The Count Goes On

Man, running lately has been awesome. I think the biggest difference between training this year and last year is that I'm not at all burned out on running. By the end of my training last summer, I had a couple of bad runs, and I was just done. I didn't care. My last run was just awful. I had these weird numb moments and I could not force myself to run the last mile or two.

Tomorrow I run 18, and then I am planning on two more hard weeks with 20+ miles and then that's it. I only have two tough weeks of training after this one and then I'm ready for Utah Valley.

What's been great too is that my pacing has been good. I feel stronger than I ever have. I have been doing strength training in conjunction with my running, working out my core, my back, my legs. I finish my long runs, my more up-tempo runs, and I'm never sore. I'm fatigued, sure, but I always finish strong.

Yesterday I ran 9 miles after having had Tucano's for a birthday lunch, and although I felt heavy and sluggish, I ran a good portion of it on an incline, and I still came out with an 8:03 a mile pace. It just feels awesome to be feeling so strong.

And I'm way slow to get on board with any of the new running technology, but I just recently got a new Ipod Nano for my birthday, and I was finally able to use the Nike+ accessory Amy won in her work raffle from Christmas. I just loved it. I listened to my podcasts, the electronic lady told me my mileage, my pacing so that I didn't even have to bother looking up that stuff myself. I just love it. It makes just going out and running even easier since I don't really have to pre-plan my route or calculate minutes per mile, etc. Awesome.

Running Season

Running season is upon me. Mileage is starting to get heavier. I ran 12 last week, and today was 14. I haven't decided if I'm going to go for three 20+ mile runs, or just two. They say that it's always better to under-train than over-train, but something about getting that third 20 miler makes me feel more comfortable with my training. Not sure yet. Although last time I did get three 20 milers and then I was still not ready for the race at all, and the race I felt the least prepared for, St. George, I had my best time. Who knows. I think I'm leaning less. It's just harder to get myself to do these long runs with a wifey.

I do still love running though. Much more once I finish the long run, and after I have talked myself into actually getting out there. But I just love how it feels to go that far, to look from my house over to the mouth of the Provo Canyon, which is where I always run to on these long ones, and think that I covered that entire distance on my own power in just a couple hours. I just like running that long and knowing that my heart and body must be at least pretty healthy to be able to sustain physical activity for that long. It makes me feel good.

I do think I like having my running calendar pushed up earlier in the year instead of doing my hardest training in the dog days of summer. If I think it's hard to get myself to do those long runs when it's 70 degrees out, it's a million times worse when I'm either having to get up at 6 or 7am to avoid the heat, or just taking it at 80-90 degrees. Those are really, really hard.

Anyway, that's what I have to look forward to for the next 10 weeks, and then it's Utah Valley on June 9th.

Here goes....

Running Season

For the last couple years my running season has started earlier and earlier. The first three marathons I ran were all at the beginning of Fall, meaning that I was doing the peak of my running in August and September. September is not a bad time to run in Utah, but August is kind of horrific, unless you can get out early, which I have always had a problem doing. Now that I'm running a marathon in June, however, my season starts this month and peaks in April-May.

Anyway, I really enjoy having a seasoned of heightened physical activity. Since about 2006 or so, I have actually been really good about exercising regularly. I was prompted by my fat period where I was about 20 lbs more than I am now, wondering how my diet of fast food and mainly soda were holding me down. Then I got a gym pass, lost more than 25 lbs in two months, and I've never really looked back.

I guess I don't ever really take a long break, but I definitely do ramp up my activity level, and this year I have added more lower body workouts to supplement my running. I had a nagging injury that I couldn't really pinpoint that started back in November and never really left. After talking to a few people about it, I started focusing more on strength exercises and weight training and it has made a world of difference.

In the last month I've run consistently 4 times a week, worked harder on my legs and maintained the other lifting that I do, and my 2 month long nagging injury is now only in the background and I hardly notice it now. Yesterday I did 60 lunges, hamstring curls, leg presses, calf raises, and then I ran 5 miles right after. The start of my run was tough, but by the end I was down to a 7 minute mile. I felt pretty awesome.

I even went out and bought a kettlebell that I'm looking to incorporate more into everything that I do. The standard kettlebell swing is great for the hamstrings and glutes, but there are a few more back exercises that I think will be really great.

So far I'm only signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon, but I will probably pick up at least one more half, a mud run (Tough Mudder anyone?), and maybe do my first tri this year.

It's just kind of exciting is all.

Barefoot Running

This is all for you, Laura. Before I forgot to say anything about it. Yes, I've read Born to Run, and read some other things about the barefoot running revolution. These are all just my person opinions. I'm not an expert, but I guess I have some idea about this stuff. Here's my take on it:

If it isn't broke, then don't fix it, right? If you're running and everything is feeling okay, meaning that when you are in decent shape, you can run 3-5 miles without any unusual kind of pain, then it seems that regular running shoes work well enough, right? I have run 4 marathons. I'm partial to the Brooks brand of shoes. I have a neutral gait, so everything works pretty well for me.

I think the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. One of the biggest reasons why people get injured is because they don't have the muscle composition to support the activity that they are doing. Being strong and having good muscle tone is the biggest factor in preventing injury. I think I've been able to run with so little injury concerns is that I've always done running activities my whole life, and before I even took up running, I was regularly working out 4-5 times a week. That, in addition to eating well, are the two biggest factors in allowing a person to exercise without injury concerns.

Anyway, the people who are the most fit are fit in every way. That's what's so good about people who do Cross Fit, because it's a whole body work-out regimen. That's why triathletes are so fit, because they are wholly fit. They can run, bike, and swim. The best runners are the ones who can do all of those things, and will do a variety of different kinds of runs - hill work, speed work, long runs, interval training, etc. Running only short runs, doesn't necessarily mean you are fit. It just means that you can do short runs. And runners should try and run on a variety of different surfaces: grass, sand, dirt, asphalt, etc.

I think the same applies to barefoot running. Although the type of stride is different when running barefoot as opposed to running in shoes, I think it gives you dimension in the way your body can bend, flex, react, and absorb different patterns of running.

I'm actually interested in trying it out at some point, just to see if it can help me add some depth to my running. The Vibram 5 fingers are popular. I think I'm most interested in some of the other minimalist running alternatives. The Nike Free shoes sound pretty cool, Nike Zooms, FeelMax, among others. I think all the major brands are coming out with their own variety.

Anyway, take it for what it's worth.

Deseret News Marathon

I had all kinds of hesitations about this race. I was worried about the race temperature because of a mid-summer race time; I was worried about how that temperature would affect my training; More recently I've been worried about how an achy back from sleeping on a bad mattress would affect my running. There were a number of things concerning me.

