Auld Lang Syne

Ok.. not to be all "mooooshy" but this year is ending on an amazing note thanks to all of YOU.

I have connected with old friends, made incredible new ones and built even stronger friendships with those around me. It's been a year of unfathomable challenge and yet equally amazing promise of new opportunity. Through a new job, a change of priorities (and all that entails) new doors have been opened and new acquaintances made that make me look forward to the coming year with an astounding vigor. Through all of it, friends old and new, family close and distant have rallied, supported, cheered and counseled, coached and cajoled me to my own triumphs and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I have been amazed at the way technology shrinks our world and brings us closer together despite the naysayers who espouse that it takes us apart. With my view from the electronic "cheap seats" I have been party and privy to all of your own hurtles, and triumphs; your heartaches, accomplishments and successes and for that, I am eternally grateful. I can't wait to see what the new year brings each of us. Perhaps it is the challenges we face as society that drive us to reach out and connect during what is arguably the most difficult period of our current history. I don't know, but what I have experienced and witnessed is an astounding array of compassion, caring and old fashioned good heartedness that gives me absolute belief that we will triumph... always.

And after all, what fun would it be if this were all easy? To paraphrase a somewhat infamous quote about life:
"The goal is not to arrive at the end with a perfectly preserved and pristine body but to slide in sideways, beat up, totally worn out and screaming.. WOW.. what a ride!"

There is no way I can tweet and tag, email or call each of you when the circle of people who have made this last twelve months that incredible ride has grown as it has.. So, as this year draws to an end I count my blessings, and they are each of you.

My thank you, and warmest wishes to all of you for a safe, happy and prosperous New Year; may you each be half as fortunate as I am, for then, you are wealthy beyond measure.
Ed

The Agony and the Ecstasy (Or why is a PR Never Enough?)

I set out to run the California International Marathon over six months ago, initially setting my sites on a “BQ” (Boston Qualifying time). Soon realizing this would mean cutting over 20 minutes off my previous best at the Paris Marathon earlier this year I scaled back just a tad. Aiming and training for the 3:45 mark I felt was a respectable advance on my Paris time and would be a full 40 plus minutes better than my first marathon.

Race morning dawned crisp and cold, around 35F. The busses to the start were unusually chaotic for C.I.M and the sweat check was like a scene from a third world country with people yelling, bags flying and a general sense of disarray quite uncommon for this event. I have run C.I.M as a relay team previously and the organizers usually have this event down to a science. Ultimately my sweat check bag would go missing and someone somewhere now has a really nice Brooks NiteLife jacket and a pair of ASICS warm up pants. But as any race participant knows, and is informed, this can and does happen in the best of events. I really couldn’t bitch. The rest of the event went off flawlessly, the volunteers, literally in the hundreds were friendly, helpful and with only one exception, a credit to the event and get my heartfelt thanks.

But we digress! Lined up at the start after a brief warm up but couldn’t find the 3:45 Pacer, Grant Carboni. C.I.M has a cadre of really amazing pacers and while I have never run with a pace group before, talking to Grant and Rae Clark at the Expo I was sold. The gun sounded and I headed off figuring I would be on my own pace wise. Shortly after crossing the timing mat I spied Grant and the pace group about a half mile ahead and spent the next couple of miles slowly reeling them in and right after that caught up with my running partner Bill E. and we settled into our group, our pace and started clicking off the miles. Grant is an amazing pace leader and knows the course like the back of his hand so I could just settle in and run.

C.I.M starts in Folsom CA at the base of the Folsom Lake dam and winds its way into downtown Sacramento to end just shy of the steps of the state capitol. It is a net downhill and advertised as a fast course and top Boston Qualifier but don’t let that fool you. It is still 26.2 miles and at times the “rollers” are still a challenge! Throw in a nice headwind that we turned right into at mile 10 and again just past the half way point and it tests you just like any other marathon.

