Sunday, December 14, 2008
COMPLETION!
Dave is finished with his marathon...YAY!!!! Thanks to everyone for your support. I'm sure he'll be blogging the whole story in a few days.
Mile 24
I have seen the tips of the mountain. And it is good.
What kind of an idiot decides to run a marathon in a monsoon. Blisterson both feet. No way I can stop now. I wish I was ethopian.
BLISTER!
Dave's blister is really difficult to run on...but he can do it! He is at mile 20! Everyone send him a motivating text message if you can. He has his phone with him.
Here's a view Dave saw during the marathon...
Another view...
While running down the volcano...
Dave says in this pic, "I'm stoked because INow I'm running down the volcano."
View of the ocean during the run...
View of the left foot...there's a big blister developing...
Dave says, "Wet socks plus down hill equals big ol blister on my left foot."
He's more than half way done now:) ...and he's beating the 90 year old woman's time:)
Today is the Day!!!!!!!
This is a picture of Dave before the race starts. He said it was a monsoon last night but just drizzling today and 70 degrees at the starting line.
This is a picture before the race...
Starting Line!...
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
My Dedication to BFR
The charity I'm running for is the AIDS Foundation. In situations like this a lot of people are running for a certain person or dedicate the run to someone they know with AIDS. I don't know anyone with AIDS so I'm running for different reasons. Part of the reason I'm running is because I always wanted to run a marathon. However, a larger piece is because Augustana College took my lungs from me a few years back by neglecting to address a mold issue. This race is my way of taking my lungs back. Unfortunately my pet lizard-BFR -is not able to thumb his nose at Augie, because the mold ended up killing him a few weeks after we left. So for this marathon, my first and possibly only, I run for BFR.
BFR. Big ____ Reptile. I guess it's like the last "P" in the Naughty by Nature song OPP, it has many meanings. If I was talking to my parents, Krissy's mom or my little bro, it was Big Fat Reptile. However, in other circles, BFR has a much more R-rated name. It really depended on what you wanted it to be that day.
Picchi and Natalie hooked me up with BFR through a relative or something. He came to live with me and we had quite an awesome run together. His bedroom was shared with the foosball table and he would visit with any and everyone who came over to hang out or play a couple of games of the foosball. Because he was the only pet allowed in the building, BFR made quite a few friends. He was pretty huge and scared the poop out of many people, but most people were pretty comfortable coming over to watch a movie or have dinner while BFR roamed around.
I had a leash for BFR and I occassionally walked him though campus over the summer when it was warm and the students were gone. Occassionally BFR would run up a tree and I'd have to climb up and get him, but mostly he would just enjoy laying in the grass and feeling the sun. BFR's favorite spot outside was on the sidewalk right in front of Carlsson, our faithful (but moldy) home. Everytime BFR and I got past the driveway he'd stop on the sidewalk and just bask.
BFR had an on again off again relationship with Krissy. While Krissy was a little fearful but cool with BFR, he had some jealousy issues. Lizards like BFR fan their necks (and that floppy patch of skin below) and then bob thier heads when they feel thier territory is threatened. BFR did this almost every time Krissy would spend time with me. Toward the end days, it seemed as if he was finally becoming OK with Krissy coming over. I like to think that if he was still around they would be buddies (at least I hope so, if not, I'm not sure who I would be living with now).
Mustard Greens were BFR's favorite food. He was a big fan of all greens, but mustard were by far the best. I tried them once.... and well we never had to worry about sharing; gross. I had vitamins that I sprinked on BFR's food. Since BFR wasn't eating bugs, insects, Mothra, like nature intened, I supplimented him with the nutriants he was missing. That powdered vitamin ended up being BFR's demise.
Augie was drilling the 80 year old bricks, which had mold inside of them, and leaving the moldy brick mixture all over my apartment. Unfortunately one of the drill zones was right above BFR's tank. The mixture fell into the tank and all over him and his food. It looked just like the white powdery vitamin mixture and BFR ate a ton of it.
After my trip to the hospital, after warning Augie of prior respritory attacks, I quit. The problem with working and living on campus is that when you quit, you not only lose your job, you lose your home. So for a bit, while I was looking for a new place to live and a new job, I moved everything into a storage shed and BFR and I lived in my little red truck. Being homeless and jobless is a pretty miserable place to be in life, but having BFR living in the truck with me was a huge help. I think we were the best buddies that a dude and his lizard could be, without it getting creepy and gross.
I thought that BFR, bring a reptile, was immune to the mold and was good to go. But then he started acting weird. A trip to the vet and I quickly discovered I was wrong about BFR's immunity to excessive mold and BFR died. I took BFR to a hill on 7th Ave that overlooks the Mississippi and buried him there. Boy I sure hope that place hasn't turned into a subdivision or parking lot.
In two days I'll be running, walking, crawling 26 miles and each of those miles will be dedicated to my buddy BFR.
Unexpected hurdle
Wow, big swings in the last few weeks. Most of it occured the weekend before Thanksgiving. That Saturday was my big 26 mile training run. The few days leading up to it I was doing all the right things, eating the right food, gave up dehydrating caffine, had Krissy's delicous pasta, everything. I had a slight sore throat the night before, but I felt really good going into the run.
It was 33 degrees that morning. I was about to run for 6 or 7 hrs in 33 degree weather. Nuts. So I dressed in a trillion layers and drove my cold car to the training site. They had a heated tent, but I didn't bother to go in, why tease my body with something like warmth. And after some instruction on a shorter loop that we would repeate, we were off.
I started off the first 3 miles and felt awesome. I can usually tell in the first mile or two how a run will be, and based on that day I thought I will cruise through 26 miles, then go home and bench press a Chevy. As we kept logging the miles, my body was adjusting to the fridgid temperature and I was on cruise control. The only bad thing was the mile from Oak Street Beach towards Navy Pier. We were right on the lake and wind blowing off the water was horrible. Some of the waves crashed onto the path and caused quite a bit of ice. Upon further review, I'm happy for the ice. Concentrating so much on not breaking my neck or slipping into the lake is about the only thing that kept my mind from that face freezing wind.
At the turnaround point I was still feeling pretty good, about 7 miles down and I even thought I saw the sun peek through for just a second. However, with that chilly wind hitting me in the face it very well could have been some type of hallucination.
Then something less than awesome happened. On the next 7 miles back, I started to feel fatigued. Not only was my energy low, but my hamstrings were getting tight. I stretched for a moment, but no good. Then my quads started feeling horrible. Then my calves. Having one muscle group go bad is not abnormal, that happens all the time, but having 3 go was totally new and was not fun at all. My energy was falling fast. I felt like I was in a video game and I used up all of my turbo and gas, but the turbo wasn't recharging. Around mile 12 I was running on empty and my muscles were screaming. I kept telling myself it might have been the cold temps causing my muscles to tighten or something, but it was really ticking me off. I rocked 23 miles without a problem, what was happening. When we got to the start at mile 15 half of our group broke off and quit for the day. I refused and was hoping a 30 second stretch and some gatoraide would help. Nope. I made it 2 more miles and I was done.
FAILURE!
