Blue Lake 15K

My very first 15K race. I didn’t prepare particularly well this week, even drank a few beers LAST NIGHT, but I was determined to do the best I could. I was an absolutely wonderful day today… sunny… but a bit cool which is fine for running. Blue Lake is near Troutdale, Oregon, and unfortunately, at the West end of the Columbia River Gorge. What that means is… there is always a strong wind blowing down the gorge, and the first half of the run was right into it. It ate some people up. (Including me) It must have been at least 25 MPH steady, and more with gusts.

I wanted to run at a 7:45 pace. I think my body was ready for that. I did 10 miles at 8:14 or so last week. But that darn wind! Someone got the bright idea to draft on me, but alas, there was no one in front of me to draft on. About ½ through the race I figured I had no change to make 7:45. I saw one lap at 8:14 and I knew others were around 8. In order to catch up I’d figured I’d have to run 7:30s for the second half.

When we finally hit the turn around and headed with the wind, I was looking forward to taking off big time, but someone was chatting with me about running… marathons and the like. (Someone who has actually finished a marathon before) =) I was polite and talked even though I knew it was hurting my pace. When we hit another ¼ mile section into the wind I said heck with this and drafted on him. We had a little train of about 5 people and I was at the end being towed along. When we turned with the wind again, I just took OFF. Ka-Pow! If I wasn’t going to hit 7:45, at least it wouldn’t be for lack of effort. Running with the wind was wonderful. I was flying through miles 7 and 8.

When I looked down at my watch around 8 miles, I saw that it was theoretically possible for me to get back to a total 7:45 pace, but I would have to put on the afterburners like never before (for me). I did… and the result… a 7:02 pace for the 9th mile. When my watch hit 9.3 miles I was at exactly 7:45. For some strange reason the finish line was still a few hundred yards away, but darn it… I will take it.

All in all I am happy. I met my goal despite some horrendous wind and I hung in there when it didn’t look like it was going so well. Once again I realize how seemingly impossible it will be to qualify for Boston. Stranger things have happened though… and just like my race today… how knows… maybe… just maybe… I can make it. Portland Marathon 2007 will be my attempt.

Bonk Part II (or… the Meltdown)

For the second time this week I let poor nutrition help lead me into a major bonking episode. I am certainly aware the in order to keep the running engine moving, I have to eat, and eat right, but sometimes I get too busy and neglect to take care of myself properly. That, combined with 30 miles in 4 days, was a recipe for a serious bonk.

My typical day starts at 4:40 AM. I head out the door to work by 5:15. (Hey, I was in the Army, I can move fast when I need to) By 6 AM I am working. Sometime between 6 and 7:30 I grab a bagel or something for breakfast at the cafeteria or eat one I brought from home. I eat lunch at 11:15. If all goes well by 2:30 I am back on the road for home. If traffic cooperates I am home by 3:15 – 3:30. By 4 I am heading out for my run. When I get home I shower and head off to pick up the boys. Around 5:45 I cook dinner. (Wife gets home at around 6:15 and we’d be eating at 7 if she cooked… which doesn’t work well) This week I am working OT so by 7 I am on my computer and working from home. Between 9 or 10 I call it quits, fall asleep within 3 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. Lather rinse repeat.

Yesterday the forces of evil were plotting against me. I ate less then usual for breakfast. (Strike one) I had a service award for lunch, but they were serving pork roast (ARGH!) which I passed on so I just had some potatoes veggies and rice. (Strike two) Then I decided I would go to the gym today to run. GASP shock. I am trying to decide whether to cancel my membership since I haven’t been there in months, but I figure on very poor weather days it might be a nice substitute for running outside. I hate the treadmill but they have 1/12 of a mile indoor track, so I thought I would give it a try. My GPS watch wouldn’t work in door so I didn’t know how fast I was running and it was difficult to gauge since I was indoors. Needless to say… it was too fast for having covered 8 miles the day before. (Foul ball!)

The usual dinner time had to be bumped because of parent teacher conference. (Foul ball!) Then as the family was finally heading to eat… we have to stop for gas… (foul ball!) and my wife decides since we are at Costco… she would run in and pick up her glasses that were ready.

(Here comes the pitch!) Finished getting gas… park by the Costco door… and wait… and wait… and wait… (It’s a curveball!) and wait… my blood sugar-o-meter has been on 0 since the parent teacher conference but I start losing it. (He swings with all his might! And WHOOOSH!!!! STRIKE THREE, he is OUTTA here)

When my 8 year old asks where mom is for the 5th time I mumble something about her being a sloth. Not nice I know… and I shouldn’t have said it (but at this point I already struck out and was dejectedly heading back to the dugout). Of course my son taking after his dad… opens the door as my wife approaches and calls her a sloth. (Uh oh… this one is getting ugly… a brawl is breaking out! Both dugouts have cleared and they are going at it)

Instead of heading to eat… I drove home and when straight to bed. I couldn’t sleep though… just stayed there half comatose until the boys where in bed and it was time to make up.

