Sheduling Conflict

I mentioned a big project at work that I’ve been preparing since just before I went to the Caribbean and I’m still working to pull it together. At the end of August I was given the opportunity to travel to Panama City, Panama to conduct technical training on our newest products for the Latin America Sales Team. Pulling together the presentation has been exciting and yet very stressful; a month notice is not really enough time to pull it all together. Add in the fact that my vacation interfered with one week of the preparation. I will get through the presentation. My real predicament is my running schedule.

The Panama trip takes place over the week of October 2 to October 6. I won’t get back home until late on Sunday night. I’ve been following Hal Higdon’s intermediate program so the long runs leading up to MCM starting this weekend look like this:

20 – 12 – 20 – 12 – 8 – 26.2

The second 20 miler falls on the weekend I’m in Panama. It is doubtful that I will be able to run a 20 miler in an unfamiliar place. I’m afraid that 20 miles in a foreign country could put in places I might not want to go or shouldn’t be. I’m seeking advice from my blogging friends on the correct adjustment to be made to the schedule. I have a couple of proposed scenarios below. Please cast your vote:

A: (12-18) – 20 – Panama – 12 – 8 – 26.2
B: 20 – 12 – Panama – 20 – 8 – 26.2

Assuming that I will be able to run 5 to 10 somewhere near the hotel in Panama City. Basically I have the choice of an overly long taper or an abbreviated taper. I appreciate your input.

Have a great run!

A Lack of Valor

The cruise was a blast. It went off pretty much as expected. We drank rum drinks, ate great food, took taxi tours, sat around the pool, shopped, drank rum drinks, ate great food, kayaked in a lagoon, snorkeled, enjoyed wine with great food, and great desserts, napped, sat in the sun, swam in the clear blue Caribbean Ocean, drank rum drinks, ate great food, watched some great entertainment, took formal portraits, shopped, rode a catamaran, rode a jeep, made a quick visit to the clothing optional beach, and don't forget, napped, drank a rum drink and ate some great food. No kids, no work, no TV, no cell phones, just the two of us enjoying our private time together and our public time with friends. Coming back to reality on Sunday night was not a pleasant experience.

We were on the Carnival Cruise ship, the Valor. Our ports of call were Nassau Bahamas, St Thomas US Virgin Islands and St Martin/St Maarten West Indies. We pretty much agreed that St Martin was our overall favorite island. The excursion on St Thomas was a lot of fun, kayaking and snorkeling, but the shopping was too contrived. We had far too little time on each island to really get a feel for them. The locals, at least those employed in the tourism trade, were all super friendly. I was surprised to see so many US and European citizens that had set up shop on the islands. We enjoyed near perfect weather in the 80's with reasonable humidity. Brief rain storms came through 3 or 4 times but only lasted 10 minutes or so and returned immediately to beautiful sunny skies.

The running didn't go quite as well as I might have hoped. The trip started out well with a 5.5 mile run in Miami on Sunday morning before we boarded the ship. I ran across the Venetian Causeway from the mainland over to Miami Beach. The temps were in the mid 70's and a light sprinkle was falling. I really enjoyed running across the causeway, island hopping as I went.

Once on board ship, I was pleased to find out that the track was actually 0.111 miles long; only 9 laps to a mile. Monday morning I got up a little early and headed up to the "jogging" track on Deck 11 and off I went. There were about a dozen other people up there but they were all walking. I was the lone runner. I tried to keep track of laps in my head but by the third mile I resorted to holding up fingers as I went around, 5 fingers on the left hand and 4 more on the right. During the 4th mile I was really losing focus. I struggled mentally but made it through 45 laps to meet my 5 mile goal.

The next day I decided to give the treadmill in the gym a try. Without headphones I watched a show about a girl boxer on the TV. I could occasionally lip read but mostly had no idea what was going on. I made it 3 miles and struggled just to make it to 4 before I called it quits. The numbers on the readout wreaked havoc with my brain. I could not compute mph into minutes/mile nor could I ignore the numbers and just run. I was drawn to watch each tenth of a mile tick slowly away, ugh! This was only my second treadmill experience and it just confirmed to me that I am not a treadmill kind of guy.

I had planned not to run on Wed. and Thurs. I slept in on Friday but headed back up to Deck 11 on Saturday. This was supposed to be the day I attempted the 13 miler. Sad to say I only made it 3 miles before I called it quits. I wasn't physically tired, I just did not have the mental stamina to go round and round, one finger, two fingers, three fingers.... nine fingers, repeat.

I appreciate all the more the joy of the open road or trail so much more. My routes are always out and back or the occasional loop. I almost never cut the out portion short or shortcut a loop so I'm forced to come back as far as I went out. There is no getting off early or just walking off the track. This also explains my struggle with speedwork at the track. It is far to easy to just walk away. Walking away from the middle of an 8 miler puts me 4 miles from the car or home and if I've got to get back there anyway I might as well run.

So not counting the Miami run (which really counts for the prior week) I ran a whopping 12 miles on board the Valor, something I sorely lacked when it came down to boldness and determination in getting the runs in. But running was not the focus of this trip; enjoying the vacation was and I'd have to say "Mission Accomplished".

I'd like to say its good to be back but catching up at work after a week away is crazy, especially with the pressure of a big presentation looming in two weeks that wasn't on the schedule when we planned the trip.

I have gotten two 5 milers in over at Bonelli on Monday and Tuesday and never once considered cutting either one of them short. It will take me another week or so before I get caught up with you. I hope your training and racing has gone well. I look forward to reading all about it.

Sustainable

I ran my 18 miler this morning in 2:48:51, or 9:23 pace. This pace seemed easily sustainable and I could have keep going but the schedule called for 18 so I did 18. I ran today at the Santa Ana River Trail in Yorba Linda where we used to always run with the Snail's Pace training group. It seems like I haven't run there in forever.

I ran today because tomorrow morning my wife and I get on an airplane to Miami. On Sunday we are boarding a cruise ship along with two other couples, friends of ours, for a week long cruise in the eastern Caribbean. I'm not sure how much running I'll be able to get in. The ship has a gym with treadmills, yuck, and an outdoor track that is a whopping 0.10 mile long. That's a whole lot of laps to get the scheduled 13 miler done on Saturday. Saturday is a "fun day" aboard ship, so we'll see how it goes.

Take it easy on me while I'm gone. I finally got caught up on almost all your blogs over the long weekend and a dare to think how far behind I'll be in my bloglines when I get back.

See you in a week. I'll be the one with the nice Caribbean tan!

Oh! The Places I Could Go

The heat wave forced me inside most of the weekend so I spent some time cleaning up my pile on the desk. In addition I received a phone call from my bro-in-law that prompted me thinking about future race plans.

First I found note about some races I wanted to run next year. My initial intent was to finally run some of the California races I've put off in favor of the state goal.

Feb 2 - Twin Peaks Ultra

Mar 15 - Catalina Marathon

Apr 27 - Big Sur Marathon

I of course checked each of the sites today and was freaked to find that there are only 9 spaces left for Jessica's little 50K romp through the mountains. I better get on it soon. Earlier this evening I received this email from the Cruisers:
Everyone,

Big Sur has multiple races on Sunday, April 27, 2008. They have a marathon (6 hour drop-dead time limit), 21 mile, 10.6 mile, 9 mile, and 5 K race on that day. And they also have a marathon relay.

Monterey is about 6 hours driving time and 360 miles from here. You can get more information from this web site.

http://www.bsim.org/registration.htm

Please email us with your interest in this event. The 21 miler will probably fill in a few weeks.
Is there any other suggestion you have as to what event 10 to 20 of us can do together in 2008?

Dorothy and John

Sign me up!

My brother-in-law just spent a week with his Dad in Pennsylvania. Dad is convinced that we are coming to PA in Nov 11 to run the Harrisburg Marathon. Unfortunately my wife can't get away from work then and I really would rather she go with me. We've told her Dad we will be there someday but probably not 2007. He uses all the tricks he can to get us to come for a visit.

In addition, the BIL is moving his family to Houston and has invited us over whenever I'm ready to run TX. The Houston Marathon is January 13, 2008. It fits into the schedule nicely. I confirmed with Eric that Houston is a "concrete jungle"; not my favorite running surface but it will be hard to pass up the free lodging someday.

