Twenty Two Down

A Return to Racing

2011-11-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

It may be a little early in the game but since my last post I’ve made a return to racing. Neither attempt was about setting a PR, but more about just participating in a group setting.

The slow and steady mileage buildup has continued. With seven weeks of running on the books I have yet to break 20 miles for a week. My longest “long run” has yet to break the double digits at “only” 7 miles. In weeks 5 and 6 rather than bumping any one run’s miles I added mileage by adding a fourth day of running to the plan.

Week 5, I ran on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with the additional run on Sunday. Because I we had a Thanksgiving travel plans during the end of Week 6, I ran Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. I’ve also continued to be a midweek early morning runner. This is a completely new concept for me. I used to abhor the thought of squeezing in my run before work, but with the time change and the early daylight I’ve really come to enjoy running then rather than after work in the dark.

Week 5 included my first race this time around. On Saturday, November 12th I ran the Kare Youth League 5K. The race took place only a few miles from my home at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area. The race was put on my Kare Youth League (KYL). Both my boys were involved in KYL from kindergarten to junior high. KYL is a year round sports league. The boys played football, baseball, basketball, soccer and track. The also enjoyed summer and winter camps. It was a lot of fun to go back and see the old coaches. I wore my youngest son’s Carolina Panthers football jersey to run in. I haven’t focused on speed at all at this point so I was running for the fun of it. My expectations were in the 27:00 range. The field was small. I was able to maintain my position and completely surprised myself with a 24:55 finish time (8:01 pace). Way faster than I expected.

Week 6 was spent mostly on the Isle of Palms near Charleston, South Carolina. I got in 3 runs there and then two more back home this weekend. So although my overall mileage didn’t really increase I bumped up the ante by adding in a 5 day of running. My hope is to maintain the 5 day schedule from now until my goal marathon next spring. Highlights of week 6 included running 3 miles with my oldest son. He joined the family in SC; driving down from Cleveland, OH. He and I, along with my wife, took part in the Charleston Turkey Day Run and Gobble Wobble 5K. Tyler’s goal was to PR which he did in 22:45. I finished my own race in 26:11. My race strategy hadn’t included a goal of improving on the KYL 5K time. The race is the largest 5K in South Carolina. The crowd of nearly 6000 made a fast time somewhat more difficult. I had lined up with the 24:00 to 27:00 estimated finish time and slowly worked my way up. I might have been able to run a faster race, but my primary goal of the morning was camaraderie.

Right now the main goal is to be running and to be running while keeping the heel pain that nagged me for the better part of 2011 in control. So far, I’ve been able to accomplish those goals and for that I’m thankful.

BRRRRINGGGGGG...Recess Is Over

2011-11-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Not only did I stop running after Missoula, I stopped blogging and unfortunately I stopped reading most of my favorite blogs. My apologies.

After running my last 26.2 miles on July 10, I didn't run another step until October 11 except for the few yards I ran in a sad attempt to play soccer against school kids in Zimbabwe. Like I said I started running again on October 11, three months after Missoula and a Tuesday which traditionally would have been the first run of the week. I guess I should have read my last blog post before I did that. Seems I promised myself and all of you not to run again until November. Ah, well...you know what the say about the best laid plans of men.

I took time off to see if I could get my heel pain healed up. By the first of October the pain had subsided considerably. The only other thing that went up was my weight. I gained a good 10 pounds over the 3 month hiatus, mostly due to bad diet choices - damn sugar! Candy, cookies, cake, pie, ice cream - that about covers the 5 major food groups. All during my time off from running I continued to hike 5 miles a couple of times a week and hit the gym sporadically for weights and cardio on the elliptical, the stairs or the bike. But there's just nothing like running.

Other times when I've come back from injury, I've jumped right back into a 5 day a week schedule with long runs of 10 miles. I mean there's really no good reason to run less than 10 miles on a Saturday morning, right? Well this time I decided to go all the way back to the beginning, maybe further than that. I decided to start with a week day run of 2 miles (hardly worth changing clothes for!) and a weekend long run of 4 miles with plans to only ramp that up a mile each weekend with a couple of cut back weeks along the way.

I've stuck to my promise to myself so far.
The first week, Oct 10-16, I ran 2 miles on Tues, 2.3 on Thurs and 4 on Saturday.
Week 2 was 2.5 miles on Tues, 3 on Thurs and 5 on Saturday.
Week 4 was 3 miles on Tues, 3 more on Thursday and 6 on Saturday. For the 6 I finally joined up with my old buddies the CA Cruisers and ran in Peter's Canyon. I stayed off the big hills but got to run with Julie, Steve, Emile and Catherine.
This week it was 3 and 3 miles again on Tues and Thursday and today I joined the Cruisers again for one loop of the 2 Parks-2 Loops course for a 5 mile long run. I got to run with Julie, Shay, James and his Golden Retriever.

So far, so good. The right heel is pretty much pain free, the left is probably at 85% but holding up well. The residual pain doesn't seem be be aggravated by the mileage so far. A good sign, but them my weekly mileage right now is less than my Saturday long runs used to be. I don't expect to hit 10 mile long runs until sometime in January. Before that I plan on adding in a fourth run each week to boost the mileage first.

It's good to be back!

Missoula Marathon

2011-07-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

Montana, finally marked off the list at the Missoula Marathon on July 10, 2011. The story may be getting a bit old but I was supposed to run this one last year. It was planned to be state #17 but ended up being state #22. It was supposed to be my first race as a 49 year old guy being run on my birthday in 2010. Instead it was run as my last race as a 49 year old guy run the day before my 50th birthday. A business trip to Europe for 2 weeks last year interfered with my grand plans. In the end the trip to Europe was a great opportunity. I was supposed to run last year with fellow CA Cruiser 50 stater, Margaret. I felt bad about abandoning here to Montana alone. But this year Missoula became the Cruisers annual group outing. I was joined in Missoula by 15 other CA Cruisers; 8 of us running the full, the other 8 running the half.

Many of us flew up together, non-stop from LAX on Allegiant Air. They only travel to and from Missoula 3 times a week so we went up on Friday and came home on Monday. We all stayed downtown, which I highly recommend to take advantage of the many restaurants in downtown Missoula. The big chain hotels have built outside of town but would require a car to get around. We simply walked everywhere we needed or wanted to go.

The Missoula Marathon organization had a full schedule of events, for the hardy souls. I opted to stay off my legs for as much time as possible before the race on Sunday but there was a Beer Run on Friday. Runners met downtown at a local bar, ran up to 6 miles and then came back to the bar to enjoy a beer or too and to socialize. Saturday evening was the Hellgate 5K (named after the local high school). I’d done the 5K in Illinois with Joe but opted out this time for no other reason that it collided with the group dinner we had planned.

I spent Saturday morning hanging out at Caras Park, a nice little suburban parked wedged between downtown and the Clark River. I made it there in time to see the start of the Kid’s Marathon. They ran 25 miles on their own leading up to race day, running the last 1.2 on Saturday. The race started on the bike path directly across the river, followed the bike path, crossed a pedestrian bridge and finished at the park. It was a very good time to watch all the little kids finishing the race. I clapped and cheered for them all. There were smiles on nearly every little face. The finish line definitely reinforced the notion that running is FUN!

I woke up at 3:45 on Sunday morning to prepare for the race. Breakfast was the standard instant oatmeal prepared with the hot water in the in-room coffee maker followed by a cup of coffee and some Gatorade. I boarded the bus to the start at 4:30 a.m. with fellow Cruisers Julie, Cathe and Mary. Julie and I had planned to run together. Cathe and Mary weren’t sure if they could keep up. The start was in a Frenchtown, Montana’s version of Boyleston.

I met up with a bunch of Marathon Maniacs at the start for the requisite photo op. I ran into Steve Metcalf who I’d met in Little Rock and Terri Menghini a Facebook friend. I’d worn my MM singlet. I think I’ve worn it for all my marathons this year.

The race started promptly at 6:00 to a cannon blast and some fireworks. The temperature at the start was in the low to mid 40’s. I was plenty warm enough once I was running except for my hands. It took over two miles and the sun popping up over the mountains before I could feel my hands.

Julie, Cathe and I feel into an easy rhythm from the start using a 6 minute run and 1 minute walk schedule. The pace was a bit fast for Mary so she fell back and ran her own race joining up with Sue another CA Cruiser for quite a few miles. Our first couple of miles were on the slower side but not of us were overly concerned with time. It was mile 3 before we finally ran a 10:00 mile.

The first almost 9 miles were run on Mullan Road. Those miles ticked off in: 11:54, 11:13, 10:01, --, 21:48, 10:29, 14:02, 10:15 and 10:17. The long one in the middle was a bathroom stop for all three of us.

Mile 9 include our first turn onto Kona Ranch Road which took us over the Clark River and gave us a beautiful view of the mountains directly in front of us. After about a mile or so we turned again onto Big Flat Road which had two things to offer us. One of the prettiest views on the course with the hill rising on our right and the river down below on our left, not to mention some of the most beautiful homes on the entire route.

Cathe had soldiered along with Julie and I up until the point that we hit the incline around mile 13. Julie and I continued on together. We’d definitely hit our rhythm at this point with the next 7 miles ticking off in: 10:19, 10:34, --, 22:30, 10:17, and 9:45. That last one being going down the other side of the “hill” on River Pines Road.

Soon after that we got back into civilization and starting making left and right turns more frequently. We just keep doing our 6:1 thing and ticking of the miles up to mile 20 in: 10:15, 10:17, 10:12, 10:08 and 9:51. Mile 21 at sub 10:00 was a complete surprise to me. It was only the second mile at that pace and the first was aided by a downhill.

Right after that fatigue began to set in with the remainder of the miles: 11:13, 11:54, 11:44, 11:06, 11:40 and the final 0.2 in 2:45. Julie was obviously feeling good and able to keep up the faster pace but no matter how often I suggested that she go on without me she refused. She started taking longer walks and then “sprinting” up to me then walking again. I continued on with the 6:1. except for a couple of time that Julie allowed us an extra break mid way. Finally after mile 25 she took off toward the barn and finished nearly 2 minutes ahead of me. I crossed the Higgins Street Bridge to the finish line in 4:44:38. I was happy to have kept the pace consistent for longer than expected and to have finished in sub 5:00 pace.

We were rewarded with a medal and a Popsicle at the finish line. Any race that gives out popsicles is a great race in my books. Missoula also offered a free beer at the finish line and I enjoyed that as well.

After phone calls and texts home, a short nap and a shower I headed back out into Missoula and hiked the “M” Trail to the big M up the side of the hill my the University of Montana. Julie was somewhat perturbed with me that I hiked the hill after the race assuming I should have run harder. The “M” had beckoned on Saturday but I decided hiking it the day before the race was a bad idea and I wasn’t sure I had sufficient time to do in Monday morning before the return flight home to Sunday post race it was. Enduracne is never usually my issue, speed in the final miles is and hiking to the “M” only required endurance not speed. I was rewarded with a great view of the entire Missoula valley.

And now after having run 26 marathons – 22 states plus DC and multiple California races – I am taking a forced hiatus from running. My heels have been painful for the better part of a year and my left hip has been troublesome for some time. I may be admitting defeat but running nearly non-stop for 7 years has apparently taken its toll. The plan is to start running again sometime in November. I’ve already signed up for the Hollywood Half Marathon next April and I’d like to make the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon in South Dakota my 23rd state in June of 2012. Joe and I have tentative plans to join Wes next November for the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in Georgia. Wish me luck.

The Last Long Run, Once Again

2011-06-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've been here at least 20 times before. This weekend was the last long run, a 20 miler this time around, before heading for the Missoula Marathon.

Last Sunday, I'd run a moderately hilly trail race and then followed that up on Tuesday with hill repeats with the local running group, the Glendora Ridge Runners. I'd run speed work at the Azusa Pacific University track earlier in the season. The track work aggravated my already tenuous left arch, so I had to beg off the track work weeks before tackling Illinois and hadn't gone back. I felt bad having disappeared after only running 4 weeks with the group. As with most running groups, they were great folks to be around.

Two weeks ago the group found out that the APU track was closed for the summer to the Ridge Runners switched their Tuesday workouts to hill repeats. This seemed like the opportunity to rejoin the group. Last week we started with 4 repeats of a hill that is just a hair shy of 2 tenths of a mile. I made the rookie mistake of heading out too fast on the first one. The next four (we snuck in a 5th repeat) came in 1:36, 1:38, 1:38 and 1:37.

This week it was back to the hill repeats. This time the plan was 6. My quads were a bit tired from the trail race but I made it through the 6 repeats. My times were a bit slower this week from 1:38 to 1:41. Still pretty consistent I think.

My legs were still feeling a bit heavy on my Thursday afternoon run. The CA Cruisers had planned on running Powder Canyon. I really enjoy the trails there. The loop is about 8 miles. With the 20 miler staring in me the face, if I chose to run Powder Canyon I’d have to do two loops plus some more. I wasn’t too keen on that and there are a couple of leg burning hills. So as much as I wasn’t entirely happy about it I decided to run my long run on the safer Santa Ana River Trail.

My good friend Terry joined me for the first 1o miles and I was on my own for the second 10. The June Gloom this morning was much less severe than the last couple of days. On Thursday and Friday I had to use my windshield wipers to keep the June Gloom at bay. The first 10 miles were under cloudy skies. With Terry pacing we made decent time and pace at 9:50ish. After Terry departed the sun broke through the clouds much earlier that it had been. General fatigue set in and without my pacer, the inevitable slow down came into play. The entire 20 miles took 3:22:42 for a 10:08 pace.

This long run was plagued with the same issues I’ve battled in most of my long runs and marathons of late. About 4 miles into the run I really needed to visit the john. This has been a common occurrence lately. The panic situations are no doubt linked to my diet. I can no longer get away with eating as I please. I’ve got about 10 pounds to get rid of to get back to racing weight. Another unfortunate by product of my crappy diet is chafing like no other “down there.” That is never a fun experience.

Today’s run was also coupled with a very unwelcome light headed and queasy feeling once I’d finished up. This same thing happened to me at Champaign-Urbana. Leaving the stadium that day I had to sit down several times to keep from loosing my balance and collapsing. This never used to happen to me and it is not as though I’m just burning up the trail these days so I’m not sure what is causing this little issue, but it is a concern. Sitting for a few minutes, rehydrating and a few calories and all seems to be well.

Taper time, once again! Let’s see if I can eat a bit better for the next 21 days. Missoula here I come Anybody want to volunteer to bring me some fluid and a burger at the finish line just in case I decide to nearly pass out again?

The Valley Crest Half Marathon

2011-06-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today I finally ran a race that I’ve considered at several times but from some inexplicable reason had never run. It is the perfect distance on trails within an hour of my house. In June we are almost always guaranteed perfect weather conditions for a run so why it has eluded me for so long I’m not sure.

Anyway the planned run on the buildup to Missoula was a 15 miler. Once I saw this race on the calendar I decided the 13.1 miles with hills would make the perfect alternative to 15 miles on one of several bike path options, so on Thursday I signed up.

This was the 10th running of the Valley Crest Half Marathon. It is held entirely on the Mulholland fire road. 13.1 miles that are either going up or down. It isn’t a crazy mountain run but the total elevation gain is about 800 feet. I’ve definitely tackled worse but I knew that I was working. Even on this cool misty morning I was sweating.

I arrived at the race start about an hour early to secure a parking spot. The website had repeatedly noted that parking was limited. The morning was very heavy “June Gloom” conditions. I needed my windshield wipers at times on the drive there due to the low lying thick cloud cover. It wasn’t raining but there was a lot of moisture in the air. Bib pickup was a breeze. They were expecting about 400 runners. Shirts and goodie bags were handed out after the race.

After a short briefing from the RD, the race started promptly at 8:00 with a simple Ready, Set, Go! Right away we headed up a short spur trail to get on the Mulholland Fire Road proper. Due to starting line crowding the best tactic was to just walk up the hill. Once on the fire road things began to move along a little more smoothly. It was probably about 15 minutes in before there was adequate room to just run the pace of your choosing.

There were no mile markers on this course and since I was just running it as a training run anyway it didn’t really matter to me. I did take mile splits at the turn around points. The course was a simple double out and back. We first headed west for about 3.5 miles, turned around and retraced our steps and then continued east to the 10 mile mark, made another U-turn and then headed down the little spur trail back to the start/finish line.

I hit the 3.5 mile turn in 33:16 for an approximate 9:30 pace. The course had been predominately downhill to that point. Then began the work of climbing back up what we just descended. I just chugged along keeping pace with a bunch of folks and picking them off slowly one by one. I should have tracked my kills on the way to the 10 mile turn around point.

I hit the second turn around point in 1:06, about 10:16 pace. This direction on the fire road was mostly uphill with only a downhill respite between mile 6.5 and 7.5. After the turn around we were headed mostly downhill and I was still able to catch a couple of folks which surprised me because I usually not much of a downhiller. I had to take a quick duck into the bushes and lost some time but even then I re-caught a couple of the folks again.

The cloud cover and mist heavy at times was both a blessing and a curse (of sorts). The June Gloom kept the temperature in the low 60’s, very nice for running. The heavy mist caused my glassed to get water spotted and even fogged up, so vision was a bit of an issue. I chose my foot placement carefully, the fire road was rocky in places and partially eroded from the winter rains. The mist had dissipated for the final push down the hill to the finish which was nice.

I finished the race in 2:13:37 (10:10 pace overall). This isn’t exactly a stellar time for me at the half marathon distance, but it served the purpose of the day of getting in the miles before Missoula. Overall there is nothing not to like about this race. Unlike some other races of its size, the top three male and females all received prize money. The rest of us got the obligatory t-shirt and a medal.

I was back home and showered by noon. I spent the remainder of the day with my wife. We enjoyed a late breakfast at a local eatery and then headed down to Temecula to pick up our June wine club shipments. Quite an enjoyable day.

Old Men and Ladies

2011-06-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

That’s all I encountered on my run this morning. Circumstances led to me running a 20 miler by myself on the multi-use path along the beach in Huntington Beach. It was a perfect morning for a long run; overcast with temperatures in the 60’s. Heading north the wind was at my back. Once I turned around to head back the wind was in my face and made it a bit cool but it helped keep the sweat out of my eyes. The sun came out around mile 16 as did a couple of younger people out running.

I used a 6 minute run:1 minute walk routine throughout the run. I got fatigued after mile 16 or so but not to the point of crippling. I ran the first 10 miles at 10:00 pace (near perfect to expectations) and the second 10 miles in a not totally unexpected 11:00 pace. Although I slowed down, I never felt like I couldn’t keep going.

During the run I ran into Tom Prendergast out for his daily run. He is 72 years old runs about 6 miles nearly every day on the multi-use path. I’d first met time on the trail in March 2005. As often as I run the trail I’d think I would see him more often. I ran with him from my mile 13 to 15 without walk breaks. I was great to have some company for a little while.

I often see another older guy on the trail always in a grey Purdue t-shirt. He always makes me think of Joe. I’m sure he was out there somewhere but in my 20 miles our paths just didn’t cross.

Friday night I’d gotten a call from fellow CA Cruiser and 50 State hopeful, Margaret. She was in Casper, Wyoming to check of that state on her list. She’d run into some folks from Canada that were extolling the virtues of the Humpy’s Anchorage Marathon. It is run in August. Part of the route is on the bike trail that I ran last year when I was in Anchorage on the cruise with my parents. Although it is enticing to get Alaska checked off, I don’t think I can swing it this year.

Only 6 weeks until my 22nd state, Montana and the Missoula Marathon.

The Illinois Marathon

2011-05-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

Running, especially marathon running, can be a pretty selfish and solitary pursuit. I don’t live near most of my training buddies so I run many miles alone. When I do meet up with them, most aren’t at my pace, some are faster and some are slower. Sometime I just want to run where, when, how far and how fast I want to run. I dare say we, as in we runners, are all a bit like that at times.

But sometimes running becomes a shared experience, even an experience where we depend on and relish the company of others. This past weekend at the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon the concept of “it takes a village” to run a race was evident at every turn.

Exhibit #1. Transportation/Lodging/Meals. I was running this race with running blogger/buddy and friend Joe. The Illinois marathon was the seventh time we’d met up to run a marathon. I always fly in from So Cal while Joe drives in from Indiana. As in several times in the past I was relying on Joe to pick me up from the local airport. We share a room at a local hotel, a meal or two, maybe a few miles in the race and then Joe takes me back to the airport and heads for home himself. It’s a plan that has worked out well for us.

Exhibit #2. Packet Pick-Up. One of my fellow CA Cruisers, also chasing the 50 state goal, was in Champaign-Urbana (C-U) for the Illinois marathon as well. John is 75 years old. Illinois would be his 31st state. I arrived at Chicago’s Midway airport at 3:00. On the ride down to C-U it became apparent that we weren’t going to have sufficient time to pick up our bibs and goodie bags and make it to the planned start of the 5K event that was to run at 6:30 on Friday evening. Thankfully John was able to pick up our stuff for us. We met him just outside the expo, grabbed our stuff, beat the cops through two road closures, parked, stripped off street clothes, laced up shoes, pinned on bibs and ran to the starting line with seconds to spare and thanks to a late start ran the 5K. Sometimes getting to the starting line requires a little help from a friend.

Exhibit #3. Marathon Maniacs. Joe and I had planned to run the race together, using a 4:1 run:walk combo that was expected to get us to the finish line in 4:45. We’d both worn our Marathon Maniac singlets and had met up with about a dozen other Maniacs before the race. It is always an easy conversation with a fellow Maniacs. It is always good to have other like minded “maniacs” to share the fun.

Exhibit #4. Misery Love Company/The More, The Merrier. I don’t recall ever seeing so many groups of people running together. There were the four girls with the Hawkeye tshirts, four girls in matching black shorts and turquoise tops, the pair in blue tops with orange and white strips on the side, the pair with “I Run for Jesus” on their sleeve and the lady in the chocolate colored jacket and the guy with the safari hat using a 3:1 routine that Joe and I leap frogged countless times throughout the day. One of the girls in matching outfits claimed that running together gave them a good reason to shop. Each member was there for there for the others.

Exhibit #5. Sarah. Joe and I came upon Sarah around mile 6. She’d volunteered and then ran with a friend for a few miles until she couldn’t keep up his pace. Sarah was in ROTC at the U of I, with plans to join the Marines. She ended up running the next 5 miles or so with us as the route wound back to campus. Joe had a great time connecting with an engineer and future Marine. Sarah helped not only her friend but she made those miles all the more interesting for us.

Exhibit #6. The ultra-guy and his girlfriend. I’d seen the guy at the start of the race. He was easily recognizable by the military style vest he was wearing. He would run ahead and then double back to check on his girlfriend. I noticed him several times. We came upon the girlfriend once and I asked her where the ultra-guy was. That’s when I found out he was using this race as practice for an ultra and his doubling back tactic served two purposes – helping her through her first marathon and getting in some miles and feet time for him. Sometime the motivation is different but covering the miles together is better than covering them alone.

Exhibit #7. Volunteers/Spectators. The citizens of C-U came out in a great way with great attitudes. The volunteers were plentiful, helpful and quick with a smile. We ran through many neighborhoods in both Urbana and Champaign and the folks there turned it into one big block party. Neighbors gathered together in driveways around breakfast buffet and coffee and cheered us along the entire way. It was a great way for them to get together and share the beautiful day.

Exhibit #8. Me and Joe. Although this was the 7th time we gotten together to cover the same 26.2 miles this was only the second time that we decided to run side by side. Joe and I stuck together, in our matching Maniac singlets, for 24.5 miles before I finally convinced Joe to go nab a 5:00 finish since I clearly was the one holding us back. We’d done the same thing in Memphis but that time it was me that galloped strong to the finish with Joe not far behind when his leg seized up from running on the camber for so many miles. Earlier this year, we’d met up and run the Austin Marathon. I selfishly ran my own race in a ill fated attempt to break 4:30. Joe and I ended up finishing only minutes apart when my race fell apart. In retrospect I should have just run with Joe and vowed to do so here in C-U. It was good to share so many steps side by side. Thanks to Joe for sticking with me for so long.

Sometimes running is a selfish and solitary pursuit, but sometimes, like at the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon, running is a shared endeavor with each person’s experience being all the better for sharing it.

Ragnar Relay So Cal 2011

2011-04-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

[I'd better post soon before this blog (and to a lesser degree my running) goes completely comatose]

I did this event last year and had an absolute blast, so when the CA Cruisers jumped on the band wagon I was in with both feet. So many things were similar to last year but some things were completely different.

2010 - The route went from Ventura to Dana Point 2011 - The route went from Huntington Beach to Coronado Island
2010 - I was on a team of relatively fast paced runners. I ran two of my legs last year in 8:30 and 7:30 pace

2011 - I was on a team of "running for fun" paced runners and my own paces were dramatically slower
2010 - I was in Van 1, Leg 6

2011 - I was in Van 2, Leg 7 2010 - The CrAzY gYm RaTs finished the thing in 31:28 (that's hours)
2011 - The California Cruisers #1 finished the thing in about 37:00 (yes, that's hours, too)

2010 - I had the longest mileage in my three legs of any one on the team at 21.1
2011 - I had the longest mileage in my three legs of any one on the team at 25.6 (can you say, sucker?)

The race started with our official start in Huntington Beach at 7:15. The route took our first 6 runners up the Santa Ana River Trail that I've run countless times in training. After Van 1 ran 22 miles Van 2 started the day at around 1:00 in the dirt parking lot that served as my home base for many Saturday long runs for my first few marathons.

My first leg, Leg 7, was 7.3 Miles Hard continuing on the Santa Ana River Trail. I had opted not to take water with me since the distance was less than 10 miles. But the temperature was 85 degrees and 0% humidity running into a dry breeze. I started off the first mile at 8:54 and the next couple ticked off in the low 9:00, but with the heat I just couldn't sustain it. It seems pathetic now after reading in last years post that I ran a similar distance and time of the day last year for an 8:30 pace. It was just so hot and my legs just ain't what they were a year ago. (As a side note, I really need to figure that out.)

The day only continued to get hotter, reaching 95 for some of the runs before the sun finally set. Every runner’s times were suffering. We finished up our 6 legs 39.2 miles later in Lake Elsinore before sundown. One of our runners suffered heat exhaustion and nearly passed out after her leg. I've never seen some one so devoid of color. After some ice, water and a bit of food she came back to life and was able to run her other two legs later the next day.

We ate dinner at the Exchange Point and then headed off to a hotel for showers and a brief nap. I slept for about 2 hours, waking up at midnight to leave for Exchange Point 18.

I took over from Jean at about 2:00 a.m. after about a total of 96 miles. Leg 19 was 8.2 Miles Very Hard with 1000 ft of elevation gain but also a nice downhill section of about 600 feet. This run was so enjoyable. It is fun to see the bobbing blinking tail lights strung out in the distance ahead of me. The temperatures were considerably cooler at 50 degrees, just right for running. I felt really good on this leg and was able to run the entire distance including the hill. My pace was still a relatively pedestrian 10:36 (8.2 miles in 1:27).

We finished our next five legs, about 28.8 miles total about 6:30 in the morning. Van 1 was on their way trying to complete their last round of legs. By now we had fallen nearly 2 hours behind our projected finish time of 5:30 p.m. Our van headed out the breakfast and then went straight to Exchange Point 30 to wait for the arrival of Van 1. Exchange 30 was at the Torrey Pines Glider Park. There was plenty of room to park and spread out but no shade what so ever and the day was warming quickly. We hung out until nearly 2:00 in the afternoon before I took off once again.

