Run Bob Run...

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2011-12-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here I sit on the last days of 2011 reflecting on the past year and thinking about 2012. I realize that I haven't blogged since August and I hope to change that in the coming year. 2011 turned out to be a busy year, even though I tried to scale back the amount of races/events I participated in.

2011 Races:
Firecracker 10K
SRLA 18 Mile Friendship Run
LA Monsoon (Marathon)
Vineman 70.3
Castaic Sprint Triathlon I & II
Roadchickie's Almost Flat, Mostly Smooth Century Ride
Disneyland Half Marathon
Mohawk Hudson River Half Marathon
Bike The Coast 50 Mile
Run For Her 5K
Say No To Drugs 10K
Holiday Half Marathon

The 3 highlights for me were A) ~~Running~~ Swimming the LA Marathon with my running partner, Melissa B) Vineman 70.3 C) Flying to Albany, NY to surprise our friend Veronica and run the Mohawk Hudson River Half Marathon with her.

Here is 2011 by the numbers:

Running: 640 miles
Biking: 1,828 miles
Swimming: 47 miles

Looking forward to 2012, I only have one race on the calendar which is the Hollywood Half Marathon in April. I'm sure my wife and I will do the Disneyland Half Marathon again next year. I decided that I wouldn't run the LA Marathon again this year with Coach Craig and his SRLA group since the LA Marathon falls on my daughter's due date. Yup...we are going to be grandparents and we are excited. I need to set a goal, something to train for next year, so I am looking at Ride Around the Bear or the 100 Mile Tour Of Big Bear.
The second half of 2012 will be spent training for the 2013 Disney Goofy Challenge in Orlando, Fl. on January 12-13, 2013.

2011 was a great year for friendships, both old and new. I met some amazing new friends (thanks twitter) and strengthened my relationships with old friends. Thank you all for your support! I couldn't have done it without you.

Happy New Year!

Bob

Vineman 70.3 Race Report

2011-08-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

**Warning** This race report is rather long, so grab yourself a cup of your favorite beverage, sit back, relax and enjoy my Vineman 70.3 Race Report

Let me preface this race report by saying that this was my first attempt at the half iron distance, I had previously done only Sprint distance triathlons. I decided last summer that I wanted to try a 70.3 race in 2011. After doing some research, I decided on Vineman as my first 70.3. I waited up until midnight on November 1, 2010 and signed up...and got in!

Friday

We left Los Angeles at 5am and made it to Windsor by 12 noon. Since I wanted to get in a swim at the river before the race, we made the 15 mile drive out to Guerneville. Once we got down to the river, I put on my wetsuit and waded into the water. Temperature was very comfortable and I headed upstream. I decided to swim to the bridge and back (about 300 yds) and once I got to the bridge, the water was waist deep. I stood there and talked with a few other swimmers and headed back. I decided to do 2 more swims (both with and without the wetsuit) and we walked around Guerneville a bit.We headed back to Windsor, checked in at the hotel and then decided to go find a place to eat dinner.

Saturday

Tina and I went for an early morning walk around Windsor, eventually walking by the high school where workers were setting up T2 and the Finish line. After breakfast, we headed to the school for the mandatory meeting and packet pick up. The "meeting" was nothing more than a 22 minute video talking about safety and rules including "drafting" (remember that for later). I got my race packet, timing chip and t shirt and headed for the Vineman merchandise tent to buy some hats, etc. I had to drop my running gear at T2, so I found a spot I thought I could remember fairly easily and claimed my space. We left the school and headed back to Guerenville so I could drive the bike course. Just a few miles into the bike course, I noticed that the roads were not in great shape. These are lightly traveled, county roads and with California's current financial crisis, they don't get a lot of attention. I knew I was going to have to pay attention on the bike and dodge a lot of crappy road. The bike course has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. During this time, I was munching on a bagel and noticed something in my mouth that didn't feel right...I broke a piece of tooth off. Fortunately, there was no pain and I didn't think it would affect my race. The course took about 2 hours to drive and once we got back to the hotel, we headed out for an early dinner, then off to bed.

Sunday - Race Day

We were up at 4 am, so we could be on the road to Guerneville by 5 am. We made it out to Guerneville just as T1 was opening. On the way in, I got body marked and luckily, my wife was standing next to me as I forgot my age. I found some space and started to lay out my stuff. I was going through a mental checklist and hoping I didn't forget anything. I got into my wetsuit and waited for my wave to be called. I was in the 5th wave and didn't have long to wait...before I knew it, I was in the water waiting for the horn to blow. My strategy in the swim was to start in the back to avoid the "washing machine"and take it easy. The horn sounds and I let the group go ahead of me. I start swimming at a nice, easy pace. About 200 yards into the swim, I am now in the crowd...WTF? How did this happen? Either, I was swimming fast or they were swimming slow, in any case, I didn't want to be on someones feet and get kicked in the face. I slowed my pace a bit and headed towards the shore a bit until I got some clean water ahead. At the turn around, the water was about knee deep and it was easier to walk the turn than to swim it. On the way back, there was a bit of a current that made the 2nd half of the swim a little quicker. Before I knew it, I saw the swim exit right in front of me...out of the water I went.
Swim - 41:24

T1
I grabbed a cup of water on the way in and decided to take my time. I didn't want to forget anything and I needed to pack up all of my swim items into the plastic bag so I could hand them to my wife on the way out. I saw Rebecca on the way out and stopped for a quick picture. I took the advice of every Vineman race report I read and ran/walked my bike to the top of the hill before getting on it. That was great advice!
T1 - 7:39

Bike
I started out at a comfortable pace while I got situated on the bike. I was really conscious of the drafting distance and I spent a lot of energy and time focusing on that. I made it to the first turn off which was pretty hairy and sure enough...someone had already crashed and was being tended to. The bike course was beautiful and I started passing people and increasing the pace while still focusing on drafting and potential penalties. About 20 miles into the course, a group of guys on tri bikes, basically forming a pace line, wheel to wheel, passed me and right behind them was a course Marshall. The Marshall didn't even bat an eye at them, so at that point, I decided to pick up the pace and not worry so much about drafting. Things seemed to be going well and I thought that a 3 hour bike was possible. I stopped at the last aid station for a potty break and then hit it pretty hard until Chalk Hill. It wasn't that it was that big or long of a hill, it was just at mile 45 and I was getting tired. I ate the last quarter of a PB&J sandwich (I ate 1/4 every 10 miles and supplemented it with Gu) and tried to pick up the pace for the last 10 miles. No such luck...I watched the 3 hour mark slipped by and then 3:15. I pushed hard the last couple of miles and reached the high school and T2.
Bike - 3:21:14 (16.70 mph/avg)

T2
It was quite a distance from the dismount line to the bike racks and it seemed like it took forever to run that distance. I racked my bike and emptied my run bag onto the grass. I sat down and put on my compression sleeves and shoes. I talked with another racer who offered me some sunscreen, which was a reminder to grab mine and apply it liberally. I put on my water belt and visor and headed out with a quick stop at the porta potty before leaving transition.
T2 - 8:09

Run
As I headed out on the run, I saw my wife taking pictures and seeing her smile gave me bit of energy that I desperately needed. The run course was made up of rolling hills (some challenging) and some flats. (I wish I would have driven the run course as well) The first 6 miles seemed to go very well, I hit every aid station (there were 12) and took on fluids and a gel. I also ate a few pretzels each mile from a bag that carried with me. The course was changed a bit this year, it ran around the perimeter of the winery and that was on dirt and gravel. By that time, the sun had finally made an appearance and it was getting warm. I started feeling tired so I started breaking down the last 6 miles by mile. I would run to the aid station, walk while taking on fluids and gels (about a minute or two) then run to the next aid station. It worked well and before I knew it, I was at the last aid station with 1.1 miles to go. My pace picked up a bit since I could sense the finish was near. I hit the finish chute and had the finish line in my sights. I crossed the finish line, hands raised! I finished!!
Run - 2:20:12 Finish Time - 6:38:38

I saw my wife behind the barrier and posed as she took a couple of pictures. The finish area had a lot op people mulling around and eating. Vineman puts on a pretty good post race meal (chicken sandwich, pasta salad, fruit, etc) all of which was fine and dandy, but how about some gatorade??? None to be found...they had water, iced tea and soda. I grabbed some fruit and a water and headed over to the transition area to meet my wife. I gathered my bike and we walked back to the off site parking lot where she had parked the car. Once back at the hotel, a quick shower and a beer and we headed out for some wine tasting. After all, we were in Sonoma and I could leave without wine tasting. One of my twitter peeps suggested Truett-Hurst Winery, so we decided to give them a try. They had some very nice wines, they specialize in Zinfandel's and syrah's. Since it was so late in the day and most wineries close at 5pm, we decided to go right to dinner. We tried KC Downtown Grill in downtown Windsor. Once back at the hotel, I decided to head down to the hot tub, where I sat and chatted with other racers about the race. It was interesting to hear what they thought about the race, course, etc.

Since this was my first attempt at the half iron distance, I really didn't have any expectations other than finishing. In the back of my mind, I said I would like to come in under 7 hours, which I did. It was a great experience, one I will never forget, but the journey to get there was even greater. I have met so many wonderful and supportive people over the years. There are so many people I need to thank...my wife and family, my coach, my running/riding partners, my friends, my twitter/facebook friends, and A Runner's Circle family... I couldn't have done it without all of you....so from the bottom of my heart...THANK YOU!

So what's next you ask??? Nothing! Actually, I have the Disneyland Half Marathon on the schedule and that is it. I'm not going to do much the rest of this year, I need to give my body a break and I need to take care of things in my life that I have put on hold for the better part of the last year. In the coming weeks, I will sit down and figure out some kind of maintenance plan so I can try and stay in shape. I will also try and figure out 2012 as far as racing...at this point, I am leaning towards "not much", since I am shooting to run the Goofy Challenge in January 2013. I need to decide if I want to run the LA Marathon again, but at the very least, I will volunteer with Craig and his SRLA kids once again.

Oh yes...the broken tooth...I had it looked at on Tuesday morning and fortunately, it was only a wisdom tooth, but it was beyond saving and had to come out.

Time...A Precious Commodity

2011-07-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

I keep looking at this blog and thinking I really need to write something. After all, it has been over 2 months since I last posted anything, but I really haven't had much time to write. So today...I am forcing myself to write!

The last few months have been crazy as I have been training for my first half ironman triathlon...Vineman 70.3. The race is next weekend and I have been preparing for the last few months. I have 9 workouts over 6 days with Friday being my only rest day. I'm not going to lie...it has taken it toll, not only on me, but those around me. I tend to be a bit cranky at times! I get home after 8pm 3 nights a week, spend most of Saturday on a bike doing my long rides and several hours on Sunday doing a long run. My wife has been a real trooper when it comes to my training, but I think she is glad it's almost over. In a way...I am too...I can get my life back. There are so many things (projects, honey do's, etc) that I have pushed aside during this training plan, and after next week's race, I must deal with them.

Over the last few months, I have met some amazing people and done some really good training rides/runs with. I was really fortunate to meet @roadchickie and she took me under her wing and showed me how to embrace and love cycling. "Ride for Food and Beer"is her motto! You can read about most of our rides on her blog: www.mydogparty.blogspot.com As she says...I have drank the cycling kool-aid and now I am thinking about doing a century ride later this year. I also got to do a couple of rides with Ron and Rebecca and we all did a Sprint Triathlon today, which was a lot of fun. The last few weeks, I have been running with Craig Moss and some of his Mt Gleason Runners in the hills of Griffith Park. Some serious trail running with lots of elevation gain.

Recently, I was asked what are my plans after Vineman? I said I am taking a break from training, although I still want to get in a good bike ride and run every other week or so. I only have one race on the schedule and that is the Disneyland Half marathon in September. I still need to decide if I want to run the LA Marathon again next year or take the year off. I may just volunteer with Craig and his SRLA kids working water stops and doing some of the shorter runs. I dont know...I probably wont make that decision until late September.