Not done yet. During the desk cleaning I came across a left over ticket on Southwest that needs to be used before Dec 1. I checked the calendar at Marathonguide.com so see if there was any thing I could sneak in between Marine Corps (Oct) and Rocket City (Dec).

I found a couple of races that look interesting:

Nov 18 - The X-Country Marathon, near Tampa, FL

Nov 17 - The Louisiana Trails Marathon, Shreveport, LA

Southwest flies to Tampa but not to Shreveport.

If I was a Marathon Maniac worth my stuff I would do all these races, one a month for six months. All that still only gets me to the next level, 2 Stars - Silver. This could be fun.

Predictable

If nothing else, I am at least predictable. Come Saturday morning with 17 miles staring me down I headed down to Huntington Beach. It seems like this summer if I'm not at Bonelli I'm at HB. Just to change things up a little I parked at the far north end, actually Bolsa Chica, at the 10 mile mark. I usually park farther south at the 4 mile mark.

With the recent frustration over my pace and with the hip acting up I decided to ignore the mile markers as much as possible. Just running seemed to work out well a couple of weeks ago when I ran south into Newport Beach. Running south first and then heading back north later was a smart decision. There was a nice cooling breeze in my face on the way back when I needed it the most.

My left hip starting complaining around mile 10 or so. My right foot even complained a little. After I finished I headed down to the ocean and took a dip (I told you I was predictable). The cool water sure feels good on tired legs. I sat on the beach for awhile, had some water and food and watched the surfers and paddleboards. I could have sat there all day, all weekend even.

I was very happy to see my final time of 2:33:07. Almost dead on 9:00 pace. I'm happy with that. It is a little maddening though when I think back to my training for SEAFAIR last spring. I distinctly remember the moment when I was running 20 with Jeff and realized that at mile 18 I was running 8:30 miles. That was an ego boost beyond compare!

I really don't know what to expect at Marine Corps. 9 minute miles still keeps me under a 4:00 marathon, but certainly not where I had hoped to be. I had originally thought that marathons 5 months apart would give me plenty of time to recover and rebuild. Instead my body (and mind) has revolted.

The hip started hurting last year about this same time. I was running a lot of my runs on the hills in Bonelli then too, taking full advantage of the long days and off road running. I wonder if there is something inherently wrong with my gait that all those rolling hills just aggravates. My left side is my weaker side. Another contributing factor to the slow down could be my weight. I weighed in Friday. I'm Lifetime at Weight Watchers. The end of August marked 4 years at goal...but this time I was 2 pounds over. I'm up 10 pounds from this time last year. That's got to be a contributing factor. Time to renew the commitment. No ice cream and cookies at least until after MCM.

Sunday morning was 7 in Bonelli; hills and hip be damned. It was hot even at 7:00 in the morning. It has been well over 100 for almost a week. If Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, I expect the temperatures to cool down come Tuesday morning. Can I get a second?

I ended the month of August with 135.6 miles. A nice steady increase from May's all time low of 44.6. The plan calls for 18 next weekend which I will do on Friday. Hope everyone is enjoying the long (hot) Labor Day weekend.

Singletrack

Tuesday I headed to Bonelli yet again. I went out my usual route for 2 miles out, 2 miles back. I do a lot of my midweek runs here. I sometimes think about switching things up a little and running elsewhere, but then I think why? I'll be back on the roads in the fall.

The way these runs usually go, I walk to the freeway overpass, hit the watch and take off. For the 4 miler I get to turn around point and head back. Once I'm back over the freeway overpass I hit the watch again to see how long I was gone. I can't get much simpler.

I usually have the roads to myself. I occasionally see mountain bikers, other runners, hikers and even horse riders. Tuesday within a couple of hundred yards of my turn around point I came upon 2 horse riders. If I turned around as usual I would be running right back past them in a minute or two. So instead I decided to keep going. At the far end of the park or about half way around the 5 mile Sunday morning loop version of this run I am very near the main road through the park. I decided just to head back via the road.

About a half mile down the road I began to notice a trail just off to my left. Upon investigation I found a sweet little single track. Three years ago when I started running Bonelli much of it was singletrack. As I've mentioned before most of those have become wide fire roads due to extremely dry conditions. The little single track was a whole bunch of fun to run. It was more technical than the fire roads, although still really easy to run. All the rocks gave the eyes and ankles a nice little work out. The singletrack eventually came to an end on a little section of fire road I usually don't take. That particular road is a short cut of my normal loop.

Tonight I headed back over there with the intent of finding where the single track really begins on the opposite end. So I took the short cut fireroad to where I had ended on Tuesday and ran the singletrack in the opposite direction. One cool thing about tonight's run is that I was the first person to run the trail today. I know that because it rained last night (yes we had a freak thunderstorm overnight, believe it or not) so all the previous tracks were wiped clean. Mine were the first prints on the trail. It was kind of like being the first person to walk through fresh snow.

It turns out the singletrack comes out at about the 3 mile mark of my usual route. The trail connects at an acute angle over my left shoulder so I wouldn't really notice it. There is even a sign that says Parkside Trail 1.0 mile that I've never really noticed before. I guess I was just focused on going where I knew I was going and not really paying attention.

Wednesday I took the day off due to another commitment. I may on Friday night, I may not. We are in the middle of the hottest week all summer, 110 degrees Wednesday, so skipping the run isn't very hard to do. 9 miles so far this week.
______________________
So the big question of the week is what did I bring for goodies last Friday? Nothing too terribly exciting. My wife happened to be making a trip to Sam's Club that evening so she picked up a couple of trays of those big muffins for me. They usually have a variety pack. Each muffin is probably a good 400 or more calories. I bring them on most of my days because not a lot of other people do.

Squeezin' Em In

No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to manage more than a weekly post these days. Maybe that is enough.

Last week was just like every other week, 5 days of running with Monday and Friday scheduled as the rest days. But it didn’t exactly turn out that way. I made my mileage goal (almost) but not in the way it was originally on paper.

Monday – I enjoyed my rest day.
Tuesday – I put in 4 miles O&B (out and back) on part of my Bonelli Sunday Loop.
Wednesday – over to Bonelli again for 5 miles on the Cottontail O&B.

Then things started moving around a little. I already knew that I wasn’t going to be doing my long run, a relatively easy 11 miler, on Saturday because we were scheduled to go on a bike ride/beach outing with friends. My original plan was to get up about 30 minutes early on Friday and head over to the Santa Fe Dam, lay down the 11 and get to work a little late. But, on Wednesday I was reminded that I had Friday Goodies this week.

Friday Goodies have been a department tradition going on at least 10 years. We rotate around weekly for treats. With about 2 dozen people in the department you get the honor of bringing in the eats about twice a year. The treats run from the predictable donuts, on up through bagels, muffins, even frozen waffles with fruit, syrup and whip cream. We often get homemade goodies and a couple of times a guy brought in an electric skillet and made omelets for everyone (haven’t had that one in a while). On your Goodie Day is not a good day to be late to work. The masses descend on the coffee area at 8:00 on the dot and there had better be something there. It doesn’t have to be good; it just has to be there!

I really didn’t want to get up earlier to make sure I was there when the vultures landed. I already had other plans Friday night. So, when to do the 11 miles?

I decided on Thursday night right after work. I had originally planned another 4 in Bonelli like Tuesday. The question was how to turn the 4 into 11. I finally realized that Bonelli is 3.5 miles from home, so I ran there, did my 4 miles and ran home. 11 miles just like that. I thought I was pretty smart for figuring that one out.

Friday – I had just enough time between work and my other commitment to get 4 miles done at the Dam.

Saturday we had fun riding “The Strand” from El Segundo to Redondo Beach. I’ve lived in California 23 years and had never been on that particular beach. It is truly a west facing beach. Many of the other So Cal beaches face more southerly. Our group rode back and spent the night at a hotel near the beach.

Sunday – I got up early and ran down Manhattan Beach Blvd about 2 miles and then ran north on The Strand. I had quickly devised this route at the business center in the hotel and turned around at what was the 3 mile mark rather than the 3.5 mile mark I intended. (I had notes in my pocket but neglected to check them.) So I got in 6 instead of 7. It was a beautifully cool morning that left me with a longing to move to the beach. 30 miles for the week.

David and others have asked how my foot is feeling. I am happy to report that it is nearly completely better. I get an occasional twinge and soreness now and then but it doesn’t seem to bother me much on the run.