Bill and I stayed with Grant and the pace group, sometimes even slightly out ahead, clear through to mile 17 or so. I had a couple of minutes in the bank from starting behind and reeling them in so I was feeling ok to drift back a bit and try and draft behind the group to stay out of the breeze but that was the start of my wrestle with “The Beast” as I have come to call him. The Beast, that insidious in creeping of aches, pains and second thoughts daring to become doubt and misgiving that we distance runners know all too well. The Beast gnawed at my hip, pushed a sock down to crumple and threaten a blister and called upon the cold to assist in never giving me a chance to take off my gloves and beanie.

The Beast stayed with me through to the end of the race, threatening to turn into the full fledged “Wall” and daring me to stop and walk right up to mile 22. At that point that old ally Determination finally lent a hand and from 22 to 26 I was able to call up the reserves and claw my way back to my pace. Those where the toughest miles of the race and my wife would remark later when she took this picture just 200 yards short of the finish she could only yell out “almost there” instead of her traditional “Looking good”.. that would have been such a vast overstatement!

I finished just over three minutes off my goal, and for a

time it looked as though the official time was actually further off than that. Later I would confirm that was the gun time and despite that even that time was a personal record, I had on what has been described by my lovely bride as my Cranky Pants. Later I would confirm my official chip time as 3:48:14, more than ten minutes better than Paris and a new personal record. The Cranky Pants have come off, my training saw me through to the end of arguably the toughest race I have participated in. I am uninjured and setting my sites on next year. So, why does it bug me that this guy beat me by 13 seconds? Maybe its the name thing? Or that we look so much alike? Maybe next year. ;-)

In Search of the Perfect Run

As Viper said to Mavrick "A good runner is compelled to evaluate what's happened, so he can apply what he's learned. Up there, we gotta push it. That's our job. It's your option, Lieutenant. All yours."

I love that quote, and the movie. It came out at time when I was younger and could recover from just about anything overnight. I was not a runner then. I was a Marine, we didn't walk anywhere, we ran, or did push ups. I ran when told and didn't really enjoy it though I ran much faster than I do now. The fastest and easiest run I ever had was in High School.

I remember it, a crystal clear spring day in Boulder just before graduation. I would run in gym class with my friend Mark. We ran with the ease of teenagers and paid no attention to running. It was about horse play and not sitting in a class room. It meant talking about girls and what we would do the following summer. I was off to boot camp, he was a year younger and his summer would be spend hanging out with friends and deciding what the future held in store.
We would power down the hill from the school and out for a couple miles oblivious to the altitude and effort. But the perfect run, the one that I remember to this day came at a cost.

I still remember getting the call that weekend. Mark and another friend, Jeff had been in an accident. A drunk driver ran a stop sign landing Jeff in the hospital and Mark gone from our lives. The following Monday, I found myself in the locker room without my running buddy. Lacing up my shoes I headed out with the class, but alone. I flew down the familiar hill and out away from the school and to this day, 30 years later I know it was the fastest and furthest I ever ran. Everything clicked and it was the easiest run physically I have ever known despite the angst and the tears. Just over a week later I was standing on yellow footprints being yelled at by USMC Drill Instructors and the running was never without urgency and purpose

It would be many years before I ran again for pleasure, for clearing my head, reaching a goal, or just to enjoy a beautiful day. But that run after Mark's death has never been far from my thoughts. It's hard to express the feeling that memory evokes and I have backspaced and edited this last paragraph much as much as I rolled over in my head what was it about that run, how do I recreate it and apply it forward. Maybe, like the MiG in Top Gun, I just need to relax about it.

Bachus and the Numbers (or, an unscientific study of the effects of hydration on running)

I am a pretty diligent runner when it comes to the numbers. Negative splits, hitting my pace targets, training to Lactate Threshold, Easy Pace, Marathon Pace, Tempo Pace etc. Once I have my training plan in place I work to stick to it and I have seen my speed and endurance increase.

I have read with some detachment the effects of hydration or rather dehydration and pride myself on keeping well hydrated. Here in Chico we "enjoy" some fairly blistering summers and you get pretty acquainted with the need to hydrate.

