Accepted!!!

The news came in this morning! They accepted me to the Boston Marathon. I am super excited. My training begins officially.

I celebrated by conquering a new preserve. "Conquering" means I have run the entire length of the course. As opposed to "exploring" which means I have run only part of the course. So today I have "conquered" Fremont Older. Yesterday I "explored" Corte de Madera and the Sand Caves. The Sand Caves were very cool. I don't know why but to me they looked like giant skull rocks. A friend of mine tried to show me some time ago where the Sand Caves were. She thought they were in Purisima which is the OSP next to Corte de Madera.

Last week I made not one but three runs up to Skyline three days in a row. Huddart, Wunderlich and Windy Hill. I took some great pictures. I love my new phone - The HTC Touch Pro. It takes great pictures.

My goal for the break is to run/conquer/explore the remaining OSP's that I have not yet visited. Since last Saturday I have visited three. Teague Hill, Corte de Madera and Fremont Older. I have about Nine more to go including what I call the "Watchtower." The Watchtower is really Mt. Umunhum. It is a special run to me and perhaps the biggest and the highest of all the OSP's. I am saving that for New Years Day.

I want to thank Christina for going with me to pick up some wine for holiday gifts. We had a great time. On that note Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope that you have a great one. Also congrats on your new SUV.

Not to be outdone

Since I am usually so busy on this weekends and this past weekend was no exception I usually go out for a long run Monday morning. I was going to skip but Amanda called me yeaterday at the Raider game to tell me about her 14 mile run. Needless to say she inspired me to go out inbetween rain storms here and brave huddart park.

So JUST FOR YOU AMANDA

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1550867

Ok - now to the hot tub to recover!

Holiday Weekend FUN FUN FUN

Wow! What a weekend! What a week! I accomplished most of my ends and had a great time doing it.

I spent last week recovering mostly. I did some cross training. On Thursday I took the Fit2Rub Class up to Long Ridge. That was exciting.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1531021



On Saturday Christina and I did a Holiday Run with my sister and her family. Nico had surgery on his arm on Friday so he had to sit out the run. My sister and I took fifth place in our divisions respectively. I had a great time!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1537258





Saturday I partied with Christina and BDO. We had a great time. Christina sang "Dancing Queen" karaoke style. I took a video. Her friends asked me if I was going to blackmail her and I replied "Blackmail? my dear friend, some people cannot be bought or reasoned with, some people just want to see the world burn" (or enjoy torturing their son's mom - Just Kidding)




On Sunday we went to the Raiders vs Patriots. We had a tailgate and everything. We had a great time! I love hanging out with my sister.




My sister had put a bid on a house in Oakland so I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.

Also I heard Amanda ran 14 miles yesterday for her training for her upcoming Marathon in March. Congrats to her and good luck with your training, also thanks for the mention on your blog.

Very Important - Updated Links!

I have changed the name of this blog to fit2run:
http://fit2run.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Through MapmyRun.com I have created a group where you can look at previous maps for the Fit2Run class (anyone can look or join) - GREAT RESOURCE!
http://www.mapmyrun.com/community/groups/703585503

You can follow me on twitter now:
http://twitter.com/bernardo_tapia

Alright now - back to fitness (me as well)

QUALIFIED!!!

Div Place:86 Overall:466 Pace:7m15s Time:3h10m12s Half Marathon:1h29m55s
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1503990

Let me first thank my son and his mom Christina whom without today would have been much more difficult.

That being said I DID IT and having done it I have decided to do what comes next. I am going t Boston. I earned it so I am going. I will work out the details lie how to pay for it later.

The race this morning went well. We had driven the course yesterday so I was familiar with the course and the turns. I crossed the staring line about 6 seconds after the start of the race. Knowing my body and my previous experience with runs over 16 miles I decided to take the advice of my former boss Jason Jones (a fellow runner) and try to get to the 20 mile mark in a decent time that would allow me to coast in the remaining 6. That strategy was risky since my running style is to start off slower and build speed during the course of the race (works great for middle distance events). However knowing my body and knowing that I tend to slow down after 16 or so miles. I decided it best to push myself early and coast in. Well it worked. I finished in 3 hours 10 minutes. I needed 3 hours 15 minutes to qualify and so I did it with 5 minutes to spare.
It was super cold on the morning so I was bundled up and that start of the race. I had Nico and Christina meet me at mile 2 so I could hand off my jacket and gloves. By then I was good and warm. At the half marathon mark I was at 1:29 (another PR) and I was feeling pretty good. I stayed with the 3 hour pace group till mile 16 or so at which my right hip started to bother me a little. By mile 20 both my quads were on fire but I kept seeing "Boston or Bust" signs so I decided to tough it out. At the 25th mile mark the 3:10 pace group caught me and so I had enough energy left to pace him the rest of the way in. At the finish line Nico and Christina were there to cheer me on which meant a lot to me. My fellow blogger/runner Amanda was there as well.

It was still freezing when I got to the finish line so we did not stick around long. We found 'cafe bernardo' and decided it was a sign so we had breakfast there. They even had my favorite breakfast.



Time to recover. The rest of the day I hung out at my aunt Teresa's house (special thanks to her as well for letting us crash at her house). We also stopped by my grandpa's house to wish him an early 'happy birthday.' We also watched the 49ers beat the Jets at the ranch as well.