Sadly this week the hip decided to act up in a big way. I find this rather peculiar on a cutback week. It started bothering on Wednesday when I was trying to push the pace a little and then would act up in each subsequent run. Since Sunday it has ached nearly non stop. It has been a year that this thing has been nagging me. This is especially frustrating since I am now at the point that the schedule really begins to ramp up in preparation for MCM. I may need to scale back the mid week runs just as I did last year before St. George. I’m sure you know how much I don’t like that thought but as someone else said recently, “you’ve got to listen to your body” and “think long term.” I missed my last chiropractor appointment nearly a month ago and haven’t rescheduled. It may be time to do that, too. Grrrrrrr.

On a totally unrelated non-running note; has anyone seen the new Lewis Comfort Tiffany stamp? It is way too nice of a piece of art to stick on the cable bill just to get thrown in the trash. I used to collect stamps as a kid. This one makes me want to get into First Day Covers all over again.

A Change of Pace

By the end of last week I was decidedly tired but not so nearly mentally and physically fatigued as the week before. All my miles this week, except for my Saturday long run, were accomplished on the trails and roads of my favorite little park, Bonelli.

I did my runs there for a couple of reasons. The lack of mile markers removes a lot of stress and the rolling hills dictate a slower pace. So mostly I just ran by time knowing that I at least covered the minimum mileage specified each day.

Monday and Wednesday I did the same out and back on part of my Sunday morning loop for 4 miles each. Tuesday I put together the trail along the 57 N with part of the Cottontail Trail for a 7 miler. Sunday morning I did my usual 5 mile loop, clockwise, preceded by the Picnic loop for a different 7 miler.

Saturday I headed back down to Huntington Beach for my 15 miler. I was hoping for a better outcome than last week's 14 miler. Saturday morning coincided with a big race event in HB, the Huntington Beach Distance Derby, 5 and 10 mile races. I had run the 5 miler back in 2003, just a couple of months after getting started running. My goal was to come in under 50:00. I know I was close. One thing I remember about that race was that I turned on my final kick too soon and struggled to get the the finish line; lesson learned. After the race me, the wife and both boys went to Ruby's on the end of the pier and got in just in time to order breakfast.

Saturday I parked near my usual spot near the 4 mile mark but rather than heading north into the congestion of the Distance Derby I headed south toward Newport Beach. Another big reason for heading this way was the lack of mile markers. I had pre-mapped the route the night before. The route was from Beach Blvd in HB south past the jetty, into Newport Beach, down Seashore Drive behind the first row of beach houses, then hitting the bike path at 36th Street past the Newport Beach Pier and Balboa Pier and then getting dumped onto Balboa Street when the bike path ends at D St, and following the alley between Miramar and Ocean Blvd to where it ended at Channel Rd near the Wedge. The out and back made a nice 15 miler. The lack of markers meant all I had to do was run, stress free; no obsessessing over splits, no mental fatigue.

Although I had gotten started 4 hours earlier than last week there was much less of a breeze and the temps were warmer. This run was a nice change of pace from the HB run I'd done several times recently. The only real downside of this run is the nearly 5 miles of concrete on the Newport Beach bike path. I finished the run in 2:13:26, just 3:26 more than last week for an extra mile and a pace of 8:54, sub 9:00, woohoo.

I ended the week with 37 miles. This was the 2nd week of the mileage build so this week will be a cut back week again. This weekend we've got a bike ride and overnight stay planned with some friends so getting in even the shorter mileage on the weekend will be a challenge. I'm thinking some vacation time on Friday may be in order.

Stick a Fork in Me

What happened to the lazy days of summer?

Since I last posted, 8 days ago, I've run 6 times for a total of 40 miles. 36 for last week (right on target) and 4 tonight. Remember my post of July 22? Well I'm still feeling that way; sluggish, always tired, etc. At the risk of getting whiny, my frustration level with my running is at an all time high. My paces are all around 9:00 or more, even on the best days. As my son would say in an instant message, meh or bleh.

Let's start with this weeks long run of 14 miles. Bryan wanted to go paintballing again so I took the day off on Friday to get the run in. This turned out to be a good idea that meshed well with the plans for the rest of the weekend. Normally I drop him off by 9:00 and then I'm at the Huntington Beach by 10:00 and on my way before things warm up too much.

After we got to the paintball fields, we found out his friends weren't going to be there until 11:00. He asked me to wait so that he could have a place to keep all his gear until they got there. Of course I did. That big S on my chest doesn't stand for Super Dad, it stands for Sucker.

By the time I got to HB and started running it was 12:40 p.m., not exactly the ideal time to be starting a 14 mile run. The temperature was in the low 80's and luckily I was blessed with a cooling breeze directly off the ocean so I was cooled in both directions of this run.

Since this was a long run I decided on an easy pace. The pace the first few miles ranged from 8:50 to 9:00. By mile 4 I was considering walk breaks but I managed to hold them off until I got out the the turn around at mile 7. At that point I took half a ClifShot and walked for a good 2 minutes before getting going again. I ended up taking a walk break every two miles on way back at 9 and 11 another short one at 13 before I talked myself into just getting this thing over with. The last 4 miles felt like mile 22 to 26.2 of a marathon. When I was done, I was D.O.N.E. DONE.

My final pace was 9:17, which is really where my long runs should be, but 14 is not really long and I felt like it was a huge effort to keep up that pace. I can point to a few things that may have attributed. The temps were warm. The run got started late. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at 7:00. I don't know. If I feel like this now, what I am going to feel like when I hit the mid 40 weeks? I put my 13 mile time into the McMillan calculator and ended up with a 4:17 marathon, Yikes!

Some may say that I'm overtraining, but I have a hard time believing, or maybe just a hard time accepting, that line of reasoning. There are plenty of runners out there doing may more than 36 miles in a week, with some significant interval and speedwork added in. I'm just slogging along. I averaged 37 miles a week for over 20 weeks last year training for SEAFAIR, my sub 4:00 break through.

The mileage was all put in as planned the rest of the week. 4 on Tuesday and Thursday. 7 on Wednesday and Sunday. One bright spot in the week on Wednesday I headed over to the dam right after work for the 7 miles. I wanted to put in 3 x 1 mile repeats. I warmed up for about 2 miles and then took off. My goal pace was 8:00 miles. I got the first one in at 7:37. I ran an easy recovery half between the intervals. The second and third repeats came in at 7:45 and 7:41. So there is some speed in these poor tired legs after all.

On to this week. The schedule is pretty much identical to last week except that the long run bumps up to 15 miles. I have considered taking an extra day off, but I really don't like that idea much. It is late (AGAIN) and my to do list doesn't get any smaller sitting here. I'm off to bed.

Thanks for reading through my little rant.

Where Oh Where?

My schedule called for 9 miles. By Cruiser buddies were planning on a long run at Huntington Beach again. They were hoping for something longer than 15 so were planning on getting started at 6:15. We usually get going around 7:00. I was OK with the early start but my inner tree hugger started questioning the logic of a 90 mile round trip drive for a 9 mile run.

I thought I'd check with my work buddy Terry to see where she and her friends were running. They too were meeting at HB for a 20 miler, but they were getting started even earlier at 5:30. It looked like I'd be on my own for the 9.

I had several options but in the minimize the carbon footprint vein I wanted to stay as close to home as possible. The obvious choice was the San Gabriel River Bikeway or possibly the service road up to Cogswell Dam. Ultimately I decided to go back over to Glendora Ridge Motorway that I had run back in March. I did a quick view of my map from then and figured out that up Garcia and then east on the motorway to Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) was about 4.5 miles.

I overslept some and started up Garcia at 8:00 on the dot. Garcia is just a crazy run. I had woken with a headache and running up that hill wasn't making it any better. Luckily as I went along it improved and before I made it to the top it was gone. That mile up Garcia was once again the longest mile ever. It took me 21:04 to "run" up Garcia. You can bet there were plenty of walk breaks up that thing.

Once I hit the motorway things smooth out considerably. The first mile is a long slow uphill and then the road continues it rolling nature all the way to GMR. I felt pretty good, but lacked any real umph to get up some of the hills. The 7 miles or so out and back on the motorway took me about 1:22. During the run a deer crossed the road about 20 yards in front of me. I didn't have my camera but I doubt I could have gotten it out quick enough to get a shot.