And all of that has contributed a lot lately to just not wanting to run much recently. I got through my 20+ long runs, but my most recent one was my worst ever. I couldn't run the whole time. I had weird chills going through my back and shoulders. I just really struggled with it. My previous one was fine, but it just really left me not feeling very confident at all about my training.

Flash forward to this morning. We got a nice hotel room at a nearby Marriott and Amy took me at 3:00 to catch the 3:15 AM shuttle up to the start of the race. The temperature was fine down in the valley, but we started from Big Mountain which is 7000 feet higher in elevation, so I was pretty cold up at the top. I had about an hour and a half to kill before the start time which would be at 5:30 AM.

One of my favorite things about running these races are the random little friends you make along the way. I happened to meet a guy named Carlos, about age 30, from Brazil, also running his fourth marathon, also in a Phd program. Turned out we had a lot of things in common and we talked for about 30 minutes, and then we ran about the first 5 miles together before he dropped off behind me.

I felt okay for the first half of the marathon. I did have to go to the bathroom once, which is not great, but once I did that I didn't have much problem with my digestive system afterwards. My first half was about 1:50 or so. Not great, but okay considering that I wasn't trying to set any PRs this marathon. And that's when the struggles began.

Around mile 17 we finally got out of the mountains, crossed up around, over, and passed Hogle Zoon, and I was just having the hardest time. I was not in the right kind of shape for this marathon. My calves were tightening and I had to stretch them out a couple of times. The quadriceps become your shock absorbers when you are going down an incline, and mine were just shot. I told Amy that the very fastest I would run would be 8 minute miles, but I was nowhere near that. I was between 9-10 minutes from 17-22, and then almost 10 through the end of the race.

The night before the race we had seen the mile marker for 21 which was right by our hotel, so I was pretty sure I would see my wife there. I thought really hard about just giving up when I saw her. I was worried about having her get back to work at a decent time, and I really was just dying. I knew that I could finish a marathon so that wasn't a motivating factor for me to get through the end. I knew that I wasn't going to break any records either. To tell you the truth, I'm really not sure what it was that kept me going through the end. I knew that I would have a horrible time, and it's actually kind of humbling for me to acknowledge finishing at such a slow pace for me, especially when I remember how old and slow the runners were who I ended up finishing with.

My first half put me on a 3:45 finish time, but my second half slowed down to a near crawl, closing up at 2:24, so a full half hour longer than my first half for a total time of 4:14. I walked a lot of the last few miles, but I did manage to run most of the last couple miles, albeit at a very slow pace.

I thought the course was really pretty. For a small marathon, I actually thought it was pretty good. So far the Long Beach marathon is my least favorite of them all. The weather was very, very accommodating today too. I think the race start temperature was in the low 70s, and was overcast at the end, maybe high 70s.

I finished it. This was by far my hardest marathon. This was about 100x harder than running the 3:28 in St. George was last October. I didn't have enough training for this one. The 7000 feet of descent just destroyed my legs to the point that I couldn't really run on them from mile 17-18 on. I was in so much pain, in fact, that I was just about in tears following the race. I didn't have much cramping afterwards because that actually came during the race. It was just really, really hard, but I did it. I finished it, even though I didn't have anything to really prove, other than the fact that I'm just kind of stubborn. This is going to sound dumb, but I think my two biggest motivators were that I knew Amy had to get back to work, and I wasn't going to see her anywhere else other than the finish line, and that I wanted the finisher's medal. I wanted to have this race under my belt and say that I had run it, even though it just about killed me to do it, and I'm not proud about my time or how poorly prepared I was for it.

I'm happy I did it. I didn't injure anything. No muscle pulls/strains, and my joints are all okay. Everything is pretty sore, and climbing down stairs is a huge chore, but that's always the case with marathons. Amy asked me immediately after I finished if I wanted to run another, or take a break for awhile. I just told her that I couldn't answer that question yet. It really is the furthest thing from my mind at that point. All I could think about was how much everything was hurting.

My sincerest thanks goes to my wife. I hope she already knows that. I think I thanked her at least several times on the way home. Thanks also to all of the wonderful, wonderful volunteers, especially the policemen directing all of the traffic for us slow runners even though we totally held people up. They never made me wait at an intersection, and they really were just so cool the whole time. I really do want to volunteer more for race support at these things. I can't even say how much I appreciate all of the people who help out through the whole thing. Thanks to the random girls at about mile 23 who were handing out Otter Pops. That really did save me at the time, even though it did make me walk.

And thanks, race people, for playing Milli Vanilli when I was running through the finish. Now this song will be associated with the Deseret News Marathon for me.

Adventure Running

This season of running has been interesting for me. For the first time ever, I decided to run with a carrying case for some Gatorade instead of stashing it somewhere along my route. I've been running with less planning, which has meant having to occasionally do some long laps (6 mile loops) or just running based on my time. A contributing factor has just been not knowing where good places to run 20 miles are by my houses so then I just kind of pick a far away point and try and run to it. And I have to admit, it's been really nice.

I've been stressing less over where and the length of distance that I'm running for, and that's resulted in just taking in scenery in and concentrate on making the distance on my long runs. If I'm feeling good, then I'll just go ahead and try and reach a farther point. It's been really nice. The results have been good, mostly in the fact that I haven't missed any of my long runs.

For previous marathons, there have been at least a couple weeks that I'll really scale back on and I'll cut out a few long runs. Although I have cut out some of my shorter ones, I haven't missed anything long, even if that has meant running on a weeknight or in middle of the day when it's been probably too warm to go out running for a couple of hours.

All of this means that I'm on pace for hitting all of my runs, even a little ahead of schedule, for the Deseret News next month. I shifted to a different training schedule which required jumping up in mileage for several consecutive weeks, but the payoff is that I've already got a 20-miler under my belt (last week), and I have seven weeks to get a few more in.

Elisha (Amy's sister-in-law, so I guess we're in-law-in-laws, or simply...family), a real runner, was asking me last night if I've trained at all for speed. No. Only in the most basic forms. Sometimes I'll push the pace on a short run or through in some more hills, but I don't do anything like track times or run real intervals.

I think for this marathon I'm just using it to get into shape and I'm halfway considering picking up another one sometime in September or October, and maybe seeing if I can pick up some more speed in one of those ones. I dunno.

The world is my oyster right now and I've been having more fun training for this marathon than I have for any of the others. I dare say, this is actually something that is getting pretty easy to do, and I might even make a real, whole-hearted attempt to improve my times. We'll see.

And that's what you get.

The Hardest Part

The key to getting ahead is getting started.

It wasn't really much of a fortune, but I think it was the wisest thing a cookie ever told me. It's always the thing that I have the hardest time doing. Once I'm in the activity/work-out/writing process/work/whatever, I never really seem to have much difficulty keeping it up, but it's always the getting started that's so hard for me.