I wanted to hang myself. I felt completely and totally miserable. I didn't say much to anyone at the tent, I just got a banana and peanut butter to help the muscles and drove home. When I got home I started acting like a 15 year old girl with attitude. I was throwing off my clothes and whipped my shoes across the kitchen. I was so upset with myself for quitting I refuesed to let myself have food. I showered up, grabbed a goo to feed my muscles and went to bed. Few times could I ever remember being so ashamed.
Krissy got home and was in a great mood. She's always helpful after a long run and asked me what she could do. I was still in my teenage angst stage so I gave some jerk-like answer and wrapped myself again in blankets. As the hours went on I kept putting more and more blankets on. Krissy, who is always cold, was telling me it was warm in the apartment. No way. I thought the heat must be broken because I was wearing my PJ's, a sweatshirt, 3 blankets and was freezing and shivering. Well fast forward a couple of hours and it was official, I had the flu, and bad.
That night I was awoke a couple of times shivering. 101 degrees and climbing fast. My body has reacted strangely to long runs, but nothing like this. I think I had the flu for the entire run and that is why I was running low on energy. The good news is I had an excuse/reason (ok, lame excuse) for having the worst run of my entire training period. The bad news is that the flu can absolutely destroy a runner. Achey muscles, lack of energy, poor temperature control.
I took it very easy the next few days, I even took a day off of work. The 3 sick day I have taken in 5 years. By Monday night I wasn't getting better. It was time to call in the big guns. NyQuil. I never mesed with NyQuil before, but I heard the stories and I knew the demon I was calling down. But this was a serious time, no time for anything but the best. So I started. In my head, a battle was about to be waged between the evil forces of Flu and arrogant but powerful white knight named NyQuil. I imagined a long and hard fought war, but in the end the good guy would prevail.
Nope. Flu-1, NyQuil-0.
I think NyQuil was having a Rocky-like comeback, but Flu went old school WWF and when the ref wasn't looking, called on his evil friend Bronchitis to hit NyQuil in the back of the head with a folding chair. NyQuil fell and I was in pieces. The flu was still around and now my lungs were filling up. I had pnemonia the year before so I guess I'm always at risk, it was looking grim.
It was Thursday, Thanksgiving and the Flu and his evil minion Bronchitis were having a celebritory dance in my chest. But then our story takes another turn. I brought in the biggest of the big guns. The only thing on earth stronger than NyQuil.....Mom.
A 4-day weekend home with the parents and mom who has handled this before, round 2 was going to be interesting. Thursday was bad, I was sleeping and coughing and freezing and couldn't sleep laying down so had to sleep sitting up so I was miserable. Flu and Bronchitis came out strong. Mom was holding her own, but the tag team duo of F and B were overmatching her. Mom then surprised F and B with a little rope-a-dope and tagged her hidden parnter, antibiotics. Zithromax Z-Pak. Flu and Bronchitis spent so much of thier energy fighting Mom, that they didn't see Zithromax's flying elbow drop coming. BOOM!!!!!
By the end of the weekend I was feeling much better. I had an inhaler and some antibiotics and drank enough tea and soup to last an eternity.
The final week and a half is full with constant coughing as bronchitis is refusing to go away and I will unfortunatly bring him with me to Hawaii. I haven't run much in the last 2 weeks. It's supposed to be a tapering time with little running anyways, but I did next to nothing. I'm coming in a little weak and not fully healed, but if I can survivie 17 miles with the flu at 33 degrees, I think I can at least crawl across the finish line at 80 degrees on the ocean.
Here is to hoping.
It was 33 degrees that morning. I was about to run for 6 or 7 hrs in 33 degree weather. Nuts. So I dressed in a trillion layers and drove my cold car to the training site. They had a heated tent, but I didn't bother to go in, why tease my body with something like warmth. And after some instruction on a shorter loop that we would repeate, we were off.
I started off the first 3 miles and felt awesome. I can usually tell in the first mile or two how a run will be, and based on that day I thought I will cruise through 26 miles, then go home and bench press a Chevy. As we kept logging the miles, my body was adjusting to the fridgid temperature and I was on cruise control. The only bad thing was the mile from Oak Street Beach towards Navy Pier. We were right on the lake and wind blowing off the water was horrible. Some of the waves crashed onto the path and caused quite a bit of ice. Upon further review, I'm happy for the ice. Concentrating so much on not breaking my neck or slipping into the lake is about the only thing that kept my mind from that face freezing wind.
At the turnaround point I was still feeling pretty good, about 7 miles down and I even thought I saw the sun peek through for just a second. However, with that chilly wind hitting me in the face it very well could have been some type of hallucination.
Then something less than awesome happened. On the next 7 miles back, I started to feel fatigued. Not only was my energy low, but my hamstrings were getting tight. I stretched for a moment, but no good. Then my quads started feeling horrible. Then my calves. Having one muscle group go bad is not abnormal, that happens all the time, but having 3 go was totally new and was not fun at all. My energy was falling fast. I felt like I was in a video game and I used up all of my turbo and gas, but the turbo wasn't recharging. Around mile 12 I was running on empty and my muscles were screaming. I kept telling myself it might have been the cold temps causing my muscles to tighten or something, but it was really ticking me off. I rocked 23 miles without a problem, what was happening. When we got to the start at mile 15 half of our group broke off and quit for the day. I refused and was hoping a 30 second stretch and some gatoraide would help. Nope. I made it 2 more miles and I was done.
FAILURE!
I wanted to hang myself. I felt completely and totally miserable. I didn't say much to anyone at the tent, I just got a banana and peanut butter to help the muscles and drove home. When I got home I started acting like a 15 year old girl with attitude. I was throwing off my clothes and whipped my shoes across the kitchen. I was so upset with myself for quitting I refuesed to let myself have food. I showered up, grabbed a goo to feed my muscles and went to bed. Few times could I ever remember being so ashamed.
Krissy got home and was in a great mood. She's always helpful after a long run and asked me what she could do. I was still in my teenage angst stage so I gave some jerk-like answer and wrapped myself again in blankets. As the hours went on I kept putting more and more blankets on. Krissy, who is always cold, was telling me it was warm in the apartment. No way. I thought the heat must be broken because I was wearing my PJ's, a sweatshirt, 3 blankets and was freezing and shivering. Well fast forward a couple of hours and it was official, I had the flu, and bad.
That night I was awoke a couple of times shivering. 101 degrees and climbing fast. My body has reacted strangely to long runs, but nothing like this. I think I had the flu for the entire run and that is why I was running low on energy. The good news is I had an excuse/reason (ok, lame excuse) for having the worst run of my entire training period. The bad news is that the flu can absolutely destroy a runner. Achey muscles, lack of energy, poor temperature control.
I took it very easy the next few days, I even took a day off of work. The 3 sick day I have taken in 5 years. By Monday night I wasn't getting better. It was time to call in the big guns. NyQuil. I never mesed with NyQuil before, but I heard the stories and I knew the demon I was calling down. But this was a serious time, no time for anything but the best. So I started. In my head, a battle was about to be waged between the evil forces of Flu and arrogant but powerful white knight named NyQuil. I imagined a long and hard fought war, but in the end the good guy would prevail.
Nope. Flu-1, NyQuil-0.
I think NyQuil was having a Rocky-like comeback, but Flu went old school WWF and when the ref wasn't looking, called on his evil friend Bronchitis to hit NyQuil in the back of the head with a folding chair. NyQuil fell and I was in pieces. The flu was still around and now my lungs were filling up. I had pnemonia the year before so I guess I'm always at risk, it was looking grim.