I knew that all the way to GMR was more than 4.5 miles, but less than 5. When I'm running I have a mental block about turning around except at a known landmark. The point that the motorway meets GMR is a perfect turn around point. I just ran the route and figured out the mileage when I got home with gmaps. The route ended up being 4.8 miles for a 9.6 round trip. Close enough to the 9 on the schedule but that 0.6 is getting written into the log book too.

My final time for was 2:00 on the dot. For 9.6 miles that means 12:30 pace. I can't really figure out, except for the climb up and down Garcia, why this run takes me so long. My pace last time on a 16 mile run was 12:15. I don't get near this pace in Chino Hills. There's just something about this route that takes it out of me. All in all, slow pace not withstanding, the run along the ridge is a keeper. The views down into the San Gabriel Valley to the south and the rest of the mountains to the north and the challenge are worth the trek up Garcia.

Miles for the week: 26.7 (on a cut back week)

Next week things ratchet up just a bit more. The short runs mid week become 4 milers and the long run becomes 7. I've got a 4 miler down pat. I will have to go looking through the logs for a 7 mile route. It has been a while since that distance has been on the schedule.

Today I got good news from Joe. He's officially entered into Rocket City. So Wes, are you in yet? Anybody else care to join us in Alabama in December?

The IPP, Yeah You Know Me

Monday morning a woke to the sounds of the alarm at 6:30 a.m. But it wasn't my own alarm. It was the Hampton Alarm Clock Radio (you can actually buy these things!). I was in Naperville, IL with plans to visit a customer later that morning. I had flown out Sunday afternoon. As you would expect I had done some Internet searching and found what I thought would be a good place to get in my run.

What I found was the IPP (the Illinois Prairie Path). The IPP is over 40 miles of rail trail throughout Dupage and Cook Counties. I drove over from Naperville to Warrenville and parked at the Warrenville City Hall just steps from the IPP. I jumped on the path right at the 5 mile marker and headed west. My schedule called for 3 miles. Running west from City Hall to Ferry Rd was just a little over 1.5 miles. The out and back gave me a nice little 5K.

The thing I like about these rail trails is that it gets me off the road on a well groomed easy running path. It is nice to be away from traffic, although Warrenvill is not exactly congested.
The IPP is a mostly hard packed dirt and crushed limestone path about 6 feet wide with 3 feet of grass on either side. The trees and undergrowth were thick on either side. It was like running down a green hallway with the sky as the ceiling. At times the trees converged overhead for a run through a green tunnel.

My first mile came in at 8:28. I hit Ferry Rd (0.55 miles) in 4:35 and then headed back. On the way back I started feeling pretty good so I pushed just a little. I finished the last 1.55 miles in 12:19 for a 7:57 pace. That sure felt good. I haven't seen sub 8:00 since I don't know when.

The customer visit went well. The new product was removed successfully. All parties involved; doctor, assistant, patient and patient's Mom and of course me; were all pleased. Mom was so happy in the end with the braces that she had them put on her daughter as well. I was back home before the clock struck 12:00 midnight.

My 5K on the IPP ended the month of July for me with 115.8 miles. Although the hip and foot aren't without their moments of complaining things are coming back together slowly, ever so slowly. I'm about a third of the way through the schedule for MCM.

Life's a Beach

David asked just how does one “accidentally cut a route short”? Rather than running my usual Sunday morning Bonelli loop I had ventured out onto the streets in my neighborhood. I headed out on my Bonnie Cove 5 route. The route has many right and left turns on some of the same streets that I use for other routes and distances. I hadn’t run the BC5 since earlier in the spring. By Sunday, I was beat. Couple that with the fact that I don’t compute well on the run and I made a right turn one block too early. About 50 yards down the street I suspected that I had turned early but wasn’t up to backtracking. I confirmed my mistake when I got home, so 5 became 4.7.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and encouragement on last weeks malaise. Anne suggested vitamin B. I used to take B as part of a daily regimen including C, E and glucosamine & chondrotin. I ran out of B four to six weeks ago and haven’t made a trip to the store for more since I had plenty of everything else.

I believe Michelle suggested a massage, which luckily I had already scheduled for Monday along with a chiropractic adjustment. I also enjoyed her seemingly contradictory suggestions of focusing on healthy eating and indulging in something decadent. I suspect much of the problem can be attributed to a diet a little too far on the decadent side for too long. I’ve been getting away with it for quite a while now (remember my love of ice cream and cookies).

This week was a much better week for running. All my weekday runs were done in Bonelli, in part because I just plain enjoy running there and in part to keep the pace easy. Monday evening and Friday morning I did an out and back route on the Sunday morning loop for 3 miles each. On Wednesday night I did a different out and back on the north side of the park for 6 miles. I think having a rest day in between each run helped out. During these runs I wasn’t rocking the speed but at least the legs felt up to the task.

Saturday, I met my Cruiser buds down in Corona Del Mar for a run along Ocean Blvd then ultimately onto the beach down to Crystal Cove. This was a 12 miler that included 5 miles of running on the sand. The tide was relatively low so we had some great hard pack to run on. I got to run with Michelle. She has been experiencing a battle with plantar fasciitis as well. She has also been struggling with here speed since coming back. I could certainly relate.

As we ran along the sand on a beautiful sunny morning I couldn’t help but think to myself that a run can’t get much more “California” than this. We finished the run in 1:50 with is about the same time as last weeks 12 miler on the HB bike path. We followed up the run with coffee and bagels at Bruegger’s Bagels on PCH in Newport Beach.

I stuck to the streets around home this morning for 6 miles. I could tell today that three straight days of runs were beginning to take their toll. I was about half way through the run before things finally began to flow. I finished off the week with 30 miles, as planned.

Next week is a cut back week, again. It seems like I just had one but I’ll take it. It will be just a few more weeks before I break the 15 mile barrier on a long run. I will eventually get in a 17, an18 and two 20’s before MCM.

It's Late

I started a post earlier this evening but never quite got it done. I also realize it wasn't heading in a very positive direction so instead I'll just put up a quick recap of the week.

The good:

A 5 mile run in Bonelli with a collegue from corporate.

A 3.5 mile run near Portland

A 4 mile run in Huntington Beach on Friday and the rest of the day playing in the surf with my oldest son.

A 12 miler run in Huntington Beach, again, with the CA Cruisers.

A 4.7 mile run on Sunday morning around home. (I intended on 5 but accidently cut the route short).

Overall, meeting my mileage goal for the week of 29 miles.

The not so good:

I feel sluggish during my runs.

I was wiped out after a measly 12 miler.

My whole body is really stiff and sore.

Work Related Runs

My company is part of a huge conglomerate based in the part of the country where "Don't ya know?" is a common phrase. We have a small contingent of people; scientist and engineers, up there working on projects for us. On occasion we bring them out to work with us for a week or vice verse. It's a good thing.

One of the guys is out here this week. When I heard he was coming I invited to go on a run. We met last year, so I knew he was a runner. He has run three marathons in past - Twin Cities, twice and Grandma's, his PR at 3:28. Unfortunately at his age it doesn't come close to qualifying him for Boston. I know that when I travel I like to find a place to run. So I took it upon myself to be the running tour guide.

Monday was the only real night that worked out. When I planned this thing the heat was in the mid 80's which is still tolerable. Then last Friday and over the weekend the temps were into the high, high 90's until well past sundown. Luckily Monday things cooled back down. By the time we left work at 6:00 them temps were in the reasonable mid 80 range.

We of course headed over to my favorite trail for my 5 mile Sunday morning Bonelli Loop. I had warned him about the hills in advance. I had a great time and I think he really enjoyed it too. He agreed that the last big hill was pretty killer, but we made it up. It turned out to be one of the slowest times for the loop, but I think that was due to my non stop chatter. Normally I'm running this thing alone and in silence.

And then since my wife was at her gym class and Bryan was at work he and I headed downtown for some Mexican food and a Dos XX's.

Today I'm up in Portland, actually somewhere in the Beaverton/Tigard area at a Embassy Suites in Washington Square. I'm up here for a study group to sit in on a presentation by one of our regional managers on bonding. This is something that fits within the responsibilities of my current job, so I'm here to learn from the master.

I landed in Portland at 7:00, grabbed the rental car and drove over to Tigard. I quickly checked in and changed to get out there while the sun was still up. The nice thing about being so far north is the fact that daylight lasts so much longer than I'm used to in SoCal. Official sunset was listed as 8:55 but it was still plenty light enough nearly 30 minutes after that.