My third and final leg, Leg 31, was the longest yet and longest of the race at 9.7 Miles Very Hard along the bluffs of La Jolla. It was a spectacular view. The temperature was nearing the 80's but there was a nice ocean breeze. I chugged along the paths and streets of La Jolla and evened managed to get to Kills along the way; Ragnar jargon for passing runners. At this point Kills were more picking off the young, elderly or sickly than they were dragon slaying but I'm still taking credit for them). As the run seemed to never end the temperature soared and my paces crashed to a final of 11:00. I wasn't doing anything to help our estimated finishing time from slipping further.

Our anchor runner slayed the last leg, 7.1 miles in an 8:00 pace to finally bring this thing to a loud and jubilant finish just before 8:00 p.m., almost 37 hours after we started and nearly 3 hours passed our original projections. It was a long couple of days but it was still a total and complete blast. I'm pretty confident there will be CA Cruisers Redux at Ragnar in 2012.

I ended up running into my teammates from last year's Ragnar just before my first leg and kept in touch with them throughout the day via Facebook. It’s a good thing I ran with the CA Cruisers because the team now known as the Commandos finished in about 31 hours. I was clearly not Commandos material this year.

Billy Goats Gruff

2011-04-03T14:55:00.001-07:00

I've run over this bridge countless times in my 7-plus years of running in Bonelli. I always have the same thought as I trip and tramp over the bridge. The Three Billy Goats Gruff. When I was in grade school, for some reason 3rd grade sticks out, we often had a substitute teacher, Mrs. McLaughlin. It was always a good day when we had a substitute especially when we had Mrs. McLaughlin. Mrs McLaughlin was a retired teacher and she a classmate's, Kevin, grandmother. One day to fill the day she told us the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. She narrated the story complete with voices for each of the billy goats and of course the troll and with wonderful sound effects of the three goats crossing the bridge. Trip, trap, trip, trap - with a clicking of her tongue. We never tired of hearing her tell the story and begged for her to tell it every time she substituted. I can't recall a time that she didn't regale us with the tale of the goats Gruff. I wish a could draw some profound parallels between Mrs. McLaughlin's Three Billy Goats Gruff and running, but that isn't really my forte. Maybe every time I cross that little bridge on the Bonelli Trail I am outwitting those things that may keep me from my running goals or from running at all. The troll that says I'm too slow or too tired will just have to wait for the next guy to come along. The troll of injury that plays havoc with my body and my mental health. Yesterday I walked the bridge rather than run it because I'm nursing my left leg, but I crossed the bridge none the less. The troll will have to wait for another day. If you are the goat, then keep running and don't let that troll get to you. Maybe from the troll's perspective the lesson is to seize the day. You never really know if something else is going to cross that bridge or if what does cross that bridge is the thing that does you in. If you are the troll, then take advantage of each opportunity to run, enjoy it for what it is, not waiting for something better to come along. Either way, I will always think of Mrs. McLaughlin and the Three Billy Goats Gruff each time I pass that bridge, I'll smile and hear the trip, trap, trip, trap in my mind. I hope to pass over that bridge many more times. In the end it wasn't the troll the won out after all.

Speed Anew

2011-03-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

Back at it after the two winter marathons, taking it kind of slow and easy. I've stuck with the three day a week program for the time being. I continue to nurse a few nagging aches and pains - right ankle, left heel and left buttock/hamstring. I'm too stubborn or stupid to take the proper time off. For now the plan it to focus on a time goal at Missoula in July and to train through Illinois at the end of April. To some this might seem wrong, but for me right now its the right choice. After Missoula I fully expect to take a break, assuming I can hold thing together until then. Most of the winter I got my speed work in by taking extended lunch hours to be able to run in the sun and the daylight on a well marked bike path. Now that daylight savings time has blessed us with its presence I was able to move those workouts back to the end of the day. And as an added bonus I've decided to join a local group of folks, the Glendora Ridge Runners, at their Tuesday evening speed sessions on the track of Azusa Pacific University. The Ridge Runners are a speedy bunch. I'm always bringing up the rear of the elite group. They are gracious enough to wait for me before starting the next interval. When I was doing my own speed work based on the first plan I always agonized over the distance and pace, bringing notes along with me to be sure I didn't forget any of the details or the prescribed pace goals. Now that I'm running on Tuesdays with the Ridge Runners, I don't know what I'm in for when I get there, so I just run as fast as I can. Every week we are in for something different. Each week calls for a 2 mile warm up, the speed stuff and a 1 mile cool down. Exactly the protocol I was following anyway. Week 1 we ran 5 x 1K. I averaged 4:35 for each 1K. Last week we did 1 x 1 mile, 1 x 1200 and 4 x 400. This week we started off with a 2K that I thought was never going to end. I got lapped on my 3rd lap by the fastest guy, Joe and then lapped on the 4th lap by both Owen and Jose. At 9:34 it was finally over (7:41 pace). We followed that with 1 x 1K, 1 x 800 and 1 x 400. My times were 4:41, 3:44 and 1:42. I don't think I could have gone any faster on that last 400, I gave it pretty much all I had. It kind of sucks to always be the last one done, but I know that the challenge of keeping up should help improve my speed. My left heel and arch were shot by the end and are on ice now. I'm enjoying the new challenge so I hope my poor tired wheels will hold on for a couple of more months. I promise to take a break after that, really I do.

What's The Plan, Man?

2011-03-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

After taking the last from running, I finally hit the road again this morning. I opted for the lonely and lazy way out and ran by myself at the San Gabriel River Trail around 9:30 this morning. Most of the CA Cruiser are running a half marathon in north San Diego County. It was a coolish, less than 60 degree, overcast morning. Which is in stark contrast to the wonderfully sunny, high 70 degree day we had yesterday. It must have been great bike riding weather, because there were more bikers on the trail than I remember seeing.

I ran 10 miles on a double out and back route on the bike way. The first 9 were at 9:20 pace; the last 1 was barefoot at 11:51. I got three comments this morning about running barefoot. I've been running my last mile barefoot since Christmas on the trail and this is the first anyone's ever commented.

The big debate at the moment is what training plan should I use. I've got the Illinois Marathon in 6 weeks and then the Missoula Marathon 10 weeks after that. I'm still chasing the sub 4:00, but don't know if either of these will be the one. Missoula probably offers the best shot for that.

For Austin a couple of weeks ago I used the three day a week approach of the FIRST system. I enjoyed the speed work and tempo runs midweek but the long runs never did come together. For me those are the best predictor of marathon performance and true to form Austin was slow.

The last time I was able to break the 4:00 barrier was at the Des Moines Marathon in October 2009. I was using Bart Yasso's training program from Runner's World and his book "My Life on the Run". A year later, still using Yasso's plan I ran a disappointing race at the Twin Cities marathon. Thinking I was over training and not recovering from the 5 day a week schedule I switched to FIRST. So far it hasn't lived up to its promise at least for me. I like the three day approach but I worry that the mileage just isn't enough. With Yasso's plan I topped out at 50 miles a week. On the FIRST plan I topped out at 30 miles or running combined with 2 days of cross training on the bike, elliptical or stairs at the gym.

What to do for these next two has been on my mind for the last week or so. Although I'm tempted to go back to Yasso, I think I'm going to give FIRST another shot. I'll train through Illinois, running with Joe at his pace, and then give it a go at Missoula. It would be fun to go sub 4:00 on the last day before I jump age groups.

There's never a shortage of things to ponder and obsess over as a runner. Let's just hope I can stay healthy through it all.

Little Rock Marathon

2011-03-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

The numbers:
State #20 - 40% complete
Bib #1099 (not the tax form)
Temperature at race start: 37F
Temperature at race finish: 48F
Finishers: 1811
Final Time: 4:42:01

The end result - a completely enjoyable race experience.

What a difference two weeks can make. My time in Austin was only 9 minutes slower but boy did I beat myself up over that one. I approached Little Rock with a whole new attitude and perspective and a rejiggered set of expectations. I went into Little Rock with the goal of enjoying myself and finishing off state number 20 without any unhealthy mental and emotional gymnastics.

I flew in the day before the race just in time to pick up my bib, buy some Gatorade and to enjoy the pre-race Pasta Feed with fellow CA Cruisers - Margaret, Cyndee and John and John's wife. I'd talked to Margaret a couple of days before and asked her about running together, since we'd done a few long runs together recently. She agreed. The Pasta Feed was a nice event capturing the spirit of the Little Rock Marathon - An Event of Mythic Proportions.

Race morning dawned cold and breezy. I'd counted on slightly warmer weather but had packed for the weather. The one thing I'd forgotten were gloves. I picked up a pair for $2 at the expo and was glad to have them on race morning. I wore my Marathon Maniac singlet and arm sleeves, topped that with at long sleeve tech shirt and then a long sleeve cotton t-shirt. I wore the gloves and a cap just to help keep some warmth in by keeping my head warm. Dave Mari, Maniac #2465, organized a Marathon Maniac photo before the race. There were over 80 of us there. On the course you were never far from one.

Part of the plan of running with Margaret was to start off slow with the hope that I wouldn't die so dramatically at the end. I hit my watch at the mile markers, gave the time a quick glance and then moved on. Margaret and I seemed to be pretty evenly matched. She said that she was doing her best to keep up with me and I was doing my best to stay half a step behind so that I wouldn't pull her faster than she was comfortable with.

The first few miles were chilly. My face was cold and the gloves felt good. I took off the long sleeve cotton T at mile 2 and held onto to it for about a half mile. I finally tossed it, not wanting to carry it along with me the entire way like I did in Austin. I wasn't going to be needing in to mop up sweat at these temps and I didn't need the added stress on my shoulder from carrying the thing around. It was harder than it should have been for me to toss it, but I did it.

The course winds its way back and forth through and near downtown Little Rock and the adjacent North Little Rock for the first 12 miles and it seemed like we were getting no where. We were always within a mile or two of the starting line. The course was up and down and full of many right and left turns, but never overly crowded

Mile 13 to 16 contained the most challenging section of the course. We'd left the half marathoners behind so the crowd thinned considerably and the 3 mile climb up Boone and Kavanaugh made us all did deep to keep moving forward. The climb seemed to never end. Margaret and my pace slowed understandably. Margaret began to press me to go on without her, but I stuck to my plan to stay with her and enjoy the day. Margaret and I had used a one mile run/one minute walk break so far.

After mile 16 we were rewarded with a nice nearly 2 mile long down hill, through a pretty section of town with large homes up on the hill to our right and a forested area off to the left. The sun broke through for the first time during this section. Miles 18 to 23.5 were an out and back flat section. It was fun to see the others coming back already. Margaret and I were able to spot Cyndee coming back. She'd taken the early start two hours ahead of us.

At mile 20 Margaret asked for an additional walk break. She'd been struggling with her asthma from the start and had used her inhaler twice already. She needed to walk to get her heart rate under control. Again she urged me onward. I finally agreed to go after making sure that she was going to be OK and that I'd see her at the finish line. It was along here that I was warm enough to take off the long sleeve tech T and was finally recognized as a Marathon Maniac. Wearing one of those shirts sure gets you a lot of attention from the other runners and spectators alike.

I continued with my 1:1 schedule to the end of the race. My pace had slowed into the 11 and eventually the low 12 minute range but I was happy that it was there rather than in the 14's and 15' as there were in the end of Austin. In addition my feet, ankles and hips didn't hurt nearly as much. Maybe even better than that was the complete lack of negative thoughts from Austin.

I crossed the finish line to Bart Yasso calling out my name feeling happy and tired. Cyndee was already there to see the rest of come in. It was very cool for her to be the one waiting for us this time rather than knowing that we were all waiting for her. Margaret finished about 6 minutes behind me and then John came in 5 minutes later. We enjoyed the post race food and walked the mile or so back to the hotel together.

Later in the evening Cyndee, Margaret and I went over to Bid Bodacious Post-Race Party for some BBQ in the Clinton Library. It was quite the affair and included in the registration fee. The folks that run the Little Rock Marathon know what they are doing.

The course isn't easy, but it is well marked and well staffed. The citizens of Little Rock seem to embrace the event. The pre-race dinner and post-race party were well run as well. And of course the marathon medal is truly of "mythical proportions." It dwarfs the other 23 marathon medals hanging on my wall.

I've come to really like races of this size, less than 2000 marathon runners. They seem to really be able to cater to the runners without all the crowds and confusion that can sometimes accompany the big city races. If you are like me, you should put Little Rock on your schedule.

LiveSTRONG Austin Marathon

2011-02-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

State #19 in the books.

Back when I signed up for this race my intent was to train to get back under 4:00. I'd last accomplished that at a wonderfully cool clear day in Des Moines, Iowa. My two attempts at it in 2010 fell short. The first try in Twin Cities was foiled by inconsistent training and an uphill finish. My second attempt at Duke City was likely doomed from the start being just two weeks after Twin Cities.

So to try a fresh approach I adjusted my tried and true 5 day a week schedule to the FIRST schedule, running just three days and cross-training on 2 to 3 of the others. I did reasonably well at the speed work and tempo runs mid-week on this plan. But the long run pace and endurance never really came together. I've lamented that fact numerous times before.

I flew into town with my wife on Friday afternoon. After checking in to the hotel we walked over to the expo, actually arriving there before it even opened at 3:00. Packet pick up went smoothly. I picked up my own stuff as well as Joe, as and his wife were joining us the following day. On the walk back we enjoyed a frozen custard cone; something we don't get in California. We managed to continue eating our way through Austin the entire weekend.

Friday night we had dinner at the Iron Cactus in the middle of the 6th Street music district. I had a couple of Shiner Bocks with dinner. I was in Lance Armstrong's town and I remember he drank Shiner Bock in "It's Not About the Bike". Afterward we walked 6th St, stopping in at Coyote Ugly (a huge disappointment) and ultimately landing at The Thirsty Nickel and listened to a great local band, Nothing Left.

We got up the Saturday morning to a heavy overcast and light drizzle. We got a ride out to Magnolia Cafe on South Congress for a great late breakfast. We joined up with Joe and his wife around 2 pm and walked to the finish line to let Joe get the lay of the land for the next day.

Saturday nights carb load dinner was a bit of an adventure. Our original plan was to head back out to South Congress to Vespaio. The opened at 5:30. We arrived about 5 minutes later to find a full restaurant with a 90 minute wait. We ventured next door to their sister restaurant, Enoteca and lucked into 4 seats at the counter overlooking the street. We enjoyed a great meal and people watching in Austin. Right across the street were several food trucks. The food trucks were a common sight in empty lots throughout the downtown area. One particular truck caught our eye - Hey Cupcake. There was a continuous line throughout our entire meal. We headed over and enjoyed some really tasty cupcakes to help fuel our race efforts the next day. The four of us sat at a nearby picnic table for 30 minutes or so enjoying the crowd and some live country music. Joe added his own renditions every once in a while.

Race morning dawned overcast, breezy and a bit warm at 63-degrees. Joe and I headed out and met some other Marathon Maniacs from a group photo. Thanks to Dave Mari for organizing that. We then each headed to our prospective starting areas. Joe stayed at 4:45 and I optimistically headed up towards the 4:00 group. I didn't really think I could do it, but decided to give a shot at least. I lined up just ahead of the 4:15 sign.

Even though there were close to 19,000 runner out there, the starting area didn't' feel overly cramped or congested. Things seemed to have started off without a hitch. It did take me almost 12 minutes to get to the starting line, but the mood was relaxed.

The "hills" of this race start almost immediately after leaving the starting line. I'd read a three part preview of the race on Facebook that talked a lot about the ups and downs of the course. They come early and often. Not necessarily hills in the truest sense but the Austin route is definitely a non-stop up and down roller coaster.

I stopped at the port-a-johns at Mile 1. I wasn't in panic mode yet but the lines were short and I decided to get it out of the way before it did. I'd started the race wearing a "throw away" long sleeve t-shirt which I immediately removed upon exiting the big blue box. I ended up carrying the shirt the rest of the race, switching it periodically from hand to hand. The weather in Austin was warm and humid, so the T came in handy as a sweat rag most of the day.

Up through Mile 11, I'd been keeping up a pace between 9:15 and 9:30 per mile. This was off pace but more realistically what I felt I could do to get me in around 4:15 to 4:20. So far I was feeling pretty good. I was soaked through, but I'd been very mindful of my fluid intake and had taken a gel at the 5 and 10 mile marks. Soon after this the half marathoners split off from us. I remember feeling sort of jealous of them, knowing that they only had two more miles to go and they were still feeling pretty fresh at that point. At least the folks around me seemed to be.

I just kept reeling off the miles, not as fast as I'd hoped, but I felt good, not speedy but good. At the half marathon point the 4:15 pace group caught up to me. I hung with them for about half a mile and then I let them go. I was just not going to be able to keep up their pace for long. I knew I would lose them at my next walk break anyway. I'd being using a run a mile-walk a mine schedule so far in the race.

After the half folks left us, I fell in with the long haul truckers and the pace slowed down. The next few miles came around 10:00, which I knew would still put me at a 4:20 race. By mile 17, although I still felt OK, I just had no speed in the legs. The Triple H - heat, humidity and hills - got to me I think. My pace slowed to 11:00, then 12:00. At Mile 20 I was passed by the 4:30 pace group. I didn't even make an attempt hang with them. Also at mile 20 I took my 4th and last gel of the day.

At Mile 20 the Triple H was joined by its good buddy the Head Wind. It was at this point that the 4H of Austin began to really mess with my 4H's - Heart, Head, Hands and Heart. The last 6 miles were an emotional roller coaster, although thankfully the course had finally taken a mostly downhill trajectory.

My hips were hurting, my ankles were hurting, my feet were hurting, my ego was hurting, my confidence was hurting. At the 25 mile mark the 4:45 pace group passed me by. On some of the hills although I was "running" my pace was more akin to walking at 14:00 or more.

I was worried that the little nagging pains were really something worse. I was worried that I had another race to run in 2 weeks as well as others I'd just recently signed up for in April and July. How would I ever get them done, let alone the 31 more I'd hoped to run on my goal to 50 States? I was worried that I'd made Lisa worry about me. I knew she'd been waiting patiently at the finish line for me expecting me to be there at least 30 minutes before.

I stuck to my Run 1/Walk 1 routine until Mile 24 when I just finally caved knowing that I would eventually finish anyway. I walked the hills and ran when I could. My pace slowed to 15:12 for Mile 25. I was happy to make those last few turns we'd previewed the day before. On my way down the final chute it was really good to catch a glimpse of Lisa and to finally stop running.

4:51:46 was one of my worst marathon showings not counting a 93 degree LA, an LA run with bronchitis and trail marathons in knee deep mud. After meeting Lisa at the finish I had one final meltdown until she reminded me that I do these for fun. I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. We each had a scoop of ice cream from the Amy's Ice Cream truck and I felt better. Joe finished only about 15 minutes behind me feeling pretty darn good. I wished I'd just run the race with him and enjoyed the day and saved myself the torment. Some day I will learn.

After getting cleaned up, the four of us headed out to Driftwood, TX to The Salt Lick BBQ. We met a lady that questioned whether or not we shouldn't really be napping after having run the marathon. I told her we'd run that far so we could eat whatever we wanted, we could nap later.

Lisa and I ended our day with appetizers and a couple glasses of Tempranillo at Max's Wine Dive where the slogan is "Fried Chicken and champagne - why the heck not?" We ended our culinary tour of Austin with a return trip to Magnolia's Cafe for breakfast on Monday morning, this time with Joe and Gretchen. Then it was back to the airport and on to LA.

Although the race wasn't what I'd have hoped it to be, I would highly recommend the LiveSTRONG Austin Marathon. The whole event was well organization. We got some great swag - a messenger bag, a SPI-belt, a whopper of a medal and a true finisher's shirt that you pick up at the finish line. The course while hilly shows off some great neighborhoods in Austin. Austin itself is a great place to visit. I'd go back just to hit a few more of its fine eating establishments.

Keep Austin Weird! and live to run (and eat) another day.

The Rose Bowl Half Marathon

2011-02-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

The 50,000 Foot View:
Typical California morning in February - 49 degrees at the start
Beautiful setting at the Rose Bowl and surrounding area
Advertised as 70% on trails
Finished in 2:03:28 - off pace, but satisfying

The Fine Print:
The plan offered up a 13 mile run at PMP, so what better way to get that done than to take part in an organized Half Marathon. The last time the plan called for 13 miles I ran the LA County Holiday Half. This time around it was the Rose Bowl Half. I was excited about this race because it gave me the opportunity to run my planned marathon pace (PMP). This program has me running all kinds of other speeds. The tempo runs that I was supposed to do at PMP, all happened at a pace faster than that. My skepticism continued on how I'd be able to pull off 26.2 miles at 9:09 pace when I'd never actually done it. All these years of training I've run most of my long runs at or near what I actually end up doing in the races that follow.

I was able to pick up my bib and chip an hour before the race started and sit in my car until 10 minutes before the start. The starting line was on Arroyo Blvd. in front of the Rose Bowl. The actual start was very low-key. The starter announced 60 second to start; 30 seconds to start, and a simple GO! and we were off. No fanfare, no music, no air horn, just GO!

The race was advertised as 70% trails. I decided to wear my Adrenaline ASR's to take advantage of the little extra traction on the trail sections. Within the first half mile we left pavement and began the first trail section. Their was a bit of a bottle neck there but nothing too serious. I was happy to see that I'd managed Mile 1 in 9:03, right on target.

The horse trail we were on paralleled a flood control channel on either side. Before we to to Mile 2 we could see the leaders on their back the other side. Mile 2 - 8:43, Mile 3 - 8:49, Mile 4 - 9:26. Not sure what happened there. The pack had thinned considerably, but I decided not to worry too much at this point.

Soon after Mile 4 we were back on to pavement headed towards the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl has really nice paved running path that circles both it and the Brookside Golf Club. Mile 5 and 6 were on this path on the east side of the Bowl. Mile 5 - 9:15, Mile 6 - 8:59. This section was a very gentle uphill grade, but I seem to do well on that.

Soon we were back on trail headed out toward JPL. When I reached Mile 7, I saw the leaders again heading back. They were somewhere between Mile 10 and 11; already. Mile 7 - 9:42; the trails were slowing me down.

Right after Mile 7 we headed up the steepest rockiest hill on the course. Most of us were reduced to walking up. The hill took us to the top of the appropriately named Devil's Gate Dam. The worst part was knowing that we had to go back down that thing later. During this mile I also had to take a short biology break. Mile 8 - 10:47.

The next few miles wound around the Devil's Gate Reservoir and adjacent to the grounds of the Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL). It would be great to work there and to have access to these trails at lunch or right after work. Mile 9 - 9:37, Mile 10 - 4:18. I was slowing down and that last mile was obviously mismarked.

The next mile took us on a really nice single track through some oak forests and then dropped us back out onto the paved path around the golf course. Mile 11 - 15:17. Combine that with the short mile 10 and the pace was 9:45 for the 2 mile segment. I'd slowed down beyond what I'd hoped for but I attributed much of it to the hills. I've mentioned that this plan has not included hills at all. Another contributing factor might have been the leg workout I did yesterday at the gym and the 5 easy miles I ran on the hill of Bonelli right after that. Worst case scenario if my legs were feeling any negative effects from those two workouts, it would help to simulate running tired at the end of a marathon. Or at least I hoped.

The gentle down slope of the paved running path back towards the Rose Bowl rewarded me with my third fastest mile of the day. Mile 12 - 8:51.

I tried to keep the momentum going as we rounded the perimeter of the parking lot and headed back up Arroyo Blvd towards the Rose Bowl. The last little decline to get into the Rose Bowl hurt way more than it should have but it is always fun to enter a sports stadium at field level and to get to finish there. I wished I'd have had my camera with me. Mile 13.1 - 10:39 (9:40 pace).

Final time was 2:03:28 (9:26 pace). It was off what I'd hoped for, but realistically what I felt I was capable of. It is a little disconcerting that I ran a faster half 2 months ago when I started this training cycle. Getting slower is not exactly the desired effect you hope for from a training plan. But....I still satisfied because its the fasted pace I've kept up for that many miles in a really long time, which is still a positive achievement.

The only negative was a darn blister. I haven't had one in a long time. I could feel it coming on around mile 8. It is probably caused by the ASR's. I rarely wear them for anything longer than 5 miles. The one on my right foot felt like I should snug it up a bit but I never stopped to do it. The blister is in its usual spot right on the pad of my right foot right behind my big toe. Although the race did incorporate lots of off road running, my street shoes would have been fine. In hind sight I wish I had worn them instead.

Taper time is officially in session. Will I be able to achieve a sub 4:00 in Austin? I'm not sure - but I'll find out in two weeks.

Eighth Leg

2011-01-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

I ran the Ragnar Relay last year with some really great folks that I really didn't know. This year the CA Cruisers have united and put together two teams. We've got the competitive over-50 co-ed team and the lets run this thing and see how much fun we can have. I'm part of the second team. This years southern California route is completely different than last years, so it'll be a whole new adventure.

Just for fun the Cruisers decided to run the eighth leg of the Ragnar route today. This put us in completely new territory than we've ever run before. The eighth leg starts at the point on the Santa Ana River Trail were we usually turn around and head back. This was listed as a 5.4 mile Moderate leg that included 945 feet of elevation gain. We ran it out and back. I needed to get to 15 so I did a few extra miles back onto the River Trail on familiar ground. I ran about a third of the route with Jim, the ring leader of the competitive over-50 co-ed team. He slowed down considerably to run with me. I ran the rest alone, meeting up with the others before and after. My overall time for the 15 was 2:35 for a pace of 10:22. This is still off the planned pace but I felt good the entire way. I was glad to get some hill training in too.

Thursday's tempo run went well. The plan called for 8 miles at planned marathon pace (PMP). I hoped to stay as close to 9:09 as possible. The last few I've done have all been on the fast side and I really wanted to get a better feel for the 9:09 I am supposed to run in Austin. My first mile was 8:38, so I decided to start the next mile by walking the difference to get me to 9:00 pace and walked for about 20 seconds. I ended up doing this at every mile, walking as much as 40 seconds at the beginning and as little as 15 seconds on the latter miles. My overall pace even with 7 walk breaks was 8:34. So I guess I have no 9:09 gear in my legs. I'm either too fast on the tempo runs or too slow on the long runs. What a quandary!

4 weeks to Austin. One more 20 miler next weekend where I hope to work on hydration and nutrition to see if I can get past the wall. The following week is a 13 miler at PMP so I signed up for the Rose Bowl Half Marathon on Super Bowl Sunday. I'm going to do my best to stick to the 9:09 PMP.

Called Off Not Phoned In

2011-01-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today's speed workout called for 10 x 400 (with 400m rests). It would have been an 8 mile workout. I was really looking forward to it because 3 weeks ago I did a similar workout and nailed it.

We've been enjoying some very warm, almost summer like, weather here in So Cal. My kind of weather. I love the sunshine. The temperature at noon was just shy of 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky and no breeze to be heard of. My kind of weather. Sitting at the beach kind of weather.

I found out soon enough that today it wasn't exactly good 400 meter repeat weather. I started off just fine with my usual 2 mile warm up and then began the repeats. My times were actually right on target at 1:42, 1:39, 1:46, 1:47, 1:46, and 1:53, but it was taking everything I had to stick with it. My legs felt like lead and I just wasn't mentally ready for the warmth. This weather in the summer would have actually been expected and I've run plenty of times in 80 or greater temps and enjoyed it. Today it kicked my butt, in a bad way.

After the 6th repeat at mile 5 I decided to call it off rather than phoning it in. I could of probably made the next 4 repeats and the mile back to the car, but I'd have been miserable. The mile cool down I did was at 12:00 pace, nearly a walking pace.

