As of Friday evening, I've run a whole 4 miles this week.
Monday - scheduled day off
Tuesday - 4 miles on the equestrian trail in Via Verde
Wednesday - when I got home from work I was exhausted from planning trips to visit docs in NY, Kentucky, Montreal and Quebec. The scheduled called for 6, with at least some of it at Marathon Pace. My legs were still a little lackluster from summiting Santiago (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). And as if I need another excuse I felt a twinge of a sore throat coming on. The rest of my family has been battling this cold for a couple of weeks. I can usually dodge them. So after all the excuses I decided to skip the run.
Thursday - about 9:00 pm on Wednesday I remembered that I couldn't run on Thursday night either. The CA Cruisers were getting together for some food and frivolity. We swapped race stories. Some of us clean up pretty well. Thanks to Jesse for opening his home to us. We tried to plan some runs for the next couple of months and a future race we could all do together in 2007. We are leaning toward Marine Corps. Kitty, Margaret, Jaymie and Dennis ran it this year. It's a year away we'll see how it goes.
Friday - I committed to getting up and getting in at least 4 miles before work on Friday. I set two alarms. Come Friday morning I turned them off and rolled back over. Good intentions, but the run was not going to happen.
Call it extreme tapering, call it laziness, call it poor planning, but as of Friday evening my weekly mileage remained at 4. I haven't done that in awhile.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Holy Jim!
What a great little adventure today!
My plan had me running my one and only 20 miler before Tecumseh. Since my one recovery week after St. George, all my Saturday long runs have been on trails. I wasn’t quite sure whether I wanted to do a 20 mile trail run or a 20 mile flatlander run. Each had its merits and benefits.
Before I made up my mind I received an invite from Jessica for a trail run in the Santa Ana Mountains. The planned distance was 15-16 miles but she told me there were options for making the run longer. A run on new trails with a guide who knows the trails so well was not to be missed. The route she had planned was part of the Twin Peaks Ultra Marathon. Jessica is the race director.
We were joined by some of Jess’s OCTrailRunning buddies, Greg, Mike, and Pete. A friend of Mike’s, Salvatore, also came along. This was going to be his first trail run. Although I’ve been reading her blog for months I hadn’t met Jess or any of the other guys until today.
We met at the parking lot just of Trabuco Canyon Rd. This is a very rugged lot. I don’t exactly drive the best car (Miata) for off roading. From the lot it is a 5 mile drive up the same rugged, rocky road to another lot. Luckily Mike has one of those big SUV’s and gave the 6 of us a ride to the top. It is here that the adventure began. Jess’s description of the planned run: “Holy Jim is the main climb in this run at 2600' over 5.5 miles. Holy Jim has a bunch of switchbacks which help make this trail less steep and one of the easiest ways to get up to Main Divide Road. After we top out at Main Divide Road we run that for about 5 miles with some ups and downs. By the time we hit our turn at West Horse Thief we will have been going downhill for about a mile and dropping 500 feet. West Horse Thief drops another 1500 more feet over the next 1.5 miles. 2.7 more miles on Trabuco Trail and another 1000 foot drop puts us back in the parking lot.”
One funny observation I made, on the way up there the rocky road we passed a runner that was going in from the bottom lot. I recognized him as a guy who ran the La Jolla Legend 18K last weekend. He and his buddy had parked right in front of me. I ended up seeing him later as we climbed up Holy Jim while he was on his return trip down. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, though.
The first mile or so of this run continues on the rocky road, officially Trabuco Creek Road. There are several privately owned cabins along the road. Some are in better repair than others. At the end of the road is the trail head for the Holy Jim Trail. The beginning of the trail is marked with 3 or 4 creek crossings. At this time of the year the creek is a trickle, so crossing is easy. During the rainy season it is easy to see that creek crossing would be more challenging.
Mike took the lead and I followed. The others fell in behind. The trail eventually becomes a series of switchbacks that gently, but continually work their way up the mountain side. There are many place with shade and most of the trail is a very soft and cushy, really nice running surface. All singletrack. I followed Mike’s lead and took more walk breaks than I normally would have allowed myself. I was in the mood to just enjoy the run and not worry about time. Trail runs will do that to you. I stopped using my watch at all when we hit Main Divide Road. At that point Mike and I probably had about a half mile lead on the others. It had taken us well over an hour to complete the first 5 miles, don’t forget that 2600 feet of elevation gain.
When Jess, Greg, Pete and Sal reached Main Divide, Jess suggested that Greg, Mike and I head left up Main Divide and summit Santiago Peak. Greg and I were completely into it. Mike took a little more prodding but joined us in the end. The trip up and back is 6 miles. This would give me plenty of extra mileage. The plan was for Jess, Pete and Sal to continue to the right on Main Divide and follow the original plan. She felt that the three of us would be able to catch up to them before they made it back to the parking lot.
Main Divide is a rocky service road that is open to vehicular traffic. It is pretty much straight up for 3 miles with an elevation gain around 1500 feet. The peak is home to many telecommunications towers, so it is not extremely scenic, but the view out towards the east is pretty incredible. You also get a great look at the many trails below that crisscross the Santa Ana Mountains. Greg and I made it up first. It took us nearly an hour to get up there, including a few walk breaks and some stops for photo ops. Mike followed shortly thereafter. There is a maze of little roads around all the towers. When we first saw Mike he was covered from head to toe all down his left side in trail dust. He had taken a spill. The trip up had taken its toll on our legs but we were headed down knowing that the hard part was over.
We ran down Maid Divide three abreast. It was a lot of fun. Mike had run the Mount Disappointment 50K this spring and swore off road races. Greg had recently moved to Silverado Canyon and has been running almost exclusively trails since spring. Trail running is contagious. It seems to me that trail runners are pretty laid back people and that the terrain and footing keep the mind more alert and occupied than running on pavement.
When we got back to the junction with Holy Jim we discussed our options. It didn’t seem possible to us that we could catch up with Jess, Pete and Sal on Horse Thief and Trabuco Trail. We were at about 11 miles. If we followed the others we would end up with around 21 miles. We opted to take Holy Jim back down mostly because we didn’t want the others to have to wait for us. Our plan was to run the road back to the main lot if we really felt up to a 21 mile run. I ended up taking the lead and setting the pace down the switchbacks. We kept up what felt like a decent pace but I felt like I was slowing down the farther we went.
The three of us ending up making it back to the SUV before the others. Our total mileage was about 16 in somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45. Our pace was a slow 13 to 14 minutes per mile. It was pretty unanimous that 16 miles was enough for us today. We ended up waiting about 45 more minutes for the others to come down Trabuco. I guess Pete had missed the cutoff for Horse Thief so Jess and Sal waited for him to connect back up. Ironically Greg, Mike and I probably would have caught them had we continued down Main Divide and would have ended up with 21 miles. In the end only Jess and Pete ran the route that was originally planned and even that was cut about a mile short since we drove up the road as far as we could and picked them up a little early. Sal ended up thoroughly enjoying his first trail run and is looking forward to doing it again. The rest of us want to go back some day soon and run the original course that Jess had planned. That should be fun.
In the final analysis this may have been the slowest 16 miles I ever ran, but it was one of the most enjoyable. The trail was very runnable. The scenery was magnificent with panoramic views of the mountains, canyons and urban sprawl below. Meeting five new runners, including the RBF’s on Jessica was quite a treat. I really hope we can get together for some more of these runs.
If you are looking for a race in February you should really consider making your way to SoCal to run Jessica’s inaugural race. From the preview I got today, I’d say it’s going to be an epic race.
My plan had me running my one and only 20 miler before Tecumseh. Since my one recovery week after St. George, all my Saturday long runs have been on trails. I wasn’t quite sure whether I wanted to do a 20 mile trail run or a 20 mile flatlander run. Each had its merits and benefits.
Before I made up my mind I received an invite from Jessica for a trail run in the Santa Ana Mountains. The planned distance was 15-16 miles but she told me there were options for making the run longer. A run on new trails with a guide who knows the trails so well was not to be missed. The route she had planned was part of the Twin Peaks Ultra Marathon. Jessica is the race director.
We were joined by some of Jess’s OCTrailRunning buddies, Greg, Mike, and Pete. A friend of Mike’s, Salvatore, also came along. This was going to be his first trail run. Although I’ve been reading her blog for months I hadn’t met Jess or any of the other guys until today.
We met at the parking lot just of Trabuco Canyon Rd. This is a very rugged lot. I don’t exactly drive the best car (Miata) for off roading. From the lot it is a 5 mile drive up the same rugged, rocky road to another lot. Luckily Mike has one of those big SUV’s and gave the 6 of us a ride to the top. It is here that the adventure began. Jess’s description of the planned run: “Holy Jim is the main climb in this run at 2600' over 5.5 miles. Holy Jim has a bunch of switchbacks which help make this trail less steep and one of the easiest ways to get up to Main Divide Road. After we top out at Main Divide Road we run that for about 5 miles with some ups and downs. By the time we hit our turn at West Horse Thief we will have been going downhill for about a mile and dropping 500 feet. West Horse Thief drops another 1500 more feet over the next 1.5 miles. 2.7 more miles on Trabuco Trail and another 1000 foot drop puts us back in the parking lot.”
One funny observation I made, on the way up there the rocky road we passed a runner that was going in from the bottom lot. I recognized him as a guy who ran the La Jolla Legend 18K last weekend. He and his buddy had parked right in front of me. I ended up seeing him later as we climbed up Holy Jim while he was on his return trip down. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, though.
The first mile or so of this run continues on the rocky road, officially Trabuco Creek Road. There are several privately owned cabins along the road. Some are in better repair than others. At the end of the road is the trail head for the Holy Jim Trail. The beginning of the trail is marked with 3 or 4 creek crossings. At this time of the year the creek is a trickle, so crossing is easy. During the rainy season it is easy to see that creek crossing would be more challenging.
Mike took the lead and I followed. The others fell in behind. The trail eventually becomes a series of switchbacks that gently, but continually work their way up the mountain side. There are many place with shade and most of the trail is a very soft and cushy, really nice running surface. All singletrack. I followed Mike’s lead and took more walk breaks than I normally would have allowed myself. I was in the mood to just enjoy the run and not worry about time. Trail runs will do that to you. I stopped using my watch at all when we hit Main Divide Road. At that point Mike and I probably had about a half mile lead on the others. It had taken us well over an hour to complete the first 5 miles, don’t forget that 2600 feet of elevation gain.
When Jess, Greg, Pete and Sal reached Main Divide, Jess suggested that Greg, Mike and I head left up Main Divide and summit Santiago Peak. Greg and I were completely into it. Mike took a little more prodding but joined us in the end. The trip up and back is 6 miles. This would give me plenty of extra mileage. The plan was for Jess, Pete and Sal to continue to the right on Main Divide and follow the original plan. She felt that the three of us would be able to catch up to them before they made it back to the parking lot.
Main Divide is a rocky service road that is open to vehicular traffic. It is pretty much straight up for 3 miles with an elevation gain around 1500 feet. The peak is home to many telecommunications towers, so it is not extremely scenic, but the view out towards the east is pretty incredible. You also get a great look at the many trails below that crisscross the Santa Ana Mountains. Greg and I made it up first. It took us nearly an hour to get up there, including a few walk breaks and some stops for photo ops. Mike followed shortly thereafter. There is a maze of little roads around all the towers. When we first saw Mike he was covered from head to toe all down his left side in trail dust. He had taken a spill. The trip up had taken its toll on our legs but we were headed down knowing that the hard part was over.
We ran down Maid Divide three abreast. It was a lot of fun. Mike had run the Mount Disappointment 50K this spring and swore off road races. Greg had recently moved to Silverado Canyon and has been running almost exclusively trails since spring. Trail running is contagious. It seems to me that trail runners are pretty laid back people and that the terrain and footing keep the mind more alert and occupied than running on pavement.
When we got back to the junction with Holy Jim we discussed our options. It didn’t seem possible to us that we could catch up with Jess, Pete and Sal on Horse Thief and Trabuco Trail. We were at about 11 miles. If we followed the others we would end up with around 21 miles. We opted to take Holy Jim back down mostly because we didn’t want the others to have to wait for us. Our plan was to run the road back to the main lot if we really felt up to a 21 mile run. I ended up taking the lead and setting the pace down the switchbacks. We kept up what felt like a decent pace but I felt like I was slowing down the farther we went.
The three of us ending up making it back to the SUV before the others. Our total mileage was about 16 in somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45. Our pace was a slow 13 to 14 minutes per mile. It was pretty unanimous that 16 miles was enough for us today. We ended up waiting about 45 more minutes for the others to come down Trabuco. I guess Pete had missed the cutoff for Horse Thief so Jess and Sal waited for him to connect back up. Ironically Greg, Mike and I probably would have caught them had we continued down Main Divide and would have ended up with 21 miles. In the end only Jess and Pete ran the route that was originally planned and even that was cut about a mile short since we drove up the road as far as we could and picked them up a little early. Sal ended up thoroughly enjoying his first trail run and is looking forward to doing it again. The rest of us want to go back some day soon and run the original course that Jess had planned. That should be fun.
In the final analysis this may have been the slowest 16 miles I ever ran, but it was one of the most enjoyable. The trail was very runnable. The scenery was magnificent with panoramic views of the mountains, canyons and urban sprawl below. Meeting five new runners, including the RBF’s on Jessica was quite a treat. I really hope we can get together for some more of these runs.
If you are looking for a race in February you should really consider making your way to SoCal to run Jessica’s inaugural race. From the preview I got today, I’d say it’s going to be an epic race.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
The Gift
I started my day today by meeting my boss at the Park & Ride lot off Grand Ave. We were on our way to Escondido to visit an orthodontist to evaluate our newest product. I have just recently taken on this position of administering customer evaluations after 20 years in the Research & Development Lab. The product is one of the biggest things we're working on. It is a pretty big responsibility for me to be running this evaluation.
The evaluation went splendidly. The orthodontists, the assistants, even the patients were very happy with the product. The product performed just as we had hoped that it would. We spend countless hours designing and testing these things but you never know for sure until the first orthodontists puts it to use on the first patient. Maybe most importantly for me was that my boss was very happy with the outcome and my handling of the evaluation. What a relief. We finished up in Escondido about 2:00 and headed home. My boss dropped me at my car around 3:30 and told me I could just head home for the day. My office was only about 15 minutes away and I could probably have gone in for at least an hour but I opted to call it a day and enjoy the successful evaluation. I'll have plenty more long days as I travel the country visiting docs from coast to coast.
I got home, changed and was over in Bonelli before 4:00 to put in a 6 mile run on the trail out and back along the west side of the park. I was back at the car just after 5:00, well before the sun disappeared into the Pacific. The perfect ending to a positive evaluation experience. Thanks, Boss! I really appreciate the gift.
The evaluation went splendidly. The orthodontists, the assistants, even the patients were very happy with the product. The product performed just as we had hoped that it would. We spend countless hours designing and testing these things but you never know for sure until the first orthodontists puts it to use on the first patient. Maybe most importantly for me was that my boss was very happy with the outcome and my handling of the evaluation. What a relief. We finished up in Escondido about 2:00 and headed home. My boss dropped me at my car around 3:30 and told me I could just head home for the day. My office was only about 15 minutes away and I could probably have gone in for at least an hour but I opted to call it a day and enjoy the successful evaluation. I'll have plenty more long days as I travel the country visiting docs from coast to coast.
I got home, changed and was over in Bonelli before 4:00 to put in a 6 mile run on the trail out and back along the west side of the park. I was back at the car just after 5:00, well before the sun disappeared into the Pacific. The perfect ending to a positive evaluation experience. Thanks, Boss! I really appreciate the gift.
Monday, November 06, 2006
La Jolla Canyon
The La Jolla Canyon Legend 18k Race was in a word - legendary. Trite, I know, but all the other words I might used to describe it are over used as well. Words and phrases like awesome, fun, a good time, a kick in the pants. I really enjoyed this run. A trail run to me means a more laid back attitude. I decided to treat this as a run rather than a race. I did have a time goal and I did keep an eye on the watch but mostly I just enjoyed myself.
The race was scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. The trailhead was about 1.5 hours from my house. I wanted to arrive around 7:30 so I left home at 6:00. One nice thing about the race being postponed from last weekend is the earlier sunrise of Pacific Standard Time. The sun was up at 6:00 and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Unfortunately where I live is no predictor for the weather at the beach. The only bummer about the postponement was that I was missing out on an awesome trail run planned by Jessica. Jeff, Nattie and a couple of blogless trail runners joined her. You can read about the adventure at both Jess and Nattie's blogs. This would have been a great long training run for Tecumseh.
The drive over to Pt. Mugu was bright and sunny until about half a mile from the beach on Kanan Dume Rd. Kanan Dume connects the 101 freeway with Pacific Coast Highway through the Santa Monica Mountains. At that point the fog became so thick it was difficult to see. As I continued west along PCH the fog thinned and by the time I reached La Jolla Canyon the sun was shining beautifully again. It was at this point that I realized that sunscreen might have been a good idea.
An odd thought struck me about how places are named in southern California. The Santa Monica Mountains are miles from the town named Santa Monica. And the town of La Jolla is near San Diego nearly 180 miles from La Jolla Canyon. I guess whoever named all these places back in the day wasn't the most creative thinker.
Back to the run, I parked along PCH and had plenty of time to take care of business at the facilities, walk to registration, and take the goodie bag back to the car and get back to the starting line.
The run takes off up hill right away, no warming up mile on this one. The group was small, 118 finishers, and we fell into a single file line pretty quickly. Right out of the box we hit the rock stairs. We were basically forced to follow along single file until there was a hint of widening in the trail to get by. By the end of mile 2 we were pretty spread out there wasn't much passing going on or necessary for that matter. There was a relatively flat section between mile 1.5 and 2 then a long slow climb up to mile three. As I looked ahead nearly everyone in sight was walking the hill. I did the best I could to keep some semblance of running pace. I did walk some but passed at least two people. Mile 3 brought us out to a spectacular view of the ocean and a flat section of trail along the hill above the beach. I saw the mile marker and checked the watch. 38:24 for 3 miles of pretty brutal up hills.
Mile 3 to 4, was run in 8:35 on a pretty nice downhill section that started to take us back inland. I mentally prepared myself for some more uphill. Somewhere along here was the first water stop. I actually stopped and drank a cup of water, mostly just for the rest. Mile 4 to 6.5 or so were run through a large grassy meadow. At times when I looked ahead I could not tell where the trail went. The only clue was the 12 inch swatch of dirt on the ground that was clear. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of a runner or two in front of me. I covered mile 5 in 9:32. This put me at just over 11:00 miles, about right were I expected to be based on my recent trail runs. Somewhere along here I took half a Clifshot.
