Richard Golding
Running

 
Half marathon
73) 27 January 2024 Rotary Mission 10 Half 1:59:37 (chip)
72) 13 November 2022 Clarksburg Country Run Half 2:10:43 (chip time)
71) 1 September 2019 Noyo Headlands Half 2:11:02.1
70) 3 August 2019 Summer Breeze Half 2:20:52
69) 29 April 2017 Western Pacific Half (Fremont, CA) 2:00:42 (chip time)
68) 9 October 2016 Healdsburg Half Marathon 1:55:22 (chip time)
67) 22 March 2015 Oakland Half Marathon 2:05:13 (chip time)
66) 8 March 2015 San Diego Half 1:56:20 (chip time)
  This running of the SD Half was better than I expected. I had not been sleeping much; I expected a poor finish time. But instead I finished within a few seconds of my time last year on the same course. Weather was warm toward the end but nice for the start. For most of the course I kept my pace fairly conservative, and had the energy to make it up the Washington Street hill at a reasonable pace (without walking). There were a couple people who were keeping similar paces to mine, and that helped me keep the pace steady.
65) 1 February 2015 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon 1:50:35 (chip time)
64) 9 November 2014 Berkeley Half Marathon 1:54:44 (chip time)
  A pleasant half that made for a good tour of Berkeley. It took us into neighborhoods in northern Berkeley that I had never visited before. Course is a nice mixture of rollers and flat.
63) 14 September 2014 Clo-Cow Half 2:03:38 (chip time)
  Knowing that a course is hilly and hard (because one has run it before) is one thing, but that doesn't mean I remembered it properly. The good news is that I remembered enough to keep the pace really slow during the first half, which is mostly all climbs, so that I could push it on the downhills coming back.

The course was the same as last year, in the farm country in the hills west of Petaluma. In the game of "spot the farm animal" I got most of the basics: horse, cow, sheep, goat, donkey, dog, cat, chicken. Also ostrich. I was hoping for llama, pig, and turkey but no luck.
62) 2 August 2014 Summer Breeze Half 1:49:55 (chip time)
  Cool, overcast, with a moderately low tide so shorebirds were out. Stuck fairly carefully to my pace plan for the first half; after eight or nine miles had a period where I couldn't keep the pace up as fast as I wanted (by 30 sec/mile or so). Had enough left to take the final mile faster without blowing up.
61) 23 March 2014 Oakland Half 1:50:21 (chip time)
  The Oakland half wasn't bad. It was nice to start fairly close to home and not super early (9:15 am). The route was pretty much flat, and about half interesting and half going through rundown warehouse/light industrial neighborhoods. The full is supposed to have a much more interesting route.
60) 9 March 2014 San Diego Half Marathon 1:56:42 (chip time)
  Warmer than in past years. Climb up Washington St. hill was hard as always.
59) 2 February 2014 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon 1:51:19 (chip time)
  Finally -- some rain! A light drizzle through much of the race. Felt good throughout.
58) 30 November 2013 Quarry Turkey Half 1:57:04 (chip time)
57) 3 November 2013 US Half (San Francisco) 1:55:09 (chip time)
56) 26 October 2013 Healdsburg Wine Country Half 1:52:08 (chip time)
55) 15 September 2013 Clo-Cow Half Marathon (Petaluma) 1:57:38 (chip time)
  Hilly, fairly challenging course. Pleasant race, small enough, very local. Started in downtown Petaluma and out-and-back west into farm country. Saw cows, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, and an ostrich -- but surprisingly, no chickens.
54) 5 May 2013 Vancouver Half Marathon 1:59:33 (chip time)
53) 10 March 2013 San Diego Half Marathon 1:47:59 (chip time)
  A well-run race on a nice course. Did better than I expected to do.
52) 3 February 2013 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon 1:48:04 (chip time)
  Another fun KPSFHM.
51) 24 November 2012 Quarry Turkey Half 1:47:58 (chip time)
50) 28 October 2012 Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half 1:50:04 (chip time)
49) 7 October 2012 RnR San Jose 1:47:00 (chip time)
48) 19 August 2012 AFC Half San Diego 2:02:01 (chip time)
  A great route, well organized... and hotter than blazes. Unusually so this year, I'm told. Slow way down and was still having trouble with the heat. But this race merits another try, hoping for better weather.