Lesson learned? Eating is important to running. You can’t run well if you don’t eat right. If you try to keep running without eating right… get ready for a bench clearing brawl.

My new T-Shirt Idea

Today was an absolutely beautiful day for running. You can’t get any better. Cool, no wind, and fall leaves everywhere. At about halfway of my 6 mile run today, I ran around a few small lakes. The trees by the shore with their vibrant and colorful leaves were reflecting on the smooth water. As if the trees themselves were not enough! It was very cool, and just another of the many moments I would have never witnessed if I was at home sitting on my butt.

I think I have changed my mind on my Boston Marathon T-Shirt. The personal attacks, while nice to blow off some steam, are not realistic for my personality. This however might be.



8:15 miles today. It is going to be a rough week. Eight miles tomorrow for my longest mid-week run yet, and all while working 10 hours at day (plus 2 hours driving)

I’m number 5!

I was quite surprised to find a 5th place ribbon in the mail from the Oregon Road Runners Club for 5th place in my age bracket for the Wildwood Trail Run. For one, the race was quite awhile ago and I had forgotten all about it, and for another… I just didn’t think the speed at which I run was worth a 10 cent ribbon. =) Not since the participation ribbons I used to get in grade school have I been so honored. I had to check to see if there were only 5 people in my age bracket, and alas… there were actually 15. I’m thinking at least, AT LEAST five of them must have been dragged to the run by their wives even though they were not in shape for it. But still… I beat 50% of them? Good lord it is a sign of the end of times.

Today was a typically Oregon rainy day. The only not very typical is that I trudged out at 7:30 to run 10 miles. The first 5 miles were OK… as only the misty rain typical to the NW was falling, but over the last five drenching rain was falling. I was soaked, tired, cold and carrying an extra 10 pounds in water. Not to mention the wet feet, which is something I haven’t had to deal with yet. And still… I managed 8:09 miles.

Next Saturday I have a 15K (~9 mile) run in Troutdale around Blue Lake. (Like that narrows it down… could there be a more common lake name in all the world?) Anyway… I was trying to figure out what pace I should run. I am still not exactly sure… but I am thinking 7:50 might be about right. I haven’t been in a 9 mile race before… so I am not exactly sure what to expect.

Here is a little secret I have been holding. I want to ruin the Boston Marathon some day. Crazy I know. VERY CRAZY. Especially since a) I have never ran a Marathon and b) I am not a particularly fast runner and c) I don’t really have youth on my side. Mentioning this is about as stupid as hoping I can run under 4 hours in my first marathon. My first marathon goal is #1 finish, #2 finished in under 4:20 and my stretch goal is under 4. Boston would required me to run at about 7:35 miles. Right. It does seem crazy right now… it really does… but I have until next October 1st or thereabouts (Portland Marathon) to get ready.

OK, in case the ‘ruin’ part slipped your attention… by ruin I am referring to Gabriel Sherman’s article about slow runners ruining Marathons. I figure… hey… qualify for Boston, and then take 10 hours to run it! Just kidding… I am sure they close the course… but here is the deal… I am that slow poke runner Gabriel is referring to. Guilty as charged. And I will be perfectly happy to be my slow poke self and run marathons and keep my body in one piece. But that article pissed me off, and I really believe that if I put every once of effort into it… I can qualify for Boston. I may be the ‘slowpoke’ of Boston, but damn it, Marathons are NOT just for fast runners. I may just run in a T-Shirt that says Gabriel Sherman is an idiot too.

The drawbacks of road running

I love to run, don't get me wrong. Running on nice trails in the forest would be ideal, but unfortunately for me and a lot of people, we don't live in a forest. What I am left with is road running. I actually live in an area that has very runner-friendly sidewalks, including one around the Hillsboro airport that is double wide and has a nice row of trees in between the road and the sidewalk. I like to think of the trees as a buffer between my shins and car bumpers. There are however, some drawbacks to road running. The first has to be the car pollution. I am not a rocket scientist, but I don't think it can be that healthy for me to be gasping in air so close to all those exhaust pipes. Sometimes I hit areas where the stench of car exhaust is overwhelming. I try not to think about it, but I want to hold my breath like when the homeless guy sneezes on the crowded bus. Argh.