Take yesterday, for example. I had 8 miles to run, but time was fast running out on the day, and I really just didn't feel like doing it. With much debate and prodding from my better half, I decide to get out the door and do 6 miles, but once I got started it was easy to just continue and get up to 7.5. That stuff really isn't hard for me once I'm out the door, but that's always the problem, getting there.

Anyway, I'm officially getting started on my marathon training because I finally registered for the Deseret News Marathon on July 25th. I'm excited about this one. I'll be done earlier in the season, and I'm actually looking forward to moving onto some other kind of work-outs later in the summer, especially since we will probably be gone for 4 weekends between August and September and long runs just won't be very realistic.

One thing that I think I'd like to try out is Crossfit. If you have any friends involved with Crossfit and you are FB friends with them, then you also realize that it's almost a cult. I have two friends who do it and I'm pretty sure it's the only thing they do. They post Crossfit pics of themselves as their profile pics, and post their times/lifts whatever, and all they do is work-out. They have affiliates all over the place, but I was looking at their website today and it's pretty cool because they have scaled down versions of the work-outs that you can do on your own, and it actually looks kind of enjoyable. What's really appealing about it also is that they emphasize overall fitness so that you're not limited to one specific kind of strength, if that makes sense. Check it out here.

You know what else? I think I might volunteer to help with the Utah Valley Marathon.

That's all I've got.

Thanksgiving Point Half

You can find Amy's post on this here.

This is the second half marathon that I have run. It's kind of funny that I jumped straight from casually running straight to the full marathon. The first half that I ran was Provo City April of 2009. From that year on, they started scheduling it in May so that they would have better weather because it ended up snowing that Saturday that we ran...

Flashforward to two nights ago and it happened to snow that night as well. The night before I would run my second half. Lame.

This one was kind of funny because I haven't been on too consistent of a running schedule lately. I was really good just before the wedding, and then I took three weeks off, and then I came back on for a few weeks, did a 10 mile run about two weeks ago, but then only ran twice two weeks ago, and then twice this past week. But having run the 10 made me feel fine about running this one, and plus I knew that this would kind of jump-start my marathon training for this summer.

Thursday I went for a nice 5-mile run at about 10pm. It was just a little windy, but the temperatures were nice. Felt great. Not even two days later the temperature had dropped 30 degrees and when I woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the race there was a 2-3" snow covering on the ground. Awesome.
I was pretty whiny about everything up until about 15 minutes or so before the race. Kira ran this one too, so it was fun to see her there. Her dad also happens to work at Thanksgiving Point so it was fun to see him in various places during the morning.

I had on my running tights, shorts on top, long sleeve shirt, t-shirt on top, and then a jacket that I sometimes run in on top. I also had gloves and a headband. Gear-wise, I'm doing pretty well these days. I have just about everything I'll ever need to run in any kind of weather (although I'm kind of starting to think that I'd like some trail running shoes, but that's for another day).

The cold was pretty miserable in the beginning. It just felt like it seeped right through my clothing. They had no heaters. Just cold that morning. But I knew that once I got going temperature wouldn't be a big deal.

The race started, and sure enough, by about 1.5 miles in, I had already taken off my jacket. Lucky for me, my sweet little wifey had already gotten to another part of the route and I was able to strip it off and leave it with her. Eventually I took off my headband, stuffed that into my pocket, and then took off my gloves and held those the whole time too.

The race was fine. It was well-organized, had plenty of aid stations with the right stuff, and good post-race treats. I just didn't like that it was so early, and that it doubled back over so many parts of the race. I really just hate seeing other runners that are ahead of me doubling back over parts that I know that I'm going to be running in just a little bit.
I ended up doing well enough, finishing in about 1:48. Kira raced well too, considering that she's PREGNANT! Crazy, right? But that's Kira. She's tough as nails.

Anyway, although I was a big baby before the race started, whining so much about the cold, I was glad that I participated once it was over. And even more, I'm just so glad that I married a girl who loves me enough to get up with me at 5:30am on a Saturday in 30 degree weather just to come and cheer me on and take some pictures.

Getting the Itch

I took another few weeks off of running over Christmas and the holidays. It was actually a welcome break. My left arch had been getting sore. I had gotten a little sick, so I'm not sure if running would have just prolonged that cold anyway. It made sense.

But I've been running again the last few days and I can't believe the difference. I sleep better. I have more energy. I'm happier. And the second I even run a few miles after a break like that, I'm automatically several pounds lighter. It's amazing the difference. The best part, though, is that I just love it. It gives me time to think. I can let my legs work and my mind wander.

So it's probably little wonder why I'm looking forward to training for another marathon this summer. I'm thinking the Deseret News one in Salt Lake on Saturday, July 23rd. It starts crazy early to beat the heat - 5:30am. Training for that would start right after the wedding. And if our open house in California doesn't conflict, I'd like to run the Thanksgiving Point half marathon at the end of April. One more? The Dirty Dash is returning to Utah, this time just a 5k on June 4th. Registration for that one right now is $35 until 2/20.

Who is with me?

I Always Seem to Forget

When I get back into marathon training, there are always a few things that I forget:

• I like getting the calcium fortified orange juice to drink before my long runs. Calcium is a key electrolyte, and I'd rather do without having my digestive system try and process milk before and during my run (although the digestive system does shut down during vigorous exercise).
• It takes me a few hours after a run of 12+ miles to feel like I can function again.
  
• Running on shoes that are on their last legs is not a good idea on long runs. My feet start to get increasingly sensitive the longer the runs, and the effects of the pounding increases disproportionately in a negative way.
• It's always, always, always better to run in the mornings than any other time of day, for me at least. I'd rather run in the morning and little sleep or with a poor night's rest instead of with plenty of rest in the middle or at the end of the day. Unless it's really late at night. I don't mind that at all, but it keeps my wired for a few hours if I do that. Running in heat is equivalent to running at higher elevation and can slow you by as much as 10-20%. Beat the heat by avoiding it altogether.
  
• I love the feeling of accomplishment following a long run, and I guess that's enough to offset how much I hate doing them in the first place.
• I sleepy terribly the night before a long run. Always.
• And the biggest part is probably just all of the preparation that goes into doing my long runs. It starts the night before with what things I'm eating, and what time I try to get to bed even though it never really matters because it's either going to take me a long time to get to sleep anyway, or I'm just not going to sleep well as it is. I set my running clothes aside before going to bed. I map out my long run on Walk Jog Run. I wake up and fight all of my thoughts about how much I don't want to run, or I think maybe I can shorten it and make it up another day, until I get out running and go ahead and go through with it. I drink a glass of OJ, take some vitamins, and eat a banana, while I go and plant my Gatorades along my route. I come back and rub out my legs and stretch, and then I'm off. It's very involved, but I think my whole routine gets me into the frame of mind to go ahead and get on with it.
  