We eventually connected with a fire road that climbed up from mile 6.5 to 9. Running the fire road was very familiar, reminding me of my runs in Bonelli or Chino Hills SP. Mile 6 and 7 went by in 21:03. My total time was 1:17. I was pretty proud of myself for actually being able to do the math while running to determine that I was exactly on 11:00 miles.
Mile 8 was kind of rolling and still on the fire road at 9:56. It was at this point that I began leap frogging another runner. I would motor up the hills and pass him, and then on the flats or downs he would bop on by me. We kept this up for a least a mile. Somewhere between 8 and 9 we left the fire road and headed back onto some single track. I polished off the Clifshot around here. The last aid station was between 8 and 9 and my frogger buddy stopped and I kept going. Mile 9 in 9:18.
Mile 9 marked the beginning of the home stretch. We came back around the front of the mountain and had a wonderful view of the ocean down below. The next two miles were a nice long down hill. The trail was switchbacks at a nice decline. The downhill wasn't so steep that I had to put on the breaks every step. It was the kind of downhill where I felt like I could just let it fly. Mile 10 came up at 8:17, followed by mile 11 at 7:54. I had passed at least three people on the down hill; nobody had passed me, at least until the very end. I was within 0.2 mile of the finish line when my frogger buddy came up from behind and beat me to the finish by 10 seconds.
La Jolla Canyon Legend was 18K (11.2 miles) of pure running joy. The course was well marked and the mile markers seemed to be pretty accurate. Sure the uphills were tough, but the 18K distance was just enough so that I wasn't completely worn out at the end. I had beaten my goal time of sub 2:00. I had determined, worse case at 11:00 miles, that I would finish in 2:01. I was fairly confident that I could. My watch was 1:53:28.
We were treated to a medal and breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit, coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut. I hung out for nearly 1.5 hours after the race. They gave away a lof of door prizes. I didn't win anything. I was waiting for the awards. I really had no feel for my placement but I was curious none the less, due to the rather small field. The organizers were having computing problems so I ended up leaving without official results.
Since then the results have been posted, 1:53:26. 68 out of 118 (58% finished ahead of me). They used 10 year age groups so I was 14 of 23 (61% ahead of me). If they had used 5 year age groups I was the 4th M 45-49. The 3rd place guy beat me by just over a minute. A minute is a long way on a trail run. So it wasn't my fastest race ever, but it was one heck of a run. I can still claim an 18K PR!
I ran Bonelli, 5 miles as usual, on Sunday but I waited until the late afternoon. The park was deserted and it was nice to enjoy the cooling air of the evening. I finished up well before sunset.
Final miles for the week: 30.2
The race was scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. The trailhead was about 1.5 hours from my house. I wanted to arrive around 7:30 so I left home at 6:00. One nice thing about the race being postponed from last weekend is the earlier sunrise of Pacific Standard Time. The sun was up at 6:00 and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Unfortunately where I live is no predictor for the weather at the beach. The only bummer about the postponement was that I was missing out on an awesome trail run planned by Jessica. Jeff, Nattie and a couple of blogless trail runners joined her. You can read about the adventure at both Jess and Nattie's blogs. This would have been a great long training run for Tecumseh.
The drive over to Pt. Mugu was bright and sunny until about half a mile from the beach on Kanan Dume Rd. Kanan Dume connects the 101 freeway with Pacific Coast Highway through the Santa Monica Mountains. At that point the fog became so thick it was difficult to see. As I continued west along PCH the fog thinned and by the time I reached La Jolla Canyon the sun was shining beautifully again. It was at this point that I realized that sunscreen might have been a good idea.
An odd thought struck me about how places are named in southern California. The Santa Monica Mountains are miles from the town named Santa Monica. And the town of La Jolla is near San Diego nearly 180 miles from La Jolla Canyon. I guess whoever named all these places back in the day wasn't the most creative thinker.
Back to the run, I parked along PCH and had plenty of time to take care of business at the facilities, walk to registration, and take the goodie bag back to the car and get back to the starting line.
The run takes off up hill right away, no warming up mile on this one. The group was small, 118 finishers, and we fell into a single file line pretty quickly. Right out of the box we hit the rock stairs. We were basically forced to follow along single file until there was a hint of widening in the trail to get by. By the end of mile 2 we were pretty spread out there wasn't much passing going on or necessary for that matter. There was a relatively flat section between mile 1.5 and 2 then a long slow climb up to mile three. As I looked ahead nearly everyone in sight was walking the hill. I did the best I could to keep some semblance of running pace. I did walk some but passed at least two people. Mile 3 brought us out to a spectacular view of the ocean and a flat section of trail along the hill above the beach. I saw the mile marker and checked the watch. 38:24 for 3 miles of pretty brutal up hills.
Mile 3 to 4, was run in 8:35 on a pretty nice downhill section that started to take us back inland. I mentally prepared myself for some more uphill. Somewhere along here was the first water stop. I actually stopped and drank a cup of water, mostly just for the rest. Mile 4 to 6.5 or so were run through a large grassy meadow. At times when I looked ahead I could not tell where the trail went. The only clue was the 12 inch swatch of dirt on the ground that was clear. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of a runner or two in front of me. I covered mile 5 in 9:32. This put me at just over 11:00 miles, about right were I expected to be based on my recent trail runs. Somewhere along here I took half a Clifshot.We eventually connected with a fire road that climbed up from mile 6.5 to 9. Running the fire road was very familiar, reminding me of my runs in Bonelli or Chino Hills SP. Mile 6 and 7 went by in 21:03. My total time was 1:17. I was pretty proud of myself for actually being able to do the math while running to determine that I was exactly on 11:00 miles.
Mile 8 was kind of rolling and still on the fire road at 9:56. It was at this point that I began leap frogging another runner. I would motor up the hills and pass him, and then on the flats or downs he would bop on by me. We kept this up for a least a mile. Somewhere between 8 and 9 we left the fire road and headed back onto some single track. I polished off the Clifshot around here. The last aid station was between 8 and 9 and my frogger buddy stopped and I kept going. Mile 9 in 9:18.
Mile 9 marked the beginning of the home stretch. We came back around the front of the mountain and had a wonderful view of the ocean down below. The next two miles were a nice long down hill. The trail was switchbacks at a nice decline. The downhill wasn't so steep that I had to put on the breaks every step. It was the kind of downhill where I felt like I could just let it fly. Mile 10 came up at 8:17, followed by mile 11 at 7:54. I had passed at least three people on the down hill; nobody had passed me, at least until the very end. I was within 0.2 mile of the finish line when my frogger buddy came up from behind and beat me to the finish by 10 seconds.
La Jolla Canyon Legend was 18K (11.2 miles) of pure running joy. The course was well marked and the mile markers seemed to be pretty accurate. Sure the uphills were tough, but the 18K distance was just enough so that I wasn't completely worn out at the end. I had beaten my goal time of sub 2:00. I had determined, worse case at 11:00 miles, that I would finish in 2:01. I was fairly confident that I could. My watch was 1:53:28.
We were treated to a medal and breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit, coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut. I hung out for nearly 1.5 hours after the race. They gave away a lof of door prizes. I didn't win anything. I was waiting for the awards. I really had no feel for my placement but I was curious none the less, due to the rather small field. The organizers were having computing problems so I ended up leaving without official results.
Since then the results have been posted, 1:53:26. 68 out of 118 (58% finished ahead of me). They used 10 year age groups so I was 14 of 23 (61% ahead of me). If they had used 5 year age groups I was the 4th M 45-49. The 3rd place guy beat me by just over a minute. A minute is a long way on a trail run. So it wasn't my fastest race ever, but it was one heck of a run. I can still claim an 18K PR!
I ran Bonelli, 5 miles as usual, on Sunday but I waited until the late afternoon. The park was deserted and it was nice to enjoy the cooling air of the evening. I finished up well before sunset.
Final miles for the week: 30.2
Sunday, November 05, 2006
October 2006 Wrap Up
October 2006 miles = 119.7
This is the lowest monthly mileage yet for 2006, yet it is right on par with my average for 2005. Months with a marathon in them really suffer for overall mileage, with the big taper week before and recovery week after. The remainder of the month I've also purposely cut back to give my hip some time to recuperate. For the most part it seems to be working.
I think I am going to continue to keep my miles on the low side for the rest of 2006 and then begin to ramp things up in January 2007 for my spring marathon.
This is the lowest monthly mileage yet for 2006, yet it is right on par with my average for 2005. Months with a marathon in them really suffer for overall mileage, with the big taper week before and recovery week after. The remainder of the month I've also purposely cut back to give my hip some time to recuperate. For the most part it seems to be working.
I think I am going to continue to keep my miles on the low side for the rest of 2006 and then begin to ramp things up in January 2007 for my spring marathon.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Me and My Shadow
I was accompanied last night by an ever changing set of companions on my easy 4 miler in Via Verde. As I proceeded from street light to street light I was aware of my shadow. I was fascinated watching my shadow appear at my side then race ahead of me getting taller and taller as it went, eventually fading away only to be joined by a new version right next to me. At some points I had a partner on my side and in front. I imagine I had one behind me too, but I don't have a 180 degree swivel neck so I can't be sure. I can't really know why I noticed this tonight, but it was fun to watch and made the run go by pretty quickly.
Wednesday was 6 miles with at least a portion of that at marathon pace. Because of the time change I don't run on the bike path at the dam after work. I depended on the mile markings there. For the next few months I will fall back on the 6 mile route around neighborhood streets. As an alternative to running a known distance I ran for time. After about a 1.5 mile warm up, I picked up the pace. I set my watch for 8 minute intervals. I ran at the faster pace for 24 minutes followed by about a 1.5 mile cool down. While I can't be sure of my pace I guess I put in about 3 miles at a faster pace. It felt pretty good to be moving along like that.
I moved my Tuesday run up to Monday. I figured there was going to be enough traffic out on Halloween, I didn't need to add to it. I ended that run at my mother-in-law's house. My wife and son met me there. We broke into Grandma's stash of Halloween candy. You know after an easy 4 miler, a guys got to replace those carbs!
I looks like we are on for the La Jolla Legend this weekend. It should be fun.
Wednesday was 6 miles with at least a portion of that at marathon pace. Because of the time change I don't run on the bike path at the dam after work. I depended on the mile markings there. For the next few months I will fall back on the 6 mile route around neighborhood streets. As an alternative to running a known distance I ran for time. After about a 1.5 mile warm up, I picked up the pace. I set my watch for 8 minute intervals. I ran at the faster pace for 24 minutes followed by about a 1.5 mile cool down. While I can't be sure of my pace I guess I put in about 3 miles at a faster pace. It felt pretty good to be moving along like that.
I moved my Tuesday run up to Monday. I figured there was going to be enough traffic out on Halloween, I didn't need to add to it. I ended that run at my mother-in-law's house. My wife and son met me there. We broke into Grandma's stash of Halloween candy. You know after an easy 4 miler, a guys got to replace those carbs!
I looks like we are on for the La Jolla Legend this weekend. It should be fun.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Postponed
The La Jolla Legend races were postponed due to "Fire Danger & Red Flag Warnings" There are no specific fires in the area that I'm aware of, but with the dry hot Santa Ana winds blowing the conditions are right for a fire and for it to spread rapidly. The new race date is next weekend, which makes a little better sense schedule-wise anyway.
Thursday, I came home from work in a crabby mood. I was frustrated about the way a couple of things at work are going, about my darn hip bugging me most of the day and number #2 son procrastinating with his homework. I started to change into my running stuff and then decided the heck with it. Instead, I stayed home and shared my crabbiness with my wife and son. That was nice of me, huh?
Because my running plans for Saturday were postponed, I decided to go for a run in Chino Hills State Park. Friday evening I tried rounding up a partner. I gave Terry a call, but she was suffering from a pretty bad cold and had missed work the last two days. I tried Jesse, but he had an appointment at 9 on Saturday morning and had hurt his knee just a couple of days before.
My schedule (self imposed) called for 18 miles. With the planned 18k race that day, I originally thought I might make up the difference later in the afternoon with a jaunt through Bonelli. Last time I had run Chino Hills with the Cruisers and Jeff was a pretty tough effort at 16.2 miles so I didn't think I really wanted to go that far. I decided to just play it by ear, or I should say by legs, and determine the mileage as I went.
I got a slightly late start at 8:00 a.m. and headed into the back end of the park. I started up the North Ridge Trail. Within a mile, I ran into a runner heading out. He turned out to be the only runner I saw for the rest of the day. The North Ridge Trail is a relentless uphill for a good 4 miles before even a hint of down hill. After that there are a couple of down sections but overall the trail continues to climb. The last time I ran this with Jeff, Jesse, Michelle and Jim we headed down Sycamore Trail. Today I decided to keep on going out North Ridge until it eventually descended into Four Corners, the central hub of CHSP. This section of North Ridge had the steepest ascents yet, followed by a pretty steep decent into Four Corners. My efforts were rewarded with some amazing panoramic views of the valley and the mountains to the north. It was worth the steep hill. On this whole section I hadn't seen another soul for 3 or 4 miles. It was quite peaceful. I figured I had gone at least 6.5 miles. It had taken me 1:10, nearly 11 minute pace. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that.
My legs still felt really good at that point, much better than they had felt last week in Aliso Woods at 7 miles. I contemplated continuing east on Telegraph for a couple of miles before making the trip out, but ultimately decided that I should get out while the getting was good. I took a little break and talked to a couple of mountain bikers. They headed up Bovinian Delight to South Ridge and I headed back up North Ridge.
I intended on making my way out of CHSP down Telegraph, but before I did I added the little section back up the steep single track at the end of North Ridge and connected to McDermott Trail which led right back to Telegraph and added about a mile onto the run. Once I hit Telegraph it was a straight shot, roughly 6 miles out through the canyon back to the car.
Telegraph was way more popular than North Ridge. There were probably 20 or so bikers on the way in, in groups of 1 to 4. Near the end of the trail I came upon at least two groups of people hiking in. One biker I came across commented, "Hey, what happened? Did you lose your bike?" I thought that was pretty funny, maybe a little lame but better than being ignored. At one point I heard a pretty loud rustling to my left. More rustling than the birds would make. I looked up in time to see a deer crossing a small clearing. I stopped and ended up watching two more deer cross the clearing before I continued on.
My legs held up pretty well. They began to get tired but never to the state that they had the week before, i.e. no walk breaks required. I was a bit surprised at my time,at 1:14, on the way out considering the relatively flat to moderately downhill nature of Telegraph. This makes two weeks in a row that I've done the second "easy" half of a run in longer time than the first "hard" half. This doesn't make me feel too good about my current level of stamina. All together, I figure I covered about 13.5 miles at about 10:40 pace, way slow for my normal flatlander pace.
Sunday morning, I beat the alarm out of bed thanks to the end of daylight savings time. I drove over to Bonelli and got started at 7 PST (8 PDT). There was a significant line of cars trying to get into Bonelli. Some of them were parking in the Park & Ride lot. I was able to find a space. I asked someone in the line what was going on in Bonelli. It was the Muddy Buddy. They told me the race was scheduled to start at 8:30. This gave me plenty of time to get my run in and be out of there before it got started. The race route was marked and was only on the northern half of my loop. I got done today in 49:59, nearly 2.5 minutes faster than last week. By the time I left Bonelli around 8 there was still a significant line of cars waiting to get into the park. The backup extended onto the 57 freeway as well.
Someday I would like to try the Muddy Buddy. I've talked with two friends - both Bills, both better bikers than runners - about teaming up to do this thing but we never get anything solid together. Maybe next year. At the very least maybe I'll volunteer, since it is so close to home.
Miles for the week: 28.5
Thursday, I came home from work in a crabby mood. I was frustrated about the way a couple of things at work are going, about my darn hip bugging me most of the day and number #2 son procrastinating with his homework. I started to change into my running stuff and then decided the heck with it. Instead, I stayed home and shared my crabbiness with my wife and son. That was nice of me, huh?
Because my running plans for Saturday were postponed, I decided to go for a run in Chino Hills State Park. Friday evening I tried rounding up a partner. I gave Terry a call, but she was suffering from a pretty bad cold and had missed work the last two days. I tried Jesse, but he had an appointment at 9 on Saturday morning and had hurt his knee just a couple of days before.
My schedule (self imposed) called for 18 miles. With the planned 18k race that day, I originally thought I might make up the difference later in the afternoon with a jaunt through Bonelli. Last time I had run Chino Hills with the Cruisers and Jeff was a pretty tough effort at 16.2 miles so I didn't think I really wanted to go that far. I decided to just play it by ear, or I should say by legs, and determine the mileage as I went.
I got a slightly late start at 8:00 a.m. and headed into the back end of the park. I started up the North Ridge Trail. Within a mile, I ran into a runner heading out. He turned out to be the only runner I saw for the rest of the day. The North Ridge Trail is a relentless uphill for a good 4 miles before even a hint of down hill. After that there are a couple of down sections but overall the trail continues to climb. The last time I ran this with Jeff, Jesse, Michelle and Jim we headed down Sycamore Trail. Today I decided to keep on going out North Ridge until it eventually descended into Four Corners, the central hub of CHSP. This section of North Ridge had the steepest ascents yet, followed by a pretty steep decent into Four Corners. My efforts were rewarded with some amazing panoramic views of the valley and the mountains to the north. It was worth the steep hill. On this whole section I hadn't seen another soul for 3 or 4 miles. It was quite peaceful. I figured I had gone at least 6.5 miles. It had taken me 1:10, nearly 11 minute pace. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that.
My legs still felt really good at that point, much better than they had felt last week in Aliso Woods at 7 miles. I contemplated continuing east on Telegraph for a couple of miles before making the trip out, but ultimately decided that I should get out while the getting was good. I took a little break and talked to a couple of mountain bikers. They headed up Bovinian Delight to South Ridge and I headed back up North Ridge.
I intended on making my way out of CHSP down Telegraph, but before I did I added the little section back up the steep single track at the end of North Ridge and connected to McDermott Trail which led right back to Telegraph and added about a mile onto the run. Once I hit Telegraph it was a straight shot, roughly 6 miles out through the canyon back to the car.
Telegraph was way more popular than North Ridge. There were probably 20 or so bikers on the way in, in groups of 1 to 4. Near the end of the trail I came upon at least two groups of people hiking in. One biker I came across commented, "Hey, what happened? Did you lose your bike?" I thought that was pretty funny, maybe a little lame but better than being ignored. At one point I heard a pretty loud rustling to my left. More rustling than the birds would make. I looked up in time to see a deer crossing a small clearing. I stopped and ended up watching two more deer cross the clearing before I continued on.