I only needed 3 or 4 miles today. The plan was to head over to Greenway Park. I quickly left the hotel to head over to the north side of the park only to make a wrong turn and ended up on the freeway. Off the freeway and exit later and back to the right street only to be met by a train blocking the intersection. I was able to turn around and tried to get to the southern end of the park and was again blocked by the train. I was afraid that the precious daylight was going to wear out before I got there.

Finally the train began to move and traffic slowly thinned out. I drove down Scholls Ferry Road and could see the trail off to the right. I pulled into a shopping center and parked. I wasn't sure if you were allowed to use the shopping center parking to access the trail but I took my chances. The sun was setting any slower. I was able to head north on the trail until I hit Hall Blvd. Along the way there are many places that you can jump onto the trail from the neighborhood that abuts it. There are basketball courts and play grounds interspersed along the length of the park. It would be nice to have something like this literally in your backyard. The only downside I could see, is that it would drive the poor neighborhood dogs absolutely crazy.

After I got back to Scholls Ferry I took the bridge under the road and continued south until I came to Windsor Place where I turned around and went back to the car. I ran for 29:11 and figure I covered about 3.5 miles (8:20 pace). Breathing some of that same air as Iron Mike must have been a good thing.

When I got back I took a better look around and turns out I was parked in at a shopping center that included the Portland Running Co. Ironic. By this time tomorrow I will be back home and will rest for 2 days before running again. Today's run marked 5 days in a row, a milestone that hasn't been seen for a while and for the most part my body is holding up.

My Super (Real)-Wife

My wife is super amazing and supportive (and sneaky). Without her I wouldn't be able to even try this goofy little quest for a marathon in every state. Heck if I just wanted to run a lot of marathons there are more than enough options just here in the southern half of California to fill up each year. But that is not the topic at hand.

Last Wednesday was my birthday and as usual a week or so before my birthday my wife asked me what I wanted. I told her I could use some new short sleeved shirts for work (exciting stuff, I know). But she being the super supportive one asked me about marathons - "wasn't there something somewhere you could do between now and Marine Corps?" She was worried that I was only going to get in two marathons this year and one of them wasn't really a state.

I got on line and checked the marathonguide.com calendar. The states that looked interesting in August and September were Alaska, Montana or Wyoming. I convinced here that I probably shouldn't push my luck with the foot and that I really could use some shirts. The then asked me about a race in December. I had mentioned a while ago that Joe and Wes were running it and it would be fun to join them. I told her that since the registration for that one was very reasonable, why didn't I just wait to see how things went, and I really could use some shirts.

Well, on Wednesday evening after we got home from Red Robin (my FREE Bleu Ribbon Burger hit the spot), Lisa gave me my birthday gift. She handed me a bag that looked too small for shirts, but with Lisa you never know. It could have been an IOU or a gift certificate. I'm not the easiest guy to shop for, so that seemed reasonable.

The gift was a series of folded sheets of paper with a specific order for opening. The first was registration for a marathon. The second was air fare to said marathon. The third was a string of emails to a fellow blogger working out all the details. It turns out wife had already researched marathonguide.com, my blog, my saved emails, a certain marathon's website and had worked in cahoots with Joe to get me to the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama. She had taken care of all this before the conversation we'd had about shirts.

So 6 weeks after MCM, I will be heading to state number 11 thanks to my super amazing, super supportive and super sneaky wife. I couldn't "fly" without her.
Joe and Wes I hope to see you at the start and finish line at Rocket City! I guess I'll have to go buy my own short sleeved shirts.

As for this week's mileage, I hit the goal on the dot at 22. I did every run planned just shuffled around a bit. Next week, things ramp back up a little to 29 miles. I've got a quick trip up to Portland on early in the week and hope to get a run in up there on Tuesday night.

When I'm 64...

(The following is a gratuitous birthday posting)

I'm not exactly sure when it started, but with these numerical candles, we started reversing the numbers. It may have been the year that my mother-in-law turned 59. We made her 95 so she'd really feel old.

Today, July 11, I'm finally older than my youngest son, who's 61 for a few more days. On the 20th he'll turn 71 and be older than me once again. My wife is a nice even 44 no matter how you look at it. Tyler is just plain ancient at 91. I think it’s funny that I'm still younger than my MIL, at 86 and yet older than my sister-in-law at 63. Goofy I know, but we have fun with it.

The cake by the way is a totally from scratch banana cake made by my irreversible wife. Sadly scratch cake baker is not a phrase she usually identifies with. She made it to go along with Tyler's dinner the other night. Homemade banana cake is one of my faves and reminds me of my childhood. It was darn good and much appreciated.

I'll celebrate tonight with a 5 mile run and dinner at Red Robins. A birthday burger sounds good to me.

So how "old" are you?

He Cooks, Part II

Tyler has been home for the last three weeks on summer break. His school is on year round schedule. He will get 12 quarters, 4 years at a traditional school, completed in 3. He left this afternoon to head back to San Diego for the summer term. When he first come home on June 16 I asked him to cook a meal for us sometime before he went back. In true teenage style he waited until the last possible night to rise to the occasion. Lisa took him shopping earlier in the day. Grandma and Aunt Leslie were able to join us. Bryan was at work.

He made a salad with mixed spring greens with pine nuts and feta cheese and a strawberry vinagrette dressing he made from scratch. The entree was pan seared oven roasted chicken breasts, apparently his favorite (very similar to what he made last time). This time he paired it with garlic mashed potatoes and carrots and asparagus sauteed with minced garlic and shallots.


It certainly looked good and was yummy to boot.

On the running front I met up with the Cruisers at Tagge's Gym for a jaunt through the Redwood Grove and into Chino Hills State Park. The usual loop up Northridge, down Sycamore, returning on Telegraph is 14 miles. I only had 9 on the schedule. I suggested just heading up Telegraph, turning around at about the appropriate point and heading back out. My primary motivation was babying the foot by missing the uphill work.

The cool thing about this run is that Jeff from Time to Run showed up to run with us. Another cool thing is that between runners and walkers we were 29 people. Some people were doing the 3 mile Tagge's loop, while almost everybody else followed my lead on the Telegraph out and back run. Jeff and I ended up taking the lead once we hit Telegraph. From Tagges to CHSP is about 2 miles. The back end of CHSP is mile marker 8. The plan was to run to mile marker 5 and then retrace our steps.

Mile Marker 8 is actually somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile into the park. Jeff and I ran along, not really knowing the pace. Not too far behind us was Jay and John (not Dr. John). Running east on Telegraph was hot, even at 8:00 in the morning. We finally came upon the 5.5 mile mark. Only 1/2 to go before we turned back. We ran for another 6 minutes or so and never did see the mile marker. Jeff over ruled my desire to hit the landmark so we turned around.

I was having great difficulty seeing from the sweat dripping into my eyes. The trip back down Telegraph was a blessing, we had a nice breeze in our face most of the way, which helped keep the sweat under control. We figured we'd traveled at least 5.5 miles out. By the time we hit 8 miles I was pretty much toast. I started lagging behind and finally told Jeff just to gone on without me. He was still running strong, while I was not. I had met Jeff several years ago, the one time I met up with the 6:42 group on a Sunday. That was long before either one of us were bloggers. It was a lot of fun to get to share the trail with him.The approximately 11 mile run took 1:45. The 9:33 pace was acceptable but it sure hurt far more than it should have.

Sunday I got in 4.5 miles before waking the family for breakfast; hash browns and scrambled eggs this week. With that I met my goal of >25 miles for the week at 26.6.

Tonight after my massage and chiropractic appointment I put in 3 miles on the trail is Bonelli. It wasn't a speedy effort but everything felt in good working order which hasn't been the case far too often lately. Week 3 of the plan calls for a drop in mileage, as does every third week for the first 12 weeks. I plan on taking full advantage of it.

Enjoy whatever your week brings your way.

Mr. Consistent

Tyler and I ran the Surf City 5K in Huntington Beach this morning. This was my inaugural race back in 2003 after picking up running just a month before. My time was 34:27. I ran that race a lot like Tyler runs these races now.

