The gates of running heaven

Sure enough… it was a beach weekend… and as my brother-in-law says… ‘if you are lucky enough to be at the beach… you are lucky enough.’ So true.

Saturday I was itching to explore my new running grounds and decided to head out through Fogerty Park and up to the roads I could see on my running maps. A ran into the park… but where were the roads? Na-da… nothing.

I was beginning to lose faith, when across the park I saw a gate. When I approached, it was clear that this was “the place”, these were the gates to my beach running area.



The initial few hundred yards were quite step… barely runnable in my current shape, but after I popped out on top it flattened out and I was on small double track under thick canopy of trees. No cars... no people... just nature and a middle aged runner-wanna-be trudging along through the forest. It was if the road had been built just for me… and I almost felt a tear well up… because it was clear I was in my own running heaven.

Now… the roads of my running heaven are not flat… but they were not so bad that I couldn’t run them. It is definitely more trail-type running that I am used to. The 5 mile run I did on Saturday had my legs burning from the hills. I will get used to it though.

I will also need to pay close attention to where I am. There are no roads signs… no street names, and usually the forest is so thick I can’t tell which way is east, and which way is west. I can use Google maps to plan the run though… 2.1 miles then left at the branch… 3.4 miles then right… etc… My wife wants me to start running with a cell phone though… and I admit if I twisted an ankle up there… it was be difficult to get back down.

Sunday I had a 16 miler on the schedule… but my legs were still tired. I decided to stay on the flats and headed down 101 to the sign for drift creek falls and kept running until I hit 8 miles… then turned around. I was a hard run because of the state of my legs… but I made it. The country road out toward drift creek falls was also amazingly peaceful. It was clear the people/dogs/cows etc… around there were not used to seeing runners.

Overall the first weekend at our beach house exceeded my expectations. I even found a huge agate on the beach! Running wise… I have found my running nirvana… out past the gates of running heaven.

Look at Mills! LOOK AT MILLS!

I’ve mentioned before that American’s haven’t been then cream of the crop in long distance running, and that was also the case in the 1964 Olympics when Billy Mills was representing the United States. A virtual unknown and 2nd place qualifier for the US, Mills would need to PR in the 10K by about a full *minute* to have any chance in the race. For world class runners… those kinds of PRs don’t just hang on trees.

Amazingly… Mills hung in the race, but appear to fade out of contention before the final turn... in part because he gets hockey checked into the 3rd lane by the leader as if to say 'get out of here... you don't belong here!'

When the leaders ran into a crowd of runners being lapped… Miles closed a little, and then made one of the most amazing surges I have ever seen in long distance running. You have to see it to believe it, and you can tell from the announcer’s voice, it was unbelievable. It has to be one of the most memorable calls in broadcasting history. (How many times have you heard a man squeal like a combination between a pig and a giddy schoolgirl… out of pure Joy? As my son would say… ‘awkward’)

How Mills managed that burst of speed at the end almost defies explanation. It was like he transcended the laws of physics… like some unseen force from the heavens just put their finger on his back plinked him forward. Of course… the reality is that he mustered that burst from somewhere within himself… unlocked it like a joyous smile busting from a 3 month old (and I have seen the joy of plenty of those lately) and for one moment in time… he was superhuman… passing mere mortals like there were standing still.

Falling into Fall

Literally.

Which reminds me of the Mad TV ‘Literally skits’ like this one:

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Yes… I finally fell. I have had a few weeble-wobble moments in my training before… but I don’t think I have ever fallen. That ended this morning.

I was running next to the chain link fence around the Hillsboro airport and my shoe caught one of the spikes on the bottom of the fence somehow. My left foot stopped… while the rest of me continued forward… well… and downward. I probably didn’t look graceful… but considering one of my feet caught and planted me into the pavement, I think I am out OK. Wrists will be sore… elbow and hip too… but the important parts… my knees, ankles and legs… are unscathed. At least I hope so. After a roll like that sometimes the next day is when you really known what is hurt… but for now I am grateful. It did cut my 8 mile run in half though. =(

It appears as though I may be doing my first long run from camp Beach House this upcoming weekend. Wow. How blessed am I? I will confess that I don’t feel like I deserve my life. Someone on high must really like my wife, or my kids have something special in store for them… or thousands of years ago someone in my line did something wonderful earning generations of blessings on down to me. I could want nothing more. Well, except for qualifying for Boston. ;)

It felt like old times last Sunday running loops around Hillsboro airport on a long run. It went relatively well. I am taking my easy and long runs really slow right now to hopefully avoid injury. I ramped up my miles pretty fast without a really good base. Should hit 40 this week. I also noticed that based on my 10K time my training runs (according to the online calculators) should be slower. I guess the key is being able to recover enough to do the speedwork to improve. There is a strange Catch-22 in there I think.