This week is a pretty light training week, although I will put in some extra workouts in the pool. I was not pleased with this mornings swim (Sprint Triathlon) so I need to get it figured out before next week. We leave on Friday morning for Sonoma and the race is Sunday.

Thank you to everyone for your support!, especially those of you who has put in training miles with me either on the bike or by foot, it means everything to me.

Under-Promise and Over-Deliver!

2011-04-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have been is sales for almost 20 years and when I first got started, one of the old timers told me about the phrase.."under-promise and over-deliver" and it has stuck with me all these years and I still practice it to this day.

This week I had the opportunity to finally meet and ride with @roadchickie. We have been talking about doing a ride for sometime, but with my LA Marathon training, it just didn't happen until yesterday. She had mentioned on her blog that she did a 50 mile ride to the Rose Bowl and back and that peeked my interest. I told her this would be my longest ride yet and that I wasn't all that fast and a poor climber as well. Mind you, this was coming off of last weeks ride where I felt a bit overwhelmed at 35 miles. I have followed her on twitter for some time and have read her blog regularly, so I know she is the "real deal" when it comes to cycling. She agreed to take me on this trip with only one condition...that no pictures could be taken of her (remember this for later), but she could take pictures of us and we made plans for Saturday. We took off from her place in the Valley and cruised along at a nice pace on into Burbank where we met up with a couple of her other riding friends, Randy and William.

William, Randy and I

Once we met up with William and Randy, we headed up into the hills of Glendale. The climbing wasn't bad and I was feeling pretty good. Winding through the neighborhoods of Glendale was nice and we were all chatting as we rode. M.E. would ask if I had ever done "such and such" a ride and when I said nope...I could here the wheels turning in her head, she was eventually get me on those rides. When we got to Verdugo, which would be our biggest climb, William and I started out at a nice pace. We were talking about beer and just kept cruising right along. All of the sudden, his cell phone rings and he answers it...it was M.E. and Randy, we had missed the turn off and need to go back to them...it was about 1/2 mile, no big deal...who couldn't use a bit of extra climbing? We got back to them and headed down a side street that led us to Verdugo about 1 block north of where William and I turned around. WTF? I guess it was payback for my smart ass comment to M.E. as we were riding to meet the guys. She asked me what I did for a living and I told her I was a stunt double on adult films...for 1 second she took me seriously and didn't know what to say...then she just laughed. I guess I deserved the extra climbing.

We started descending into Pasadena and M.E. warned us that we needed to stop at any stop sign as the police were giving tickets. Sure enough, there was one sitting at an intersection just waiting for cyclist to blow through the stop signs. Fortunately, none of us got tickets as we all stopped. When we arrived at the Rose Bowl, there was an event going on but we were able to make it to the bathrooms for a quick break. While we were getting ready to leave, a women cyclist approached and M.E. and Randy knew her. Her name is Dorothy Wong and she does/has done a lot for women's cycling. I must admit I didn't know who she was until I got home and googled her. We chatted for a few minutes and then we stopped over to take a few pictures with her and her cycling group. While M.E. was taking pictures with them (remember that "no picture" clause) Randy, William and I were making jokes about her "no pictures of me" clause and how it didn't seem to apply now. Dorothy decided to ride out of the Rose Bowl with us and head home.

Dorothy, William and Me

We started back up the hill to Verdugo and it really wasn't that bad of a climb back out. We headed in Montrose and M.E. and I decided to eat lunch, while William and Randy decided to keep going. I was glad we stopped as it broke up the ride a bit, but it was fun chatting and getting to know M.E. After lunch it was either downhill or flat (my kind of ride) as promised and we made our way through Glendale, and Burbank. We hopped on the Chandler bike path and then on down Chandler. I thought we were keeping a pretty good, but comfortable pace, it turns out that maybe it was a bit fast??? Sorry!

We were cruising along and my Garmin dinged and we had just hit 50 miles...woo hoo! We made it back to M.E.'s place and she introduced me to Boo...her dragon. What a cool creature...I have never seen, nor been able to touch one in person.

Boo

When it was all said and done, we did 50.63 miles, moving time: 3:54:01 with 2,086 feet of climbing. Drove home thinking about my accomplishment and my new friends, unloaded my car and had a well deserved beer or 3.

I had a great time and can't wait to get together and ride again, although I get the feeling that M.E. wont be going so easy on me the next time! So in the end, I under-promised my riding ability, but by the end of the day...I definitely over-delivered! Thanks again!!!!

"Sandbagger Bob" :)

Check out M.E.'s account of our day, she is a much better story teller and has all of the pictures she took from the day. Here's the link http://mydogparty.blogspot.com/2011/04/game-on.html

Vineman 70.3 Training is in Full Swing

2011-04-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

I cant believe it's been so long since I have written anything, probably since I have been so busy with real world stuff. I started my Vineman 70.3 training plan on April 5 and so far it has been going fairly well. I am doing 9 workouts over 6 days with Friday being my only rest day. This is what my typical week looks like:

Monday - A.M. - Swim, P.M. - Bike
Tuesday - A.M. -Long Swim
Wednesday - Brick Workout with the LA Tri Club
Thursday - A.M. - Swim, P.M. - Run
Friday - Off
Saturday - Long Bike
Sunday - Long Run

I feel as if things are coming together, but the July 17 race date is rapidly approaching and I still have a long way to go until I feel confident about this race.

I have been fortunate enough to have meet some great people on twitter and we have met up for some longer bike rides. Last week, I finally got to meet and ride with Rebecca, her husband Ron and Stuart out in the Conejo Valley. It was nice to be able to ride with some new faces and Rebecca took us for a nice, not easy 35 mile ride. TheWhen it was done, I felt that I had gotten a great workout and up to then, that was my longest ride. Thanks again for not dropping me! Can't wait to do it again...hopefully soon.

Becca and I rolling to a quick water stop...a much needed break for me!

Me, Becca and Ron

Moving Forward

2011-03-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

After the LA Marathon, I have taken the last 2 weeks off of training. Other than a couple of 3 miles runs and a 4 mile walk with my wife, there has been no biking or swimming. Over the last 2 weeks, I have tried to figure out what went wrong, once again, at the LA Marathon. I have talked with several people, some athletes, some in the medical profession, about my issues....hunger at mile 9 and having no energy later in the race. Two theories have come up, one being the lack of protein I ate in the days leading up to the race. I have a PB&J sandwich for lunch on Friday and another one at the stadium before the race but that was it for protein. For the most part, Friday and Saturday was all carbs. Second was the fact that my body was using more energy to counteract the cold/rain/wind, makes sense, although I had a poncho on, but I was still wet and at times, cold. Time to move on, I have bigger things in my future...Vineman 70.3 on July 17th.

I received my training plan from Craig Moss the other day and have been studying it like crazy. I will be making some adjustments to the swimming portion by adding more distance to some of the workouts. I will also add a few longer bricks, later in the training cycle. I am also looking forward to meeting some people I follow on twitter and doing some bike rides and bricks with. With that said...training starts Sunday with a 5 mile run.

2011 LA Marathon Race Report

2011-03-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I arrived in Santa Monica by 4:15am and walked right on to a shuttle by 4:30am. Once we arrived at Dodger Stadium, we found a couple of seats in the stands to sit in. The stands were a lot more crowded this year, but given the weather, it was understandable. We tweeted our location and soon, Candice and Kristy(her first marathon, by the way) came by to say hi. We saw Chris and he took a picture with us and we chatted for a while. We hit the bathrooms and headed for the corrals. We were fortunate to be in the sub 5 corral and it was much less crowded. The race started late, which was a bit frustrating since it was cold and windy and I wanted to get going.

Melissa, Chris, Bob

Bob, Candice, Melissa ready to race

The race started about 15 minutes late, but once we got going, we got warmed up. We stuck with our 8/2 run walk interval from the beginning. At mile 2, we shed our warm up jackets, but kept our plastic ponchos on...something we were thankful for the rest of the day. This year the course wound it's way through Chinatown and Little Tokyo before heading up towards Silverlake and Hollywood. By mile 9, I was hungry, which was a strange feeling since I had breakfast at home, a PB&J sandwich at the stadium and a Gu at mile 6. I felt like I needed some solid food in me. We made it to mile 12 and the Mount Gleason Runners tent and picked up our Gatorade and Gu, but I was not feeling so great. Melissa's garmin ran out of juice about this time and her watch was timing the intervals, so we had to adapt using my garmin and mile markers to try and keep the 8/2 intervals going. We stopped at A Runners Circle tent at mile 15 for a quick chat, some much needed pretzels and a few pictures and then off we went. By this time, I was completely soaked, even with the poncho on and was starting to feel some discomfort in my left knee. I thought of popping one of the 800mg Ibuprofen I had with me, but thought with the stomach issues, that may not be such a great idea. I saw Glenn, actually he saw me on Rodeo Dr, got a high five and exchanged a few words and we continued on. We now came to the section of the course that I had trouble with last year...the section of Santa Monica through Century City. Melissa kept telling me we were going to break through the wall and kept cheering me and everyone else on. I actually saw a side of her I have never seen before. I couldn't figure out where all of the energy was coming from. At one point I asked her..."Are you sure those were Advil's you took?" She said yes and kept on high fiving everyone on both sides of the road. We made it past mile 20 and I felt relieved that we made it past that section of the course. We got into the VA hospital grounds and all of the sudden I had some cramping starting in my left Achilles. We stopped, stretched and walked a bit, it seemed to get better but when we stopped at the Start Training LA tent, I took on more gatorade, popped a salt tablet and had some more pretzels.

I felt a bit better and off we went to conquer the last 5 miles. It seemed that the weather was worse those last few miles with the wind really picking up as we got closer to the coast. We passed so many people, some SRLA kids, that were wearing just a tank top and shorts and walking like zombies, most likely suffering from the onset of hypothermia. We made it onto Ocean ave and the finished seemed so far away. We pressed on and finished strong...or at least as strong as I could. We crossed the line with a finish time of 5:05:15. That was a 9 min PR for me over last year's race, although it fell short of our original time goal of 4:30-4:45. Given the conditions, I am very pleased.

We got our medal, mylar wrap and some food and headed for the exit. There was a jam up at the exit and we couldn't figure out why, but then we could see the problem. People that were waiting for their loved ones were crowding the exit of the finish chute and essentially, it became a single file line to get out. After about 100 feet, I grabbed Melissa and we busted through about 4 people and made it to the sidewalk and continued our journey to the car. Note: LA Marathon, you need to get that exit figured out, rain had nothing to do with it, barriers, fences would have helped. The rain and wind continued and as we walked to the car, it came down even harder. We skipped the finish line festival because it was too cold and we wanted to get into some dry clothes. We made it to the car (almost 1.25 miles from finish) and changed into dry clothes. Once we got warm, we headed out to The Griddle Cafe for brunch. They had a huge wait (45-60 min), but since we walked in wearing our medals and told the guy we just finished 26.2 miles, he sat us right a way...which was very much appreciated. We got several congratulations from some of the patrons in the restaurant, which was kind of nice.

There are so many people that I would like to thank for their support and love through out my training but here are a few that have made a huge impact. My wife, who has stood by me every time I tell her I want to do another race and puts up with my crazy training schedule. Craig Moss, for allowing me to come and run with the Mt Gleason Runners every Saturday and your advice/coaching/friendship. Melissa, my running partner, who pushed me to a new PR...I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you to all of the volunteers and those of you that braved the weather to come out and support us!

I am taking a couple of weeks off of training and April 1, I will start my Vineman 70.3 training plan.

It's Showtime Again

2011-03-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

So here we are, one year later, going through the same "taper madness" once again. It seems that this year, like last year, I have been plagued by an injury along with a busy schedule that has kept me from completing my Higdon marathon training plan to it's fullest.