I was a little bummed that I'd caved. I haven't done that in a while, especially on this plan. I got in some extra cross training this evening by taking the R.I.P.P.E.D. class at the gym. It's a good kick in the butt, in a good way. It isn't running but it gets the heart a-pumping and the sweat a-flowing.

Santa Barbara Strand(ed)

2011-01-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

My in-laws flew into San Francisco last Saturday and began a southward journey through California that ended at hour home today. The spent 3 days in the Carmel area. We joined them when they got to Paso Robles. We spent Wednesday touring several wineries in the area and then enjoying a wonderful dinner at Buona Tavola.

Thursday was my scheduled tempo run day and I was excited about the opportunity to run somewhere other than by current status quo of the river trail. I set my watch to get out the door at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. I got up checked the temperature. It was a balmy 35 degrees so I went back to bed. After breakfast our southward tour took us to Solvang, where we shared a nice apple strudle and then ultimately to Santa Barbara. Our hotel was conventiently located across the street from the beach. We arrived in the late afternoon giving my ample time before dinner to get my tempo run in along the multi-purpose path that runs along the beach. This was a much better choice than running in Paso at near freezing temps.

Without my trusty marked path I was pretty much ad-libbing the run. I knew the distance (5 miles) and my planned pace (8:41 to 9:09) but without the markings I had no real way to reconcile the two. I did have the GPS app on my smartphone that I checked periodically to know the distance.

I've mentioned before that I'm am functionally illiterate in the mathematical computational arena while on foot. Once on the path I headed east first for about 1/2 mile and then back west. I ran west past my starting point toward Shoreline Park. I checked my phone occasionally to monitor the mileage. For some reason I can't explain I didn't turn around until the GPS said I'd run 3.5 miles total. This included the 1 mile eastward out&back plus 2.5 more miles westward. It wasn't until I was on my way back and checked the phone again that I realized just how math challenged I was. I hit the 5 mile mark while I was still a mile away from the hotel (no surprise to any of you). I walked that last mile back to my hotel.

Another side effect of the run was my lack of pacing control without mile marks. Although I looked at my phone a couple of times to get the distance there was no way I was going to be able to calculate the pace. Odd distance at odd times just don't compute. I finished the 5 miles in 41:55. Once I was walking I could at least determine that I'd run faster than 9 minute miles. After a bit of finger writing on an imaginary chalk board I figured the pace to be 8:24 or at least close enough. Oh well, I can think of worse place to be "stranded" than the bike path along the Santa Barbara coast.

We went to the Getty Villa in Malibu the next day. Upon returning home that evening I went to listen to Dick Beardsley speak about his marathon experience, his trials with accidents and his subsequent drug addition. He gives a very good presentation. I would recommend seeing him if he is in your area.

Saturday morning was yet another long run; the third of the four prescribed 20 milers. I ran in Huntington Beach, meeting up with the CA Cruisers. Margaret and I were again running partners. We were running consistently 9:50 pace up through 15 miles when Margaret began to lag and gave me permission to go on ahead. I maintained the 9:50 pace up through mile 18 and then fell to pieces. This has been my usual modus operandi on all these long runs. My pace for those last two miles was in the 12 minute range. Those miles were so slow that my overall pace for the run fell off to 10:21. I finished the 20 miles in 3:27:11.

I'm a bit bewildered by this whole thing. At mile 15, 16 and 17 I could tell I was on pace to complete the run in 3:20 (I can do simple math like 10 minute miles by x miles = y minutes). I hate to be a broken record but it is really hard to see how when I can't complete a long slow distance at a pace significantly lower than planned marathon pace that I will ever be able to run 26.2 at a faster pace. Also Dick Beardsley reminded me that the Austin Marathon has its fair share of hill. This training cycle has been completely devoid of hill training. With 5 weeks to go, I may swap some of those speed sessions for hill work. It should be an interesting little experiment in the hill country of Texas.

Running Lunch

2011-01-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Somewhere along the way I became that guy that doesn't like to run after work. I'm not into the chilly evening darkness. On the other side of the coin I'm definitely not the get up early and get my run in so I can get to work guy either. It's just easier to face the challenge of hitting the paces of this training program on a well marked course in the daylight when I can clearly see the markings. All the better than I can do it on the bike path rather than running circles around the track.

So for at least a month now I've been doing my 2 midweek runs at lunch time and I'm loving it. Up today was 3 x 1600. My goal was 7:20 to 7:50 pace. I was a bit worried about making it a whole mile at that pace. I notoriously run my first repeat too fast so today I worked really hard trying to stay near the 7:50 end of things. I managed that pretty well and let the chips fall where they may for the last two. The 3 miles came in at 7:40, 7:23 and 7:24; another decent effort in the books.

All told I ran 6.5 miles for the day and continuing my foray into barefoot running ran my last mile sans shoes in 11:36. It really is kind of fun to do.

Split Decision

2011-01-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas I'd made plans to run with my old running buds, Brian and Celeste. I had 15 on the schedule so I'd run with them and then make up the difference either before or after.

As a nice coincidence the CA Cruisers had decided to run the Newport Back Bay loop which goes right by Brian's neighborhood. The grand plan came together. I would meet the Cruisers at 7 a.m. Run about 5 miles to Brian's 'hood, meet up with he and Celeste and run a few miles then continue on the loop for somewhere around 15 miles.

You know what they say about the best laid plans....well, I never heard my alarm so I over slept, waking up with only enough time to meet Brian and Celeste at 8:00 a.m. We had a great run, the three of us plus Brian's wife and 7 month old daughter. We ran out of the neighborhood and down Back Back Drive. The girls lead the way with Brian's wife pushing the baby jogger. Brian and I brought up the rear. It was a nice leisurely out and back 6 mile run. Back at Brian's house we stood around chatted and had fun watching their adorable daughter. We could have spent the whole morning, maybe even the day, being entertained by her.

I finally broke away with the intentions of completing my miles for the day. But I'd cooled down considerably and my wet shirt was making me feel even chillier. I had to drop some stuff off at my car and struggled with myself about whether to complete the miles or not. I was cold and tired and really wanted to just go home but I forced myself to get moving.

I ran the entire Back Bay Loop, 11 miles, in 1:50 for a nice 10:00 pace. Although this was still off from my planned pace of 9:19, it was far better than the paces I'd been keeping on some of my other long runs of late. It was a short "long run due to the warm up 6 miles with Brian and C0. but the pace was improved. I was glad I had fought off the desire to be warm and home.

Six weeks to race day!

Oh, I've fleshed out the 2011 race calendar a bit by signing up to run the Little Rock Marathon on March 6. I'd I forgotten that the CA Cruisers had chosen the Missoula Marathon as our group outing in July. I missed this one in 2010 and hope to run it this year, 1 day shy of my 50th birthday. I'm still searching for a decent airfare to be able to join Joe in April at the Illinois Marathon. Cleveland, Fargo and Deadwood my have to wait another year. But there's still the fall season I haven't even begun to consider yet.

A B-minus Run

2011-01-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Today called for the Mother of All Tempo Runs. Well, at least for the current training cycle. The plan called for the longest tempo run of the cycle - 10 miles. the pace called for was either planned marathon pace (9:09) or 10K + 40 seconds (8:41).

I was a bit intimidated by this workout but I was going to give it my best shot. I headed on over to the river trail during lunch (and yes I stayed late to make up for the extra long lunch break). Conditions were good - mostly cloudy skies, light breeze, 65 degrees. My goal was to stick to the marathon pace as much as possible. The run started off well enough but didn't end up so well. I'll let the numbers speak for themselves.

Mile 1 8:55
Mile 2 8:47
Mile 3 8:44
Mile 4 8:22
Mile 5 8:30
Mile 6 8:39
Mile 7 8:40
Mile 8 9:05
Mile 9 9:56
Mile 10 10:19

I realized early on that I was running too fast to make it the entire 10 miles. I even took some walk breaks along the way if I realized I was approaching a mile marker in less than the fastest pace of 8:41. By Mile 7 all momentum was lost. Mile 8 was respectable and almost on target, but those last two are just disgraceful. All told, my final total time was 1:30 so my average pace was a nice round 9:00/mile; right on target. I just needed to even things out a bit.

So for 8 good miles, albeit a bit too fast, I'm giving myself a B-.

Put a Bow on Another One

2011-01-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

2010 is over. It wasn't such a bad year, running wise. 7 races, 1424 miles.

I ran 3 marathons, adding 2 states and a repeat performance in California.

First was the Los Angeles Marathon in March. It is my home town race so I feel I should really love this race, but I don't. The new course for 2010 was a great route for folks seeking a destination race. It takes in all the best "tourist" attractions of the area. The start at Dodger Stadium and finish at the Santa Monica Pier are great elements, but like a kid who lives across the street from Disneyland, the rest of the route is "stale" for this local. Been there, done that. Running it with bronchitis wasn't my wisest move either.

Second was the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota in October. Check off State #17. If I lived in the Twin Cities I would do this race annually. It certainly is "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America." We had wonderful racing weather and although I missed my goal of 4:00 I enjoyed pretty much every step of this race and got to see some good friends while I was there.

Third was the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque, NM. I ran this only 2 weeks after Twin Cities joining three of my running friends on the 50 state quest. There was nothing memorable about this race but I'm glad to have checked off State #18. I'm grateful for the ability to be able to continue the countdown to "Fifty Down". At my current rate I expect to get there in 2023!

Besides the three marathons I also ran 3 half marathons - Surf City, Orange County and Los Angeles County Holiday Half. I was super pumped to set a PR unexpectedly at Surf City in 1:45:11. In stark contrast, I ran Orange County with a friend (at his pace) and set an all time personal worst of 2:42. It wasn't my race to worry about and it was satisfying to pull Brian through to the finish line. Most recently the LA Holiday Half took me through Bonelli, my favorite venue.

I rounded out the races with a single 5K, the first one in a long time. Although not a PR, I was happy with my 23:46 effort.

I ended December with 127.3 miles, a 60% improvement over November. The year came in at 1424 miles, which is just about my average mileage over the last 6 years. One nice milestone for 2010 is that I passed the 10K mile milestone, having now run 10,188.2 career miles since June 2003. One bad thing is my weight is up, 10 to 15 pounds, from my lowest weight in 2004 - something to definitely work on in 2011.

Plans for the year ahead are still very fuzzy at this point. The only thing that is currently scheduled is the Livestrong Austin Marathon (State #19) on February 20. Others I'm considering are: Little Rock Marathon - March 6, Illinois Marathon - April 30, Cleveland Marathon - May 15, Fargo Marathon - May 21, or the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon (South Dakota) - June 5 and then who knows about the fall and winter. I'd also like to throw in a bunch of local 5K's to work on my speed again in 2011.

Other highlights for 2010 were two trips to Europe for work allowing we to run in Germany, around Paris and London and in Switzerland. A 2-week mission trip to Zimbabwe was a great experience and I even got to run 4 miles with our host in Ruwa. Lisa and I took a land/sea cruise to Alaska with my parents in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary and I found time to get some mileage in Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage and Skagway. I missed being able to combine the trip with a marathon in Anchorage or Fairbanks by 2 weeks on either end of our trip.

I hope you all met or made progress on your running goals in 2010 and wish you all the best in 2011.

Dragon's Doctor Friend, Ed, Says....

2010-12-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

I moved my 20 miler this week up a day. Not to get the mileage in 2010, like an anxious parent scheduling a c-section to get the tax break, but because it fit my schedule better.

The CA Cruiser's typical long run day is Saturday. Saturday is New Years Day. New Years Day means the Rose Parade. Although there are very few good reasons for me to miss a run, there's nothing that will keep me from watching the Rose Parade. I Love the Rose Parade. Yes, it is on all day here in southern California; repeated at least half a dozen times for all those hung over folks; but I'm a bit of a purist. I've got to watch it the first time it's on, live, without commercial interruption. I'd almost prefer to watch it live in the grand stands in Pasadena, but the recliner in my warm house is just fine, thank you.

So anyway, a long explanation as to why I ran today. The Cruisers were planning a 10 mile run. I texted Margaret and gave her a head's up on my plans and she decided to join me.

A strange and infrequent cold front has settled upon us, so it was 34 degrees at 6:30 this morning. We'd already decided to delay our run until 8:00. On my way to Huntington Beach I got a call from Margaret telling me it was cold there - too funny.

We started our run in 38 degree weather under clear sunny skies. The sun sure felt good. So did the long sleeve shirt and 99 cent gloves from Walgreens. The run itself was pretty uneventful. It was a simple out and back on the bike path in Huntington all the way into Sunset Beach. About 12 miles into the run we ran into a coworker of mine. He ran with us for a couple of miles and then took off at his own, much faster, pace.

We finished the run in 3:29 for a 10:27 pace. Again much slower than the prescribed pace of 9:35-9:54. As much as it would be easy to blame the pace on Margaret, truth be told I just can't seem to get going much faster either. I do fall into her pace at the beginning, but 3/4 of the way into the run I just run out of steam. It is a bit frustrating and worrisome.

I've been hitting the paces on both my speed and tempo workouts midweek but have no endurance when it comes to the long runs. Its been going like this for 6 weeks. It makes we really question how I'm going to run 9:09 pace in a marathon (that's what a need to get my 4:00 marathon back). Seven weeks till race day, so I'm going to stick with the plan and we'll see how things work out in Austin.

Basic Tempo

2010-12-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

Sunny, 55 degrees and windy!

5 mile Tempo Run.

41:28 (8:17 pace)

Forgot my watch, but thankfully the new ipod I got for Christmas has a stopwatch feature.

Only tomorrow's 20 miler stands between me and the year end statistics.

One 1200 Too Much

2010-12-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

It rained, A-G-A-I-N, today in SoCal. That's all I'm going to say about that. I was thankful today was a rest/cross training day.

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny (the Southern California we all love and expect), the perfect day for some speedwork. I'm on vacation for the week so I headed over the the San Gabriel River Trail at my leisure, which meant around 11:00 in the morning. The temperature was in the low 60 but with the sun on my skin I was plenty warm and salty by the time the days repeats were done.

Things started as usual for these days - park the vehicle in the lot and then head north on the trail from the 35.25 mile marker for a 2 mile warm up. I've gotten really good at finishing up these 2 miles in just less than 10:00. The intervals today were 3 x (2 x 1200) with 2 minute rest between the intervals and 4 minutes rest between the sets.

My goal time for the 1200's was 5:26 to 5:49. The first set of 2 were easy enough at 5:36 and 5:25; both heading south on the trail. For the first one of the second set I headed back north for a 5:49 and then headed back south again for 5:33. I could definitely feel the effect of the slight "up" in the north direction. After the required (and gratefully accepted) 4 minute walk/jog to the next 1/4 marker I got the 5th 1200 done in 5:35 heading south. For the last one I turned back north and retraced my steps. By now my legs were feeling the effects. I even took a couple of short walk breaks ending the 6th and final 1200 in 6:11. Ouch, that hurts! I blame my poor diet, i.e. (way) too many holiday treats on the sluggish legs. Rather than one 1200 too much, it is really more like one (or more) pieces of fudge too much!

This left me one mile north of the car for the perfect cool down mile which I did barefoot again. The river trail was newly asphalted last fall so is in perfect condition for the barefoot running. Unlike on Christmas Day where I actually kept my socks on this time I went for the entire barefoot experience this time. I was surprised to pull this one off in 10:22, significantly faster than just a couple of days before. The only ill effects were the loss of a bit of skin off the pads of two middle toes on my right foot (and maybe some odd looks from the other folks I encountered along the trail).

I'm not sure any of this is really helping my heel pain but at least it keeps things interesting.

Rain and Rumble

2010-12-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned previously that this training program takes a bit of mental fortitude. The last couple of weeks I've taken advantage of daylight and run my speed and tempo workouts during the day and things have gone quite well. This past week the forcast called for rain, rain and more rain. After my last long run in the rain, I'd already decided that I would do the speed sessions on the treadmill at the new gym.

The new gym isn't nearly as crowded as the old gym and so far hasn't instituted a 20 minute rule. I don't usually like using the treadmill but I thought it would be a fun challenge and alternative way to do the repeats called for on Tuesday. And then the rumbling began.

Sunday afternoon I ended up with either a touch of the stomach flu or some whopper of food poisoning. I'm the only one in my house that got hit but I got hit good. I rarely get sick, especially with this sort of thing; I've got a pretty iron gut. I was sapped on Monday and stayed home, laid in the recliner and watched endless hours of HGTV. Tuesday I went back to work, but my stomach still wasn't quite right. I could keep food down but my stomach intestines were sure rumbling and working overtime.

True to the forecast it was still pouring rain that afternoon and with the illness I was in no shape to complete mile and 800 repeats. One thing this program makes clear is not to try to make up any missed workouts, so I had no choice but to just let it go.

By Thursday I finally felt 85-90% again, but I had lots of last minute stuff to do and although I might have had time to get in my 10 mile tempo run, I lacked the mental fortitude to go get it done.

Finally on Friday, Christmas Eve morning, the rain had stopped and I met up with a bunch of CA Cruisers for an 5 mile jaunt through a hilly little route through Yorba Linda. I ran with Jay and John. My gut was a bit tentative about the movement, but luckily everything held together.

On Christmas Day, I took advantage of the beautiful dry day and some free time between morning present opening and breakfast and the larger meal later on in the afternoon and put in a nice 12 mile run. The schedule called for 15, but time didn't permit the extra 30 minutes it would have taken. The first 7 miles were run at 9:12 pace or so and then without any real warning things slowed down to 10:00 pace. I decided to try something fun and ran the last mile and a quarter barefoot. My pace for that last mile was as expected considerably slower at 12:33.

I've been having heel pain for some time now so I wanted to give the barefooting a try. My heels enjoyed having the pressure off them for sure. Running barefoot didn't seem that odd, really. One thing I didn't expect was an pain that happened only on my right foot. The three middle toes on that foot felt like they were on fire. That pain continued on for nearly the entire mile and even after I'd finished running. Now two days later, they still feel a little weird. Something else to keep an eye on.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and extend my best wishes for an awesome 2011.

A Long Wet One

2010-12-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

It doesn't rain often here in Southern California, but it does rain. We're no Pacific Northwest to be sure but we have our rainy season. Right now we are in the middle of a forecasted 4 to 5 days of continuous rain.

My plan called for 18 miles on Saturday morning. The rain had already begun on Friday. All day long I fretted over the possibility of having to run that many miles all wet and chilly. I really wasn't looking forward to it. I don't mind running a few miles in the run but 3 hours out there was just messing with my head. But the CA Cruisers are just like the US Postal Service, we run rain or shine.

When I left home Saturday morning at 6:00 there was a light drizzle. By the time I met up with over a dozen intrepid souls the drizzle had become more of a heavy mist. Actually not so bad for running. Getting started in that was much easier than having to get started in full on rain.

A very funny thing happened about 2 miles into the run. Here we are, a bunch of middle- to late-aged folks out for our long run. We'd all dressed for the weather with long sleeve tech shirts, hats, assorted rain gear (jackets, ponchos, trash bags) and our fair share of extra percentage points of body fat. The mist had subsided so most of the rain gear was now tied around our waists. As we ran down Fairmont Blvd in Yorba Linda we were over taken by a trio of college guys. They must have been team mates. They could have been triplets or clones. Each one was dressed in black shorts and running shoes and nothing else and none of the three had more than 0.5% body fat. It was quite the contrast to our little band of runners. It was no time before they were well off in the distance never to be seen again.

I ran with Margaret again. She had 16 on her schedule so we decided to share much of the run together. Most of the runners ran a shorter 6 mile loop. When we hit the river trail we left the group and did an out an back on the trail. About 8 miles into the run the rain started up again and continued for the duration of the 18 miles. Luckily the temperature was in the mid 50's and there was only a light breeze, so I never got too cold.

It is nice to run with a partner on these long runs, but Margaret usually runs at a slower pace than me, so once again I didn't meet my long run pace goal. This weeks goal was 9:39. We were doing just less than 10 minute miles for quite a while. 15 miles into the run we had a cumulative pace of 10:12. The miles began piling on and the fatigue piled on too resulting in a final pace of 10:33 for the entire 18 mile distance. I ran the last mile and a half alone but was unable to pick up the pace as much as I would have liked to.

I've been good at hitting the paces mid week, now I've got to start concentrating on hitting the paces on the long runs as well. I might try running on my own to be able to get closer to the planned pace and forgo the camaraderie of the Cruisers for a couple of these long runs.

Nailed

2010-12-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of my excess vacation and took a half day off to get my speed session in on the San Gabriel River Bikeway taking full advantage of the quarter mile markings and the daylight. The plan called for 2 x (6 x 400) with 1:30 Rest between the 400's and 2:30 rest between the two sets of 6.

My goal times for the for the 400's was 1:45 to 1:53. By running this workouts on a trail marked in quarter miles I'm really running 440 yards so I'm probably running these a bit faster than I need to, but all that extra math just isn't worth the effort.

My first quarter after the warm up was a bit slow at 1:58 but then I got then under control. The first 6 x 400 went like this:

1:58, 1:48, 1:42, 1:45, 1:37, 1:44

I took a 1:30 walk break after each quarter with a 2:30 walk break after the last one before starting round 2.

1:42, 1:42, 1:42, 1:45, 1:42, 1:42

How sweet is that? I followed that with a nice 9:18 mile cool down and left the trail tired and happy.

I'm looking forward to Thursday's tempo run.

LA County Holiday Half Marathon

2010-12-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

This race is run mostly in my favorite little running route - Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park. This is the second running. I can't remember why I didn't end up running last year, but this year I decided to join in the fun. My new planned called for a 13 mile run this weekend, so the timing was perfect. None of the CA Cruisers were joining me, so it would be a solo effort.

The race started on the grounds of the LA County Fairgrounds. As a training run my prescribed pace was PMP (planned marathon pace) + 15 sec. That would put me at 9:24 which seemed reasonably doable. I really wanted to try to get the thing done in 2 hours or less which is really my PMP. I figured since all more other long runs on this plan had been run significantly slower than planned it wouldn't hurt to throw a little bit of speed at this effort.

At the start I ended up running into fellow Cruiser that I didn't know was going to be there. He is much faster than me at the short distances. At the sound of the air horn, we took off and I let him go right away. When we hit the 1 Mile mark I was surprised to see him only about 20 feet in front of me. My watch read 8:22, over 30 seconds per mile faster than I really wanted to go. At this point we were had left the fairgrounds and were traveling across the parking lots.

The second half of Mile 2 was run on the Pomona Raceway dragstrip. At the 2 Mile mark John was still less than 30 feet in front of me. I clocked that mile in 7:47. Way too fast. I worried that that one was going to come back and bite me in the arse for sure. I stopped at the next water stop and made a conscious effort to slow the pace. The race was being used by Students Run LA as a training effort for the LA Marathon. Running along all those young folks I think got the race of to a pace faster than I could hold on to.

Mile 3 took us along Puddingstone Drive and even with my best efforts to slow down I still clocked an 8:09 mile. Soon after that we entered the north side of Bonelli and ran west through the parking area. Mile 4 came in at 8:28. I feared that the correction had begun from my careless Mile 2.

Mile 4 took us across the dam. We had a great view of downtown Los Angeles over 30 miles away. The weather was perfect southern California "winter." The temperature at the start was 56 degrees and was probably warmed up to the 70's by the end. Mile 5 came in at 8:38. Slowing down some but still going better than the sub-2:00 plan.

After the dam we headed south on Raging Waters Drive and then east into the park on a nice little downhill. At Mile 6 I ran into John unexpectedly. He, like me, had gone out too fast and had run out of steam. I was getting tired I told John I was going to hang on as long as possible. I passed him by and didn't see him again until the finish line. Further slowing on the gently rolling course, Mile 6 was 8:43.

At the far east of the park we doubled back and round what I call the picnic loop route. I missed the marker at Mile 7. Mile 8 read 17:33 (roughly 8:45 pace). I was definitely running out of steam as well, but I'd been with a couple of the same folks since Mile 3 and we were all in the same boat, no one taking off and no one being left behind.

Mile 9 included a nice little incline that took us out of the park and into the adjacent Eastlake RV park. Along this section we had a great view of the entire Puddingtone Lake over our left shoulders and an amazing view of the San Gabriel Mountains just ahead. The uphill was followed by a nice little down hill into the RV park but it didn't help much. Mile 9 was 9:06, almost exactly on the pace I should have probably been on all along.

Mile 10 took us through and then out the other side of the RV park. The poor folks in the RV park probably wondered what all these crazy folks were doing. Still at 9:10 pace for Mile 10.

The next mile included a long slow grind up a little bump in the road passed Brackett Field a small airstip in LaVerne. We'd gone passed the other side of it on Puddingstone Drive back on Mile 3. I trudged up the bump, noticeably slowing but trying my best not to break stride. I was rewarded with a 9:20 Mile 11.

I thought that this would be the end of the rolling course but the way up McKinley Avenue towards Fairplex Drive was a long slow slog ever so slightly up as well. I don't mind a rolling course but it was definitely getting the better of me by this point. Mile 12 found us with a nice reprieve on Fairplex coming in at 10:02. I chuckled. The correction that I'd feared at Mile 2 had certainly come back to haunt me now.

We wound our way back through the fairground parking lots, onto the fairgrounds proper right back to where we started with 10.11 for the last 1.1 miles.

My final time was 1:55 and change. I'm super happy with that. It wasn't a PR but I wasn't aiming for one, but it is well under my secret hope for a sub 2:00. I waited around at the finish line for John. He came through right around the 2:00 mark. It was a decent showing on an absolutely beautiful Winter day.

This run came on the heels of my tempo run on Thursday. I was supposed to do an 8 mile run with 6 at Long Tempo Pace, 8:30-9:00. My first two were 8:22 and 8:33, then I ramped up to 8:06 without trying to. I took walk breaks each of the next 3 miles to try to keep the pace in check and still clocked 8:15, 8:14 and finally 8:43 which included a the one and only real hill on the trail (twice since it was an out and back mile).

This new approach to training is working out so far. Ten weeks until Austin.

Mental

2010-12-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

The heels still hurt, but seem to be holding up well without the orthotics. I did my the 20 miler on last Saturday and my speed session today without them. My heels weren't exactly pain free at the end of the 20 but they we much better than the week before with the orthotics. I will continue to monitor them. I ran 6 miles today at lunch and am no sitting here at home hours later with my feet on an icepack.

Now to the title of the post - Mental. As if running 20 miles isn't enough of a definition. The mental I'm referring too is mental focus. This program takes a good portion of that. I may be only running three days a week but each of those runs has a very specific sequence and pace associated with it. Just figuring out all the paces and then remembering them is a chore. Thank goodness for good notes.

Last week the night before I did my Tuesday speed work I had a dream that I got over to the river trail and then realized I had no idea what the workout was supposed to be. I was panicked. When I got up in the morning I wrote down all the specific and the paces and stuck it in my pocket. I reviewed it several times that morning to be sure I wouldn't forget. I even carried the note in my pocket while I ran an referred to it a couple of times to be sure I was hitting the paces.

The work out was 20 minute warm up, 2 x 1200 (2:00 RI), 4 x 800 (2:00 RI), and 10 minute cool down. I'd done the math to determine how time for each distance based on the per mile pace, because we all know I don't calculate well on the run.

Thursday run was a simple 5 miler at mid-temp pace which for me is 8:16-8:34. For me doing these runs requires a measured trail so I can keep track of my pace. I don't have a garmin so I really on the markings on the trail. Relying on these marks also limits my runs to at least waning daylight. This is why I've done a few of my speed runs during lunch. Thursday since the distance was less complicated I'd planned to leave work a little early to take advantage of the last few minutes of daylight. As often happens, things at work did not cooperate. This puts me in "bad place" and although a run would have cleared my head I knew I couldn't use the marked trail in the dark to meet my goals so I gave up the run. Major lack of mental focus.

