Stats for 2008

I just looked at my log for my training for this year. It has seemed like I haven't done much of anything this year, but I guess a little here and there adds up.

I rode my bike 1,100 miles this year.
I ran 691 miles so far this year. With my new years eve run of 10 miles, I will be just over 700 miles for the year.

Marathon training starts tomorrow

It is 18 weeks from the Eugene Marathon and I start my marathon training plan tomorrow. I haven't been able to run as much as I would like over the last couple months, so I am slower than I would like to be but there isn't much I can do about that.

My training plan calls for 5 days of workouts each week, with one of those days being a cross training day. I will use cycling for my cross training days. Each week consists of two short light run days (3 to 5 miles), one medium run day (5 to 8 miles) and one long run (8 to 20 miles) along with one day of cross training of my choice (Swim, Bike, elliptical, etc.). As my training progresses, the runs get longer and the likely hood of injury increases. I have chosen a fairly "novice" training plan to limit my chance of getting injured, but still make sure I am able to comfortably complete the marathon.

Here's to a healthy and injury free 18 weeks!

Why I am never wrong

I thought I should let everyone know why I am never wrong. Also, for the ladies in the crowd, this may help you understand why your man, may also, never be wrong. Although this is different for all men, so some may not be as superior as I am.

Now, I am not saying I am always right, although usually given the context I understand, I was.

You see, the problems I have sometimes are as follows;

I may have mistaken the full context of the conversation.
I may not have been actively listening to the conversation.
I may not have taken all of the factors in to consideration.
You may not have given me all of the factors up front for me to make a good informed decision.
You may have had some of the smaller details wrong, which lead me down the wrong path.
You mistook what I said, or how I said it.
As a last resort, you may have been talking like Charlie Brown's teacher.

You see, I find that when people think I am wrong, I am not wrong, it was because of factors completely out of my control.

Double butt - not like the bubble butt

So, Kristin pointed out the other night, I now have two ass lines from a side profile. How does that happen you ask? Well, I am glad you asked.

Since I have changed my running style, I have been working on my hamstrings and building up their speed. Well, my hamstrings are now starting to kind of pop out, and from a side angle, my butt comes to an end, then immediately something else starts coming out. So, there ya go, double butt. :)

Kind of TMI, but I thought it was funny, so I am sharing.

The holiday pounds are coming - for you!

So, my body has been extremely happy on this low carb diet. I weighed myself Thanksgiving morning on a highly accurate scale, the next morning I had lost 1.6 pounds. My body finally got off its plateau. Since Thanksgiving morning, about 5 days ago, I have lost 3.5 pounds. So, while some are worrying about gaining too much weight during the holiday season, I am worrying about why I am losing weight so damn fast. I will try and make sure I don't lose more than a pound by the end of the week, but my body wants to lose weight right now, and I am eating like a king, and barely working out.

Getting over my love affair

That's right, I am calling it out, right here on the internet.

You see, I had two major events happen today and it made me realize something. I have been having a very unhealthy relationship, but all I knew is she always made me feel good. At least I thought she did. She is a lovely lady, many people look at her with lust, wanting the taste of her on their lips.

Tonight, I had a much more subtle lady, as I have always had, but tonight, I realized she is the right one for me. Tonight she was amazing, full of flavor and I would want nothing else to cross my lips. Although I will always have an addiction for her, and she may break me from time to time, and I may have to taste her again. Now, I know what's good for me, and I know it will be hard to break the ties with her, but I have made a life decision, to keep from tasting, or thinking about her often.

Okay, I am assuming everyone has figured out I am being vague here. Two things worth pointing out with my above statement. I am not a slick talker, but the above two paragraph's explains how people will talk. Now, I will tell you the above statement is true, but you never asked who, or more importantly what, "she" is. I deal with this a lot in business. Usually it is not this coy and blatant, but sometimes it is not far off, and it pisses me off. However, I love to use it too, for fun. I usually use it very blatantly, and jokingly, and hopefully don't get myself in trouble someday by someone not detecting the BS meter pegged to the right.

So, what was "she". Well, she is carbs, breads, pasta, etc. Tonight I went to TGI Fridays and had a pecan crusted chicken salad, and it was amazing! At the end of the meal, I was thinking to myself, now that I have quit carbs for a couple months, I notice the flavors of whole foods has become so rich and whole. The flavors are amazing to me. Also, I have found that breads and other things have definately been lost for me. I think I have finally kicked my carb habit and I am over "her".

Now that I am not eating carbs I find that my mouth tastes the fullness, as well as the subtleties, of the food I eat. I now could tell you the difference between a good olive oil, versus a cheap one, or compare a organic apple to a heavily processed apple and I will sit on the soap box and explain how the organic tastes so much better. I enjoy my meals more than I can ever remember, ever. I used to eat until I was stuffed, and then would feel good, I guess. Now, I can eat a modest meal, and I have no desire to stuff myself. The taste of the food is so rich and sweet, I am completely satisfied.

I know it will be easy to fall back in to bad habits because there are some things that will always taste good, but I am so much more satisfied with food today than I have ever been.

Modifying my diet

Thanks to my friend Tony he turned me on to reading the book In Fitness and In Health by Dr. Phil Maffetone who is an Applied Keniesiologist. He told me about his new diet, not weight loss diet, but the true term of what you eat, and I was intrigued because it was against most everything I have ever read that an athlete should eat, sort of. Not to mention, Tony is the best all around athlete Kristin and I know, so I figured I should read this book.

