By Ross Forman
I gotta admit, I was a little nervous heading into my 16-mile training run on Sept. 8.
First, it was my longest run ever, and second, I was running with the San Francisco team from the National AIDS Marathon Training Program (NAMTP) as opposed to normal Chicago crew I run with. I feared the incredible hills of San Francisco streets, and, dare I mention, Crooked Street. Plus, after running, I was gonna see all my friends from Tristar Productions at their SF Collectors Show - and they all knew I was running in the morning and would be asking how it went.
Well, 16-miles was, ultimately, no problem ... and the San Francisco crew (Todd, Tom, Joe and others) was a lot of fun to run with.
We started at Golden Gate Park, and since I'm not too familiar with many San Fran landmarks, I don't know the exact route, though we certainly ran to San Francisco State University and around Lake Merced.
The group I ran with was nice and energetic, and quite welcoming for a newcomer. We started with 12, yet ultimately, only six of us finished the three-plus hour journey due to some injuries along the way.
Running in San Francisco is nothing like running with my normal Chicago crew, where we just go south along the path that is adjacent to Lake Shore Drive, then return the same way. In SF, there were countless turns and street-lights and, well, to say I was lost about 10 minutes in would be an under-statement. Heck, I really don't know how they remember exactly where they're going. And the SF route, unlike the Chicago route, doesn't feature countless perfectly-sculpted bodies running in the opposite direction, which always is easy on the eyes.
Next Saturday (Sept. 15) will be a Recovery Run of "only" eight miles as I head into the home-stretch for the 2007 Florence Marathon on Nov. 25. We're only 11 weeks away from that big 26.2-mile trek through Italy ... I couldn't be more excited!
My marathon training is part of the National AIDS Marathon Training Program (NAMTP), to raise funds for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Would you please consider sponsoring your favorite writing-runner and help the AIDS Foundation of Chicago in the process. Please go to my website (www.firstgiving.com/rossruns) while I run to Florence, Italy. Thanks,
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