My legs held up pretty well. They began to get tired but never to the state that they had the week before, i.e. no walk breaks required. I was a bit surprised at my time,at 1:14, on the way out considering the relatively flat to moderately downhill nature of Telegraph. This makes two weeks in a row that I've done the second "easy" half of a run in longer time than the first "hard" half. This doesn't make me feel too good about my current level of stamina. All together, I figure I covered about 13.5 miles at about 10:40 pace, way slow for my normal flatlander pace.
Sunday morning, I beat the alarm out of bed thanks to the end of daylight savings time. I drove over to Bonelli and got started at 7 PST (8 PDT). There was a significant line of cars trying to get into Bonelli. Some of them were parking in the Park & Ride lot. I was able to find a space. I asked someone in the line what was going on in Bonelli. It was the Muddy Buddy. They told me the race was scheduled to start at 8:30. This gave me plenty of time to get my run in and be out of there before it got started. The race route was marked and was only on the northern half of my loop. I got done today in 49:59, nearly 2.5 minutes faster than last week. By the time I left Bonelli around 8 there was still a significant line of cars waiting to get into the park. The backup extended onto the 57 freeway as well.
Someday I would like to try the Muddy Buddy. I've talked with two friends - both Bills, both better bikers than runners - about teaming up to do this thing but we never get anything solid together. Maybe next year. At the very least maybe I'll volunteer, since it is so close to home.
Miles for the week: 28.5
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
A Preview
Dean Karnazes ran the Tecumseh Trail Marathon today as #39 in his 50 state challenge. Reading his blog entry gave me a better idea of just what Joe and I are in for in 5.5 weeks. Challenging and fun, but then I already expected that. Don't think I didn't take notice of his finish time of 4:45:21.
Check it out here.
So far this week its just been an easy 4 on Tuesday over in Via Verde on the horse path and an easy 6 tonight on the Santa Fe Dam bike path. Mile 2 came in at 8:08, closer to marathon pace than I wanted to be. I forced myself to slow down a little and ended the run with a 8:24 overall pace. I've got another easy 4 tomorrow then the Xterra Scramble La Jolla Canyon Legend 18k on Saturday.
Check it out here.
So far this week its just been an easy 4 on Tuesday over in Via Verde on the horse path and an easy 6 tonight on the Santa Fe Dam bike path. Mile 2 came in at 8:08, closer to marathon pace than I wanted to be. I forced myself to slow down a little and ended the run with a 8:24 overall pace. I've got another easy 4 tomorrow then the Xterra Scramble La Jolla Canyon Legend 18k on Saturday.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
ReShredded?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Bryan, our son, wanted to spend the day at the NPPL tournament at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Saturday. He wanted to be there about the time that I would normally be in the middle of my run. My wife would also be at her yoga class. I can run anytime so I got him there around 9:00 and then drove on down to Laguna Niguel for my run in Aliso & Wood Canyon.
I was surprised at the number of cars there around 9:45. I had thought that maybe a lot of people would have gotten out early and been done. I had checked by log and blog entry from the last time I ran this with the Cruisers and Jeff. The trip from the parking lot up the canyon trails, up Cholla and Westridge to the Top of the World was 14 miles roundtrip. My schedule called for 12. Since I wouldn’t be able to tell where the 6 mile turnaround was I decided to do the whole 14.
About 3 miles into the run I came upon a lady runner. We exchanged greetings and I commented on our late start. It was at least 10:00 by then. She asked me if I was going to Cholla and back. I told her my plans to make it to Top of the World and back. She commented that I had a long day ahead of me. I wouldn’t realize until later just how long.
It was pretty warm out there. We are having a pretty typical heat wave for October in SoCal. When I got to Cholla, I determined to make it all the way up without a walk step this time (Jeff!). I made it and then took a nice little break at the top. Up to that point I had only seen about a half dozen runners, most of them heading out and a couple dozen bikers. I’m not sure who was in all those cars in the parking lot.
On the way up Westridge, I started feeling the toll of the heat and the up hill. Basically the run is 7 miles up, from the canyon to Top of the World, followed by 7 miles back down. I crested what I thought was the last hill, even walking part of it, to find that I still had another section and hill to go before I got to TotW. I thought about calling it 6 but kept going. I really needed to refill my water at the fountain at the Top. I walked part of that hill too. Last time I commented that the hills on Westridge weren’t too tough. Saturday I’d say they were a lot tougher. I took another break at the top and then headed on down.
The run down was pretty uneventful through Cholla and about halfway down the Canyon trails. About 11 miles into the run, I was getting really tired. I began to take 1 minute walk breaks and then shuffled along. The walk breaks stayed at a minute but came closer and closer together. Finally, the last mile I think I walked more of it than I ran. I had absolutely no gas, no steam, no nothing left. I remembered feeling like this at about the same point on my runs after SEAFAIR. Here I was two weeks post SGM with nothing in the tanks. I promised myself that after Tecumseh, I would take some time off.
As I approached the last 100 yards of the trail or so, I began to run again. It was a joke. I wasn’t fooling anybody that would have seen me. I certainly wasn’t fooling myself, but I just couldn’t “cross the finish line” walking. My time up was 1:11; my time down was 1:22, pretty pitiful. I had expected to negative split considering the downhill return.
I learned that Aliso & Wood Canyons are more challenging than I first remembered. There is almost no tree cover so running in the middle of the day is not the best idea. Having a partner along would have kept the motivation level up. I was also happy to find out that my legs didn’t end up with that shredded feeling of the last run.
I followed up today with my usual Bonelli loop (clockwise). I woke up on time and contemplated going later in the day to ease the Sunday morning breakfast/church crunch. Then I remembered how warm it got yesterday and jumped up to take advantage of the morning coolness. I’m glad I did its 85°F right now at 4:30 p.m. I didn’t break any land speed records this morning (52:21), but my legs felt good.
Miles for the 31.
On a random note, on the trail Saturday, I came upon a couple walking the coolest dog. It turns out it was a Labradoodle. It looked like a curly haired Lab. It had a super easy going personality. I like larger dogs. We currently have a German Shepherd mix, Boomer. I doubt that I would actually seek out this breed, especially since they are considered designer, but this particular one was intriguing.
I was surprised at the number of cars there around 9:45. I had thought that maybe a lot of people would have gotten out early and been done. I had checked by log and blog entry from the last time I ran this with the Cruisers and Jeff. The trip from the parking lot up the canyon trails, up Cholla and Westridge to the Top of the World was 14 miles roundtrip. My schedule called for 12. Since I wouldn’t be able to tell where the 6 mile turnaround was I decided to do the whole 14.
About 3 miles into the run I came upon a lady runner. We exchanged greetings and I commented on our late start. It was at least 10:00 by then. She asked me if I was going to Cholla and back. I told her my plans to make it to Top of the World and back. She commented that I had a long day ahead of me. I wouldn’t realize until later just how long.
It was pretty warm out there. We are having a pretty typical heat wave for October in SoCal. When I got to Cholla, I determined to make it all the way up without a walk step this time (Jeff!). I made it and then took a nice little break at the top. Up to that point I had only seen about a half dozen runners, most of them heading out and a couple dozen bikers. I’m not sure who was in all those cars in the parking lot.
On the way up Westridge, I started feeling the toll of the heat and the up hill. Basically the run is 7 miles up, from the canyon to Top of the World, followed by 7 miles back down. I crested what I thought was the last hill, even walking part of it, to find that I still had another section and hill to go before I got to TotW. I thought about calling it 6 but kept going. I really needed to refill my water at the fountain at the Top. I walked part of that hill too. Last time I commented that the hills on Westridge weren’t too tough. Saturday I’d say they were a lot tougher. I took another break at the top and then headed on down.
The run down was pretty uneventful through Cholla and about halfway down the Canyon trails. About 11 miles into the run, I was getting really tired. I began to take 1 minute walk breaks and then shuffled along. The walk breaks stayed at a minute but came closer and closer together. Finally, the last mile I think I walked more of it than I ran. I had absolutely no gas, no steam, no nothing left. I remembered feeling like this at about the same point on my runs after SEAFAIR. Here I was two weeks post SGM with nothing in the tanks. I promised myself that after Tecumseh, I would take some time off.
As I approached the last 100 yards of the trail or so, I began to run again. It was a joke. I wasn’t fooling anybody that would have seen me. I certainly wasn’t fooling myself, but I just couldn’t “cross the finish line” walking. My time up was 1:11; my time down was 1:22, pretty pitiful. I had expected to negative split considering the downhill return.
I learned that Aliso & Wood Canyons are more challenging than I first remembered. There is almost no tree cover so running in the middle of the day is not the best idea. Having a partner along would have kept the motivation level up. I was also happy to find out that my legs didn’t end up with that shredded feeling of the last run.
I followed up today with my usual Bonelli loop (clockwise). I woke up on time and contemplated going later in the day to ease the Sunday morning breakfast/church crunch. Then I remembered how warm it got yesterday and jumped up to take advantage of the morning coolness. I’m glad I did its 85°F right now at 4:30 p.m. I didn’t break any land speed records this morning (52:21), but my legs felt good.
Miles for the 31.
On a random note, on the trail Saturday, I came upon a couple walking the coolest dog. It turns out it was a Labradoodle. It looked like a curly haired Lab. It had a super easy going personality. I like larger dogs. We currently have a German Shepherd mix, Boomer. I doubt that I would actually seek out this breed, especially since they are considered designer, but this particular one was intriguing.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Back at It
Did anybody notice that my oldest son, the one off at cooking school in San Diego, commented on the blog after SGM. Very cool. That brought a big old smile to dear old Dad's face.
Well, this week I'm back at it, albeit, with a fairly relaxed attitude. December will be here like tomorrow.
Tuesday I had planned an easy 3 miler. I had already determined not to wear the watch. My back and neck have been kind of all tweaky since the marathon. I hate to keep harping on it, but I think this hip/muscle thing has everything a little tweaked. Before I even started the run, I had the twinge of a head ache. I sometimes get these nasty headaches that start on the right side of my neck and then circle my head and make my eyeballs feel like they are going to burst. Sometimes these are brought on by dehydration, but I had tried to drink a lot of water throughout the day. Once I get running everything usually loosens up and I'm alright. Tuesday's easy 3 turned into THE worst run EVER. Even before I hit the first mile the pain in my head was so severe, each step felt like my head would explode. I finally had to walk for about a quarter of a mile. I was too stubborn to turn back early. I finally was able to start "jogging" again and finished up most of the run. I ended up walking the last quarter as well. Its a good thing I hadn't timed this one, I hadn't "run' this slow ever. After a couple of acetaminophen when I got home and dinner I felt a little better.
Wednesday, my back and neck were sore most of the day. Wednesday I headed over to the Dam right after work for a 6 miler. The multiple marathon schedule called for 6 miles at marathon pace. I've never really tried to do a pace run so decided to give it a try. I had just been reading about them here when I was figuring out my schedule. I decided to see how my head would feel after yesterday to determine just how far I would go at pace. I also had planned on a mile warm up and another cool down. The first mile I took it easy for 9:30 which includes the hill to get up on top of the dam. At the mile marker I ramped up the speed, attempting to get to 8:00 miles. I hit that 2nd mile in 8:08. Not too bad, I thought, since I don't have a really good feel for this. I kept going on pace for mile 3 and finished that one in 7:32. Whoa, how did that happen? I actually felt pretty good. A headache did not appear. At this point its a turn around to retrace my steps back to the car for 3 more. I opted for mile 4 as a recovery mile at 8:54 including a 30 second walk break at the beginning. Mile 5 I jumped back into the pace part and finished that one in 7:30. I finished up the last cool down mile in 8:23. I was pretty happy with the way the whole thing worked out. I think next time I'll try to put 3 miles together in the middle with 1.5 miles on either end at a slower pace. Eventually kicking it up to a full 4 at marathon pace over the next few weeks before Tecumseh. Since I'm not focusing on speed there, I thought this relaxed cycle would be a good time to try something new. Ultimately I need to extend those pace runs farther and farther. I need to string together 26.2 miles at less that 8:00 to get that BQ.
Tonight I went out for another easy 3 over in Via Verde. Everything felt pretty good. After the run I picked up Veggie burritos from Taco Ready. That definitely hit the spot.
I'm not sure what Saturday's run will be. Bryan needs a ride to a paintball thing in the OC so I may head out to Aliso and Wood Canyon late in the morning.
My check for registration for Tecumseh cleared the bank today. Everything is coming together.
In reply to some of your comments:
Wes: me worry, no way! and I'll pretty much guarantee I won't be spending that kind of change on a pair of aluminum running spikes that I'll wear once.
Rice: I actually love hills. Although I'm more of a mule than a mountain goat on the way up.
Well, this week I'm back at it, albeit, with a fairly relaxed attitude. December will be here like tomorrow.
Tuesday I had planned an easy 3 miler. I had already determined not to wear the watch. My back and neck have been kind of all tweaky since the marathon. I hate to keep harping on it, but I think this hip/muscle thing has everything a little tweaked. Before I even started the run, I had the twinge of a head ache. I sometimes get these nasty headaches that start on the right side of my neck and then circle my head and make my eyeballs feel like they are going to burst. Sometimes these are brought on by dehydration, but I had tried to drink a lot of water throughout the day. Once I get running everything usually loosens up and I'm alright. Tuesday's easy 3 turned into THE worst run EVER. Even before I hit the first mile the pain in my head was so severe, each step felt like my head would explode. I finally had to walk for about a quarter of a mile. I was too stubborn to turn back early. I finally was able to start "jogging" again and finished up most of the run. I ended up walking the last quarter as well. Its a good thing I hadn't timed this one, I hadn't "run' this slow ever. After a couple of acetaminophen when I got home and dinner I felt a little better.
Wednesday, my back and neck were sore most of the day. Wednesday I headed over to the Dam right after work for a 6 miler. The multiple marathon schedule called for 6 miles at marathon pace. I've never really tried to do a pace run so decided to give it a try. I had just been reading about them here when I was figuring out my schedule. I decided to see how my head would feel after yesterday to determine just how far I would go at pace. I also had planned on a mile warm up and another cool down. The first mile I took it easy for 9:30 which includes the hill to get up on top of the dam. At the mile marker I ramped up the speed, attempting to get to 8:00 miles. I hit that 2nd mile in 8:08. Not too bad, I thought, since I don't have a really good feel for this. I kept going on pace for mile 3 and finished that one in 7:32. Whoa, how did that happen? I actually felt pretty good. A headache did not appear. At this point its a turn around to retrace my steps back to the car for 3 more. I opted for mile 4 as a recovery mile at 8:54 including a 30 second walk break at the beginning. Mile 5 I jumped back into the pace part and finished that one in 7:30. I finished up the last cool down mile in 8:23. I was pretty happy with the way the whole thing worked out. I think next time I'll try to put 3 miles together in the middle with 1.5 miles on either end at a slower pace. Eventually kicking it up to a full 4 at marathon pace over the next few weeks before Tecumseh. Since I'm not focusing on speed there, I thought this relaxed cycle would be a good time to try something new. Ultimately I need to extend those pace runs farther and farther. I need to string together 26.2 miles at less that 8:00 to get that BQ.
Tonight I went out for another easy 3 over in Via Verde. Everything felt pretty good. After the run I picked up Veggie burritos from Taco Ready. That definitely hit the spot.
I'm not sure what Saturday's run will be. Bryan needs a ride to a paintball thing in the OC so I may head out to Aliso and Wood Canyon late in the morning.
My check for registration for Tecumseh cleared the bank today. Everything is coming together.
In reply to some of your comments:
Wes: me worry, no way! and I'll pretty much guarantee I won't be spending that kind of change on a pair of aluminum running spikes that I'll wear once.
Rice: I actually love hills. Although I'm more of a mule than a mountain goat on the way up.
Monday, October 16, 2006
A Prediction of Things to Come
I track my runs in one of those spiral bond running journals. The top of every week has a motivational quote. This week's is:
You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot. - Don Kardong (American writer & Olympian).
I thought that was pretty curious timing since today starts the "official training" for Tecumseh, which reportedly has its fair share of hills. Ironic? But wait, to top things off in today's mail I got a flyer for this snazzy little item. Should I start worrying? It hasn't snowed on Tecumseh in its short 3 year history, but the northern and eastern part of the country have been experiencing unusually early snowfalls this year. Makes a 24-year So Cal transplant shiver to think about it.
With only 8 weeks between marathons I had to work up a schedule. I took the first week off as recovery from St. George, so now I've only got 7 weeks left. I've decided that I will take this cycle easy. I took my cues from Hal Higdon's multiple marathon schedule. During the week I'll be putting in 14 miles over 3 days, with a long run on Saturday and my favorite Bonelli 5-mile loop on Sundays. I plan on keeping the pace easy during the week and hitting as many trail runs as possible for the long runs.
I got an email the other day about the La Jolla Canyon Legend 18 and 11K races next weekend and am considering running it. The 18K is less than the 18 miles I had planned for that day but I can hardly pass up the opportunity to run the trails. This race is put on by the same people that put on the Malibu Creek Trail Challenge I did in 2005. I enjoyed that one, I expect that I'll enjoy this one too.
Maybe I am an idiot, but I intend on enjoying the next 7 weeks. I'll start worrying about the weather around week 5.
You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot. - Don Kardong (American writer & Olympian).
I thought that was pretty curious timing since today starts the "official training" for Tecumseh, which reportedly has its fair share of hills. Ironic? But wait, to top things off in today's mail I got a flyer for this snazzy little item. Should I start worrying? It hasn't snowed on Tecumseh in its short 3 year history, but the northern and eastern part of the country have been experiencing unusually early snowfalls this year. Makes a 24-year So Cal transplant shiver to think about it.
With only 8 weeks between marathons I had to work up a schedule. I took the first week off as recovery from St. George, so now I've only got 7 weeks left. I've decided that I will take this cycle easy. I took my cues from Hal Higdon's multiple marathon schedule. During the week I'll be putting in 14 miles over 3 days, with a long run on Saturday and my favorite Bonelli 5-mile loop on Sundays. I plan on keeping the pace easy during the week and hitting as many trail runs as possible for the long runs.
I got an email the other day about the La Jolla Canyon Legend 18 and 11K races next weekend and am considering running it. The 18K is less than the 18 miles I had planned for that day but I can hardly pass up the opportunity to run the trails. This race is put on by the same people that put on the Malibu Creek Trail Challenge I did in 2005. I enjoyed that one, I expect that I'll enjoy this one too.