So what is it that I never forget about marathon training?

...that I hate marathon training.

The nice part about this time around is that today I ran 13 and felt fine. I am about 4 weeks ahead of my schedule from last year, and this year the race is only one week earlier so I hope the payoff is that I'll have more time to devote to building endurance over the last 4-5 miles of the race. I did some hill repeats this past week and me being the nerd that I am, wrote down all my times and made a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress. I hope that I can be a weekly thing. Doing those made me much more sore than anything else I've done up until this point. We'll see, I guess.

Here's an ad campaign from New Balance that captures well the running dynamic.

Here I Come, St. George

So this week kicks off the official start of my 18-week training program leading up to St. George. You know what? I was feeling nervous about all of it until last week. I had been kind of battling a cold for the previous week or so, and I hadn't run much at all. I finally started to get over it last weekend, so I decided that last week I would get a full week in of good running. I ran 5, 5, 6, and then 8 miles Saturday which I hoped would clue me in as to whether I'd be ready for the 10-miler I have this upcoming Saturday. I wasn't sure that my previous base fitness level would carry me through all of that running, but it totally did. The 8-mile run I did went from my place up and around the temple. It was pretty killer, but I had no problems during the entire run and I managed to run it in decent time to boot.

That's the thing about anything. The mountain is always its tallest when you're standing at the foot of it and you haven't started climbing it yet, but once you start making your way up there, it turns out that the apprehension you used to have about scaling it starts to vanish. Running is that way too. You can get so caught up in the miles, and the time and all the preparation for it that it seems almost impossible to ever do, but if you can just convince yourself to get out the door and put one foot in front of the other enough times, pretty soon you'll realize that you'll be ready for, and able to finish the full 26.2.

The program I'll be using can be found by clicking here. It's just straight running, no interval training or anything crazy like that. But it does bump up the runs from the 4-day weeks that I had used previously, to 5-days a week, and it covers 625 miles of running before the marathon, which is about 200 more than I have done previously. Those things give me pause, just a little bit, but you know what? I realized also while running on Saturday that it's good to push myself, and not cut corners, it is also okay to take days off and maybe run a little bit less depending on how my body is feeling. Sometimes I forget that these training regimens are not set in stone. I can adjust them according to what fits my needs. I'm also hoping to start swimming. It won't be more than once a week, but I need to get some use out of my 24 Hour gym pass (which only costs me $49 a year, woo!), and swimming is the best cross training that you can do.

I kind of forgot until last Saturday how much I love running. I love how all the aches and pains go away after the first 20-30 minutes and then I finally settle into my groove. I love all the self-talk that I have to go through while I'm working up the stones to finish the full run, take on every hill, and make sure that I'm giving myself every opportunity to maximize on my fitness. I love the weight loss and transformation that my body goes through as I get into marathon shape. In the last couple of weeks I have dropped several pounds, and I am already getting leaner after my 25 miles from last week. I love the post-run high.

You know what's crazy about St. George? You get in based on a lottery system, but I know four separate people who registered independently and they are all running it too. The lottery is supposed to make it limiting, but everyone I know that tried registering have all gotten in. I'm really excited for this one. It'll be nice to do a well-run (pun intended) marathon that's dedicated only to the marathon, with a good amount of participation from other runners, as well as the community at large.

Anyway, so like last year, but not the year before, I'll probably have some running posts now and then, but not on a weekly basis. It's funny how much that time to myself spurs my thinking. I'm excited for round of marathon training. Up until last week happened, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but now I am. So here I come, St. George.

This song has no relevance to the post. I heard it yesterday for the first time in awhile and remembered that my old roommate used to listen to this song every night when he came home from work. I miss that guy.

I Won The Lottery!

I found out this morning via text from my friend, then through the website, then through an email, that I won the lottery!

...and got my entry into the St. George marathon, which will be October 2nd. I'm actually really excited that I have a tangible goal in mind now when it comes to my running. I had been planning on running San Francisco in July, but the timing is just too close, so I was starting to look for other marathons because I wasn't sure that St. George would work out. Now that it will, I'm content to resign myself to running only that one this year, maybe run a half in July sometime, and then maybe run the Arizona Rock & Roll marathon in January (although I have no idea what I'll do for the long training runs that will come in some really cold weather here, we'll see).

I was a lot more excited than I thought I would be. I registered with a team of other runners, and then two other friends registered independently and all of them got in. There were 11,000 applicants, and they gave out 7,200 entries, meaning that there was a 67% chance of getting in, which also means that there was only a 30% chance that all my friends would get in also. Pretty crazy, huh?

Anyway, I'm excited. You know what else is nice? Not really having anything to do this weekend. I'm going with some friends to see Iron Man 2 tonight, which I think will be really fun, and then who knows what else...maybe a long run tomorrow. Or long boarding in the canyon. Or golfing. Or napping. Or writing a play. The possibilities are endless.

Well, I hope you have a great weekend, dear ones.

Post-Race: Long Beach Marathon

Because I know all of you have been checking daily to see if I have put up my race report, I figured it had to be the first post back from my weekend at home. Let me just start with the good stuff first so that you don't feel like you have to read through this whole thing to figure out how I did:

• Final time: 3:37:12 (6 minutes faster than Chicago)
  
• Pace: 8:18 minutes per mile
• Placed 351 out of 3348 runners
• Placed 291 out of 2053 among males
• Placed 39 out of 245 in my division
• In my last 8.2 miles, I was passed by 27 people but passed 70
  

What's pretty crazy is that my first 10k split was 49:47 for an 8:01 pace, but my 12.9 split was 1:40:52, lowering my total pace up to that point down to 7:50. So that stretch from 6.2 to 12.9 was actually run at a 7:37 pace. I ran the first 18 miles in 2:24:59, for an 8:02 pace, meaning that my last 8.2 miles were run at 8:48 per mile.

When I first saw that I had done that, I was a little annoyed with myself that my time had dropped so much. But now, I'm actually kind of impressed that I managed to keep up that pace for what is by far and away the hardest part of the marathon. I managed to not hurt myself at all. I have no real joint soreness. I had some knee pain during the race, but I think that is something that will go away if given some time to heal. My ankles are fine. It's really weird to me that all the pain that I had been feeling in my ankles over the summer just magically went away in the last several weeks.

So in the end, I improved on my first marathon time by 6 minutes while weighing a few pounds more and running less. Figure that one out.

Here is where you can stop if you're not interested in all of the marathon details, but read on if you want to hear my take on the Long Beach Marathon experience, and the thoughts that I have throughout the marathon and what the experience is like.

