked great.

The day got off to a great start when the car rental company in San Francisco saw sense and agreed to let us renew our rental agreement in the city rather than making a special six hour one way trip to Los Angeles. It means that we can stay a bit longer and explore. The day got even better when we stumbled upon a Nike Store in the city centre and the long searched for snazzy racing vest was purchased. We had an hour or so wandering around down town San Francisco killing some time. The centre seems quite nice. There are some high rise buildings (Chris’s favourite) and we also went to the Union Square which is busy and has lots of trams, shops and café’s. We’re looking forward to exploring later in the week when I am not sick with nerves at the prospect of running 12.5 laps of the track.

We arrived at Stanford University mid afternoon and had quite a long wait until my race which was scheduled for 8:23pm. This would be my first 5000m in nearly two years and we were hoping to inflict some serious damage on my personal best time. Conditions were perfect and despite my training being a little up and down over the past month, we were fairly confident that we would be able to achieve our target time. The result? 10th place in 16:08.

It is strange how when the gun fires, everything you have learnt over the last few races can be instantaneously forgotten. The best way to run is by going off steady and picking it up as the race goes on. That is what we had planned. That is what has worked so well for me over the last few races. ‘Whatever you do, you shouldn’t lead it’ Chris had warned me before the race. Ahem, yes well, I wanted to run my target lap times, I wanted to run a consistent pace the whole way, I wanted to make my target happen rather than rely on other people to pace me, what other excuses can I think off? I was so focused on running my times, I forgot about working my way into it, picking it up as the race went on. It seems crazy that I lead the race for over a mile as a group of seriously fast people (much faster than me) all bunched up behind me. The pace I was running was only slightly quicker than what we were planning so it wasn’t a disastrous plan, however the effect of some interrupted training showed and I became really tired on the last few laps and my hopes of breaking 16 minutes were gone. A more conservative effort earlier on and it may have been different. I thought I had been teleported back two or three years when I used to do this sort of thing quite often. I haven’t done it for ages, and I hope it’s ages before I race that way again. I have never been so disappointed about running a 31 second personal best before (it‘s strange how after the race all sense of perspective is instantaneously forgotten too)!

We hung around for the next couple of races and watched the women’s NCAA 10,000m record being broken in an amazing solo run by Lisa Koll. It was great to watch but slightly sickening to know that I was running a slower pace in my 5K than she was for double the distance. I have a lot of work to do. Let’s get on with the training!

Watch the Stanford Invite live on Flotrack

Follow the link. Coverage starts at 12:30am GMT on Saturday morning and finishes at 6:30am. Andrea's race is at approximately 3:25am.

Flotrack LIVE coverage of Stanford Invitational

See you then...

Leaving Eugene

After just over seven weeks, we are finally leaving Eugene. We have grown quite attached to our one bedroom apartment and the running and cycling routes we do every day. But everything has to come to an end. This was always meant to be a recuperative section of our trip and now we feel ready to hit the road again and do some more traveling like we did in Australia but this time in California.

So we are both excited and a little bit sad. We have some fantastic things to look forward to over the next month. On Friday this week Andrea is racing a 5000m in Palo Alto (just south of San Francisco), before doing some more races around Los Angeles and Carlsbad. These are races that we have wanted to do for some time, so to finally be going to them is very very exciting.

Inbetween the races we hope to do a load of sightseeing and see some of California’s National Parks and famous sights. We are still unsure of our overall plans as a lot depends on our rental car (we may have to drive 6 hours south to Los Angeles for no good reason this weekend and we won‘t know until Friday). After that we have organised staying with some runners in Flagstaff Arizona for just over a week before heading to Las Vegas for a few days of glitz and glamour before flying home. It certainly looks like it is going to be an action packed month and we can’t wait!!

When we first arrived in the US, Andrea wrote about some of the differences we noticed between the US and UK. I think it is now time to add to that list. So some more things that we have learnt whilst in Eugene:

1, Very very few people ever walk anywhere. The car reins supreme.

2, Customer service is great here. Capitalism reins supreme.

3, There are hundreds of homeless people in Eugene. A big downside of the version of free market capitalism that the US thrives on.

4, IHop pancakes are amazing.

5, Denny’s burgers are amazing.

6, The national anthem is played a lot. Before all sports events and even before we get to ride a mechanical bull in a cowboy bar.