Maybe I am an idiot, but I intend on enjoying the next 7 weeks. I'll start worrying about the weather around week 5.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
My Aching Calves
Hate is a strong word,
but I really, really, really don't like you.
- Plain White T's
This song came on the radio within minutes of reaching the Rio Java Cafe, our designated run start today. With my propensity for replaying the last song I hear over and over in my head during a run, I changed the channel as fast as I could to blot that one out. To me that song has the lyrical depth of a third grade poem. When someone has to resort to using the same word three times in a row they apparently don't have much to say. The station I switched to was playing "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I don't really care for that song either, but it was far less objectionable than the first one. Too bad the CD player in my car doesn't work any more.
The Cruisers were a small group today, only 7 of us. I ran for 3 miles with Cecil before he turned around. I was planning on 10, so finished the last 7 on my own. One week post marathon, I had no time goals. I started out slow, >10:00 miles and finished up around 8:30's for an average pace of 9:00 (90 minutes for 10 miles). By mile 2 my right calf was giving me the business. The left one caught up a couple of miles later. I've never experienced this kind of stiffness and tightness before. By mile 6 or so, my quads were complaining too. They were saying "Hey, we just ran a downhill marathon last week, what are you doing to us?". Luckily they didn't let me down.
So, if you've seen the new title of the blog you know that I'm off to Indiana next. When? Where? Why? you may ask. Well Indiana is a state right and they have a marathon there right? So of course I would eventually end up there. What follows is my attempt to explain the answers to the 5 W's of any good story.
Who: Me of course. And Joe from Run with Perseverance.
What: the 4th Annual Tecumseh Trail Marathon
Where: Bloomington, IN
When: December 2, 2006 just 8 weeks after St George. From the FAQ's on the website: "How difficult is it really? Hmm... Pretty difficult. Try it and find out!" Since this will be my first trail marathon I won't have a time goal. I'm just going to enjoy the run.
Why: Here's the long part. Why this race and why now? Way back in the fall of 2003 when I was training with Snail's Pace for my first marathon, Dr. John completed his 50th state. I hadn't even completed my first marathon yet, but I was enchanted with the idea of doing this myself. I spent hours that fall scouring the internet, especially marathonguide.com for races in every state. I started a list of the races I wanted to do. I first picked the states where I had relatives. Ohio would be Cleveland to visit my parents. I planned Hartford, CT to visit my in-laws. Now they live in PA so I've got Harrisburg on the list. In Florida I've planned Clearwater or Tampa and my parents will come down to visit my aunt there. Of course, Chicago and NYC are on the list as well. I got SEAFAIR in Washington this year as a birthday present.
Anyway back to the original story, during the fall of 2003, I came across an article about the inaugural Tecumseh Trail Marathon. I just sounded really fun and challenging, something different to do rather than a road race. It made it onto my list as my Indiana marathon of choice.
Back at the end of this July, I commented on Joe's blog after he had hiked up Pike's Peak with his son David, asking when he was going to run the marathon version. He replied it was a serious maybe and in preparation for it was considering a trail marathon in Indiana in the late fall. Another email confirmed that the marathon in question was indeed Tecumseh. Joe graciously offered to be my host in Indiana, so the plans started brewing. Joe was running the Portland marathon just a week before I would be running St George so we both had about the same amount of time to rest and prepare. While Joe was in Portland, I bought my airline tickets and mailed in my race entry and state #8 was officially on the schedule a week before #7 was on the books.
So, in December I'm off to Indiana to run what looks to be an unforgettable marathon along with Joe who I've come to admire and respect through the blogosphere. I'm looking forward to it. Now if I could just get my calves to catch up with my brain, I'll be good to go.
but I really, really, really don't like you.
- Plain White T's
This song came on the radio within minutes of reaching the Rio Java Cafe, our designated run start today. With my propensity for replaying the last song I hear over and over in my head during a run, I changed the channel as fast as I could to blot that one out. To me that song has the lyrical depth of a third grade poem. When someone has to resort to using the same word three times in a row they apparently don't have much to say. The station I switched to was playing "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I don't really care for that song either, but it was far less objectionable than the first one. Too bad the CD player in my car doesn't work any more.
The Cruisers were a small group today, only 7 of us. I ran for 3 miles with Cecil before he turned around. I was planning on 10, so finished the last 7 on my own. One week post marathon, I had no time goals. I started out slow, >10:00 miles and finished up around 8:30's for an average pace of 9:00 (90 minutes for 10 miles). By mile 2 my right calf was giving me the business. The left one caught up a couple of miles later. I've never experienced this kind of stiffness and tightness before. By mile 6 or so, my quads were complaining too. They were saying "Hey, we just ran a downhill marathon last week, what are you doing to us?". Luckily they didn't let me down.
So, if you've seen the new title of the blog you know that I'm off to Indiana next. When? Where? Why? you may ask. Well Indiana is a state right and they have a marathon there right? So of course I would eventually end up there. What follows is my attempt to explain the answers to the 5 W's of any good story.
Who: Me of course. And Joe from Run with Perseverance.
What: the 4th Annual Tecumseh Trail Marathon
Where: Bloomington, IN
When: December 2, 2006 just 8 weeks after St George. From the FAQ's on the website: "How difficult is it really? Hmm... Pretty difficult. Try it and find out!" Since this will be my first trail marathon I won't have a time goal. I'm just going to enjoy the run.
Why: Here's the long part. Why this race and why now? Way back in the fall of 2003 when I was training with Snail's Pace for my first marathon, Dr. John completed his 50th state. I hadn't even completed my first marathon yet, but I was enchanted with the idea of doing this myself. I spent hours that fall scouring the internet, especially marathonguide.com for races in every state. I started a list of the races I wanted to do. I first picked the states where I had relatives. Ohio would be Cleveland to visit my parents. I planned Hartford, CT to visit my in-laws. Now they live in PA so I've got Harrisburg on the list. In Florida I've planned Clearwater or Tampa and my parents will come down to visit my aunt there. Of course, Chicago and NYC are on the list as well. I got SEAFAIR in Washington this year as a birthday present.
Anyway back to the original story, during the fall of 2003, I came across an article about the inaugural Tecumseh Trail Marathon. I just sounded really fun and challenging, something different to do rather than a road race. It made it onto my list as my Indiana marathon of choice.
Back at the end of this July, I commented on Joe's blog after he had hiked up Pike's Peak with his son David, asking when he was going to run the marathon version. He replied it was a serious maybe and in preparation for it was considering a trail marathon in Indiana in the late fall. Another email confirmed that the marathon in question was indeed Tecumseh. Joe graciously offered to be my host in Indiana, so the plans started brewing. Joe was running the Portland marathon just a week before I would be running St George so we both had about the same amount of time to rest and prepare. While Joe was in Portland, I bought my airline tickets and mailed in my race entry and state #8 was officially on the schedule a week before #7 was on the books.
So, in December I'm off to Indiana to run what looks to be an unforgettable marathon along with Joe who I've come to admire and respect through the blogosphere. I'm looking forward to it. Now if I could just get my calves to catch up with my brain, I'll be good to go.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Some More of SGM
Here it is Tuesday evening and my legs feel almost normal again. I mentioned that my right quad was sore even before the race was over. There was this strange discrepancy the rest of that day. 
By Sunday morning that had pretty much evened out. Monday the quads and calves were still sore, big time. I think this is pretty much how they felt after my first marathon. In July I was ready to run the next day. Not this time! I think I'm going to take the whole week off and then join the Cruisers somewhere on Saturday morning. I was able to get an adjustment and massage on Monday night. Very well timed and deserved, I think.
This picture is me almost to the finish line. I'm all stoked about the fact that I'm actually up on my toes mid run. I never did resort to the dreaded marathon shuffle in this one.
Here's a one of me and Dean. I'm not exactly sure what's up with me and the "attitude" pose. Say what you will about Dean, but he's a pretty darn nice guy. He was getting a little panicked at this point. He needed to get back to his bus for a 12 hour drive to Albuquerque for number 22.
There's something about the St George marathon that keeps people coming back year after year. There is a large 10 year club and even a 20 year club. The volunteers at the expo pasta feed was super nice. The starting area was very organized. The bonfires were a really cool touch that I've never seen anywhere else. Those clothes that I was so worried about; my wife picked them up for me at the end of the race in about 30 second flat. The course was breathtaking. Starting in the dark and witnessing the day begin was very memorable. Because the course is not spectator friendly, the people of St George hang signs of encouragement on every road sign along the way. It was fun to read these messages. Someone had scrawled a marriage proposal in chalk on the road. I wonder if she said yes? At one of the ranches along the way I saw the most magnificent dark gray horse running along the fence. I saw a sign that said "Run, Bee-otches, Run". That one made me laugh out loud. I've got to admit that running 26.2 miles is a pretty absurd hobby. The sign seemed appropriate. The medals are really unique. They are a stone medallion with the race logo each one is slightly different from the next.
After some Blue Bunny ice cream at the finish line, and a shower, Lisa and I headed over to Zion National Park for a quick drive through. We didn't really have enough time to take the scenic tram tour but we did drive through the mile tunnel and then back through again. We took a lot of photos. The rock formations are just incredible in size, texture and complexity. It is amazing the difference in the rocks on opposite sides of the tunnel. It is almost as though you've left one park and entered another. Someone said "They're just rocks" but they are some pretty amazing rocks. On our way out we stopped in Springdale at the Bumbleberry Inn and had a slice of Bumbleberry Pie, ala mode of course. I just ran a marathon, I could eat pretty much anything I wanted. I love that!
We met up with all the CA Cruisers for dinner and had a great time reliving the events of the day. After dinner Lisa and I got to see a production of Cats at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre in Ivins, about 25 minutes outside of St George. Tuacahn is an outdoor amphitheatre nestled into the red rock canyons. At dinner and at the show there were many people sporting their long sleeve technical burnt orange shirts. Kinda cool. Sunday morning we went for breakfast at the Bear Paw Cafe. You know how much I love breakfast. I would definitely recommend this place. It was full of runners, too. Very large portions. I had the Bear Paw omelet. It came with home fries and a biscuit. Yummy. We made the drive home in 5.5 hours. We did stop for ice cream at Diary Queen in Barstow. I was still giving myself permission to indulge.
As some of you have commented, now I need to update the name of this little blog. I could go with the obvious "Seven Down, Forty Three To Go". I've also contemplated something like "The Countdown Continues" so I'd never have to change it again. What do you think? I've got #8 planned but I'll save the reveal for another day.
Y'all come back now, you hear! Don't go a-losin' me just 'cause I change my name.
By Sunday morning that had pretty much evened out. Monday the quads and calves were still sore, big time. I think this is pretty much how they felt after my first marathon. In July I was ready to run the next day. Not this time! I think I'm going to take the whole week off and then join the Cruisers somewhere on Saturday morning. I was able to get an adjustment and massage on Monday night. Very well timed and deserved, I think.This picture is me almost to the finish line. I'm all stoked about the fact that I'm actually up on my toes mid run. I never did resort to the dreaded marathon shuffle in this one.
Here's a one of me and Dean. I'm not exactly sure what's up with me and the "attitude" pose. Say what you will about Dean, but he's a pretty darn nice guy. He was getting a little panicked at this point. He needed to get back to his bus for a 12 hour drive to Albuquerque for number 22.There's something about the St George marathon that keeps people coming back year after year. There is a large 10 year club and even a 20 year club. The volunteers at the expo pasta feed was super nice. The starting area was very organized. The bonfires were a really cool touch that I've never seen anywhere else. Those clothes that I was so worried about; my wife picked them up for me at the end of the race in about 30 second flat. The course was breathtaking. Starting in the dark and witnessing the day begin was very memorable. Because the course is not spectator friendly, the people of St George hang signs of encouragement on every road sign along the way. It was fun to read these messages. Someone had scrawled a marriage proposal in chalk on the road. I wonder if she said yes? At one of the ranches along the way I saw the most magnificent dark gray horse running along the fence. I saw a sign that said "Run, Bee-otches, Run". That one made me laugh out loud. I've got to admit that running 26.2 miles is a pretty absurd hobby. The sign seemed appropriate. The medals are really unique. They are a stone medallion with the race logo each one is slightly different from the next.
After some Blue Bunny ice cream at the finish line, and a shower, Lisa and I headed over to Zion National Park for a quick drive through. We didn't really have enough time to take the scenic tram tour but we did drive through the mile tunnel and then back through again. We took a lot of photos. The rock formations are just incredible in size, texture and complexity. It is amazing the difference in the rocks on opposite sides of the tunnel. It is almost as though you've left one park and entered another. Someone said "They're just rocks" but they are some pretty amazing rocks. On our way out we stopped in Springdale at the Bumbleberry Inn and had a slice of Bumbleberry Pie, ala mode of course. I just ran a marathon, I could eat pretty much anything I wanted. I love that!
We met up with all the CA Cruisers for dinner and had a great time reliving the events of the day. After dinner Lisa and I got to see a production of Cats at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre in Ivins, about 25 minutes outside of St George. Tuacahn is an outdoor amphitheatre nestled into the red rock canyons. At dinner and at the show there were many people sporting their long sleeve technical burnt orange shirts. Kinda cool. Sunday morning we went for breakfast at the Bear Paw Cafe. You know how much I love breakfast. I would definitely recommend this place. It was full of runners, too. Very large portions. I had the Bear Paw omelet. It came with home fries and a biscuit. Yummy. We made the drive home in 5.5 hours. We did stop for ice cream at Diary Queen in Barstow. I was still giving myself permission to indulge.
As some of you have commented, now I need to update the name of this little blog. I could go with the obvious "Seven Down, Forty Three To Go". I've also contemplated something like "The Countdown Continues" so I'd never have to change it again. What do you think? I've got #8 planned but I'll save the reveal for another day.
Y'all come back now, you hear! Don't go a-losin' me just 'cause I change my name.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Saint George Marathon Report
The Facts
Finish time: 3:40:52 – a PR! No doubt helped by the downhill course
Average pace: 8:25
Place in field: 1240/4761, just outside the top 25%
Place in gender: 950/2731, 35% of the guys were ahead of me
Place in age group: 152/384, 39% of these M45-49 beat me to the finish
The 30th Saint George (Utah) Marathon Report
This was my ninth marathon in 3 years and it has me stumped in more ways than one. Maybe I’ll figure it out as I write this report.
I turns out that Lisa was able to get away from work on Friday so that she could join me. St. George is just about a 5.5 hour drive from the LA area and somewhat difficult to fly into so I had planned on driving. When I had booked the hotel back in June, I found the cheapest place I could close to the race start. I was a little worried that the room would not be wife worthy. It turned out to be fine, nothing special and certainly not on par with Mandalay Bay where we stayed for the Las Vegas Marathon, but comfortable and clean. Our drive to St. George was smooth; free of traffic congestion, accidents or construction.
At the expo I picked up my gels. I was forced to switch over to Clifshots since PowerGels have gone to the 4x sodium formulation. Clifshots was going to be offered on the course as well. I have used them in the past so I was pretty confident they would get me through with no stomach issues. The expo featured a neat display of all the t-shirt and medal designs over the 30 years history of the race. I think the first race had a total of 42 finishers. It has grown a little. The 4761 finishers this year was the largest yet.
One thing that had me stumped for this marathon was a time goal. SEAFAIR was all about breaking the 4 hour barrier. Where was I going to go from there? Of course, Boston Qualification is my next big goal, but a 3:30, even with a downhill course seemed like too much of a stretch. Couple that with the hip ache and I didn’t really know where I should aim. Of course this week, being the end of the taper, the hip or more precisely the glute muscle flared up on Monday as bad as ever. I tried not to worry about, chalking it up to taper madness and pre-race jitters. I ultimately picked up a 3:40 pace band at the expo and tucked it into my Fuelbelt pack. Our group of Cruisers and friends, 10 in all, decided to take part in the pasta feed at the expo rather than looking for a restaurant in St. George. It was just spaghetti with vegetable marina or meat sauce, salad, roll and cake. All you can eat for $8, simple but satisfying. We sat around and talked for quite a while and ended up meeting Spencer. He was there solo from Ogden, UT running his first marathon. He picked our brains. I hope we shared wisely.
Race morning or I should say race middle of the night came after a somewhat restless sleep. We had set 3 alarms to make sure I didn’t over sleep. Lisa gave me ride over to the finish and went back to the hotel for couple more hours of sleep. SGM is point to point so we had to catch buses at the finish line to take us to the start. They were giving away incentives to ride the early buses from 4:00 to 4:30 a.m. I missed the cutoff by one bus.
The starting line is at an elevation of 5240 ft. The finish line is at 2680. All but 2 miles of the course is straight down State Route 18, so it was interesting to ride the bus up and up to the start. Man, was it cold at the start. They were predicting temperatures in the mid 30’s. The sky was clear and we enjoyed a full moon. There were portapots lined up on one side of the road and camp fires along the other. There must have been 40 or so fires. They were a very welcome addition to a marathon start. I was somewhat concerned about checking clothes. I had never done this before, but I definitely needed sweats while we waited for an hour and a half for the race start at 6:45. Even with the sweats, I shivered uncontrollably whenever I wasn’t near a fire. Ten minutes before the race start I peeled them off and put them in the bag they gave us, threw them in the Uhaul truck. Nothing to it. I donned a garbage bag at that point for warmth.
About that time they played the National Anthem and everyone stopped where they were in respect. I could hear many people singing along. It was a cool moment by the light of the full moon. As soon as it was over it was back to the last minute frenzy of ditching extra clothes and lining up. I lined up along with Cathe from our group right between the 3:40 and 3:45 pace groups.
After that familiar sound of the horn we were off. Three minutes to cross the starting mat. The start didn’t catch me off guard like it did in SEAFAIR. I thought I might stick with the pace group for awhile but because it was dark, they were off and not easy to see. I had been warned to start off easy, to not let the initial downhill miles pull me out too fast. I decided I didn’t need the stress of trying to follow along, so I ran my own race with the aid of the pace band. Cathe and I ran together for less than a half mile before we got separated, she was shooting for something less than 4:00.
I ran the first mile still in my garbage bag at 9:11, well off the 8:24 pace. It was far too early worry about it. I was confident of making it up later. I ditched the trash bag and it was really great running weather, even in a sleeveless shirt. I had planned for the later miles as we descended into the valley and the day warmed up. The expected high at the finish line was 80 degrees.
Mile 2 clocked off in 8:34. This put me just about a minute behind pace. Again I wasn’t really too worried at this point.
Mile 3, was the first water stop. The water stops were located at mile markers throughout the race. It would be Mile 4 before I got another gage on my progress. By mile 4 the sun was up enough that we could see well. Up to that point there were these little green glow stick beacons on the side of the road to mark the way. They may be there for other reasons but it was still cool. I hit Mile 4 in 33:36, just 11 seconds off pace. The last two miles were run in 8:00 pace. I was on target but it was still too early to get excited. I had yet to hit the uphill section of the course.