It was Thursday, Thanksgiving and the Flu and his evil minion Bronchitis were having a celebritory dance in my chest. But then our story takes another turn. I brought in the biggest of the big guns. The only thing on earth stronger than NyQuil.....Mom.
A 4-day weekend home with the parents and mom who has handled this before, round 2 was going to be interesting. Thursday was bad, I was sleeping and coughing and freezing and couldn't sleep laying down so had to sleep sitting up so I was miserable. Flu and Bronchitis came out strong. Mom was holding her own, but the tag team duo of F and B were overmatching her. Mom then surprised F and B with a little rope-a-dope and tagged her hidden parnter, antibiotics. Zithromax Z-Pak. Flu and Bronchitis spent so much of thier energy fighting Mom, that they didn't see Zithromax's flying elbow drop coming. BOOM!!!!!
By the end of the weekend I was feeling much better. I had an inhaler and some antibiotics and drank enough tea and soup to last an eternity.
The final week and a half is full with constant coughing as bronchitis is refusing to go away and I will unfortunatly bring him with me to Hawaii. I haven't run much in the last 2 weeks. It's supposed to be a tapering time with little running anyways, but I did next to nothing. I'm coming in a little weak and not fully healed, but if I can survivie 17 miles with the flu at 33 degrees, I think I can at least crawl across the finish line at 80 degrees on the ocean.
Here is to hoping.
Monday, November 17, 2008
I'm back
Sorry, way too long of a break. That whole work thing limited my ability to post after hours, and blogging at home didn't work for some reason. Just to make sure my posts came back to life, I quit my job and took another. Dedication..definately.
So a ton, I and I mean a ton has gone on in the last 3 months since I last posted. My long runs have gone from 14 or 16 miles to 23 miles a few weeks ago. Heck in a mere 5 days I’ll be running 26 (a very slow 26 at training pace, not race pace). Let me think of a few memorable occurrences over the last few months:
--The most challenging of the long runs was 16 miles. For some reason that was the barrier that was the toughest to make it through. It was a warm day, I had some serious IT Band issues, but in the end I survived. So after an exhausting run, I limped into my apartment, I made it up the stairs and Krissy greeted at the door. She helped rehydrate me and then helped me into the tub for ice bath to help limit the inflammation.
As I was in the tub, I was thinking about the schedule for the rest of the day: Clean up, have little bit of food to help my stomach recover from a meal of goo, quick half hour nap, get changed, meet people downtown for dinner, go out for drinks, try to get home at a semi-reasonable time so I can get a good restful sleep. It seemed fairly reasonable. Let me tell you how it really worked out: Clean up, crawl to bed, jump in for a half hour nap…. Wake up 18 hours later. Rumor has it that Krissy tried to wake me up for dinner and I gave her a look that she took as a threat to her physical safety, so she left me sleeping. The good news is that after my 18 hour nap, I woke up feeling like a champ and was able to make my Monday maintenance run without a problem.
--I had another memorable mid-week maintenance run. It was a short recovery run on some random Monday or Tuesday. I was still sore from a long Sat run, so I found my pace around mile 2, and was sticking right to it. I was running just random streets in my neighborhood and around mile 3, I found myself getting tight, so I turned around and decided to take the quickest way home. I came off Lincoln and was running down Addison when I passed this dude. Just some random running dude who didn’t look any different from any other runner I come across. The only thing that made me remember this guy, is that I passed him. I run super slow. And by super slow, I mean babies crawling past me slow. This guy must have had an issue with me passing him, because he sped up and almost hip checked me as he shot on by. I have lost my desire to “race” anyone about the same time a 2 became the first number of my weight, so I let this guy have his victory and pass by.
I made it about another 3 or 4 blocks (still at my same pace, confirmed by my GPS watch) when I passed this guy again. I didn’t make it 20 steps past this guy when he shot right past me again and this time he passed me and then got right in front of me, like a race car who is blocking. Again, I didn’t care at all, I just wanted to get home and stretch, so continued to listen to some Local H and run at my pace. Lame-o stayed away for a while, but at about 5 blocks from home, I ended up passing this guy a 3rd time. He didn’t seem to have an issue with this (or so I thought) but then a half block later, right in front of Guthries, he passed me again. This time, as he passed by, he turned around and gave me some tough-guy look, but because of that he wasn’t paying attention. BAM! Right as he was mid-stare, a group of 3 or 4 girls walked out of Guthries and he crashed right into them. It was awesome. It completely reminded me of a Mentos commercial.
--The third memorable event is more of a goal, than a story. Slurp and I decided to run a half marathon in October in some small town in almost-canada-ville Wisconsin. This was right after I was struggling with my IT band, so I decided to run the race at my training pace (didn’t succeed, I ended up running a good 30 seconds/mile faster). Well it was a great race day but I got a little dehydrated towards the end and definitely ran out of gas (weak on my part, I know) and struggled to finish. After the race we had a great rest of the weekend and while I wasn’t pleased with my performance, it was a good weekend and we drove home through Wisconsin while the leaves were changing, so a nice 9 hr drive home. However Monday morning I was quite surprised. The race results were posted. I filtered the results a few different ways and here is the most important piece that came out: There were 2 women in the 65 and older group. Marilyn and Margaret. Margaret, I kicked her 72 year old butt up and down the course. She bowed to my awesomeness. However, Marilyn, the 74 year old woman, she crushed me. She beat me by almost 2 minutes/mile. Marilyn, if you are out there, and if they have the internet in small-town MN, I’m coming for you in 2009. You had better still be alive, because I’m going to tear you a new one. (yes, I just started talking smack to a 74 year old woman).
That’s about it for a quick update on some memorable events over the last few months. I’m back to a happy blogging place in life, so get ready, more to come.
26 miles this weekend, so I’m sure I’ll have something to say next week. Maybe.
Special thanks to Mandy for giving me grief and reminding me to post.
So a ton, I and I mean a ton has gone on in the last 3 months since I last posted. My long runs have gone from 14 or 16 miles to 23 miles a few weeks ago. Heck in a mere 5 days I’ll be running 26 (a very slow 26 at training pace, not race pace). Let me think of a few memorable occurrences over the last few months:
--The most challenging of the long runs was 16 miles. For some reason that was the barrier that was the toughest to make it through. It was a warm day, I had some serious IT Band issues, but in the end I survived. So after an exhausting run, I limped into my apartment, I made it up the stairs and Krissy greeted at the door. She helped rehydrate me and then helped me into the tub for ice bath to help limit the inflammation.
As I was in the tub, I was thinking about the schedule for the rest of the day: Clean up, have little bit of food to help my stomach recover from a meal of goo, quick half hour nap, get changed, meet people downtown for dinner, go out for drinks, try to get home at a semi-reasonable time so I can get a good restful sleep. It seemed fairly reasonable. Let me tell you how it really worked out: Clean up, crawl to bed, jump in for a half hour nap…. Wake up 18 hours later. Rumor has it that Krissy tried to wake me up for dinner and I gave her a look that she took as a threat to her physical safety, so she left me sleeping. The good news is that after my 18 hour nap, I woke up feeling like a champ and was able to make my Monday maintenance run without a problem.