Where Phil Maffetone is similar to everything I have read, and what I have always believed, is that whole foods from nature which have not been bombarded with chemicals are best for our bodies. I think most, if not all, people agree with this. Now, what I have always read is athletes need lots of carbs. I read that as, carb up baby!!! And it gave me a good excuse to eat lots of pasta and bread, which I absolutely love! Well, I think I took too many liberties with that one.

According to this book, I need to cut out all refined sugars and carbs. So, since I had seen how much good this has done for Tony, I decided it was worth a try, what the heck. So, I slowly weened off carbs, and ramped up on the good stuff. All I can say is that my body feels better than what I previously thought great was, all the time! For example, I never realized how bad my stomach felt all the time. Now that I have removed the high carb diet, my stomach is never bloated or gassy (sorry for the over info). The biggest thing for me though is the amount of energy my body can tap in to when I exercise.

There is much more to this than cut carbs, this is not Atkins, this is a much healthier choice. Also, when it comes to exercise, he has a whole different theory, which you can read the book for.

Even though I am injured now, my body is still doing great. I am eating as much as I want, and I am still shedding weight. I am probably eating as many calories, or close, to what I was eating on my high carb diet, but instead of constantly gaining when not exercising, I am still losing weight. I don't think this is because I am starving myself, but now that my body is getting what it needs, it will now go to the weight it wants to be at.

You should consider reading the book, and you may have to reconsider what you thought was okay.

Going insane

I want to run, but I can not run because I am still hurting. Urgh! On top of that work has been crazy hectic at work. We are working on this very big project, that is high profile, and being closely watched by our Executive team and Board. The project is a good thing, but the anticipation and expectations are high, so the pressure is high too. Although, I am not complaining. It is great to have a job in these times, and I am seeing many people I know in risk of getting laid off, so I am thankful for a job.
However, if I could run to get rid of some stress I would really appreciate it. For now, I am riding the rollers on my bike, and it is boring doing exercise indoors watching TV. Sigh.... Although, I haven't had much time for that either. Yes, I am complaining, for now.

Recovering from an Injury

Just after my last post I had an achilles injury and it took me out for a couple weeks. I am working my way to being able to run non-stop now. Currently, I can run 1 mile and walk .25 miles, then run a mile, then walk and one more time of running. It really sucks in a way, but I am very excited to be able to run again! 

I thought we were no longer racist?

Okay, this is just a quick note, but I was really upset when watching the elections and seeing all of the racist comments out there. 

Many African American's said they were voting for Obama, because he was black! I am sorry, if I said, Jee, that's the same reason I am voting for McCain, would I be the racist one? Of course I didn't say that, but many African American's did say that about Obama. 

This spurred me to look at the exit polls. According to the exit polls, 95 of African American's voted for Obama, where as white american's voted for Obama at 55%. Now, we all know there are plenty of Neo-Nazi, Skin Heads, etc. who would never vote for Obama, but as a whole, they did not skew our numbers by that much. 

However, by the African American's voting for Obama, because he is black, does that make them racists? I think so, and it makes me said to know that American has not learned its lesson. 

For me, Obama will be my President, our President, and when he is sworn in, I will stand behind our President. I hope the rest of America gives him this same level of courtesy and respect, and I really hope the wack jobs stay away! 

I am commited

This weekend I watched Kristin complete the Portland Marathon. It was an exciting experiance for me. Even though I was not participating, nor was I fully trained for a marathon, the whole time I wanted to jump on the course and start running. Although, I felt pretty bad for Kristin and my friends Tony, David B. and Amanda at the same time. The weather was supposed to be decent, maybe some light showers. The race started dry, then about an hour later, it poured for the next 4 or so hours! I don't mean a little Portland sprinkle, I mean full on rain. Regardless, I would have rather been running with them than sitting cheering. 

This has lead me to make an announcement

I have signed up to run in the Eugene Marathon on May 3rd, 2009. There are some pros and cons with choosing this race. First, I will start with the cons. 

Cons

• Okay, maybe just one really. I want to spend six months training up for the distance, and the speed. Choosing an event in early May means I need to start training in November. This means I will be making many weekday runs in the darkness as it gets dark in the winter before I get off work. Then, add on top of that all of the rain that we get, I will be running in the dark, in the rain. On the weekends when I make my long runs it will also be in the rain most likely. 
  
• The other smaller con is my cycling fitness will probably fall off some more, but I am hoping to maintain it. 
  

Pros

 

• It will help to keep the winter fat off, and maybe I will even lose some weight. 
  
• When the marathon is done in May, I will be free to do other things during the summer months. Maybe even doing an endurance Duathlon in the summer (56 mile bike, 13.1 run) and probably at least one or two centuries (100 mile bike rides). 
  