Between work, travel, and injury, I was only able to get one, 20 mile run in this cycle, but it went fairly well. Melissa and I tried a 10/2 walk/run interval on our 20 miler. I thought it was working out well until around mile 18, where I was feeling "the wall" rapidly approaching. The last 2 miles were tough but we got through it. This week, we decided to do 14-15 miles and try a 9/2 walk/run interval. I think it definitely worked better for us than the 10/2 did, so we will use it during the LA Marathon. We also discussed a nutrition plan for the race, Gu every 6 miles or as needed. I think that with the Run/Walk interval, we should be able to power through the wall and finish strong....at least that is what I am hoping for.

This week I have been adding extra carbs and salt to each meal along with staying hydrated and cutting out alcohol and coffee the last few days. I have been trying to get to bed an hour or so earlier to get some extra rest, although I have been waking up at 2am (the time I will get up on Sunday) every night this week, but go right back to sleep.

Saturday will be a busy day with the expo in the morning and the Mt Gleason Runner's annual luncheon in the afternoon. The rest of the day will be spent resting.

This year, I don't have the fear of the unknown...I have done the distance and know I can do it again. I've learned from my mistakes (going out too fast) and will try and not repeat them. I am hoping to stay strong to the finish and set a new PR along the way. I am excited to be running with my RP, Melissa and all of the other "tweeps" that will be out there as well. Rain...well, we will just deal with it. I ran 20 miles in a downpour last year during training, and while granted, it sucked, I survived it.

Good luck to everyone running, especially those running their first marathon!

2011 Firecracker 10K Race Report

2011-03-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

2/13/11

A little late on this report, but I have been busy with work and travel. This is the second time I have run this race and granted, it is a tough course, it is one of the better 10K races in my opinion.

I'll spare you all of the details and give you the Readers Digest version....

The pre-race entertainment is spectacular, the dragon dance and the lighting of 100k firecrackers is truly a site to see. (Last year's race report and video) The 5k kicks off first and the 10k about 30 minutes later. I had one goal for this race and that was to PR the course. The one thing you should know about this course is that the first 2.9 miles are uphill and a good portion of that is a very substantial grade.

I started out the race thinking I was going to try and keep a 9:30/mi pace for the first 3 miles and an 8:30/mi pace the last 3 miles. With all of the congestion of the start and the narrow road up the hill, I averaged 9:40/mi pace the first 3 miles. I tried to stay strong up the hills, but ended up taking a couple of walk breaks towards the top. As I started down the hill, I started to pick up the pace a bit. Made it into the Dodger Stadium parking lot and back towards Chinatown. I turned the last corner and kicked it up a notch and sprinted the last 200 yds. Average pace for the last 3 miles was 8:15/mi. Finished in 55:09 which was a 4:30 PR over 2010.

I met up with the rest of the runners from A Runner's Circle and we headed off to the beer garden for a celebratory drink. I highly recommend this race to anyone in the Los Angeles area, but be prepared for hills!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

Sunrise Over the Mississippi 2/20/2011

Students Run LA Friendship Run Race Report

2011-02-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

2/06/2011
The Students Run LA 18 Mile Friendship Run is a qualifier for the LA Marathon, they must complete the course in 4:50:00. Fortunately, SRLA allows the public to take part in this race, which is also what I did last year. (2010 Race Report) The course is two 9 mile loops starting and finishing at the Hansen Dam Park.

I arrived at Hansen Dam around 6am and headed over to find Craig Moss and the Mt Gleason Runners. We got things set up and then I headed over to get registered and drop off some old shoes at the Nike tent. I did a bit of stretching and then it was time to walk over to the starting line. I stood there for a few minutes and without any fanfare or the like, the race started and we walked up to the starting line. My goal for the race was A) finish under last year's time (3:20:00) and B) try the run/walk strategy that Melissa and I will use when we run the LA Marathon. My plan was to run the first 9 miles at a 10:00 min/ mile pace and then use a run/walk strategy of, run until the garmin beeps at a mile, then walk for 2 minutes, then resume running. I tried to start out slower and not get sucked into the crowd at the start. I think I was pretty successful although my first mile was the fastest. By mile 2, I was settling into a comfortable pace and continued on through mile 9. I ran until the garmin beeped 10 miles and then I started the run/walk plan. Miles 11, 12, 13 and 14 seemed to go by ever so quickly and using the run/walk method was working. At mile 15, I was starting to feel fatigued, probably from the heat, so I took my 3rd GU and continued on. The last 2 miles I changed from basically running 9/10 mile/walking 2 min, to running 1/2 mile and walking 1 min. I hit the end of the dam and the last water stop and headed for the finish. I was concerned about my foot and calf since this would be the longest run I have done since the injury occurred on January 1. I had absolutely no issues...until the last 100 yards. I started to feel my right calf cramp a bit, but it wasn't the normal tightening feeling...it was like the muscle was loose and flopping about inside my calf. Very strange feeling. I hobbled my way to the finish and crossed the line in 3:03:37 (Official Time) 795 out of 3138, 32 out of 64 in the 40-44 age group...and a 17 min PR over last year.

Garmin Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/67024436

I got my medal (handed to me in the plastic packaging it came in) and headed to get some post run food and a t-shirt. I made my way back to the Mt Gleason tent and hung out for a while before heading home.

I really enjoy this race and running with the kids. SRLA puts on a good race, it was very organized, the water stops were well stocked and manned with some great volunteers. The finish area was organized and the post race food was better than at some races. I do have some issues with this race, first off, the course was 3/4 mile shorter than advertised. (17.34 vs 18 miles) When I looked at the data from last year, the turn around on Wentworth Street was about 1/4 mile further last year making the race 18.36 miles. Second, I believe that the National Anthem should be played before the race, which I don't believe it was last year as well. Lastly, it would have been nice to have the medal placed around your neck as opposed to being handed to you in the plastic packaging they came in. There is something special about someone placing a medal around your neck and I think it is important for these kids to have that feeling, after all 18 miles is an accomplishment.

Again, thanks to SRLA for putting on a good race...see you at the LA Marathon.

Weekend Update

2011-01-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

Things got a bit busy for me last week and I didn't have a chance to update the blog but here is a recap of last week.

I made an appointment to see a physical therapist who specialized in A.R.T. (Active Release Technique) which is a soft tissue/movement based massage technique to treat muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. I arrived and Dr. Nagar took me through a few tests to check my gait and dorsi flexion. He then began to massage my calves will stretching some of the muscles. He then worked on my ankles to increase the dorsi flexion. What I really liked about him, was that he explained everything he was doing, why he was doing it, and what the expected result would be. He then showed me a few stretches that he wanted me to do before running. He then suggested that I try the Kinesiology tape on the right calf for my next 2 runs. I have always been a bit skeptical about the K Tape but I agreed to try it.

I did my first run in 2 weeks on Thursday night. We did our usual 5 mile loop, at a very easy pace, actually a bit slower than I wanted but that was OK, I didn't want to re injure myself. Saturday morning was to be the big test, I had 11 miles on the schedule with the Mt Gleason Runners. We set out at easy pace, but picked up a bit on the downhill section. We made it to the turn around and started to head back. As we approached the 7 mile mark, I was a bit nervous as that was the point 2 weeks ago where I started to feel pain in my foot. We crossed the 7 mile mark and continued on, pain free. We also tried a strategy that we will use during the LA Marathon. We ran until the garmin beeped at the mile, then we walked for 2 minutes. We continued this for the remaining 4 miles and it worked fairly well. We finished 10.69 miles and the foot/calves didnt bother me one bit.

I had planned a bike ride with my neighbor for Sunday, but at 8am he sent a text saying it was too cold and the weather was too crappy to ride, so he was going to bail on me. I decided that with pending rain, riding was probably not such a good thing, so I put on my running gear and headed out for 6 "easy" miles. About 1 mile into the run, I was feeling so good, I decided to push the pace a bit. When it was all said and done, I turned the easy run into a tempo run...but again, completely pain free. So was it the A.R.T. therapy or was it the K tape or a combination of both? I don't know, but when I see Dr. Nagar this week, I will have him tape me up for next weeks Students Run LA Friendship Run (18 miles).

Here is what week #12 looks like:

Week 12:
Monday: 4 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 8.25 mi, 7 x 800
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 18 mile SRLA Friendship Run

Today's weight: 207.2 Dropped another pound this week. I've really been watching what I am easting and keeping the beer down to a minimum. Looking for 200 lbs on Marathon Day (March 20)

Workin' on the Water Stop Gang

2011-01-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)
(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)

All day long they're singin', mm
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my work(out) is so hard
Give me water, I'm thirsty
My work(out) is so hard
~ "Chain Gang" ~ Sam Cooke

Since I am rehabbing my foot injury, I decided to work a water stop for Craig Moss and his Mt Gleason Runners this past Saturday. When I run with the group, I notice that it is always the same parents out there volunteering their time working the water stops for the kids. Tony, Jenny and I worked the second water stop, we had water, Gatorade, and gummy worms and snacks, along with band aids, tissue and moral support. The route for Saturday was a 5 mile loop done 3 times, so we got to see quite a bit of the kids. Each time they came around, they looked a little more worn out than the last, but we offered them words of encouragement, they thanked us and pressed on. After the last of the kids came by, we packed up and headed back to Mc Donald's to drop off the supplies. I really enjoyed seeing the kids from the other side of water stop, and getting to know some of the parent volunteers.

LA Marathon Training Week # 9 and #10

The last 2 weeks, training has been limited to the pool and the bike trainer, although I did get a 17 mile bike ride in on Sunday. It was a very tough ride as I was faced with 30-40 mph sustained wind and gusts up to 60 mph...no fun when riding a bike. I wondered why I didn't see more cyclist out on Sunday...they were smart and stayed home!

This week, I will attempt 5 miles on Thursday night and if all goes well, I will try and get in 11 miles on Saturday. I was given some advice from Leigh at Athletes Treating Athletes in regards to my situation with the Peroneal Tendonitis. She suggested seeing an A.R.T./Graston Technique person to help speed up the recover process. I have sought advice and recommendations from twitter and hope to find someone good here this week.

15 Miles Forward, 2 Steps Back

2011-01-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

Things seemed to be going very well this week in regards to the "Peroneal Tendonitits" in my right foot. I have gone 10 days without any discomfort and felt that the healing process was moving along well. I did an easy 5 mile run on Thursday night that was pain free. My schedule called for 12 miles on Saturday, but since I was running with the Mount Gleason Runners and their schedule called for 15 miles, that is what I did. About 7 miles into the run, I started to noticed a bit of discomfort in my right foot. I slowed up the pace and walked a bit. I made it to the second water stop and knew I only had 5 miles left and I could make it back. What I hadn't planned for was that the route back was a dirt and grass trail that is used by horses in the area and most of the trail was very uneven. I spent a lot of mental energy trying to focus on where to place my feet as to not twist an ankle or trip. At that point, I was hot, tired and in pain...so I decided to walk the rest of the way back. At one point, I did something I have never done before....I wanted to give up! I thought about crossing the road and seeing if I could hitch hike back to the McDonald's parking lot. I decided that A) I have never quit anything, and I'm not about to start now and B) it was not a good example for these kids, so I HTFU and kept walking. I did end up running about another 1/2 mile on the way back to the parking lot. When it was all said and done...15.4 miles in 2:57:50 Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but considering the pain and terrain...I'll take it.

Immediately upon returning to the parking lot, I soaked my foot in the ice bath for 10 minutes before heading home. I spent Sunday, icing, stretching and staying off of my feet as much as possible.

Now comes the hard part....waiting for my foot to heal. How long will that take? Who knows, but I did stay off of it for 2 weeks and it didn't completely heal. I will swim and bike most of the week and evaluate how I feel later in the week before attempting another run (short run).

I want to give a shout out to all of the parent volunteers of the Mt Gleason Runners. Every week they are there manning the water stops in all weather conditions (rain, cold and heat) and providing much needed support for hours on end. Thank you very much! I appreciate it and I know the kids do as well.

LA Marathon Training Week #8 and What I learned This Week...