Ten days ago we ran a 5K in 31:48, my watch, or 31:57, official. Today's 5K came in at 31:55, my watch, 32:24, official. The big difference today was the size of the crowd. There were 1642 finishers compared to 269 at Lomita.

Tyler postponed the first walk break to the turn around point rather than at the mile marker. He took 2 more, one for a 60 seconds and the last for 30 seconds. As usual he turned up the speed near the finish line. At Surf City the actual finish is around a left turn. Tyler overestimated his ability to sustain the final kick.

During the race I tried to convince him to use some of that final kick during the race when he feels compelled to walk. I really think he can do it. The battle is more mental than physical. On the way home we discussed strategies for getting faster.

I'm a little disappointed with this race. For starters; no goodie back. Not that big of a deal really, but noticable. And my pet peeve; t-shirts only in large and extra large. Why? Do I really need another t-shirt? Not really. It iss just that I come to expect these things, especially at a race of this size. I guess more a reflection on me than on the race.

On the plus side I like that they have 3 divisions for this race that go off at 3 separate times. There's a HB resident only race, an open division race, and a stroller race, along with 1/2 and mile race for the kids. There were 8 choices of race venues in So Cal this morning. Next year it may be time to try another race to celebrate Independence Day.

At the finish line they were giving out 32 oz bottles of Deluge Sport Drink. I tried the "Intense Lime" flavor. It reminded me of KoolAid. We drank a lot of KoolAid as kids. My parent's rarely bought "pop". Deluge has the same calories as Gatorade, but only about 1/2 the sodium. Deluge also contains taurine, l-glutamine, and l-carnitine. The one thing I do like about it is the lack of high fructose corn syrup, the number 3 ingredient on the Gatorade Xtremo flavor I was using as comparison. It appears as though Deluge is trying to expand their market. They seemed to be linked to motocross currently.

At the race I also picked up a hard copy of the Race Place magazine so that Tyler and I can find our next 5K.

Just Like Starting Over

A couple of weeks ago, during the run with Forrest, I was also running along with Jay. Jay mentioned the Villa Park 5K. This race is put on by a member of the 6:42 group. This year Jay was sharing the RD responsibilities. I had volunteered at this race last year. I told Jay that I would be willing to volunteer again this year. He told me that they had the volunteers covered and invited me to come out an race it instead. I'd never been an "invited" athlete before. I couldn't very well turn down the RD.

The race starts and finishes at the Villa Park High School Track, which is right across the wall from where the 6:42 group meets weekly. The plan was to meet there, run the 6:42 route, beginning at 6:42 and making it back in plenty of time for the 8:00 start. The turn out for the warm up run was 4 women and 2 guys, me and Dr. John. We got a late start so we cut the route short and got in 5.5 miles rather than the normal 6.42. The women ran a 4 mile option. The 5.5 miles were done in 9:29 pace. I already felt tired and wondered how the race would go.

We finished up just in time for me to change shirts and run into Vons to use the facilities. I lined up some where near the front and was joined by Gary and Julie. Julie is fast, but was planning on taking this one easy. Gary was hoping to break 30:00. I told him that I had better break 30:00. I didn't really have any expectations for this one. I hadn't raced a 5K since I set my PR (21:54) in May 2006.

We took off and I somehow got the jump on Julie for maybe 100 yards, then we ran together for about 100 more then she was gone and soon out of sight. She ended up finishing around 21:00.

I hit the 1 Mile mark in 7:46. I wasn't really pleased or disappointed with the time. It just was what it was. Not too much later I started thinking that this was going to be a long race. I was wishing that Tyler was along with me so I could take a walk break. I hadn't told him about this race since he had just raced last Saturday and would be racing again on July 4th.

Sometime after about a mile and a half I saw someone up ahead that I recognized. It was Sam from the Jingle Bob and Brea 8K rivalry. I hadn't seem him at the start. He was walking, I just cruised right by. In that instant I knew that I didn't have it in me for another race to the finish. I'm not sure if he recognized me but soon after I passed him he began running again and caught me.

At the 2 Mile mark we were pretty much side by side. After I hit my watch, he asked where we were at. I misread the time and told him that I was at 18:00 and commented that I was sucking big time. I thought I had slowed down considerably. I realized after the race that I had actually done Mile 2 in 8:14 for a total time of 16:00. Soon after that Sam started walking again.

I knew he was back there and suffering so my goal became to gain as much ground as I could to fend off another photo finish like the 8K. The last 3.1 came in at 8:09 for a finishing time of 24:09 (7:47 pace overall). This is back where I was nearly 2 years ago.

Sunday I woke up just late enough that I didn't feel like I had time to get my Bonelli run in and get the family up and moving towards church. I definitely didn't have time to run and cook breakfast. I opted for making breakfast. After church we went to lunch and then did some shopping for the boys. That put me in the middle of the hottest part of the day. Lisa went over to visit her Mom (She is back home now, the infection seems to be under control). Bryan was at work, Tyler was gone. I got caught up on blogs and did some other reading and finally decided to hit the road at 4:30. I wanted to attend a special service at church later that evening and wanted to run Bonelli, otherwise I could have postponed the run til later and one it on the streets.

The goal was a recovery run. The 95 degree temperature guaranteed that I kept the pace nice and slow. I even took my fuel belt along, something I never do on a usual 5 miler. I was very glad to have it with me. It was hot. I never saw another person on the trail. I wonder why! I made it back home in time for a quick jump in the pool and a shower and made it to church with time to spare. I was definitely still cooling down for the first 15 minutes or so of the service.

With that run I made my weekly mileage goal of greater than 20, with 21.9. Not counting the double half marathon week it has been 9 weeks since I've broken 20. Next week's target mileage is 25.

During the service the pastor brought up a young man, Patrick, who was preparing to ship out to Iraq on July 16. It reminded me of our friend's sons Will M. in Japan, Matt O. in Iraq and Joe's son David in Iraq as well. We should all pray for these guy's safety and well being every chance we get.

Incorrigible

1. bad beyond correction or reform

2. impervious to constraints or punishment; willful; unruly; uncontrollable

3. firmly fixed; not easily changed

4. not easily swayed or influenced

(from dictionary dot com with some editing on my part)

The copy machine in my department is frequently on the fritz, usually with a continuous paper jam. Sometimes the last person to use the thing just walks away to leave the next poor soul who needs a copy to fix the problem. Most often they tell the administrator and put an "Out of Order" sign on it. Today somebody but a sign on it with the word "Incorrigible". I couldn't help but chuckle every time I walked by the thing. These odd little words get stuck in my head.

Tonight called for a 5 mile run. My plan was to turn it into my midweek tempo run. I headed over to Bonelli for the flat Cottontail route. I started off the first mile fairly easily then tried to kick it in gear. I felt like I was moving along at a decent clip. At the turn around point I was at 22 and change. Even with my limited math skills in motion I could tell I was over 9 minute miles, not exactly tempo worthy. I don't think I could have gotten much more out of my legs. I was beat by the time I got back to the car. My 9:15 pace isn't exactly where I need to be or even expected to be.

Just two months ago I ran a marathon in 8:33 pace. Yes, it is still really early. Only Week 1. But that silly little word popped into my head. At this point the copy machine and I have something in common - incorrigibility

Great Minds

We were all pretty much on our own tonight for dinner. Lisa was at the hospital visiting her Mom. She's been in there since Friday suffering from some kind of blood infection that has settled in her knee, which had been replaced about 10 years ago. Bryan was at work. Tyler was at the gym with his friend. I had come home from work early to help Tyler take the dog to the vet. She's 13 and was acting quite peculiarly. She's was diagnosed with Vestibular Disease. She was experiencing vertigo symptoms and was acting like a drunken sailor. The vet said the symptoms could last for 72 hours, but 5 hours later she seems to be doing much better. She's even eaten and drank water.

Anyway, I ate dinner early (left overs) and decided to put my run off until it cooled down a little. After the run I went to the grocery store to pick up some dessert. We like to have a scoop of ice cream nearly every night. I had just picked out a couple of half gallons and was on my way over to grab a bag of Chocolate Chip cookies. As I turned the corner at the end of the aisle I almost ran into Lisa. She had stopped at the store on the way home from the hospital for the same thing. She had a bag of cookies in her hand and was on her way to the ice cream aisle when we ran into each other. Great minds! We sure had a good laugh about that one.

Tonight's run was over in Bonelli for 3.3 miles. I did the Picnic Loop with little added spur trail along the lake.