--I had another memorable mid-week maintenance run. It was a short recovery run on some random Monday or Tuesday. I was still sore from a long Sat run, so I found my pace around mile 2, and was sticking right to it. I was running just random streets in my neighborhood and around mile 3, I found myself getting tight, so I turned around and decided to take the quickest way home. I came off Lincoln and was running down Addison when I passed this dude. Just some random running dude who didn’t look any different from any other runner I come across. The only thing that made me remember this guy, is that I passed him. I run super slow. And by super slow, I mean babies crawling past me slow. This guy must have had an issue with me passing him, because he sped up and almost hip checked me as he shot on by. I have lost my desire to “race” anyone about the same time a 2 became the first number of my weight, so I let this guy have his victory and pass by.
I made it about another 3 or 4 blocks (still at my same pace, confirmed by my GPS watch) when I passed this guy again. I didn’t make it 20 steps past this guy when he shot right past me again and this time he passed me and then got right in front of me, like a race car who is blocking. Again, I didn’t care at all, I just wanted to get home and stretch, so continued to listen to some Local H and run at my pace. Lame-o stayed away for a while, but at about 5 blocks from home, I ended up passing this guy a 3rd time. He didn’t seem to have an issue with this (or so I thought) but then a half block later, right in front of Guthries, he passed me again. This time, as he passed by, he turned around and gave me some tough-guy look, but because of that he wasn’t paying attention. BAM! Right as he was mid-stare, a group of 3 or 4 girls walked out of Guthries and he crashed right into them. It was awesome. It completely reminded me of a Mentos commercial.
--The third memorable event is more of a goal, than a story. Slurp and I decided to run a half marathon in October in some small town in almost-canada-ville Wisconsin. This was right after I was struggling with my IT band, so I decided to run the race at my training pace (didn’t succeed, I ended up running a good 30 seconds/mile faster). Well it was a great race day but I got a little dehydrated towards the end and definitely ran out of gas (weak on my part, I know) and struggled to finish. After the race we had a great rest of the weekend and while I wasn’t pleased with my performance, it was a good weekend and we drove home through Wisconsin while the leaves were changing, so a nice 9 hr drive home. However Monday morning I was quite surprised. The race results were posted. I filtered the results a few different ways and here is the most important piece that came out: There were 2 women in the 65 and older group. Marilyn and Margaret. Margaret, I kicked her 72 year old butt up and down the course. She bowed to my awesomeness. However, Marilyn, the 74 year old woman, she crushed me. She beat me by almost 2 minutes/mile. Marilyn, if you are out there, and if they have the internet in small-town MN, I’m coming for you in 2009. You had better still be alive, because I’m going to tear you a new one. (yes, I just started talking smack to a 74 year old woman).
That’s about it for a quick update on some memorable events over the last few months. I’m back to a happy blogging place in life, so get ready, more to come.
26 miles this weekend, so I’m sure I’ll have something to say next week. Maybe.
Special thanks to Mandy for giving me grief and reminding me to post.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Apple win's by a nose
Poll question result, Green Apple Wins.
So in addition to the Vanilla Power Bar Gel packs, I wanted to add a few flavor or two to see how they taste and see how they feel in the ol' belly. After reviewing flavors and what they might taste like after I've run 4, 8, 10 miles and am exausted, Green Apple won out.
Quick story about my buddy Green Apple, I gave him a shot after 9 or 10 miles. It tasted delicious... I take that back, it tasted pretty good for a plastic bag of flavored goo. What I didn't realize until I took it, it has some caffeine in it. Caffeine is nice for a good little energy boost. However, as one of my running mates J told me, that energy come beause it "get's things moving in your body".
Well come mile 11, things were definately moving in the stomach region and I was getting nervous. I was able to hold off the inevitable while running, but on the "L" ride home, right between the Addison and Sheffield stop, I was convinced there was going to be a mess. Good news, no mess.
Lesson learned, no caffeine in my gel packs or goo any more.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sun-1, Dave-0
OK I fell behind on writing for a week sorry. I’ll catch back up by weeks end.
I made an enemy this week and my new enemy is the Sun. I was real good on Friday night and even though my friend A. was in town and we were having fun/drinks, I was a good boy and cut my night off early so I could have a good run on Saturday morning. Saturday morning rolled around and I had some horrible leg cramps. This hasn’t happened before so I was a bit surprised. I decided not to potentially injure myself and that I would runn later that evening or on Sunday.
Sunday morning, I woke up with the same leg cramps. I didn’t know what to do, then some logic (bad logic) came into my head. I thought: “hmmm, Hawaii is hot, right, so I’ll just stretch this morning and run around noon. Maybe I can get used to running in the heat.” So I did just that. I should have checked the weather before I used my “logic” because as soon as I got ready and went outside it was hot, real hot. 88 degrees and 90% humidity. But since I slacked on Saturday, I pushed on. Plus I had a pirate shirt on that I got when I was in the keys. Pirates are tough and nothing can hurt them, so I figured I was fine…..
Well first let’s focus on the positive: There is no better place to be, on earth, on a summer day than Lake Michigan. There were people all over, and the lake looked un-dirty, and everyone was happy, and there were dogs everywhere (but no dog poop, a true miracle), and the Chicago skyline, and volleyball, and people laying out in the sun, and just overall bliss. What a fantastic place. It really makes me wish global warming would happen already so Chicago could have San Diego weather. Typically this would be the ideal conditions for a very scenic and wonderful run.
BUT… you may have forgotten that I said it was 88 degrees and monster humidity. It’s bothered me a little bit in mile one. But I just made sure to keep drinking my water and I was OK. Mile 2, my legs were feeling a little sore, but that happens a lot and I just have to push through it. Mile 2.48 CRAMP huge cramp, on the right side of my stomach. It was slowly building and going, but at mile 2.48 I think it bit me in the stomach… and had rows and rows of teeth, like a shark. I couldn’t run another step. The problem with having a huge debilitating cramp at mile 2.48, is that you are 2.48 miles from home. So I turned around and headed home.
The cramp went away, so after about a half mile I decided to try and save my run. I made it about 3 minutes and the shark-like cramp was back. So I was walking again. I didn’t learn my lesson, so about 10 minutes later when the cramp went away I tried to run again. And once again, the shark-cramp. I’m really dumb. But I was able to salvage a bit of my workout and got a 7 mile run/walk in and did it almost in my pace.
I was feeling very unsatisfied with my run. I needed Monday to recover and decided I would give 9 miles another shot on Tuesday evening. Well what do you know, it was 90 degrees+ on Tuesday with humidity. I got home early (6:15pm) and put on my running gear. I decided I’d wait until 7:30 or 8 and give it another shot. I started watching the news and they said it would be 85+ degrees until 8 or 9pm. There is no way I was trying that again, so I sat on the couch and was trying to figure out what to do. Well 4 hours later I woke up and totally missed my opportunity to check the weather at 8, it was 10:30pm. I didn’t know what to do, but I had to get a good run in, so I decided I would go back to sleep and wake up at 3:00am.
3:00am, I was up before the alarm and ready to rock. I think I was anxious not to sleep in, so I couldn’t sleep the last half hour. I thought that was a sign from the running gods, so I geared up and went out.