47) 15 July 2012 Napa to Sonoma Half 1:41:41.3 (chip time)
  Felt pretty good. Route was as good as always, and had a good finish time. The weather was about as good as could possibly be asked for: cool, high fog, no wind to speak of. The Destination Races folks are starting to sell out, though: there seems to have been a big push to bring in one of the big national charity organizations, and the majority of runners seemed to be from that organization. One runner started chastising one of the people from that organization reminding them that there are other runners on the course as well...
46) 6 May 2012 Vancouver Marathon/Half 2:19:33 (chip time)
  Great day for running; a very nice course. Having aid stations every couple kilometers was perhaps a little bit of overkill... but on the good side. Running through Stanley Park was nice.
45) 8 April 2012 US Half 2, San Francisco 1:47:13 (chip time)
  Ran this on a whim -- signed up just a few days before. Turned out well. Felt better than I expected.
44) 11 March 2012 San Diego Half 1:48:27 (chip time)
  Had a good time. Wasn't feeling super fast, so I took it a little slower than I had hoped when I signed up. Going along the water was nicer than I expected, and going past the building site of the San Salvador was interesting. Hill up to Hillcrest wasn't as bad as I had feared, and the long steady downhill to the ballpark meant good speed for the last few miles. Well organized.
43) 5 February 2012 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half 2:12:37 (chip time)
  Ran this with Craig -- so that he would get a PR.
42) 28 January 2012 Coyote Hills Half 2:03:27 (chip time)
  Hilly race, great weather.
41) 11 December 2011 VA Runner Blue and Gray Half (Fredricksburg, VA) 1:45:25 (chip time)
40) 26 November 2011 Quarry Turkey Half 1:42:43 (chip time)
 
39) 29 October 2011 Healdsburg Wine Country Half 1:44:43 (chip time)
  Once again, a beautiful race. The weather was just about perfect -- cool at the start, a little warmer by the end, but never getting hot. The rolling section seemed shorter this year for some reason, even though it is exactly the same course as it has always been. The vines were greener than last year.
38) 2 October 2011 RnR San Jose Half 1:43:06 (chip time)
37) 18 September 2011 RnR Philadelphia Half 1:51:13 (chip time)
36) 10 September 2011 Montour Trail Half (Pittsburgh, PA) 1:54:42 (chip time)
  Nice trail. A bit narrow, but unexpectedly pretty. Humid but not too hot.
35) 27 August 2011 Summer Breeze Half 1:46:03 (chip time)
34) 17 July 2011 Napa to Sonoma Half 1:56:56.4 (chip time)
33) 30 April 2011 American River Parkway Half 1:42:35.6 (chip time)
32) 16 April 2011 Western Pacific Half 1:44:44
  Started at Quarry Lakes Park in Fremont, and ran west along the north side of the Alameda Creek Trail (and return). Helped hand out shirts beforehand. Got second in my age division.
31) 10 April 2011 US Half 2 (San Francisco) 1:43:58 (chip time)
  One year after a disastrous run on this course, I'm back to give it another go. I felt good pretty much all the way through; started out faster than planned but was able to keep it up. The views from the Golden Gate Bridge were tremendous: the weather was cool, breezy, sunny, and one could see a long ways down the bay.
30) 19 February 2011 Bay Breeze Half 1:45:09 (chip time)
Windy and rainy day... was cold and grumpy at the start, but warmed up quickly and had a good run. Pushed a bit harder than I had expected to and found my speed responding, so I came in faster than I had figured. The route for the Bay Breeze is from the San Leandro Marina south along the Bay Trail almost to the San Mateo Bridge. It goes along several tidal flats along the way; the tide was out and there were many shorebirds poking around in the mud.
29) 6 February 2011 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon 1:56:45 (chip time)
  Coming back off two weeks of a cold that turned into a sinus infection. This race was hard... heart rate was 15-20 bpm higher than usual for the same pace. But this race is always a favorite and I did credibly given the circumstances. It was a warm day and a lot of people seemed to be having problems with the heat.