My first mistake was picking a world-renowned marathon like Chicago as my first marathon. If I had been planning on only running one marathon in my lifetime, then it's the right thing to do. But now that I'm officially a marathon runner (now that I have two under my belt), just about anything else that isn't on the same large-scale that Chicago is will always pale in comparison.

The race organizers boasted more than 20,000 participants, which is true, but only because they actually have a concurrent half-marathon and 5k going on as well. As you may have noticed, there were only a little over 3,000 marathoners out there.

The best part about Chicago was probably the worst part about Long Beach - local race support. Chicago has almost 2 million people line the streets in support of all the runners, and you definitely feel it too. I'd say at least 20 miles of the 26.2 are lined with people on both sides of the street cheering on not just the people they came to support, but anyone else who they happened to notice. Dave made the comment to Mike that it didn't feel the same way with Long Beach, and he was definitely right. With only a few exceptions, unless the person standing to the side actually knew you, they were quiet. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that no matter what, when you see both thousands and thousands of runners and supporters, it's impossible to not capture the excitement. For future reference, if you ever do decide to run a marathon, make sure to take time to see if the marathon you choose does have good crowd support. I've heard of a few that aren't the major ones that actually are known specifically for having such good community participation. When you're running for that long, you'll grab onto ANYTHING as motivation to keep on moving.

This also happened to make the few supporters I did have all the more valuable because of how little cheering there was otherwise. A friend of mine from home ran the marathon with me, and his dad drove us down at 5 AM to Long Beach, which was so unbelievably nice, but he also stayed the entire time too. When I rounded a corner at 7 miles, I heard him call my name and I turned my head, and really did feel a surge of energy. When I approached the finish line and saw my two gay friends, Dave rocking Mason in the baby bjorn and Mike, it meant the world to me that they bothered to come on out. As usual, I had the most incredibly painful burning sensation in my calves following the race, and I was so lucky to have Mike stretch me out. When I forgot the bag that I checked in before the race when we were already halfway to the car, Mike graciously picked it up for me. There was nothing better than seeing Mase chew on the bjorn while Dave took pictures of everything. They seem like little things, but they become so magnified when you're just so exhausted.

The first 10-12 miles of the course are beautiful - running right in front of the bow of the Queen Mary, on the boardwalk along the beach, right along the port of Long Beach, but miles 12-17 blew. They were in normal neighborhoods and very few people were out to support. You wouldn't think it'd be such a big deal, but I guess having the experience I had last year compared to this one yesterday makes me realize just how important a component that is to running the marathon. Whether the person knows you or not, it's like each shout, however ambiguous it is in referring to you, somehow charges your batteries just enough to make it another 100 feet, and while you're running on fumes the last few miles, you're making it on sheer willpower and good vibes from the race supporters. This is what made running through the campus at Cal State Long Beach so important - lots of different frats and sororities came out in support, including the cheer and flag squads, and they came out during some really tough parts of the run. Although I will say I didn't like that a good portion of the course had you backtracking on the opposite side of the street that you had been on just an hour before.

It made a world of difference for me to have the experience of last year in my back pocket for running this year's race. I was much better at listening to my body and pulled over to stretch and rest for a second when I did feel the pulling/straining sensations in my calves or quads. I think I fueled really well given that I never felt too thirsty or too heavy from fluids. The one problem I did have was that I would have killed for some bathroom relief from mile 15 or so and on. I should have been on a more regular eating/exercising schedule in the weeks leading up to the race, but I think a lot of it can be blamed on the drive from Utah to California. I ended up using the bathroom at different times than I normally would because of that. That wasn't very much fun to run with that feeling...

Anyway, like I was saying, knowing I had done this before made a world of difference. Although I had run a couple of 22 mile runs in training, there is just nothing that feels like those last 4-5 miles in the marathon, unless covering the full marathon distance is in your training regimen. I could finish a 22 mile run and not even be sore the next day, and be back to running within two days. Miles 21-25 are so incredibly lonely and hard, but I was well aware of that coming into this race. I knew that I would be stopping somewhat frequently to stretch out and would ease myself into faster and slower paces. And you can't credit enough just how much having the confidence of having experienced this before gives to you when you're trying to do it again. I was really amazed at how much I was able to straighten up and leg out the last 1.2 miles of the race.

I've been reading this book lately, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and it's the memoirs of this Japanese author talking about his running experience. There is one part that I really love:

One runner told of a mantra his older brother, also a runner, had taught him which he's pondered ever since he began running. Here it is: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you're running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can't take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running.

It seriously does. For the first 16 or so miles, I really felt fine, but then I started to reach a point where I'm seeing signs for the 21, 22, and 23 mile markers, areas that I know I won't traverse for another hour or so, and then I start to feel a little discouraged thinking about how achey my body is starting to feel. For the last 1/3 of the marathon all I'm doing the entire time is talking myself into finishing the race - I can run at least to the streetlight; I can run for another mile; I can't let this person beat me; I've done this before, I know I can do it. For the last 3 or 4 miles, I said some of my most fervent prayers that I've said in weeks: Please strengthen my calves so that I can finish this race; Please bless my right achilles that it won't tear until I cross the finish line; Please let this Powerade give me enough electrolytes to keep my legs moving for another ten minutes. I can't quite remember what went through my head last year. I think I was mostly just concentrated on finishing it, but I was surprised at how much self-talk and prayer there was in the last 45 minutes of running. It's funny what things will come out when you're feeling so desperate.

This is the last thing I'll say about marathon running. I ran 22 miles twice in my training, and was for the most part pretty consistent, but there is something about the last several miles that really takes it out of you. When I would finish the 22 mile runs, I would be tired, but I would recover enough that within a day or two I could go back to running. I'm finding that with the full marathon, I have aches and pains in places that I didn't know could hurt so much from running. Biceps? Between my shoulders? Really? What that author wrote is so true - the amount of pain you can tolerate really is up to you. Hurt is going to happen no matter what, but not running a marathon or not finishing one is only because you've told yourself that you can't do it. I feel like that's a metaphor for life.

Another thing, I'm amazed at how finishing the marathon frees up new energy to get on top of other areas of my life. Sometimes I feel like I have a finite amount of energy/attention to devote to certain things, and training just takes up so much of that, but I feel refreshed now to resume those other things. Refreshed mentally. My body still kinda hurts like hell. But at least I'm getting a massage tomorrow.

Thanks for coming this far. I'm thinking that my next marathon might be New York, and I might try and do it for charity. I think it's time for me to run that kind of race. But since that's a year away, it's about time I tried out some other athletic endeavors for a bit.

I'll post pics as soon as I get them.