I had a bit of an epiphany during this last weekends long run though. My friend Bill E. is a great guy, solid runner and a great sense of humor. We are pretty evenly matched and I enjoy running with him when I get the chance. Bill has been telling me of late that he has been reading up on training better along in your heart rate zones and had been feeling that he wasn't giving his ole ticker the rest it needed at times. He got me thinking about it and I have begun wearing my heart rate monitor and paying a bit more attention. Of course I was not the least concerned; those who follow my blog know I have wrestled with going on statins and have done a cardiac stress test and according to the sage Doc M. I have "the max heart rate of a 32 year old." But we digress.

Saturday dawned a bit cloudy as the marathon and half marathon training groups I am helping coach set off for our weekly long run. Today's workout: half mile warm up, plyo's, stretching then off for a 10 mile loop round Bidwell Park. First mile at easy pace then step it up to race pace and hold it for the remainder.
Bill and I fell into an easy rhythm and trotted out our run talking about heart rates, the weather and our target times for C.I.M. I noticed that while I felt pretty normal for the pace, Bill seemed to be having a bit of an easier time of it and finished looking obviously more at ease than I.
In comparing our numbers we were dead matched except for the heart rate. His was a solid 20 BPH lower than mine! I had done everything I normally do before a long run, same breakfast, same amount of sleep, same basic type of meal the night before and I didn't feel bad, just my heart rate seemed elevated and it took a bit longer to get back to normal.
The only thing different was a couple of glasses of wine the night before. I felt no effects from the wine, went to bed and woke up clear headed and got roughly the same amount of sleep and had essentially the same diet.

Conducting a bit of an experiment I went out after a good day and a halfs rest for a recovery run and really kept an eye on my heart rate. After a couple mile at easy pace, with my heart rate solidly where it is supposed to be I stepped it back up to where Bill and I had been running and low and behold, almost 20 beats lower than the same pace just 36 hours previous!

Doing a bit of math, this whole debacle translated to my heart beating 2400 time more in a two hour period than normal. Extrapolating that to my marathon race pace that's roughly about two miles more that my heart runs due to the dehydration effects!! Not to mention the recovery time now needed at exercising my heart at 80-85% max as opposed to where it should have been, about 70%.

Now no one in their right mind has a couple of glasses of wine before a marathon, and candidly, the only reason I had any was because I planned on a leisurely long run not doing any race pace work. But we do frequently underestimate how hydrated we are and I certainly didn't realize how much harder my heart has to work to pump that thicker blood until I got to actually see the numbers and compare to someone who is in the same shape as I am.
Fall racing season is upon us and I for one, don't need to add these ghost miles to any of my upcoming endeavors!
Hydrate, pay attention to your training heart rates and enjoy the fruits of lord Bachus AFTER your accomplishment!
Tight Laces,
Ed

Follow Friday

There is a little premise in the "Twitterverse" where on Fridays one lists those followers for the week who have stood out to you, or were of note for the week or something. If you new to Twitter, or Facebook or social networking in general this can seem somewhat odd. Some of my friends and family don't really "get" Twitter and Facebook and voice concern over why someone would care that another is "drinking coffee and waiting for the day to be over" (a not untypical posting). If that all that one does on a social networking site they are missing an incredible opportunity.
And, while I certainly see my fill of somewhat nonsensical postings on Twitter or odd little quizzes on Facebook I have become amazed at the breadth and reach of my new friends and their impact on my own world.

I joined Facebook ostensibly to see and share running related pics with my running community and Twitter as a networking tool during a foray into perhaps landing a job in the running and fitness world. A huge amount of my "followers" and those I follow on Twitter are in the running, fitness or multi-sport world in someway, yet we exchange info on those topics only part of the time. My Facebook friends now far exceed those only related to running and I have connected to friends from the past including prior jobs, high school and family. Even my college daughter has decided that its not such a bad thing to let dad see what a good time she is having enjoying the college experience.