SGM is a net downhill course. You hear all kinds stories about the downhills. PR’s are set on the downhills. But dang the course is not all downhill. There are uphills and plenty of them.
Mile 5, I missed the marker again. Mile 6, I was at 49:22. Nearly a minute ahead of schedule, but still no uphill. Mile 7 – 57:02, 1:45 ahead of schedule. I was happy to have gained back my slow start but Mile 7 marked the beginning of the hill, the Veyo hill, the really big mile-long hill. I’d done hills last time and trained hills, so I trucked on up.
I missed the Mile 8 marker. The course flattened somewhat but continued to climb through mile 11. Finally at Mile 9, I caught the clock at 1:16. I had only lost about 30 seconds halfway through this uphill section. My pace had slowed to 9:30.
I missed Mile 10 and 11. Finally at Mile 12 I had the presence of mind to get my time again. I clocked those three miles at 8:23 pace for total time of 1:41, only about 15 seconds behind. I was actually pretty proud for not losing more time on the uphill. In SEAFAIR I used a hill adjusted pace chart. Here at SGM I had to try to maintain a consistent pace to be able to judge my progress. So far, so good.
Mile 13 was downhill and finally I got two consecutive mile splits. Mile 13 in 8:09 for 1:41:25, still 15 seconds off pace. Still no worries. I was about this point in the race that I realized that even though I was on goal, I wasn’t having any fun. I was just blah, there was no joy, no inspiration. I even thought to myself that if Lisa had shown up offering a ride I would have taken it. I couldn’t really understand why I felt like this, but I kept running on.
Mile 14, missed the marker. Again. Do you see a trend here? Mile 15, I was at 2:05:46, 9 seconds under pace. I had run those last two miles at 8:10 apiece. Mile 16, you guess it, missed again. Mile 17, I was at 2:21:30. This gave me a 1:15 cushion on the goal pace. I had run those two miles at 7:53 pace. Mile 16 was a good mile for me. Because of the course design in a canyon there are very few places for spectators to easily access the course. Mile 16 in Snow Canyon was the first real display of support other than volunteers. I high fived as many kids as I could. This boosted my mood.
Then things went into the unknown again. I missed Mile 18, 19, 20 and 21. Was I on goal, was I behind goal? I had no idea. There was no lack of uphills from 16 to 20 so I didn’t know if I’d maintained or not.
Finally at mile 22, I hit the marker at 3:04:29. I was 15 seconds ahead of goal. Only 4 miles to go and I had no cushion to spare. After 5 miles of not really knowing how close I was to goal, I was overcome with emotion. Could I keep going?
Mile 23 and 24, ugh. How do I keep missing the markers? I know since many of them were right at the start of the water stop, I would be so focused on getting my fluid, I missed hitting my watch nearly half the time.
Mile 25- got that one! I was at 3:30:17. I was 22 seconds in debt on the goal time. All I could think was just keep going. Don’t slow down. Since Mile 22 my right quad was aching badly. The downhill had taken its toll. The good thing is my left hip/glute was doing fine. At mile 24 the course enters the town proper so the crowd support picked up as well. Up to now we had been on SR-18; one long stretch with no 90 degree turns. Once we entered town we had to make several turns. I couldn’t remember quite how many. After the first two turns I was sure that the finish line would be just around the corner. Nope! One more corner. Finally, those balloons. I knew Lisa would be here somewhere in the crowd, but I focused all that I had on getting to those balloons. She called out to me, but I couldn’t make out her voice.
I missed the 3:40 by less than a minute. But, I had set a PR by nearly 12:00. Physically I was beat but I never felt like I hit the wall. I ran strong to the end. I just can't imagine being able to go much faster especially without the aid of the downhill. 10 more minutes and I'm Boston bound. I've got to believe that I can do it.
SGM does not supply split times. I was at 13 miles at 1:49:25 running 8:05 miles at the time. I estimate my half marathon time to be 1:50:14, which puts my second half at 1:50:38. That’s about as close to even splits as anyone can ask for! First time that’s ever happened. Thank you, downhill finish. I think I’ll split the difference for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon.
The Dean Corollary
Dean Karnazes was at SGM running the 21st of his 50 marathons. One of my goals was to beat Dean to the finish line. This seemed doable. He had announced 4:00 finishes as his goal. At the 7 mile mark I had to make a stop at a portapot. When I jumped back onto the course, there was Dean. I trailed him to about mile 10 where he stopped to get some water. I kept on going and didn’t see him again for miles. I thought I might actually get to the finish first. At mile 17, Dean passed me up and I just couldn’t keep up with him. Dean finished in 3:20:04. My wife ended up talking to him at the exit chute for a couple of minutes before I got there.
Other Interesting Tidbits
Cathe ended up qualifying for Boston while Dorothy got 4th place age group in the F65-69.
Finish time: 3:40:52 – a PR! No doubt helped by the downhill course
Average pace: 8:25
Place in field: 1240/4761, just outside the top 25%
Place in gender: 950/2731, 35% of the guys were ahead of me
Place in age group: 152/384, 39% of these M45-49 beat me to the finish
The 30th Saint George (Utah) Marathon Report
This was my ninth marathon in 3 years and it has me stumped in more ways than one. Maybe I’ll figure it out as I write this report.
I turns out that Lisa was able to get away from work on Friday so that she could join me. St. George is just about a 5.5 hour drive from the LA area and somewhat difficult to fly into so I had planned on driving. When I had booked the hotel back in June, I found the cheapest place I could close to the race start. I was a little worried that the room would not be wife worthy. It turned out to be fine, nothing special and certainly not on par with Mandalay Bay where we stayed for the Las Vegas Marathon, but comfortable and clean. Our drive to St. George was smooth; free of traffic congestion, accidents or construction.
At the expo I picked up my gels. I was forced to switch over to Clifshots since PowerGels have gone to the 4x sodium formulation. Clifshots was going to be offered on the course as well. I have used them in the past so I was pretty confident they would get me through with no stomach issues. The expo featured a neat display of all the t-shirt and medal designs over the 30 years history of the race. I think the first race had a total of 42 finishers. It has grown a little. The 4761 finishers this year was the largest yet.
One thing that had me stumped for this marathon was a time goal. SEAFAIR was all about breaking the 4 hour barrier. Where was I going to go from there? Of course, Boston Qualification is my next big goal, but a 3:30, even with a downhill course seemed like too much of a stretch. Couple that with the hip ache and I didn’t really know where I should aim. Of course this week, being the end of the taper, the hip or more precisely the glute muscle flared up on Monday as bad as ever. I tried not to worry about, chalking it up to taper madness and pre-race jitters. I ultimately picked up a 3:40 pace band at the expo and tucked it into my Fuelbelt pack. Our group of Cruisers and friends, 10 in all, decided to take part in the pasta feed at the expo rather than looking for a restaurant in St. George. It was just spaghetti with vegetable marina or meat sauce, salad, roll and cake. All you can eat for $8, simple but satisfying. We sat around and talked for quite a while and ended up meeting Spencer. He was there solo from Ogden, UT running his first marathon. He picked our brains. I hope we shared wisely.
Race morning or I should say race middle of the night came after a somewhat restless sleep. We had set 3 alarms to make sure I didn’t over sleep. Lisa gave me ride over to the finish and went back to the hotel for couple more hours of sleep. SGM is point to point so we had to catch buses at the finish line to take us to the start. They were giving away incentives to ride the early buses from 4:00 to 4:30 a.m. I missed the cutoff by one bus.
The starting line is at an elevation of 5240 ft. The finish line is at 2680. All but 2 miles of the course is straight down State Route 18, so it was interesting to ride the bus up and up to the start. Man, was it cold at the start. They were predicting temperatures in the mid 30’s. The sky was clear and we enjoyed a full moon. There were portapots lined up on one side of the road and camp fires along the other. There must have been 40 or so fires. They were a very welcome addition to a marathon start. I was somewhat concerned about checking clothes. I had never done this before, but I definitely needed sweats while we waited for an hour and a half for the race start at 6:45. Even with the sweats, I shivered uncontrollably whenever I wasn’t near a fire. Ten minutes before the race start I peeled them off and put them in the bag they gave us, threw them in the Uhaul truck. Nothing to it. I donned a garbage bag at that point for warmth.
About that time they played the National Anthem and everyone stopped where they were in respect. I could hear many people singing along. It was a cool moment by the light of the full moon. As soon as it was over it was back to the last minute frenzy of ditching extra clothes and lining up. I lined up along with Cathe from our group right between the 3:40 and 3:45 pace groups.
After that familiar sound of the horn we were off. Three minutes to cross the starting mat. The start didn’t catch me off guard like it did in SEAFAIR. I thought I might stick with the pace group for awhile but because it was dark, they were off and not easy to see. I had been warned to start off easy, to not let the initial downhill miles pull me out too fast. I decided I didn’t need the stress of trying to follow along, so I ran my own race with the aid of the pace band. Cathe and I ran together for less than a half mile before we got separated, she was shooting for something less than 4:00.
I ran the first mile still in my garbage bag at 9:11, well off the 8:24 pace. It was far too early worry about it. I was confident of making it up later. I ditched the trash bag and it was really great running weather, even in a sleeveless shirt. I had planned for the later miles as we descended into the valley and the day warmed up. The expected high at the finish line was 80 degrees.
Mile 2 clocked off in 8:34. This put me just about a minute behind pace. Again I wasn’t really too worried at this point.
Mile 3, was the first water stop. The water stops were located at mile markers throughout the race. It would be Mile 4 before I got another gage on my progress. By mile 4 the sun was up enough that we could see well. Up to that point there were these little green glow stick beacons on the side of the road to mark the way. They may be there for other reasons but it was still cool. I hit Mile 4 in 33:36, just 11 seconds off pace. The last two miles were run in 8:00 pace. I was on target but it was still too early to get excited. I had yet to hit the uphill section of the course.
SGM is a net downhill course. You hear all kinds stories about the downhills. PR’s are set on the downhills. But dang the course is not all downhill. There are uphills and plenty of them.
Mile 5, I missed the marker again. Mile 6, I was at 49:22. Nearly a minute ahead of schedule, but still no uphill. Mile 7 – 57:02, 1:45 ahead of schedule. I was happy to have gained back my slow start but Mile 7 marked the beginning of the hill, the Veyo hill, the really big mile-long hill. I’d done hills last time and trained hills, so I trucked on up.
I missed the Mile 8 marker. The course flattened somewhat but continued to climb through mile 11. Finally at Mile 9, I caught the clock at 1:16. I had only lost about 30 seconds halfway through this uphill section. My pace had slowed to 9:30.
I missed Mile 10 and 11. Finally at Mile 12 I had the presence of mind to get my time again. I clocked those three miles at 8:23 pace for total time of 1:41, only about 15 seconds behind. I was actually pretty proud for not losing more time on the uphill. In SEAFAIR I used a hill adjusted pace chart. Here at SGM I had to try to maintain a consistent pace to be able to judge my progress. So far, so good.
Mile 13 was downhill and finally I got two consecutive mile splits. Mile 13 in 8:09 for 1:41:25, still 15 seconds off pace. Still no worries. I was about this point in the race that I realized that even though I was on goal, I wasn’t having any fun. I was just blah, there was no joy, no inspiration. I even thought to myself that if Lisa had shown up offering a ride I would have taken it. I couldn’t really understand why I felt like this, but I kept running on.
Mile 14, missed the marker. Again. Do you see a trend here? Mile 15, I was at 2:05:46, 9 seconds under pace. I had run those last two miles at 8:10 apiece. Mile 16, you guess it, missed again. Mile 17, I was at 2:21:30. This gave me a 1:15 cushion on the goal pace. I had run those two miles at 7:53 pace. Mile 16 was a good mile for me. Because of the course design in a canyon there are very few places for spectators to easily access the course. Mile 16 in Snow Canyon was the first real display of support other than volunteers. I high fived as many kids as I could. This boosted my mood.
Then things went into the unknown again. I missed Mile 18, 19, 20 and 21. Was I on goal, was I behind goal? I had no idea. There was no lack of uphills from 16 to 20 so I didn’t know if I’d maintained or not.
Finally at mile 22, I hit the marker at 3:04:29. I was 15 seconds ahead of goal. Only 4 miles to go and I had no cushion to spare. After 5 miles of not really knowing how close I was to goal, I was overcome with emotion. Could I keep going?
Mile 23 and 24, ugh. How do I keep missing the markers? I know since many of them were right at the start of the water stop, I would be so focused on getting my fluid, I missed hitting my watch nearly half the time.
Mile 25- got that one! I was at 3:30:17. I was 22 seconds in debt on the goal time. All I could think was just keep going. Don’t slow down. Since Mile 22 my right quad was aching badly. The downhill had taken its toll. The good thing is my left hip/glute was doing fine. At mile 24 the course enters the town proper so the crowd support picked up as well. Up to now we had been on SR-18; one long stretch with no 90 degree turns. Once we entered town we had to make several turns. I couldn’t remember quite how many. After the first two turns I was sure that the finish line would be just around the corner. Nope! One more corner. Finally, those balloons. I knew Lisa would be here somewhere in the crowd, but I focused all that I had on getting to those balloons. She called out to me, but I couldn’t make out her voice.
I missed the 3:40 by less than a minute. But, I had set a PR by nearly 12:00. Physically I was beat but I never felt like I hit the wall. I ran strong to the end. I just can't imagine being able to go much faster especially without the aid of the downhill. 10 more minutes and I'm Boston bound. I've got to believe that I can do it.
SGM does not supply split times. I was at 13 miles at 1:49:25 running 8:05 miles at the time. I estimate my half marathon time to be 1:50:14, which puts my second half at 1:50:38. That’s about as close to even splits as anyone can ask for! First time that’s ever happened. Thank you, downhill finish. I think I’ll split the difference for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon.
The Dean Corollary
Dean Karnazes was at SGM running the 21st of his 50 marathons. One of my goals was to beat Dean to the finish line. This seemed doable. He had announced 4:00 finishes as his goal. At the 7 mile mark I had to make a stop at a portapot. When I jumped back onto the course, there was Dean. I trailed him to about mile 10 where he stopped to get some water. I kept on going and didn’t see him again for miles. I thought I might actually get to the finish first. At mile 17, Dean passed me up and I just couldn’t keep up with him. Dean finished in 3:20:04. My wife ended up talking to him at the exit chute for a couple of minutes before I got there.
Other Interesting Tidbits
Cathe ended up qualifying for Boston while Dorothy got 4th place age group in the F65-69.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Loose Ends
Well, it took two days, but I got Tyler moved in and pretty much set up. We packed his truck up about midnight on Wednesday. Thursday we drove down to San Diego, about a 2 hour drive. The actually moving in didn't take very long. We went over to IKEA to check out a desk. Tyler decided to hold off buying anything until later. I made one trip to the store for some groceries. I spent the night with some friends in Oceanside.
Friday morning we attended orientation meetings and he picked up his schedule and supply kit. I bought his parking pass, he tried to resolve a schedule issue. The culinary students got their first homework assignment at orientation, school doesn't officially start until Monday. We made a trip to B&N to buy the book he needed for the homework assignment, a trip to the grocery store, back to IKEA to actually buy the desk and a trip to Target for black shoes and a 2" white binder. He still has to figure out how to get his computer hooked up. I decided that was one thing he could do on his own. I think he was a little overwhelmed with the whole process. I finally left San Diego at 5:00 pm on Friday. This was bad timing, it took 3 hours to get home with some major traffic delays.
As for running, I had pushed my runs up this week figuring Thursday, move in day, would be my day off. I had planned a 4 miler on Friday, but after running around in San Diego all day and the long ride home, I scrapped that idea.
On Saturday, my youngest son and I rode our bikes down the San Gabriel River Bike Trail with 9 friends. From Arcadia to Bolsa Chica Beach was about 35 miles. Our group ranged in age from 13 to 62. We took three breaks along the way and just generally enjoyed the ride. One family had staged a car at the end of the ride with a cooler full of food so we enjoyed a weenie roast on the beach for lunch. We loaded up the bikes on other cars that were conveniently staged or planned to pick us for the ride home. I had originally thought that I might get that 4 miler in sometime after the ride but ultimately decided that the 35 mile ride was enough for the day.
I ended the month of September with 134.7 miles, not what I had planned but decent enough to carry me through the St. George next Saturday. I'd say the hip is about 90%
This morning I did my "long run" 8 miles on Robert's Loop with the addition of the Via Verde hill. I kept the pace easy. There are a couple of decent inclines on this route including the VV hill. I just let it go on the downhill and had a blast flying down. My overall pace was right on 9:00, definitely not a blockbuster effort but pretty much exactly what was required 6 days out. I ended the week with a whopping 22 miles, having missed those two 4 milers on Friday and Saturday.
On the home front, apparently September is a very popular month to get married. Just on blogger alone I read about Nattie's parents 46th anniversary on Sept 16, the Shoreturtles celebrated their 8th on the Sept 19 and Michelle and Eric celebrated 27 years on the Sept 22. My own parents celebrated 47 years on Sept 19. On Friday, September 29, my wife and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary. We'll we haven't actually celebrated it yet, but it happened none the less. As you know I spent Friday in San Diego. My wife was at work until 9:00 pm. She is fortunate enough to have a job that is only 3/4 miles from home. Unfortunately their fiscal years ends right around our anniversary. She spends the two weeks around that time working 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day doing inventory and all those accounting things she does so well.
She's hoping to wrap up most of the work so she can join me next weekend in St. George. We'll get our celebrating in then! ;-)
Happy Anniversary, Lisa! I Love You!
P.S. While I was typing this I got a text message from the Portland Marathon. Joe was at 20 miles at 3:14. Only 10k to go Joe, keep it up and finish strong, or in your words Persevere!
Friday morning we attended orientation meetings and he picked up his schedule and supply kit. I bought his parking pass, he tried to resolve a schedule issue. The culinary students got their first homework assignment at orientation, school doesn't officially start until Monday. We made a trip to B&N to buy the book he needed for the homework assignment, a trip to the grocery store, back to IKEA to actually buy the desk and a trip to Target for black shoes and a 2" white binder. He still has to figure out how to get his computer hooked up. I decided that was one thing he could do on his own. I think he was a little overwhelmed with the whole process. I finally left San Diego at 5:00 pm on Friday. This was bad timing, it took 3 hours to get home with some major traffic delays.
