Entire Bay Area WOW Team Calendar

Here's what WOW is up to starting in 2010.

The week of January 4 - 10, 2010

Join The WOW Team - Fit Women of the World for fun and some honest sweating as we walk or run our way to lifelong fitness.

Note: Training for The Oakland Festival in March – either the half marathon or the Twilight 5K starts the week of January 4, 2010. Ask for the free training program for either.

Photo Source: CIM Race, 2010 J. Lowe

Tuesday, 6:30 – 7:30AM Kezar Track, San Francisco, 60 minutes for runners only. This is a hard, fast, running workout, not geared to walkers or walker/runners. Both Wednesday and Thursday track workouts include walkers and runners.
Wednesday, 6:30 – 7:30PM Piedmont High School Track for all abilities (including fitness for walkers)
Thursday, 6:30 – 7:30 PM Las Lomas Track, Walnut Creek for walker/runners and runners
Saturday, 8:00 AM Meet at Sawyer Camp in San Mateo for 60 minutes. Must be a competent runner who can run for 60 minutes minimum. Drop-ins are always welcome.
Sunday, 8:00 AM Meet Lake Merritt in Oakland to walk, run, or walk/run. Minimum 60 minutes for all, half marathon trainees will do 6 miles.

Please RSVP at http://meetup.com/gowowteam
Directions, go to http://runwalklocations.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Atwood is a nationally certified long distance running coach, personal trainer, and founder of The WOW Team, a women's running and walking group in the Greater Bay Area. The WOW Team - Fit Women of the World meets throughout the Bay Area, several times each week. Drop-ins are encouraged.

Questions? Contact Coach Stephanie at gowowteam@gmail.com

First Potluck and WOW Team Social Get-together of 2010! January 22 and You are Invited!

You don't want to miss this opportunity to meet members from all locations while eating and drinking with some amazing folks! WOW member Mayra M will be hosting this fun event at her home in San Leandro. We limit total guests to 50 so sign up early, bring a friend, and join us! Males and females are welcome.
Details

• Bring a dish for 4 people and a beverage to share
• 6:30 to 7:00 is happy hour. From 7:00 we'll start eating
• Directions given when you RSVP

Thanks! Hope to see you! Gowowteam@gmail.com

RSVP at http://meetup.com/gowowteam

I just wanted to take a quick minute to thank you for a great track workout this morning.

While I can't say I "enjoyed" myself during the workout, I did get a great workout in and was very happy with my running this morning. Thanks for providing these workouts for us, it makes a huge difference!! - Sarah T

May I still sign up to train for The Oakland Half Marathon?

Yes! -  I have a lot of information I can send you. Unfortunately, we are not doing another orientation but you can still sign up. We have some spaces left and training doesn't begin until January 6. Email me directly at gowowteam@gmail.com and I will send you the details. This will also include a survey so that we can talk over the phone about your goals and the reality of making them happen! Happy Holidays. I look forward to hearing from you soon and starting the training together. Best, Coach Stephanie

A few questions

What is the time block for each of the Sunday workouts ? - Good questions, thanks for checking in. The weekend workouts will depend on the distance or time we are working out that weekend and your pace. That said, I try to start right on time. Our first 6 weeks will include a talk before the workout - approximately 30 minutes. So, our 6 miles workout plus talk will start at 8:00 and most of us will be finished by 10:00. As the workouts get longer, the amount of time increases. After our 6 weeks, however, we will cut out the talks due to the length of time "pounding the pavement". Because we cater to different abilities and different goals you can always expect to work out at least 60 minutes and, by checking your own training schedule, you should have the details for your individualized goal.

Is it ok to have my daughter? - You are always welcome to bring drop-in guests (who can work out with us) or observers, if they don't want to participate. There is a fee for participating drop-ins of $7.

What day of the week is the training/track in the Walnut Creek area and what time is it? - Track is scheduled for Thursday but I have to get confirmation from Rob on the location. That workout is 6:30 to 7:30PM. We try to get people in and out within the 60 minutes because it's a week night and always busy for everybody.

Need more details, let me know  gowowteam@gmail.com

Photo: Coach Stephanie celebrating life at The Breast Cancer Hike with her daughters/C. Wills

California International Marathon Comments from "The Girls"

From Salina L - It went just fine! I finished with a time of 4:13:46 or something right in there. Like I said I didn't have any real expectations since I stopped doing the track workouts after I started having pain in my right left/knee. I ran the whole time with the 4:15 pace group and then ran hard the last mile and a half. My legs didn't feel so good starting at 18 miles but I just kept going because I know myself well enough that if I stopped to stretch or slowed down I would just start walking. How were the relay teams? Thanks for checking in! Just my knees are feeling sore today otherwise I feel great!

Photos by Kim and John Lowe. Top Sarah T and Marny N show off the WOW Team Vests. Bottom photo Kim and Marny after the race. COLD!!

From Heidi  H- Thank you Stephanie, for all your coordination and support and passion for making the WOW team work and grow. I had so much fun today and love being part of this team. And I broke a pace record today and was doing about 12:36/ miles (the fastest I've ever done in training or races was at American River Parkway and Big Sur Halfs which were at 13:15). Hope you're warm and cozy and resting well after a big weekend. See you next Saturday night.

From Kim L - Hi Everyone, It was great for me to be involved with the CIM and the WOW team. I have never been in a running group before and it was alot of fun for me to do the relay. Even though our team was sick and injured.....I felt we did pretty well. I also want to congratulate everyone else too. Some of you had your challenges, but you all finished. Here are some pictures - I wish I had more pictures, but didn't take my camera with me during the run. Enjoy!!

From Christy G - Hi - I wanted to thank everyone.... Stephanie and all the ladies were so kind...there were people walking their dog that were faster than me. All I could hear was Heidi and the group cheering me on with "you are moving at a great pace and you are rocking this" Thanks again.
 
From Marny G - Kim - thanks for sharing the picts. I think they really capture the fun we had this weekend at CIM. Congrats to everyone on your races!! The Wow teams did pretty well! My race went well. Despite the cold and chaos at the transition points, my legs held up on the hills and I think I averaged a little under 10 min miles. Thanks to Stephanie for providing encouragement and organization of the weekend!!

CIM Photos December 6, 2009 - The night before...