Remember that lake path that I was just drooling about? Well it might be the scariest place on earth at 3:30am. There were homeless people sleeping along the trail, weird vans with no windows driving in the parking lots, people on bikes who aren’t working out and really have no reason to be around. If you throw in an overactive imagination (ghosts, zombies, the Creature from the Black Lagoon coming out of the lake) it’s not good. Upon further review, my overactive imagination might have been right on (about the danger, not the zombies) it was a pretty dangerous route to take, but luckily I survived this run without being chopped up.
The good news is, outside of scary stuff, running the lake path in the middle of the night is awesome. The temperature was fantastic, there was no one to get in my way, no bikes trying to ride up my arse (could be very problematic), no one to see if I had to make a mid-run “adjustment”, and best of all I got to see the sun rise over the lake. It really makes me wish I could find another half dozen knuckleheads who would like to do the same, because outside of the whole safety thing, it was one of the best runs I ever had. In fact it was so good, word must have gotten around. When I got to my desk that day, I received a phone call from the US Olympic Committee. I guess because of all the smog/poor air quality in China, none of the runners will go compete. So they offered me a spot on the US Olympic team, but unfortunately I had to tell them NO. Next week is the opening of the Horseshoe Casino’s new poker room. Whoever sets the dates for the Olympics should have been more considerate to that before creating a conflicting schedule for me.
I made an enemy this week and my new enemy is the Sun. I was real good on Friday night and even though my friend A. was in town and we were having fun/drinks, I was a good boy and cut my night off early so I could have a good run on Saturday morning. Saturday morning rolled around and I had some horrible leg cramps. This hasn’t happened before so I was a bit surprised. I decided not to potentially injure myself and that I would runn later that evening or on Sunday.
Sunday morning, I woke up with the same leg cramps. I didn’t know what to do, then some logic (bad logic) came into my head. I thought: “hmmm, Hawaii is hot, right, so I’ll just stretch this morning and run around noon. Maybe I can get used to running in the heat.” So I did just that. I should have checked the weather before I used my “logic” because as soon as I got ready and went outside it was hot, real hot. 88 degrees and 90% humidity. But since I slacked on Saturday, I pushed on. Plus I had a pirate shirt on that I got when I was in the keys. Pirates are tough and nothing can hurt them, so I figured I was fine…..
Well first let’s focus on the positive: There is no better place to be, on earth, on a summer day than Lake Michigan. There were people all over, and the lake looked un-dirty, and everyone was happy, and there were dogs everywhere (but no dog poop, a true miracle), and the Chicago skyline, and volleyball, and people laying out in the sun, and just overall bliss. What a fantastic place. It really makes me wish global warming would happen already so Chicago could have San Diego weather. Typically this would be the ideal conditions for a very scenic and wonderful run.
BUT… you may have forgotten that I said it was 88 degrees and monster humidity. It’s bothered me a little bit in mile one. But I just made sure to keep drinking my water and I was OK. Mile 2, my legs were feeling a little sore, but that happens a lot and I just have to push through it. Mile 2.48 CRAMP huge cramp, on the right side of my stomach. It was slowly building and going, but at mile 2.48 I think it bit me in the stomach… and had rows and rows of teeth, like a shark. I couldn’t run another step. The problem with having a huge debilitating cramp at mile 2.48, is that you are 2.48 miles from home. So I turned around and headed home.
The cramp went away, so after about a half mile I decided to try and save my run. I made it about 3 minutes and the shark-like cramp was back. So I was walking again. I didn’t learn my lesson, so about 10 minutes later when the cramp went away I tried to run again. And once again, the shark-cramp. I’m really dumb. But I was able to salvage a bit of my workout and got a 7 mile run/walk in and did it almost in my pace.
I was feeling very unsatisfied with my run. I needed Monday to recover and decided I would give 9 miles another shot on Tuesday evening. Well what do you know, it was 90 degrees+ on Tuesday with humidity. I got home early (6:15pm) and put on my running gear. I decided I’d wait until 7:30 or 8 and give it another shot. I started watching the news and they said it would be 85+ degrees until 8 or 9pm. There is no way I was trying that again, so I sat on the couch and was trying to figure out what to do. Well 4 hours later I woke up and totally missed my opportunity to check the weather at 8, it was 10:30pm. I didn’t know what to do, but I had to get a good run in, so I decided I would go back to sleep and wake up at 3:00am.
3:00am, I was up before the alarm and ready to rock. I think I was anxious not to sleep in, so I couldn’t sleep the last half hour. I thought that was a sign from the running gods, so I geared up and went out.
Remember that lake path that I was just drooling about? Well it might be the scariest place on earth at 3:30am. There were homeless people sleeping along the trail, weird vans with no windows driving in the parking lots, people on bikes who aren’t working out and really have no reason to be around. If you throw in an overactive imagination (ghosts, zombies, the Creature from the Black Lagoon coming out of the lake) it’s not good. Upon further review, my overactive imagination might have been right on (about the danger, not the zombies) it was a pretty dangerous route to take, but luckily I survived this run without being chopped up.
The good news is, outside of scary stuff, running the lake path in the middle of the night is awesome. The temperature was fantastic, there was no one to get in my way, no bikes trying to ride up my arse (could be very problematic), no one to see if I had to make a mid-run “adjustment”, and best of all I got to see the sun rise over the lake. It really makes me wish I could find another half dozen knuckleheads who would like to do the same, because outside of the whole safety thing, it was one of the best runs I ever had. In fact it was so good, word must have gotten around. When I got to my desk that day, I received a phone call from the US Olympic Committee. I guess because of all the smog/poor air quality in China, none of the runners will go compete. So they offered me a spot on the US Olympic team, but unfortunately I had to tell them NO. Next week is the opening of the Horseshoe Casino’s new poker room. Whoever sets the dates for the Olympics should have been more considerate to that before creating a conflicting schedule for me.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Predator in Wisconsin
No I don’t mean a new Dateline special.
This week, for my long run, I found myself in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin for the wedding of my friends M and C. I was there from Fri-Sun, so I would have to do my run in the Badger State. In past weeks I have discussed the mixture of drinking vs. staying up late and tried to find a happy medium that would work for my training. Well for the post-rehersal dinner party, drinking started at 8 and continued at a very accelerated pace until about 1am. Very accelerated, involving shots (for my boy D’s birthday). Shots and I used to be friends until a few years ago. Now they make me time travel and go from midnight until about 1:30am. Funny how that happens.
Well I woke up the next morning in pretty rough shape. But I have to do my weekly run, so after some encouraging from K, I get up, fill up my water bottle, get ready and go for a run. There was not a 7 mile track to be found, so luckily I had GPS on my watch which told me exactly how far I had gone. I started off and was in pain, wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. But I think because of the new environment, I was running fast.
This week, for my long run, I found myself in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin for the wedding of my friends M and C. I was there from Fri-Sun, so I would have to do my run in the Badger State. In past weeks I have discussed the mixture of drinking vs. staying up late and tried to find a happy medium that would work for my training. Well for the post-rehersal dinner party, drinking started at 8 and continued at a very accelerated pace until about 1am. Very accelerated, involving shots (for my boy D’s birthday). Shots and I used to be friends until a few years ago. Now they make me time travel and go from midnight until about 1:30am. Funny how that happens.