As for running, I had pushed my runs up this week figuring Thursday, move in day, would be my day off. I had planned a 4 miler on Friday, but after running around in San Diego all day and the long ride home, I scrapped that idea.
On Saturday, my youngest son and I rode our bikes down the San Gabriel River Bike Trail with 9 friends. From Arcadia to Bolsa Chica Beach was about 35 miles. Our group ranged in age from 13 to 62. We took three breaks along the way and just generally enjoyed the ride. One family had staged a car at the end of the ride with a cooler full of food so we enjoyed a weenie roast on the beach for lunch. We loaded up the bikes on other cars that were conveniently staged or planned to pick us for the ride home. I had originally thought that I might get that 4 miler in sometime after the ride but ultimately decided that the 35 mile ride was enough for the day.
I ended the month of September with 134.7 miles, not what I had planned but decent enough to carry me through the St. George next Saturday. I'd say the hip is about 90%
This morning I did my "long run" 8 miles on Robert's Loop with the addition of the Via Verde hill. I kept the pace easy. There are a couple of decent inclines on this route including the VV hill. I just let it go on the downhill and had a blast flying down. My overall pace was right on 9:00, definitely not a blockbuster effort but pretty much exactly what was required 6 days out. I ended the week with a whopping 22 miles, having missed those two 4 milers on Friday and Saturday.
On the home front, apparently September is a very popular month to get married. Just on blogger alone I read about Nattie's parents 46th anniversary on Sept 16, the Shoreturtles celebrated their 8th on the Sept 19 and Michelle and Eric celebrated 27 years on the Sept 22. My own parents celebrated 47 years on Sept 19. On Friday, September 29, my wife and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary. We'll we haven't actually celebrated it yet, but it happened none the less. As you know I spent Friday in San Diego. My wife was at work until 9:00 pm. She is fortunate enough to have a job that is only 3/4 miles from home. Unfortunately their fiscal years ends right around our anniversary. She spends the two weeks around that time working 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day doing inventory and all those accounting things she does so well.
She's hoping to wrap up most of the work so she can join me next weekend in St. George. We'll get our celebrating in then! ;-)
Happy Anniversary, Lisa! I Love You!
P.S. While I was typing this I got a text message from the Portland Marathon. Joe was at 20 miles at 3:14. Only 10k to go Joe, keep it up and finish strong, or in your words Persevere!
I got another message just minutes later that Rob finished in 3:32! Woot! Nice job Rob.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Movin' Out
So far this week has been hectic but I've kept up with the running schedule. Nothing monumental, no speed, no tempo, just ticking off the lower scheduled miles at an even pace. Monday I didn't get out until 9:00 p.m., I felt like Wes. It seems to me with his busy schedule he's always getting out there pretty late.
Tuesday I was able to get one more run at Bonelli on the trail along the western edge of the park. A year and a half ago when I first ran this trail is was nothing more than a single track with shoulder high mustard on either side, pure joy. This summer the skinny little trail has become a virtual two lane road through the park. There have been at least 3 fires in the park in the last year, so this summer the heavy equipment came out and changed the trails. They make better fire breaks and allow access for the fire fighting equipment. The trails still go up and down and around, but I miss the ruggedness and confinement of the single track.
Tonight I put in 4 miles. 4 miles seems like so little. Before the hip issue, my short midweek runs were 6 miles. It just seems funny to be running this distance. I haven't run "only" 4 miles since my taper for SEAFAIR back in June.
Tomorrow is the big day. Not for me. For my oldest son. Tomorrow he's taking all his earthly belongings (computer, TV and some clothes) and moving to San Diego. He begins his first year at the Art Institute to study culinary arts. My wife is getting all misty. I'm excited. I've said that this is the day I've been waiting for since the day he was born, literally. The way I see it, this is just part of the natural progression of events.
My own parents were married when my Dad was 20, my Mom was 18. They moved out of their parent's homes and have made their own home together for the last 47 years. When I graduated from high school, I went off to college at 18. I spent the first summer at home and was never back again for more than a week during the next 3 years. Twenty three years ago I moved from OH to CA when I was only 22.
The boys getting on with their own lives has always been my expectation. So far, Tyler has been meeting the expectation. Before I start sounding too calloused and hard hearted, I'm not exactly dropping the poor boy like a hot potato. He's driving around in a truck we paid for (I bought my first car after I moved to CA) and he won't have to worry about tuition, we've committed to paying for that (I paid my own tuition with savings and loans). He turns 19 in a couple of weeks, so I know he'll be home then. Likely with all his dirty laundry (yes, I did that. What college student doesn't?) and we'll send him back with a pantry full of groceries. Hopefully we've instilled in him enough common sense, responsibility, ethics, morality and integrity to serve him well. I'm not too worried.
Tyler, you are going to do great and don't forget to call you mother every once in a while.
Tuesday I was able to get one more run at Bonelli on the trail along the western edge of the park. A year and a half ago when I first ran this trail is was nothing more than a single track with shoulder high mustard on either side, pure joy. This summer the skinny little trail has become a virtual two lane road through the park. There have been at least 3 fires in the park in the last year, so this summer the heavy equipment came out and changed the trails. They make better fire breaks and allow access for the fire fighting equipment. The trails still go up and down and around, but I miss the ruggedness and confinement of the single track.
Tonight I put in 4 miles. 4 miles seems like so little. Before the hip issue, my short midweek runs were 6 miles. It just seems funny to be running this distance. I haven't run "only" 4 miles since my taper for SEAFAIR back in June.
Tomorrow is the big day. Not for me. For my oldest son. Tomorrow he's taking all his earthly belongings (computer, TV and some clothes) and moving to San Diego. He begins his first year at the Art Institute to study culinary arts. My wife is getting all misty. I'm excited. I've said that this is the day I've been waiting for since the day he was born, literally. The way I see it, this is just part of the natural progression of events.
My own parents were married when my Dad was 20, my Mom was 18. They moved out of their parent's homes and have made their own home together for the last 47 years. When I graduated from high school, I went off to college at 18. I spent the first summer at home and was never back again for more than a week during the next 3 years. Twenty three years ago I moved from OH to CA when I was only 22.
The boys getting on with their own lives has always been my expectation. So far, Tyler has been meeting the expectation. Before I start sounding too calloused and hard hearted, I'm not exactly dropping the poor boy like a hot potato. He's driving around in a truck we paid for (I bought my first car after I moved to CA) and he won't have to worry about tuition, we've committed to paying for that (I paid my own tuition with savings and loans). He turns 19 in a couple of weeks, so I know he'll be home then. Likely with all his dirty laundry (yes, I did that. What college student doesn't?) and we'll send him back with a pantry full of groceries. Hopefully we've instilled in him enough common sense, responsibility, ethics, morality and integrity to serve him well. I'm not too worried.
Tyler, you are going to do great and don't forget to call you mother every once in a while.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
SGM Taper Week 1
After running along side and leap frogging Sam Thompson at SEAFAIR in July, I really got into reading daily about his progress and each of his 51 marathons along the way on his blog. Now I’m really getting a kick out of reading Dean Karnazes’s blog as well as he knocks of 50 states in 50 days, too. For someone like me who aspires to running all 50 states this is a lot of fun. I hadn’t heard anything at all about Sam before SEAFAIR, his 9th marathon along the way. I’ve met Dean before and will get to run with him at St. George in a couple of weeks for his 21st marathon. I hopefully won’t be running along side him. Dean has been finishing around 4:15 or so and I hope to finish much faster than that. The cool thing about Dean’s 50 is all the people he’s bringing along with him to run. He has gotten a couple of first time marathoners to the finish at almost every one so far. Both of these guys are inspiring to me and have given me some ideas on which marathons to run in each state.
I guess I’m officially in taper, but because the hip is doing so much better, I ended up running just as many miles this week as last at 37. I was able to get in 5 runs this week for the first time in a month.
Saturday morning I headed back up into the canyons above Azusa and ran the road up to Cogswell dam. This is the route I took 5 weeks ago to simulate the downhill at St. George. The morning was beautiful and brisk. The clouds hanging around the mountains back there were pretty cool. I really should figure out how to carry my camera along. There were some pretty scenic shots.
I mentioned brisk. My hands were pretty cold for the first mile or so, almost numb, but this was wonderful weather for a run. The West Fork of the San Gabriel River runs along the north side of the trail. The trail is shaded in most places by the mountains on the right. On the way up the canyon, I saw a couple of fly fisherman and three bikers, one going up and the other two coming back down.
The sign at the base of the trail shows that it is 8 miles to Cogswell Dam. I ran up and all the way across the dam just to make sure I got the most miles. I made it up in 1:07, two minutes faster than last time when I was picking off the cross country team. When I got to the top I took a 5 minute break or so to enjoy the view and to take a PowerGel.
When I headed back down I could tell that the sun was warming things up. For the most part the run is shaded, except for maybe the first and last miles. In the shade the breeze was nice and cool. When I hit a sunny spot I could really feel the difference in temperature as the sun heated up the asphalt, even the breezes coming off were warmer. At one point on my way down a pretty good breeze came along and carried a snowfall of leaves off the tree above me on the mountain side. They just fluttered down gently, almost in slow motion. It was almost mystical to watch. I couldn’t help but smile at the show Mother Nature was providing for me.
Up until the last couple of miles of the run, I was pretty much alone. I really enjoyed the sound of the stream. At times it was silent, and at others it was babbling over the rocks. Sometimes the canyon magnified the sound. On the way out I came upon some hikers and some bikers, but I never encountered another runner. The downhill is noticeable, but I guess I was taking it pretty easy. My time on the way out was 1:02, 3 minutes slower than last time.
This could easily become a favorite run. For the cost of an Adventure Pass ($5 daily/$30 annual) and an easy 10 mile drive, I get away from suburbia and enjoy an easy run in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains. There are actually tons of trails in those mountains, I just need to go explore.
If the sign is to be believed, for the 16 miles total route my pace was 8:04, 8:22 in and 7:45 out. This got me thinking about my expected finish time in St. George. I’m well aware that many runners PR there. If, and that’s a big IF, I could keep up an 8 minute pace, I’d be thrilled. Although, I doubt seriously I can keep anywhere near an 8:00 pace for a full 26.2 miles, downhill or not. St. George is net downhill but not all downhill. I think it’s reasonable to shoot for an 8:30 pace, that would get me a 3:43 PR. What would really suck is a 3:32 to 3:35 finish.
Today, Sunday, my mother-in-law has invited us over for lasagna as a going away for Tyler. The last couple of times we’ve had lasagna at her house I ran there, satisfied that the miles there justified the extra large portions of lasagna she served. I considered running the Lasagna Loop today, but because it was Sunday the lure of my morning “date” with Bonelli won out. I ran counter-clockwise for a change of pace.
Running in this direction means that once I start the loop I do the major downhill first and then spend at least a mile climbing back out. That climb out seems relentless. Once I got back up and hit a fairly level patch, about 30 minutes into the run, I got a sudden burst of energy that carried me along. My turnover rate was noticeably faster and I felt really good. I kept up that effort nearly to the end. It almost felt effortless. I really don’t know what to attribute this feeling to, but I sure enjoyed it. The burst didn’t parlay into a PR time but it was nearly a couple of minutes faster than my times earlier this summer.
Next week is going to be a little hectic. I’ve got a chiropractor/massage on Monday. Thursday and Friday, I will be in San Diego with Tyler and Saturday I’m riding to the beach, about 30 miles with some friends. I’m going to have to get creative to get my runs in. Good thing it’s week 2 of the taper.
Be sure you stop by these blogs, Joe, Michelle, Rob and Sara, and wish them all well as they race the Portland Marathon next weekend, October 1st.
I guess I’m officially in taper, but because the hip is doing so much better, I ended up running just as many miles this week as last at 37. I was able to get in 5 runs this week for the first time in a month.
Saturday morning I headed back up into the canyons above Azusa and ran the road up to Cogswell dam. This is the route I took 5 weeks ago to simulate the downhill at St. George. The morning was beautiful and brisk. The clouds hanging around the mountains back there were pretty cool. I really should figure out how to carry my camera along. There were some pretty scenic shots.
I mentioned brisk. My hands were pretty cold for the first mile or so, almost numb, but this was wonderful weather for a run. The West Fork of the San Gabriel River runs along the north side of the trail. The trail is shaded in most places by the mountains on the right. On the way up the canyon, I saw a couple of fly fisherman and three bikers, one going up and the other two coming back down.
The sign at the base of the trail shows that it is 8 miles to Cogswell Dam. I ran up and all the way across the dam just to make sure I got the most miles. I made it up in 1:07, two minutes faster than last time when I was picking off the cross country team. When I got to the top I took a 5 minute break or so to enjoy the view and to take a PowerGel.
When I headed back down I could tell that the sun was warming things up. For the most part the run is shaded, except for maybe the first and last miles. In the shade the breeze was nice and cool. When I hit a sunny spot I could really feel the difference in temperature as the sun heated up the asphalt, even the breezes coming off were warmer. At one point on my way down a pretty good breeze came along and carried a snowfall of leaves off the tree above me on the mountain side. They just fluttered down gently, almost in slow motion. It was almost mystical to watch. I couldn’t help but smile at the show Mother Nature was providing for me.
Up until the last couple of miles of the run, I was pretty much alone. I really enjoyed the sound of the stream. At times it was silent, and at others it was babbling over the rocks. Sometimes the canyon magnified the sound. On the way out I came upon some hikers and some bikers, but I never encountered another runner. The downhill is noticeable, but I guess I was taking it pretty easy. My time on the way out was 1:02, 3 minutes slower than last time.
This could easily become a favorite run. For the cost of an Adventure Pass ($5 daily/$30 annual) and an easy 10 mile drive, I get away from suburbia and enjoy an easy run in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains. There are actually tons of trails in those mountains, I just need to go explore.
If the sign is to be believed, for the 16 miles total route my pace was 8:04, 8:22 in and 7:45 out. This got me thinking about my expected finish time in St. George. I’m well aware that many runners PR there. If, and that’s a big IF, I could keep up an 8 minute pace, I’d be thrilled. Although, I doubt seriously I can keep anywhere near an 8:00 pace for a full 26.2 miles, downhill or not. St. George is net downhill but not all downhill. I think it’s reasonable to shoot for an 8:30 pace, that would get me a 3:43 PR. What would really suck is a 3:32 to 3:35 finish.
Today, Sunday, my mother-in-law has invited us over for lasagna as a going away for Tyler. The last couple of times we’ve had lasagna at her house I ran there, satisfied that the miles there justified the extra large portions of lasagna she served. I considered running the Lasagna Loop today, but because it was Sunday the lure of my morning “date” with Bonelli won out. I ran counter-clockwise for a change of pace.
Running in this direction means that once I start the loop I do the major downhill first and then spend at least a mile climbing back out. That climb out seems relentless. Once I got back up and hit a fairly level patch, about 30 minutes into the run, I got a sudden burst of energy that carried me along. My turnover rate was noticeably faster and I felt really good. I kept up that effort nearly to the end. It almost felt effortless. I really don’t know what to attribute this feeling to, but I sure enjoyed it. The burst didn’t parlay into a PR time but it was nearly a couple of minutes faster than my times earlier this summer.
Next week is going to be a little hectic. I’ve got a chiropractor/massage on Monday. Thursday and Friday, I will be in San Diego with Tyler and Saturday I’m riding to the beach, about 30 miles with some friends. I’m going to have to get creative to get my runs in. Good thing it’s week 2 of the taper.
Be sure you stop by these blogs, Joe, Michelle, Rob and Sara, and wish them all well as they race the Portland Marathon next weekend, October 1st.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Chasing the Sun
I knew this was coming for awhile now but tonight is was more evident than ever. I'm running out of daylight.
I do the majority of my midweek runs after work. In the three years that I've been running I used to just head out the front door and put in the miles on the streets around the neighborhood. But this summer more than the others I've been doing many of my widweek runs on the roads and trails in Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park. Bonelli is only a 5 mile drive from home.
Tonight was only a 5 mile run. But by the time I got home, changed and out there and back to the car it was 7:20 and the sun was gone. It's sad knowing that these runs will have to be put on hold for a season.
I imagine I feel much like my older son who's about to move away for his sophomore year of college. He's been spending more and more time in the last couple of weeks away from home, out with his friends getting in the last bit of quality time he can. I have a feeling he'll be squeezing in some more time with them up until next Thursday when we move him into student housing. And just like him I'll be squeezing every last widweek run in at Bonelli before the sun sets by 7:00 or so.
I feel too like that high school guy who goes off to college leaving his sweetheart behind, only getting to see her on the weekends. Once the setting sun puts Bonelli out of the reach midweek, it'll just have to be a weekend only running destination until next summer. Unlike the high school guy, I'm fairly confident that Bonelli will still be there waiting for me when I come back.
So for the next couple of months I expect to be running back on the streets under the street lamps and by the headlights of the oncoming cars. I may sneak in a midweek morning run or and early exit from work now and then. Hopefully by next spring the trails will be grown back over a little and I can plow my way through shoulder high mustard again.
Bonelli and I have had a lot of fun together this summer and I'm going to miss it.
I do the majority of my midweek runs after work. In the three years that I've been running I used to just head out the front door and put in the miles on the streets around the neighborhood. But this summer more than the others I've been doing many of my widweek runs on the roads and trails in Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park. Bonelli is only a 5 mile drive from home.
Tonight was only a 5 mile run. But by the time I got home, changed and out there and back to the car it was 7:20 and the sun was gone. It's sad knowing that these runs will have to be put on hold for a season.
I imagine I feel much like my older son who's about to move away for his sophomore year of college. He's been spending more and more time in the last couple of weeks away from home, out with his friends getting in the last bit of quality time he can. I have a feeling he'll be squeezing in some more time with them up until next Thursday when we move him into student housing. And just like him I'll be squeezing every last widweek run in at Bonelli before the sun sets by 7:00 or so.
I feel too like that high school guy who goes off to college leaving his sweetheart behind, only getting to see her on the weekends. Once the setting sun puts Bonelli out of the reach midweek, it'll just have to be a weekend only running destination until next summer. Unlike the high school guy, I'm fairly confident that Bonelli will still be there waiting for me when I come back.
So for the next couple of months I expect to be running back on the streets under the street lamps and by the headlights of the oncoming cars. I may sneak in a midweek morning run or and early exit from work now and then. Hopefully by next spring the trails will be grown back over a little and I can plow my way through shoulder high mustard again.