I packed my stuff to give it another try on Friday afternoon and then opted out for fear of jeopardizing the 20 miler. Super duper lack of metal focus.

But today my calendar was clear and I got back out there at lunch for a similar speed session as the week before but this time with 6 x 800 (goal time 3:40). It was a beautifully warm (70 degree) and sunny day with very few folks on the trail. I was a happy camper. My paces on the intervals were 4:02 (I started off slow because I tend to start of too fast), 3:41, 3:36, 3:33, 3:36 and 3:45. Score a major victory for mental focus.

Hitting the mid week runs will be easier for the next three weeks since I have excess vacation to burn before year end so I'm taking half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get the job done. We'll see how focused I can be in 2011.

How much longer before the sun sets sometime around 6:00 pm?

Heel Thyself

2010-11-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

I started using doctor prescribed orthotics in my shoes back in 2008 when I suffered the stress fracture in my right shin. I have no idea how long orthotics are supposed to last but I'd put about 3000 miles on these (I only wear them in my running shoes). I took them in to the physical therapist and they refurbished them.

I've been having heel pain for at least the last year. They don't hurt while I run but afterward walking could be painful. The first few steps after getting up from a chair I walked like an old man. While the orthotics were out being refurbished I ran a few runs without them. It seemed that my heels didn't hurt nearly as much. Although I got the orthotics back from the PT I continued to run at least some of my runs without them to see if I could tell a difference. I ran 14.5 miles the weekend before last and felt pretty good.

This week I ran both my midweek runs without them. The long run this week was penciled in as an 18 miler. I was afraid to try that distance without the orthotics. By the time I'd run only about 5 miles I realized that I'd made an error. My heels were beginning to hurt while running. By the time I was finished they hurt worse than they'd ever hurt. I was definitely hobbling around like an older, much older, version of myself.

I was able to get a foot massage on Saturday afternoon from a reflexology and therapeutic massage therapist. My heels felt much better afterward. I didn't run Sunday or Monday and by this morning they were feeling pretty good.

I went out at lunch today and did my speed workout of the week. I didn't use the orthotics. My feet felt fine during the workout and afterward were sore but not as debilitating as on Saturday. I'm going to continue this experiment without the orthotics to see how my heels hold up. With 20 miles on tap this weekend the heels are bound to hurt, no matter what.

And Now for Something Completely Different

2010-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

well, sort of....

I've been frustrated with my marathon times for quite awhile now. I haven't made any improvement on my PR in over 4 years. I've not been able to even get below that nice round number of 4:00 except for once, in Des Moines under ideal temperature conditions. At the risk of sounding whiny, many of my long runs have been sub par if not outright disastrous. Granted I spent part of 2007 and 2008 on the disabled roster. I'm not getting any younger (but am far from old!). I've continued to run 5 days a week for most of the time and have added 3 to 4 gyms sessions to the equation as well for the last couple of years. So much of run I read in the running literature would suggest that possibly I'm over training; not giving my body the time it needs to repair and rebuild. I'm too stubborn to believe this line of reasoning, but I've recently begun to come to grips with it.

At the end of 2009 I ran a 10K personal best of 49:52 which would predict the ability to run a marathon in under 4 hours (3:54). At the beginning of this year I pulled off a surprising half marathon personal best of 1:45:11. This would predict a marathon time of 3:41. My PR at the marathon is 3:40:52 set way back in 2006. I haven't come anywhere close to that this year, in fact in Albuquerque I added a full 60 minutes to that time. Frustrating to say the least.

That old adage that goes - if you always do what you've always done, you are going to get what you've always gotten - comes to mind. Ever since I've began running I used the same basic approach - 5 days a week with little variety in pacing, very little speed work, etc, etc. So for my next marathon I've decided to take a different approach. I'm trying the FIRST program.

There are two key runs during the week that are run with some significant speed and one long run on the weekend. There seem to be more "long" miles than I normally use in a marathon buildup but they are mostly run at a slower pace. The plan also calls for cross training hard on 2 other days.

Setting the paces has been somewhat of an problem for me. Many of the pace suggestions are based on the 10K pace less some time. I'm not used to running that fast mid-week (or ever, really) but it definitely keeps things interesting.

Yesterday's workout called for 2 mile warm up, 3 x 1 mile, and 1 mile cool down. The pace for the mile repeats was 10K - 35 to 40 seconds, so somewhere between 7:20 to 7:40. I took the warm up easy at 10:00 pace. My first mile seemed interminably long. I snuck a peak at each quarter mile marker, but my math skills while moving aren't the sharpest. I smacked out that first mile in 7:16 - too fast. The plan called for only 1 minute rest between repeats. At the end of the minute my heart rate was still elevated but I took off non the less, returning the way I'd just come.

This repeat was very slightly uphill (yes, that means the first was slightly downhill). I had to take a couple of short walk breaks along the way and barely managed an 8:09 mile. Not good. After this one I gave myself longer to get the heart rate back down a bit before heading back again.

The third repeat was again aided by the slight downhill which gave me a 7:32, beautifully paced mile. The cool down felt good, for sure.

Just over 12 weeks to Austin with lots more speed and variety to go. Let's see how it all works out. I'm happy to be at least trying something different.

Missed A Step

2010-11-16T18:40:00.001-08:00

Remember back in grade school when you had those compound math problems, usually they were the word problems, and you just couldn't get the right answer. Usually it was because you missed a step. Well tonight I missed a step.

My plan called for running 5 x 1K repeats at 10K pace +42 to 47 secs. So I figured out my pace to be 8:45 or so. I don't usually run 1K repeats but I'd mapped out a stretch of Raging Waters Drive in Bonelli with some easily recognizable landmarks. After work at this time of the year that road is very sparsely traveled so i figured it would be a great place for the repeats.

I started off with a 20 minute warm up run and then hit my first land mark and started off on my first 1K repeat. I settled into a comfortably fast pace. When I got to the next land mark I hit the clock. The clock said 5:06. When I looked down I realized that I'd "missed a step." I had no idea what my 1K pace really was. I'd done the math to figure out my 1 mile pace but "missed the step" of converting that to a 1K pace.

I'm not much for calculating math on the fly but I quickly did 5:00 x 5K = 25:00. 25:00 divided by 3 miles = 8:20 or so per mile (if I'd done the math right in my head). This was faster than planned but since I hadn't done it right in the first place I went with it.

My 5 repeats came in at 5:06, 4:39, 4:52, 4:48, and 5:03. Once I got home I figured out my "per mile" pace to be: 8:12, 7:29, 7:50, 7:43, and 8:07 - quite a bit faster than the proposed 8:45. Next time I'm calculating my pace I'll be sure not to miss the step of converting to kilometers if necessary. In the end I'm pretty happy with my effort with this workout.

I feel the slug melting away already.

Nearing Slugness

2010-11-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

I said I was going to take some time to rest up after my less than stellar performance at Duke City and I guess I took myself seriously. The day after the marathon I found myself in Kansas City, Kansas for three days. I took the time to rest even though I normally would have taken advantage of the opportunity to run in a new unknown locale. I was home for one day, Thursday, of that week and then I was off to Las Vegas for a couple of days; again for work.

I was home the entire next week but had much to do at work to prepare for another trip to Europe (I know poor me - having to go to Germany and Paris for the second time in less than a year). By the time I left work each day that week I was exhausted and overwhelmed and although going for a run would have probably been good for me I collapsed instead at the end of each day. I managed only one run of 5 miles on the San Gabriel River Trail at a pretty decent clip of 8:20 pace.

On Friday of that week (10/30) I was off to Germany, then Switzerland and finally France before returning to the good old USA on Monday, November 8th. Our schedule was pretty jammed packed on this trip. I realistically had time to run in Germany but jet lag hit me hard so I just could not get up the energy to run in the mornings. I did manage a meager 2.5 miles in Interlaken, Switzerland one morning. One interesting note of that run was seeing cows grazing in the central park of the city. Switzerland was beautiful and I would love to return to get a chance to see more.

This past week back home I was exhausted yet again from jet lag. Couple that with my general hesitancy to get out in the dark when the temperature dips below 60. Ideal conditions really, except for the darkness, but I wimped out none the less. Finally on Friday I had an opportunity to run in the afternoon while the sun was still up and the temps were in the 70's. It was only 4 miles but being in Bonelli reminded me why I loved running in the first place.

So until this morning, nearly 4 weeks since the Duke City Marathon, I'd run a whopping 11.5 miles. This is about as "slug-like" as I've been since I began running without a really good reason, i.e. injury. I've booked my plans to run the Austin Marathon in February and took a look at my schedule and realized that I was already behind the plan.

My CA Cruisers were planning on running 10 miles this morning and my friend Terry was planning on running up to 12. I was afraid that going for 10 after only running that much in the last month might not be the smartest idea.

Because today was my wife's birthday I took the opportunity to skip both the Cruisers and Terry and stay home in the morning to make breakfast for Lisa. Before I was a runner, breakfast on the weekend was a ritual at our house. Living with Runner Darrell, breakfast on the weekend has gone by the wayside.

I finally opted on running at the San Gabriel River Trail after breakfast. I decided to just go until I was pooped and I made it 8 miles before I realized that I was nearing the end of my energy stores. I was 2 miles from the car at that point so I finished the last 2 miles and got in 10 miles in 1:43. I had purposely kept the pace nice and easy. Those last two miles today felt like mile 25 and 26 of a marathon. Boy have I got some work to do. Now, 8 hours later, my legs are telling me that I definitely went farther today than they are used to.

I need to keep this momentum going next week. Austin is only 3 months away and I've got those 20 milers looming out there in the future. Slugness be damned!

Duke City Marathon

2010-10-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Duke City Marathon is held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I signed up for this race when I was looking for someplace I could use my unused ticket from Missoula. That ticket was on Alaska and oddly enough Alaska Airlines doesn’t fly to ABQ. A couple of my CA Cruiser pals were running Duke City, so I decided to go ahead and by a ticket on Southwest and join the party. Since ABQ is a short flight from LAX I was able to save a Friday night hotel stay by leaving LAX at 8:30 a.m. and getting to ABQ before lunch. It turns out one of my friends was on the same flight. We had both scored A group boarding passes for the flight and hoped to sit together. We were chatting in the waiting area and didn’t realize they were boarding. We looked up just in time and ended up being the last two people on the plane. Needless to say we ended up with center seats, boo.

We got to ABQ and were able to check in early at the host hotel, the Doubletree. We immediately went next door to the convention center to pick up our bib, D-tag and t-shirt. Somehow, my friend’s registration hadn’t gone through. She didn’t show up in their records. Thankfully she had brought along a copy of her registration and a copy of the cancelled check. Calamity aborted.

Four of us had dinner at an Italian place, Villa de Capo’s. It was a decent meal, just average Italian food, nothing special.

The starting line was on 3rd Street just across from the Convention Center. We were able to stay in the hotel lobby until just a few minutes before the race started. The temperature was a reasonable 48 degrees. I had only packed my Marathon Maniac singlet, so I purchased a previous years long sleeve tech shirt at the expo the day before for $5. I figured I would never wear a shirt from a race I hadn’t run and I could toss the shirt when it warmed up without too much of a guilty conscience.

The starting line area only took up a very small section of the city block. Reports on the web indicated that this years race was the largest ever. Last year there were approximately 500 finishers. Add the relay teams to it and there was mayber 700 folks in the starting corral. There was never any jockeying for position in this race. We were off and running by 7:01. It took about 20 seconds to cross the starting line.

Much of this race is run on the bike path next to the Rio Grande River. The first and last three miles are run on the streets of ABQ. This is a very good thing, because most of the folks in ABQ seemed to be quite oblivious that there was a marathon going on. This was the 27th event so I would think that they would get used to having about 3 miles of city streets closed down the 2nd weekend of October, but apparently not. There were quite a few folks upset about the street closures.

Apparently the bikers are not happy about the marathon either since they seemed to be less than thrilled to be sharing their bike trail with 700 or so runners.

I was bopping along quite nicely for quite awhile. My miles spits for the first 13 miles were:
9:20, 9:22, 9:42, 9:21, 9:11, --, 20:07 (included a bathroom stop),9:06, 9:18, 9:50, 9:01, --, 17:32. Doing quite nicely so far. The course was a simple out and back, reminiscent of my training runs along the bike paths I run regularly in SoCal. On the way back things continued to buzz along ok for a few more miles. By now the long sleeve had been removed long ago, at mile 6 or so and the sun was shining brightly. The bike trail offered little protection from the sun. The next few miles ticked off like this: 8:05 (had to have been mismarked), 15:06 (see), 9:56, 9:33. This was mile 17 and then things took a turn for the worse. I began to see more people walking than I’ve ever seen at this point in a race. Mile 18 and beyond went like this: 10:47, 10:04, 11:01, 11:16, 11:57, 12:42, 13:58, 15:45, 19.51 and then thankfully it was over. I walked much of mile 24 and 25. My friend Margaret caught up to me around mile 25 and walked with me a bit. I decided we should start running again but I just couldn’t keep up with her so I let her go and started walking again. By now the temps were in the mid 70’s, not quite ideal marathon conditions but not the worst either. My final time was a not quite expected 4:42 (unofficially).

I’m not completely sure what happened, but I can’t remember a race where the wheels fell off so completely and so quickly. It could have been that I ran two marathons only two weeks apart, but I’ve done back to back weekends in the past with much better results. I could have been the elevation. ABQ is actually higher, on the books, than Denver. Could have been the arid climate leading to dehydration, but I felt like I did a decent job of drinking water at most stops and Gatorade at the rest. I only took two gels and a couple of blocks but that is about normal for me. Who knows for sure. All my long runs in 2010 have been sub-par if not disastrous. I wonder if there are long term negative effects from running the LA Marathon in March with bronchitis. Who knows?

Overall I enjoyed the race, because I really don’t mind the out and back format. Since the crowd spread out fairly quickly it was sort of like running a glorified training run at home, except with water stops and a medal at the end. The race was pretty much devoid of spectators unless you count the unhappy drivers and cyclists. ABQ is a funky little city. Our route took us down the main drag, Central Ave and then down Laguna a residential area with some pretty nice upper middle class homes and then onto the bike path which was pretty much deserted except for the ROTC kids that manned the aid stations every mile. One highlight of the race is that we got to see about a dozen hot air balloons take off in front of us around mile 7 or so. All in all, it was a nice way to get New Mexico added to the 50 states list. After the race, we went over to Old Town ABQ and had a great Tex-Mex meal at the Hacienda Restaurant.

I am currently sitting in the airport, less than 7 hours after finishing trying to catch a flight to Kansas City. Sadly it has been delayed so I won’t get there until nearly midnight. I have to be on the ground running, as the saying goes, at 8:00 for customer visits over the next couple of days. I follow that up with at trip to Las Vegas for work next weekend and then another trip to Europe the first two weeks of November. I think I will take the travel schedule as a much needed break from running and the get started at the end of November to ramp up for training for the Austin Marathon in February.

I since landed in KC and posting this before hitting the hay.

Twin Cities Marathon

2010-10-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

State #17 has been a long time coming but now it is finally in the books. Just as this blog has fallen into disrepair it seemed my training was pretty hit and miss this year as well. My work and personal travel schedule has wreaked havoc on my training, but none the less last Sunday morning I lined up outside the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis to run the Twin Cities Marathon. Twin Cities is a point-to-point course ending at the steps of the state capitol in neighboring St. Paul. Twin Cities is billed as "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America" and it certainly lives up to its reputation. The marathon was helped immensely by nearly perfect running conditions - 40 degrees at the start, mid 50's by noon, a sunny day with a very light breeze. We couldn't have asked for more.

I flew into town on Friday evening and stayed downtown within walking distance of the start. After having done a few of these I think it is the only way to go. It is so nice to just walk a to the start and not have to hassle with parking and traffic. Twin Cities had a very efficient bus service to get us back from the capital finish line to the start.

The expo was in St. Paul, not too far from the finish, so having transportation was helpful. I'd rented a car. The expo was well stocked with vendors. At the expo we got a pair of Fitsoks with the marathon logo. Shirts come later. I had lunch with some friends that used to work in SoCal but have since transferred back to the mother ship in St. Paul. Then dinner was with a friend from St. Paul that had worked for our division but now works in the corporate labs. I'd talked him into coming out of retirement to run Twin Cities together. My haphazard training and his youth (he's got a 15 year advantage on me) led to us running our own races so dinner was the only time we got to spend together. It was a fun evening with he, his wife and their two year old son. Baby #2 is on the way soon, so the poor guy won't have much time in the future to train properly so this may have been his last hurrah for a while.

Twin Cities has a pretty robust Corporate Challenge going with over 35 teams competing. I signed up for our corporate team and even bought the jersey to run in. The team jersey was a racing singlet. I was a bit concerned about being too cool in sub-40 temps so I'd bought a pair of Moeben sleeves to help keep warm. I was perfectly comfortable the entire day with the sleeveless singlet and the Moeben sleeves. My friend was trying to break 3:40. I set my own goal at a more conservative 4:15. My half marathon PR back in February would have predicted a 3:42 marathon, but nothing in my training pointed to that possibility. The real plan was to run comfortably and hopefully pain free.

I started off the race pretty far back in the pack in Corral #2, well behind the 5:30 pace group. The corral was pretty crowded and I couldn't work my way further up. Once the race got under way I passed the 5:30 and 5:00 pace groups with a couple of miles. By mile 4 or so I caught the 4:30 pace group and by mile 6 I'd caught and passed the 4:15 pace group. At the 5K mark my pace was 9:20, at 10K I'd fallen off to 9:38 but at the half I'd picked it back up to 9:27 pace overall.

Somewhere around mile 14 I had to take a bathroom break and lost my lead on the 4:15 pace group. I'd regained it by mile 16 and steadily built on that lead until Mile 20. My pace at the 30K was 9:30 and at Mile 20 was still right on 9:30 overall. Things take a change for the worse in Twin Cities at Mile 20. Up to that point the course is gently rolling up and down. Mile 20 marks the lowest point in the race and begins a steady climb over the next 3.5 miles. This is probably the worst point in any race for this to happen. To help ease the pain the view along Summit Avenue is spectacular with old homes and great crowd support. My mile splits took a dive at this point into the 10:00's and then into the 11:00 at Mile 25 and 26. The last half mile is a beautiful down hill finish but the previous 25.7 miles had just sapped any kind of umpff that was needed to bring it home. There was just no way to make up that extra 66 seconds over 4:15. Pretty darn close to my estimate and all the bettter with no major injury other than normal 26.2 stiff and sore legs. My friend didn't meet his sub 3:40 goal but he did PR with a 3:43:48 finish.

All said and done - the Twin Cities Marathon was an awesome experience. The people of the Twin Cities area come out big time to support the runners. The views along the lakes and the neighborhoods of the area were perfect. And as I said earlier the weather cooperated in a big way. The finish line food was more than adequate and at Twin Cities the finisher's shirt is exactly that. You have to finish the race to get the shirt. It is handed out at the finish line after you've even gotten your medal. Being part of the corporate team had its perks as well. It was fun to meet up with some other runners from my team and the food in the Corporate Team tent was even better. Massages were available although I didn't take part.

If you can fit it into your race schedule and travel budget or if you live in the area, I'd highly recommend the Twin Cities Marathon.

So the blog title ratchets up one notch for a week or two. I'm off to the Duke City Marathon on October 17. Fall IS marathon season, after all.

City of San Dimas 5K

2010-09-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't raced a 5K since last December 2009. The ones before that were July 4 in 2009 and 2008 and I ran those with other people at their pace, just for fun. A couple of interesting points about the race - my church, Christ's Church of the Valley was the title sponsor. Like me their were many of us running and even better a whole host of folks came out to volunteer and to cheer us on. The other odd fact about the race is that it is in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the city of San Dimas. In a country that has 300+ year history, especially on the east coast, I get a kick out of the fact that our history is only 50 years old. Yes, we on the west coast have history older than that but we have plenty of cities that are even younger than San Dimas.

Back to the race - since I'm at the end of marathon training (Twin Cities is next weekend) and my training has been mediocre and completely devoid of speed, my expectations were pretty low for this event. My best case scenario was somewhere around 24:00.

The field was fairly small at about 250. I ran into a bunch of folks I know, including a coworker, parents whose son played youth sports with our kids, and a guy that I run into routinely at other local races. Plus there were a bunch of friends from church and a few of my Zimbabwe team mates either running or cheering. Lisa even signed up and walked the route.

I started off the race right next to my coworker, but he left me behind fairly quickly. He'd just won 3rd place in his age group at a big 5 mile race a couple of weeks ago, so I had no expectations of staying with him.

I was more than pleased with my 7:39 first mile time. Mile 2 clocked at 8:00 pretty much to the tenth of a second. I was able to cross the finish line with an official time of 23:46 (7:39 pace); a decent cushion on the predicted 24:00 finish. I was the 26th person across the line out of 252 which included a host of walkers. My time was good enough for 4th place in my age group (M 46-50). The guy who clenched 3rd was the guy that routinely see at local races. He's on the mend from an injury, so going somewhat slower than normal. When he's trained well, his dust is settled long before I get there.

It was a fun little event. I was surprised at the relatively low attendance considering the 5oth anniversary status of the city. Our church came out in a big way but if we had really gotten behind it we could of jammed the streets of San Dimas, church attendance is well over 3000.

It was fun to try to run a little faster than normal. I should consider adding a few more 5k's into the mix in 2011. For now it's time to take it easy for the Twin Cities Marathon next weekend.

Pre-Marathon Angst

2010-09-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Preparation for the Twin Cities Marathon has not gone as planned or nearly as good as necessary to tow the line in two weeks. I got off to a rough start with the trip to Europe. Then my hike to Mount Whitney disturbed the plan, too. In general I just slower than I used to be. I haven't been able to get in any kind of speed work and the couple of times I attempted it the weather was cooperating; being over 100 degrees. The most recent disturbance to the the training plan was the two week land and sea tour of Alaska. It was a wonderful trip with my parents. The opportunity to vacation with my parents was a rare opportunity. I haven't vacationed with my parents since I was 18 and our whole family went to Florida from Ohio. We drove the whole way in our new chocolate brown Ford LTD station wagon. I visited my parents at their home often when the kids were young but we've gone any where significant with them.

I ran in Fairbanks (12 miles), Anchorage (7.5 miles on the Tony Knowles Coastal Bike Trail), on the ship (3.3 miles on a treadmill) and in Juneau (@4 miles on the Loop Trail Lower Daley Lake). Fun runs to be sure but not up to par with the marathon training schedule that called for 47 and 50 miles each of the two weeks I was gone. The first week including a run on Monday at home I got in 28 miles. The second week including a 22 miler I did the day after I got home I got in 27.3 miles.

The 22 miler ended up a disaster. I ran 16 miles and then my right ankle locked up. It was like it was being squeezed in a vice. At that point I decided it best to stop running and had to walk 4 miles back to my car. I iced it at home and have taken it easy on it this week. To top it off both Lisa and I caught a cold when we got home.

The original plan for years was to run with a friend that lives and works in the Twin Cities. This is his "Brett Favre" run as he calls it. He's aiming to break 3:40 and there's just no way I can keep up with that. I feel bad about talking him into coming out of retirement to run and not being able to run it with him. He's still a young guy so he'll do fine. We share some grub and drink after we both make it to the finish line.

Seventeen Down - Interupted

2010-08-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

This ad appeared in Runner's World in January or February. It caught my attention right away. I loved the colors and the chalk art. What really got my attention was the race date - July 11, 2010 - my birthday. What a better way to celebrate my birthday than running a marathon. I'd run a half in Napa several years ago and a marathon in Bellevue, Washington on the weekend of my birthday in 2006. I was intrigued. The same issue of Runner's World also had a review of the Missoula Marathon. It was very highly regarded winning "Best Overall Marathon" of 2009 by Runner's World readers. There were many kudos on the race on marathonguide.com as well. A fellow CA Cruiser had run the race in 2009 and had only good things to say about it.

I registered early, bought plane tickets, secured a hotel room and even recruited another 50 state hopeful from the Cruisers to join me. Since the race is a small one, I had contacted the race staff and they'd agreed to give me bib number 49 in recognition of spending my 49th birthday at the Missoula Marathon.

I registered by mail and somehow neglected to fill out the amount on the check, although I'd managed to sign it. The race staff had a bit of fun with me by filling in the check amount for $275,000 and thanking me for purchasing the marathon and hoping I enjoyed by birthday. After a couple of frantic phone calls trying to assure myself that they were just kidding, I couldn't wait to actually make the trip to Missoula and to meet these people. They had a little fun at my expense, but good fun, my kind of folks.

But then disaster struck. Well not quite disaster, but the big project I was working on at work required me to take a two week trip to Europe to obtain customer feedback. The trip had to be scheduled in July, the first two weeks, before all the Europeans take off for their summer holidays. Just like that my hopes of adding the Missoula Marathon as State #17 were put on hold. At first I was reluctant to go on the work trip, I really would have rather run the marathon. But I finally came to terms with the trip and thoroughly enjoyed my two week stay in Europe on the companies dime. I was able to get some very much needed feedback on a new product idea and to see a part of the world I'd never had the opportunity to see before. And the best part is I got in some really fun runs while I was there.

In Paris I found my way to the Tour Eiffel and the River Seine one morning while in Paris. In Germany I got to run several days in the wonderful NaturPark Nordlicher Teutoburger Wald in Bad Essen. In London I had an afternoon where I got to explore Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Park and a shorter run on morning around St. James Park. In Madrid I was able to go for a run in the Parque del Retiro. It turned out to be not such a bad exchange for missing Missoula.

I'm planning on trying to run it in 2011 and although it won't be on my actual birthday it will be my birthday weekend. As a bonus a couple of the other 50 state crazies in my running group are hoping to join me.

For now I'm on track to make the Twin Cities Marathon on October 3, 2010 the official reason to change the blog header/name yet again to Seventeen Down. But then again you never know where work might send me in the fall......

Ragnar Relay - LA 2010

2010-05-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

It has been just over two weeks since I ran this incredibly fun event and I thought I'd better get it down on blog "paper" before the specific become any fuzzier.

The journey to this race started a long time ago. I'd read blog accounts of others that have done similar races, like Hood to Coast, and they always sounded like a lot of good fun. I received a flyer for the Ragnar race several months ago and wondered whether the Cruisers would be interested. I didn't necessarily want to be the team leader and decided that the Cruisers might not be into something like this, so I let it go. Then about 6 weeks before the race I found out that Rochelle, a long time CA Cruiser, was running the relay with a team of folks from her gym, appropriately named the "CrAzY gYm RaTs". I immediately emailed her an offered myself to the team if they had any openings. Her initial response was that the team was full but she would keep me in mind. Only a few days later I got another email from Rochelle asking me if I was still interested. Of course I was. And just like that I was the 12th member of a Ragnar Relay team. Rochelle was the only person I knew initially but after spending a day or two in a vehicle with 5 others you get to know them a little as well.

When I joined the team, I told them I'd be willing to run any leg they need me to. I said, "give me the hills, give me the long legs, give me the stuff no one else wants." Well I got my wish. I ended up with some good stuff.

Ragnar rates all the legs from "Easy" to "Very Hard". I got one "Very Hard" and 2 "Moderates". After having run the Very Hard leg I think that Ragnar rates them based on a beginning runner. There's no doubt that it was a challenging leg, but I wouldn't call it very hard.