My mileage last week was 16.1. My goal next week is to finally break 20 miles again. Sunday I wanted to get a run in and I really wanted to try to stay on dirt. The Via Verde horse trail is only 3 miles, I wanted more than that. I was apprehensive about repeating my Sunday Morning Bonelli loop as I had done it Wednesday and experienced a few little twinges on the top and side of my foot a couple of days after that. I finally remembered the Cottontail Trail that I used to take last year with Bryan on the bike. It is about half on dirt and basically flat. I hadn't done this since we lost Daylight Savings last fall. It is funny how a run that was a staple last summer had been out of my repertoire for so long I had forgotten about it.

Today is the official start date of the MCM training. I also realized on my run that I had just run 3 days in a row. It's been weeks since that happened. Keep your fingers crossed that my foot holds up to the increased frequency. I made it through 4 days last week, but not without minor reminders from my foot. I'm not sure how it will react to a 5 day week. I'm more than a little anxious about the outcome.

Founder's Day 5K

This was my second chance to run a race with my oldest son. Since the first 5K he has been asking me to find another race to do. Like many of us he was finding it difficult to get out there and run without a goal. His three week summer break offered the perfect opportunity. We had our choice of several races this weekend but settled on the Lomita Founder's Day 5K and 10K. With California being a relatively young state Lomita was celebrating their 100th anniversary.

We got there in time to find parking and get registered for the race. This is the first time that I've not registered for a race before hand. Tyler called almost daily to see if I had registered yet. We did a 1/4 mile warm up, basically just because we had the time.

The race got started on time. It took us about 10 seconds to cross starting line near city hall. The route was basically a big square taking us through the neighborhood and back to the starting line. The course was very gently down hill on the first leg of the square which meant that the third leg was up hill. Tyler's A goal was sub 30:00, with his B goal of improving on his last time of 34:00.

The first mile came in at 9:23, way ahead of where we needed to be to break 30:00. I'm not very good at judging pace. The fast start would come back to hurt Tyler later on. Soon after the 1 mile mark Tyler asked for a walk break. One minute later we were running again. At this point we began leap frogging an older gentleman (turns out he was 75). He was in a cotton t-shirt, gray sweats and what looked like cross trainers from the 70's. He was just plodding along steadily.

Mile 2 came in at 10:36, including the walk break. That was still less than 20:00 for 2 miles but we couldn't afford to slow down at all to be able to break the 30:00 goal. Mile 2 was followed by the second walk break. Mr Gray Sweats ambled on by us. Soon after we turn the corner for the long uphill.

There was a short but significant climb at the end of this leg, around mile 2.5. I really tried to encourage Tyler to keep going up the climb, but he opted for a walk break. I insisted on keeping it short. He had also complained of a side stitch earlier. We slowed down some to help ease the pain.

On the last leg and just before the 3 mile mark, Tyler took another short walk break and then took off like a bolt of lightning for the finish. The last 1.1 clocked in at 11:50 for a final time of 31:48 on my watch. He managed to pass someone just before the finish line. I finished a few seconds later. With the addition of the 10 seconds to get to the starting line our final times look like this:

So although he didn't make his sub 30:00 goal, he did set a new PR by 2:03. It was very cool. Tyler was shocked when the winner of the 10k (twice around the square) crossed the finish line in 35:30, just 3.5 minutes after us.

While he's home we are going to run the Surf City 5K on July 4th. That was my first race back in 2003. He will finally get to run a completely pancake flat course. I expect this PR won't stand for long.

The Final Detail

I registered for Marine Corps Marathon on May 9th, the day that registration opened. Registration has long since closed. I booked my hotel the following day. I've had one last detail left. Wednesday, I finally booked airfare to Reagan National Airport. It's a done deal. Now I just need to get a couple of 20 milers under my belt and on my feet and I'll be ready to go.

Nothing to stellar to report on the running front. Tuesday was another easy 3 miles in Via Verde. I'm getting really good at easy 3 milers. It seems to be my fall back distance when things aren't going well. I clocked a whopping 8:50 pace, which is slow compared to where I was 6 months ago, but about on par with everything since my foot started acting up. The easy pace seems to keep the pain in check. I'd rather run slow for a while pain free than faster, in pain and risk not running at all.

Wednesday I had taken a vacation to run an errand. I turns out my errand was done by about 8:15. I had a whole day to myself to do whatever I wanted. My wife was at work as was #1 son. #2 son was at summer school. It was such a beautiful morning and my foot had been feeling pretty good so I decided to make my way over to Bonelli for my 5 mile loop. I wore the Trance for stability rather than the Cascadias. Again I kept the pace really easy. The hills really kicked my fanny. I walked up way more than usual. My lack of consistent high mileage training, the extra couple of pounds and temperatures in the low 80's all kept me moving slower than I used to. I was super happy to out there though and my foot didn't seem to mind it either. I was a little horrified when I stopped my watch to see 56:27 for 5 miles (11:17 pace).

I enjoyed a couple of weeks of relatively pain free running, but I'm a little afraid to push things up notch just yet. I almost ran today to get 3 straight days of running but ended up putting that particular hurdle off till next week when the marathon training is scheduled to start. I'm still toying around with plans but I'm pretty sure I will be taking a low mileage, just make it to the finish line approach to MCM.

Saturday I will accompany Tyler (#1 son) on his second 5K race. He asked me to find a race to do while he was home on break. He is hoping the break the 30 minute barrier this time out. The way I've been going lately, it may be me that is the rate limiting factor this time out. I'll be sure to let you know.

A Run with Forrest

First off I want to thank everyone for the good thoughts and suggestions on the foot and ankle pain. I really want to thank David and Ryan for their suggestions. I've stretched this week like I've never stretched before and the frozen bottle of water has gotten a lot of use on the soles of my feet. I've even sat on the floor, rested my calf and achilles tendon on the bottle and rolled back and forth on that. Things have not worsened for sure and even seem to be getting a little bit better. Kim, if you're reading, check out their comments on the last couple of posts, hopefully it will help you too.

My mileage is still on the low side with only 16.5 miles on the legs this week in three runs. I did take the (mountain) bike out on the roads Monday evening for 11 miles in 55 minutes or 12 mph. Not exactly burning up the rubber, but it was good to be out there. Tuesday and Wednesday were exactly like last week, 3 miles each day mostly on dirt in 8:40-ish pace.

Saturday was another excellent running day with the CA Cruisers. We ran the loop around the Newport Back Bay. I'd last run this route with Jeff back in August of 2006, my how time flies. I had decided to wear some newer Trance 6, from Brooks. I'd bought these back in March and had only worn them about 20 miles so far. I really wasn't fond of the styling and even though I've always worn a size 10 in Trances from NXR, NXS, and NXT, these seemed big and clunky. I was hoping that their "stability plus" rating would be beneficial to my PF symptoms of last week. The Back Bay loop is a good 10 miles and because it's a loop around a body of water there is no short cutting the thing no matter how bad you feel. If the feet started hurting at 5 like they did last week, those last 5 wouldn't be pleasant.

We had a pretty decent showing this morning with plenty of people for me to run with. Jay was there, as was Jim and so were Julie and Gary who I hadn't seen in months. We all ran loosely together in various groups. Along with us regulars was a new guy, Forrest (I'll resist the obvious one liner). Forrest is the 16 year old son of another member of the group. Jay teased him about being able to run much faster than us "old" guys, but Forrest knew what he was in for. Since his Mom and grandfather were both runners he knew that slow and steady was the way to treat the long run. Between the five of us in the lead pack we all took turns kind of looking after Forrest.

Forrest is in training for the Disneyland Half Marathon in September, his first. He's a member of the marching band at his high school and works out with weights. Couple that with youth and he was in decent shape. He had recently gotten fitted for running shoes at the local Snail's Pace store.

By the time we had hit 6 miles we had already tackled the hills of the run. Forrest was with Jay at that point and was beginning to tire. Jay pointed out a small shortcut through a parking area that saved him about 1/2 a mile. When Julie, Gary and I caught him next he had run out of fluid. Julie and I ran with him and found out that except for one 8K race he had never run more than 3 miles; no wonder he was tired. We were both a little surprised that his Mom hadn't eased him into this a little more.