Bonelli and I have had a lot of fun together this summer and I'm going to miss it.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
22 That Was, A Half That Wasn't
I went back to the chiropractor on Friday for another massage and adjustment. I got a different massage therapist this time. After we talked about why I was there, she gave me a great massage in my glutes and piriformis muscles on the left side as well as my back and neck. She also asked me about how sore my back was after the last one. I must have made it sound like I was pretty sore; she seemed to take it a little easier on me. But she did a much better job of dealing with my hip than the other one. So now I have to decide which one I like better. I’m not going back until the 25th and will see the second one again. I understand the first one is recommended for really good deep tissue so I may switch back and forth. I expect that once my hip is better I won’t continue the massage but will likely keep up the chiropractor on some routine basis. I have a question about tipping the massage therapist. Since the massage is part of a medical procedure and covered by insurance I’ve been told that tipping is not necessary, but I don’t want to appear to be some kind of cheap skate if a tip is expected. Any thoughts?
Onto the run:
Saturday morning was my anticipated 22 miler. Since most of the CA Cruisers were going to be enjoying the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday, there was no officially planned run for Saturday. I headed down to Huntington Beach to get the job done. I parked in Sunset Beach between mile marker 10 and 11 and got started around 6:40 a.m. I headed NW toward the 11 mile mark and then turned around and ran SW to the Newport Beach Jetty roughly 9 miles through Bolsa Chica and Huntington Beach. At that point I headed up the Santa Ana River Bike Path. For the first nine miles my split times were in the 8:40 range.
3:40, 8:44, 8:33, 8:31, 8:38, 8:21, 8:40, 8:13, 8:56, 8:14.
The mile markers don’t continue at this point so I ran based on time to get to the 11 mile turnaround. The first time I check my watch I was only at 14 and change, too soon to turn around. The next time I was at 17:59. I felt pretty confident that I had covered the required 2 miles. 18:08 took me back to the 2 mile mark and the countdown home began. 8:31, 9:01 (the first mile over 9 so far, this is the same mile that was 8:56 on the way out so I think it must be a little long). The next one came in at 8:36. At this point I’m beginning to get tired. Once I hoped back onto the beach trail from the river I saw a couple of guys about half mile ahead of me. I wasn’t able to reel them in for nearly 3 miles until they took a facilities break. I overtook them, not to hard to do when they are standing still, huh. So far during the run, I had overtaken quite a few people and was only passed by people on bikes. I was taking a certain degree in satisfaction in that. A few minutes into mile 18 those guys caught up to me and asked me how far I was going. I kept pace with them for about a mile until they turned around and headed back.
That particular mile went by the fastest as far as perceived time, actually 8:30. One of the guys was training for St. George as well. They each had run it 6 to 8 times before, so they gave me some pointers on the course and a carbo load recommendation to boot. I was on my own again for the next 4 and change. The slow down began in earnest at this point. I think it would have started sooner if it wasn’t for keeping up with the two guys. The muscles in my left hip, butt and groin were getting really tired. They were likely sore from the massage the day before. I kept going, never walking but definitely slowing down. Somewhere along here I saw Tom, a guy I met in HB awhile back. He was heading back so we only got to wave and shout How’s it going?
During mile 21, I got passed for the first time. I got passed by a girl. I thought, Dude you just got Chicked! Actually it wasn’t that big of a deal, I know there are plenty of ladies out there that put my feeble attempts at running to shame. It really doesn’t bother me in the least but I thought it was a funny thought to have, especially since I was so aware of the fact that no one had overtaken me for 20 some miles before that. And before you think there was no one else out there, don’t. HB is always a huge draw for runners. I had plenty of company. She ended up stopping less than a mile after passing me so I didn’t feel bad for long.
Then during mile 22, I could hear the footfalls of someone coming up behind me. Louder and louder, dang I’m really slowing down now. It ended up being a 60+year old man. So now I’d gotten passed by a girl and an old man, talk about a blow to the ego. Actually, it was just my brain trying to add a little drama to an otherwise uneventful long run. Those last 4 miles were done in 9:04, 9:18, 9:13 and 9:44 plus the last 5:39 to get me back to the car.
I made it through the 22 without any major glitches, all kidding aside about getting passed. My final time was 3:14 for an average pace of 8:49. This is just slightly better than my SEAFAIR marathon pace. So I think this bodes well for St. George, especially since now I have the inside scoop on the course. I took the rest of the day pretty easy. The hip is sore, muscle sore, not the kind of achy joint pain I was having before.
Sunday I headed back over to Bonelli in the afternoon for the third time this week on my favorite 5 mile loop. The temps were warmer today than during Thursday’s PR, but at 48:18, I was happy with the effort.
All told, I ended the week with 37 miles on 4 days of running and the hip is well on its way to recovered. Not where I’d hoped to be, but not such a bad place three weeks out from a marathon. The next two weeks call for less daily mileage but continue the 6 day schedule. I will definitely scale back to 5 and may consider 4 depending on how the hip feels. I’m not ready to give up on a PR effort in St. George but I do want to guarantee that it won’t be my first DNF.
At the Disneyland Half, my buddy Jesse came in at 1:29:36, 8th place in his division, my division. I’ve got some work to do. Terry from work came in at 2:02:39. The bib I might have worn came in at 2:02:28. This was good enough for 4th place in the M65-69 age group. That’s kind of scary because if I had run my plan was to run along with Terry and she was hoping to go 2:00 or less. A 1:58 would have gotten 3rd place. I’m capable of that on a good day and I would have stolen someone’s thunder. I’m sure I made the right decision.
Onto the run:
Saturday morning was my anticipated 22 miler. Since most of the CA Cruisers were going to be enjoying the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday, there was no officially planned run for Saturday. I headed down to Huntington Beach to get the job done. I parked in Sunset Beach between mile marker 10 and 11 and got started around 6:40 a.m. I headed NW toward the 11 mile mark and then turned around and ran SW to the Newport Beach Jetty roughly 9 miles through Bolsa Chica and Huntington Beach. At that point I headed up the Santa Ana River Bike Path. For the first nine miles my split times were in the 8:40 range.
3:40, 8:44, 8:33, 8:31, 8:38, 8:21, 8:40, 8:13, 8:56, 8:14.
The mile markers don’t continue at this point so I ran based on time to get to the 11 mile turnaround. The first time I check my watch I was only at 14 and change, too soon to turn around. The next time I was at 17:59. I felt pretty confident that I had covered the required 2 miles. 18:08 took me back to the 2 mile mark and the countdown home began. 8:31, 9:01 (the first mile over 9 so far, this is the same mile that was 8:56 on the way out so I think it must be a little long). The next one came in at 8:36. At this point I’m beginning to get tired. Once I hoped back onto the beach trail from the river I saw a couple of guys about half mile ahead of me. I wasn’t able to reel them in for nearly 3 miles until they took a facilities break. I overtook them, not to hard to do when they are standing still, huh. So far during the run, I had overtaken quite a few people and was only passed by people on bikes. I was taking a certain degree in satisfaction in that. A few minutes into mile 18 those guys caught up to me and asked me how far I was going. I kept pace with them for about a mile until they turned around and headed back.
That particular mile went by the fastest as far as perceived time, actually 8:30. One of the guys was training for St. George as well. They each had run it 6 to 8 times before, so they gave me some pointers on the course and a carbo load recommendation to boot. I was on my own again for the next 4 and change. The slow down began in earnest at this point. I think it would have started sooner if it wasn’t for keeping up with the two guys. The muscles in my left hip, butt and groin were getting really tired. They were likely sore from the massage the day before. I kept going, never walking but definitely slowing down. Somewhere along here I saw Tom, a guy I met in HB awhile back. He was heading back so we only got to wave and shout How’s it going?
During mile 21, I got passed for the first time. I got passed by a girl. I thought, Dude you just got Chicked! Actually it wasn’t that big of a deal, I know there are plenty of ladies out there that put my feeble attempts at running to shame. It really doesn’t bother me in the least but I thought it was a funny thought to have, especially since I was so aware of the fact that no one had overtaken me for 20 some miles before that. And before you think there was no one else out there, don’t. HB is always a huge draw for runners. I had plenty of company. She ended up stopping less than a mile after passing me so I didn’t feel bad for long.
Then during mile 22, I could hear the footfalls of someone coming up behind me. Louder and louder, dang I’m really slowing down now. It ended up being a 60+year old man. So now I’d gotten passed by a girl and an old man, talk about a blow to the ego. Actually, it was just my brain trying to add a little drama to an otherwise uneventful long run. Those last 4 miles were done in 9:04, 9:18, 9:13 and 9:44 plus the last 5:39 to get me back to the car.
I made it through the 22 without any major glitches, all kidding aside about getting passed. My final time was 3:14 for an average pace of 8:49. This is just slightly better than my SEAFAIR marathon pace. So I think this bodes well for St. George, especially since now I have the inside scoop on the course. I took the rest of the day pretty easy. The hip is sore, muscle sore, not the kind of achy joint pain I was having before.
Sunday I headed back over to Bonelli in the afternoon for the third time this week on my favorite 5 mile loop. The temps were warmer today than during Thursday’s PR, but at 48:18, I was happy with the effort.
All told, I ended the week with 37 miles on 4 days of running and the hip is well on its way to recovered. Not where I’d hoped to be, but not such a bad place three weeks out from a marathon. The next two weeks call for less daily mileage but continue the 6 day schedule. I will definitely scale back to 5 and may consider 4 depending on how the hip feels. I’m not ready to give up on a PR effort in St. George but I do want to guarantee that it won’t be my first DNF.
At the Disneyland Half, my buddy Jesse came in at 1:29:36, 8th place in his division, my division. I’ve got some work to do. Terry from work came in at 2:02:39. The bib I might have worn came in at 2:02:28. This was good enough for 4th place in the M65-69 age group. That’s kind of scary because if I had run my plan was to run along with Terry and she was hoping to go 2:00 or less. A 1:58 would have gotten 3rd place. I’m capable of that on a good day and I would have stolen someone’s thunder. I’m sure I made the right decision.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
What's the 4-1-1
Me! I'm the 4-1-1! What?
I finally signed up today for the First Annual Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon on October 7 and 8. My bib number is 411. Goofy, I know but what do you expect from me. I had read about this race quite awhile ago on both Planet3rry and Steve's sites. Since I'm already signed up for a full marathon that day I figured I ought to join in the fun of a world wide half marathon. I just have to decide which half of the marathon I want to report. So if you haven't signed up yet head on over here and get signed up. Then get out there and put in 13.1 miles; easy for some, a challenge for others. Just get out there and do it. It should be fun running a half marathon with fellow runners from all over the world.
As far as the Disneyland Half goes, I've pretty much decided that its not in the cards for me this year. I would have just run it for fun anyway, rather than raced it. Running with someone's bib is somewhat problematic considering the guy I'd be pretending to be is older than me. But who am I kidding, they are tons of older guys that can kick my sorry behind any old day, so it's not as though I'd be stealing anybody's thunder. Maybe I'll work it in next year, but I can never get that Inaugural thing back (you know what I'm talking about, Drew?). And yes, Donald, the medal is a little more "cute" than it is "cool". I should resist that whole Disney mega-marketing thing anyway, but I'm so weak.....
Anyway, tonight I headed back over to Bonelli for 5 miles. I felt so good on Tuesday, I decided to do the Sunday morning loop again today. I don't really know why, but I really, really enjoy this loop. And although I'm a watch guy (sorry Rob), on a run like this with no mile markers I just "set it and forget it". So I left the park and ride lot headed over the freeway overpass, hit the start button and never looked back until I crossed back over the freeway.
When I finished today, I was like "NO WAY!". I had made a pretty serious improvement in my time. I realize not everybody is interested in this but I went back and checked my log for the year and looked up all my times for this 5 mile route. I have run this particular loop 10 times this year ( yes I keep track of this stuff). I've actually run it more times than that but the others were part of longer runs so I don't have the 5 mile times for all of them. Anyway when I guessed on Tuesday that my 47:41 was the best time on the loop, I was right. My next best time on the same loop 49:54 back on April 9. I've done the loop in as slow as 57:06 on June 25. Tonight I can't really explain what happened. We did get an usually cool day today, low 70's at best, and overcast pretty much all day. I was lovin' it. My final time was, ta da, 45:21, over 2 minutes better than just 2 days ago. 45 minutes is what I used to run on the flat path at the dam, not on the hills in Bonelli. I'm stoked about that, no doubt.
Friday is a scheduled day off. The first official Friday off in six weeks on the new schedule that my hip has blown all to pieces, but I'm taking it none the less. I go to see the chiropractor for the third time tomorrow as well. Then its off to Huntington Beach on Saturday morning for 22 miles. The hip is feeling better so I guess the rest wasn't for naught and as a bonus I achieved a PR time in Bonelli.
I finally signed up today for the First Annual Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon on October 7 and 8. My bib number is 411. Goofy, I know but what do you expect from me. I had read about this race quite awhile ago on both Planet3rry and Steve's sites. Since I'm already signed up for a full marathon that day I figured I ought to join in the fun of a world wide half marathon. I just have to decide which half of the marathon I want to report. So if you haven't signed up yet head on over here and get signed up. Then get out there and put in 13.1 miles; easy for some, a challenge for others. Just get out there and do it. It should be fun running a half marathon with fellow runners from all over the world.
As far as the Disneyland Half goes, I've pretty much decided that its not in the cards for me this year. I would have just run it for fun anyway, rather than raced it. Running with someone's bib is somewhat problematic considering the guy I'd be pretending to be is older than me. But who am I kidding, they are tons of older guys that can kick my sorry behind any old day, so it's not as though I'd be stealing anybody's thunder. Maybe I'll work it in next year, but I can never get that Inaugural thing back (you know what I'm talking about, Drew?). And yes, Donald, the medal is a little more "cute" than it is "cool". I should resist that whole Disney mega-marketing thing anyway, but I'm so weak.....
Anyway, tonight I headed back over to Bonelli for 5 miles. I felt so good on Tuesday, I decided to do the Sunday morning loop again today. I don't really know why, but I really, really enjoy this loop. And although I'm a watch guy (sorry Rob), on a run like this with no mile markers I just "set it and forget it". So I left the park and ride lot headed over the freeway overpass, hit the start button and never looked back until I crossed back over the freeway.
When I finished today, I was like "NO WAY!". I had made a pretty serious improvement in my time. I realize not everybody is interested in this but I went back and checked my log for the year and looked up all my times for this 5 mile route. I have run this particular loop 10 times this year ( yes I keep track of this stuff). I've actually run it more times than that but the others were part of longer runs so I don't have the 5 mile times for all of them. Anyway when I guessed on Tuesday that my 47:41 was the best time on the loop, I was right. My next best time on the same loop 49:54 back on April 9. I've done the loop in as slow as 57:06 on June 25. Tonight I can't really explain what happened. We did get an usually cool day today, low 70's at best, and overcast pretty much all day. I was lovin' it. My final time was, ta da, 45:21, over 2 minutes better than just 2 days ago. 45 minutes is what I used to run on the flat path at the dam, not on the hills in Bonelli. I'm stoked about that, no doubt.
Friday is a scheduled day off. The first official Friday off in six weeks on the new schedule that my hip has blown all to pieces, but I'm taking it none the less. I go to see the chiropractor for the third time tomorrow as well. Then its off to Huntington Beach on Saturday morning for 22 miles. The hip is feeling better so I guess the rest wasn't for naught and as a bonus I achieved a PR time in Bonelli.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
It Figures
This Sunday is the Inaugural Disneyland Half Marathon. If you remember I waited a day too long to register for it. Then when more spots opened up, I was a day late once again, having to check on possible work travel plans before plunking down $85. I might have used my friend Terry husband's entry if his training didn't go well. He's running after all and I'm glad for him. Call it karma, call it bad luck, the race didn't really fit into my marathon schedule very well anyway, falling on a weekend of a 22 miler. So I pretty much gave up any thought of running this event. My wife had even cancelled our hotel room on Tuesday.
Then today I got a call at work from one of the Cruiser's. There's a bib available if I want it. I initially declined the offer. I thought that with the hip less than 100% and really wanting to get the 22 in on Saturday, that a half the next day probably wasn't the best idea. I have nothing to gain by running this except for a really cool medal. As the day has worn on, I'm thinking more and more that I want to go run it. There's also the ethical ramifications of running with a non-transferable bib. If the sponsor was someone other that the BIG Disney machine I might feel a little bad about doing it.
An another note, I ran into Lonny at work. He's the coworker I ran into at the Great Race of Agoura. He is going to pace for someone in his running group this weekend at the Angeles Crest 100. He's going to run from 52 mile aid station to the 74 mile aid station. There's only one aid station in between. He expects to be running during the dark. Looks like it should be a lot of fun. I'm not sure I'll ever be up to that distance, but if I were its right here in the mountains I see everyday. Good luck to Lonny and his pacee!
My run last night was spectacular. I headed over to Bonelli after work and ran my 5 mile Sunday morning loop. I was able to push hard and ended up clocking in a 47:41, probably my best time for this particular route. I'm usually in no big hurry on Sunday mornings after Saturday long runs. I guess running less miles has it advantages. The hip is getting better, but I took tonight off anyway.
Then today I got a call at work from one of the Cruiser's. There's a bib available if I want it. I initially declined the offer. I thought that with the hip less than 100% and really wanting to get the 22 in on Saturday, that a half the next day probably wasn't the best idea. I have nothing to gain by running this except for a really cool medal. As the day has worn on, I'm thinking more and more that I want to go run it. There's also the ethical ramifications of running with a non-transferable bib. If the sponsor was someone other that the BIG Disney machine I might feel a little bad about doing it.
An another note, I ran into Lonny at work. He's the coworker I ran into at the Great Race of Agoura. He is going to pace for someone in his running group this weekend at the Angeles Crest 100. He's going to run from 52 mile aid station to the 74 mile aid station. There's only one aid station in between. He expects to be running during the dark. Looks like it should be a lot of fun. I'm not sure I'll ever be up to that distance, but if I were its right here in the mountains I see everyday. Good luck to Lonny and his pacee!
My run last night was spectacular. I headed over to Bonelli after work and ran my 5 mile Sunday morning loop. I was able to push hard and ended up clocking in a 47:41, probably my best time for this particular route. I'm usually in no big hurry on Sunday mornings after Saturday long runs. I guess running less miles has it advantages. The hip is getting better, but I took tonight off anyway.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
So Much for Schedules
This is killing me! Putting all those big fat zeros into my training log and then again into my Excel spreadsheet. My weekday runs have been nearly non existent. The week before last, my only run was a 22 miler on Saturday.
