Personal Bests

2008 was a very good year even though it was the first year that I failed to improve my running. The only legitimate PRs I hit were in two half marathons. Otherwise, I fell back, sometimes significantly and even feared I'd have to quit due to injury. But I was very fortunate, and the good experiences far outnumbered the bad ones. The following are my fondest memories of 2008:

1. I can run!: In the fall of 2007 through the early spring of 2008 I dealt with nagging plantar fasciitis. I don't know Latin, but the plain English description is heel pain that can include a swollen arch. At the Napa Valley Marathon I experienced both with my arch flattening from the ballooning tissue. The last six four miles I gimped home, wondering the extent of any permanent damage I caused. Two days after the marathon my podiatrist, Donald Hegref of San Francisco fitted me for orthotics. He said they would cure my pain. On my return to pick up the orthotics I brought my running shoes to test the orthotics. I was afraid he would frown on my lightweight footwear, but instead he examined a shoe and said, "Cool". His diagnosis was perfect, and If I had gone to him in the fall I could have avoided all the pain.

2. Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders: This all-volunteer group holds monthly runs of 5K, 10K and 15K, and three special races each year. They also manage to record every time and maintain an 0n-line database that goes back 11 years. They also hold a kids race 11 times a year, and to my delight entitle members to a 10% discount at Transports. My participation is limited to races, but for those with more time, LMJS hosts quarterly potlucks with excellent speakers, training runs, and fields several teams for events throughout the year.

3. Harbor Bay Club: I switched gyms in late 2007 for the nearby Harbor Bay Club. I still do the same routines as at the old gym, but Mandy takes yoga classes and Maylee swims like a sea otter. The gym features five treadmills with personal cable TV monitors, permitting me to watch what is usually the only television I can in the morning. The people are friendly and supportive and I get excellent advice from my personal trainer. The morning crowd is a lot of people in my demographic or older, doing a variety of workouts. It's very motivating to me to work out regularly knowing that I'm in good company.

4. Transports Running: Ritchie Boulet is a former all-America runner who in his 30s remains one of the best runners in the Bay Area. He also is the owner of Transports. When I was looking for a replacement for my race shoes, he spent more time than a realtor showing me prospective houses. He went through the trouble of seeking out-of-production models from my favorite brand and calling me with ideas. When I went back to see his suggestions, I noticed that for about 15 minutes he helped a casual runner find a comfortable running shoe. Ritchie ran the mile in four minutes! It was like Babe Ruth giving tips to the St. Catherine's CYO baseball team. Ritchie is married to Magdalena Levy-Boulet, the 2008 Olympic marathon runner, who shares Ritchie's running talent and incredible niceness.

5. Go! St. Louis half marathon: A great big race. Eight-thousand half-marathoners, 2,000 marathoners, and more than 100 four-person marathon teams composed in excess of 10,000 people running around St. Louis. But it felt like 300. Parking is a breeze. There were no lines at the porta-potties. Perhaps most amazing, runners actually lined up according to their pace! Imagine that, a mass of runners that understand that there's no need to crowd the starting line in a chip-timed race. The prizes go five deep in each five-year age group, and are the size of salad plates. If this weren't enough, they also hold a 5K, a kids race and a seniors race the previous day. All the activity was great for Maylee, my mom and me, and definitely worth the trip to visit my parents in St. Louis. Organizer Nancy Lieberman does an amazing job. I only saw her get flustered at the kids race when she admonished parents, including me, to give the kids enough space to run. This one is on my annual calendar.

6. Davis Stampede half marathon: A great little race. This race conflicts with the San Francisco Half Marathon, which I had run twice before. I decided to avoid the parking, city streets and crowds in San Francisco and drive 60 miles east to Davis. My hunch that the travel time was about the same was correct, and parking was easy to find. The post-race party is one of the few that offers food to non-runners, and the items go beyond energy bars and typical packaged foods. Even better, the festivities include a kids jumpy thing. I'll try to do this one in 2010 since I'm running a marathon that day in the coming season.

7. Big River Running: On New Year's Eve 2007 Brigette Schutzman, a cross country and track runner at St. Louis University, was injured in a car accident that left her in a coma for six weeks. Big River helped organize a meet of mile races for different competitive groups, followed by a pasta dinner. The event raised $8,000. I encountered Big River when I visited St. Louis for the Go! half marathon, and was a few fast runners wearing the store's singlets. I went to both locations, finding the first pairs of shorts that I liked in several years. One of the stores has the sentimental location in a house near where my mother and father grew up. Big River is one of the top 50 stores in the country and would be ranked higher here if I lived in St. Louis. Check out their web site. http://www.bigriverrunning.com/. The variety of activities includes speed sessions, running camps, and races.

8. Technical race shirts: The Napa Valley Marathon, Go! St. Louis half marathon, Tilden Tough Ten, San Francisco Marathon, Long Beach half marathon, Primo's Run For Education and the US Half Marathon-San Francisco all provided technical shirts at no additional cost. This seems to be a growing trend and one that I hope sticks as the shirts wear better and will be part of my wardrobe for years to come, much to Mandy's chagrin.

Wishful Thinking

"And here comes Larry Witt (sic) of Alameda!", said Dave Rhody. "I think he's our second masters finisher."

I wish Dave was right, but I was pretty certain that at least three runners ahead of me appeared to be older than 40. It turns out that there were several, including two in their 50s. It was a fairly stacked and well-attended race, and I finished fifth out of 89 in my age group (M40-49), 19th out of 538 overall. A special benefit to me was that my mother, Toni Witte, was in town for Thanksgiving and attended the race. That's her on the left, next to my sister-in-law Kathy Doan who ran the 5K, my brother Martin, and me.

Thus ended my race season of 2008. I had a great year even though I fell short of all my goals. I hoped to win 10 medals, but won nine. If I had run one of three or four races that I avoided because I thought my chances of placing were slim, I would have had 10. Of course, there was also the disaster in Livermore. I also failed to meet my goals of 17:30 in the 5K, 36:00 in the 10K, 1:20 in the half marathon and 2:50 in the marathon.

The above times may always be out of reach, but I am very fortunate. I feared I had seriously injured myself at the Napa Valley Marathon in March, running on a left foot inflamed with plantar fasciitis. But since my podiatrist fitted me for orthotics, my feet haven't been a problem. I was able to run consistently, and my mom got to see me race twice. Maylee ran several kids races and enjoyed riding in the jogging stroller, and joining me for sprints and jumping exercises.

My wife Mandy deserves a lot of credit for being patient and supportive when my runs shift more of the family duties to her in the morning. It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a lot of people to enable a grown man to act like one.

Now I'm in my winter marathon training phase, which involves a lot of long, dark and cold runs. It's hard to get motivated, but I'm halfway through the program in preparation for the Surf City Marathon on Super Bowl Sunday.