Some Motivation Required

"Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time."

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:09:27 -0700

“Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.”

- Stephen Wright

Rock and Roll Half Marathon Trip Report

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:57:38 -0700

On Saturday, I ran the 2010 Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I’ve heard “The hardest marathon/half-marathon is your second.” I figure this is mostly attributed to actually having an idea what’s coming up and no mystery ahead, but it was true enough for mine for some much more specific reasons than that.

I got an early start with my alarm going off at 3 AM. Crashed at my mom’s place on Friday night. She was going off to cover her own race on Vashon Island early in the morning so she could get me down to the pre-race shuttles running from Downtown to the start line Tukwila before the city busses started running. Ate some granola and a small smoothie to get the motor running, grabbed my gear bag and we hurried to the busses.

Marathoners are a funny breed. Not necessarily just because they’re willing to run for hours on end for fun, but because they like doing this so much that they’re willing to wake up and get going while it’s still dark only a few days after the longest day of the year.

4:10 or so, I make it to the Seattle Westin Hotel where a fleet of already packed yellow busses are waiting, climb aboard and off we go. Mine took off shortly thereafter and made a speedy trip to the start village in Tukwila. It was still sparse by the time I arrived, so I killed time, had a bagel and a few bottles of water, checked my gear for delivery to the finish line, made some chitchat with fellow racers and stretched until everyone lined up in their start corrals around 6:50.

By 7 am, things had gone from pretty sparse to 28,000 marathoners and half marathoners in their places ready to go. I was in the 22nd corral of something like 36 corrals, so while the race itself started at 7 am, my group didn’t start until after 7:30.

First few miles were a little rougher than usual. Tight shins and calves, probably due to the admittedly lapsed training over the last two weeks when I’d get home from my new job feeling too pooped to do anything. But this mostly loosened up over time and around mile 3, was in a relative groove, though still feeling rougher than usual.

The route was pretty, though it was a cloudy morning, and the crowds were out in droves to watch us the whole way. Still, by mile 5 or 6, I was sweating pretty hard and feeling pretty burnt, but kept going. About then, my achilles tendon started giving me trouble.

I pressed on, hydrating regularly and watching my upkeep of energy chews, though probably not taking in as much sports drink as I should have, and I didn’t use the salt packet they passed out at the start. Big mistake, I was probably suffering early electrolytic imbalance by that point.

Mile 9, we headed up the road running along Lake Washington and into the I-90 express tunnel. This is probably one of my least favorite parts. Know what happens when you put 28,000 runners through a mile+ tunnel? That’s right, warm, stanky sweat vault. Got to the other side and not far beyond it, around mile 11, just a few hundred feet from the exit of the tunnel, my will to run just gave out and my achilles really started to hurt sharply.

I had to slow down to a walk, couldn’t run any further. I stopped, breathed, did some stretching, no help. Couldn’t run. I was pissed. Pissed at myself for not training harder in the prior two weeks, pissed for not having the will to keep running. I looked ahead and thought, “Shit. Well I’m not going to have a DNF on my race record with only two miles to go.” So I limped.

I limped, fast as I could, and kept a pretty solid pace for being unable to move my right calf. One thing I’ll say is no one gives you crap during a race like that when stuff goes wrong. The crowd cheered just as loud for everyone that passed. There was a lady waving a Texan flag. I shot her the Hook-em Horns, and she cheered for me that much louder. Around Mile 12, going down a hill downtown, I decided to give running another shot. Lifted my heel up…

…And bam. Big mistake. Got a horrible shot of pain and felt my entire calf undulate and seize. Nearly buckled on the spot. Regained my composure, gritted my teeth and dragged myself as fast as I could through the last mile.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, but was really more like 15 minutes, I rounded the corner at Qwest Field, I was able to manage a half run for a few feet across the finish line. I collected my medal, got my picture taken and then asked the nearest volunteer to please direct me to the nearest aid tent.

It wasn’t until I actually sat down that the adrenaline wore off enough that I suddenly registered the kind of pain I was in, as suddenly I was choking back tears of pain when I opened my mouth to describe the symptoms to the doc on site. He felt around, said he could feel a minor tear of the gastrocnemius and prescribed icing for the next few days and if it didn’t improve, to see my doctor about it.

From there, they wrapped me up in ice, and I called around, since my original plan of bussing and walking back to my car parked in Wallingford just wasn’t going to happen, and a good friend of mine came to pick me up.

At the time, I was pretty pissed and disappointed that it’d all happened that way, that I was behind my target time by 23 minutes, and so on. Since then, however, I’ve had a chance to think while resting up, and realized: I still finished. And really, between breezing through a half marathon, and finishing it while dragging yourself through two miles of agony, the latter seems to be more in the spirit of the marathon. Pheidippides dropped dead of a heart attack after his run. This seems like the closest way to commemorate that without involving paramedics.

Suspected torn gastrocnemius, sustained at mile 11. Finished all...

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:37:52 -0700

Suspected torn gastrocnemius, sustained at mile 11. Finished all 13.1 though.

Ready to rock!

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:30:13 -0700

Ready to rock!

"Your biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs,..."