2011-01-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Week #8 was spent either in the pool or on the bike, no running what so ever. The peroneal tendonitis kept me off my feet so to speak, but I was able to keep up with some training by swimming and biking. I am hoping to resume running on Thursday night with a short, easy run and get back on track for the LA Marathon.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 8:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (1200 yd swim)
Wednesday: 8 Miles ( Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 6.75 mi 5 x 800 (Swim 1500 yds, Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Friday: Rest (Rest)
Saturday: 17 miles long (25 mi bike ride)
Sunday: 8 miles (marathon pace) (Rest)

Here is what week #9 looks like:

Week 9:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 9 miles
Thursday: 7.5 mi , 6 x 800
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles long
Sunday: 9 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 210 Not sure why I keep going the opposite direction, I need to be diligent about what I am eating.

The first week of 2011 has not started off all that great, not only am I dealing with an injury, but I lost a friend unexpectedly on Thursday. This week taught me some valuable lessons...this is what I learned this week...

Our bodies are probably the most technologically and complicated pieces of machinery on earth. With that being said, they are susceptible to breakdowns now and again and sometimes for no clear reason even though we maintain and properly lubricate them. We have to accept that and let them heal...even if we don't like it.

Our time on this earth is limited and life can end at any moment, most of the time, without notice. Cherish the time you have with people and tell them that you love them, don't assume they know it.

I leave you with this quote from a dear friend...

Live life to the fullest, be happy and have no regrets!

The January Curse Strikes Again!

2011-01-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

One year ago today I was boarding a plane bound for Orlando to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon followed by a 7 day Caribbean cruise with some new friends. We ran the WDW Half in less than stellar conditions (Race Report) and then headed out on the cruise. We had a great time and I spent a ton of time on one of my favorite things...the Flow Rider. Day 6 of the cruise, on my very last ride of the trip, I injured myself...pretty badly. I had pulled a muscle in my groin called the "adductor longus" and it was quite painful. Of course, this came at a very bad time as I was preparing to run my first marathon about 8 weeks later. I took a few weeks off of running an focused on swimming to try and keep my level of fitness up and did run the LA Marathon on March 21, very much under trained.

This year, I have been working out with Craig Moss and his Mount Gleason Runners since November and was preparing to set a new PR at the LA Marathon this year. Training has been going very well and have stayed injury free. Last Friday, I ran my scheduled 16 miles without incident, and other than being a bit tired toward the end, I felt pretty good. Spent a nice New Year's Eve at home with my wife and went to bed fairly early. On New Year's Day, my wife and I decided to go for a long walk to start the new year out right. About 1 mile into the walk, I noticed some discomfort in my right foot. As we continued walking, the pain got progressively worse. We stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee and I massaged it for a bit, but I could tell something was wrong. We made it back home and I immediately started searching the Internet for possible problems. I didn't feel it was urgent enough to go to the ER, but I did stay off of it until Monday. I was able to find information and it was confirmed by my massage therapist to be "Peroneal Tendonitis". Reading up on it, I found the treatment to be R.I.C.E., so after my massage on Sunday morning, I stayed on the couch all day long and iced it several times. It was very painful to walk, especially in bare feet. Upon reading further, I found that it can take several weeks to heal before you can resume activity. At that point, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach...the LA Marathon is just 11 weeks away, am I going to be able to run the race?

I got very depressed thinking about it and ever time I took a step and it was painful, I got more depressed. I guess for me, I just can't point to a specific point when the injury occurred, and that bothers me, although it can be an overuse injury and the onset can be over time. I sought advice from twitter and I got a referral to a good foot doctor here in LA, some good information on aqua jogging and a PT that has a lot of good info on her site, Athletes Training Athletes
I have spent this week, icing and doing stretches on both the foot and the calf in hope of loosening things up a bit. I rode the bike on the trainer twice this week and got in the pool to not only swim, but try aqua jogging. I have to say that I think this program is working as I am no longer in any pain while walking. I will keep riding the bike, swimming and aqua jogging for the next few days. I may try an easy run late next week, but I don't want to push it right now.

So back to the curse...is it just a coincidence that I get injured in January, or is it that the "running Gods" don't want me to run the LA Marathon?? I don't know, but as I write this, I am more confident that I will be running the LA Marathon and return to training in the near future. I found this quote and I thought I would share it...

“I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter. With the laughs, comes the tears…” – Walt Disney.

LA Marathon Training Week #7

2011-01-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

Week #7 went fairly well, I was able to get back into the pool twice this week and managed a 16 mile long run on Friday and a 6.5 mile walk with my wife on New Year's Day.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 7:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (1200 yd swim)
Wednesday: 8 Miles (1200 yd swim, Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 6.75 mi 5 x 800 (Rest)
Friday: Rest (16 mi long )
Saturday: 16 miles long (6.5 mi walk)
Sunday: 8 miles (marathon pace) (Rest/injured)

Here is what week #8 looks like:

Week 8:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 8 miles
Thursday: 4 mi Tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 17 miles long
Sunday: 8 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 209.2 Up a bit this week, I am a bit surprised, but now that the holidays are over, it's time to get serious about the weight loss.

2010: A Year in Review

2010-12-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

...and what a year it was!
2010 was by far my busiest in terms of running and triathlons. I raced in every month except April and May and in some months, raced multiple times. Here is how 2010 broke down: 1-Full Marathon, 4-Half Marathons, 2-10K's, 1-5K, 1-18 mile race, 1-Marathon relay, 3- Sprint Triathlons.

My Year in Review Video...

January
Walt Disney World Half Marathon
February
Firecracker 10K
SRLA 18 Mile Friendship Run
March
LA Marathon
June
RnR San Diego Marathon Relay
July
Castaic Triathlon I
August
Castaic Triathlon II
Hansen Dam Triathlon
September
Disneyland Half Marathon
October
RnR Los Angeles Half Marathon
November
Burbank YMCA Turkey Trot 5K
December
Say No to Drugs 10K
Santa to the Sea Half Marathon

In terms of training, here is 2010 by the numbers:
Running: 756 miles
Biking: 198.5 miles (does not include time on the trainer)
Swimming: 30.1 miles

As for 2011, I have trimmed down my schedule quite a bit, partly to focus on 3 big races next year including my first Half Ironman (Vineman 70.3) and to set a new PR in the marathon.

So on this last day of 2010, let me say Thank You to my family, my friends, to the many people I have met in 2010 that are my new friends, ...you are all a great support system...and I appreciate each and every one of you. Here's to a fantabulous 2011!

Happy New Year!

Bob

Gear Review: New Balance 1226

2010-12-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

A few years ago when I decided it was time to get "real" running shoes, I headed over to Sports Chalet and was fitted with a pair of New Balance 768's. The first time I ran in them, I thought they were the greatest shoes ever, but to be fair, I was wearing "big box" running shoes. I loved the 768's and then one night at my local running store, A Runner's Circle, the New Balance people came out and let us "test drive" their new shoe...the 1224. I did 5 miles in them that night and bought a pair of them that night. They had lots of cushioning and support and felt so good running in them. About 9 months went by and I was very happy until the 1225's came out and I got a chance to run in them. New Balance really messed with the design and comfort of this shoe in favor of a lighter shoe. When I found out the 1224 were being discontinued, I had the running store and my son, who worked at Sport Chalet, find me every pair in a 10 2E that they could. I ended up buying 4 pair and putting them away.

Back in October, I was able to run in a pair of the new 1226's one Thursday night at A Runner's Circle fun run. New Balance really did a nice job with this shoe, not only is the cushioning back, but it feels (and is) lighter than the 1224's. I was able to get a pair of my own and have been testing them for about 6 weeks now and have about 65 miles on them.

New Balance 1224 (Left) and 1226 (Right)

The 1226 is definitely a bit lighter than the 1224, approximately 2 ounces per shoe, which doesnt seem like a lot, but over 26.2 miles, it can add up. The toe box area is covered in a light weight mesh that allows air movement through, which in the winter means cold toes. The 1226 uses N-ergy® in both heel and forefoot and provides NB's most advanced shock absorption and cushioning. The Stabilicore® medial support system provides an extremely smooth transition from heel to toe-off.


Stabilicore

I have done several runs over 10 miles in these shoes and they are just as comfortable at mile 13 as they are at mile 1. New Balance did a nice job on this shoe by maintaining the cushioning and support and shaving a few ounces off. I look forward to putting more miles on these shoes and wearing them for the LA Marathon in March. Now the issue is...do I buy a few pairs of the 1226's and put them away? I still have one more pair of the 1224's...I guess they are now considered "vintage" and I should probably put them up on ebay.

LA Marathon Training Week #6

2010-12-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas...
Week #6 on my LA Marathon training plan saw a twist in the schedule as I moved Saturday's (Christmas Day) long run to Friday and took an additional rest day on Thursday. I will do the same this week as well. I did try and get back in the pool last week, but when I got to LA Fitness, I was informed that the pool was closed for repairs until this morning.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 6:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (rest)
Wednesday: 7 Miles (Rode 60 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 6.75 mi 5 x 800 (Rest)
Friday: Rest (10 mi long )
Saturday: 10 miles long (Rest)
Sunday: 7 miles (marathon pace) (6.2 mi Marathon Pace)

Here is what week #7 looks like:

Week 7:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 8 miles
Thursday: 6 mi, 5 x hill
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 16 miles long
Sunday: 8 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 208.8 Up a bit this week, but considering all I ate and drank over the last couple of days, I'm surprised it wasn't more.

Coming later this week...
2010 My Year in Review...and what a year it was.

Gear Review: New Balance 1226

LA Marathon Training Week #5

2010-12-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

Week #5 on my LA Marathon training plan is finished, here's how it looked by the numbers. I am still having trouble with the mid week runs, but will try harder after the first of the year. This week, I had to run in the rain twice, which I don't mind except when you get completely soaked and the wind picks up.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 5:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (rest)
Wednesday: 6 Miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 3.5 mi tempo run (4 mi tempo run)
Friday: Rest (rest)
Saturday: 14 miles long (13.66 mi long)
Sunday: 7 miles (marathon pace) (4 mi Marathon Pace)

Here is what week #6 looks like:

Week 6:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 6.75 mi, 5 x 800
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles long
Sunday: 7 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 208.0 Up a bit this week. I'm going to try and be really good and stick with my points plan over the next few weeks.

Santa to the Sea Half Marathon Race Report

2010-12-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

December 12, 2010

We arrived in Oxnard about 6:30am and met up with Penny, Kristy, Jordan and Stuart in the parking lot. We rushed of to catch the shuttle buses to the starting line with toys in hand. The drive to the starting line took about 20 minutes through the farmland of Oxnard. The starting line was on an access road adjacent to the 101 freeway where there is a large Santa on display. For history about the Santa Claus Statue click here.

Stuart, Jordan, Penny, Kristy, Bob

We snapped a quick picture then hit the port a potty's one last time. The race started without much fanfare and off we went. We started about 1/2 way back and spent the first 1/2 mile dodging some of the slower runners and walkers.

Penny and Kristy had on green and red tutu's and Penny was sporting bells on her shoes (see video) which concerned me at first, but after a couple of miles, I didn't even notice them.

The first thing that we all noticed was that it was hot and it was going to be a tough race. Kristy, Jordan, Penny and I stayed together for the first 6 miles or so, but after the mid-way point, where they offered pretzels and sweet rolls (they were good, I had 2), Kristy sped up a bit and was out on her own. About the same time Penny and Jordan started to slow up and walk a bit due to the heat. I decided to catch up with Kristy and run the rest of the way with her. We ran and talked and kept hoping to get close to the beach for some of that cool air. We finally made it to the beach and it was still hot as we were running in the direct sun and there was absolutely no shade at all.

On the beach and it was still hot!

We finally got some relief around mile 12 when a nice resident had his hose out and was spraying everyone with water. I must say...it felt great. We made the final push and headed for the finish line. Official time: 2:45:59...It was officially my slowest half marathon ever, but from the get go, I always said it was going to be a fun training run with friends, not a race. Sometimes, it's not about the time, it's about the people you are running with, and for me, this was one of those times.