Just One More Post About Running

I'm not sure exactly why, but I have to tell you about how excruciating it is sometimes to train for a marathon. I know I promised I wouldn't, but I must.

I ran 19 miles this past Saturday, and let me tell you it just about killed me. What made it especially difficult was the gross amount of humidity that we experienced that day, and in particular, that morning.

The reason why the long runs are important in marathon training is to get your body acclimated to the conditions of running for hours on end. It's been interesting to me to see how my aches, pains, and challenges have been different this time around as opposed to the first time I did this. I don't have the same knee pain from sheer impact that I had last time. My food diet is better. Since coming out to California I have managed to cut off about 8-9 lbs. It was mostly water weight, but after my run Saturday I actually came in at under 170 lbs for the first time since I was like 16 years old. So instead of the knee pain that I would feel after these long runs I'm feeling pain in my right ankle. I haven't been taking any pain relievers yet because I don't want to train for a marathon if I'm having to rely upon medication to get me through it. I'll do it for the recovery from the actual marathon, but I want to make sure that I'm feeling well enough during the training to make it through without popping 800 mg of ibuprofen. Maybe that's dumb, but I just want to make sure that everything is working naturally.

One of the main reasons for doing the long runs is to expand your body's limits in fighting off the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. You know how when you decide to carry 20 bags of groceries from your car into your house in one trip, that that is somehow better than making multiple trips, but because of that your hands and arms start to burn intensely? Well that's what it's like when you run for a few hours. I ran for 2 hours and 45 minutes on Saturday, and although I'm alternating from one leg to the other so one is not flexed the entire time, each of them is flexed for about half of it, so imagine holding those groceries in your arms for about 80 minutes in a flexed position, and the kind of burn that would leave you. That's what it feels like when I finish the runs.

For about the first 12-14 miles I'm actually feeling fine. It's not really a problem for me to run those distances without any real difficulty, but once I get upwards of 15+ miles, that's when it gets really hard. Legs become fatigued, and one place that I really feel it is in the lowest part of my abdomen, right above the crotch but below the belly button. That's not an area that gets much direct workout, at least not with what I do, so those muscles get really fatigued for me. Anything over 17 miles is done just be sheer will power, but until I'm actually done nothing really hurts too badly.

And it's once I'm stopped when the lactic acid begins to settle in. What's funny about it is that my memory becomes so short-term anytime I finish these especially long runs. The burning becomes excruciating, I can't stand anymore, and I always think to myself, "this is the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life." It's like, up until that point in my life, I've never felt pain before, but at that moment I'm introduced to it and in heaping doses.

I always try and walk around for at least 10 minutes post-run to warm down, get some calories and electrolytes back in me, and then I finally lay down and put my legs up for the next 20 or so minutes.

Greg was talking to me the other day about a point that Stephen Covey makes in one of his books, that some spiritual lessons can only come when we experience them first physically. This is why I want my kids to play sports on a competitive level when I become a parent, but I think this is a point that people who don't play sports or do any kind of intense physical exercise never fully appreciate.

Everything that we do physically has more to do with the mental aspect than anything else. It does take a certain amount of physical gifts to do athletics, but in the end people succeed because they overcome the mental barriers before the physical ones. The reason why I can run a marathon is not because I'm just really physically blessed. It's taken several years for me to learn how to manage my diet and weight, which is a big part of being in a state where I can even consider doing one. I can run a marathon because I've set my mind to doing the training for it. I've committed myself to running 4-5 times a week, up to 40-45 miles a week, for upwards of 14-18 weeks.

And I don't say this to boast of myself, because heavens knows how deficient I am in so many other areas. I say this to make the point that the accomplishments we're able to attain are won through the day to day personal battles that we have in our heads. Don't think for one second that I go to bed Friday nights not dreading the next morning when I have to get up early knowing the pounding that my body is going to take. I'm well aware of the incredible burning sensation in my legs that follows for about 30 minutes after every one of my long runs, the kind of pain that makes me forget all of the other pain that I've ever felt during my life. I have two more 20+ mile runs, and I guarantee you that I will wake up every couple of hours throughout the night prior because of the dread that I will be feeling.

The great things we do in our lives are preceeded by the small and simple things that help us arrive to that point. If we do enough of them for a sufficient amount of time, eventually we'll get to the point of achievement without even realizing that we had even run the marathon in the first place.

Now if I could just apply this to finishing my thesis, I think I will become unstoppable.

If only.

Running Away

Remember last year when I wrote every week about my marathon training? Being that it's not as novel this year, I'm sparing you all of the wonderful details, but I did feel like talking about it at least a little bit.

This time around is kind of nice. I had been considering which marathon to train for when a couple months ago I had a friend mention that he was interested in running a marathon. Of course, this got me super excited and I told him that if he was really serious that I would train for and run whatever marathon he happened to choose. He ended up choosing Long Beach on October 11th, which I think is awesome. October is a great season to run in, and Long Beach will surely be pleasant and plenty flat. All good things.

I hadn't spoken with him for a few weeks, but I've gotten a few updates from him the last couple of weeks and sure enough, he's right on track. He even went so far as to purchase a GPS/heart-rate monitor. I kind of love this guy.

My own training started off later and more slowly than I would have liked. I had a hamstring problem before coming out to California. Resting it for a couple weeks turned out to be enough, but I was several weeks behind the 18-week schedule I used last year to train for Chicago. I was thinking that I would have liked to have gotten three 20+ mile runs, but I would have had to ramp up the mileage much more quickly than I would have been ready for.

Anyway, things have gone really well. I've been in official training mode for the past four weeks. I reached a high of 15 miles last Saturday, and it took me just over two hours to do it. I felt pretty strong throughout. Getting up at 6am to get ready to run at 7am made a huge difference in beating the heat, which I've been so lazy with doing lately.

The best part about this second go-around with the marathon training is that there are no mental barriers that I have to break down as far as being able to cover the months of running, and the lengthening of distances. Last year, I had all sorts of problems with severe cramping in my calves immediately following any long runs of 15 miles or more, but that has not been the case this time around. I would also normally get soreness on the outside of my knees, but I've varied my running surfaces more and I think that's helped soften the impact of each step.

The worst part about marathon training is that a lot of my runs feel like chores rather than something that I look forward to. Although there are a lot of days when I'm not in training mode when the runs aren't as easy as other days, with marathon training I feel burdened by making sure I'm eating healthy, getting plenty of protein, giving myself adequate time to digest food, and make sure that I'm getting rest. The rest part actually has been super easy given my unstructured lifestyle. But most days I kind of dread knowing I have to get out and hit the pavement.