• I love trail running, and this will give me more of an excuse to do long trail runs. 
• I want to do the Big Sur marathon, but I would be foolish to make it my first. This will be a good start. 
• The marathon is held in track town USA. This is a Mecca for runners in the US. This is Perfontaine's town, along with other major track and field stars (Hayward, Phil Knight the founder of Nike, Alberto Salazaar, and the list goes on). 
• Doing a marathon, need I say more?  
• 
  

Hood to Coast Relay

This last weekend I did the Hood to Coast relay with 11 of my coworkers. The Hood to Coast relay consists of 12 runners, running a total of 36 legs over 197 miles. This means each runner runs 3 legs and each leg ranges from 4 to 7.8 miles. There are teams who will do this relay in 15 to 16 hours, a blistering fast pace averaging a mile every five minutes! We were not that team. Our team was out there to have a great time, get some running in, and get very little sleep.
Since many people ask me if we are crazy, or missing some screws, the answer has to be an emphatic YES! I have many crazies that I like to be around too, if that is true. What made me realize we are all nuts was a conversation had after we finished.
At the end we were all around a campfire at the beach house that our company rented for us, and all of the runners were talking about how happy we were that the race was over. It took us 31 hours to complete it and we had about 2.5 hours of sleep. It was brutal, some of the team could hardly walk, others had stomach issues (lost their lunch), runners being yelled at by crazies, another crazy woman chased one of our team mates with a dead snake (yeah, seriously). We were all thankful to be done! I then posed the question to the group “Are you going to do it next year? Everyone in the group responded with a hell yes. Not just a yeah sure, but a HELL YA, had a blast, would do it again! So, yes, we are all crazy, we punish ourselves with running on little or no sleep, sleeping in vans with 6 of your team mates who haven’t showered since their last run, but we all want to toe the line together next year.
Now that we have it out on the table that I am crazy, let’s talk about the relay.
As I mentioned the relay consists of a team of twelve, and the common way to logistically handle this is to have two vans, each with six runners in it. You decide who is in each van by assigning legs to each runner. Each runner runs every 12th leg. For example, if you run leg 10, you will also run 22 and 34. Each leg group is rated by level of difficulty. You take your strongest runner and assign them the hardest legs, and work your way down the list. Then, you take legs 1-6 runners and they go in one van, then legs 7-12 go in van 2. I ran legs 10, 22 and 34.
Our team started the race at 8 in the morning on Friday at the start line on Mount Hood. Van 1 had to meet at our office at 5 AM in order to check in and be at the start line at 8 AM. We estimated van 1 would be finished with their first legs around 1 PM, but it was possible for a noon finish for them. Knowing that traffic around the relay can be horrible, we decided to take off early. We all met at the office and left at 9 AM. All of us knew we would probably be there too early, but we did not want the last runner for van 1 waiting for us at the transition.
We arrived at the exchange point about two hours early. The good thing was it was at a Fred Meyer, which allowed us to go in and do some last minute shopping. Also, our van driver, Susan, picked up a football. We played football while we waited. We ended up having runners from other vans coming over and playing with us. One of the guys we played with was flown in from Belgium by Nike. He was a Nike employee and we found out Nike flies in employee’s from all over the world to run in the relay (Nike is the main sponsor). This guy’s team was all Belgium. We found out Nike has over 30 teams running in this relay. These teams range from people who run at our speed to some very competitive teams. Nike usually has the winning team, but Adidas and Brooks always brings good competition to keep them honest.
Finally we received the call from our team mates that their last runner was on the course and close to us. It was our time for action! We were all getting excited and you could tell by the nervous tension of everyone. We stopped playing around and everyone got to making sure they had everything in line, we changed in to our running gear and just hung out.
At the exchange Robin took over and we talked with van 1 for a few. They were jazzed and they showed us how the tool which keeps track of each runners leg and speed worked. This was the preferred method, otherwise it had to be done manually, which was a pain in the ass. Todd and I, the gadget geeks, checked it out and thought it was pretty cool.
The gadget to track our time didn’t last long. It is ran on a Palm device and somehow we managed to shatter the screen on it, and it was completely broken! That sucked!!!! This meant a arduous manual process of tracking everybody’s legs, time, pace, etc.
We had a lot of learning and growing pains. Robb, the guy who ran the legs before mine went on the first section where cars can’t follow the runner. We found a spot about 1.5 miles from the next exchange to stop and cheer him on. After he went by, we scurried off to the next exchange. The traffic was horrible and the parking lot was small. We were lucky enough to find a spot right next to the runners exchange. I got out of the van, I needed to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle before Robb showed up. I knew I was tight for time as he is a pretty quick runner, probably running in the 8 minute per mile range. I hopped out of the van and I went to fill my water bottle and I heard our team number called, which meant our guy was here. Oh crap!!! I grabbed a cold water bottle and ran to the exchange and grabbed the wrist strap from Robb. The wrist strap is the baton in this relay, and the active runner has to be wearing it. I took off running, my back teeth are floating I have to pee so bad! It is strictly against the Hood to Coast rules to urinate, defecate or litter on private property. If you get caught, your team is immediately disqualified and pulled from the course! Well, luckily for me, I was on Rails to Trails, which is public property. I ran about 300 yards, there was nobody in front of or behind me, so I pulled up to a blackberry bush and gave it some water that it desperately needed. Ahhhh, much better!
The other problem, I had been sitting in the van for three hours and I hopped out and took off running, no stretching or warming up. The entire leg felt like my legs were on fire and my muscles just wanted to pull apart and snap! It was one of the worst runs I have ever had. I was fine on the speed, nothing horrible, but the pain was outrageous at times, and it was a hot and humid day. I have ran in hot, just the week before I ran 5 miles in 101 degree heat. This was 84 degrees and I was suffering much worse.
The other two legs were fairly uneventful for me. However the experience is one that will not be forgotten anytime soon. The dynamics of our van was excellent! Everyone got along really well (or was I the annoying jerk who didn’t realize everyone hates him?). We had plenty of jokes going around and nobody bit anybody’s head off. Although as the night passed and we were getting exhausted, our words didn’t always come out right. For example at one point Emily and Robb were in the back of the van and they were talking about something, don’t recall, and just as Todd was hopping in to the van, Emily says to Robb “is it completely hard?” Todd looks at me with this horrified face, and I told him to just keep his eyes forward. He and I were busting up laughing while Emily and Robb didn’t even realize what was said and how bad it sounded! Many other moments like that as the trip went on.
One of the big things Hood to Coast teams do is decorate their vans. I never realized how “adult” the event was. The rules of Hood to Coast is nothing vulgar of flagrantly sexual. Basically nothing a cop would ticket you for. One van was offering FREE Messages between your legs. When I saw this van, we were on leg 35, so our team is 29 hours in to the race, I have ran 18 miles, and I am on 2 hours of sleep. I look at the van and immediately I am going, oh, how sweet, maybe they will set up a table or massage chair, they must be sponsored by a salon or massage place. My legs could really take a massage right now, my hamstrings are killing me! Yeah, I was actually sitting here thinking about it, looking for a table or chair, wondering who was sponsoring them, etc. I am looking and then I realize, wait, who the hell would do that, the race is grueling enough, those guys are crazy to give messages between each leg of the race. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. They were offering a free massage between “my legs”! I was dying laughing, I was so stupid.
Some of the other memorable van sayings or mascots:
A van with a giant slug on the top of it, on the side it said, “love my slug”
Found 1 toenail, pick up at the finish line (ouch!)
Show us your “besticles” This was a van full of dr’s (allegedly)
A van sponsored by Honey Bucket (the porta potties here in Portland). They slogan “We can handle a lot of crap”
I love lesbians
The Las Vegas Virgins (11 girls, and 1 Elvis). The women were dressed in a sudo cancan outfit, small bra and all.
Several blow up dolls mounted on the cars (wearing shorts to avoid indecency).
Barbie dolls doing all kinds of nasty things. Ken got lucky too!
Starting out slow, fizzling out.
This van has two speeds, slow and slower than this.
As you can see, these are not the most kid friendly get ups. However, this is not something you would have your kid along on.