Bob, Melissa, Adam

After we finished we got in a line to get some water and food, met up with Melissa and Adam and waited for Jordan and Penny to finish. When they finished, they were informed that the race was oversold and they ran out of medals. Their names and bib# s were taken and have been promised the medals will be mailed to them. We headed back to the car and Penny and I took part in a celebratory "adult beverage" before heading out to Eggs N Things for a fantastic breakfast.


Kristy, Jordan, Penny, Bob - Post race

Bob and Penny with our post race "adult beverage"

Penny and Kristy in festive tutu's

Jordan

This was my first time running this race and other than the unusually warm December day and that they ran out of medals, it was a well run event and they collected a lot of toys. The volunteers were fantastic and very supportive. I think the only thing I would change would have been to have a couple of extra water stops since it was so hot.

LA Marathon Training Week #4

2010-12-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Week #4 on my LA Marathon training plan is finished, here's how it looked by the numbers. I swapped Saturday's long run with Sunday's mileage since I was running the Santa to the Sea Half Marathon on Sunday.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 4:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (rest)
Wednesday: 6 Miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 5.5 mi 4 x hill (7.25 mi Hill run)
Friday: Rest (rest)
Saturday: 13 miles long (6 mi marathon pace)
Sunday: 6 miles (marathon pace) (13.1 Half Marathon)

Here is what week #5 looks like:

Week 5:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 3.5 mi, tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 14 miles long
Sunday: 7 miles

Today's weight: 207.6 lbs , gained .80 lb. Not sure why I gained but I will have to try harder this week.

Santa to the Sea Half Marathon Race Report coming soon.

LA Marathon Training Week #3, Still Making Changes and What a Surprise!

2010-12-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Week #3 on my LA Marathon training plan is finished but I am still having trouble getting some of the mid week runs in. I might try and split Wednesday's mileage up and do half in the morning and the remainder in the evening.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 3:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: Rest (rest)
Wednesday: 6 Miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 6 Miles 4 x 1200 (6 miles, 2 x 800)
Friday: Rest (rest)
Saturday: 8 miles long (8 miles long)
Sunday: 6 miles (marathon pace) (10K race @ marathon pace)

Here is what week #4 looks like:

Week 3:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 5.5 mi, 4 x hill
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 13 miles long
Sunday: 6 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 206.8 , lost 1.2 lbs.

Something fun happened last week, my running partner Melissa and my "Thursday Night Gal Pals" threw me a surprise, belated birthday party.

They made me wear the "Party Animal" hat.

We tried a drink that Melissa brought back from Argentina called Fernet...it was OK, but we then had to have wine to get that taste out of our mouths. Melissa surprised me with..."I'm running the LA Marathon with you!" Wow! I couldnt believe it, but we both signed up on Friday morning. I am so excited that she will be running LA with me. She is a true running partner, that's for sure. Maybe I can get her to do a Sprint Triathlon with me next summer....hmmm

Say No to Drugs 10K Race Report

2010-12-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

This morning I ran the Say No to Drugs 10K at Universal Studios. I ran this race last year and had a lot of fun on a very hilly and challenging course, but this year was even more special...I got to run the race with my family. This is the first time that my son, daughter and son in law have ever run a race. My son, his girlfriend and myself did the 10K while the rest of the family and extended family walked the 5K.

The Family

We got to the race a bit early to avoid traffic and parking, so we wandered around the expo for a bit. I ran into tweep and fellow blogger Kristy and we talked for a bit. After the National Anthem, we headed down to the starting line. The race was delayed by about 10 minutes, but it gave us time to talk about strategy for the race. My training plan called for 6 miles at marathon pace, so I asked Ryan and Casey if we could run at a 10:00 per mile pace...the reaction I got was..."were gonna run that fast?" They gave in and agreed to run at that pace if I allowed them to walk up the hills. I said OK and the race started. The first 3/4 mile is downhill and the start can get a bit congested, so we took our time and got settled into our pace. We made it through 2 miles and then the big hill comes and we walked up that until we turned onto Wisteria Lane for quick out and back before climbing the rest of the hill. At the top of the hill is Whoville, the Psycho house and War of the Worlds set, which was fun to watch Ryan and Casey checking out everything including an actor dressed as Norman Bates holding his mother's corpse. (See picture below)

Lance, Norman Bates, his Mother, Nicole

We started the second loop of the 10K and it was not nearly as crowded since most of the 5K racers were off of this section of the course. I could tell that Ryan and Casey were getting a bit tired so I slowed the pace up a bit and we took an additional walk break. I did notice that one of the water stops that we came to on the second loop was already out of water and the workers had abandoned the station. Pretty sad considering there was at least 1/3-1/2 of the 10K runners behind us. We did start hitting a bit of traffic as me caught up to the back of the 5K pack. We continued the walking up the hill strategy and made it to the top. We rounded the final corner and made a push for the finish, even though it was uphill, I made Ryan and Casey run up the hill. We saw the rest of the family waiting for us as we crossed the finish line. We got our medals and met up with everyone up by the pancake breakfast. We didn't stay around for breakfast as we had some other commitments, but it sure smelled good. Unofficial time: 1:03:49


Ryan going for the big finish!

The girls in Whoville

Everyone had a great time and they now want to make it a yearly tradition...I'm OK with that. It was fun to be able to run with my son and his girlfriend and they even talked about doing a half marathon with me in the future. One more race for me this year and that will be next weekend's Santa to the Sea Half Marathon with Penny, Kristy, and Jordan...should be a fun race.

LA Marathon Training Week #2 and Tweaking the Plan

2010-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Week #2 on my LA Marathon training plan is finished and it went fairly well despite a rather large food holiday right in the middle.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 2:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: 5 miles (nothing/rest)
Wednesday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 30 Min Tempo (5K Turkey Trot)
Friday: Rest (rest)
Saturday: 11 miles long (12.6 mi long)
Sunday: 5 miles (marathon pace) (13.65 mi bike ride)

I had Craig Moss look over my training plan and we have decided to make some adjustments in the schedule. I will now have Tuesday's off and move Tuesday's miles to Wednesday. We'll see how that works out.

Here is what week #3 looks like:

Week 3:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 6 mi, 4 x 1200
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 miles long
Sunday: 6 miles Marathon Pace

Today's weight: 208.0 , lost 2/10 of 1 lb last week. I'm OK with that considering all that I ate/drank the last 4 days.

2nd Annual Turkey Trot Tweet Up Race Report

2010-11-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

A Few weeks ago, Linda and I decided we would run the Lake Balboa Turkey Trot again this year. On Wednesday when she went to sign us up, there were some issues which you can read about here. We decided not to run the Lake Balboa race but to try the Burbank YMCA's Turkey Trot instead. Some of our tweeps, Candice and Nadim were also doing this race.

I made my way to Burbank bright and early on a very cold morning here in Southern California and got registered. While I was waiting for Linda, I ran into an old high school friend that I haven't seen in 25 years. We chatted for a while about the last 25 years and about exercise, running and triathlon. Linda arrived and we met up with Candice, Nadim, Liana and Bob. We took a few pictures and headed off to the starting line.

Candice, Nadim, Linda, Me

Ms V and Me

After a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the race started. I decided that I would run with Linda and make this a fun run, even though she kept telling me to race and go my normal 5K pace. The course was an out and back to the south and then out and back to the north on a relatively flat street. Our first mile we ran a pace of 9:32. One 2 occasions, Linda blurted out "You have to go" really loudly and I got a few funny looks from people wondering "Is this guy bothering her?" Finally Linda gave in and Nadim and I ran with her the entire race.
We ran past the starting line and headed north to the second turn around. I was feeling good and we were running a 9:32 pace for mile 2. We slowed a bit on mile 3 as it had a little bit of an incline to it but still kept a pretty consistent pace. We made a charge for the finish line and finished in 30:32. We met up with Candice, Nadim, Liana and Bob, who ran a smoking 5k just 4 days after finishing Ironman Arizona! This was one of the most organized, small races I have ever seen. They had plenty of support on the course and at the finish line, chip timing and a nice long sleeved tech shirt...all for $35. What a deal. We will definitely be back for this race next year.

Bob, Me, Linda, Candice, Nadim after the race.

Now for the most important part of the day...breakfast. We met up over at Barney's Beanery and had a great breakfast with good food and lots of laughs. What better way to spend a Thanksgiving morning than with some great friends, a little running and food. Thanks again...it was lots of fun. Let's put it on the calendar for next year and maybe we can get Glenn to come out from behind the "Orange Curtain" and join us. :)

Me, Linda, Liana, Bob, Candice, Nadim @Barney's Beanery

LA Marathon Training Week #1 is in the books

2010-11-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

Week #1 on my LA Marathon training plan is in the books. I modified the plan a bit, but I did get 5 days of workouts in this week, something I haven't done since mid-August.

Here's how this week looked: (Actual)

Week 1:
Monday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Tuesday: 5 miles (nothing)
Wednesday: 3 miles (Rode 30 min on bike trainer)
Thursday: 5 miles, 3 x Hill (5 Mi, 3x hill)
Friday: Rest (rest)
Saturday: 10 miles long (11 mi long)
Sunday: 5 miles (marathon pace) (3 mi marathon pace)

This morning my calves were so tight and sore that I decided to just do 3 miles. I will have to figure out how to run on Tuesdays, right now that is my busiest day of the week.

Here is what week #2 looks like:

Week 2:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 30 min tempo (Turkey Trot 5K)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 11 miles long
Sunday: 5 miles

As for weight, I stuck to my Weight Watchers points for the week, I will weigh in tomorrow morning and am hoping to see a smaller number on the scale.

**update**
Today's weight: 208.2 , lost 1 lb last week.

LA Marathon Training Starts Today

2010-11-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today starts week #1 of my 18 week training plan (Higdon Adv 1) for the LA Marathon. It's been 3 weeks since the Rock n Roll LA Half Marathon and I kept to my word and took some time off. I was also sick twice in that 3 week period, so that helped me take some time to rest.

Now I am ready to get serious and get back to training. I am also on a mission to drop 15 lbs by the time I start the LA Marathon.

Starting Weight: 209.2 lbs
Goal Weight: 195 lbs

Week 1:
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 5 miles, 3 x Hill
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles long
Sunday: 5 miles (marathon pace)

I will be swapping out a 30-45 min bike workout in place of the Mon/ Wed 3mile this week and possibly a 20 mile bike ride in place of Sunday's 5 miler, depending on the weather.

I will be back with Craig Moss and the Mt Gleason Runners starting this coming Saturday, something I have been looking forward to for a while.

Giving Back

2010-11-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to volunteer at a 5K trail race put on by, Heather, one of our fellow runners from A Runner's Circle. It was the first time her company, Green Running Events, put on a race. I arrived early and met up with Melissa and worked with Dino on getting the start and finish lines signs hung up. Heather asked us to work the finish line and go talk to the people doing the timekeeping to see what they wanted us to do. We were asked to pull the tags off of everyone's bib as they crossed the finish line and put them on a string in order. OK, easy enough.

After a few announcements and the National Anthem, the race started. We took our places behind the finish line and waited for the first runner to come in.


Waiting for the first runner to cross the finish line.

The first runner crossed the line in the 16-17 minute range and we got started pulling the tags off the bibs and keeping them in order. I was an easy task, but as more and more runners crossed the line, it took lots of concentration to keep the runners in order and grab the tags. I'm glad there were two of us working the finish line.

The youngest runner of the day.

After about an hour, the last 3 runners/walkers came in and a few minutes later, the awards ceremony started. Very cool medals (see below) were given three deep in all age groups.

Medals made from recycled bike parts.

After the awards, we cleaned up and about 15 of us headed off for breakfast. I had a lot of fun working the race and I was really glad I was able to give back to the running community. Look for this race next year to be even bigger and better.