Well I woke up the next morning in pretty rough shape. But I have to do my weekly run, so after some encouraging from K, I get up, fill up my water bottle, get ready and go for a run. There was not a 7 mile track to be found, so luckily I had GPS on my watch which told me exactly how far I had gone. I started off and was in pain, wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. But I think because of the new environment, I was running fast.
-Mile one, away from the resort, past a golf course and up some country road with no sidewalks and not even a shoulder. Little dangerous, so I headed into town.
-Mile two, still running a little fast. I made my way into town and stayed on the main roads. Went past the a few stores when I saw something interesting. They had a “get cash fast” sign, but it wasn’t for pawning stuff or for a paycheck advance, it was for ebaying stuff. I thought it was kind of an ingenious idea, but then something else weird happened. I went past the store that was pawning off ebay stuff, and it was a Doll Store. Really. So I run past this doll store and am completely creeped out by the dolls in the window. What store could possibly be connected to this…oh it’s a Doll Hospital. It looked like I a mini M*A*S*H set. I was expecting a doll of Klinger or Radar to be sitting in there. Where the heck am I, who does this and why am I looking around, making sure Chucky isn’t about to chop my ankles.
-Mile three, hitting my pace and I think I sweat out the hangover. I’m feeling good now. I am hitting a lot of hills now, A LOT, and made it past the creepy doll store/doll hospital/ebay store and feel safe again. The road ran out of sidewalks again, but there was a park with a path. I went over and started a serious downhill decent. I went past the ball fields, playground and basketball court. The trail turned from concrete to blacktop to gravel. Then all of a sudden, as I was looking down, paying attention to the uneven trail I looked up and was in the middle of some jungle. I don’t know how it happened but I swear I was in the jungle from Predator. Once again, kind of freaked out. But at the same time, I had to keep moving because I needed to log some miles before I got back into town. So despite the hairs on my neck standing and my fear of being skinned by a Predator, I moved on. And kept moving down. Down down down. Logic wasn’t my friend now, because if I actually was thinking I would have realized that as I keep going down, eventually I’ll have to go up again. For some reason I thought this jungle was going to turn into an MC Escher painting and despite continuously going down I was eventually going to find the road and be at the top. Well I never found out if the jungle path ended at the road because once it got so narrow that I couldn’t stand in it, I turned around and headed back. Uphill….ouch.
-Mile four, out of the Predator jungle and up the huge ascent in the park. I didn’t care about the uphill in the park, I was just happy to be out of that jungle alive. I decided to run back into town and try to go away from downtown. Actually behind my pace now because of the Predator jungle, but a nice flat piece of road.
-Mile five, going out of town lasted a few blocks, now I’m about to enter the touristy downtown and still have to find a way to produce 2+ miles. I went into town and was immediately mobbed by strollers and soccer moms as the tourists were all over and loving this quaint little town. I got out of there ASAP and started running up and down the side streets. The people in their yards were a bit confused, but I logged some miles.
-Mile six-found a county road that unfortunately went up hill very steeply, but it got me away from the thousands of tourists so I took it. It was very big, but seemed almost flat on the way down. Hmmm.
-Mile seven-home stretch so I ran a little hot on the way back to the resort. A lot of tourists and the resort people gave weird looks as an extremely sweaty, hairy, I’m guessing smelly dude passed by, but forget them I’m almost there. Made it back 4 minutes and 16 seconds ahead of my 7 miles pace. Rockin'.
Wisconsin is very hilly. While I’m sure that’s good for me, it surprised me and I wasn’t ready. I hurt for 2 days following. Wisconsin is also very creepy and scary. I suggest anyone running there, do it with a friend, preferably a friend who is Arnold Schwarzenegger and can survive a Predator attack. Another lesson learned this week: While drinking may slow me down or make my run more painful, it doesn’t cause me to miss my run. I think getting home past 1 or 2 or 3 am is what is hurting my long runs. Good info.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
It's gotta be the shoes
I am the fastest man alive.
Seriously I am. I got my new shoes and they make all the difference in the world. Last week I headed over to Fleet Feet and told them I needed some shoes. I expected them to have some ideas, but they surprised me. They made me roll up my pants, put on some "demo shoes" and run on a treadmill for a few minutes. They recorded the way my feet hit the ground and showed it to me on some monster plasma. After I was finally able to pull my eyes away from my sexy calves, I saw that I have decent form with a slight pronation on my right foot.
Dude came back with 3 pair of shoes and had me try them on and run around a bit with each pair. This guy was really into shoes (I dare someone to truthfully tell me he doesn't have a foot fetish). For me, they were all the same. They felt like shoes. They were all lighter than the current New Balance running shoes I was training in. They all locked my foot in and felt great when I hit the ground. They were shoes. But shoe-guy was talking about the wave technology blah blah blah and cooling release this and that. I didn't feel any of it. I truly felt that if I told this Shoe McGee that they were all the same to me, he would either cry or go OJ Simpson on me. I decided that since the first pair I tried on stared with an M, and my last name starts with an M, that's a good enough reason to pick those. So I made up some stuff about my foot feeling more secure in those shoes (so he didn't cry/kill me) and was on my way.
I'll pop a picture of my shoes up later, but they are mostly white with yellow and black. Yellow and black are Pittsburgh colors (Pirates, Steelers, Latin Kings-oops-, Penguins), which is pretty cool since it's my good Western PA customers who helped me pay for them. So I decided to name my shoes after my favorite Pittsburgh sports guy and also a dude who liked to do things for charity: My left shoe is named Roberto and my right shoe is named Clemente.
Roberto Clemente and I went for our long run on Saturday, 6 miles. And you know what, with Roberto Clemente on my side, I felt no pain. The run was awesome. The best I have felt running since high school track. The pace was perfect and we finished almost exactly on time for our group. I officially ran a quarter of a marathon last Saturday. If I ran a quarter of a marathon each week, I could technically say I ran a marathon in 506hrs (with a few weeks of work, sleeping, playing poker and watching TV in the process). Not too shabby.
This week is 7 miles and I'll have to run it on my own in Wisconsin. My watch has GPS, so I should be able to make up my own course without a problem. The problem, as it has been for the entire training so far, is I'll be out late Friday night. 2 weeks ago I hit 4:30am and it was too late. Last week I got to bed around 1am and it was fine. I'll work on something in the middle and see what makes Goldilocks happy.
Here are the totals so far, 31 miles run, 1 pair of shoes purchased, 7 people donated to date, 6 lbs lost and 1 book about Snakes on a Plane read (I have to prepare for emergencies on the plane ride over or back).
Seriously I am. I got my new shoes and they make all the difference in the world. Last week I headed over to Fleet Feet and told them I needed some shoes. I expected them to have some ideas, but they surprised me. They made me roll up my pants, put on some "demo shoes" and run on a treadmill for a few minutes. They recorded the way my feet hit the ground and showed it to me on some monster plasma. After I was finally able to pull my eyes away from my sexy calves, I saw that I have decent form with a slight pronation on my right foot.