Sleeping arrangements. Almost all of the teams slept at the major exchange points where the vans actually crossed each other to pass the baton. The first night exchange we came across, we pulled in to a field, and immediately realized there are people laying on the ground all over, just passed out. When driving we had to be careful not to run over somebody’s head or foot. People were not hiding behind vehicles, etc. they were just wherever they could find space, and sometimes in some pretty precarious places. When we got to our place to sleep, we weren’t so brave, we positioned the van so we could sleep while being protected by two vehicles. It worked great! We had about 5 hours from the time we handed the baton to the van 1 runner until we were up again in each set. During our rest that started at about 5 AM, we drove up to our next exchange and used a field there for sleeping. This took about an hour or so. Once we got there, we all got arranged, used the restroom, and hit the sack. Van 1 called us saying they were close, like 45 minutes. Yeah, they were 1.5 hours out! So our sleep was cut short, and we were not happy campers because this is the second time they did that to us! URGH!!!!! We were grumpy about that. However, I have to say that was about the biggest team conflict we had.
So, yes, runners are a crazy and horny breed, and now you know.

2 months since i have posted

Wonder if anyone is even checking on this, or if I have lost all of you. I hope not.

I thought I would drop this quick note, I am still alive, and here is a great slide show that is really inspiring to me.
http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/16799551.html?location_refer=Health%20+%20Wellness

Running in strange places

One of the great things about being active is getting to see more, both around your home and especially when you travel.

Today, I went to San Jose on work and found a large park within a few miles of my hotel. The park is over 1,500 acres. I pulled in to the first parking lot for the park that appeared to have some trail heads.

I set off to find a trail head from the picnic area that I parked at. Their trails are a little different in California. They had just mowed a wide swath for the start of this one trail head. Okay, that is interesting, but a ankle roller for sure. I started off running easy.

Within 200 yards, I was in trees with a more "trail like" setting. As soon as I got in the trees, I saw a flock of about 8 wild turkeys. They got excited and scurried away, but it was kind of cool. After I came to a Y in the trail, I took the uphill course. Well, the hill was much steeper than I expected, and I wasn't planning on suffering today. It got too steep, and I had to walk a small part to keep my heart rate down. After it got to a normal pitch, I got backup to speed. I wound up on a ridge and just as I crested on the ridge there was a hawk riding the thermals about 50 feet from me! It was amazing to see a hawk riding thermals from such a close distance!

I kept wandering around these trails. The trails ranged from enough room to run with your feet fairly close together without having to worry about rolling your ankle, assuming you didn't step outside of that trough. I did that a couple times, when I was paying too much attention to what was around me. The the trails at other points were just wild grass that was mowed to about 3 or 4 inches, a complete gotcha for rolling an ankle, then other areas that were washed out.

After wandering some more, I ended up gaining more elevation and I ended up in what I would call a gecko haven. I ran across several gecko's that were sun bathing on the trail. They would see me, then they would run at full speed down the trail to a good turn out for them. It was pretty cool. When they start running, they throw up a bunch of dirt, and when they turn, they throw up a bunch of dirt. It made me think of the Dukes of Hazard car how it skid and threw up dirt all over. They were really cute to watch.