To explain the format of a Ragnar Relay: there are 36 legs, about 200 miles total, that are split between the 12 runners. Each runner runs three legs ranging from as low as 2 miles to as much as 9.9 miles. Runners maintain the same run order throughout the 36 legs. I ended up with leg 6, 18 and 30. Each runner runs on average 16 miles or so. At the LA version the lowest 3 leg total was 12.6 miles and the highest three leg total was 21.1. Guess who got the 21.1?

In my estimation the running part of a Ragnar Relay is maybe the easiest part. More difficult is dealing with the lack of sleep and the effect that has on the other 6 folks in your van. Our van was awesome in that regard. Although none of us got much sleep, some more than others, we all got along famously. I'm not sure that can be said of all the other vans.

As the Leg 6 runner, I was the anchor for Van 1. I handed it the snap bracelet that served as a baton off to Jerry, the lead runner for Van 2.

Our team had gathered in Orange County on Thursday evening. We went out as a group for dinner and then drove up the Ventura and stayed overnight in a hotel near the race start. Friday race morning began with packing up the two Ford Expeditions that would serve us as race vehicles and home for the next 30 hours or so. Our designated start time was 9:30 with a required safety meeting at the starting line an hour before. There were something like 280 teams, but with the staggered starts from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m and starting times every 30 minutes only about 30 teams start running at a time.

We had projected times for each of the legs but there was a flaw, at least in my mind. The projected times were based on your 10K PR, but with a very hard nearly 10 mile leg, keeping up a 10K pace over that distance was somewhat realistic. The morning was spent seeing our runner off and then navigating/driving to the next relay point.

I began my first leg around 2:30 in afternoon on Friday. My first leg was the longest leg of the race. The route included a total elevation gain of 779 feet with most of that occurring in the second half of the leg. I was able to overtake a couple of runners and was feeling pretty good about my run. Pacing yourself is somewhat difficult due to the staggered start there are never that many people on the road with you and there is no real way to tell when they started. My major humiliation during this leg was being passed by Marilyn Monroe. Actually Marilyn was a very studly guy in drag, but being passed by the windswept white dress was a fun memory. My time for the leg was around 1:23 for an 8:30 pace. I was pretty pleased.

With that we were free for a few hours while Van 2 ran Legs 7-12. We grabbed a bite to eat at Corner Bakery and then headed over to the Major Exchange Point and tried to get some rest. It was still early in the evening so although we didn't necessarily feel sleepy a few of us did our best to catch some z's. I slept, or more accurately, napped lightly for about 2 hours.

Our second round started sometime after 9:00. My second leg, my shortest at 4.3 miles was classified as Moderate. I started running somewhere around 2:00 in the morning. I left the exchange point within steps of another running. Our leg took us pretty much straight down Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica to the pier. The run was a nice slow down grade all the way to the pier. I was a few feet behind the other runner about 2 miles or so. We were keeping up a pretty good pace. We were running on the sidewalk. We ended up catching up to a slower runner that was being paced by bicycle (this is allowed at night during a Ragnar Relay). I yelled out to the other runner "go into the street!" I got out there first and took the opportunity to pass my rabbit. I never looked back. One of the highlights of this leg was the number of homeless folks we passed spending the night in almost every doorway we passed. I made it to the exchange point with a 7:30 pace - undoubtedly assisted by the downhill and rabbit effect.

The second set of legs by Van 2 were shorter than their first set, so we had less time to rest. Although we probably need it more now than we did earlier. We caught about an hour of fitful sleep on the Santa Monica pier to the sounds of vans coming and going and cheers at the relay point. We needed the shorter rest to have sufficient time to get to the next Major Exchange Point.

We started our final set of legs around 6:30 on Saturday morning in Long Beach. My leg was a relatively easy one for me. I had 6.9 miles along the Huntington Beach bike path. I run here all the time so I was very familiar with how far I had to go. I enjoyed this leg, but I think I enjoyed the others more because I had the opportunity to run in places I hadn't run before. One of the highlights of this leg for me was putting a younger guy in his place. I passed this guy who may have been in his late 20's or early 30's and thought nothing of it. About 10 minutes later he came barrelling by me. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but I imagined that he had decided that he didn't want to get beaten by the old guy. Well his little burst of speed didn't last long. I maintained my pace, passed him up and got to the exchange point a good 5 minutes before he did. His tactics may have had nothing to do with me, but I had some fun believing that it did.

With that Van 1 was done with nothing to do but to wait for the rest of our team to complete their last round of legs and meet up in Dana Point at the finish line. That was around 11:00 on Saturday morning. Rochelle had the honors of Leg 36 and came across the finish line in the late afternoon 31:28:41 after we started.

This was at least an hour longer than we originally expected, but never having done anything like this we were all ecstatic. We hung out at the finish line festival for a little bit and then headed home for much needed showers and sleep. Everything went well. No one got hurt. There was even talk of getting together and doing it all again next year. Now we have a goal to beat.

One half of the Crazy Gym Rats

2010-04-26T10:02:00.001-07:00

After we finished our last leg. All we had to do was wait for Van 2 to run to the finish line. Our final time was somewhere around 31 hours. Good fun! !

Relay - runners & cars- held captive by a train

2010-04-23T11:44:00.001-07:00

Start of the Ragnar Relay 2010, Ventura, CA

2010-04-23T09:53:00.001-07:00

History Lesson

2010-04-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

I mention often running with the California Cruisers. We get several weekly emails announcing the next weeks run location, pictures from the the last run and news of upcoming races and results afterward. We get together for races everywhere and have a party or two now and again.

Today I received an email from our fearless leaders, John and Dorothy, with the story of the beginning of our little group.

"Our first organizational meeting was on April 18, 2005. Fresh from our 2005 LA Marathon (training with A Snail’s Pace), we decided to stick together and venture forth for new adventures. We decided to run the Chicago Marathon and Margaret discovered that if we ran as a team we could get entry into a VIP tent at the start/finish line. We had enough runners for three teams and we needed a name. So after considering all suggestions, we settled on California Cruisers. We had three teams, so we were California Cruisers 1, 2, and 3. Kitty took charge of getting a shirt design and we had shirts printed up by Sonia. To train for the Chicago Marathon we each took a week end and came up with a course to run.

So we began our adventures. Some runners brought along family members and what a great time we had in Chicago! Since then we have grown to a very sizable group and continue to have memorable adventures. We are a great team!"

Below I included some of the pictures that came with the email. Photo credit goes to John, although he is in most of the pictures, he is definitely our historian.

The group at the planning meeting five years ago. (Thank goodness for date stamped digital photos)
some of the group in the heated VIP tent at Chicago.

Our fearless leaders John and Dorothy somewhere on the streets of Chicago.

Part of the group before the race started. Gotta love the port-o-potties in the background. What else would there be at a marathon starting line?

This was all back in 2005. I hadn't joined the California Cruisers on this particular race because I had been accepted into the NYC marathon lottery. NYC is run just 4 weeks after Chicago and back then I didn't think I could run two marathons in a 4 week span. This was also before I had a blog. NYC was my 6th marathon and 4th state.

As it would happen John and Dorothy and a few others had registered to run the Las Vegas Marathon the first weekend in December 2005. A room became available so I nabbed it signed up and ran the Las Vegas Marathon just 4 weeks after having run the NYC Marathon, proving that you don't know what you can do until you try. This little blog was started soon after New York. Las Vegas earned me Nevada as my fifth state thus the origin of the url - www.fivedown.blogspot.com. I've since run 20 marathons and added 16 states and the Distric of Columbia to my 50 state list.

Our little group has grown over the years, adding members almost weekly at times. The email list is quite long. (We grown so much that John has even added a disclaimer about injury, etc and the bottom of the emails. Runners tend to be a responsible bunch, but I guess you can never be too careful.)

Now five years later I'm still running many of my long weekend runs with the California Cruisers. We've been to lots of great locations, run many miles and races and created long lasting friendships. There's not much more you could ask for out of a running group.

The 25th Los Angeles Marathon

2010-03-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Back in January, I signed up to run the new and improved Los Angeles Marathon. This was the 25th running of the event with the new course that started at Dodgers Stadium and "ran the icons" all the way to the Santa Monica Pier. I didn't end up with a stress fracture this year but the running gods were certainly trying their best to hold me to my "No More CA Marathons" Pledge, no matter how easily sucked into the hype I can get.

Thinking back on it my 15 miler two weeks ago was the beginning of the downhill slide. That particular run went horribly. I was beat like I'd run a full marathon after what should have been an easy run. I also can now recognize all the signs of labored breathing after that run for the next week until I ended up with a horrible cough deep in my chest. No matter how hard I coughed I couldn't bring up whatever was down there. I ran 10 miles last weekend with Celeste, Brian and Terry and nearly lost a lung afterward. Monday at work I felt awful and Tuesday I ended up staying home from work. I haven't taken a sick day in years.

I didn't get out for my easy 5 miler on Tuesday. I couldn't. I went back to work on Wednesday and made it the rest of the week, but I was wiped out by the end of the day. Thursday I finally succumbed to peer pressure (mostly from my wife) and went to the urgent care to find out I had a pretty bad case of bronchitis. The PA prescribed antibiotic and an inhaler. I told her I was a runner. She suggested resting a couple more days. Friday and Saturday were a couple of days, so in my mind I was running again on Sunday for the LA Marathon. Even if I had told her about the marathon and she had suggested I not run, I likely would have run anyway, so I figured why ask for permission. Thursday's 5 miler was scrapped, too.

The drugs did some serious damage on the infections but I was by no means anywhere near marathon shape by Sunday. I came home after the expo on Saturday and took a 2 hour nap; not exactly a good omen. I did get to meet Joe and his nephew at the expo. We had lunch in Eagle Rock and then they gave me a ride home.

Sunday morning Terry met me at my house and my wife chauffeured us to Dodger Stadium. We were there soon after 5:30 and got in quite easily. I had that familiar "I can't believe I'm running another marathon" bubbly feeling inside. I really was looking forward to this race. I spoke with Joe on the phone several times that morning but we never managed to hook up in the sea of humanity.

Dodger Stadium was open to the runners, which was very cool. We had access to the outfield and the low level bleaches. I headed straight to the bathrooms but it was apparent very early on that this was one huge area for improvement for next year. The bathrooms inside the stadium are not nearly numerous enough to accommodate 25,000 pre-race bladders/bowels. There were a bank of port-o-lets in the parking lot, but again not nearly enough. By the time Terry had gone a second time and we headed to the starting corrals, we were lined up way in the back.

We were at least 10, if not 15 minutes from the starting line. We heard Randy Newman's "I Love LA" at least 4 if not 5 times before we were racing. It wasn't a problem, just a testament to the shear number of people there. Starting that far back put us behind many, many walkers. The first mile was predictably crowded. A 12 minute first mile was determined by the crowd more than anything. Upon exiting the stadium Terry was able to open it up a little on the downhill. It became apparent right then and there that my bronchitis was not going to allow me to keep up with her. I let her go early and settled in for a long day.

I felt good. I just couldn't muster up any kind of speed or power. I just kinda hummed along at around 11:00 miles, taking a walk break every 7 minutes. I knew it was going to be a long day, but like I said I felt OK. Then I hit mile 19 and the wheels really fell off. There were two 12:00 miles and then things headed up into the over 14:00 range. I was definitely doing the "worn out old man shuffle." I kept up my 7 minute run and 1 minute walk break until mile 23 when the walk breaks started extending themselves to about 90 seconds.

I ran those last few miles off to the right side of the course, mostly to stay out of the way. One nice side effect of that was that I got called out quite often by the spectators which was really pretty nice and frankly quite needed at that point. I knew that I didn't "look good" nor was I "almost there" but it was nice to be recognized by name. I kept going more for them than for anything. I never doubted that I would finish. I just wanted to be done.

Final official time was 5:19:28. This was my third slowest marathon time ever, 60 t0 90 minutes longer than my recent times from last fall/winter. The only ones that were slower were a previous LA Marathon on a 93 degree day (only my second marathon ever) and the Tecumseh Trail Marathon "mudfest." The slow time doesn't bother me in the least. I never had a time goal for LA from the start and I knew the battle with bronchitis was going to bring a challenge to the day that I was certain not to overcome. Just being able to start and finish my 20th marathon was reward enough. (Although the finishers metal is pretty darn cool.)

I'll be back with another post about the good and bad, at least from my perspective, on the 25th LA Marathon Stadium to the Sea.

Variations on a Theme

2010-03-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness for taper weeks. No more trying to fit in a 7 to 10 miler midweek in the dark. I just find it difficult to wrap my head around getting out the door for those miles in the winter months. The taper week called for nothing but 4, 5 and 6 miles. Funny that 6 is doable but 7 seems so far.

I usually try to vary my routes on a daily basis but this week, all three runs were on the same basic route. I used the equestrian path in Via Verde as much as possible. Tuesday I ran a 5 mile out and back. Wednesday I covered the same ground, a little less of it though, for my 4 miler. Last night I started at a different spot on the route for my 6 miler that included hills covering some of the same ground from the previous two nights and adding on a couple of the hilly extensions. My go to 3-5 mile route is in the valley between two hills in the Via Verde neighborhood. The rest of the neighborhood is one big up or down hill run. It would be a terrible place to have to learn to ride a bike for a little kid.

One last long-ish run on this weekend of 10 or 12 miles and then next week I even get an extra rest day before the LA Marathon. Time to start checking the weather forecast.

The Hat Was for Naught

2010-03-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

After starting out this week's training with an accidentally shortened run, it all came together in the end.

I worked out with my trainer on Tuesday after work and then opted not to run. I'm not sure why, normally I would and especially thinking ahead to the after work commitments I had the rest of the week I should have.

My two easy 7 milers this week, Wednesday and Sunday, were extended to 7.5 and 7.7 respectively. I didn't plan it that way its just the way the routes worked out.

Dinner plans with friends on Thursday and small group meeting on Friday precluded running or gym time for that matter. I snuck out at lunch time and ran my 8 miler that included 3x1 mile repeats. Instead of driving over to the dam I ran straight out the front gate. Doing it this way saves quite a bit of time. It takes nearly a 30 minutes round trip to drive back and forth to the dam. The 8 mile run only took 70 minutes. I don't think I was missed at all, except that one of the management team saw me leaving. I've heard he spend some of his lunch hours at the gym.

Saturday's long run was threatened with rain. It seems to have rained or threatened rain very frequently in the last couple of months. We get so spoiled with beautiful weather most of the time, the rain is getting a little old. But I know eventually it is going to be in the 90's with no relief in sight and we'll be wishing for some rain. The CA Cruisers met for a run on the Santa Ana River Trail. We had a pretty big turnout today with a couple of new comers as well. There were at least 25 of us.

It was cloudy but not raining when we started. I wore my baseball cap just in case. We had about a half dozen rain drops around mile 4 and then the sun broke through the clouds for a few miles. I was running with Terry and the girls. Carol and Jamie turned back at the 5 mile point. Jeanne talked Terry into continuing on to 6 miles. I was planning 15 total so I was in for the long haul.

Around mile 9 I was cooked. I couldn't really explain why. I'd felt so good last week on the 20 miler and here I was wondering if I'd even make it back for the 12 mile round trip. I seriously considered calling it quits at 12. When we got back Terry and Jeanne were done. I was beginning to feel a little better and knew that I'd be upset with myself later for giving up, so I headed off on my own for the last 3 miles to make it 15 (2:32). I got it done, but I was beat. I'm still not quite sure why. The rain held off until the afternoon and evening, hurray!

45.2 miles for the week, a tab bit over plan. Next week should be a breeze with only 32 miles on the docket. Only 2 weeks until the 25th running of the Los Angeles Marathon. There's quite a bit of buzz about it on Twitter. I'm getting kind of excited for it, even though it wont' get me a state.

In other exciting news I may get to run as part of a team for the Ragnar Relay from Ventura to Dana Point. When I'd gotten the flyer I was interested but didn't think anyone else would be. I found out this weekend that a Cruiser I haven't seen in a while has a team going and has an opening so I may join in on the fun. I've read lots of posts about relays and everyone seems to have fun, exhausting fun, but fun. We'll see what happens.

Mistaken Identity

2010-03-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

It was shaping up to be a mildly hectic week so I ended up running yesterday. Monday is usually a day off and especially after a 20 miler on Sunday I might have expected to take the day off. I was very happy with how good I felt after the 20, almost too good to be true.

In an effort to get in all the planned runs for the week I ended up heading to Bonelli, but stuck to the pavement to keep it a little easier on my legs. I hadn't really studied the plan nor committed it to memory I new there were two "round number" runs bookending a 7 miler was about as specific as I could remember on the run.

I ended up running 6 miles and by then it was fully dark and Bonelli gives me a little heebie jeebies at that point. There were still a couple of bike riding stragglers but I in two separate places last night I came upon lone men walking along purposelessly, or so it seemed. Kind of gave me the creeps especially after listening to the news on the way home about the girl jogger down near San Diego. I'll will be very happy in a couple of weeks when daylight savings time kicks in.

I got home and gave the schedule a look and the "round number" I remembered was actually an 8, not the 6 I ran, but I'm calling it good.

Good Choices

2010-02-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

At least I think they were good choices. This was the last "big" week of training before the LA Marathon on March 21. The week included a speed session with Yasso 800's and the longest long run.

Good Choice #1: The plan called for 10 miles with 10x800. I had a great time doing this workout last summer in preparation for the Heart of America Marathon, but I haven't done much in the way of speed work since then. I find it very difficult to muster up the concentration for those types of drills in the darkness of winter. For this one I opted to run it at lunch time on Wednesday. A meeting-less afternoon was assurance that my post run aroma would not offend anyone. Ten miles in really too much to squeeze into a lunch break, even and extended one. The first accommodation I made was to shorten the run to 8 miles. With the lack of speed work leading up to this, trying for 10x800 seemed unrealistic, so I cut it back to 5x800 and ran them in an average pace of 3:51. I had a 2 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down.

Good Choice #2: The long run for the weekend was a 22 miler that I'd scaled back to 20, weeks ago since the LA training was compressed a bit. I usually get my long runs in on Saturday morning. The weather gurus were calling for 100% chance of torrential downpours on Saturday. My original plan for the weekend was to hit the gym on Friday after work, run long on Saturday and then run short on Sunday. With the predicted weather I saw no reason to chance the rain. I don't mind running in the rain, but torrential just didn't seem necessary when Sunday's forecast called for clear skies.

When I got home Friday rather than going to the gym I put in the 6 easy miles scheduled for Sunday. Then on Saturday I went to the gym during one of the respites from the downpours. We had the strangest weather (at least for SoCal). We'd have torrential downpours, often with hail followed by bursts of sunshine, then drizzle then more downpours. This went on all day. I was glad I'd run on Friday night.

This morning the rain clouds had dispersed and the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful day for a 20 miler. The temperature was in the mid to high 50's. My friend Terry and I ran the Santa Ana River Trail. We kept up an 7:1 run:walk ratio. Around mile 11 Terry was feeling pretty wiped out so she fell behind, switching to a 5:1. I kept on alone and finished the 20 miles in a moderate 3:23 (10:09) pace. Terry wasn't too far behind. I felt really good, but it is runs like Terry had that make you wonder why we ever thought running marathons was a good idea.

Good Choice #3: Terry and I will likely run the LA Marathon together, shooting for a 4:05 finish. This will qualify Terry for Boston a second time and shouldn't be a stretch for me or put me under too much stress running a marathon that doesn't add to my 50 state goal. I'm looking forward to the weekend as Joe will be in town with his nephew from San Diego. It will be fun to hang out again. The next two weekends are relatively short runs of 15 and 12 and then its time for the big one. I'm happy to have entered the taper phase, yet again.

Bonelli Haiku

2010-02-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

A nearly full moon
Lighting the way as I run
Smoothly on the trail

Solid and Sliding

2010-02-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

How did I ever find time to blog. I hate to give it up but with Facebook and Twitter competing for my time its getting harder to keep up. Reading is difficult, but made somewhat easier because so many others seemed to have dropped off the blogger wagon. Posting is difficult. Twitter is my personal fave at the moment. It is short, sweet and to the point. Easy to stay in touch with a lot of peeps without any commitment to a long read or a comment.

On the running front, it was a good solid week of training miles. Four weeks to the day when I break my no-CA marathons for the new LA Marathon Stadium to Sea course.

I took advantage of my carpool situation and the wonderful summer like weather to run 8 and 10.5 miles on Monday and Wednesday during my (extended) lunch hours. It was so nice to complete those medium length distances during the daylight. The 80 degree temps were a bonus. I was definitely in my element.

Thursday I headed straight to Bonelli and got 2.5 miles in on the trails before darkness encroached and then added about 4 more miles on the pavement for a nice 6.6 miler.

Rain was predicted for Saturday morning but we were blessed with a wonderful clear and cool morning for a beautiful lap around the Newport Beach Back Bay. There were so many other runners out there, it was very enjoyable. I ran the first part with Michelle and Jay and the remainder with my friend Terry and her friend Terry. At the end to the loop Terry and I headed back out for a few more miles to bring the total to 15.

Today I headed over to Bonelli for my Sunday Morning Loop but my fave trails were closed due to the land slide that happened on Thursday afternoon. It had rained overnight and I was hoping for a little play time in the mud. The slide was on the far southwest corner of Bonelli near the 3.5 to 4 mile mark of my normal loop. I made do by jumping on the loop at the far end and doubling back a couple of time to make up my mileage.

Total for the week was 47.1 miles. Next week includes the last big long run before LA. Not sure I'll get to cool off in the ocean like last week.

Eighteen Miles. . . The End

2010-02-14T14:52:00.001-08:00

Pulled the Trigger

2010-02-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

Today I registerd for what may become state #17. Super excited. I've wanted to run this one for a while now. Plans are to run with a coworker from the Twin Cities area. Expectations are high. Twin Cities is billed as "the most scenic urban marathon in America". I'll let you know. Training offically starts June 14th.

Surf City Schwag

2010-02-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

Race Banner on the Huntington Beach Pier the day before the race, a stormy, wet, windy day.

The race medal is one of the coolest ever. The surf board is wooden with the metal medallion attached. (Try as I might I couldn't rotate the top picture, sorry)

The California Dreamin' metal for completing some combination of the Long Beach, San Francisco and Surf City Half or Full Marathons. I did the half option - no more California marathons, remember.

The logo on the California Dreamin' jacket.

The final official results are in:

1:45:11 (8:02 pace)

Splits were - 3 mi 24:13 (8:05 pace) and 8.2 mi 1:04:48 (7:55 pace).

925 out of 11783 overall. I'm still jazzed.

Surf City Half Marathon

2010-02-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

I signed up for this race last July. Yes, a little over 8 months ago. I don't normally plan quite that far ahead, but the race sells out early and I wanted to be sure to get in on California Dreamin' Series. At the time I had no real goal other than to finish and collect the really cool metal and the California Dreamin' schwag.

After my PR performance at the 10K in October and without the high mileage of a marathon training program facing me done, I thought I might try to better my half marathon PR. My current PR, set back in 2005 at the Fontana Days Half, is kind of a "soft" PR in that it was set with the benefit of a really nice downhill course. A PR is a PR, but I wanted to legitimize it a bit.

Then I started training based on Bart Yasso's plan in his book "My Life on the Run". I'd used the full marathon plan with success. Unfortunately I found it difficult to complete the quality workouts during the dark and cooler evenings of winter. The couple of half marathon pace runs I did try during the daylight did not go well. To achieve a PR I'd have to run the race at a steady 8:00 pace or less. I'd also heard from others that the course is unusually crowded further complicating PR attempts. A few weeks back I'd pretty much given up any hope of a PR effort at Surf City.

Then race morning dawned as a new day. We'd just had two days of scattered showers with heavy rains, winds and gloomy conditions. This morning the clouds cleared and the rains moved on. The temperatures were in the mid 50's. After the rain everything looks brighter and clearer, even the air is clean for a few days afterward. I decided to line up as close to the front as could. I decided to give it all I could for as long as I could and let whatever happened happen.

The race sent the full marathoners off over an hour before the half. With the half they employed a wave start that went off without a hitch. I was only able to work my way into the 2:00 corral. The 1:30, 1:40 and 1:50 were ahead of me. Being in the 2:00 corral actually worked to my advantage. From the get go I was passing people and that never let up throughout the race. The mental boost from gaining on and then overtaking other runners was huge.

I kept a close watch on my mile splits and was shocked from the get go. The first 5 miles went like this:
8:23, 7:26, 8:25 (including a pit stop), 7:58, and 8:01.
During my training I hadn't been able to sustain an 8:00 pace for more than 3 miles. I'd gone 5 so I just kept on chugging away.

The next 3 miles looked like this:
8:08, 7:40 and 8:00
Incredible. I was even stopping at every water stop for a drink and walking through until I'd downed the liquid and then got right back to it. I'd planned not to use a more formal run/walk schedule.

The 8 mile mark was the final U-turn and it was a straight shot down Pacific Coast Highway to the finish line. I figured 5 more miles at this pace and I'd be done in less than an hour. I hoped I could hang on.

Mile 9: missed the marker
Mile 10: 16:52 - I was a little concerned here, the pace had fallen to 8:26
Mile 11: 7:39
Mile 12: 8:06
Mile 13.1: 8:34 (7:47 pace)

Final time on my watch 1:45:13. Live results on the website show 1:45:11 (still unofficial at this point)

At any rate the 1:45:11 is a surprisingly unexpected PR by nearly 30 seconds. I'm really at a loss to explain it. My training wouldn't have predicted it. I guess being slightly under trained and the near perfect race conditions all fell together to make it possible. With no downhill assist on a basically flat course at Surf City, I'd say I now have a legitimate half marathon PR! And some great schwag to go with it.

Return to Bonelli

2010-02-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

The ground hog may be able to keep spring from coming but he can't keep the days from getting longer. It has been noticeably lighter each day when we leave work and remaining lighter once I'm home.

Today I make a quick change and then a bee line for the park and ride near Bonelli. I left the parking lot at 5:35. It was probably already after the official sundown but there was still plenty of light to see the trails.

I ran on of my shorter routes that combines trails and roads. The first 2.25 miles or so are trail with the rest pavement. I had plenty of light to navigate the trails, but by the time I hit the asphalt it was definitely dark.

I used the new phone/gps and was a little disappointed to see the distance came in at 3.8 miles. I've always called this route at 4 miles. I guess its close enough for government work, as the saying goes. That 0.2 miles haunts me just a little, it is the end of a marathon. Who wants to only run 26 miles and take credit for 26.2.

I'm not quite obsessive enough to go back an change my running journal, but I will only take credit for 3.8 today and I'll measure it a couple more times to see what I get. Regardless I enjoyed the midweek foray back into Bonelli.

Four days to go before the Surf City Half and the weather forecast seems to have improved, thankfully.

Gadgetry

2010-01-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

As usual, I loaded up my Christmas wish list with running related items - a couple of books, socks, a new running log, Moeben arm warmers, a really cool jersey from Pearl Izumi and entry into the LA Marathon. I got the socks and the running log. Something else I've been eyeing for some time was a smartphone. I'd personally never spend the money on one, but I was intrigued by the cool factor. Santa (my wonderful wife) got me the Droid for Christmas because she knew I'd never actually go get it for myself.

I've been having fun with it as you can tell from the picture posts since Christmas that are coming straight from the 5.0 megapixel camera and I changed my email address to a gmail account to take full advantage of the Google enabled Droid.

I've always run with nothing more than a watch. To determine distance I rely on friends with a Garmin, marked routes or my favorite standby gmap-pedometer.com. I downloaded a trial application the other day to use with the Droid - Run.GPS. The map up there is of my 4 miler on Saturday evening.