Last week I also decided that I wanted to run at 165-170 lbs. I don't think I have been that light since I was 15 or 16. The nice thing about weight loss during marathon training is that all it really takes is cutting out a few things a few extra times during the week. You'd be surprised how many calories you burn running 30 miles a week, playing soccer once a week, and doing some weight-lifting in between. I was at about 179 lbs last Sunday, and now I'm at about 174 lbs fully clothed on a full stomach at the end of the day. Consequently, all my shorts and jeans can slip right off my bum if I'm not careful.

I only have four more long-long runs of 17,18, 20, and 23. The drop back weeks will be cake.

Anyway, unless I have more interesting stories to tell you, this will be the last you hear about it on here until I actually run it. So there ya go.

Be blessed y'all.

OC Mud Ran

Remember months ago when I mentioned wanting to run the OC Mud Run on Saturday July 18th? Thanks, jerks, for letting me sign up by myself. I actually knew several other people who either ran or signed up for it. Unfortunately, the only other person who signed up for the same 10k race I was doing (there were three races that day, two 5ks and a 10k) decided to get sick the day of and not go. No matter...I went and did it by myself. I'd say that I'm the king of doing stuff by myself, but I don't think I can claim that title until I've traveled by myself. I have no problems eating alone, going to movies alone, and I've even been to a concert by myself, so I've got some street cred when it comes to that. I almost went to a concert last night by myself, but I got too tired to make the drive. Seeing as how I'm a loser and went alone, I don't have any pictures of myself, but I'll include some ones I found through the event website. Anyway...

The run was right next to Wild Rivers, with much of the course actually going through Camp Frasier, or whatever it's called now. Years ago I actually went to that camp for a couple summers. It was pretty much my favorite, but I hadn't walked around the grounds since I was like 12, so it was fun seeing everything again.

I have never had a chance to participate in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run so I had nothing to compare it against, but I really enjoyed it in spite of some of the obvious drawbacks - the course was obviously worn out by the time we ran the race, we had to circle for three laps, some of the obstacles were almost non-existent by the last go around, and it even started a half hour late. Now that I'm becoming a veteran of running these races, I've figured out that my pace is in at least the upper half of the runners present, and as a result it's worth it to me to get into the front or a pretty quick pacing group, and to start out quickly so that I don't get stuck behind other slower runners. While walking passed the 5k runners, I noticed a couple of bottlenecks at some barriers that the runners had to climb over so I made sure to just get out the gate as quickly as I could so that I could settle into my own pace.

As a runner, I have pretty good speed and pretty good endurance, but running this race reminded me that I actually have great agility as I flew over walls, through mud pits, and high-stepped through all the tire sections. In soccer, whenever we'd do the unconventional running drills, I always excelled in those. I may not be able to run the fastest or farthest, but I can scamper, crawl, get up and down, and twist and turn with the best of them. I finished the 10k within 48 minutes, which I felt pretty good about considering all the water and mud that weighed me down. I finished in the top 50 of the timed runners. That's my best finish considering that there were 4,000 runners on the day, although I'm not sure how many of those were in the 10k race. What's funny to me is that in the past year, basically since the marathon, I've become more and more competitive in these races. In every one of them I'll start off telling myself to just take it easy, but once I get going I can't stop myself from trying to catch runners in front of me or stay ahead of people that I've picked out in the beginning. It's dumb because I don't train for speed and I'm not naturally fast, but that doesn't stop me from trying to pretend that I am. I thought it was so weird that so many people were running around barriers or avoiding mud pits as they ran. Isn't that the point of doing a mud run in the first place? to just get down and dirty? I ended up just throwing away my shirt and socks, and I almost threw away my shoes too.

The race was fun, but it really just motivates me to get signed up in time for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. Everyone at the race couldn't stop talking about how great that one is, especially compared to this one. That one doesn't feature plastic tape that you can run through and push out of your way. It has taut ropes instead. It has a fire hose at one point and everyone has to brave it while descending a mud hill. It just sounds so legit.

This race was a fun one. I'm all for these adventure type races. And next year I'm doing that Pendleton run, whether you losers are in or out.

Country Roads - Provo City Half Marathon

About a month ago I signed up for the Provo City Half Marathon because I figured I needed something that would get me doing the long runs again, and then I could commit myself to a marathon soon thereafter. A month ago the weather was great; it was getting warmer, feeling like spring, and officially became spring just a few weeks ago. So you can imagine my chagrin when two weeks ago it started getting cold again. However, last Saturday turned out really nice so I was optimistic that the temperatures would be better. I got in an 8-mile run last week, and felt good heading into the race.

It was a terrible day for a race. Not only was it overcast outside, but there was a light snowfall as well. A friend of mine also signed up for the race, and I ran into him outside the clubhouse a couple days ago. If I hadn't asked if he wanted to head down to the race with me, I'm sure that I wouldn't have been able to get myself out the door this morning. I was just feeling so miserable. The ambient temperature reading in the car showed 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, not Celsius. Oi. I was not happy at all.

We arrived as late as possible. They said the race was capped at 1,500 runners, but I'm guessing only half that actually showed up. I couldn't have been less motivated to run this morning under any other conditions. And then a funny thing happened - I started running and got warmed up.

I ran with my friend for the first couple of miles, but I eventually broke away. I think I prefer running alone because no matter what, you're always feeling some kind of pull. Either you're feeling pulled to a pace that you're not comfortable at, or you're worried about the other person being pulled too fast. At least I'm always thinking about that. Running alone is so great because I can push it when I'm feeling the kick come, and I can think about whatever I want and not worry about conversation. I love that alone time. Me time.

Anyway...I was surprised how good I felt throughout the race, so much so, that I'm sure that my last 5k time was much faster than the rest of them. I love being able to think to myself at mile 10 that I'm feeling good enough to run another seven or eight miles. I love that after more than an hour of running, I don't even strain to breathe. I love feeling like my heart is the strongest muscle in my body.

The hardest part about these races, regardless of the distance, is the time you have to wait until it actually starts, and up to the halfway point. Once I cross that threshold no matter the elevation, I always feel like I'm running downhill. I hit mile 10 at about 1:19. Once I hit mile 12, I felt like I had enough left in the tank to really push that last chunk of distance. Over the last quarter mile, I caught up to and passed this one runner with a long, lean physique. For both of us a competitive instinct took over as we both sprinted to the end not letting the other person get ahead.

This was my first race since running the Dana Point Turkey Trot back in November. When I ran that race, I finished really strong also, but I never thought I'd be able to complete a race of that much distance and feel fit enough that by the end I could sprint out the last stretch. So help me, I hate running as much as anyone does before I actually get out and do it. I hate that no matter how in shape I'm feeling, I still feel creaky when I'm warming up. And some days are just hard, no matter how much rest you've gotten, how well you're eating, or how consistent you've been with your training. (Karen...I almost put in a "you're" right there, but you teasing me about it made me catch it. Thanks :). But it really is such an amazing feeling to know that you can make yourself get out there and do it, that you can make yourself push through whatever obstacles stand in your way. And then when you're actually in shape, it's a whole 'nother level of feeling of accomplishment when you realize that you can run two, three, or four hours without killing yourself.