I came around a corner after gecko haven, and had another Y to decide. Somehow I always think up is the right one whenever I come to a Y? So, up we go. I come around another corner to find a buck with his doe. The bucks is still in velvet, so poor little guy may loose his girl at the end of summer. Yes, I did think about that. They were really cute on this grassy knoll about 75 feet away. I go past them and just down the trail, I come over another ridge. This ridge gave me a full view of the Bay area, and the San Francisco bay, and also made me realize how much I had climbed. A few steps later, I look to my left, and down, and there is another hawk riding the thermals and he is coming up the hillside below me.

At this point, I had to stop. I realized I was spectating something I had never seen before. To my left, there were 7 hawks riding thermals through these rolling hills that remind me of Napa valley (but more trees) and I am above these hawks looking down on them. That was on my left, on my right was the view of the entire bay. The site made me stop as I was filled with awe and emotion with the beauty. I sat there and just watched the hawks. Finally I started feeling my legs stiffening up, I had to get moving again. I kept running always with an eye on these hawks.

After I dropped off the ridge, I ran in to many more wild turkeys. They were pretty funny. They would get all excited when I would come around a corner. They would scurry 10 feet with their head peeked up over the long grass to make sure I didn't come too close. They reminded me of some old "hens" who got all excited over nothing. They could be 50 feet away, and they would run parallel to the trail but they felt better that they scurried somewhere.

The run was great, and I can't wait to come back and pick another trail in the same park.

22 ways to be a good democrat

Okay, so I got this "commentary" in an email, and it really made me think how ridiculous our politicians and views are. The sad thing is, these are right. What is even sadder is it is probably a Republican thinking they are all high and mighty, and that Republicans don't have these issues.
Being a Republican, I definitely got a good chuckle out of these, and I imagine my dem friends will too. But, I hope we look at this as more of a general statement of how our own politicians don't know what they want, and we don't always think about everything in context.

1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.

2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by documented cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.

10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make "The Passion of the Christ" for financial gain only.

12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A .G. Bell.

15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.

17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.

18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House..

19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, and transvestites, should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

20. You have to believe that illegal Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States .

21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.

22. You have to believe that it's okay to give Federal workers the day off on Christmas Day but it's not okay to say "Merry Christmas."

Ready to vote?

Portlands newest running store

So, Road Runner Sports has openned a store in Tualatin. I happened to notice this the other day when I went to lunch with a collegue in Tualatin. It caught my eye because Kristin has ordered from their catalog, and I loved their catalog.
Saturday, Kristin and I decided to go check out the store and see what it was like, and it is closer than Fit Right Northwest for us.
So, we get there, and it is completely different than the other running stores. The first thing we noticed, this store has a huge selection from a very wide range of companies. What impressed me the most is they had clothing from Zoot, those clothes look so comfortable, and they are definately high end.

Kristin was excited because her shoes were $40 less than they are at Fit Right Northwest.

So, we were just wandering around, and this really nice lady who worked there came up to us and started talking to us. I am not sure how it all happened, but I started talking about some of my running issues, but not expecting to actually buy shoes, I didn't bring my running shoes. I was talking about how I am pushing off during my stride and how it doesn't feel right and maybe my shoes are worn out. Wendi, the lady helping us, informed me that I should never feel that I have to force my foot in to a certain position while running. She then asked if we had time to do a fit analysis. Okay, this story is getting long, sorry.

So, we had some time and decided to see if their system could see if maybe I was in the wrong shoe. So, we went through this really cool process that included me walking on this analysis machine to figure out the pressure points in my feet, arch type, roll off, etc. then them doing a slow motion analysis of my run on the treadmill, and analyzing the way my ankle rolled.

We found that my ankle was rolling out, and my Brooks Beasts also are designed to force this, so it was a double whammy. I had been fitted by another, very reputable store, and it looks like they were wrong and they need this high tech stuff too. Wendi probably spent 30 to 40 minutes just analyzing my feet and stride.

So, they determined I need to be in a neutral shoe. Holy cow, they now have me trying on shoes, I wasn't expecting this.... So, Wendi, who Kristin and I have absolutely fell in love with by this point, went in the back room to find me some shoes. She comes out with four pairs to start with, and that was all the more she could fit in one load. I probably had her running all over getting shoes of different sizes, etc. and she never acted like we were causing her any problem. She seemed very happy to help! Absolutely great service! After trying on a countless number of shoes, and trying to avoid the Nike's cause their old stuff sucked. Well, turns out, Nike has done a complete revamp of how they build running shoes, and they are really good. I ended up thinking I needing a 12.5 and they only had a 12 and 13. So, Wendi ordered me a pair of shoes from another store and they showed up 3 biz days later, which I was happy with, considering the shipping was free.

So, I get the shoes, and it turns out the 12.5's don't fit me quite right either and the 13's are too big.
So, I took the shoes back, and another gentleman, Greg, helped me find another pair of shoes that fit me, but we had to do a lot of digging and it ended up being in an unlikely shoe, the Mizuno. Greg, was also just as kind and cool as Wendi, and I think I have a new running store.

So, I finally get my first run in this neutral shoe, which is a complete swing from Motion Control. All I can say is Road Runner Sport has it right, so it seems anyways. Look out Portland Running Stores! We have a chain (which usually means crappy service) that has figured out how to hire great people, train the right fitting techniques (technology helps a lot I am sure, but I only care about the result) and gives me a great price. Now only if Performance Bikes could figure this out!

Okay, this post turned out extremely long, but I had an experiance with a company that I felt was far above anything I had ever experianced, so I thought I would pass it along.

Happy Spring everyone

Believe it or not, today is officially the first day of spring!!!