Pictures from the event can be found here MAK Photography
and
A Runner's Circle

A New Year, New Challenges

2010-11-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

A New Year

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 43rd birthday and with the exception of birthdays 1-8, 21, 30(interesting story there)and 40...I like to keep them very low key. As I do every year around my birthday, I like to reflect on the last year, the highlights, the low lights and everything in between. This last year was loaded with highlights and very few low lights. First of all, I celebrated my 15th year of marriage, I ran my first marathon(Race Report), I completed 3 triathlons in one season, ran a half marathon dressed as Elvis with my running partner(Race Report), paced friends to new PR's, made new friends and strengthened relationships with old friends. All in all...it was a very good year and a lot of it is thanks to running/triathlons. Five years ago, I could never imagine running a marathon, let alone a 5K and I didn't even know what triathlon was all about. I would have never imagined doing what I did at 12:46am on November 1, 2010...

New Challenges

Over the last few months, I have been contemplating my 2011 race schedule and decided to step it up a notch. If everything goes as planned, I will run the LA Marathon once again in March, the Disneyland Half marathon in September, and hopefully, fingers crossed, the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, DC in late October. After reading Linda's and Penny's MCM race reports, I really want to do this race...badly. Oh yeah...getting back to November 1, 2010...I took what I consider to be the biggest step of my triathlon/running life....I signed up (and got into) the Vineman 70.3 (1/2 Ironman) race on July 17, 2011. I must admit that I am a bit scared...but give me 8 months to prepare and I will be ready. Training for 2 marathons and a 1/2 Ironman should give me plenty to write about. Another goal for 2011 is to drop below 200 lbs. I have been fluctuating between 202 and 210 for the last year and I must focus to get below 200 lbs and stay there.

I want to say "Thank You" to all of you that made my 43rd year...a fantastic year.

Rock N Roll LA Half Marathon Weekend Race Report

2010-10-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday Oct. 23, 2010

I was meeting my RP Melissa and her friend Laura, from Massachusetts, for breakfast at the Griddle Cafe in Hollywood before the expo. It was Laura's first time to LA and my first time to the Griddle Cafe. I had heard stories about some of the dishes they made and was excited to finally give it a try. We got an egg scramble thingy, red velvet pancakes and Nutella stuffed french toast. It was all very yummy! (Food porn pics below)

Egg Scramble Thingy

Red Velvet Pancakes


Nutella Stuffed French Toast

After breakfast we headed to the convention center and the expo. We got our bibs, t-shirts and goody bags and wandered around a bit. This expo was definitely not as crowded as San Diego in June, but there was a lot less people running this race. They even had registration open at the expo and when I asked about it, they said they only had 11,000 runners and that there would be plenty of people on the course for me to run with. After a bit more shopping and strolling the expo, we decided it was time to leave and introduce Laura to cupcakes. We made our way to Frosted Cupcakery in Hollywood. After a few minutes we walked out with 8 cupcakes between us. As we were heading back, we brought up the phenomenon in LA know as "Food Trucks". So on our way back we were searching twitter looking for a food truck so Laura could see what we were talking about. We found the Calbi BBQ truck and they were just getting parked and open for business. That was my first time having their food and it was good. I got back to my car and made the trek back to the Valley.

Sunday Oct. 24, 2010

Race Day!
I got up at 3:15am to be out the door by 4am. I drove down in full costume and got a funny look from the woman taking my money in the parking garage. I waited for Melissa and Laura to show up and when they pulled up, the look on Laura's face was priceless! I guess she didn't know how serious we were about the Elvis costumes. After chatting for a few minutes, we took a couple of pictures and headed off to the shuttles.

Laura looks a bit uncomfortable with the Elvi

We walked right onto a shuttle and it immediately headed for Griffith Park. We made the 1/2 mile walk to the starting corrals from where the shuttle dropped us off. We grabbed a bagel (grossest bagel ever), water and found some of the Start Training OC people. We stood around, talked and people watched for the better part of an hour. About 7 am, we headed to our corral, corral #2, and continued to wait for the race to start. We took several pictures with strangers and after the singing of the National Anthem, the race began.

Our original goal for this race was to have fun and not "race" it. I think in the back of my head, 2:30 was the pace I/we wanted to run. Melissa asked if we could pace her friend Adam to go 2:15 or less...I said sure, why not. As we got going, I felt like we were running at too fast of a pace. I looked at my Garmin, did the math and we were running at a sub 2 hour pace. I knew that I wasn't in shape to run that pace for 13.1 miles.

At mile 5 we saw the guys from our running store, A Runner's Circle, and some of them ran with us for 1/2 mile or so. We started to slow the pace down to a more comfortable pace. By now the sun had started to come out and it was getting a bit warm, especially in a polyester jumpsuit and wig. I started pouring water down the front and back of the jumpsuit to keep cool. At mile 7 we started doing a run/walk interval and would continue that throughout the rest of the race. There were several hills on the course, ( LA has hills, go figure) and some we had to walk up. We finally made it into downtown and were in the home stretch. One last walk interval and we finished strong. The three of us held hands as we crossed the finish line. Official time: 2:13:16 We met up with Laura, who ran a new PR of 1:47, and off to the beer garden. I will say that Rock N Roll LA finish area was much more organized than San Diego, so hats off to them.

Melissa, Adam, Bob

We hung around for a bit, but Melissa and Laura had to get going...they were driving to San Diego to catch the NE Patriots vs SD Chargers football game. So we made our way to the parking garage and said goodbye. We did stop for one more picture...

Laura looks more comfortable with us now.

What a great weekend! I got to run a race with my running partner (in costume), met some new people, had some great food and paced someone to a new PR. Thank you Melissa and Laura for a great weekend! So what's next? Nothing! I am going to take some time off for a few weeks and let my body recover. I hope to run a Turkey Trot with some of my tweeps on Thanksgiving and a 10K in December. Both will be "fun runs" and not races. The next big race for me will be the LA Marathon in March.

We did make the local newscast and you can see the video here.
shar.es/0EVaC

Weekend Update

2010-10-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

After working the last 3 weekends, I finally had a weekend off and planned a 6-8 mile run. My wife and I headed for Griffith Park, she headed out for a 90 minute walk and I decided to run the "6 mile hill loop". I started out and felt pretty good but by mile 4, my left knee was starting to ache. My knee was bothering me last week, but I thought that was from all the lifting and bending I did when my company moved. I took it easy the last 2 miles and by the time I was finished, it was really hurting. I met my wife at the car and we headed out to one of our favorite breakfast places. I had an awesome "Greek Island Omelette". It had feta cheese, spinach, kalamata olives, red onion, artichoke hearts and it was yummy.

When we got back home, I headed right for the laptop to watch the Ironman World Championships live from Kona, Hawaii. I was glued to my computer all day long watching the coverage and I didn't turn it off until 11pm when Chris Schauble crossed the line, sub 13 hours. Congrats Chris! So proud of you.

As I sat watching the Ironman feed, I made up to "cheer posters" for some of my friends racing today. Veronica was racing the Hudson Mohawk River Half Marathon in Albany, NY and my RP, Melissa and friend Dino were racing the Chicago Marathon. As I sit here writing this, I have already heard from Veronica that she finished and I am tracking Melissa online. Go Melissa Go!!!!

I'm going to give my knee a day off to see if it gets any better. I put on my knee brace this morning and it seems to be helping. Hoping to get back into the pool tomorrow morning for some much needed swimming.

Congrats to everyone on a great racing weekend!

When Life Gets in the Way

2010-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been quite challenging as life has gotten in the way of any training I had planned. After 33 years in one location, my company decided it was time to move to a larger location. After 2 months of planning, the day finally arrived and the moving trucks showed up and so we began the process of moving a dental supply company. The challenge was not only that none of us had ever moved a company before, but we had to be up and operational in the new facility in 4 days! Holy S&!t...That means, phones, computers and 20,000 SKU's had to be moved and put into place in 96 hours. Oh yeah, I forgot that it turned out to be the hottest weekend of 2010! When it was all said and done, it took us 4-1/2 days to move and become operational, we worked 13 days straight and 9 of those days were 12+ hour days. Needless to say...I didn't get any training done at all. I was too tired to drag myself to the pool at 5am and getting home after 9pm didn't bode well for a run. I was able to get my first run in last Thursday at A Runner's Circle Fun Run with my RP, Melissa. It turned out to be a "Not so Fun Run" as we were both hurting and found running to be difficult. My back, knee and ankle were hurting that running was just not comfortable. Out of the 3 miles we "ran", we walked about 1.5 miles of that.

So this week has been much of the same...I have not made it to the pool yet this week and may just take the week off. I will get in a 5 mile run on Thursday night and possibly 8 miles on Saturday. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am doing a limited training schedule through mid November when I start my LA Marathon training in full force.

One highlight from last week was I went to see Carrie Underwood at the Hollywood Bowl with my wife, Tina, Melissa and Ann. What a great show! Here is a little taste of the finale complete with fireworks. What a great way to end a couple of tough weeks!

So What's Next??

2010-09-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

2010 has been a very busy year for me between races, travel, business and natural disasters. With that being said, I am taking some time off from racing, travel and hopefully, natural disasters. My body is tired and it is telling me loud and clear that I need to take some time off of training. I do have one more race on the calendar and that is the RnR Los Angeles Half Marathon in late October. I (means WE) will be running that race for fun in our Elvis costumes once again. I won't be racing for time, actually, if all goes as planned, I will be setting a new PR for the slowest half marathon I have ever run. I do plan on running a Turkey Trot 5K and the Say No to Drugs 10K in December, but again, for fun, not time.

I will start my LA Marathon Training in November, with setting a new PR as my main goal for the coming year. I have laid out my tentative race schedule for 2011 and it looks like this:

Chinatown Firecracker 10K
LA Marathon
Vineman 70.3 Half Ironman
Hansen Dam Triathlon
Disneyland Half Marathon
Marine Corps Marathon

So for the next month, I will swim twice, bike once and run twice a week until Mid November, then I will start my LA Marathon training program.

In the meantime, my company is moving to a new location and we will be working 6-7 days a week for the next 3 weeks, so it will be tough to find both the time and energy to swim, bike or run...probably just sleep.

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Race Report

2010-09-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Friday September 3, 2010

We made our way down to Anaheim and met up with our friends from New York, Jamie, Veronica, T-Bone (Tess) and Cliff. Before we headed to the expo, we decided to engage in, the first of many, overly priced meals in Downtown Disney. After lunch we headed to the expo and did packet pickup and then went upstairs to the expo. This years expo was as lame as the previous years, same vendors, same races, etc. It's funny because the Walt Disney World Marathon/Half Marathon expo is much bigger with many of the running shoe manufacturers there and many more vendors, races, etc. We made a quick run through the expo and while the girls were shopping at the Disney section of the expo, I sat and listened to Jeff Galloway for a few minutes.
We went back to our hotel to pick up Paul and Jody from Texas and head back to the expo so Jody could pick up her race packet. I dropped off Tina, Jody and Paul and spent the next 40 minutes parking the car in the parking structure. By the time I got back to the expo, they were done and we headed of to Disneyland for a few hours of fun.

Saturday September 4, 2010

Jamie and T-Bone were running the 5K and we all came over to support them. I must say I was surprised at the amount of people that ran the 5K, I never heard an official number but it was in the thousands. The race started and off they went. We headed over to the mid point of the race to try and catch them crossing between Disneyland and California Adventure. We saw them, shouted some words of encouragement and took a few pictures and then made our way to the finish line inside of California Adventure. Standing near the finish, we waited and first came Jamie crossing the line and then T-Bone a few minutes later. Once they crossed the line, they were handed a piece of paper that said that due to a shipping issue, they didnt have enough medals.

No Medals?? WTF?

The look of disappointment on people's faces was incredible, especially those that were running a race for the first time. It looked like about half the people were given medals and the other half IOU's. There was a nice gentleman who ran the race and had a medal and saw T-Bone looking quite disappointed. He walked over and asked if she got a medal, when she said no, he took his off and gave it to her. She wore that medal proudly around all day long. We spent the rest of the day in California Adventure. We all went to Buca Di Beppo for a carbo loading dinner before turning in early to get some rest before the half marathon in the morning.