And then of course there are the dead things, of all shapes sizes and smells. If I had a dime for every squirrel that appears to have slipped while doing the high wire act over the road… I’d be rich. The ordors coming from the bushes are even worse… and they don’t go away over night… oh no… I have to run by them day after day until the smell finally fades away.

Another thing I don’t like is waiting to cross at intersections. Sure it is nice to stretch and take a breather, but after that is done and there is nothing but you and lines of cars waiting for the light to change… well… it is just awkward. It seems like I am checking my watch and staring at the pedestrian walk sign for years. I feel like those people who stand at the bus stop and stretch their next to peer further down the street to see if the bus is coming, like somehow if they see it… it will get there faster than if they don’t.

Near the end of one of my running routes is a hill… not a huge hill… but I can’t get up it at full speed yet. At the bottom of the hill cars are backed up over ¼ of a mile waiting to get through the light which for some sick reason will only let a few cars through at a time. I think I have seen it change from green to red before I crossed the intersection in my Jeep before. Anyway… I have to suck wind up that hill right next to the long line of impatient drivers trying to get home from work, and I am sure it doesn’t please them any that I will make it up the hill and home faster than they will.

Everything else about running I love I think. Well… sucking down a bug during a run isn’t fun either… or catching one in the eye… but everything ELSE I love.

Really.

I ran 7:55 miles today. Yahoo!

I'm back!

Like the 6 million dollar man… I am rebuilt… better… faster stronger… bah da da da… Anyway…

I am back. Back from the most I have ever ran in one week… a whooping (for me) 32 miles. Not epic I know… but it is my personal high. The final run was coasting at 8:16 miles. I think I am finally recovered from my cold. I am not quite back to where I was a few weeks ago… but I am back… yes sir… I am BACK.

I ran in Manzanita on the Oregon coast last weekend. It is always nice to tread somewhere new, and while I did run there once this year, it is just cool to run at the beach. I didn’t run ON the beach, I did that way back in like 1900 when I ran the Seaside Half Marathon when I was a kid. Seaside doesn’t even have a half marathon now, and you can probably find no record of it unless perchance scratched on a cave wall somewhere.

Boy those were the running days. I was a skinny kid, like a feather and I could run and run and run without breaking a sweat. Looking back, it was ridiculous that running could have been that easy. Boy what I’d give for some of that back. =) I was never really that great of a runner. I did run cross country… but I think the best I ever did was 6th at a district meet. Perhaps they were just not running long enough for me. =)

My knees where a little sore running this past week. I don’t know if I am starting to get too many miles on my shoes, or whether it was just my longest week getting to me, but it is something I will watch. I don’t think it is an injury, just a blip on the radar. With my history of knee problems (torn meniscus), I am amazed I have been able to run so far without a hint of pain in my knees. I am taking glucosomine every day… so maybe there is something to it. If my knees are holding up… it must be darn near a miracle drug. =)

Ode to the Portland Marathoners

On Sunday as any real marathon runners in the area were heading out on the Portland Marathon, I headed out for my Sunday 9 mile run. Just a horizon away I could imagine the hordes of marathon warriors heading off to face their 26 mile battle. I decided to dedicate my measly run to them… to harness a bit of my energy, toss it up over the west hills and be the cool wind at the right moment.

I certainly hope all achieved their dreams. One of the things I think is so great about running is that everyone has their own unique reason for running or wanting to run a marathon. Some want to challenge themselves physically and mentally, some run in memory or honor of a loved one or lost loved one, some run because they just love it… there are as many reasons as runners. I am still not sure why I run, but I figure before I hit the finish line I will know, and the reason at that time might not be what I expected when I set out on this journey. Foreshadowing?

The run Sunday was a lonely one for me… I knew the marathoners would all be downtown, and sure enough… only passed one runner jogging with a dog. I might be stereotyping… but probably not a marathon runner. Can dogs run marathons?
I was still recovering from being sick. Heck… I still am… but the training schedule waits for no cold.

The pace I was shooting for was 9 minute miles. Simple enough… but maybe not when recovering from being sick. At about mile 7 I began fading, and I quickly saw I was a good 250 feet behind where I should be at that point… and I was fading fast. I reasoned since I was recovering… that was fine… to be expected. But then I remembered the people running the Portland marathon… struggling along stride after stride… how I dedicated my run to them… and I quickly picked up the slack and finished at 8:58 pace.

Now… I know my body was recovering, but I also know when my mind said giddy-up, my body responded. I need to learn when my mind can dig the spurs in and get on the communicator to Scotty in the engine room demanding ‘More… power… Scotty!’ and when I really should back off. I think on Sunday, my body was faking.