Okay, it doesn't really feel like it today. It is still the same weather we have had for the past six months, gray and gloomy. But, I had to do something outside!

I went to Road Runner Sports down by my work and went on a group run, and I am really happy I did. This running store (SOOO COOOL) is new, so the group was really small. So, we started out on the run. The guy who was leading the group was definately out for a recovery run (easy, light pace, just have fun). I started talking with the guy and it turns out he is doing an ultra marathon April 9th that is a 60k! So, he was definately out for a light run. I asked him how many miles he is running a week and he said he is running 80 miles this week, still building his mileage! So, this short little run was nothing for him.

It turned out being the perfect run for me as I had just bought a brand new pair of shoes and they needed to be broke in, so a nice conversation paced 5k was great for me.

I hope all of you had a great day today, and I hope everyone has a great spring!

Shamrock Run race report

It felt good knowing that I wasn't the only crazy person out today. I had over 16,000 crazies to run with. Between the 5, 8 and 15k runs and the 5k walk, there was an attendance of over 16,000 people. This may help to show how big the event was

Kristin and I were able to meet up with Tony and Ernie before the race. I was also planning to meet up with one of my co-workers husbands, Darin who was also running the 15k, but I couldn't find him.

As I was warming up for the start, my bladder decided I had to go. I went to the porto-john's and the lines were huge, and I didn't think I would have time to hit them and start the race on time. The lines were about a block long for each grouping of porto-johns. I figured I would have to hit the first or second set of john's along the way.

Meeting up with Tony and Ernie before the race was really cool, and it was nice to be around other people who were doing the race and you knew. For some reason I couldn't find Darin at our pre-defined meeting spot. Amazingly, when we were lining up for the run, we saw each other!

Tony and Ernie were hoping to hit the 15k in less than an hour, so they were staged much further up than I was. Darin and I have never ran together, so I told him to drop me if he ever felt like I was holding him up. Darin has ran a marathon and he has done several triathlon's, I think one was a half or a full IronMan. Plus, he was in the Army for 10+ years and he now is a fireman, so he is in damn good shape, although he is rather modest with his own assessment of where he is at.

So, Darin and I started middle of the pack. Since my times are usually at the middle of the pack, that is usually a good place for me to start. With so many people, this was maybe a bad place to start. I was constantly boxed in surrounded by much slower runners and I was spending too much time and energy getting around these people. My problem is that I don't want to start too far up, because I don't want to hold up people who are far faster than me. I forgot to ask Tony, but I wonder if they had 10 min/mile pacers at the front, where they do not belong as far as race etiquette goes. 

After we were started Darin told me he really needed to use the porto-john as well. At about the 1 mile mark, there was a porto-john with a short line, maybe 4 or 5 people, so we both stopped and hoped the line would run quick. there were 3 women in front of us, and well, we all know women take longer than men to do anything restroom related. I guess if they are in a race, they can go damn quick! It was awesome. It did take us a couple minutes, plus add on the couple minutes it took us to cross the start line, so every time they called out the time, we were about 7 minutes behind the race clock, compared to our actual running time.

While we were waiting for the porto-john, the trailing cars passed us. How embarrassing was that? All I could think was I better catch up to those cars, otherwise I will be embarrassed. I mean, these are all people who are running a 15k, so they aren't slouches, right? Anyway, we get out and we immediately started running again. We were pacing pretty good, around a 8:30 pace, and very quickly we caught the back marker pace cars and passed them. This happened just as we turned on broadway and the road gradually goes up. But we were a long way away from the pack. By the next mile, we had caught up to the tail end of the main pack, before the main climb up Terwilliger Blvd started. One of the strangest things I have seen in a race, and it must have something to do with the longer distance. Just before the start of the main climb a bunch of women started peeling off on to this trail. I am sitting here thinking, what the hell, they are going to take the shortcut? Nope, they were all peeling off for the bushes to take care of "business". It made me chuckle a little. Not often you see women running for the bushes.

So, then the climb starts in earnest, and almost immediately my IT band started flaring up and hurting. I shortened my stride a bit and was able to get it to become a dull pain. The climb was just a three mile grind. Nothing was crazy steep, but it was just a grind. Darin and I were constantly passing people on the climb, which made me feel good, since I am a horrible climber.

At the top of the main climb, there was a bag pipe "band" in true Irish fashion. Well, I thought this meant it was all downhill from this time on. My legs had a really hard time going quicker on the downhill and they felt worse than when I was climbing, and my IT was really hurting me on the descent causing me to slow down. At the bottom of this fairly long downhill, it turned out there was more climbing. It was a short climb, in comparison, but my legs felt like they were chunks of wood that I was trying to maneuver, rather than being fluid like I am used to. I finally got my cadence back to feeling right, but the downhill came again, and I was in pain again.

Darin was great though, he hung with me the entire time and we talked quite a bit of the run. It was great having someone to pace with on the run and to take your mind off of things.

So, the downhill was under way, and I tried to find something that would work with my IT band. I could have gone faster, not much but some, and I didn't want to injure myself, so I tried to keep it on that fine line.

with about 300 meters left, I saw Tony, who I figured had finished 30 minutes ago. Tony decided to run with me for the last little bit. Tony was pretty sore as his muscles had definitely cooled down and it is harder for the muscles to run again. It was great to have Tony pace me for the last little bit to push me. Every time I would talk, or try to talk, he would say shut up and run harder!!! Then we saw Darin's wife and one of my coworkers on the side where I went to say hi, as I ran by, and Tony yelled again, shut up and RUN!!! I have never really trained all out and this is my first year of really racing, and I was thinking about it while he was telling me to shut up and run faster. He is right, if you can talk, smile, whatever, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough! It was great to have him there telling me to kick it in gear. So, I really did push it. I have always been about endurance, not max effort, which I definitely need to improve on. So, for me, it will be a great queue when I need to push, shut up and RUN!!! 