I was very happy to see that the route came in at least 4 miles. I was very afraid of finding out that my old standby routes were all under distance as compared to a GPS. The route came in at 4.11 miles (I hit the lap button in the car on the way home and added a few extra tenths by accident). I'm all excited about being able to see the map.

I used it again this morning on my run at the beach. It kept great track of the time I was running, but I forgot to enable the GPS satellite part of the program so it only tracked the actual route for 8.32 miles. I ran with my old running partner Brian. The 10 miles was the longest he'd gone in years. Our pace was slower than my usual but it was a good to help Brian get back into the swing of running the longer distances. The pace chart clearly shows where we took walk breaks and a bathroom break as well.

Running with gadgets can be fun! Something else to take up my time, gaaah!

This was a really off week for running. I didn't do a very good job of sticking to the schedule. There was no focused workout, only easy runs. I managed 19 miles for the week. Next weekend is the Surf City Half. Pretty much all bets are off on me reaching anything even remotely close to a PR.

With today being the end of the first month of 2010 - time for the monthly update: 143.5 miles.

Five Days of Rain

2010-01-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

...gives us this beautiful view.

Go Figure

2010-01-20T21:42:00.001-08:00

Unprecedented!

Torrential!

Severe Winter Storm Front!

Whatever.....its just rain.

....and I'm a wimp, it was raining cats and dogs when I left work so headed to the gym treadmill to knock out the 4 miler on the schedule.

When I walked out of the gym, the rain had stopped. Go figure!

Rest Day Interrupted

2010-01-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

It rained pretty much all day today. Fairly hard at times, almost horizontal according to my wife as she was trying to pick up her lunch at the drive through window (chicken soup, not a burger, FYI). When we left work I was surprised to see clearing skies.

I took full advantage of the opportunity to get a run in even though today was a scheduled rest day. I wasted no time in changing into my running duds and out the door I went for the Bonnie Cove 5.

It was supposed to be an easy day. I finished the run, much to my surprise, in 42:43; an 8:32 pace. Now that's more like it. I guess after two weeks of feeling a little under the weather and some slow paced runs I was finally feeling it.

I hope the respite in the rain was just a lucky break. We really need it around here.

Wet Runs in the Forecast

2010-01-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

Although I just announced my intentions to run the Los Angeles Marathon, my schedule has been geared with an eye toward that as well as the Surf City Half - which is in three weeks by the way. I've been sticking to Yasso's Half plan during the week and hybridizing the long run distances between his Half and Full plans.

I'd planned 16 this weekend. Running buddy Terry had planned 14. She invited a couple of her old friends (old as in long time friends, not old as in aged friends). I had invited the "kids" along too. Brian was able to make it, Celeste was not. The run was very fragmented as Terry's friends were running 10, Brian has finally worked up to 8. I ran a mile before we started, ran 8.5 with Brian and doubled back to catch Terry and then a final four miles with Terry to end up with 14, a nice compromise between the two plans. Brian and the friends necessitated a slower pace, which worked out well with the way things have gone the last two weeks. When Terry and I were alone we cranked up the pace noticeably, but still ended the run with an overall pace of 10:21. It was really nice to feel strong at the end of the run.

Later that day I'd gone for a hike in Bonelli. I came around a corner upon a little Chihuahua dog, who immediately did a 180 and scampered back from where he came. It is not usual, although probably not very smart, for people to let their dogs off the leash on the trails in the park. I've always encountered friendly dogs and owners, thankfully. I expected to come upon his owner as I got further around the corner, but there was no human attached to the dog. I tried to get the dog to come to me, but he was a skittish little bugger. He ran around another corner and I never saw him again. He was about a mile onto the trail into the park. I fear that unless he followed the trail back out the poor little guy is going to become coyote chow or hawk bait.

This morning I got up and went to the gym on my own (the trainer is still on his snowboarding weekend in the local mountains). I worked out chest and biceps and abs for good measure then headed over to Bonelli for a 6 miler on my usual Sunday Morning Loop. It was still bright and sunny at 11:00 when I was done. When I was done I was famished. I had only eaten a handful of raisins before going to the gym. I'm not sure why. I usually eat oatmeal or a pb&j before a workout and running. The veggie burrito from Taco Ready I had for lunch sure hit the spot.

The rain that has been predicted for the last couple of weeks as finally arrived. Next week's training will be interesting.

Only 3 weeks until race day. This coming week I have the last speed session before the race. It is another half marathon pace workout. I'm not sure exactly how I will fit it in. Besides that run, the others are easy paces at shorter distances - easier to fit into a rain challenged schedule. I really don't mind running in the rain, but we usually get enough of a break to get in a few miles out of the wet stuff. We'll see how it goes.

Early Bloomer

2010-01-17T11:49:00.001-08:00

First bloom on my saucer magnolia shrub (magnolia x soulagiana). I planted this nearly 8 years ago. After this bloom cycle we will likely get another before summer.

Sub Par

2010-01-14T19:45:00.001-08:00

My wife made it back to work on Wednesday after having slept pretty all of the previous 96 hours. She was exhausted in the early afternoon and was home by 3:30 then and again today. I fought it off better, but I'm still feeling the effects.

Tuesday I took a big goose egg on the schedule against a 7 miler. When I got home from work I felt like I needed a nap. By the time I felt even remotely like running I decided it was too late.

Yesterday I had an appointment with the trainer (he has a ski weekend planned this weekend so he worked me in mid week). It was supposed to be a speed day, 6 x 800's. There was no way that was going to happen. Instead I ran to the gym, ran a mile on the treadmill at the gym and then ran home after the workout - 5.7 miles in total instead of the 8 that was planned. The trainer made me end the workout with a crazy burn out. 10 pushups using 20 lb dumbells then jump up and do 10 curls with the dumbells, then back to pushups for 9, up for 9 curls, down for 8 pushups, up for 8 curls.....all the way to 1 pushup and 1 curl. Its a lot harder than it sounds. After finishing that the idea of having to run home didn't seem nearly as good as it had when I got there.

Tonight I finally got out for a 6 miler; the same one I did last week. I got the pace down a little bit to 9:15. My legs still fell like lead and I'm just generally lethargic, but I was glad I wasn't asleep at home like my poor wife.

2010 is getting off to a slow start. Maybe it will be like that lion/lamb thing in March and I can expect great things at the end of the year! What do you think?

Breaking The Rules

2010-01-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not know I have a rule against running any more marathons in California before I finish up my 50 states goal. In 2008 I decided to break that rule and signed up (and paid for) for the Big Sur Marathon and the Catalina Marathon, with plans to run the Big Bear Marathon in the fall. A few days before Catalina I got the news of my stress fracture in my right tibia. The first two were officially DNS and the third I never signed up. I was healthy enough by year end to run the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in December 2008, my one and only marathon that year.

As you also know I'm a sucker for a gimmick. My hometown marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon, is mixing things up a bit this year with yet another new course and new date. This will be the 25th running of the LA Marathon. The last time I ran it (and swore to never run it again) was the 20th running. The new course is a point-to-point course starting at Dodger Stadium and running to the beach in Santa Monica. The marathon was traditionally run on the first Sunday of March, for 23 years, until last year when they changed the date twice finally settling on Memorial Day. Registration was significantly down from prior years. This year it has moved back to March but a couple of weeks later. Another nice change is the 7:20 a.m. start. The race has traditionally started at 8:30 or so to enhance TV coverage, but in LA often put us into the heat of the day, as evidenced by the 93 degree day in 2004 when I ran it the first time. This year my friend Terry is running it hoping to qualify again for Boston in 2011. Joe and his nephew John are running it. So at the risk of taunting the running gods I've signed up.

The 25 anniversary, new route, home town appeal, Terry, Joe and John - how could I not run it. I'm not sure I'll run with Terry. I have nothing to prove so there's little to gain by attempting a 4:00 marathon. I'm not sure what Joe and John are planning pace wise. It might be fun for the three of us to run together, but if John is hoping to break 4:00 as he did in San Diego, he might consider running with Terry. Who knows?

Let's just hope the running gods are kind to me this time around.

Beat Lightly

2010-01-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

Many people I come in contact with have been battling a cold this year. Since I started running and gotten healthier, I'v successfully battled against most colds and won. This particular is a worthy opponent. While I'm not flat out sick, I am nowhere near 100%. My legs have been sore most of the week. The first couple of days could be attributed to the leg workout on Sunday, but by Thursday it had to be something else. My energy level is down while the times on my running routes are up.

Tuesday's Easy 6 were done at 9:30 pace. I'm usually 30 to 60 seconds faster than that on the same route. At this point I didn't give it much thought, it was supposed to be an easy run after all.

The 7 miler on Wednesday was split into two sections. I ran to the gym, worked out chest/bi/shoulders and ran back home. The pace on the way was 9:16. After the workout, the first half mile towards home, I began wondering if I'd even make it. I had no choice. I hadn't brought my cell phone and neither my son or wife were home anyway.

Thursday's Half Marathon Pace workout confirmed that I just wasn't myself. Due to a planned work trip to PHX leaving around 6:00 p.m., I left work early for my workout. I headed over to the bike path near work. The workout called for 9 miles - 1 mile warm up, 7 miles HMPace, 1 mile cool down. My goal HM pace is about 8:00.

My warm up mile was 9:31, right where I'd been all week. I took off at the mile marker and my legs were heavy. I made the first mile in 8:05, not too bad and I kept going. On the second mile my legs didn't get any lighter. I pulled mile 2 off in 7:53, but I was already spent. I took a 30 second walk break and headed into mile 3 - 8:25. I basically just gave up at that point there was no way that I was going to get 4 more miles at 8:00 pace. I was determined to complete the entire 9 miles, at this point I had to go back the 4 miles to the start, so I might as well gut out the next half mile before turning around. A couple of minutes into that and I changed my mind. I was back to the mile marker in 3:46. The four miles back came in at 9:28, 9:38, 10:08 and 9:41 with ample walk breaks. One redeemer factor about the run was that it was 2:00 in the afternoon and sunny, so at least my suntan got a workout.

I had contemplated a trial half marathon on Saturday, but in my beaten down state, I opted for an easy LSD 10 miler with the Cruisers on the river trail in Yorba Linda. 10:00 was my nice and easy pace.

I could tell that the cold still had some grip on me this morning at the workout with my trainer. After that I ran the Bonelli Sunday Loop, again really slowly. I just don't have any pep in my legs and I can't seem to breath deep enough to pull off a decent pace.

It (the cold) hasn't gotten me completely, but it has definitely made its presence known. My wife unfortunately has been down for the count since Friday and it looks as though she may still be in bed tomorrow.

I've got four weeks until the Surf City Half. I'm not sure what effect this little setback in the training will mean to my PR attempt.

Stay healthy everyone. This year's cold seems to be a tenacious little bugger.

2009 Retrospective

2010-01-03T11:24:00.001-08:00

2009 was the year of rebuilding. After the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, TN in December 2008 I ended up with a terrible case of ITBS that extended from my right hip down to my knee. The first few steps walking were difficult and running was out of the question. Most of the month of December 2008, I continued to walk but there was no running. I began the first full week of 2009 still walking. On the first Saturday group run with the Cruisers I met them at Peter's Canyon. Again I walked while the rest of the group ran. I'm usually at the front of the pack, it was odd bringing up the rear. It had been nearly a month since I'd run a step. I decided to give running a try and ran for about 10 minutes before walking in the rest of the route. I continued physical therapy with a PT who is also a runner up for the first several months of the year. The graph below shows my mileage buildup to the marathon on Labor Day.

The orange dots are my marathons - Heart of America in Columbia, MO; Des Moines Marathon and Harrisburg Marathon in PA.
I ended the year with 1443.7 miles, my second lowest full year mileage since 2004. My monthly mileage totals look like this.

Besides the three marathons in 2008, I ran 6 other races.
Two half marathons, both for fun, both with Terry - The Wine Country Half in Paso Robles and the San Francisco Half. I had the opportunity to meet Dori and her husband in Paso. What nice people they are. Running the Golden Gate, even shrouded in clouds, was still a blast. Lisa joined it at this one and walked the 5K along the Embarcadero.

I ran one of my fave trail runs - the Malibu Creek Trail Challenge 14 miler. It was my slowest time ever at the event, but in May I was just glad to be running pain free again.

I ran two 5K's - Surf City on July 4th with my old running buddy, Brian and recently the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run. In Santa Monica I got a little hint of the speed I used to have, coming within 60 seconds of my PR.

The highlight of the year was probably setting a 10K PR at the Santa Monica 10K. I was shooting for sub 50:00 and just made it. My friend Terry is eternally upset with me for that one. She has run many 10K's and has never been able to go sub 50, so me doing it the first time out set up the challenge. Lisa walked the 5K here as well.

The three marathons brings me to 16 total in 6 years, 32% if the way done. At this rate I should be finished by 2023. I'll be 61, yikes!

The plans for 2010 are still pretty fuzzy at this point. On the horizon for sure is the Surf City Half Marathon where I'm shooting for a PR and will finish up the California Dreamin' Series. I had really wanted to finally run the Camp Pendleton Mud Runs this year. Registration opened on New Years Day and was sold out before noon, so I missed out again. So that's one race that will be on the plans for 2011, already.

More of 2010 plans to come in future posts.

I took the photo at the top of the post during my Sunday Morning Bonelli Loop this morning. The perspective makes it look like my legs are huge and that I have a pinhead. It took several tries to get a half way decent shot.

First Run of the New Year

2010-01-02T20:29:00.001-08:00

I met up with the CA Cruisers this morning for our Two Parks/Two Loops route. There were 19 of us this morning. Even Jesse was there, I can't remember the last time I've gotten to run with Jesse. Actually I followed Jesse for about 3.5 miles and then I never saw him again. Terry joined us as well and we ran together along with Leslie for most of the way.

The route always includes the option of running the Summit House Loop as well which adds an extra four miles and a couple of hills to the 10 miles of 2P/2L. Apparently no one was in the mood for the extra mileage today. We usually veer off to Summit House less than an mile into the run before completing the circuit of Craig Park - Rolling Hills Drive - Tri City Park. Once we completed on loop of the parks, rather than continuing we did a 180 and did the second loop in reverse. Its odd how doing a familiar route in the opposite direction can give you a whole different perspective.

I was really hoping for more than the 10 miles so I peeled off near then end and added the Summit House Loop solo. The picture above is taken from the highest point along the route looking towards downtown Los Angeles. Although it doesn't show up very well in the photo it was clearly visible to the naked eye.

My 14 miles today was a much stronger start to the new year than last year's.

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

I awoke this morning and headed straight to the family room to turn on the TV. I was in search of the Rose Parade. The Rose Parade is the best way to start of the New Year as far as I am concerned. I always watch the live coverage on KTLA and hearing the voices of Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks confirms to me that the new year has officially arrived.

I made banana nut muffins for breakfast and then headed off to Bonelli for a walk around noon. If you watched the parade or the Rose Bowl later in the day you know that we started off the New Year with typically beautiful warm -72 degree and mostly sunny skies - weather.

We watched the game with some friends and then came home and had our traditional NYD meal of Jenny Joes, a sloppy joe take off with chicken gumbo soup as the sauce. I got the recipe from my uncle, but I have no idea where it originated.

Remember the Winter Misery One Miler I ran a couple of weeks ago? Well, runninglaur has posted the carnival here. She also provided these nifty personal artworks to commemorate the occasion.

We ended the day watching Julie & Julia, which in a weird sort of way seemed appropriate with the chili, muffins and Jenny Joes I'd made recently. I certainly got a kick out of the blogging connection. I just wonder did Julie ever actually get to me Julia. Does anybody know?

New Year's Eve 800's

2009-12-31T14:42:00.001-08:00

View of the San Gabriel Mountains from the Bikeway on top of the Santa Fe Dam

I figured I had to end the year with a bang. December 31st fell on a Thursday. Thursday is speed work day! The plan called for Yasso 800’s – 6 x 800. I’m officially at work but I’ve been taking advantage of the light work load and skeleton crew and extending my lunches a bit to get my runs in during the day. The most convenient place near work for the speed work is the San Gabriel River Bikeway, so off I went.

The calculators told me that my goal time was 2:57. That seemed overly ambitious. Following are my times for the run – warm up, 800’s, and cool down.

Mile 1 9:27
Mile 2 8:55
Mile 0.5 4:25
800 3:32
Rest 2:22
800 3:34
Rest 2:47
800 3:37
Rest 2:32
800 3:28
Rest 2:45
800 3:39
Rest 2:45
800 3:33
Rest 2:58
Mile 8 8:59
Mile 9 8:45
Total 1:18 Overall Pace: 8:41

So my 800’s were no where near the goal, but they were pretty consistent. The 800’s are typically run on a track, i.e. flat as a pancake. The bikeway is not, so I feel pretty good about maintaining the 3:3X pace throughout. I’d forgotten just how hard these things are. Using the McMillan calculator backwards predicts a 2:07 half off these 800’s. This is no where near my PR goal. We’ll see how the rest of the training goes.

Happy New Year!

6 More Miles

2009-12-30T13:41:00.001-08:00

At lunch, 51 degrees, heavy cloud cover, light mist. Had the bike path all to myself.

6 Miles

2009-12-29T13:05:00.001-08:00

On the San Gabriel River bike path at lunch.

Tis the Season

2009-12-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

So many things to do during this time of the year; keeping the blog updated just hasn't seemed to fit in.

Thanks to the new economy in the 2000's I enjoyed a forced week of vacation last week. I made the best of it. I repainted the room recently vacated by the oldest son and reorganized the book shelf and closet. I took full advantage of the time off and got my runs in while the sun was shining. It was a beautiful thing.

Tuesday I ran in the late morning; 7 miles on the horse trails in Walnut. This was my go-to 7 miler last summer, but it has been months since I'd been there.

Wednesday I went back to familiar territory on my Sunday Morning Loop in Bonelli (It doesn't have to be Sunday to run the loop!) after a 1 mile warm up at the gym with back and triceps workout with the trainer.

The real work was on Thursday. I waited until nearly high noon and headed over to the bike path at the Santa Fe Dam. The plan called for 8 miles with 3x1mile repeats. The bike path is conveniently marked at 0.25 mile increments. The mile repeats were to be run at 10K pace. Based on my half marathon goal I determined that pace to be 7:13. After a couple of easy miles as warm up I took off on the first repeat. It has been a long time, since before HOA, that I've done mile repeats. I was huffing and puffing and my heart felt like it would explode. I got a side stitch, too. I almost never get those. I was ready to be done at the half mile mark. I felt like I was slowing, so I pushed as hard as I could and was shocked to complete the first mile in 6:56. WAAAAY too fast.

After 0.25 mile recovery, off I went. This time at 7:15, with the side stitch getting even worse. Another recover 0.25 and it was time for the last repeat. This time I actually stopped and took a few walking steps about half way through. I just didn't have the mental toughness to push through. I willed myself to the mile marker and a mile time of 7:06, surprisingly.

After the long run on Saturday (12.8 miles in Newport Beach under cloudy skies in the 40's) and another go at the Bonelli Sunday Morning Loop (this time on Sunday morning under clear sunny skies in the high 50's), I ended the week with 39.8 miles.

I'm one third of the way through the plan to get me to the Surf City Half. My times of the mile repeats on Thursday were encouraging, but man they hurt. I expect a PR effort at the half is going to involve some discomfort as well.

Eighth Day of Winter

2009-12-28T13:29:00.001-08:00

The Harbingers of Spring (Indian Hawthorn) are already blooming.

Winter Misery One Miler (and weekly recap)

2009-12-21T18:26:00.001-08:00

Today, Dec. 21st, the first official day of winter, I ran a virtual race - the Winter Misery One Miler. Before I get to the details of that particular little jaunt, I've got to fill you in on the rest of the last week.

I followed up Tuesday's 7 miler with another 7 miler on Wednesday. I ran the exact same route - out the front door over to Covina Hills Road and back. Wednesday I was about 0:45 slower than Tuesday. No big deal.

Thursday, the weather was still on the warm side for my 8 miler with hills. It could have been hill repeats, but I did not relish the idea of running the hill in the dark. It is part of the dirt equestrian path and is somewhat rutted to the rains last week. The plan gave the option for just running a hilly route, so I took it.

Saturday was supposed to be another meet up with the old crew - Brian, Terry and Celeste. Friday evening, first one of the youngster and then the other dropped out. Terry and I went for an easy 5 miler in Bonelli.

Sunday I met "the girls" again for a run in Chino Hills State Park. We had planned on running Raptor Ridge but due to park closure we couldn't get in. We ran an alternate route on Upper Aliso for about 7 miles. I'd planned closer to 10 that day so I followed that up with 3 more miles in Bonelli on the way home.

37 miles for the week.

Roadrunner Sports has been having Daily Treat; special one day deals; throughout the month of December. Friday, the daily treat was my Brooks Adrenaline GTS10. I snagged a pair at a really good price.

Now for the Winter Misery One Miler.
It is pretty tough to call winter miserable here in So Cal. The weather over the weekend was near 80 each day. Today being the first official day of winter at least the weather cooperated a little bit. The high temperature today was in the low 60's with cloud cover all day. Actually really good conditions for a run. To at least add a little to the misery factor, I did my One Miler on the treadmill before a workout with the personal trainer. I did the first 0.25 mile with the incline set to 7 but then came to my senses and put it back down to 1. My time was nothing stellar, 10:20, but since I've never run a One Mile Race before, I guess it is a PR! I look forward to reading about everyone else's races over at RunningLaur.

This One's for Joe

2009-12-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

Today, December 15, 2009, less than a week before it is officially winter, I walked out my front door at 6:00 p.m. in shorts and a short sleeve shirt for a 7 mile run. The temperature was 61 degrees F (16C). I wore a pair of Brooks Adrenaline 9's for the last time. At the end of the run, they'd reached 499 miles, time to be retired. The graph shows the number of times I ran the various distances in these shoes. There were 62 total runs covering most distances from 1 to 26. It looks like my fave distance to run with these shoes, the mode, was 4 miles, the median is 7 miles and the mean is 8 miles.

I started wearing these shoes on February 24, 2009 for a 3 mile run around the neighborhood. My pace that day was a nice and easy 9:25. This was when I was still in the middle of rehab for the IT Band Seize Up suffered at the St. Jude Marathon nearly 3 months before. Tonight's pace for the easy 7 miles was 9:05.

I obviously used these shoes to train for a marathon as evidenced by the nice progression of at least one run at 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 miles, culminating with that nice 26(.2) there at the end. When the marathon rolled around, the Heart of America in Columbia, Missouri, these shoes already had 355 miles on them. By the time I realized it, it was too late to start out on a new pair. The old blue GTS9's served me well that day. Since then they've been in the rotation mostly used for 5 and 6 milers. Today, 42 weeks to the day after their inaugural run, they are getting relegated to the garage with all the other pairs of 500 mile shoes.

This makes the fourth pair of shoes I've retired in 2009. There are two others in the rotation that won't make it far into 2010 before joining the stack in the garage; a pair of red Brooks Trance 6 with 474 miles and a pair of red Trance 7 with 437 miles. The fourth pair in the current rotation is an Adrenaline 8 with a mere 185 miles and there's a brand new pair of Adrenalines waiting in the closet for their turn to join the rotation.

Do you think I know too much about my shoes?

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

No candy canes or silver lanes aglow, though. Well sort of.

Friday night was the annual CA Cruiser Christmas Light Run around Eastlake in Yorba Linda. After having rained off and on most of the day, we were treated to a relatively warm and dry little jaunt through this community in Yorba Linda that really decorates to the hilt. Almost the entire neighborhood participates with each little cul-de-sac having its own motif. After the run we had a soup and sandwich dinner at one of the member's homes nearby.

Saturday morning I make the trek down to Santa Monica in a drizzle to run the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run. There was both a 10K and a 5K. The races were timed so that you could actually run the both if you wanted too. I was there in time for the 10K, but my plan called for the 5K. It rained off and on all morning. I got wet during my 2 mile warm up run. It was dry when we lined up but before the gun went off it started raining again and then stopped again before we finished.

I'd worn two shirts mostly to combat the chill from getting wet. I had intended on removing the long sleeve before the race, but since it was raining I kept it on. During the race I was really too warm for it but I didn't want to take the time to stop and take it off. My intent was to give this race all I could, but I hadn't raced a 5K since June 2007. My PR, set back in early 2006 was sub 22, I didn't think I stood a chance of approaching that.

I lined up back a ways and spent the first few minutes passing others before finding my spot. I had no way to gauge my progress until we hit the 2 mile mark. I got there right at 15:00. I was pretty happy with that. I did the mental math and figured I should be able to go under 23:00 if I didn't lose my pace. I crossed the line with the clock at 23:05 or so, but thanks to chip timing my official time was 22:53.1. Considering I haven't done any kind of speed work since before my September marathon I was pretty pleased with my performance.

Later that day, Lisa and I joined a group from the Cruisers at the Christmas Concert put on by the choirs, orchestra and hand bell choir at Concordia University. One of the highlights of that performance was a rendition of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter on the hand bells. The video below isn't the Concordia choir but it gives you an idea of the complexity of the song and the coolness of the hand bells.

Sunday morning the skies were clear after raining most of the day on Saturday. I was able to enjoy a muddy version of my Bonelli Sunday Loop before heading the the gym for that leg work out, the church and then a trip to Temecula.

I ended the week with 30 miles. Two less than the planned called for because I cut the hill run on Thursday short by a mile and I missed another mile today because the treadmill was malfunctioning at the gym. I warmed up on the elliptical instead. 93.75% on the Half Marathon PR Plan is a good start, but a PR performance is going to take at least 100%. On to Week 2 of the plan.

Enslaved

2009-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

I've enjoyed 4 weeks of pretty much doing whatever I wanted to when it came to running. Taking the first week after Harrisburg easy was understandable. The last three weeks I've run between 30 and 35 miles. I did plenty of easy runs and some reasonable distance on the weekend. What was missing was any form of hills or speed work.

The 2010 races are approaching soon, so this weekend I spent some time putting together the plan, at least for the next 4 months or so. My first planned (and paid for) race of 2010 will be the Surf City Half Marathon. I've avoided this race in the past because I saw no reason to pay to run where I run the majority of my long runs. But, I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for a good hook and marketing scheme so this year I succumbed to the hype and decided to go for it to finish off the California Dreaming Series. I've will have completed the half at all three races. Besides that, the medals for Surf City have got to be about the coolest things around.

At first I was only going to run the race for fun, just to get the medal and the CA Dreamin' medal and jacket. Lately though, I've been thinking that I should actually race it and try to better my PR at that distance. That wasn't going to happen on the Wingin' It Plan. I pulled out the Yasso book again and put his half marathon (seasoned runner) plan on paper. Once again Thursdays will be hill/speed/tempo day. By lollygagging around for the last 4 weeks, I'm starting the plan at Week 4, but I should be all right. The only real challenges I see are doing the speed in the dark and keeping up the motivation to do those semi long runs that Yasso requires during the week in the dead of winter (OK, in winter on California terms, but it is still winter, all things being relative).

I put the plan to paper none to soon because it calls for a 5K race on Saturday. There a plenty of Christmas runs in the area, so I may give it a go at the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run on Saturday. I'm only following the plan, you know. I did well in Santa Monica at the 10K this fall, it will be fun to see if I can pull out a decent come back 5K this time around.

Sunday is a new race in SoCal, the LA County Half Marathon. This race initially piqued my interest. It would be fun to run around the fairgrounds, down the Pomona Speedway drag strip and around Bonelli. But I would have only run it for fun and in the end decided to pass it up in favor of a leg work out with Chris and a trip to Temecula with friends later in the day. I'm sure the $80 I saved in entry fee will come in handy in wine country.