T-Bone and Jamie after 5K

Sunday September 5, 2010

We left the hotel at 4:15am and procedded to get into a traffic jam trying to get into the parking structure. We have always left at the same time, and breezed right in, this time, it took about 30 minutes to drive the 2 miles from the hotel and get parked in the structure. I met up with Rachel and gave her the extra bib and chip that I had and went off to meet Veronica and Cliff. We made our way to corral D, where Veronica and Cliff were assigned and saw Penny, Kristy and Lauren, so we decided to wait with them until the race started.
After the National Anthem, the wheelchairs started followed by corral A. They put about a 3-5 minute spacing between the corrals this year. Finally, at 6:20am, we crossed the starting line and off we went. The whole goal of this race for me was to pace Veronica to a new half marathon PR of 2:15-2:20. I had given her a 16 week training plan and she followed it to the T and she was ready to make a run at that PR. If you have ever run this race, you know the first 3 miles are crowded and slow, but we did our best to keep a 10:00 per mile pace. I was a bit disappointed in the amount of people that A) either lied on their race registration regarding their time, or B) snuck into an earlier corral. I saw walkers that started quite a bit ahead of us and we were in the beginning of corral D.

We made it out of the parks and onto the streets of Anaheim and we were right on pace. At one point we were even ahead by about 50 seconds which was good since I knew things would slow down inside Anaheim Stadium. We made it to the stadium and it was filled with lots of people cheering.

We stopped so I could take a picture of Veronica on the field in the stadium, so having that extra time helped. Once out of the stadium, it was 3 miles to the finish. Around mile 11, I could see Veronica was starting to get tired and was falling behind a bit, so we took a quick walk break. Mile 12 was probably the toughest for her but I kept telling her to keep going. I know she was hurting but we were almost to the finish. We made it down the last 200 yards to the finish and once we crossed the finish line, she was all smiles and tears.

Official time: 2:16:20 We stopped for a few photographs with our "bling". We wore 3 medals...WDW Half Marathon, Disneyland Half Marathon and the coveted Coast to Coast medal.

The Coast to Coast hardware

Cliff, Veronica, Bob, Jody

After a quick stop back at the hotel, we spent the rest of the day at the Disney parks. By the end of the day, my legs were a bit sore but my Zensah sleeves really helped. I wish I would have wore my Garmin all 3 days to see how many miles we actually walked around the parks. We went back to Jamie and Veronica's hotel room for a while and then said our good bye's as everyone would be getting on planes in the morning.

I must say that this was one of the best races I have run...not because of my time, but because I was able to share in Veronica's accomplishment of finishing with a new PR. I was glad to be a part of her special day. It was also great to finally meet some friends from twitter, some of which, I had never met in person before... Kristy, Lauren, Eva and Punkrockrunner, who looked a lot like Penny(Southbaygirl)

All in all it was a great weekend and went by way to quickly.

You can view all the pictures from the weekend here.

Disneyland Half Marathon Preview

2010-09-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year once again, where we make the 45 mile (90 min) drive to the "City that Walt built", Anaheim, Ca to run the Disneyland Half Marathon. For me, this is usually just another expensive race, but this year is going to be different. Back in January, we met our friends in Orlando and ran the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in somewhat less than favorable weather conditions. (You can read the race report here) Now, all of our friends are making the pilgrimage from NY and TX to Anaheim to reunite and run this race and get our "Coast to Coast" medals.

Not only are we going to run this race together, I am going to pace Veronica to a new half marathon PR. We are shooting for 2:15-2:20, and I don't see any reason why we cant hit that. I gave her an 18 week training plan and she has followed it to the T. She has increased her speed and the new PR is in her sights. As an added bonus, Jaime and T-Bone(such a bad ass name for one bad ass 10 year old) will be running the 5K on Saturday, we'll be out cheering with camera in hand. We have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. Safe travels to y'all (see Paul, I still got it) and see you shortly.

I will have a full race report next week...

Hollywood Sign "Fun-venture" Run

2010-08-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, my Running partner, Melissa, and I embarked on a journey to run to the famous Hollywood sign. Once a month there is a group from our running store, A Runner's Circle, that makes the 13 mile round trip journey from the store to the sign. We have talked about going, but it never seemed to fit into our schedule. Last week, she had 18 miles "of hills" on her schedule and I had 13 miles on mine, so I volunteered to run the extra miles with her. We decided to try and make it to the Hollywood sign and I mapped out a route that would give us approximately 17.5 miles round trip.The weather looked to be in our favor as well, the forecast was 67 degrees when we started and predicted 77 degrees when would would finish.

We started out at 7:30am with 6 water bottles between us. We made our way past the LA Zoo and Travel Town before heading up the hill. At the top of the "hill loop", we turned onto an old access road that is no longer used by cars. The nice thing about that road is that it is fairly shady most of the way up. We continued on at a nice, easy pace all the way to the top where the trail starts to the Hollywood sign. We took a quick break and downed a Gu and some gatorade.

We started down the dirt trail that leads to the sign, now we were running in full sun and it was getting hot. The trail goes approximately 1.5 miles and runs into a paved (and I use that term lightly) road that takes you all the way to the top. This section was by far the steepest, the last mile to the top had about 400 feet of elevation gain. We would our way around the backside of the mountain and finally made it to the top.

At the top is an antenna array that is used by LAPD and LAFD. The area is highly secured, even the area where the Hollywood sign sits is off limits and gated. We took a few minutes to enjoy the views, take some pictures and rest up a bit for the 8.6 mile journey back.

We sent this tweet to Craig Moss, Just got to the Hollywood sign. 8.5 mi uphill. Time to go 8.5 mi down. Whose idea was this??

And this was the response we got... that was all you guys. I didn't suggest it Huh, who wrote the schedule?

We started back down and we could feel it really heating up. We tried to stay in any shade we could find but it was difficult along the trail that really had no shade. We walked a bit until we came to the end of the dirt trail and found some shade. We were now getting dangerously low on water/gatorade. I knew of a "water bubbler" (learned a new term as well) that I had seen on my Tuesday trail runs with Craig Moss and his group, but it would mean that we would have to take another route down. We got to the water tower and filled up all of our bottles and drank some water until we could drink no more. We headed down the path that would take us past the Old LA Zoo and eventually the Merry Go Round. It was hot and we were feeling it. When we got to the Merry Go Round parking lot, we realized we were going to be short on miles. We opted for a stop at the ranger station to pick up more water and then a loop around the golf course which hopefully was shaded. As we worked our way around the golf course, we were both feeling really tired and overheated. We even pulled out the phone to check the temperature and it was 85 degrees... a far cry from the predicted 77 degrees. We would do a run/walk interval, and eventually made it back to our cars. We fell a bit short of the 18 miles, but it was all good. In the end, we covered 16.63 miles with 1300 feet of elevation gain in 3:35:55

I would like to try this run again in the future, but I think I will wait until the temperature drops a bit. I will also bring a camelback with water as well as a water belt with gatorade.

Here is a link to the data from the garmin

Hansen Dam Sprint Tri Race Report

2010-08-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2010

Hansen Dam Sprint Triathlon (500 yd swim, 12 mi bike, 3 mi run)

I arrived to the Hansen Dam aquatic center about 5:45am and to my surprise, there were quite a few people that had the same idea as I did...get there early. I got some incorrect information about checking in but once I got the correct information, I headed over to the transition area. When I arrived I was told to rack my bike in one of two racks to my left. I found a nice open spot and took it. Only after I got everything set up, I learned I was in the wrong rack, I was in with the 44-49 year old group instead of the 40-44 group. I didn't think it made a big deal a decided not to move. I met up with Liana, Craig, Chris and JT and we stood around and talked for a bit. Once the lake opened for warm ups, we put on our wetsuits and headed into the water. The water was warm, 78 degrees is what was said over the loudspeaker, but I was determined to wear my wetsuit again. I did about 50 yards of warm up ad then headed back to transition for one last check of everything. I went back out to the start where I met up with everyone again before the National Anthem.

We watched as the first couple of waves took off and then I began to get nervous as it was approaching my time to enter the water. I tried to focus on my stroke and breathing and just think about finding a rhythm and keeping it. As the horn sounded, I entered the water near the back of the pack and once I rounded the first buoy that about 30 feet out, I was able to find a rhythm and got going. I made it to the first buoy and was feeling pretty good, once I rounded it, I started to run into traffic and had to slow up a bit and move around some more than I would have liked to. After the second buoy, I lost my rhythm and had trouble getting it back. I flipped over on my back and composed myself and kept moving. I was able to keep somewhat of a rhythm going the last 100 yards to the exit. I peeled my wetsuit down and made the short run, put on my socks, bike shoes, helmet and Garmin and headed out.

Once on the bike, I downed a Gu and some gatorade getting myself prepared for the ride. The first couple of miles were uphill, which I knew, but I just couldn't seem to keep up a pace that I was happy with. My legs felt very heavy and tired but I made it to the backside of the course and started to fly as it was mostly downhill. I dropped into the aero bars and was able to keep a pace of 27 mph for about 3 miles until we hit a sharp corner and an uphill section to get on top of the dam. Once I was up on the dam, I couldn't seem to go any faster than 19 mph and people were passing me. I put my head down and finished the bike course. I ran into T2 and racked my bike, put on my running shoes with Yankz laces, grabbed my bottle, and visor and I was off and running.

I struggled the first 1/2 mile and I felt my chest was tight and was difficult to breathe. Once I relaxed a bit, I felt the breathing become normal. After the first water stop, it was mostly on loose dirt with a mixture of rocks thrown in for good measure. It was getting hot and I was tired, but I kept moving along. I came upon JT who beat me off the bike, said hi, passed him and kept on going. The last hill was tough and I walked a bit but I saw the finish line ahead. I made one last charge, turned the corner and made it across the finish line.

Swim - 12:44
T1 - 2:29
Bike - 34:28
T2 - 1:21
Run - 26:08
Total - 1:17:12

Placed 30 out of 47

For me, the best part of this race was that I was able to race with a bunch of my friends (Craig, Chris, Liana, JT, Tianna, Cindy and Danny) and that my RP, Melissa, came out and took pictures, all of which were better than the official race photographers. I will definitely do this race next year.

Here is a link to all of the pictures.

Hansen Dam Sprint Tri Race Report Preview

2010-08-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

I am working on the full race report, but since I am stuck in jury duty hell and haven't had any access to the internet, let alone cell service, it will have to wait a few days.

It was so much fun to race with so many friends...actually this was the first triathlon that I have raced with friends. I was pleased with my time but know where I need to make some improvements and look forward to next year.

Here are a few pics from the day:

Castaic Sprint Triathlon II Race Report

2010-08-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Castaic Sprint Triathlon (400 yd swim, 10 mi bike, 3 mi run)

This was the second race in the series put on by the Canyon High School Cross Country program, the first was last month and you can read my race report here.

I arrived early so I could get my choice of rack space in transition, as usual, I chose
a spot on the end of a rack about half way in the transition area. I go set up and then registered. I made my way down to the water to check the temperature and found it to be rather warm. I had brought my new Xterra Volt wetsuit and wanted to use it, but with the water so warm, I wasn't sure if I would put it on. I decided that since I brought it and I have never swam in it before, I would use it. I got it on and went to the pre-race meeting. After the meeting I headed down to the swim start to wait for my wave (40-100) to start. I chatted with a couple of guys and then got into the water as we were about to start. I went to my usual spot, in the back and on the outside, and then the siren went off. I waded out until I could start swimming and tried to find a rhythm, which I was able to do. I found myself swimming up on people and would have to back off a bit. At one point I looked up and two guys in front of me were next to each other doing the back stroke and there was no way to split them, so I head outside a bit more and got around them. I made the turn at the buoy and headed to shore. My swim split was 5:10 which was 1:16 faster than last month. Could it have been the wetsuit? I did feel more bouyant in the water, but I think it has been all the work on my swimming that really made the difference.