Okay, so here go the stats.

As my previous post said, I would be happy to finish in under 10:15/mile average pace. I finished with my running pace averaged at 9:35 per mile! I was very happy about that.

I am pretty sore, but I stretched out, used the foam roller and really dug in to my muscles and I am feeling better.

Shamrock Run - my first 15k

Tomorrow morning is my first 15k race. It is a 9.3 mile race that is pretty hilly. If I recall correctly, it is about 1,200 feet of elevation gain, which is a pretty hilly course for a road race.

I have been struggling with sickness and injuries over the past week or so. I know my body is well rested, but I am still having some issues with a tight IT band, and my outside knee is not feeling great either. So, I won't be able to run all out tomorrow, because I do not want to injure myself. I will be able to run at probably 80% or more of my full race effort. I am completely okay with this. I am here to finish my first 15k and have a great time. If I average less than a 10:15/mile pace, I will be happy with my speed.

The problem I am seeing is that I am not sure what to wear. It is going to be in the low 40's, but I am going to be going fairly hard. So what should a guy wear??? I am definitely wearing shorts, but I want to wear a short sleeve shirt. Although I think I really probably should wear a long sleeve shirt with a zipper. This will let me unzip on the climb over Terwilliger, but on the way down, I will have the long sleeve to keep me warm. 

I am meeting a ton of people I know down at the race. Several people that I work with (maybe 20 or so?) are going to do the 5, 8 or 15k races. Plus a few friends I know will be running the 15k. Overall, there will be over 14,000 people doing the Shamrock Run this year!

I am looking forward to tomorrow!!!

Calling out the 8 minute miler

Okay, so someone, who I won't mention there name was talking with me at the beginning of the year about running. This person is a former Army guy, who has ran many a miles. Anyways, I was talking about my running and I mentioned that my runs are at a 10 minute mile pace, not my all out runs, just my normal training runs.

Anyways, when I mentioned my 10 minute pace, this person blurted out, HOLY CRAP that is SLOW!!! So, then this person tried back pedalling. "Well, when I was in the Army we ran 6 minute miles with 60 pound ruck sacks on our backs. Now I run at a 8 minute mile pace, so that is really slow for me." (Note: Okay, maybe they were running 6 minute mile paces in the army, but in my head, I doubt that. They run for distance, not for speed. I know guys who can't run 6:00 paces and they are damn fast) I was very doubtful of this pace. So, I challenged this person, considering they haven't been in the military for a few years, and have not ran religiously since he got out. So, I challenged this 8 minute pace. The person said they were game. I said, great, lets go run a 5k and you show me an 8 minute pace, cause I really want to see it. He then said, oh, I don't run those distances any more, but I could do it for a mile. I argued that a mile at 8 minutes is not acceptable. We agreed on two miles. Well, I have offered many times, and he has always found a reason not to go show me that 8 minute mile pace.

Well, I am calling you out, publicly. Come out for a run with me, you can take my garmin, it will record your data, show me a consistent 8 minute pace for 2 full miles.

Now, for all of you on the side lines. I did some reasearch while writing this call out, and I found some Army PT run data taken with Garmins, and they actually range from 9:17 per mile to 14:00 per mile. I found a triathlete for the Army who runs 8:00 miles, but that would be one of those seriously above and beyond PT guys. I also found references to military guys who were trying to find ways to break a 6 minute mile, and other Seargents were saying these guys were seriously going for it, so, 6 minute as a regular run pace. Uhummm!!

Running in a marsh

I had to make a business trip down to San Jose this week to install some new equipment. When I landed in San Jose, I was treated to clear blue skies, no wind and 60 degrees. This was such a refreshing break from 40's, windy and cloudy that I am used to here in Portland.

My normal hotel was all booked, and so were all the hotels in San Jose, so I ended up staying in Newark, which is about 20 miles North of San Jose. As always, I check in to my room first, to make sure I have no snafu's in where I am going to sleep that night. When I get to the hotel, I ask the clerk if there are any good running/walking trails in the area. She informed me, that there was a great place just a mile or so down the road and gave me a print out with directions. She said it was a marsh with some trails through it. I asked if there was at least enough trails to run for a couple of miles, and she said definitely. Well, I have never considered a marsh a cool place, I figured beggars can't be choosers and it was a trail without heavy traffic, so what the heck. It was such a nice day, and I really couldn't get any of my work done until after hours, I had an hour or so to burn. I changed in to my running gear, and headed out the door.

I drove to this place she had given directions to, and it was kind of what one would expect. Wetlands with water that wasn't really deep, and lots of land exposed and some ducks in the water. In the center was a pretty good sized hill that just stuck out from this pretty large flat area and I could see there were some trails around it. I turned on my GPS device to let it get a signal while I took a drink of water, hid keys, etc. This week is a recovery week for me, so I am not supposed to push it at all, just nice, short easy efforts. This can be hard for me at times, but I think I have realized how beneficial it is, so I am pretty good at sticking to it.