Last week I went out for 5 on Wednesday. I got my 15 miler completed on Friday morning before we left for the Napa Valley and then on Sunday I did 4.7 miles around American Canyon, CA. My hip is still bothering me, even though I've seriously cut back my schedule. Week 6 of the 6 days/week schedule at 50 miles, turned into 1 day at 22. Week 7 planned at 45 miles in 6 days became 24.7 miles in 3 days. This week, #8, has 5 days for 42 miles including a 22 miler on Saturday. I plan on keeping the 22 miler and taking at least one extra day off, probably tomorrow for about 35 miles. After that I'm officially into taper but I think this time around the taper is going to be more of a super taper, hoping to be completely ache free by St. George.
Friday's run went amazing well in terms of pace. I ran the San Gabriel River Bike Trail. Mile one was a conservative 9:25 and includes the immediate climb up onto the top of the dam. The next 7 miles ticked off in roughly 8:30 pace. After the turn around, I knocked off miles 9, 10 and 11 in 7:56, 7:46 and 7:41. The last 4 miles were between 8:14 and 8:03 for a total running time of 2:04 or an 8:16 pace overall.
On the intestinal terms the run was a near disaster. Note to self and anyone living in the proximity of Los Angeles. Do not ever, under any circumstances, eat a Hollenbeck burrito from El Tapayec in East LA the day before a long run. Don't get me wrong the burritos are awesome. Any other day, I would go there in a flash. It is a little hole in the wall with room for about 30 people crammed inside and there is usually a line to get in. The food is seriously good, but it doesn't want to stick with you on a long run. Thank goodness disaster was diverted and the bathroom along the trail that had been closed for renovations was back open. I hit it twice, on the way out and on the way back, and I hit it hard. Just a word to the wise. I've learned my lesson. I didn't count those little breaks in my overall time!
Sunday's run in American Canyon was just a nice leisurely run. American Canyon is on the very southern end of the Napa Valley. We stayed in American Valley, as my father-in-law had booked the rooms and they were the only Marriott affiliate (we kid him that anything less that a Marriott is roughing it) in the Napa Valley that he could find for less than $300 a night. The front desk staff had no recommendations as far as places to run. The hotel was on Highway 29, a 2 lane divided highway. Google maps were not complete, since the city is experiencing a growth. I just headed out and found a nice stretch along Wetlands Edge Rd. There was a nice wetlands, duh, along one side and new housing development on the other. I eventually ran into a bike path and ended up with 4.7 miles (determined on gmaps-pedometer) upon my return home.
The trip to Napa was quick but enjoyable. We always have a good time visiting with my wife's Dad and his wife and her brother and his family. Dad and Susan had flown in from PA. Brother and family had driven over from the Sacramento area. It took us about 6 hours driving time to get up to Napa. The boys were less than thrilled being in the car for that long but they survived. They actually complained about taking bathroom breaks because it was going to take longer to get there. We had dinner Friday night at La Strada in American Canyon.
On Saturday, while the grownups visited a couple of wineries, the boys got to play paintball at a park in American Canyon. Number 1 son got to spend Saturday evening with a couple of high school buddies that were going to school at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, CA just down the road from our hotel. The adults took a tour of Beringer Vineyards and Chateau Montelena. Both places gave very informative tours and we enjoyed the wines, as well. Lunch on Saturday was at the Calistoga Inn. I would recommend it highly; very delicious weekend brunch menu and great service. Dinner Saturday night was at Pacific Blues Cafe, another great meal. The menu is an eclectic mix of burger, Mexican and American comfort food.
The trip was very enjoyable. Too short, but fun. This was only our second trip to the area in 22 years of living in CA. The last time I was in Napa was to run a half marathon in 2004. We aren't huge drinkers and don't really plunk down any huge sums of money for wine, but it is a fun way to spend a weekend every now and then. Wineries aside, the area is beautiful, lodging is plentiful although pricey and there are tons of world class restaurants and shopping, so a great weekend could be had, wine or not.
Last week I went out for 5 on Wednesday. I got my 15 miler completed on Friday morning before we left for the Napa Valley and then on Sunday I did 4.7 miles around American Canyon, CA. My hip is still bothering me, even though I've seriously cut back my schedule. Week 6 of the 6 days/week schedule at 50 miles, turned into 1 day at 22. Week 7 planned at 45 miles in 6 days became 24.7 miles in 3 days. This week, #8, has 5 days for 42 miles including a 22 miler on Saturday. I plan on keeping the 22 miler and taking at least one extra day off, probably tomorrow for about 35 miles. After that I'm officially into taper but I think this time around the taper is going to be more of a super taper, hoping to be completely ache free by St. George.
Friday's run went amazing well in terms of pace. I ran the San Gabriel River Bike Trail. Mile one was a conservative 9:25 and includes the immediate climb up onto the top of the dam. The next 7 miles ticked off in roughly 8:30 pace. After the turn around, I knocked off miles 9, 10 and 11 in 7:56, 7:46 and 7:41. The last 4 miles were between 8:14 and 8:03 for a total running time of 2:04 or an 8:16 pace overall.
On the intestinal terms the run was a near disaster. Note to self and anyone living in the proximity of Los Angeles. Do not ever, under any circumstances, eat a Hollenbeck burrito from El Tapayec in East LA the day before a long run. Don't get me wrong the burritos are awesome. Any other day, I would go there in a flash. It is a little hole in the wall with room for about 30 people crammed inside and there is usually a line to get in. The food is seriously good, but it doesn't want to stick with you on a long run. Thank goodness disaster was diverted and the bathroom along the trail that had been closed for renovations was back open. I hit it twice, on the way out and on the way back, and I hit it hard. Just a word to the wise. I've learned my lesson. I didn't count those little breaks in my overall time!
Sunday's run in American Canyon was just a nice leisurely run. American Canyon is on the very southern end of the Napa Valley. We stayed in American Valley, as my father-in-law had booked the rooms and they were the only Marriott affiliate (we kid him that anything less that a Marriott is roughing it) in the Napa Valley that he could find for less than $300 a night. The front desk staff had no recommendations as far as places to run. The hotel was on Highway 29, a 2 lane divided highway. Google maps were not complete, since the city is experiencing a growth. I just headed out and found a nice stretch along Wetlands Edge Rd. There was a nice wetlands, duh, along one side and new housing development on the other. I eventually ran into a bike path and ended up with 4.7 miles (determined on gmaps-pedometer) upon my return home.
The trip to Napa was quick but enjoyable. We always have a good time visiting with my wife's Dad and his wife and her brother and his family. Dad and Susan had flown in from PA. Brother and family had driven over from the Sacramento area. It took us about 6 hours driving time to get up to Napa. The boys were less than thrilled being in the car for that long but they survived. They actually complained about taking bathroom breaks because it was going to take longer to get there. We had dinner Friday night at La Strada in American Canyon.
On Saturday, while the grownups visited a couple of wineries, the boys got to play paintball at a park in American Canyon. Number 1 son got to spend Saturday evening with a couple of high school buddies that were going to school at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, CA just down the road from our hotel. The adults took a tour of Beringer Vineyards and Chateau Montelena. Both places gave very informative tours and we enjoyed the wines, as well. Lunch on Saturday was at the Calistoga Inn. I would recommend it highly; very delicious weekend brunch menu and great service. Dinner Saturday night was at Pacific Blues Cafe, another great meal. The menu is an eclectic mix of burger, Mexican and American comfort food.
The trip was very enjoyable. Too short, but fun. This was only our second trip to the area in 22 years of living in CA. The last time I was in Napa was to run a half marathon in 2004. We aren't huge drinkers and don't really plunk down any huge sums of money for wine, but it is a fun way to spend a weekend every now and then. Wineries aside, the area is beautiful, lodging is plentiful although pricey and there are tons of world class restaurants and shopping, so a great weekend could be had, wine or not.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Worked Over
Wednesday I had my second chiropractic appointment. Before the adjustment I was treated to a 30 minute massage. She worked over my back and tried her darndest to get deep into the muscles on my left back side. There was some pain involved, but it was the good kind of pain. During the adjustment, the chiro stretched my hamstrings. She said we needed to work on those in the future. I have no doubt about that. I left there feeling really good.
So good in fact I went over to Bonelli for 5 miles on the Cottontail out and back. No signs of hip pain what so ever during the run.
Thursday at work I could feel the pain again, but it felt mostly muscular and moved around from upper part of my left cheek, down into the hamstrings. I had to adjust my sitting position depending on the chair. By the afternoon, my back starting feeling like I had been hit by a large vehicle. Things were definitely sore. This is a side effect of the massage I hadn't counted on.
I'm going to go out tomorrow morning and put in my 15 miles. Later in the morning I'm driving the family up to Napa to visit my father-in-law and his wife and my brother-in-law and his family. I hope to get at least one 5 miler in somewhere in the Vallejo, Napa, Sonoma area before the drive home Sunday afternoon.
One more long run next weekend and then its taper time. Didn't I just do this not that long ago. Three months sure flies by quickly.
Everybody enjoy their runs this weekend. Remember to root for Donald at Big Kahuna, Jeff at The Robin Hood Marathon, Jessica at the OC Heart 5K and Sarah at the McKenzie River Trail 50K. That pretty much covers most of the commonly raced distances. (My apologies to those I missed.) Get out there and have a great time.
So good in fact I went over to Bonelli for 5 miles on the Cottontail out and back. No signs of hip pain what so ever during the run.
Thursday at work I could feel the pain again, but it felt mostly muscular and moved around from upper part of my left cheek, down into the hamstrings. I had to adjust my sitting position depending on the chair. By the afternoon, my back starting feeling like I had been hit by a large vehicle. Things were definitely sore. This is a side effect of the massage I hadn't counted on.
I'm going to go out tomorrow morning and put in my 15 miles. Later in the morning I'm driving the family up to Napa to visit my father-in-law and his wife and my brother-in-law and his family. I hope to get at least one 5 miler in somewhere in the Vallejo, Napa, Sonoma area before the drive home Sunday afternoon.
One more long run next weekend and then its taper time. Didn't I just do this not that long ago. Three months sure flies by quickly.
Everybody enjoy their runs this weekend. Remember to root for Donald at Big Kahuna, Jeff at The Robin Hood Marathon, Jessica at the OC Heart 5K and Sarah at the McKenzie River Trail 50K. That pretty much covers most of the commonly raced distances. (My apologies to those I missed.) Get out there and have a great time.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Running Hopeful
Dang Blogger! Dang computer! Dang Internet!
I just finished my masterpiece of writing. I wore my heart on my sleeve and its all gone. Way too much time spent composing and editing in Blogger's dashboard and poof its all gone into the neverland of cyberspace. (Truth be told it was probably just another one of my run-on stream of conscious ramblings, but I guess we'll never know.)
Here's the short version.
I ran 22 miles on Saturday down at the Santa Ana River Trail in Yorba Linda with 16 of my CA Cruiser buddies. I ran the first 5 with Michelle, Rochelle, Jesse and Anet. The next 4 with Jesse and Michelle. 6 more alone until I met Terry from work and turned around and joined her for 3, followed by 5 more on my own. The final time was 3:31 for a relatively slow, for me, 9:36 overall pace. Because of the hip issues I intended on taking things slow so I was really happy overall. I did manage a couple of miles at 8:35 and 8:36 in the middle when I was running alone.
Final analysis: no hip joint pain during the run and yeah, no blisters either. The only aches are in my glutes and hip adductor muscles on the left side. I'm thinking these are from the chiropractic adjustment. I've been doing a lot of reading in magazines and the web about hip injuries. For me sitting is the most uncomfortable position. It could be any number of things, but self-diagnosis is probably less than reliable and self-treatment even less so. For now I plan on keeping my chiropractic appointments, scaling back the training program and keeping a watchful eye on the hip. I don't want to "cry wolf" too soon and run off to a specialist before it's absolutely necessary.
Only 5 weeks to St. George and I don't want to do anything stupid at this point (hopefully I haven't already) .
I just finished my masterpiece of writing. I wore my heart on my sleeve and its all gone. Way too much time spent composing and editing in Blogger's dashboard and poof its all gone into the neverland of cyberspace. (Truth be told it was probably just another one of my run-on stream of conscious ramblings, but I guess we'll never know.)
Here's the short version.
I ran 22 miles on Saturday down at the Santa Ana River Trail in Yorba Linda with 16 of my CA Cruiser buddies. I ran the first 5 with Michelle, Rochelle, Jesse and Anet. The next 4 with Jesse and Michelle. 6 more alone until I met Terry from work and turned around and joined her for 3, followed by 5 more on my own. The final time was 3:31 for a relatively slow, for me, 9:36 overall pace. Because of the hip issues I intended on taking things slow so I was really happy overall. I did manage a couple of miles at 8:35 and 8:36 in the middle when I was running alone.
Final analysis: no hip joint pain during the run and yeah, no blisters either. The only aches are in my glutes and hip adductor muscles on the left side. I'm thinking these are from the chiropractic adjustment. I've been doing a lot of reading in magazines and the web about hip injuries. For me sitting is the most uncomfortable position. It could be any number of things, but self-diagnosis is probably less than reliable and self-treatment even less so. For now I plan on keeping my chiropractic appointments, scaling back the training program and keeping a watchful eye on the hip. I don't want to "cry wolf" too soon and run off to a specialist before it's absolutely necessary.
Only 5 weeks to St. George and I don't want to do anything stupid at this point (hopefully I haven't already) .
Friday, September 01, 2006
Random Reflections
How does a week without running feel so busy? Yeah, I decided to give my hip a week to heal and hopefully I can still salvage the 22 miler on Saturday. I'm just considering it an unplanned taper.
I really love what's happened over at completerunning.com. The revamped Complete Running Network is full of great RBF writers and personalities and is superbly informative. I do miss the Running Blog Recents page. I used that page to keep up with my favorite blogs. Although I've got links to some of them on the side bar of my little blog, I couldn't tell if there was something new to read or not without first checking in. I have finally subscribed to many feeds with Bloglines. I guess this is something that you all knew about, but I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to technology. I run sans a GPS, a HRM, or even an i-Pod. Heck I can't even take pictures with my cell phone. With Bloglines now I know when you've all added some interesting little tidbit I will want to read.
Drew has added a cool new tool on his blog to connect with other RBF members. Check it out! You never know who you might meet.
Speaking of CRN, I love today's quote: "It is very difficult to train for a marathon; but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon." —Aaron Douglas Trimble. I really hope this doesn't become my reality.
Wednesday I went out for a bike ride, rather than a run. I got on my stock, 8 year old GT Aggressor for a ride on the streets. I rode over to the far end of Bonelli, through Bonelli and down San Dimas Ave and then back home. San Dimas Ave is the street that Jeff road at 40 mph during his triathlon (June 10). I know I went nowhere near that fast but I went as fast as the GT would roll. I had it in the highest gear and all I could do was just spin the pedals. I ran out of daylight putting in 18 miles in 1:20. I felt like I had kept up a pretty decent pace, but post ride calculations come up with a measly 13.5 mph. Even more reason to be in awe of you Ironmen that clock huge miles at 20+ mph for an easy ride. The good news is that the hip didn't hurt during the ride.
Thursday night we said goodbye to Janice. Yet another work friend moving on to the next big thing. First Brian, my running partner, off to dental school in Boston. Then Celeste, another running partner/friend, off to a new job. Now Janice chasing her dream to become a dentist at the University of California at San Francisco Dental School. I was able to bring her over to the dark side (she got hooked on running) and I got to share her first half marathon.
This evening I saw a chiropractor, to see what she could do for my hip. Along with the hip pain, I can also feel that my back and neck are out of whack. So hopefully getting everything back in line will help. If not, then I will consider the next step. I have seen chiropractors in the past with very good results. This one comes highly recommended by many people at work, including Terry, my one last remaining running buddy at work. I got a little e-stim and "racked and whacked" (the chiro's description). Now, I feeling a little sore, but I expected that.
------------------------------
August Milestone:
3 years at or below goal weight!
182.5 miles for the month. Off my goal of 200 miles, but my highest month yet by about 1.5 miles. Could this be the cause of my hip pain?
One of the races I was thinking of doing, a marathon relay with the CA Cruiser at the inaugural Inland Empire Marathon, has been canceled. That leaves me an opening for another interesting event I'll disclose later. ;-)
I really love what's happened over at completerunning.com. The revamped Complete Running Network is full of great RBF writers and personalities and is superbly informative. I do miss the Running Blog Recents page. I used that page to keep up with my favorite blogs. Although I've got links to some of them on the side bar of my little blog, I couldn't tell if there was something new to read or not without first checking in. I have finally subscribed to many feeds with Bloglines. I guess this is something that you all knew about, but I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to technology. I run sans a GPS, a HRM, or even an i-Pod. Heck I can't even take pictures with my cell phone. With Bloglines now I know when you've all added some interesting little tidbit I will want to read.
Drew has added a cool new tool on his blog to connect with other RBF members. Check it out! You never know who you might meet.
Speaking of CRN, I love today's quote: "It is very difficult to train for a marathon; but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon." —Aaron Douglas Trimble. I really hope this doesn't become my reality.
Wednesday I went out for a bike ride, rather than a run. I got on my stock, 8 year old GT Aggressor for a ride on the streets. I rode over to the far end of Bonelli, through Bonelli and down San Dimas Ave and then back home. San Dimas Ave is the street that Jeff road at 40 mph during his triathlon (June 10). I know I went nowhere near that fast but I went as fast as the GT would roll. I had it in the highest gear and all I could do was just spin the pedals. I ran out of daylight putting in 18 miles in 1:20. I felt like I had kept up a pretty decent pace, but post ride calculations come up with a measly 13.5 mph. Even more reason to be in awe of you Ironmen that clock huge miles at 20+ mph for an easy ride. The good news is that the hip didn't hurt during the ride.
Thursday night we said goodbye to Janice. Yet another work friend moving on to the next big thing. First Brian, my running partner, off to dental school in Boston. Then Celeste, another running partner/friend, off to a new job. Now Janice chasing her dream to become a dentist at the University of California at San Francisco Dental School. I was able to bring her over to the dark side (she got hooked on running) and I got to share her first half marathon.
This evening I saw a chiropractor, to see what she could do for my hip. Along with the hip pain, I can also feel that my back and neck are out of whack. So hopefully getting everything back in line will help. If not, then I will consider the next step. I have seen chiropractors in the past with very good results. This one comes highly recommended by many people at work, including Terry, my one last remaining running buddy at work. I got a little e-stim and "racked and whacked" (the chiro's description). Now, I feeling a little sore, but I expected that.
------------------------------
August Milestone:
3 years at or below goal weight!
182.5 miles for the month. Off my goal of 200 miles, but my highest month yet by about 1.5 miles. Could this be the cause of my hip pain?
One of the races I was thinking of doing, a marathon relay with the CA Cruiser at the inaugural Inland Empire Marathon, has been canceled. That leaves me an opening for another interesting event I'll disclose later. ;-)
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