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:05:50 -0700

“Your biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells ‘CAN’T’. But you don’t listen, you just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper ‘can’, and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are.”

-

"Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best."

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:05:57 -0700

“Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.”

Any run where you have to wring out your clothes, climb into the...

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:22:00 -0700

Any run where you have to wring out your clothes, climb into the shower, wash the mud off and change before you can do your stretching is a pretty awesome run. I <3 rainy trail running.

Also, good thing I have separate shoes for cross training and running, because I don’t think my runners are gonna be dry by tomorrow.

Tip for running long during the summer: For 9 miles or longer on a warm day, I’ve taken to...

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:12:01 -0700

Tip for running long during the summer: For 9 miles or longer on a warm day, I’ve taken to sometimes stopping for a brief break a little after half way at some random convenience store and having an ice cream bar.

Picks you right the hell up, cools you off and it’s tastier than energy gels.

"Pain is essential, suffering is optional."

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:52:49 -0700

““Pain is essential, suffering is optional.””

- Buddha

"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:22:49 -0700

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”

- Winston Churchill

"Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to."

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:52:48 -0700

“Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to.”

- Anatole French

"Running well is a matter of having the patience to persevere when we are tired and not expecting..."

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:52:48 -0700

““Running well is a matter of having the patience to persevere when we are tired and not expecting instant results.””

- Robert De Castella

"What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn..."

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:09:48 -0700

“What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the days gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate.”

- John Bingham, running writer and speaker (via livemylove)

"The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:11:54 -0700

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

- John Bingham, running speaker and writer (via livemylove)

Foil Baked Salmon

Fri, 28 May 2010 14:13:56 -0700

Figured it was about time I did a “What I’m Eating” post.

Today’s lunch, foil baked Alaskan salmon.

7 oz salmon fillet
2 Tbsp soy sauce
a few squirts of lemon juice
2-3 tsp minced garlic
Ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Cut a square of aluminum foil a little more than twice the size of the salmon fillet, you’ll be using the edges to seal it into an envelope. Lay the foil shiny side up, spray with Pam or other light cooking spray. Form one of the halves of the foil into a slight bowl, lay down some of the garlic, a few splashes of soy sauce and a squirt of lemon juice before laying the fillet over it. From there, rub the rest of the garlic over the top, drizzle remaining soy sauce and top with a few more squirts of lemon juice. Grind pepper over it to taste.

Fold other half of foil over it, rolling up the sides tightly to form a seal, place in baking pan and bake in oven for 17 minutes or so. I err on the side of rare, 16-17 minutes seems to be about the medium rare point for that size of fillet.

This one came out perfect, infused with the lemon, soy, garlic and pepper flavors, and remained tender, flaky and moist. Would go ideally with steamed or grilled asparagus or over a bed of greens, maybe a small side of couscous.

I’ve gone ahead and added a link to my race PR’s to my sidebar. List is meager at the...

Tue, 25 May 2010 20:42:00 -0700

I’ve gone ahead and added a link to my race PR’s to my sidebar. List is meager at the moment, as I skipped from 5K’s to Half Marathons. I plan on fleshing that list out in the near future.

"Self-conquest is the greatest of victories."

Sun, 23 May 2010 14:44:48 -0700

“Self-conquest is the greatest of victories.”

- Plato

Half Marathon Cherry

Sat, 22 May 2010 14:44:39 -0700

Well, it’s official, I’m a half marathoner now. I have the finisher medal and sore calves to prove it.

Today I ran the St. Jude’s Heroes Half Marathon, around Seattle’s Lake Union. I ran it with my certified badass mom, and we came in at just a hair under 2 hours 22 minutes. Started out at a 10:30 pace, kept it just above 11 for the middle miles and then felt a huge surge for the last mile and a half, getting the pace up to 9:45 and then a full on, unload everything sprint for the last quarter mile.

Crossed the finish line and once my body stopped moving, I immediately felt like I was going to hurl. Managed to keep it together, though, so I count that as doing it right.

Probably the highlight, aside from finishing, was at about 7.75 miles, crossing the University Bridge and being told by the lady monitoring the bridge for runners that I had a cute butt and being slapped on the ass as I passed by. A special blend of “what the hell?” and motivation.

No official race photos have been posted yet, but here’s a shot off my iPhone of mom and myself just past the finish line:

Now I’m trying to find a half marathon in between now and Seattle Rock and Roll so that I can qualify to get into Half Fanatics.

"A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money,..."

Fri, 21 May 2010 16:43:47 -0700

“A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.”

- G. K. Chesterton

EliGEAR.com: Half the man (he) used to be

Thu, 20 May 2010 16:43:56 -0700

EliGEAR.com: Half the man (he) used to be:

My friend Eli over at Eli Gear posted up my guest blog piece today, I suggest you all go read it and check out his blog. He’s the one who convinced me to blog about my new lifestyle in the first place.

Today’s guest post is by my friend Brian, who’s lost almost a hundred pounds in the last year. He didn’t do it by sitting on his butt, and he didn’t do it with low-tech toys like your mom’s pedometer. Aside from a metric shitload of determination and first-rate personal training, here’s…