28) 19 December 2010 CTR Bay Trail Run (Half) 1:55:04 (gun time)
  A muddy, rainy, windy race. The trail was full of puddles. The wind was fairly strong in sections. Mud splatters up to my knees by the end. It was great. Lots of interesting birds along the trail---most especially a bedraggled cormorant just sitting on the side.
27) 31 October 2010 Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half 1:57:00.7 (chip time)
  Pretty race along the American River bike path in Folsom. This was my first time running two halfs back to back in one weekend. Legs were a bit slow and sore all the way through, and my time reflected being tired. But it was worth it.
26) 30 October 2010 Healdsburg Wine Country Half 1:45:00 (chip time)
  Another beautiful race here. The morning was cloudy, almost drizzly, misty but no actual rain. Almost cold at the start, not long after sunrise, which meant I stayed cool throughout. The grape leaves are just beginning to turn, and there was a strong winey smell every once in a while---presumably from grapes left in the fields or something.
25) 3 October 2010 RnR San Jose 1:40:05 (chip time)
  I was aiming to break 1:45 finally. Instead blew through that time and just missed my Plan-B-in-case-I-was-feeling-strong. The course was the usual flat-and-fast; I went out a bit faster than I had meant to but kept it up all the way through. I was in the second starting corral -- with people who were clearly pretty serious about running and getting a good finish time. It felt a little odd being with that kind of crowd at the start... but with this finish time, I guess I earned it. This was a significant move up: in the top 5% of finishers, well better than the 60th percentile I used to do.
24) 19 September 2010 Lake Merced Half 1:46:46 (gun time)
  My first DSE race -- simple, cheap races in SF. The route was just three times around Lake Merced; not exciting, just a usual training route, but a good test for how I'm doing. It's a somewhat rolling course. This was another faster-than-expected finish.
23) 6 September 2010 Vasona Lake Trail Run Half 1:59:59 (gun time)
  The comeback run from taking time off to recover. A fairly pretty trail run, with a lot of climbing. Felt good all the way through.
22) 11 April 2010 US Half San Francisco #2 2:27:19 (chip time)
  It finally happened... hurt myself in a race. I had been having some twinges with my lower right leg, and right from the start of the race it wasn't quite right. By mile six it was hurting for real, and just before mile eight I decided prudence was best and started walking. Pride meant that I didn't just drop out, but walked the rest of the way. The course itself is nice, and the race was a good size. Other than my leg having trouble I was having a good race, and I would run it again. A mild rain started about an hour in, which wasn't so nice since I was walking but would have been fine to run in. [Note from later: it was a tibial stress fracture combined with peroneal tendinitis.]
21) 20 March 2010 National Marathon/Half (Washington DC) 1:46:38 (chip time)
  Decent run. Good points: nice to run in DC; good weather; great architecture. Only complaints: plastic cups at water stations (try avoiding them all over the road) and that it's a big race and can get crowded.
20) 20 Feb 2010 Bay Breeze Half (San Leandro CA) 1:46:21 (chip time)
  Started at Marina Park in San Leandro, and followed the Bay Trail south almost to the San Mateo Bridge. Cool, somewhat breezy day; good running weather. Nice people, not too many runners. Lots of shore birds along the way--tide was out, so there was a lot to see. Got third place in my age division.
19) 7 February 2010 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon 2:21:14 (chip time)
  Nice day, nice race and course as usual. Ran with Craig! Plenty of rabbits. Felt great afterward.
18) 17 January 2010 RnR Arizona (half) 1:46:01 (chip time)
  After a bad week, I just about bailed out the night before. But instead decided to run anyway... and it turned out to be a decent race. Ran the first three miles or so with Juan, which helped keep the initial pace sane. Picked it up in the middle third but didn't quite get it to the cruising pace I had hoped for. At mile 10 or so, a guy came up alongside and chatted a little about pace... which was exactly what I needed to push in the last three miles. I missed my personal goal time by a minute, but still beat my previous best. Next time, with more sleep and less interrupted training...
17) 13 December 2009 VA Runner Blue and Gray Half (Fredricksburg, VA) 1:49:34 (chip time)
  Drizzly, dark, and beautiful. Started and ended in a shopping center, but then went up and over a hill into quiet residential neighborhoods. Lots of old houses, winter trees, nearly empty streets. Fairly small race but not too small; there were enough spectators to make it nice. Bonuses: pizza, hot soup, and doughnuts at the end.