He was still in good spirits. We suggested that maybe a walking break was in order. He plugged along for a while and then finally decided to take us up on the offer. I walked with him. After 2 minutes I suggested that it was time to get going again. We ran together for 8 minutes when he asked for another walk break. Somehow Julie was right there with us so the three of us walked up Back Bay Drive together. I watched the clock and suggested we only walk for a minute. I also convinved Forrest to drink from one of my as yet untouched Fuel Belt bottles. Between miles 7 and 9 we took 3 maybe 4 walk breaks. At that point Forrest was pretty much done. I debated with myself whether I should push him to keep going or suggest that he take it easy. I ultimately let him decide how and when we was going to finish the run. He told me that the soles of his feet hurt and that maybe he would just walk the last mile or so in. The others in the lead pack had all gone ahead, as did I at that point. I stopped periodically to make sure that Forrest was still coming. I even caught him running a couple of times.

It was good to see the smile on his face when he was done. All the others made a huge fuss over him for completing his longest run ever. He took off his shoes and had a nice blister on the arch of each foot. His final pace for the 10 miles was somewhere around 10:15. Not too bad, considering he'd never covered that distance before. I was pretty proud of him for running with us when he could have run with the middle or back of the pack. It was a good run, seeing everyone encouraging Forrest and getting to know him along the way.

The good news for me is that my feet felt pretty good the whole way. There was very little hint of the pain in the arches that plagued me the previous week. There is still the weird roving pain in the ankle of my right foot. I think the stretching and icing worked their tricks. Later in the afternoon on Saturday my feet felt more achy than normal, but were tolerable.

Father's Day, the whole family went for a short hike on the Lower Monroe Trail in the foothills above Glendora. I had originally invited Lisa for a walk in Bonelli, but Tyler (home for a 3 week summer break) suggest the other trail. The boys spontaneously ran parts of the trail today. Wouldn't it be cool if I could get them out for a trail run. We only went in about a mile and back out, but I definitely viewed it as a possible running route some day. Earlier in the day we went out for Mexican food. It's a tradition we started back in 1987 when Lisa was pregnant with Tyler. We haven't always visited the same restaurant over the 20 years but we've always managed to have our fill of chips and salsa, and a lot of other good stuff, on Father's Day.

I hope all you fathers out there were able to spend some meaningful time with your kids.

Peters Canyon

Between the CA Cruisers, the 6:42 group and members of the Brea Boot Camp we were 21 happy runners on Saturday morning at Peters Canyon. True to the dependable June Gloom of southern California, it was a wonderfully cool, overcast morning for a run. Although this was my first time to run in Peters Canyon Park, others of the group had done this run many times before. The Cruisers are mostly Orange County residents of Brea, Yorba Linda and Orange. I'm a commuting member of the group driving 30 or so miles each way from my home in LA County.

Peters Canyon is a small suburban park in Orange, CA at the edge of civilization. The trails remind me of Bonelli, but more exposed. There is a small reservoir with a 2 mile looping trail and then a small finger like projection of land that is surrounded on all sides by fairly typical southern California subdivisions. The finger like part of the park is less than a quarter of a mile wide in most places and a little over a mile long.

Although I had committed myself to staying on flat land for a while, I had talked to Dr. John during the week and he assured me that the run was mostly flat. I had discussed the "hills" at Saddleback with his wife just a week or so ago. She felt that Saddleback was hilly. I would call it gently rolling. Based on that definition I thought it was safe to give Peters Canyon a try.

The conditions Saturday morning were ideal due to the June Gloom but I could imagine that during the summer the heat would be borderline intolerable. At the far south end is a small eucalyptus grove that offers a very brief respite from the sun. The trail here is also curvier with several easy switchbacks compared to the relatively straight sections elsewhere. The trail on the east side of the park, East Ridge Trail, has the parks major hill followed by a few rollers as it heads south. (Although I think any hill that you can clearly see the top from the bottom isn't really all that major. I'm also sure that it is less than a quarter of a mile long.) After the U-turn through Eucalyptus Trail the Peters Canyon Trail on the west side of the park is a long straight gradual up hill grade back to the reservoir loop.

As it turns out, the hills although small by most definitions and small to me under normal foot conditions, were bigger than I would have like to subject my foot to. I ran the gentle ones at a slower pace, but walked down the steeper ones as a precaution. I took the up hills as usual.

All told, I ran 7.5 miles and Peters Canyon is worth another visit. My right foot felt all right most of the way. About 5 miles into the run both my right and left arches began to hurt, almost a burning sensation. I'm now convinced that I've got myself a case of plantar fasciitis. Oh, joy of joys. This is not the turn of events I expected following my crash month. Celeste seems to think I should be refitted for shoes. I don't think there is going to be any quick fixes with whatever is going on with my feet.

After the run, we met up at a coffee shop/bakery. The muffins and cookies sure looked good, but I controlled myself and had a chai tea and a banana. One really bad side effect of my decreased running of late is the 6 pounds I've gained since the Eugene Marathon at the end of April. I am going to have to give bike riding some serious consideration this next week along with some frequent and consistent stretching exercise. Only 2 more weeks before MCM training is supposed to officially begin.

This last weekend and next some of the Cruisers are taking part in the World Famous Mud Runs at Camp Pendleton. These runs have been on my radar for awhile now. They fill quickly and I have missed out. Running and crawling through the mud looks like fun to me. How about you?

Back to Back

Back to back runs is something I haven't done in over 6 weeks. April 19 and 20 were the last two consecutive days of running until today. It's hard to believe. Between my cold, marathon taper, marathon recovery, and injury I haven't put together a decent week of training in a long time.

I ran 3 miles yesterday and then I ran 3 more today. Both runs were over on the dirt in Via Verde. In keeping with the nice and easy theme I even left my watch at home. I had originally planned on running Tuesday and Thursday, but a bunch of us are going out after work Thurs. to celebrate a co-worker's graduation. Our Admin. Professional got her Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management at 53! She deserves a party.

The foot feels.....OK....not great, but OK. Its funny that the aches and pains seem to move around. Another blogger with foot problems mentioned the same thing (sorry I can't remember who; there are several of us ailing at the moment). Sometimes I don't notice anything and others the pain is in the arch, sometimes on the top, even on opposite sides at times. No running now till Saturday when I meet up with the Cruisers for a jaunt in and around Peters Canyon, down in OCTR country. Will I run into Jessica?

The Second Half

I got it done, not exactly the way I had envisioned it, but I got it done; and I really did enjoy it. Last Monday was the Saddleback Half followed 5 days later by the Fontana Days Half. This is the only local race that I have a three year streak going. I would have four except that in 2004 I ran the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego that occurs on the Sunday following Fontana. I'm not sure I will ever do that particular combination. Although it sounds more doable now than it did in 2004, I've got 41 other marathons (states) to run first.

The funny thing is that the two races/runs came down almost exactly the same. I've spent more time than I should have comparing the numbers.

The similarities include:

• I ran the first 9 miles with a friend, Jay at Saddleback, Terry at Fontana
• I made a bathroom stop during mile 9, a convenient portojohn at Saddleback, a convenient bush at Fontana
• I ran the last 4.1 miles faster than the first 9 miles in both races

In retrospect, running 2 half marathons within a week wasn't that tough of a challenge. It pales in comparison to back to back marathons or an ultra but it was a fun little series to do. It was made that much easier for me because I really only ran them rather than race them. I held back early on and only sped up for the last four miles. This seemed to be prudent considering the foot issue.

I met several people that I knew at the race. I saw Larry, a coworker. We've both been running since 2003, but this is only the 2nd race we've run together. The first was the LA Marathon and there's little chance of seeing each other in that crowd. I also saw an associate pastor, Ron, and Ed from our church. And then I met, Mike, a guy from our old church when we lived in Rialto.

Although my times were faster at Fontana, my placings were significantly lower. I guess a lot of people come to Fontana intent on taking advantage of the downhill course.

The foot seemed to have faired well. I of course iced it when I got home, again more preemptively rather than in response to any specific pain. I've finished the series of anti-inflammatories so the next few days and weeks will be telling. David asked in a comment whether I've ever suffered from plantar fasciitis? Although I haven't received that diagnosis, I'm leaning strongly towards thinking that may be what I've got. My heels have been hurting for nearly a year. My increase in mileage and recent change in shoes may have just been enough to aggravate it even further. I do plan on babying the foot for at least a couple more weeks to assure no further damage.