I get out of the rental and hit the first trail that goes off the parking lot. As I walk on the trail to get warmed up there is a big warning sign about Mountain Lions being in the area and you should try to always be with a partner. At first this concerned, then I realized, I am in California, and they are overly cautious about everything, so I continue on.

After I get down the trail a couple hundred yards, I start my run on a trail. I have no clue where it will lead me, but it was very well kept, and I could see lots of bridges through out these marsh lands. I started out, and as I cross the first foot bridge, I start noticing that there are a lot more birds here than I could tell from the road. Of course there were lots of ducks, and Canadian geese, but there were plenty of species I had never seen before. As I was running, I was much more interested in all of the different kinds of birds than I was about the trail and where it was taking me. In about 3/4 of a mile, I ended up on the road I came in on. The trail continued across the road and went right next to that hill that I mentioned earlier. I started on the shaded side of this hill where there were eucalyptus trees and shrubs, and lots of little birds just hanging out. The eucalyptus really made the air smell like something else, it was almost euphoric. I get around to the end of the hill and the trail keeps on going around it. This is cool, some more distance. As I get further around the hill, my elevation goes up slightly and I realize I am running along a bay (no, you could not see it while driving up, yes, I really wasn't paying that close of attention about where the ocean was). These marshes are filled and drained with the tides. These birds I was seeing were mostly sea birds.

I kept running, keeping an eye on all of the birds. As I would get close to them while running, they would fly away from me and land 30 yards away from me. I noticed below me there is a trail that runs right next to the bay. I will definitely hit this trail tomorrow, because I have to come back. As I round the hill, I am close to my three mile mark. The run was completely fulfilling, running in the sun is something I haven't been able to do in a long time and it was definitely good for the soul.

I was able to make time for a run the next day as well, where I ran that trail next to the bay. Again, all kinds of new birds this time, including a huge Heron, which flew right next to me. It was windy this time, but sunny and the wildlife was great. Oh and no Mountain lions!

So, if someone ever offers to take you on a trail near a marsh or wetland, take them up on it, you will be surprised.

Tony, I know you go down there every once in a while.

Do you have Electile Dysfunction?

Electile Dysfunction: the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.

Funny pictures for the day.

Just some funny pictures for the day!

Those crazy runners!!!

Kristin is running a 10k as I write this blog entry from my laptop near the finish line. The race today is in Forest Grove which is at a slightly higher elevation than we live at, which is just enough for there to be snow on the ground. As I am writing, I am looking at a scuff of snow on the ground and some snow mix is falling and Kristin is out there running, with a couple hundred other people.

I will post some pictures after I get them online, but thought I would write about those crazy runners. I wish I was out there, but I haven't trained up enough to do a 10k yet and I don't want to injure myself.

Free classes from MIT

Okay, this isn't exactly new news, but it is news to me, and I think this is way too cool.
MIT, and many other top universities are giving away their classes for free, sort of. Here is the news article, and here is the link to MIT's OpenCourseWare.
MIT is offering over 1,800 classes, including some of their most coveted classes online for free. Basically the only thing you don't get is to raise your hand and ask questions and of course, you don't get the college credit's. But the education is free, which is amazing to me.

First Run Race Report

Kristin and I did the First run last night, or would it be this morning? Anyways, all the same.
Kristin and I knew from the start we wouldn't be setting any personal records, and it was supposed to be 24 degrees out, so we were more concerned with staying warm.
Kristin had three layers on over her body, two of them being running jackets. I had two layers, one a light base layer then a long sleeved running shirt that had a hood and 1/4 zip zipper. Both of us just had long sleeve running pants on.
Others were there who started the partying a little early who were wearing a light weight cotton shirt, with shorts, and that's it. One guy was wearing a costume diaper, and that was it! How they didn't freeze, I have no clue! The fastest men were wearing shorts with a short sleeve shirt, or a tank top. I can see how they stayed warm as they were flat out hauling, so I am sure they were burning hot.
Anyways, on to the race.
The race was a simple out and back, very flat course.
The start started with the New Years countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEARS!! Turned and kissed Kristin and then the line started moving.
I got really caught up in the moment and I ran the first mile way too fast. I ran it at 8:48, which was too fast for me. I am in winter training, My body isn't ready to be pushed hard for 3.1 miles and I started out way too fast! I felt good, but I worried about the rest of the run. Since it was an out and back course I got to see the fastest runners running the other way. Let me tell you, those guys were hauling. The winner finished with an average speed of over 12 mph!
At the half way point, I was starting to feel the effects of going too fast that first mile. I took it easy until I was past the two mile mark. At the two mile mark I picked up the pace just a bit, then at the 2.5 I really started to push myself. I realized at the 2.5 mile mark, I may actually set my own personal record for a 5k (not that I have ran many, but all the same). I kept pushing through to 3 miles, only .10 mile to go and I really kicked it up. I was on the border of stopping at the side and giving up all I had to eat yesterday, but I timed it just right and got to the finish line without any bad side affects. I finished 28:41, which was a personal record for me, and I thought it was funny. I am not in that good of shape, but it was completely flat, so I was artificially faster. It was a good run however.
Kristin finished about a minute behind me and she as well set a really good time for herself. She finished in 30:01, which is a great time for her.
Considering neither one of us feel that we are in great shape, we are both happy with our results. It was a great way to kick of New Years!
After the race, we went to a nearby Irish pub had some food and we each had a glass of some nice champagne. We got home around 2:30 and we had a great time and we will probably do this again.