There's more to come in 2010, but I'll save that for later.

Beginning today I'm officially a slave to the plan. Already the plan has shifted a little. We've had dinner plans with friends on Thursday night for a couple of weeks now, so everything got moved up a day. I ran 6 miles easy tonight after work. It had rained all day, but abated just in time for me to go out on my run. The temperature was in the low 50's with a fairly decent breeze. I decided to wear the wind shirt that we got at Harrisburg over a short sleeve. On the way up and out the wind shirt was probably overkill but on the way down and back, running into the wind, I was glad to have worn it.

Say goodbye to Wingin' It and hello to the Half Marathon PR Plan.

Running With The Girls

2009-12-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

The first weekend in December has been the weekend to get together with Joe for a marathon for the previous fours years (Tecumseh in 2006, Rocket City (AL) in 2007, and Memphis in 2008). This year we got together a little earlier to run the Heart of America in Missouri on Labor Day. It was a little odd not having a marathon scheduled this time of year.

I spent most of the last week in Minnesota. This time of the years days are so short there. The sun rises nearly an hour after is does here on the West Coast and sets sooner too. With the seminar scheduled from 8:00 to 5:00 each day there was no daylight left to run in. I was able to share a run on Tuesday evening on a unusually mild evening for December in MN. Wednesday we had an official dinner after class taking up precious time. Thursday morning we awoke snow flurries and temperatures in the low 20's and a fairly decent breeze. Rather than brave the elements I took the SoCal wimp way out an ran 4 miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness center. I had my ipod so it wasn't such a bad experience, considering the alternative.

Saturday, the Cruisers were planning a fun run sponsored by a new running store in the area along our tried and true route along the Santa Ana Bike Path. Terry and her friends were running Chino Hills State Park. I opted to go with them, then I found out the friends were Carol, Jeannie and Jamie. I almost backed out, but the chance to run a new route in CHSP won me over.

We met on the south side of the park entering from the back near the Green River Golf Course. Running with the four girls was interesting at times, especially when they, or I should say Terry, was talking about how she couldn't find the hat the matched the rest of her running outfit. The self described themselves as a princess, 2 ragamuffins and a girly girl.

We ran the Lower Aliso Trail to the Ranger Station and back. It is a gently rolling fire access road. For CHSP it is one of the easier routes. One of the highlights was getting to run with the cows, not the girls, real cows. For some reason there is a small herd of cows that roams this end of the park. We startled a couple of them as we approached. They crossed the trail in front of us several times and kept following along through the brush, picking up a couple more members of the herd as they went. The last time they came out onto the road they were joined by a couple of calves. We kept our distance as much as possible because their actions weren't very predictable.

The sunny days of a couple of weeks ago were gone. We ran the entire time under cloud cover with temps in the mid 40's with a fairly decent breeze at times. I wore a long sleeve over a short sleeve and was perfectly comfortable. Terry and I ran a little extra for 14 miles; making this the longest run since the Harrisburg Marathon.

Today I ended the week with my usual 5 miler in Bonelli, but I didn't get out until the afternoon. The weather was partly sunny and only about 58 degrees. Very nice for running. I ran the 5 miles today in 49:31, 3 to 4 minutes faster than the same loop the last couple of weekends. Running later in the day and the cooler temperatures are likely the reason.

I ended the week with 36.5 miles. November ended with 128.9 miles. I'm still using my Wingin' It Plan but realized today that I'd better put something to paper soon as my racing plans for 2010 are on the horizon and will be here sooner than later. We are expecting rain all this coming week so will see what effect that has on the mileage, plan or no plan.

Drew on the Run

2009-12-02T22:06:00.001-08:00

I've been writing about my running here at fivedown.blogspot.com for a little over four years now. When I first started this thing running blogs were just beginning to proliferate, thanks to the Running Blog Family. The RBF later morphed into the Complete Running Network.

One of the first blogs that I began reading way back then was "A Running Gag" by Drew. At the time he and a group of other bloggers were training for the New Las Vegas Marathon. The all even bought matching shirts to commemorate the occasion. I was also running that marathon, but was too shy to make my presence know.

I've always enjoyed reading Drew's blog for several reasons. He's a SoCal runner, he's a family guy with son's, he's about my age and I' enjoy his unique perspective on things. He's taken a few hiati (or hiatuses) from the running and blogging but I've continued to read whenever he posts.

Drew has most recently been training for the Santa Barbara International Marathon which will be held this Sunday, December 6. If you've got a minute, stop on over at "A Running Gag" and wish him well.

**The picture above is of a sticker that I saw stuck on a window at Mount San Antonio College a while back when I was taking some basic business classes. I snapped the photo with Drew in mind. I have no idea of the original intent behind the sticker, but it certainly fits well here.

Minnesota Mild

2009-12-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

After having missed my first flight to the Twin Cities and enduring the post holiday lines at LAX I arrived in Minnesota safe and sound on Monday evening.

I learned some good basic stuff about how our customers use our products. My friend that is going to run the Twin Cities Marathon with me in 2010 lives in St. Paul and works at the same big company as me, but in a different division. We had made tentative plans to have dinner on Tuesday night. During the day I got an email from him asking if I'd be interested in a run. He told me that the weather was unusually mild for this time of year. Given the choice between the run and dinner, I naturally chose the run.

He picked me up at my hotel and drove back over to his neighborhood in St. Paul. He lives two blocks off the Twin Cities Marathon course. The weather was in the very low 40's. At the hotel it was quite windy but over in St. Paul it was milder. I wore shorts, but wore three layers on top - a UA base layer, a long sleeve tech shirt and a micro fleece pullover. It turned out to be too much. It turns out I was overdressed. I did find it funny that my buddy was dressed in tights, a long sleeve, a stocking cap and gloves (and he lives here).

He took me on a little preview of the Twin Cities course. He lives in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. He ran the route backwards; west on Summit Ave and then north on Mississippi River Blvd. Soon after the Lake Street-Marshall Ave bridge we turned around and retraced our steps. It was a beautiful little run, even in the dark. I was pleasantly surprised to see about half a dozen other runners out there. It was a fun little run and the great end to the day. They are expecting the temperatures to take an extreme dip into winter within the next day or so.

After the run we got to hang out at his home for pizza and beer followed by chocolate cake and ice cream. So it turns out we got in a run and had dinner to boot. Thanks, Dave!

Six Outa Seven Ain't Bad

2009-11-29T13:25:00.000-08:00

Due to circumstances beyond my control; beautiful warm and sunny weather and a long weekend, I ended up running 6 of the last 7 days on Week 2 of my Wingin' It Plan. All 35.5 miles could probably be described as junk miles or optimistically as baseline maintenance miles. Either way each mile and each day was pure enjoyment.

The lunchtime runs on Tuesday and Wednesday made me feel a little bit like I was getting away with something.

Thursday I met up with Terry for a run through Chino Hills State Park. We met at 8:00 and as predicted it was a sunny day. The temperatures were in the mid 60's and warming. We ran some single track along the ridges. Most of the trails in CHSP are fully exposed to the sun, so even the 60's felt warm.

Friday was a planned rest/cross training day. I went to the gym around 9:00 in the morning. I rode the bike for 30 minutes and then did another 15 minutes on the stairmaster. Finally by today, my legs felt more or less recovered from the leg workout I'd done 5 days earlier. I did some lifting concentrating on back and biceps, because the personal trainer was planning a chest workout on Sunday. And then because it was such a nice day I decided to head over to Bonelli to get in a hike. Once there I couldn't resist the urge and ended up going for a run instead. I was home by noon. I showered and we went back over to my mother-in-laws to help rid the fridge of turkey day leftovers. We all agreed that everything tasted even better the second time around.

Saturday I met up with the CA Cruisers for a completely new route. We met in Villa Park and ran streets for about 2 miles and then headed into the Santiago Oaks Recreational Area. It is a beautiful gem of a place. The park is criss-crossed with trails and ultimately connects to Irvine Regional Park for even more possibilities. Not having run the route before, the fast guys headed out first and marked the trail with orange chalk. I hung back and ran with Dave and Gary and then after a pretty big hill up to the top of the dam, I fell in with Cathe and George. The orange arrows worked out well except that the faster guys forgot to mark the turn around point. After a bit of confusion and the various paces met back up together, we headed back. On the return route, I fell in with Scott. We ended up running faster than either one expected. We each thought the other was setting the pace. A couple of missed arrows on the way back lengthened our route. When we hit the roads we found ourselves just behind two of the faster guys and since we weren't exactly sure of the return trip on the roads we were forced to keep them in sight again running harder than intended. It was still a great run. We talked the whole way so we weren't pushing it that hard. It was another 12 miler for me (that seems to be where I'm stuck for the last three weeks) and the longest run for him in quite a while. The weather the rest of the day took a definite turn towards winter. The highs were only in the 60's with heavy cloud cover and the occasional drizzle.

Sunday morning was the anticipated chest/shoulder/triceps workout with Chris followed by another run around the Sunday Morning Loop in Bonelli. Bonelli was abuzz with activity due to a Turkey Day Triathlon, but the trails were deserted; just the way I like them. The local mountains were pretty with the first snow, but summer-like weather had returned with sun and temps in the 70's, making my run all that more enjoyable.

I ended the week with 35.5 miles, none of them planned too far in advance. I'm not sure what next week has in store for me as I leave late Monday morning for St. Paul, MN. I'm in training sessions from 8:00 to 5:00 so I'm not sure when or if I'll be able to get many miles in. I'm packing the cool weather gear just in case. The Wingin' It Plan is working so far, so we'll see what happens.

Warm and Sunny

2009-11-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

This week my workplace, like many I assume, has been a dead zone. The holiday week coupled with our companies new investor friendly (read: employee un-friendly) vacation policy many folks took the entire week off. I had originally planned to do the same thing but then with the unexpected trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania I shuffled things around a bit and decided to work this week. Working during a short week when nearly everyone else is on vacation is a very nice change of pace. No meetings, no phone calls, no e-mails. It was actually possible, at least to the extent that I'm capable of it, to focus on a single task to completion without being interrupted by the latest crisis of the minute. My carpool buddy was on vacation as well, so I was pretty much free to do as I pleased.

I got plenty of work done but more importantly I rethought my runs. Since I am not a morning runner, this time of the year I am forced to run after work, in the dark. It has been a very warm and mild autumn so getting out the door temperature wise hasn't been an issue but getting out in the dark isn't my favorite either. And while I enjoy a long run on a nice cool, cloud covered morning and I don't even mind the occasional run in the rain, I've come to realize that I'm happiest running on a warm and sunny day. Theres nothing better than soaking up the sun in a sleeveless shirt, running shorts and shoes (except for maybe hanging out on the beach in boardshorts with a good book). Thankfully in SoCal we've got plenty of warm and sunny days. It's just that for the next couple of months I have to miss out on five of the seven warm and sunny days every week.

Many, many times at lunch I look out at the weather and think to myself'; "what a wonderful day I'm missing." So this week with no meetings on the calendar, my own car in the parking lot and nobody really looking to find me I decided to escape at lunch and go for a run. A little before noon each day I headed off to the men's room and changed into my running stuff and drove over to the San Gabriel River Bike Trail. Both days were in the mid to upper 70's with clear skies; warm and sunny. I was lovin' life; out on one of my favorite running paths mid day, mid-week enjoying the day. What could be better?

Tuesday I ran 4 miles and today I ran 4.5. Both runs were at 8:25 to 8:30 pace. After I was done I drove back to work, cleaned up a little and changed back into my work clothes. I ate my lunch at my desk. With no meetings on the schedule I wasn't too worried about how funky I might have smelled. I may have to see if I can work this escape into the schedule a little more often.

Tomorrow instead of an organized Turkey Trot, I'm meeting Terry for a little jaunt through Chino Hills State Park. It won't be very warm yet, but it will likely be sunny and a run on the trails is a good run no matter the weather.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

An Old Crew Run

2009-11-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

I'd been planning this run for a while. It shouldn't be this difficult to get four people together in the same place at the same time.

Back in 2003 when I started running, it was me and Brian. We ran together at least once during the week and almost all of our long runs leading up to our first marathon, Rock'n'Roll AZ, way back in January 2004. Brian was a tech aide at work. Soon we were joined by Celeste, another tech aid and Terry, sales support. The four of us ran together pretty consistently up until the point that Brian went off to Tufts Dental School in Boston and then a few years later Celeste took a position at another company (she has since returned, but works in the field). Terry and I have continued to run together on a fairly consistent basis.

Nearly a year ago after graduating from Tufts, Brian returned to southern California to set up a dental practice. It took a while but he and I were able to meet up in July for the Surf City 5K. We've been trying ever since to get together for another run. My travel schedule and mileage requirements for the fall marathon season were often in conflict with getting together. A couple of weeks ago I redoubled my efforts to get together and we were able to settle on a date, time, place and distance and best of all both Celeste and Terry were able to meet up as well. Just like old times. I was really looking forward to this run.

Terry and I met up at 6:30 a.m. to get in some extra miles before the official reunion run. Our run started in Sunset Beach. We ran south on the bike path. I snapped a couple of pictures of the sunrise. It started off as a beautiful day, with some high patchy clouds but sunny.

Terry and I ran an out and back for about 7 miles before meeting up with the rest of the group. Celeste and Brian were planning on showing up at 8:00 for a five mile run. As Terry and I returned, the cloud cover increased blotting out the sun completely. The second leg of the run was colder than the first. Here's the old group, back together again. Terry, Brian, Celeste and me.
We had a great time, talking the entire run. We had to keep pulling Celeste back as usual. Brian lagged behind near the end as usual. Catching up and recalling old training runs was a blast. One thing Brian and I almost always did was end the run with a sprint to the finish. This time it was Celeste that put it into overdrive with a couple hundred yards to go. I couldn't let her go alone. Brian made it about two steps and then fell back with Terry, who wasn't having any of it. Good times. We went out afterward for coffee. We've made tentative plans to get together again in December. More good times.

The mileage ended up being 12.8; 7.2 with Terry and 5.6 with the whole gang.

I ended the week with another 5 mile jaunt on my Bonelli Sunday Morning Loop. It was a beautiful morning, 60 and sunny. I followed that up an hour or so later with a leg work out with my personal trainer. Now that my marathon season is over for 2008, I agreed to legs again. I actually suggested it. He was a happy camper. My legs on the other hand are beat. Bench presses and curls are so much easier than a leg workout.

Wingin' It

2009-11-19T22:38:00.001-08:00

I am a man in need of a plan. I almost always have my weekly mileage planned out on a spreadsheet for weeks in advance. But right now, two weeks after Harrisburg and with nothing race wise on the calendar for the foreseeable future, I am running without a plan on paper.

I've decided that for the time being, I'll try running 4 days a week. I'll likely take one or two days completely off and take advantage of the other down time by cross training on the bike, stairmaster and elliptical.

It is a little weird for me not to have a road map on paper but so far I've survived the week just planning my route and mileage within minutes of walking out the door. Tuesday I ran one of my old routes in the neighborhood, without getting into my car to drive anywhere. At 4.5 miles it was probably one of the shortest runs I've done in a while. I ran easy and relaxed. The run felt almost effortless (You gotta love those). I was surprised by my 9:01 pace over the route.

Wednesday was the cross training day. Nothing too hard core; 30 minutes bike, 10 minutes stairmaster and then some lifting (back and biceps). Tonight I did drive over to Via Verde and took off with a rough amount of time and route in mind. I ran the old familiar paths and on the way back added in a little hill loop; not because the plan dictated it (there is no plan, remember) but just because I felt like it. Even with the hill my pace over the 5.7 mile route was 8:54. Sweet!

I will eventually put a plan on paper once there is a goal race on the horizon but for now I'm just going to enjoy wingin' it.

The First ... Since

2009-11-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the radio a while back and there was an advertisement on for some new movie. They used the phrase starring "Sam Stud-Body" in his first action role since "some suspenseful violent movie." That figure of speech always strikes me as funny. How come every time we do something we haven't done for some significant period of time it's "the first time since..."? There can only be one real first time: first tooth, first step, first date, first kiss, first child, first marathon, etc, etc. Once we've done something once, why isn't the next time just the next time or maybe the second, third or fourth time? Why do I even think about such goofy things?

For my first run since the Harrisburg Marathon, I met up with the California Cruisers on Saturday morning. It was the first time I'd gotten a chance to run with my old group since the end of September. I was hoping to run between 8 and 10 miles. They had planned the 2 Parks/2 Loops route which is 1o miles with the possibility of 14 by adding the Summit House Loop. Today Dr. John wanted to show us how to add some more trails to include the Brea Dam.

We started off into the Parks and then headed off onto the Summit House Loop. Some of the directionally challenged members the group were unsure of the route, so the faster members hung back at all crucial intersections and waited for the slower ones. This worked out fine because I really wanted to keep an easy pace anyway. I'd start each section with the slower folks and slowly creep up to the faster ones. When we veered off the Summit House Loop to the Brea Dam, no one but Dr. John was completely familiar with the route so there were many frequent stops.

By the time we'd completed all the extra loops and returned to the first park we'd already run about 8 miles and it seemed like we had been gone forever. I'd given up trying to keep track of actual running time. Finishing up the first loop of the 2 Parks put us right at 12 miles. There was not going to be a 2 Loops today. 12 was a couple more than I'd planned on but with the easier pace and frequent stops my legs felt pretty good; a little tired maybe but no aches or pains.

Sunday morning I put in 5 miles on my old favorite Sunday Morning Loop in Bonelli. It was so enjoyable to be out there on a Sunday morning just taking it easy and enjoying the trails. I'd run this route a couple of weeks ago on Thursday when I returned from Ohio, but today was the first time I'd run it on a Sunday morning since my injury earlier this year. I've walked the loop a lot during 2009, but I was hesitant to run it. In 2008 I spent as many runs as possible on those trails. After being sidelined for the better part of year, I came to believe that the rocky uneven surface and the hills may have contributed to the IT Band issue and stress fractures of the last two years. This time around I'd stayed away during marathon training and it may just be a coincidence but I just finished my third marathon in 2009 without any major aches or pains. I'm going to continue to try to run the loop on Sunday mornings only throughout the winter and before marathon training begins again and see how it goes.

I ended up running 17 miles during the first week post marathon. That is right about my usual. In addition I made it to the gym on my own and rode the bike for 30 minutes each time and lifted concentrating on back and biceps one day and chest and triceps on the other. After my 5 miler this morning I met up with my trainer and did some more chest, biceps and shoulder work. Tomorrow I will enjoy a complete rest day. The first one since last Thursday!

Harrisburg - Pix, Numbers and A Few Words, Too

2009-11-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Since I only made my intentions on running Hartford public the same week of the marathon, Charlie and I had never made any concrete plans to meet up. We'd commented on each others blogs and sent a couple of emails but never made a firm commitment. Race morning on City Island people were milling around. My family and I had just started walking toward the starting area when I spotted Charlie. We got to chat for a minute or two and then lined up together in the starting area. Here's a picture of us still in the crowd. I'm wearing my infamous throw away sweatshirt, which by the way I still have. I gave it to Lisa just before lining up in the starting area. Before I go any further with this report I need to back up to Saturday and the expo. Earlier in the day we had gone to lunch at a restaurant owned by my uncle and cousins in New Holland, PA. It is a home-style BBQ place, real down home cooking. My PA relatives have won quite a few awards at cook offs over the years. From there we drove about an hour to go to the Expo. The Expo was really just packet pickup. The whole experience consisted of picking up a goodie bag that contained our bib a couple of flyers and about six various types of Hershey candy bars. The candy was a nice local touch, with the headquarter for Hershey nearby in Hershey, PA. Then we moved across the room to pick up our chip and that was the end of the Expo. Hardly worth the hour drive, but I always like to have that stuff taken care of. Many folks picked up their packets on race morning, something I would recommend if I were to ever repeat H'burg.

The picture below is the starting line on the Market Street Bridge. I think it is pretty funny that you can see almost all 1000 or so people that started the race. Quite the contrast to the starting line from something like NYC. This was the first year that the race started on the bridge. Usually they start on City Island and run a loop around the island before heading over the bridge into H'burg. Things were a little chaotic at first. The road wasn't actually closed until about 2 minutes before the race start. Eventually everything went off relatively smoothly.

Lisa and my in-laws had walked across the bridge a bit and caught this picture of me soon after the start. The temp at the start of the race was in the low 30's. I was still in my racing black; including shorts, a long sleeve over a short sleeve and my gloves. Notice I'm still smilin' at this point.In contrast to Des Moines three weeks ago where I stayed in the cool weather gear the entire race, I shedded my gloves by Mile 2 this time around. The day, and me, were warming quickly. The clear skies and bright sun were to blame. The first couple of miles were the obligatory tour of the state capital building. Near Mile 3 we got to run on a street called Race Street. The east end of town took us through some older municipal works area and then onto the Capital Area Greenbelt. It is always nice to run off road, away from traffic. My times up to through Mile 6 looked like this: 8:58, ----, 17:55, 9:06, 9:22, 10:21. Mile 6 included a bathroom break where I accidentally left my gloves behind. I laid my water belt on the ground outside the port-o-pot to avoid an incident like Michelle suffered a few weeks back. Mile 6 through 9 were run along the paths between Front Street and the Susquehannah River. Somewhere along here I shed my long sleeve and tied it around my waist. The run along the river was very scenic. Around Mile 9 we took a right and ran through neighborhoods for the next 3 miles before hitting a somewhat desolate stretch along Industrial Road (aptly named) and then we entered the campus of H'burg Area Community College (HACC). HACC once again got us off the roads and many people found this a great place to gather to cheer us on. Around Mile 16 I saw Lisa and my inlaws. I stopped briefly to download the long sleeve and made the fateful comment about how tired I was. It is funny that they can't quite grasp the concept that I could stop and talk to them during a race. I think I spent about 30 seconds with them but they urged me on. My miles splits to this point were: 8:43, 8:51, 9:10, 8:59, 8:53, 9:06, 9:17, ---, 18:48 and 9:10. The shot below is me taking off after grabbing a mid run kiss from my wife. Notice the spring in my step?!

Soon after Mile 17 the hills in the course began. We entered another really nice section in Wildwood Park along with a little, hilly, detour through a neighborhood which I suspect was added in to make up for the mileage we missed at the start without the island loop. The hills continued on until Mile 20 and my times here reflected that: 9:46, 10:09, 10:01 and 10:28. From Mile 20 to the finish we were basically retracing our steps from miles 6 to 12 on a basically flat run back to City Island. For the next 6 miles I swapped places with a curly haired women who was also using a run walk technique (BTW I used 6:15/0:45 throughout the race). The last 3 miles along the river seemed to take forever. My paces from mile 20 to 24 were: 10:07, 9:55, 9:58 and 10:14. Around here I caught up to a couple from the Bronx Running Club. The woman was struggling, while the man was urging her on. She commented to another runner that the man had won the marathon. I didn't give it much thought, but it turns out he was the actual winner of the race; Michael Arnstein in 2:37:17. He'd come back out on the course to run his wife in.

Mile 25 and 26 were long, long miles. Mile 24 I slowed to 11:12. The last Mile.2 was an astounding 13.55. I was discussing the times with my family later and my mother-in-law (who is not a runner) said, "You crashed!" That's a pretty accurate description of the situation. I was reduced to a shuffle barely picking my feet up off the ground. Lisa took the following picture just as I came off the pedestrian bridge back onto City Island. I actually look pretty good in the photo compared to how I felt.

Soon after this point, the course took a hairpin right, down a small incline and then a hairpin left to the finish line. A cruel way to make us finish I thought, but at least it was over.

Another marathon in the books. Sixteen states complete. Three marathons in 9 weeks. A nice weekend with the in-laws.

There are several choices of marathon in PA, including the Philly marathon in a couple of weeks. I chose Harrisburg due to its proximity to my in-laws and my wife's birthday. There isn't much special about this race to set it apart from others. Harrisburg is a small city and running along the Susquehannah was pretty. Spectators were few and far between which isn't really an issue for me. If I had any issue with the race, it would be that the water stops are also few and far between, sometimes up to 3 miles apart. I carry supplemental water and used it all. I think that the unseasonably warmish day and lack of water may have contributed to my "crash." Three weeks between races and my atrocious eating habits the last couple of weeks likely contributed as well. All things considered, I am more than happy with my 4:12:24 finish time.

Now, it is rest and recovery time till year end. The only thing on the slate right now for 2010 is Twin Cities in October.

The Harrisburg Marathon

2009-11-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a marathon in Harrisburg, PA. Low 40's at the start, mid 60's at the finish under clear, sunny skies.

I had the opportunity to briefly meet Shoreturtle at the starting line before he took off like a Bolt (Usain). He is, as expected, a nice guy. I never saw him again, so I'm not sure how his race went.

At the half way point I was right at 2:01. By Mile 16 when I saw Lisa and my in-laws on the course I told them I was "really tired." Miles 17 to 24 were significantly slower; in the 10:00 per mile range. By Mile 25, the proverbial wheels came off. I ran that one in 11:12 and the last 1.2 was as gut wrenching 13:55. I just could not kick it into gear. Poor hydration is likely the culprit.

My final (unofficial time) was 4:12:26. All things considered, not too bad.

My son's made the following comments:
#1 son: Not bad for an old guy!
#2 son: Dang!
I'm just happy that they both were even remotely interested.

Onward to Number Sixteen

2009-11-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

I ran 5 miles today and I'll run 5 more on Thursday. I ran tonight on one of my very first and oldest routes. With the time change, Bonelli is off limits for a few months so I was back on the streets again. I went over to Via Verde and ran the streets on what used to be my fave 3 miler on the dirt before the city paved it over (anybody hearing Joni Mitchell in their head?).

The two 5 milers in the middle of the week is reminiscent of the week just before the IMT Des Moines Marathon. I'm repeating that week because, you guessed it, I'm running another marathon this weekend. Three weeks since Des Moines and I'm going to toe the line at another starting line and work my way to the finish.

Before Des Moines I explained that I was running it in part because I wasn't going to be able to run the Harrisburg (PA) Marathon, because my wife said so (just kidding). So I signed up for Des Moines with her blessing. Before I'd even gotten to Des Moines, she surprised me with Harrisburg as a 25th Anniversary present. Sweet, huh.

I've had my eye on Harrisburg for several years now for a couple of reasons. Of course there are the obvious ones of it being in a state I hadn't run yet, but there are other even better reasons.

My in-laws live in Anneville, PA not too far from Harrisburg, so the marathon gives us an excuse to visit them and offers us a really affordable room rate. Back in 2005, the marathon was run on November 13, my wife's birthday. I always thought it would be fun to celebrate it in PA with her Dad and step-mom. Plus, I really like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. This year the race is almost a week before her birthday but we will still have a good time with her family.

I have no expectations for a finishing time, except to actually finish. There really wasn't much time between PA and IA to recover and train properly. The best I can hope for is that everything I did leading up to Missouri and then Iowa will carry me through PA. With the eating season starting last Friday, my diet has been out of control with sugar and flour. And boy could I tell the difference on tonight's easy 5 miler. I vowed on Sunday to stay away from the stuff this week, but so far the first two days of the week I've failed miserably. Hopefully I can "dry out" before Sunday.

Runners and Dogs

2009-11-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a weight sessions since Monday, 10/12. I may have gotten one in on Wednesday, 10/21, but it isn't written down in my log. I've had trouble scheduling something with my trainer since I returned from Cleveland but I finally made it to the gym on my own on Saturday for a chest/triceps work out after my 12 miler.