All of these new found, or reconnected friends have enriched my life of late and contributed to an increased understanding and connection to the world around me that just isn't possible via traditional communication. I have been able to experience the joys and trepidation of many friends sending their youngest off to school for the first time, marriages, deaths of loved ones and even a friend from the UK as she experienced a vacation through Wyoming and Montana. I have a local friend wrestling with divorce and a far flung friend wrestling with supporting a sister going through the same thing. Through their sharing of their experience I hope I was able to lend a supportive ear to both. I was virtually able to attend my 30th high school reunion and connect with those who I was close to then, and people who I became close to via the months leading up to it and almost feel I was right there.

A great number of these amazing people I have never met or even spoken to over the phone and quite likely we never will. But almost every day I hear some great story, learn something new, make a new friend from as far away as the UK and Singapore, and as close as Toronto, Annapolis and right here in Chico. They have supported me in really tough times, and rejoiced for me in good ones. I can only hope I have been as good a friend as they have been to me. I have read amazing blogs, learned new recipes and had my faith in the human spirit renewed during the tough economic and political times over the last few months. And yes, there has been the running.

I can't possibly list the myriad of people in the constraints of 140 characters in Twitter or a pithy Facebook status update. So this is my "Follow Friday"...
thanks to each of you for enriching and contributing so positively to my experience, I hope you can say the same about "a13pt1runner"
Tight Laces
Ed

That Which Inspires Us

One of my favorite quotes comes from one of my favorite runners, Deena Kastor. In the opening scenes of “Spirit of the Marathon” we hear Deena opine that “sometimes it’s the moments that challenge us the most , that define us.” I have used that thought as a mantra to get through really tough times and as inspiration to get back to that place where my life and my running are on track.

Those words took on new meaning this last weekend as I watched some amazing people race in this years “Summer Sizzler 10K” many of them running that distance for the very first time. There were standout athletes from Chico State University that as my friend Pat says were “stupid fast!” As impressive as they are, the stand out runners for me, were the local Fleet Feet training group completing their graduation run. The 10K is a tough distance. Just about anyone, with a modicum of effort, can get through 5K as a recreational runner. Getting through 6.2 miles requires that you recognize the challenge, prepare for it, and spend some time getting to that starting line. These runners took that challenge some 12 weeks ago and got themselves out of bed early on Saturday mornings and did the quick change on Tuesdays after work so that come that bright Sunday morning in August they could don their bright red and pink Fleet Feet Training Team shirts and run in the footsteps of some of the finest middle distance runners in northern California. Everyone ran their race and met their challenge and everyone came across the finish line. No one dropped out or couldn’t finish which is both a testament to their drive and desire and, in no small measure, the strength of the coaching and preparation they got from Fleet Feet Chico’s coaches David Mosier and Susan Zepernick. I am continually inspired by these beginning runners who work so hard at a sport that let’s face it, is the very definition of tough love sometimes.

Among the first time 10K’rs this weekend was one woman who 7 months ago was knee deep in finishing her Bachelors degree and couldn’t run a full minute without stopping much less a whole mile. Juggling a full time job and finals she somehow found the desire and determination to take on yet another challenge and got to each of the training sessions for both a 5K and the 10K program. I don’t know at what moment this woman decided, or why, to undertake becoming a runner with that full plate. It seems though that it was one of those moments Deena Kastor speaks of; the challenges, that define us the most. It’s evident because two weeks ago this woman received her college diploma, the first one in her family to do so. On Sunday she ran her first 10K race and knocked two minutes off her previous best time trial for that distance. I am not sure what label applies to that kind of accomplishment but if it doesn’t say something about the person I don’t know what does. {Now in the interest of full disclosure I do have to admit to a certain bias towards this particular runner, she is my wife Teri and in addition to everything else she has certainly had the challenge of dealing with my amazing breadth for flexibility, understanding and consistency ;-)}

This fall I am helping coach a marathon group preparing for the fall season and at last nights first meeting there were fresh, expectant, and yes hesitant faces...Sometimes those challenges that define you, are what inspires those around you the most. Congratulations Teri and the Fleet Feet Chico Summer 10K program runners for inspiring all of us this weekend.