7, National and local pride is woven into the fabric of American society. Everyone supports the ducks (the University of Oregon) and wears the gear. When I say everyone, I mean everyone!! (well maybe 50%).

8, Eugene lives up to the title of “Track Town USA”.

See you in San Francisco!!!

Oregon Preview

So today was the long awaited outdoor track season opener. We had both been looking forward to this meet for weeks. Having been to watch the Ducks compete in a range of sports, we would finally get the opportunity to see them compete at home in what is of course the best sport. We were interested to see how much interest this early season meeting evoked in the general public and if Eugene lives up to it’s name of ‘Track Town USA’ in terms of public interest, not just by the number and quality of athletes.

I was also making my 2010 outdoor season debut, and as preparation for future races in the season over longer distances, we had entered the I500m. This is an event that I have not competed over in many years and a near sprint for someone whose best prospects lies in distances more than 26 times longer. We were excited though for what might be my one and only chance to compete at the historic Hayward Field track – where Steve Prefontaine ran many of his legendary races.

A few laptop associated problems and $200 dollars aside, the day got off to a good start. It was probably the best day yet that we have experienced in Eugene with the sun shining and with it being pretty warm. Chris was also pretty pleased to get a ‘coaches pass’ which not only gave him free entry into the stadium, but also gave him access to the spectator restricted areas such as the warm up track and call up room. He wore that bright pink wristband with pride!!

Fortunately for me, the 1500m was one of the earlier events in the programme, and considering I was very nervous, it was good as we would be able to enjoy watching the later events in the programme stress-free. I was fortunate enough to be placed in the top seeded heat so we were hopeful for a personal best time. The race was not my best by any means – the first lap was swift and, probably having not raced over 1500m for such a long time, I was worried and backed off quite a bit over the next lap and a half. It was only when I got to 400m to go that I realised that I was actually feeling comfortable and had a lot more to give. I picked it up and managed to pull out my quickest ever last lap in any track race and finish in 4:23.49 – a personal best by 7 seconds. I’m happy, I’ve got to be. This time last year I was struggling to string together any training, let alone run PB’s, however I’m still frustrated that I ran a bit of wimpy race and I’m determined to do better next time!!

After a bit of a post race tempo run (always thinking of the bigger picture!) we spent the afternoon basking in the sun and watching the rest of the races. It was such a great atmosphere and the announcer reported an attendance of almost 6000 people. It reminded us a little of the UK National Championships in terms of atmosphere, as they had the big screen working, kit carriers and victory laps – all of which contributed to making it a bit of an occasion (and went down in Chris’s notebook as to how to host a good meeting!). We really enjoyed it, but went away feeling a little gutted that we will miss the big one – the NCAA outdoor Championships which are being held at Hayward Field in June. Now that would be really worth seeing!!


Footage of my race can be found here. Skip to 43 minutes to find my race!

Portland Part 2 and the Worlds Best Running Track

Amazingly another of my friends had a conference in Portland during the time that we are staying in Eugene. So we decided to go up and meet Daphne for the evening, hopefully give her some respite from all the Physics geeks. It is strange to see our friends from back home when we are over here. You almost feel like you are back in the UK again. Just for a few hours anyway!

On our last trip to Portland (when we visited Lui around a month ago) we missed out on going to the Nike Campus in Beaverton. We had heard good things about it, apparently it has a wood-chipped trail around the perimeter and also a running track we had heard was worth visiting. We weren’t disappointed, Andrea just had to do an easy run in the afternoon and made the most of the trails and then had some drills and strides to do, which we did on the track. The track was fantastic and totally worthy of the hype. It is set to the edge of the campus and is surrounded by tall redwood trees which cross over into the centre of the track so as you are running around it you are unable to see the other side. We both reckon it is now our favourite running track in the whole world!!


Michael Johnson statue overlooking track


Nike Campus running track

In the evening we met up with Daphne at the convention centre in Portland and walked back to where she was staying to grab some food. We ended up eating below where Daphne was staying, which turned out to be a British style pub with traditional pub food options. They had live music and St Patricks Day celebrations going on. It was a pity that none of us were drinking! We stayed until around 9:30pm before taking the now boring interstate number 5 south to Eugene. That will likely be the last we see of that section of the road on this trip!