16) 31 October 2009 Healdsburg Wine Country Half 1:57:46.3
  This turned out to be a beautiful run, and easier/faster than the same route last year. Once again the race started just before dawn at Coppola winery, went south, over a hill, and north up the Dry Creek Valley. There was a lot of fog in the valleys at the start, and it was around 50 degrees out. We didn't run in any of the fog, but it lent a pleasant atmosphere.
15) 4 October 2009 RnR San Jose Half 1:47:56 (chip time)
Decided to run this at nearly the last moment. I had had a training run scheduled for around ten miles, and decided to do the half instead. Partway in it was clear that training has paid off, and the speed felt great.
14) 26 July 2009 San Francisco Marathon (first half) 2:17:20 (chip time)
  First race that Craig and I did together. Very crowded, especially on the bridge.
13) 27 June 2009 RnR Seattle Half 1:50:53 (chip time)
  Nice course, great weather. Felt great.
12) 17 May 2009 Avenue of the Vines Half, Lodi 2:10:06.1 (chip time)
  Hot; long straight roads; got dehydrated by the end. Dairy farms halfway through posed a particular challenge.
11) 2 May 2009 American River Parkway Half 2:10:32.4 (chip time)
Nice route, nice people. A little rain along the way but nothing major. Came in faster than expected but felt lousy from lack of rest and gut cramps. Most amusing fact: I had bib number 666.
10) 25 October 2008 Healdsburg Wine Country Half 2:16:50 (chip time)
  This was the first running of the Healdsburg half. The route was great: country roads, much of it through vineyards in a fairly narrow valley. The route was rolling hills and as a result a relatively slow course; there were a lot of people who seemed to give out in the last two or three miles.
9) 5 October 2008 RnR San Jose 2:03:37 (chip time)
  Big (20k people), fast, not terribly scenic but very very convenient.
8) 3 August 2008 San Francisco Half Marathon (first half) 2:09:36
7) 3 February 2008 Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half 2:03:29 (clock time)
  The KP SF half is a quick, fun route. The first half is easy—going downhill west through Golden Gate Park. Then an out-and-back on the Great Highway, where people seem to start to fall apart. Ends with an uphill into the finish.
6) 16 July 2006 Carneros Wine Country Half 1:54:40
One of the prettier races out there. An early morning start at a vineyard is nice. A few bumps but no real hills.
5) 5 February 2006 San Francisco Half 1:54:02
4) 17 July 2005 Wine Country Half 1:58:59
3) 17 April 2005 Santa Cruz Half 2:01:00
Not my favorite race. Too many horses had been on the trail in days before, and one had to avoid their leftovers. And who thought finishing in the sand was a good idea?
2) 6 February 2005 San Francisco Half 2:08:12
1) 11 July 2004 Wine Country Half 2:19:16
 
 
Marathon
14) 27 July 2014 San Francisco Marathon 4:45:46 (chip time)
The weather for the first half of the race was great: cool, overcast, a little breeze but not windy. The first few miles went past pretty quickly. Getting across the bridge -- which can be crowded -- was not too bad this time. The overcast cleared and it began to warm up as I got onto Haight St and down the long, boring sections on 16th St and through Dogpatch. I was tempted to stop at Piccino on 22nd for chocolate but resisted and went on through.
13) 1 April 2012 Marathon de Cheverny 4:17:19 (chip time)
  First time running outside the US. Started on the grounds of Cheverny chateau, and did a couple of loops through forests and farms in the area.
12) 4 March 2012 Napa Valley Marathon 4:42:03 (chip time)
  I had been in a bit of a slump in training, so this was rougher than I had hoped. Walked a little bit, which cut into my time some, and the race was much warmer than in previous years so I ended up a little dehydrated. Lessons: get training back in gear, and be more conscientious about hydration on the course.
11) 15 January 2012 Redding Marathon 4:24:31 (gun time)
  A small, beautiful race. Saw lots of birds along the way. The rollers around mile 11-13 were hard, but not too bad. Race starts by going across Shasta Dam, then a fast descent down to the Sacramento River. The path follows the river on one side (with a couple miles' out-and-back detour), crosses the Ribbon Bridge, and goes down the other side to end at the Sundial Bridge.