Dude came back with 3 pair of shoes and had me try them on and run around a bit with each pair. This guy was really into shoes (I dare someone to truthfully tell me he doesn't have a foot fetish). For me, they were all the same. They felt like shoes. They were all lighter than the current New Balance running shoes I was training in. They all locked my foot in and felt great when I hit the ground. They were shoes. But shoe-guy was talking about the wave technology blah blah blah and cooling release this and that. I didn't feel any of it. I truly felt that if I told this Shoe McGee that they were all the same to me, he would either cry or go OJ Simpson on me. I decided that since the first pair I tried on stared with an M, and my last name starts with an M, that's a good enough reason to pick those. So I made up some stuff about my foot feeling more secure in those shoes (so he didn't cry/kill me) and was on my way.
I'll pop a picture of my shoes up later, but they are mostly white with yellow and black. Yellow and black are Pittsburgh colors (Pirates, Steelers, Latin Kings-oops-
Roberto Clemente and I went for our long run on Saturday, 6 miles. And you know what, with Roberto Clemente on my side, I felt no pain. The run was awesome. The best I have felt running since high school track. The pace was perfect and we finished almost exactly on time for our group. I officially ran a quarter of a marathon last Saturday. If I ran a quarter of a marathon each week, I could technically say I ran a marathon in 506hrs (with a few weeks of work, sleeping, playing poker and watching TV in the process). Not too shabby.
This week is 7 miles and I'll have to run it on my own in Wisconsin. My watch has GPS, so I should be able to make up my own course without a problem. The problem, as it has been for the entire training so far, is I'll be out late Friday night. 2 weeks ago I hit 4:30am and it was too late. Last week I got to bed around 1am and it was fine. I'll work on something in the middle and see what makes Goldilocks happy.
Here are the totals so far, 31 miles run, 1 pair of shoes purchased, 7 people donated to date, 6 lbs lost and 1 book about Snakes on a Plane read (I have to prepare for emergencies on the plane ride over or back).
Monday, July 7, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Pushing the limit
Having my long run every Saturday morning creates a very unique issue: I like to go out late on Friday nights. I decided to use this week to test my limits a bit and see how late I can stay out and still have a successful run on Saturday morning. 7 Mary 3 was playing out in Rockford on Friday, so Bones, Duch, JTB and I made a little road trip. Because testing 1 limit is no fun, I decided to test another: how many drinks can I have Friday night and still have a successful run.
Tangent: While the locals at a run down bar in Rockford create some fun stereotypes in my head (most include long stringy hair and a Trans-Am), they completely blew my stereotype out of the water when no one screamed “Cumbersome, play Cumbersome” like some knucklehead has at every single 7 Mary 3 show I’ve ever been to. Good job Rockford locals. However, here’s an area for improvement…. Let’s limit the excessive high-fives (good rule for people everywhere) and air guitarring towards the band. In fact, for the 15 years that I have been going to shows, I have never seen anyone air guitar towards the band. Especially some dude who looks like Daddy Warbucks. Creepy.
So after a number of beers and a lot of shenanigans, the show ends and we get the boot at 1:45am. After driving back, and dropping the guys off in Naperville, I get home at 4:30am.
7:15 the alarm rings and I get up without a problem. For about 30 seconds I thought I might be the coolest guy ever. Then I throw my shorts and shirt on and grab my shoes. I bent over to tie the laces and almost fell over. I don’t know what happened, but my liver and whatever part of my body requires sleep they got together and reminded my brain that they hate me. I stood up for a few moments, tried to walk around, looked over at my mega comfy bed and ……woke up about 5 hours later.
Lesson learned: Have to go to bed before 4:30am, have to drink less than….well maybe a little less beer. Next week maybe I’ll try 3:30 and some Jack and Cokes.
I missed my Saturday group run, but have my pace #’s down so I made my run on Sunday morning. Holy poop it’s amazing how much more fun it is to run when you don’t have shin splints. This week’s run was 5 miles. Mile 1, no problem but a little tired. Mile 2, wow, this is easier than last week. Mile 3, half way there, maybe I’m a professional runner. I weigh 250lbs, so maybe I’m 2 professional runners. Mile 4, is that a pebble in my shoe. Mile 4.5, that can’t be a pebble because I don’t have rocks in my apartment that could have gotten in there. Mile 4.75, forget pebbles I think I have an asteroid in my shoe, but only a quarter mile now, don’t stop. Mile 4.9. I hate rocks so much, almost there, but who cares if I stop it won’t hurt anyone, shut-up no quitting, 1/10 of a mile, that’s nothing. Mile 5, can’t wait to see what’s in there, it is probably a rock the size of baseball based on how it feels, it’s….. nothing. I officially have a psychiatric problem. In addition to donations to my fundraising effort, I am now taking donations of Thorazine.
Going to the store for some new shoes and my water belt today. Forget fit, pronation and style; I hope they have green shoes. Green shoes make you run faster.
Lots of donations too, so a huge thanks to AB, Juan, Colin, Danielle, Jamie and Mandy. We are cranking away. Oh, and related to this, I learned how to use this cool scroll feature on the donation page to give thanks to the donors. Check out my webpage mastering skills
http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=CH-4072&EventCode=HN08
it’s on the lower left side.
22 total miles have been run so far over the last few weeks. 22 more than I have run in the previous 6 months, so I’m well on my way. This upcoming week will be 6 miles, which is the equivalent of running from Wrigley Field to the Sears Tower. Yikes.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Lake path-1, Dave-0
OK, last Saturday I attended my first group run. 100+ people in about 16 different groups based on time. So about 7 or 8 people in each time group, right... wrong. My group had 2 people, I'm one of them. At first I was a bit confused, but later it made sense S. and I just rock so much face that there isn't any awesome left for anyone else in our group. That makes me feel better.
So I learned a little lesson this week and I think it's important to share. No matter how comfy your work shoes are, they aren't designed for athletic purposes. Last week I decided to walk home one day. I didn't have my running shoes, but didn't think I needed them. Well after the 5 mile trek, I was right, I had a great walk and felt good. The next day....OUCH. I don't know if shin splints come in different sizes, but if they do, I just ordered some up in extra large. Since shin splints don't go away, they just hang out until they are bored, I still have them. Stinkin' work shoes (note: the blame is entirely on the shoes and in no way the responsibility of the dude who chose to be an idiot).
Back to my Saturday group run. I thought the shin splints went away and guess what: around mile 1 of 4, I realized they weren't gone and that I not only awoke the beast, but I angered it as well. I didn't deviate from our assigned pace (in fact S. and I killed it by about 2 min/mile) but it sure was not the pleasant experience I imagnined it would be. I'll have to rest up and do some bike riding this week and hopefully appease the god of shin.
This weekends long run is 5 miles. I think as long as I can shake my buddy (the shin splint) I should be able to survive.
Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Big props to Bones and the R. family for being the first to donate. Now there is no backing out of this thing. Great.
So I learned a little lesson this week and I think it's important to share. No matter how comfy your work shoes are, they aren't designed for athletic purposes. Last week I decided to walk home one day. I didn't have my running shoes, but didn't think I needed them. Well after the 5 mile trek, I was right, I had a great walk and felt good. The next day....OUCH. I don't know if shin splints come in different sizes, but if they do, I just ordered some up in extra large. Since shin splints don't go away, they just hang out until they are bored, I still have them. Stinkin' work shoes (note: the blame is entirely on the shoes and in no way the responsibility of the dude who chose to be an idiot).