When we finally got home we celebrated by opening up my very best bottle of wine that I had picked up at Loma Prieta Winery a month ago. This wine was a gold medal wine that was voted the best red wine in California. It was great.

Well I am tired for obvious reason. I will recover this week. The rest of the month I will do some light running and a lot of cross training (I am hoping Santa Clause will bring me a mountain bike) and I will start training for the Boston in January.

Tapering Down

Monday after Thanksgiving can be a scary time if you weigh yourself in on Monday Mornings. Especially if you have not one but two Thanksgivings. So you can imagine how relived I was when a week before my big marathon I came in at at 162. I was extremely happy. I got a lot of exercise in over the Thanksgiving weekend so I was able to keep my weight gain to a minimum.

As I mentioned above with less than a week to go - it is time to taper down. I've put my miles in and now it is time to rest and recover. I have been doing some cross training. Mountain biking to be more specific. I LOVE IT!!! I have been using Dominic's bike but I think I will get my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1470286

I had a great Thanksgiving. I made another killer turkey and some desserts. I brought a bottle of port but we didn't make it that far. Might have had something to do with the six or so previous glasses of wine. Next Year! Special thanks to Candida, Tony, Christina, Theresa and my Mom for preparing food. But especially my uncle Dennis who helped me out a lot both this year and last with the prepapration of the Turkey. My friend Amanda was also there. It is always nice to have guests.

Oh Yeah and I brought my Jeep home. Nino and Jose gave me endless grief. I had not brought the Jeep to the ranch in a long long time and I had put a lot of work in her this year. She looks terrific.

Well thats all for now.

B

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all had one! I had one so far. My run class was succesful with the completion of the Applied Materials Turkey Trot:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1434610















On to the next event. Next Tuesday we will decide that the next race will be.

I was very happy that no one ran alone and that my good friend Kristin ran as well. I ran with my SRC, Dominic ran with my mom, my younger sister ran with her older sister, and Kristin ran with her friend.














I hope everyone had a good time. In order to combat the tend to graze all day I occupied my time after the race and befoire dinner by joining my good frien Justin in a "Turkey Mountain Bike Ride" It was fun and I think I might buy my own mountain bike. I have a hybrid at the moment. We went to one of my favorite places'Long View Ridge'
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1434608

I like my friend Amanda's advice to wear tight clothes so you feel full faster. That and a Turley Trot and I am good.

Well I am off to watch Football. I will catch up with you Sunday. I am heading to the ranch where I am cooking Turkey and Dessert.

B

Day Before Thanksgiving

Well GOOOD Morniiiing!!!!

I know I am up bright and early. I wish I could sleep in but I always seem to be up early.

Anyways - training is going well. I passed 1400 miles for the year on Monday. Today I am going Mountain Biking for cross training with my friend Justin at one of my favorite places to run - Long Ridge!

Yesterday the SRC (Stanford Run Class) completed it's training. We are ready and looking forward to the Applied Materials Turkey Trot.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1424331

Also yesterday JD and I took in an early morning run. Here is your run JD
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1419829

Well I hope that you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Make sure to get some cardio in tomorrow morning preferably a Turkey Trot and enjoy the rest of your day. I am very happy that my family will be joining me tomorrow at the Turkey Trot. Fitness is contagious!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

When a half marathon becomes practice

For me it happened a couple of months ago but for my friend Amanda it happened yesterday when we ran the course for the Santa Cruz Half Marathon at sunset yesterday. Good for her!. For me it will be my last double digit run before the MAIN EVENT in two weeks: The California International Marathon. It looks like I will be on my own for this race (no support - oh well) - somethings you just have to do on your own.



Link to Santa Cruz Half Marathon: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1399390





Well it is Sunday and it has been a looooong weekend. I reffed nine games for District Cup. Ran a half marathon with Amanda. Went wine tasting with Cameron to Picketti and Ridge. Ate Sushi at two of my three favorite Sushi joints (Sushi Totoro in Santa Cruz and Hon Sushi in Mountain View).

Weigh in: I weigh myself every day but Monday morning is the one that counts. I pick Monday because I usually am good during the week about eating good but bad on the weekend. Monday morning weigh ins help to keep me honest on Friday and Saturday night in particular. Last week I weighed in at 158. My goal is to keep my weight between 158-162 on an ongoing basis.

When I was 250lbs my goal was to lose 100lbs. Well I did but 150 was too light and I had no energy, was really irritirable and so I put back on 10lbs and now am fine.

Well that is all for now.

My 1st Post

This blog will be dedicated to my runs. I love to run along skyline and in the open space preserves around the area. I often see things that I want to share with others. I intend to post GPS data of my runs as well as pictures I will take along the way so you can share these things with me.

As a ACE certified personal trainer at Stanford University I will also offer training tips to aid others in running. I also train people to run distance events. Right now I am instructing a running class through Stanford to run the Applied Materials 10k next Thursday. Today we ran a practice 10k. Here is a link to the map data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1384743

Also here is a link to my good friend Amanda's blogspot. She inspired me to do my own blog. She offers a lot of nutritional information:
http://simplifitting.blogspot.com/

Well that is all for now. It is late.

For my 1st bit of advice - sign up for a 5k or 10k Turkey Trot ASAP. For that matter sign up for a bunch of races over the holidays and stay in shape.

B