Right now I am just enjoying running again.

Why I blog

Why do I spend time writing a writing blog that virtually no one reads? Two reasons really. Firstly, I like to write so it is an outlet there. Secondly, I need an outlet for my thoughts on running. Face it… non runners generally do *not* like to hear about running. If they see you coming back from a run and ask you ‘how was it’ they don’t want to know anymore than someone who asks you how you are in the hallway at work.

Just say ‘good’ and leave it at that. If you do actually start to tell them, expect glassy eyes before you get to the part the raw skin in some unmentionable body place hurting because you forgot your body glide.

If you are lucky enough to have running friends… well then there is your outlet. Unfortunately, none of my friends run… and in fact… some have said they can’t run. ‘Really?’ Like if you started to trot your legs would fall off?

You ask a group of 5 year old kids and every single one of them will raise their hands and tell you they can run. They can run… they can draw… they can sing goofy songs at the top of their lungs… but adults seem to pretend they have lost these abilities. What I think is happening is their greater sense of vastness of the world has made aware that others may sing better… or draw better… or run better… and they feel those things are only left to the best of the best… so they give up something once so joyously natural and let it die until they when you ask them if they run… they simply say… ‘I can’t run.’

How sad is that? What in insult to the people who really *can’t* run. What they really mean is ‘I don’t want to start running.’ Which is fine. I’ve had a couple of people at work tell me they will only run if a bear is chasing them. I laugh. Of course a bear might already be chasing them… just not the kind they are thinking of.

Feel the power, experience the pain

Most active sporting type people have tried at least one Powerbar. How could you not? It is the bar of POWER! Power of the bar… activate!!! Get me through this last 10 miles. Please. Pretty please?

Of course, before the power can touch your lips, you have to get the thing out of the wrapper… and this my friends… is where the Powerbar… becomes a powerful pain in the butt. Trying to open one is like trying to open a CD… and when… if… you manage to actually get it open… it will undoubtedly be stuck to the wrapper if the temperature is above 50 degrees.

Sometimes I run with a Powerbar in my water belt… bonk protection… but I view it more as emergency food ration in case I fall down a cliff, break my legs and can’t move. Then… maybe after a week of hunger… I’d try to get it out of the wrapper. Fifty fifty odds I die of starvation first though.

Can you imagine trying to open a Powerbar while say… running a marathon? You’d have to add a footnote to your time to explain the extra 15 minutes. Portland marathon 3:45* was on pace for 3:30 until I had to open Powerbar.

Odwalla bars, while obviously not as powerfull, are a nice alternative to Powerbars because you can actually remove the wrapper. They even look a little more like food compared to my peanut butter Powerbars that looks much like something that exited my babies behind.

My legs were pretty tired after yesterday’s lunchtime 6 miler. I must say it is quite nice to get all stressed and pissed off at work to burst out and run 6 miles at lunch. By the time I was back… I was too tired to upset at anything. The magical stress relief of running.

I killed Santa

It was bound to happen someday, but yesterday I killed Santa Clause. For my oldest son… it was time... and he had been trying to find time to talk to us about Santa for a few days. His friends have told him at school there is no Santa and I am sure that if he spent any time pondering the logistics of Santa’s tasks, he would at the very least have some suspicions. Last year he asked about Santa and our reply was yes there is one… but not exactly how you think. We left it at that.

It is a very delicate thing to kill Santa… especially when we have two other little ones still to be caught up in the magic... and I was not really prepared for the conversation. Last year his nephew, unbeknownst to Kenny, was told by his teacher in school that there was no Santa. Can you believe it? In school? Anyway… when his parents finally confirmed the information he was upset that he may have grown to adulthood, had kids and NOT known that he was supposed fill Santa’s shoes so to speak. He was worried his kids wouldn’t get to experience the joy of Christmas morning. Talk about selfless… I have no doubt… he will make a VERY good Santa.