One of the best parts about this last race might be waking up today and not feeling any kind of soreness whatsoever. I feel so good, in fact, that I think I'm ready to commit to run a marathon in the next couple of months. I'm not quite there yet with fitness, but I don't think I'm that far off. LA on Memorial Day? Or Utah Valley on June 13th? I'm about ready to dive head-long into this mother one more time. Yahoo!

OC Mud Run

So last time I was home I happened across an ad promoting the OC Mud Run on Saturday, July 18th. Up until next week it is $30 for the 5k, and $35 for the 10k. Who's with me? I'm not entirely sure what my plans will be for the summer because I could end up teaching a class in the summer term, but I'm definitely planning on coming down that weekend for this one. It's right over by Wild Rivers in Hidden Valley Park. Kinda weird, but the first part of the course is run around the perimeter of the parking lot over by Wild Rivers/Verizon Amphitheater. In any case they are still advertising mud pits, climbing walls, tunnel crawls, and cargo net crawls. Sounds super awesome...who's with me?

On a Chris note, I'm running in the Provo City Half Marathon in two weeks. I ran more than 10 miles for the first time since the Chicago marathon and I was surprised at how little residual effects there have been. I don't have any muscle or joint soreness. It seems that I got the right amount of carbs, protein, and electrolytes pre- and post-run. I think for me 15 miles is the magical number where the joint pain really starts to settle in. Anything under that I'm good to go.

I can't believe how warped my sense of running has become since running the marathon. I never run less than 5 miles, never fewer than 3 times a week. And before last week, I felt like I had been shorting myself because I hadn't cleared 20 miles in a couple weeks. They say you shouldn't increase mileage more than 10% from one week to the next, but I had to make sure last week that I got a good solid stretch of running before having to run the half in two weekends, so I jumped up from 19 the week before to 27 last week. I've had a lingering calf problem, but somehow running more last week has made that pain subside. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that increasing my mileage made me much more aware of making sure that I was properly fueled. I don't know why it still surprises me how much just eating right makes my body work better.

I need to pick out a marathon to run. The ET Highway Marathon still sounds fun, but I don't think I like the timing of it. I'm thinking something maybe in September. Not sure. If any of the five of you out there are seriously going to commit to one, then I will almost definitely join you...

The last couple of weeks I've started subscribing to podcasts for This American Life and Stuff You Should Know. Love the former, not entirely impressed with the latter. It kind of makes me want to start coming up with my own stuff to podcast. My friends are creative and funny enough that I think we could put together an entertaining one. This, of course, is inspired by Kent who mentioned having done a few with his friend Dave.

Anyway, if you haven't ever listened to This American Life, do it. They have the most interesting stories that you can imagine. I guess I bring this part up because I'm looking for any suggestions on any podcasts that are worth listening to, especially any finance ones. So I guess I'm really asking Jared if he still frequents my blog...do you have any that you can recommend? If I don't hear from you then I'll shoot you an email to ask. But if anybody else has any that they can suggest, I'm open to it.

What a lame post...

Dana Point Turkey Trot

I wasn't going to post at all about the Turkey Trot just because too much time has passed since it occurred and it's no longer timely, but just the other day I got some pics back from the photographers at the race and it reminded me just how awesome/awful the conditions were.

The run was right around the Dana Point harbor, and under most circumstances I'm sure would have been really nice. The only problem, however, was that California decided to have of it's alotted 30 days of rain per year be on Thanksgiving day. It wasn't just rain, either, it was a downpour. We ran at 7am, and our group took part in the 10k race which coincided with the heaviest part of the storm.

I think the first picture was taken during one of the more rainy parts. Seriously, it was as if the organizers had planned the day and time to be exactly when the rain would be at it's heaviest. My clothes were completely soaked through in just a couple of minutes, and my shoes had that feeling like I had been going on Bigfoot Rapids at Knott's Berry Farm and the waterfall just happened to dump on me. Luckily the race wasn't any longer than it was, otherwise I would have been more concerned about the skin on my feet cracking.

I forgot my camera, and the people bothered to take pictures haven't sent any out. Greg ran the race, along with his wife Laura, sister-in-law, and a couple of other Irvine friends, Ryan and Kristin.

The part I was most impressed with myself about had to be the fact that I had played soccer the night before until almost 11pm, played Dr. Mario with Dave and Caitlin until about 12am, and then just Dave until about 3am. I finally got to bed at about 330am after reading some of Breaking Dawn, and woke up at 530am to go run the six miles. I had told myself before going to bed that if it was raining when I woke up that I wasn't going. And it wasn't, not really until the race actually started. Freakin' rain. It was kind of miserable, but really fun at the same time because how many times am I ever going to have that opportunity again, right?

There were a couple of things that I didn't like about the race. The course was way too thin for the amount of people running the race. And it was aggravating to be running and retracing your path in half-mile increments. The distance markers were confusing. There were no pacing groups so I had to really fight my way up to get to runners I was comfortable with. The biggest problem was that the course was overbooked. They shouldn't have several thousand people run on a path that's about 15 feet wide for both directions.

My final time was somewhere around 44 minutes, with about a 7:12 mile pace. I was pretty surprised with that time, especially considering all the impediments I had put up for myself. The best part was that I felt strong enough on the last mile to really pick up the pace, and even sprint the last quarter to half mile or so. Everyone had decent times, and I was especially proud of Greg for his time of about 46 minutes because he's only just recently begun to run more regularly.

I need a half marathon to work towards. And I think I'd like to run another marathon in the summer time. Lately I've been thinking that I might like to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Crazy, right? I think I can do it. I've been really blessed to have the health and the body-type that can handle the strains that I've been placing on it. I think I would die if that weren't the case because I love being active.

**Official race time - 44:39, 7:12 per mile pace.

Week 17

Yeah, I guess I missed another week somewhere in there. The taper is so weird. I hardly run at all now. I did eight miles as my long run on Saturday on a treadmill. I'm surprised it was my first time on a treadmill.

If you're training for any kind of race, I'd have to say that training on a treadmill should be a last resort. The difficulty of running in such controlled conditions is nothing like running outside and on the road, not to mention boring. I did the full eight miles in under an hour, which is a quick pace, but the air wasn't as thin as it is outside. Conditions aren't as dry. It's just completely different.

I played soccer on Monday. I'm going to run for the first time this week tonight, and then run a couple miles in the morning, and then I guess I'm ready for Chicago.

I'm way pumped about getting to visit out there. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say post marathon.