Tight laces,

EH

I'm Sorry I Didn't Believe in You

Well, I must come clean.. I strayed.. I ran in a pair of another brand of shoes this morning. Their name is not important and before you storm out, never to talk to me again. Know that I am back and solidly in my Brooks Adrenalin 9s .. well sort of.

I am a die hard Brooks Adrenalin fan. Being wearing them since the 6 model when they helped me overcome my over pronating tendencies resulting in a back injury and some rehab and a bit of break from running...but I digress.
I also have to add in Superfeet such is my pronation. I developed a serious affection with the 7's until the 8's came out and then there was no turning back. The 8's were amazing and perfect and of course a newer younger model. The 8's took me through my first half marathon, and the next six after that, Countless 5K's 10K's and training miles were logged in my beloved 8's. I rotated pairs of course and even got a pair of ASR's. My closet was filled with Adrenalin 8's with various levels of miles as I prepared for my first marathon (Eugene 2008) and then when I set my sites on my personal holy grail, The Marathon de Paris in April of 2009.

Along the way there adventure relays; Reno Tahoe Odyssey, The Relay, Whiskeytown Relay, Redding Marathon Relay and a couple of California International Marathon Relays. My Adrenalin 8's and I were inseparable and we logged each training and race mile as a happy couple collecting bibs and finishers medals all over the place.

Until of course the 9's came out. I was forced to come to grips with the break up but was happy in my confidence in the tried and true Adrenalin line.
..but it was not to be. The 9's just didn't ride right. They felt sloppy and the support seemed "off." The Napa to Sonoma Half came and went and while it was ok.. I longed for my beloved 8's and even tried to run in an older pair but they were just too far gone. What was I to do? The fall marathon training season has realistically begun and I have started my run up to C.I.M this year with an eye towards a Boston Qualifying time. With heavy heart and credit card in hand I visited my faithful Fleet Feet and broke the news. I had to try something else, the Adrenalin 9's just werent working out.
After much hemming and hawwwing. (They really thought I should stay with the one who brought me to the dance) we settled on a shiny pair of another brand of shoes with similar features in stability. I set out for my first run in them this morning and they felt good... for about half a mile. By one mile I was in honest discomfort and turned back. by 1.75 miles I felt like there was a steel plate under my heel, my shins were on fire and I opted to walk the remaining couple of yards home.
I removed the Superfeet and did another couple of miles. Big difference but I could tell I was missing out on the stability I needed.
Despondent, I trudged back to Fleet Feet with the new shoes and my Adrenaline 9's as well as my last pair of 8's.
There had to be something amiss. The whole staff gathered to watch me run up and back along the running path. We tried other shoes, and suddenly a bright eyed young staff member asked; "what if its the Superfeet? what if they aren't the right size?"
SHAZAM!! Checking my new 9's the Superfeet were just a tad short. But wait, they are exactly the same as the Superfeet I wore in the 8's As a matter of fact, the exact same Superfeet from the 8's fit differently in the 9's. How can this be? I have faithfully and confidently ordered my 9D Adrenalins for years without even having to bother with trying them or the Superfeet on such was the consistency in fit.
Seems that the new 9's are just a tad longer than the 8's even though they are both a size 9. The changes made from model year to model year were enough to throw things off such that I developed a wandering eye and strayed from my tried and true partner. I thought of the Adrenaline's the whole time I was with the other brand, really I did. I wanted things to work with my Adrenalines but something was different and I figured we had just grown apart.
It took a competent third party to help us find our way back together and see that I just needed to adjust the fit. My 8 1/2D Adrenalines' should be here any day and I am anxious to feel that familiar feel and partnership as we head into the fall racing season and I can once again, "Run Happy!!"
Next year I have the 2010 Athens Marathon in my sites and I am sure the Adrenalins will help me celebrate the 2500th anniversary of that crazy run that started all this!

Tight laces!
Howler Monkey