Kenny said that he felt ‘funny’ after we broke the news to him… and though I have long since forgot the feeling, perhaps it was the twinges of innocence dying. Burdened with his new knowledge… we quickly pointed out that he now carried a very important gauntlet. His task, should he choose to accept it… and we made very clear he had to accept it… was to go along with the gig and make sure the two younger ones did not have any of the magic spoiled.

I ran six miles this morning. Good thing I did it early… it is going to be hot and humid today… though we do get hot sometimes in the summer… rarely is it humid. During the week I have done a lot of run to work and home runs… 4.4 miles each way… but I need to push to longer runs. The marathon is not a short race.

Running in a Postcard

I have never seen the sun rise over the ocean, and I probably never will. Being a west coaster, I get sunsets… not rises. I think I like it that way. Spring or fall… take your pick… sunrise… sunset… I am a melancholy sunsetter that loves fall.



It looks like I may be seeing a lot more sunsets over the ocean… because it appears the beach house dream might become a reality. Barring some very strange happenings… we should have our little beach getaway in October.

Of course… I have already been scouting for running routes… and it appears as though someone went ahead and provide plenty for me… packed with hills, green trees, the sea-fresh air and of course… the beach. If I want… I can run right down to the sand and up or down the beach as far as my legs will carry. Well… actually I’d bump into bays both North and South… but I can run for awhile.

To the north is Siletz Bay… then further south is Depot Bay… and a little further is Newport. Did I mention they went ahead and arranged a marathon for me there in Newport? =) Yep… you can bet the Newport marathon is on my running map for next year… nothing like running a marathon so close to our home away from home. Talk about a dream come true. Any direction I choose and I am running in a postcard.

Oktoberfest 2008

I ran the Oktoberfest 10K on Saturday. The original plan was for the whole family to come with me to the race and attend the fest afterwards… but the night before I decided that wasn’t really fair for the family. It is hard to get 2 kids and a baby moving at 6 AM. I had already paid for the run though… said I headed off for the hour drive alone.

A few days ago I predicted 7:59 was a reasonable goal. Though I have been running regularly for a bit again, I have only done one speed workout… and that was last Tuesday. About a month ago my 10K time in a race was 8:36.

I started off the first mile at about 7:35… and everything felt great. Of course… it was a little down hill and the first mile is always easy. Miles 2 though 4 were a wakeup call though. Mile two dropped to about 8 minutes a mile… right on pace… but mile 3 was about 8:30 and I really didn’t feel like I was letting up at all. Yes… it was into the wind… but my thoughts of 7:59 were pretty much gone at that point. I tucked in behind someone else and just held on.

Having someone block the wind for about a mile gave my legs new life… and when we finally turned away from the wind… I sprang by my blocker and sped off. Unfortunately… that is where the hills were. I focused on attacking the hills. I just read an article in Runner’s World about how to run hills… and I focused on what I remembered. Hands relaxed… arms 90 degree angle swinging directly forward and back… head up, focused on powering over the top, saving enough energy at the bottom to make sure I didn’t burn out before the top.

Right before the start of the hill there was a group of runners that were catching me… but as we hit the bottom of the hill I just motored away. I kept powering up the hills faster than I was running into the wind and soon I notice I was back running under 8 minutes per mile. Up hill.

When I hit the top I kept the pressure on and was soon going 7:30… which is about what I ran for mile 6. My final pace… exactly 7:59. Talk about self actualized.
While I am not too concerned about speed right now… I will try to work more speedwork into my routine… strides and whatnot. I don’t think I will be racing again for about a month at the Blue Lake 9 miler. Last time I ran it in 7:59... (there is that number again). I hope to do a little better this year.

Different types of runners

Bouncy runners
These runners seem to defy gravity with their springy bounce while running. Usually these are thing framed women sporting a pony tail in the backs that whips back and forth like a horses tail. They seemed to float off the ground during their strides, as if they were running on a trampoline.

Gadget runners
These runners have Ipods, transmitters in their shoes and GPS watches. I usually run with two gadgets… so I might fit in this classification.

