Bridge to Bridge 7K race report

Sunday I did the Bridge to Bridge 7K race in San Francisco.

I woke up at 6AM, and headed quietly to the livingroom, where everything was laid out the night before, to get my running gear on, so as not to wake up anyone else in the house. A quick kiss goodbye from Kaori, still sleeping, and I’m out the door. I knew where the race started, and had some idea where the parking was, so I headed in that direction… I managed to find the garage where they were offering free parking for race participants, and found parking… I still hadn’t seen all the tents and starting line fanfare, but I knew I was in the right place because I could see other runners getting out of their cars. I thought I was following one up the ramp to get out of the garage, an older man in black track suit. “How are you going to find your way back to your car when we don’t let you walk back in this way?” he asked. I looked puzzled for a second, and he explained that he worked at the garage, and that I needed to use an elevator… I did, and found the check in tents nearby once outside.

I had received my bib in the mail, and just needed to pick up my timing chip - piece of cake. So now it’s 6:45AM, and my race won’t start until 8:20. And it was cold outside! Found a coffee shop that opened at 7 and got a nice BIG cup of coffee - more for the warmth my fingers would receive than the cafeine I would be ingesting once my fingers had extracted the precious heat.

Sat around looking at everyone’s gear, and observed various warm up techniques. Finally I went for a quick jog after doing some group-lead stretches. Hit the toilet and headed to the starting line where Gary Radnich (a local sports-radio host here that I listen to every morning while driving to work) was talking to runners over the PA. BOOM, the 12 race started, and so I made my way to the corral for the start of the 7K.

Saturday I did a 8+ miler with a friend, somthing I had not really planned to do, the day before a race, but hey I thought, I can treat the race as a recovery run, after all, it was just 4.4 miles… and it was supposed to be a great day. It was a great day, and of course I started out with the crowd, a bit faster than planned (faster than I would run a recovery run anyway), but I felt GREAT at roughly a 9:30 pace.

Mile marker 1 came incredibly fast! And I realized that my heart rate was good, I was very loose, and feeling great, so I decided to shoot for sub 10/min miles the rest of the race. I managed, and felt great. I even ran up the 30% grade during the race where most walked for 5 - 7 minutes. My HR climbed as expected during this bit, and I felt it in my legs as I neared the top of the hill, but I knew I could resume a relaxed pace and my HR would follow… it did, and when it came time to descend, I leaned into it, and had a FAST, EASY run down the backside. Not too much to say during the run itself, except that the weather was fantastic, the air clear, and the views spectacular, as I headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

I did notice that my blood glucose being reported by the continuous monitor was climbing, so I never reached for a gel, though I did take water at both stops. I finished the uphill finish with a sprint, and headed over to gather some free goodies before finding a bus back to the start - my BG was reporting at 280!!! YIKES…. Sometimes that happens, as the pre-race gel goes in, and if there isn’t enough insulin (because I always turn down the basal rate pre-race) it will go up dramatically as I exercise. Ususally if this happens, I feel the DRAG of not getting energy to the muscles needing it, but I didn’t really feel this…. I did skip some of the goodies (ice cream) at the end because of this, and did something I DON’T ususally do. I gave insulin (3 units) based on the reading of the sensor. Because the sensor can be a bit off from a fingerstick, you always want to do a fingerstick reading prior to giving insulin, but my glucometer was back in the car - I didn’t carry one because I thought it was such a short race.

In the end, I got back to the car, did a fingerstick, and with the sensor now saying 180, the fingerstick revealed I was low at 60. Another YIKES! so I ate a banana, and gel before driving home. Bottom line here is, that while I get some great benefits out of the continuous sensors, they can be worthless during exercise!!!!! I think this is a topic I’ll cover in the future with more detail - perhaps a podcast on it!

Official Time: 00:42:45.6
AgeGroup Finish: 36/102
Sex Finish: 124/348
Overall Finish: 226/833

Unofficial Time: 42:42
Unofficial Pace: 9:39
Unofficial Distance: 4.41 miles
Average HR: 165

Finished!,
Jamie, The Diabetic Runner