10) 31 July 2011 SF Marathon 5:13:31 (chip time)
9) 5 June 2011 North Olympic Discovery Marathon 4:17:41 (chip time)
  A pretty run; surprisingly warm for the northwest. Hillier than I remembered it being.
8) 6 March 2011 Napa Valley Marathon 4:10:15 (chip time)
  Light rain for most of the race; finally got the famous NVM wet weather after two previous time of nice weather. Fast, once again. The cloudy, misty weather in the first half of the race was particularly interesting.
7) 27 March 2010 Yakima River Canyon Marathon 4:38:38 (gun time)
  Beautiful route south through the Yakima River canyon. Just above freezing at the start; getting warm at the end. All the reviews and the race literature made a big deal of the two major hills on the route... but really, they aren't so bad. Felt good at the end. Plenty of red-wing blackbirds all through the canyon.
6) 7 March 2010 Napa Valley Marathon 4:24:00 (chip time)
  Once again I have been lucky with the Napa Valley Marathon and had good weather. Reports are that last year was an ugly, rainy mess... but this year was sunny, cool at the start, still wind to a little side breeze. Felt good all the way through, and hit a new best time.
5) 6 December 2009 California International Marathon (Sacramento) 4:36:08 (chip time)
  Cold and windy. Hillier than expected.
4) 11 October 2009 Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon 4:29:31 (gun time)
This was the first time I had run the same full marathon route twice. It seemed different from my recollection of the first time, four years before: longer, straighter, maybe a little less solitary. The fall colors were a week away from being at their peak but nice anyway. I felt pretty strong up through mile 22 or 23, around the tunnels, and had trouble after that but still finished at the pace I wanted.
3) 2 March 2008 Napa Valley Marathon 4:42:59
  Highlight of the run: a coyote trying to cross the road, confused by hundreds of runners in its way. Steady downhill, and a tailwind this time.
2) 9 October 2005 Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon 4:42:43
  A spectacular route. Below freezing at the start, but the first few miles are a gentle uphill and I took off outer layers fairly soon. Bright yellow autumn foliage in the canyons.
1) 12 June 2005 North Olympic Discovery 5:13:00
  First marathon. Ran in front of the house I grew up in, and my mom and Craig kept going from spot to spot to cheer us on.
 
Other distances
8) 25 September 2022 SF Aloha Run (5K) 0:26:57 (chip)
7) 14 July 2019 Across the bay 12K 1:12:16 (chip time)
6) 9 July 2019 Across the bay 12K 1:07:36
5) 25 January 2014 Trinidad to Clam Beach Run (Trinidad, CA; 8 3/4 mi) 1:14:23 (chip time)
  A beautiful run along the Humboldt coast. Starts at a civilized hour (10 am); some rollers as it goes down to creek level and back up. At about mile 6.5, one splashes across the Little River and the final miles are on hard-packed sand on the beach.
4) 13 November 2011 Clarksburg Country Run (20 mile) 3:15:08 (chip time)
3) 14 November 2010 Clarksburg Country run (20 mile) 2:54:04.0 (chip time)
  A pretty day for running in the delta.
2) 10 October 2010 SLO City to the Sea Half (about 12.6 mi) 1:44:09 (chip time)
  This was a nice medium-sized race. It was a bit warm out, but in some stretches there was a bit of breeze or shade. Much of the route was fairly rural. Moderately hilly, with a couple medium hills. The course was measured incorrectly and was about half a mile short of a full half marathon.
1) 8 November 2009 Clarksburg Country Run (20 mi) 2:56:55.3 (gun time)
  This race was a last-minute whim. I hadn't heard of it until a friend registered for it and mentioned it. I was scheduled to do a long run on this day in my training plan, so I decided to try it. The route turned out to be quite a nice on: almost completely flat, cool but not cold, sunny, but mostly along country roads with oaks and walnuts lining either side. The race people seemed nice as well. Recommended. I managed the best time I have ever hit at this distance (8:51/mile), which leads me to think that my full marathon time can improve significantly.