Secret service runners
These runners have dark sunglasses and seem to trudge along with no noticeable facial gestures. They may have at least one gadget going to their ears, be it music player cell phone, or secret communicator that allows them to report back to race headquarters when they see someone throwing their gu wrapper in the middle of the road or peeing behind a tree. I am most creeped out when I go to pass one of these runners and I see them peeking at me out of the corner of their eyes while their head remains directly ahead.

No shirt runners
Always guys of course. Whether going for a tan, trying too cool off, or just trying to impress the ladies… these manly men like to run shirtless. Negative points if they have hair like a grizzly.

Boxing runners
These runners are usually draped in full body sweats, even in 80+ degree heat, and appear to be trying to lose weight for a weigh in. Using the hood of their sweat shirts covers their head so you are not sure if there is a real person in there… or a Sith Lord.

Wheezing runners
These are runners that appear to be having some sort of respiratory problem or are running faster than their air intake will allow. They tend to men who spit a lot… and were possibly just dragged into running by their significant other thinking… if a woman can do it… I must be able to.

Flailing runners
Flailing runners have a running style so awkward it is amazing how they proceed forward. While they legs may be moving in a normal motion, their arms may be swinging in circles like a windmill, or they appear to be beating themselves up. Regardless… it appears as though they will never last a mile… yet somehow they do.

I ran a marathon

For some weird reason my son and I were discussing death yesterday. I think the conversation arose after talking about the autistic kid who survived 14 some hours treading water in the ocean… helped by what his father said was a lack of fear of death. I told him the worse part of death might be the fear of dying… and he asked whether I would want a quick death… or a slow death. I said a slow death… because it may give me time to say goodbye and make sure my family was well taken care of. He responded with, “what is it was really slow and painful?” I smiled… laughed… and said “Kenny… I ran a marathon.”

Frisbee run

Another week… and my mojo is still with me. Sundays 14 mile run turned into just 7 though… as I made the mistake of thinking I could run and out and back to my house at 7 miles total… and then run it again. I did it that way because my son was riding his bike with me… and more than 7 miles would test his patience. My legs convinced me they were tired… and my brain just didn’t have the willpower to argue… and I just stopped at 7 miles.

To punish myself I ran my Tuesday morning run hard. (Ran to work) But then someone set up an Ultimate Frisbee game after work… that just happened to be at a field right by where I was running home… so I ran there and then played. My legs were pretty tired afterwards… and I didn’t drink enough water. I am feeling a little sluggish today.

Saturday I am running the Oktoberfest 10K. I don’t think I will be able to PR… which is kind of sad… but I haven’t been doing enough speedwork. I think 7:59 per mile might be about right. If my legs are feeling greet… maybe better… but they are pretty tired now. A 38 second per mile improvement over my recent 10K isn’t too bad though.

Return of the Mojo

Knock on wood… I think my running mojo is back. I finished a 30+ mile week, capped with a 12 miler yesterday along the Oregon Coast. We are thinking about buying a beach house… so I figured I best check out the running possibilities. =) The winter weather at the Oregon Coast is hardly ideal. It is rainy windy blustery weather… the kind that takes a very hardy soul to run in. But on a nice day… like yesterday… it is like running in heaven. From the beginning of November to Spring it can be gloomy though.

While my run was wonderful… the bonk afterwards wasn’t. I ran without fuel or sports drink (just 12 ounces of water) and didn’t eat soon enough after I was back. After about an hour I was off to bonk land… mad at everyone and everything, unable to think straight or even make a decision about what to eat. Too many more episodes like that and my wife isn’t going to let me run anymore.

I was supposed to run a 10k this past weekend but we went to the coast instead. It worked out better for me though because I really needed a long run… not a 10k. Yeah… it was slow… but I have increased my mileage pretty fast that I need to compromise on speed for now. My body is feeling pretty good except for my left ankle which was kicked during a soccer game a few months ago and never quite healed right. I really doesn’t bother me at all while running, but it does afterwards… and I fear my foot may be tracking slightly differently which will cause problems elsewhere later. Hopefully not.

My current goal is the Seattle marathon in November. I don’t plan to PR or anything… just want to get another marathon under my belt without injuries or hitting the wall. Hopefully the time will be somewhere between my Eugene and Portland times… but I am not going to get too caught up in that.

I’m just happy my mojo is back.