Back to my Saturday group run. I thought the shin splints went away and guess what: around mile 1 of 4, I realized they weren't gone and that I not only awoke the beast, but I angered it as well. I didn't deviate from our assigned pace (in fact S. and I killed it by about 2 min/mile) but it sure was not the pleasant experience I imagnined it would be. I'll have to rest up and do some bike riding this week and hopefully appease the god of shin.
This weekends long run is 5 miles. I think as long as I can shake my buddy (the shin splint) I should be able to survive.
Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Big props to Bones and the R. family for being the first to donate. Now there is no backing out of this thing. Great.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Baby steps to..
So training has officially started. Which means I have officially began a life of being sore. I had a strong start by missing our first group run this past Saturday. In all fairness to me, I was in Phoenix for B's wedding, but still not the best start. I should be an optimist here, and so I'll focus on Phoenix as being a great excuse for not running, and I do feel I'm pretty gifted in the area of making excuses. Go me.
I did a make-up run, 3 miles, and then used the Aids Marathon special formula to figure out what my time should be in December. Well based on my inability to read the instructions, I have two potential completion times, either 6hours and 59 minutes or 6 hours and 6 minutes. The winner last year won in something like 2 hours and 17 min. What a sucker. I am going to get much more bang for my buck than they are. Those Kenyans are going to travel all that way and pay all that money for only 2hrs. Not me, I'm going to make the most of the trip and really make the experience last. In fact, after I finish in 7hrs or so, I might turn around and do it in reverse (reversing the course, not running backwards)
I still need to purchase my initial equipment (first pair of shoes, water bottle and belt...) but I'm going to wait until I go to the group run this Saturday. I want to see what the cool kids are wearing, so I can match them and hope to be cool as well. I think Z Cavaricci or IOU have some new shoes out. That's still popular....right?
I also got my Fundraising Kit this week, so I'm brainstorming fundraising ideas. People, give me some feedback and ideas. I'm thinking of a few of the O-so-popular Bar parties at maybe the Dark Horse and some other local bar. My other big idea is a poker tournament or two with half going to the pot and half going to kick AIDS in the in the nads. I'm hoping work will match all of my funds as well, but I haven't started researching that yet. Give me some ideas.
Oh, gotta go and try to put a quick 3 mile speed walk on the way to the weekly card game.
I did a make-up run, 3 miles, and then used the Aids Marathon special formula to figure out what my time should be in December. Well based on my inability to read the instructions, I have two potential completion times, either 6hours and 59 minutes or 6 hours and 6 minutes. The winner last year won in something like 2 hours and 17 min. What a sucker. I am going to get much more bang for my buck than they are. Those Kenyans are going to travel all that way and pay all that money for only 2hrs. Not me, I'm going to make the most of the trip and really make the experience last. In fact, after I finish in 7hrs or so, I might turn around and do it in reverse (reversing the course, not running backwards)
I still need to purchase my initial equipment (first pair of shoes, water bottle and belt...) but I'm going to wait until I go to the group run this Saturday. I want to see what the cool kids are wearing, so I can match them and hope to be cool as well. I think Z Cavaricci or IOU have some new shoes out. That's still popular....right?
I also got my Fundraising Kit this week, so I'm brainstorming fundraising ideas. People, give me some feedback and ideas. I'm thinking of a few of the O-so-popular Bar parties at maybe the Dark Horse and some other local bar. My other big idea is a poker tournament or two with half going to the pot and half going to kick AIDS in the in the nads. I'm hoping work will match all of my funds as well, but I haven't started researching that yet. Give me some ideas.
Oh, gotta go and try to put a quick 3 mile speed walk on the way to the weekly card game.
Monday, June 9, 2008
A New Hope
OK so here we have it, my first ever marathon and my first ever blog. Both will have some hiccups at first, so this should be fun.
So yeah, I'm running a marathon. While my body type is not exactly (or even close) to what you typically see on the cover of Runner's World, I think with 6 months of prep time I should be able to show this marathon who is boss. Maybe not a Kenyan type of finish (about 2hrs 15 min) but I think I should be able to finish in less than 24 hrs.
Why, you may ask, am I running a marathon. Good question, I have asked myself that question about 30-40 times since I signed up, and here are the answers I came up with so far:
-I need to work out, but I find that training for something is much more enjoyable than just going to the health club.
-I have always wanted to run a marathon.
-It's one last big selfish goal that I can cross off the list before I get married and my goals become more couple/family oriented.
-Stupid Augie stole my lungs about 8 years ago and it's about time for me to take them back.
-AIDS has been doing a pretty good job of being a horrible disease and I would like to do my part in stopping that.
-The Honolulu marathon called me a name and I need an excuse to go to Hawaii and kicks it's butt.
So my thought is I'll use this blog as a way to update people on my progress in training for this marathon as well as a reminder that I need to raise some cold hard cash as well.
http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=CH-4072&EventCode=HN08
That's my AIDS Marathon page where you can make donations and see a few other cool things (like a picture of Homer running a marathon).
There were a number of different foundations that had similar programs, I checked them all out, and after some thought decided that AIDS ticks me off more than any other disease and if I was going to dedicate half of a year, training for an event and raising money, I wanted to to go towards ruining the day of AIDS and helping people with AIDS to keep chugging until a cure is found.
Day 1...0 miles logged toward the marathon.
Week 1 weight...250 lbs (yup, 1/8th of a ton)
Dollars raised....0
So I'm off..... I'll have my first run today. Keep checking up on my progress and I'll do what I can to keep it entertaining.
So yeah, I'm running a marathon. While my body type is not exactly (or even close) to what you typically see on the cover of Runner's World, I think with 6 months of prep time I should be able to show this marathon who is boss. Maybe not a Kenyan type of finish (about 2hrs 15 min) but I think I should be able to finish in less than 24 hrs.
Why, you may ask, am I running a marathon. Good question, I have asked myself that question about 30-40 times since I signed up, and here are the answers I came up with so far:
-I need to work out, but I find that training for something is much more enjoyable than just going to the health club.
-I have always wanted to run a marathon.
-It's one last big selfish goal that I can cross off the list before I get married and my goals become more couple/family oriented.
-Stupid Augie stole my lungs about 8 years ago and it's about time for me to take them back.
-AIDS has been doing a pretty good job of being a horrible disease and I would like to do my part in stopping that.
-The Honolulu marathon called me a name and I need an excuse to go to Hawaii and kicks it's butt.
So my thought is I'll use this blog as a way to update people on my progress in training for this marathon as well as a reminder that I need to raise some cold hard cash as well.
http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=CH-4072&EventCode=HN08
That's my AIDS Marathon page where you can make donations and see a few other cool things (like a picture of Homer running a marathon).
There were a number of different foundations that had similar programs, I checked them all out, and after some thought decided that AIDS ticks me off more than any other disease and if I was going to dedicate half of a year, training for an event and raising money, I wanted to to go towards ruining the day of AIDS and helping people with AIDS to keep chugging until a cure is found.
Day 1...0 miles logged toward the marathon.
Week 1 weight...250 lbs (yup, 1/8th of a ton)
Dollars raised....0
So I'm off..... I'll have my first run today. Keep checking up on my progress and I'll do what I can to keep it entertaining.
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