The 12 miler was done on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, just like my last 12 miler the weekend before Des Moines. I ran the exact same route and finished it in 1:50:31 (9:13 pace), slightly better than the 9:15 pace from 3 weeks ago. One end of the bike trail wraps around a park behind the dam. There was a flurry of activity at the park with a middle school or high school cross country meet and a dog agility course going on.One nice thing about this run is that I sped up as I went. My first few miles were in the 9:30 to 9:40 range. By mile 9 I had dropped the pace to 9:02 and mile 12 was completed in 8:14. It is not often that I can end a training run faster than I started. I am usually the king of consistent pace throughout. Because I was still pretty fatigued from the relocation trip, I moved my run:walk interval down to 5:15/0:45 from 6:15/0:45. That made the pace all the more satisfying from the previous run.

This morning, Sunday, I got up to the bright sunshine compliments of the the time change and headed over to Bonelli for a 5 miler. The route was split about 50/50 on the trails and asphalt. Bonelli was also a flurry of activity with more runners and dogs involved. Today the Muddy Buddy was being run and a crew of Search and Rescue guys were out on a training hike with their heavy gear packs and their dogs.

I ended the week with 27 miles. I tallied up 135.2 miles in the month of October.

The Move Wrap Up

2009-10-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

The drive to Cleveland, OH went off without a hitch. We arrived there in the early afternoon on Monday, after having driven nearly 800 miles on Sunday from Oklahoma City to somewhere east of Indianapolis. I have made it safely back to California after having caught the rapid transit near Tyler's new place and catching a flight from Cleveland at 6:30 this morning.

The only real snafu was trying to retrieve his stuff from the UHaul trailer. Things had shifted in the trailer and blocked the sliding door. They sent out a contracted service guy who tried for over 2 hours to no avail. We drove the trailer to the UHaul center the following morning, Tuesday, to see what they could do. They were clueless as what to do. A good samaritan happened by and took charge of the situation. He was able to wiggle his way into the small opening and move things around and bang around a little on the tracks and got the door to move up and down.

Yesterday my parents drove up from my their home about an hour south of Cleveland and spent part of the day with Tyler, before he had to go to work, and then we hung out most of the rest of the day.

I was able to get a 5 mile run in on Tuesday around the neighborhood. My planned 4 miler on Wednesday was postponed to spend more time with my parents. Leaving Cleveland so early this morning got me back home around noon. I took advantage of the afternoon sunlight and warmth and ran the Bonelli Sunday Morning Loop. I haven't run that loop in a long time.

The run was a slow run over the hilly course. It is especially tough to run as I was sobbing like a baby. I miss my son.

The 4 days driving and the finality of the move were physically and emotionally draining. Leaving Tyler there was much, much, much harder than I ever expected it to be. He is staying with his godmother for a few more days until he gets stuff settled into his place but after that he'll be there alone for a while. His girlfriend will eventually join him there.

Tyler - Good Luck, Have Fun and Work Hard. Call if you need ANYTHING! We are proud of you and love you!

700 Miles, Plus 5

2009-10-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

The migration northward continued today. Thanks to all the kind words on Tyler's behalf. I've had him read all the comments.

We left Gallup, NM this morning and arrived in Oklahoma City, OK this evening after exactly 700 miles of driving. I drove the entire width of New Mexico and I swear that entire state is one long hill from west to east. Tyler took over in the afternoon and got us through the pan handle of Texas without any run ins with the local law enforcement and then continued on into Oklahoma. It was amazing the difference in color coming across the border, Texas was dry and brown, whereas OK was green, very weird.

Once we arrived in OKC, I headed straight to the fitness center. As much as I don't really enjoy the treadmill, it was the best option. After a day of 11+ hours in the truck sitting, it felt really good to move the legs a bit. I took it easy at 10:00 pace, except for the last mile because the hotel manager was trying to shut the room down. I upped the pace and pushed the time limit a little but got the 5 miles in.

I ended the week with 12.8 miles, which is a little lower than average for me one week post marathon. The journey continues (on all fronts).....

620 Miles

2009-10-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning and instead of jumping into the shower to get ready for work, I jumped into my running clothes and headed over to Bonelli. I ran a loop that included the Cottontail Trail, out around the airport (Brackett Field), through the RV park and part of the picnic loop. The run was about 7.8 miles in 1:12. After I came home and showered I jumped in Tyler's truck with him and started driving.

Tyler, the oldest son, is moving to Cleveland, OH to begin his journey as a culinarian. He graduated in June and was not having much luck finding jobs in SoCal so he took a peek in the Cleveland area and found a couple prospects. He made a quick trip there, interviewed and was offered two different jobs. He accepted one and packed up his stuff in a UHaul trailer and now he and I are driving cross country to his new digs.

We made it to Gallup, NM today logging about 620 miles. We hope to make it to Ohio by Monday. He will be staying with his god mother for a time until he can find his own place.

This is the culmination of all that we as parents invested into his life. While it will be tough on Mom for him to be so far away, we are excited for his success. His grandparents and a bevy of aunts, uncles and cousins live within an hour, so all things considered he will be in good hands. Exciting times!

Des Details of Des Moines

2009-10-21T21:09:00.001-07:00

For Des Moines I packed lightly with only a carry-on. I’d checked the weather for a while and the lows in the 40’s with highs in the 60's had me packing my Marathon Maniacs singlet and a short sleeve shirt. Of course I had my shoes, shorts, socks and fuel belt as well. I’d run plenty of runs along the beach with starting temps in the 40’s so I figured a short sleeve would be fine. I had a throw away sweatshirt too and at the last minute I threw in my gloves.

When I arrived in Des Moines at 4:30 in the afternoon, I realized I had underestimated the feel of 40 degree weather. At that point, in what should have been about the warmest part of the day, the temperature was 48-degrees. The heater in the shuttle stop felt good.

I checked into the hotel and then walked over to the expo. I was staying at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. It is in an historic building. The décor was dated by had a certain charm. The walk to the expo was about ¾ of a mile. I was glad to have my micro fleece jacket with me. On the way I passed a Walgreens and made a mental note to stop there on the way back to get some Gatorade to fill my water bottles. As I walked I began worrying about whether my short sleeve shirt was going to cut it in the morning. I’d already written off any idea of wearing the singlet.

Bib and packet pick up went smoothly. The expo was about the size you’d expect for a small city marathon. I’d looked around the expo a little by then and had bought myself a new larger, zippered pocket to hold my gus on the fuel belt The race shirt was a long sleeve tech shirt. I considered wearing that in the race over my short sleeve. But then I started thinking about all the negative mojo I’d read about from wearing a race shirt before you’ve actually earned it. I finally decided to pick up a long sleeve tech shirt. I debated between an alien green, that would have matched my shoes, or simple black. The black one won out. I decided it might not be such a bad idea to channel a little bit of Donald on race day. He likes to race in black and he’s the one that put the negative mojo race shirt idea out there in the first place. (BTW, I still have the shirt from the 2008 Big Sur Marathon stuck way up in my closet. I wasn’t able to run that race and I’ve never worn the shirt. I plan on running that race some day and I wasn’t going to let that shirt get in my way).

The pasta dinner was decent. No tickets were required; they crossed your name off a list as you went in. I sat with some folks from the Chicago area. The speakers were Terry Hitchcock, Charlie Engel and Jeff Galloway. They each had some good stuff to say. On the way back to the hotel, I tried to stop by the Walgreens. It was already closed at 8:00 on a Saturday night. Des Moines doesn’t exactly have a thriving night life.

I ended up watching “I Am Legend” in my room and then laid out all my gear before getting some sleep. Since I was planning on wearing both the short sleeve and the long sleeve shirt, I pinned my number onto my shorts; something I don’t think I’ve ever done before.

I woke up a on my own just a little before the alarm went off at 6:00 after a good night’s rest. I made my traditional oatmeal by warming the water in the in room coffee pot and eating it out of the coffee mug. I’d brought along my own plastic spoon. I laid in bed and watched the local morning news and weather. Since upping the morning food intake seemed to work so well for David in Hartford I had an energy bar about an hour later along with some coffee. I got dressed and applied the Body Glide to my thighs and feet and headed down toward the race start around 7:30. I wore a throw away sweatshirt on top of the tech shirts. The plan was to run with it until it was no longer necessary. I freaked myself out a little with the 33 degree temperature the weather people were talking about all morning on the news. After using the port-o-pot I lined up in the staring corral with the 4:10 people. There was still about 20 minutes before race start.

I soon realized that the sweatshirt wasn’t going to be necessary. Although my intent was to toss it off, I have a hard time throwing away a perfectly usable sweat shirt so I got out of the corral and left it at the bag check. When I got back to the starting area the corral was overflowing and people were lined up on the sidewalks. There was little hope of getting back up to the 4:10 pace group.

The race started right on time and it took me 2:00 to get onto the street and across the starting mats. My panic goal became to catch the 4:10 pace group as quickly as possible and then hang with them throughout the race. I’d picked up a pace tattoo at the expo and had it folded up in the pouch of my fuel belt as a back up.

I was so intent on catching up to the pace group I ran right by the Iowa State Capital building and the Mile 1 marker and never saw either of them. I’d upped my run/walk interval to 6:15/0:45 and started it soon after the race started and kept with it all the way to the end. I managed to spot the Mile 2 marker at 18:13, but still hadn’t seen the pace group. Soon after that we left downtown and entered some of the prettiest neighborhoods. Around Mile 3 the half marathoners veered left while the rest of us headed up our first hill. I really enjoy hills. The hills were small in comparison to the ones in Missouri but they were hills none the less. The rollers continued for the next 4 miles or so down some nice tree lined streets. Around Mile 6 there was a female guitarist/vocalists whose beat matched my pace perfectly. I thought how nice it would have been to have her following me along the entire way.

I periodically checked my time against the pace chart in by belt. At Mile 6 I was at 55:26, a few minutes ahead of the project 57:13. I was happy to have a little cushion assuming I’d need it later on. I still had a long way to go.

Soon after mile 8 we came to little keyhole loop in the course. It was our first chance to seem some of the folks that were ahead of us. I saw the 3:30 and 3:45 pace groups heading back. I never did find the 4:10 pacer.

After that we entered about 8 miles of basic straight away on an out and back section of the route. At Mile 10 we got a good look at some of the really fast guys on their way back at around Mile 14. On the long section of Kingman Blvd it seemed like some of the locals hadn’t realized it was marathon morning. They were trying to drive across and down the course. The local law enforcement did a great job of keeping the cars out of our way. The runners were far enough apart that they could allow a car every now and then to cross our paths. Mile 12 included the lap around the wonderfully soft Drake University track A mile later I was half way done. I checked my clock. I was at 1:58:01 at the 13 mile mark. I pulled out the pace chart and saw that I was supposed to be there at 2:50. Something didn’t compute. The pace chart was supposed to be a tattoo but I was using it as a chart so I was reading the number backwards in mirror image. I was supposed to be at the half at 2:05, duh half of 4:10. I was almost exactly 7:00 ahead of schedule. I’d been running 8:50 miles consistently from mile 9 through mile 14.

There was a slight rise after coming out of the track back onto the roads. My legs felt it a lot more than I expected and I began to worry that I’d pushed it too soon. Mile 15, my longest mile of the day, came in at 10:24 and included a bathroom break.

Just before Mile 16 we left the streets of Des Moines for the bike paths. We ran the bike paths through several parks and along the Raccoon River for the next 9 miles. Miles 16 and 17 were slight down hills and I knocked those off in 8:40 and 8:37.

Since my water belt only had water rather than my usual Gatorade I was diligent about getting the Gatorade in at the water stops. I’d started my Gu’s around Mile 7 or so and had half of one every couple of miles. I used 3 gels and sucked on 2 Clif blocks.

Somewhere around Mile 12 or so, I’d taken my thumbs out of my gloves. Keeping the gloves half on, half off seemed to keep my hands at the right temp. As the day warmed up a bit, we’d hit some nice sections of the route where I’d debate about removing the long sleeve shirt and then we’d turn a corner and get blasted by the chilly wind, so I never did take it off. By the last 2 miles in town I was plenty warm enough but didn’t want to stop to take the time.

When I hit the 20 Mile marker I was at 3:01:28. I didn’t need to look at the pace chart to realize that I was ahead of the 4:10 plan. I knew that I only needed to finish the last 6.2 miles in just under an hour to go sub 4:00. My mantra became “just don’t slow down” The next 6.2 miles were done in 8:36, 9:13, 9:03, 9:00, 9:40 (as we climbed up from the river back onto MLK Jr. Parkway. That was a little discouraging but I managed to hang on), 9:12 and 2:01. At the finish line my watch read 3:58:13. I was very, very happy with that result. I never in a million years expected to run that. After I stopped running I realized just how stiff and sore my legs were. I can’t remember the last marathon that they hurt this much. I hobbled around the finish area for a few minutes.

The finish area had some great food. There was the usual water, bananas, oranges and bagels. There was also yogurt, pulled pork sandwiches, sliced apples, ice cream, potato chips and Erin Baker’s Breakfast Cookies. At the result tent, I picked up a printed result sheet like that comes from a receipt printer. It read 3:58:11. The text messages that my wife and Joe received gave my time as 3:58:09 and the official results posted on the website later say 3:58:10, a second or two one way or the other doesn’t change the sub 4:00 finish or the satisfaction.

Unexpected result notwithstanding, the IMT Des Moines is a highly recommended race. The race is big enough that you are never alone, but not so big that you spend a lot of time and energy jockeying for position. The course is absolutely beautiful. The downtown area is spotless and lined with flower pots. The tree lined streets with fall color and the houses are nice to look out. The aid stations were numerous, always well stocked and staffed. The extensive bike path system is a joy to run, to be away from traffic and a cambered street is nice. Spectators aren’t a huge factor for me, but they were plenty and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The medal is substantial. I commented to the girl that gave my mine about how heavy it was. She said I’d earned it – Nice! The post race food was plentiful and as good as any I’d seen elsewhere. Before and after the race we all got plenty of emails from the RD keeping us up to date. I really liked the finish time print out. It will fit nicely in the scrapbook Lisa has been keeping of my marathons.

Next fall if you are looking for a nice little city marathon to run, I would highly recommend you consider Des Moines. Just be sure to visit the local museums on Friday, Saturday or Sunday because they are all closed on Monday. And bring your own Gatorade or buy it early. It's all good!

IMT Des Moines Marathon

2009-10-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

The quick update:

3:58:11

Inexplicable, unbelievable, ultimately satisfying.

All the gory details when I get back home.

I-O-Why

2009-10-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

In two days I'm off to the middle of America, to Des Moines, Iowa, to run another marathon. So why Des Moines? And why now? There's a few good reasons:

1. I really wanted to run the Harrisburg Marathon in Harrisburg, PA in November (the why of that I will explain in another post). But with the big Anniversary Party for my parents we deemed it out of the question this year.
2. I really wanted to run more than one state in 2009 to capitalize on my Yasso directed training plan.
3. My wife wasn't going to be able to join me wherever I went so I went on the lookout in states that she had little desire to visit. Iowa fit the bill.
4. Des Moines in in Iowa.
5. Iowa is a state I haven't run a marathon in.
6. Lisa didn't mind missing out on Des Moines.
7. I found a decent airfare and hotels are relatively inexpensive in Des Moines. (compared to places like San Francisco, New York City and Washington, DC).
8. Seven reasons are enough.

This last week of training was an easy one, just two 5 milers to be run at an easy pace. Tuesday I had the chance to run in the rain. I ran the picnic loop in Bonelli and ran through the middle of a high school cross meet that had just recently finished up. The run in the rain was a rare opportunity and I enjoyed it. At least up until the point that I got home and looked down at my shirt and realized I'd suffered the dreaded BNS (bloody nipple syndrome). Oh joy.

Wednesday we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the oldest son's 22 B-day. Tonight I headed back over to Bonelli for what may end up being my last after work Bonelli run of the season. It is that time of the year where the daylight starts to run out faster than I can. I ran the Cottontail route in an easy 53:31 for the 5 miles.

I packed my bags tonight. I'm working tomorrow and catching a flight out on Saturday to arrive in Des Moines just in time to hit the expo and the pasta dinner and then call it a night before race day on Sunday morning. I've played with a race predictor and that little PR at the Santa Monica 10K would predict a sub 4:00 marathon. It is doubtful that I could do that, but I'm thinking I might try to shoot for a 4:10. When it comes down to it I will be happy just getting across the finish line.

Fifteen Down.....coming real soon!

**scoop - hang on for details on Sixteen Down, sooner than you might think.

Santa Monica 10000

2009-10-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

What a race it was. I signed up for this event back in the end of July, long before I ever considered running Des Moines. It wasn't until recently that I realized that the two events were on back to back weekends. Running a 10k the weekend before a marathon probably isn't the wisest choice based on conventional training wisdom but that's the way it goes some times.

I originally signed up for this event with the hopes of bettering my 10K time. My only 10K was run late last year, again just a week before a marathon. By then my right hip was already in a bad state. That 10K was on rolling hills in Temecula and my 55:45 time there was pretty indicative of my training and physical condition at the time. Back in July when I registered for the SM10000, my training was going pretty well. The Santa Monica 5000/10000 has some pretty slick marketing and they promised the "fastest road race in Santa Monica." The clincher was the race t-shirt designed by Ed Hardy Sport. My wife signed up as well to walk the 5K, so we made an event of it.

We got up at 5:00 a.m. and left the house by 5:45. We got to Santa Monica around 6:30 and parked, for free, near the finish line. The start and finish were about a mile apart. We walked down to the starting line to get our bib and chip and had plenty of time to mill around before the race start. The 5K started at 7:30. Once Lisa had passed the starting line I jumped in with her and walked about a 1/4 mile with her before heading back to the start of the 10K.

My race started at 8:00 after the kids 2.5K. My goal for the race was to run 8:30 pace to achieve a finish time around 53:00. This seemed like a good idea in light of the marathon and would be a solid improvement on my 10K time.

I started off a little too far back in the pack and worked my way through the starting line crowd for a Mile 1 time of 8:25. We ran down Main St. in Santa Monica but I didn't see much. My second mile came in at 8:11. I settled in to a rhythm after that and Mile 3 and 4 were 8:24 and 8:25. Those two miles were a consistently gentle uphill. At the 4 mile mark made a u-turn and headed back down the hill to the finish line at the pier.

Mile 5 came at 7:41. When I saw the time I actually said out loud, "Oh, crap!" I hadn't meant to run that fast. I didn't need to run that fast to be assured of a PR. But at that point with the PR pretty much assured unless I completely fell apart I just decided to give it all I could and see how much of an improvement I could really make. I knew that I might pay for it next weekend, but I had the take the chance. I kept right on pushing the pace and passing a few folks and ran mile 6 in 7:25. At that point the finish line was clearly in view and I could hear the announcer urging runners on to get in before 50:00. I gave it all I had for those last two tenths. When I crossed the line, the clock read 50:12. My watch, which I started when I crossed the start and finish mats, read 49:53:47. The race was chipped timed so once the official results are posted I will update the time and post it over there on the side bar. At any rate I made a significant improvement in my 10K PR and had a heck of a fun time doing it. (By the way, Lisa walked the 5K in about 50:00.) **Official results are in at 49:52.2!

We hung around the post race events for a bit and then headed out to find some breakfast. We ended up at Norms, locally renowned for be opening 24/7 365 days a year. The hotcakes, scrambled eggs and bacon hit the spot. Now I will take it easy for the next 6 days and see what happens in Des Moines.

Cobbled

2009-10-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

When I first decided to add Iowa to my 50 state goal I hadn't even finished Missouri and I needed a plan. I looked at Hidgon's multiple marathon schedules (for those folks doing marathons close together) and I cobbled together a schedule using Yasso's plan that seemed to work well in Missouri. I basically had 6 weeks between the two races, so I divided the schedule into 3 two week sections. The first week was Recovery, the second Go and the third was Taper. During the Go and Taper weeks I used Yasso's weekly mileage and compromised between the two for the long run. Two weekends ago Yasso would have had me do a 22 miler, instead I used Higdon's 18. Last weekend I gave myself a goal of 14 to 16 and ended up with the 16. This weekend the goal was 10-12 miles.

During the week I held to Yasso regimen fairly well. Tuesday and Wednesday I made it to Bonelli before sundown and did 5 and 4 at an easy pace, about half on trails and half on roads. Thursday called for 6 miles on a hilly route. I knew right where I would go, but my right IT band has been acting up a little lately. I remember the PT telling me, when the thing was really bad, No hills and No concrete. Many of my runs in Dallas and last weekend's 16 miler were on concrete. Since I'd pushed that rule a little and was paying for it, I decided to turn the 6 miler into an easy-ish run rather than the hills. I ran the streets of Covina at a 9:04 pace. It seemed like a good alternative.

I was pretty much on my own today for the last long run. The CA Cruisers were going to be a huge presence at the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon tomorrow so they were taking the day off today. I slept in and didn't get started until well after 9:00. It was of course a beautiful day for a run; overcast and in the 60's. I headed over to the San Gabriel River Bike Path and clocked my 12 miles in 1:51 using a 6:1 run:walk interval. I was pretty happy with the 9:15 pace. It would be really nice to be able to keep that up next weekend in Des Moines.

Go/No Go

2009-10-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

As heard during my long run late Sunday morning: I was on the Marvin Braude Bike path sharing the road with various forms of perambulating individuals. One couple that passed me on bikes were over heard saying, "Don't even go there!" Only a few minutes later a different couple went by, again on bikes, and were over heard saying, "You've got to go while you got the chance." I had to smile about the opposing views on Going.

I was on the Marvin Braude Bike Path because I had just returned to Southern California from Dallas/Fort Worth. I had been in Texas since Tuesday at a Users Group Meeting learning all I could about a new to us product. The conference was over Saturday afternoon, but I hadn't scheduled my return flight until Sunday morning. I boarded the flight at 7:30 CDT and landed at LAX around 9:00 PDT. After gathering my luggage and taking the shuttle back to my car I headed straight down to Dockweiler State Beach for my long run. After the 16 mile run, then I went home. Some people thought I was crazy for doing that, but I call it efficient use of time and location.

I was able to get 3 runs in over the 4 days in Texas. On Tuesday I ran 7 miles in Dallas starting at my hotel near the Galleria in North Texas. I ran along some major roads without sidewalks in many places and no bike lanes. I made it into a nice neighbor near the Northwood Club.

The other two days I was in Fort Worth. One day I ran around town and then headed out to the Trinity Trail and headed north east for an 8 miler. A couple of days later I went back out to the Trinity Trail and headed north west. That end of the trail was nicer than the other. It runs into Trinity Park. It was Saturday morning, so I was joined on the trail by the local Team in Training group and ended my run meeting up with a couple of the orthodontists at the Users Meeting.

I had started the week at home Tuesday morning before my flight to DFW with an 8 miler that included 3x1 mile repeats. All in all, I was able to get in all my runs and ended the week with 46 miles.

Prior to leaving for DFW, I had only been back in town for 4 days. That Saturday I got in an 18 miler and then on Sunday I ran an 18k Trail race; the Pt Mugu Trail Run. I'd done this race a couple of years ago when it was called the La Jolla Canyon Legend. Everything was the same except for the name. I was slower than I was then at 2:04:28. It was a fun and challenging course. That week, the Ohio week, ended at 48.2 miles and the month of September came in at 143.4 miles.

I'm actually back home for 2 weeks straight, the taper weeks, before boarding another plane this time bound for Des Moines to tackle state #15.

Mo Better Trail Runs

2009-09-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've been back home since late Thursday night. Lisa and I had a wonderful time in Mohican reliving our honeymoon. The weather was gloomy and wet, just like it was 25 years ago. The weather didn't matter then nor did it matter now. We went out and visited all the sights in the park, including the Covered Bridge, the Falls, the Fire Tower and the Gorge Overlook. We had dinner one night in the nearby town in one of two "fine dining" establishments. After chatting with the waitress it turns out it was the same restaurant from 25 years ago, just under new management with at new name. We definitely enjoyed our time there.

Of course the two days in the park weren't all romance and nostalgia; I had to get a couple of runs in. One of the first things I did was send an email out to Nick. I know he runs in Mohican regularly. I has hoping we could hit the trails for a 6-8 mile run. Unfortunately the logistics didn't quite work out but I was able to get in a couple of shorter runs on my own.

Wednesday morning I parked at the dam and ran the trails to Little Lyons and Big Lyons Falls out to the covered bridge and back to the dam on the Pleasant Hill Trail. It was raining but the tree canopy is so dense that I didn't get all that wet. The second day, I parked at the covered bridge, ran through a campground and out the Hickory Gorge Trail to another camp ground and back. About 4 miles the first day and 6 the second. They were probably some of the easiest trails in Mohican and its wasn't exactly what the Yasso program might have called for, but it was fun.

Findley Run

2009-09-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

The 50th anniversary party was a great success. My parent's were very appreciative of the travel certificate for an Alaskan Cruise.

Monday, we went up to the east side of Cleveland to visit a good family friend. The wife gave a reading at our wedding and she is our oldest son's godmother. And she's Italian. So we ate the whole day. We got there in time for lunch of chicken soup, homemade pizza and eggplant parmesan (from home grown eggplant), Texas caviar and cranberry orange bread. A few hours later we had dinner of veal, spaghetti, garlic bread and any leftovers from lunch and a wonderful tiramisu for dessert. Between the 8 of us we killed the entire desert.

Today is our last day at my parent's house. We are taking the kids back to the airport later this afternoon. Today offered me the most time to get in the 10 miler that was scheduled in the middle of the week. Back on the Yasso plan that would have meant the week with the 10 x 800's. My original thought was to try to do this workout on the track at the local HS football stadium. Other options were the marked trail at the Wellington Reservation I'd run on Sunday.

I drove all the way across town, less than a mile, to find out that the track was locked up and had a no trespassing sign. In the end I decided to head out to Findley State Park and run the Thorn Mountain Bike Trail. I always enjoy that run. It was a humid one this morning. The trail was the driest that I'd ever run it. Usually I'm slipping and a sliding all over the place. Along the way I saw at least 9 deer bounding off through the woods, an owl, a group of about 12 wild turkeys, 2 great blue herons and a mushroom about the size of a football helmet.

I ran about 9 miles total in 1:28. After the run I did some push ups, sit ups and tricep dips since I haven't gotten to work out at all since last Tuesday.

After dropping off the kids at the airport, Lisa and I are heading down to Mohican State Park. We are spending two nights in the lodge before heading back to California. 25 years ago we spent our honeymoon in the lodge for two nights. It will be a nice way to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Our actual anniversary is September 29.

Mirror Image

2009-09-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

We made it to Ohio with only an hour delay due to bad weather in Atlanta. The kids made it it this morning after taking the red-eye into Cleveland.

I got up this morning for a 12 miler on the rails to trails path near my parents home. I'd checked the weather when I packed and was pleased to see the daily highs in the high 70's - low 80's. I packed my running gear accordingly - a couple of sleeveless and a short sleeve. What I hadn't given much thought to was the overnight low and the cool temps I'd be starting in.

I headed over to Kipton to jump on the same trail I'd run when I was here in June. When I got out of the car the temperature was 47 degrees. The only thing that was really cold were my hands. It took a couple of miles before they warmed up. Otherwise, the cool Ohio air was pretty nice to run in. I ran the same 12.5 miles as I did back in June. This time around it took me 1:53:14 compared to the 1:57 in the heat of June; a nice little improvement aided immensely by the cool temps.

I will likely get up tomorrow and continue the mirror image theme by running 4 miles at the Wellington Reservation I discovered in June. The rest of the day on Sunday will be spent at the Golden Anniversary Celebration.