I ran up to transition starting to take the wetsuit off as this was the first time I had done it in a race. I got to my bike and took the wetsuit off but a I was doing so, I felt some discomfort in my groin. Remember, I did injure it severly in January. I had trouble getting my socks on but finally managed to get going on the bike. After I got out on the main road, I took a Gu and a few sips from my bottle. As I was putting the bottle back in the cage, it came out and fell under the back tire and I ran it over. After I heard the crunch, I decided to keep going. I kept a pretty good pace throughout the bike, even through the uphill portion. I passed a dozen or so people on the way back and I was feeling pretty good. I saw my bottle on the way back and it was actually intact so I decided to veer off and pick it up. When I pushed off with my left leg, my calf had a sever cramp. I just stopped in the middle of the road and tried to stretch it out a bit. It loosened up and I started up again, but about 4 of the people I had passed, now passed me. One rider actually slowed up and asked if I was OK as he saw me stretching my calf. Bike time: 34:40, about the same as last time.

I racked my bike and put on my shoes using Yankz laces, grabbed a bottle, Gu and headed out on the run. The first portion of the run has a steep downhill section and it's a bit rough on the body, but after that it is fairly flat with a slight incline going out. For the first 3/4 mile, I felt my chest was tight and I was having trouble breathing, but once I got into a rhythm, I resumed normal breathing.I got to the turn around, downed a Gu, some gatorade and walked for about 15 seconds and then made the charge back to the finish. I sprinted to the finish and crossed the line in 1:09:46. Run Time: 25:47

Official finish time 1:09:46, which is a new PR in this race by 1:27 Just thinking if I didnt stop, pick up the bottle, cramp up and stretch, I probably could have shaved off another 30 seconds...oh well..what if??? I am still very pleased.

After the race I chatted with Liana and Bob(@fittorrent and @rcmcoach), who once again came out to support, cheer and take pictures. Than you once again for coming out! You two are awesome.

Next week, I will race the Hansen Dam Triathlon, which will consist of a 500 yd swim, 12 mile bike and a 3 mile trail run. I have never raced this race before, but I am looking forward to the challenge. Today was supposed to be a 6 mile run, but since my calf is still sore, I didnt want to chance it and I took today as an unscheduled rest day instead. This week, I will focus once again on swimming, trying to get 3 swims in this week along with a couple of runs and a bike ride.

Back to Back Tri's

2010-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week I will attempt to do something I have never done before...run two triathlons back to back over an 8 day period. First up will be the second race of the Castaic Lake Tri series, I ran the first race back in July and you can read the race report here. The second race, will be 8 days later and that is the Hansen Dam Sprint. I have never competed in this race and I must say, I am a bit nervous about the swim. It will be a 500 yard open swim and it get about 1000 participants. Since I am in a very dense age group, I can be assured it will be a very physical swim. I think the best strategy for me will be to stay in the back and head for the outside. I may end up swimming some extra yards, but that is OK, my goal is just to find a rhythm and keep going.

I have spent extra time in the pool this week and will spend more next week as well working on finding a rhythm and endurance. I am not worried about my biking or running, although I have had a little hip discomfort over the last couple of days, but it should not affect anything. After these two races, I must then focus soley on my running as the Disneyland Half Marathon will be just 2 weeks away and I will be pacing my friend Veronica to a new half marathon PR. She has been working her butt off since I gave her a schedule back in May, so I will not let her down. The only other race scheduled is the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in October and I wont be adding anymore races to the calendar for this year. I will start my LA Marathon training with Craig Moss and the SRLA kids in September and I am already starting to plan next year. I think 2011 will be the year of big races for me...LA Marathon in March, Marine Corps Marathon in October and wedged in between those two...Vineman 70.3(Half Ironman). It's not set in stone but, I'll keep you posted.

Training Time Out

2010-07-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last week was a pretty intense training week for me and by the end of the week, I was just flat out tired. My body was talking and for once in my life...I listened to it. I decided to take the weekend off and that meant, no running, swimming or biking. Usually I do my long run on Saturday and a 15-25 mile bike ride or a brick workout on Sunday. While I felt strange sleeping past 5:30am on Saturday and not heading out the door for a run, it was nice to sleep until almost 7am and get started on the list of things I wanted to get done. I spent most of the day working on a couple of medal racks for a couple of my favorite running gals, before heading off to a dinner party with some old friends.

I feel taking a few days off really helped and my body felt much better come Monday morning, although I skipped my swim in favor of some extra zzzzz's as I was up late on Sunday night. I made up the swim on Wednesday morning along with working out with the LA Tri Club doing their weekly brick on Wednesday night. That workout proved to be tough as we did almost 18 miles on the bike with close to 1000 feet of climbing followed by a 3 mile run.

Bike Data from Garmin

Run Data from Garmin

My New Swim Goggles...

2010-07-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Up until recently, I had been using the same pair of Speedo goggles for the last 2 years and I really like them. I was reading an article and it mentioned that you should always have a back up pair of goggles in your bag. My first race of the season was about 2 weeks away so I decided to go and buy a new pair of goggles. After shopping around at different stores, I ended up with 3 new pairs.

Aquasphere Kayenne - $20

I had seen these in magazines and they looked interesting to me. I liked the wider field of vision and they looked comfortable. I was able to find them at Sport Chalet and had my son get them with his employee discount. As soon as I got home, I put them on and jumped in my pool. The fit was good and they didnt leak at all. The next morning, I headed to the gym and swam 1000 yards with them. I only had one issue and that was that there was some condensation on the inside of the lens after 1000 yards. I have made these my primary pair of goggles and have resolved the condensation issue, I think.I used these in my first sprint race a few weeks ago and they performed well.

TYR Technoflex 4.0 - $10

I found these at Big 5 and decided to give TYR a try this time since I couldnt find the Speedo goggles that I have been using. I put these on in the store and the fit felt very good, they were comfortable around the eyes. I took these to the gym and swam 600 yards with these on. They were completely leak free and fairly comfortable in the water. I found them to be not quite as comfortable as the Aquasphere Kayenne goggles, but I feel I could wear them for a sprint or olympic distance race. These are now my back up pair and I try to swim with them every 3-4 swims.

Speedo ??? - $8

I thought that these were similar to the speedo goggles I had so I got them as well. When I put them on in the store, they fit pretty well, in the pool, a whole different story. These were the most uncomfortable goggles I have ever worn. I swam with them for a bout 5 minutes and I knew they would never work, even for swimming laps at the gym, so I took these back to the store.

Coming soon - my review of the H2O Audio Ipod shuffle enclosure and H3 headphones.

Strawberry Fields Triathlon...From Behind the Camera.

2010-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to escape from the terrible heat we have been having in the Valley and spent the weekend in Oxnard, Ca. Not only was I excited for the cooler temperatures, but the Strawberry Fields Triathlon was happening at the very same time, right next to our hotel. This would be a perfect opportunity to bring my Nikon D5000 and get some pictures.

Sunday morning, I was up early and was down on the beach before any of the athletes showed up. The first thing I noticed was the buoy's for the swim course were parallel to the shore instead of heading straight out into the ocean. The second thing I noticed was the orange buoy's that marked the sprint course and they seemed to be 50 yards off shore where the waves were breaking. As the athletes warmed up in the water, I roamed around taking some random shots and then positioned my self near the water for the start of the race. The siren went off and the first wave ran down the beach and entered the water. After the first wave made it to the first buoy, I headed over to the swim finish and proceeded to shoot pictures of the athletes as they exited the water. I finally saw Liana (@fittorent) who was in the 4th wave. I walked up the beach to T1, which was the longest run from the swim I have ever seen. I raced through the park and made it to the area where riders exited the park and headed out onto the streets of Oxnard. I managed a few shots of riders leaving but a majority of the bike shots were coming back into T2.

As I was running through the park, I stopped and got a few shots of the athletes coming out of the transition area. I was looking for Sheila (@sheswimbikerun) and as dumb luck would have it...she was running by. I snapped a quick action shot and moved on to find a place to shoot the run portion of the race. The finish was too crowded, but about 100 yards from the finish, there was a nice spot that wasn't crowded and I felt it would be a good place to shoot from. I started shooting a picture of just about every runner. There was one person that really stood out....he was an eleven year old boy. I love to see kids get into the sport of triathlon at an early age. I waited for Liana to come around and finish and then I headed back to the hotel for a quick cup of coffee and back out to the bike path to catch some of the runners from the olympic distance race. I saw Sheila run by a couple of times and she was looking strong. I used this opportunity to experiment with the settings on the camera and really learn to use the camera in varied lighting conditions. I still have a long way to go with this camera. I am looking to put this race (olympic distance) on my race calendar for 2011.

Here is a link to all of the pictures on picasa

As far as training has been going...well I am still on track with 2 swims, 2 bikes and 3 runs per week. For the last couple of weeks I have been going to the LA Tri Club's Wednesday night brick workout in Griffith Park. I have met some really great people and it gives me some fresh faces to train with.(Dont worry RP...I'm not replacing you, those are big shoes to fill!) Every other Tuesday night I have been meeting Craig Moss and his Mt Gleason Runners for some trail runs in Griffith Park. Last night we did a 7 mile run with lots and I mean lots of elevation gain. I would love to tell you the exact amount but my garmin's battery died 1/4 mile into the run.
I will try and re-run it this weekend with the garmin to get an exact number.

Castaic Sprint Triathlon Race Report

2010-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Castaic Sprint Triathlon (400 yd swim, 10 mi bike, 3 mi run)

**All times are approximate (my watch and garmin) as this race is not chip timed.

I arrived at the lake about 6:30am and met up with Liana (@fittorent) and Bob (@rcmcoach) and headed down to the transition area to find a spot to set up. I quickly nabbed one of the remaining end spots and headed over to register. After I got my transition area setup, Liana, Bob, myself and JT (not on twitter) stood around and talked until it was time for the pre-race meeting. Once Dave (the race director) went through all of the final instructions, we made our way down to the water. I dove in and did a few minutes of warm up before they closed the warm up area.

Myself and JT were in the 3rd wave to go and when the siren went off, my heart started racing. Over the last few months, I have really been working on my swimming and was ready to tackle this open water swim. I eased into the water and tried to stay on JT's heels but I got cut off by 2 other swimmers, so I just decided to go it on my own. I found a nice rhythm until I got between 2 other swimmers that ran into each other just in front of me. I flipped over on my back for a few seconds to let them get ahead and for me to re-group. Other than the turn at the buoy, the rest of the swim went well. I made it out of the water in 6:26 which is over a minute faster than last year. I made the 200 yd run to my transition area feeling a bit spent. I quickly put on socks, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses and my garmin and away I went.

The ride out of the transition area is slightly uphill, so I was glad I put my bike in an easy gear to get started. Once I made it out of the park and onto the streets, I was feeling pretty good and started to really move. I passed a few people on my way to the prison, one of which was a girl about 15 or so, on a beach cruiser. I felt really bad because I know there is a pretty good hill that is about 1 mile long that she was going to have climb on that bike with only one gear. I hit the hill and worked my way up. Towards the top, my legs were starting to burn, but I knew just a bit more and I would be at the top and heading back downhill. I was excited to finish the bike without any problems, 2 years ago I dropped a chain and last year I dropped a water bottle early on. Bike time: 34:36

After throwing on my shoes and tying them (I still havent migrated to Yankz, etc) I headed out for the run. The course was changed back to the same run course as in 2008 which was a 1.5 mile out and back around the lake. For the first 1/2 mile, I found it difficult to find a breathing rhythm, but once I did, I got into a nice pace. I just followed the string of people out to the turn around and then picked up the pace a bit coming back. The last 1/4 mile, I really picked up the pace, running sub 8 min/mi and sprinted across the finish.
Run Time: 26:05

Total Time: 1:11:13 (over 3 minutes faster than last year.)

(Myself, Liana, JT) at the finish.

Final thoughts: I really enjoy this race for several reasons...it's small, about 200 participants, it is a fund raiser for the Canyon HS Cross Country program and it has some of the best volunteers that I have ever experienced at a race. If you are looking to do your first triathlon or just want to have some fun, the second sprint triathlon in the series is on August 7, 2010...hope to see you out there.

I also want to say a special "Thank You" to Liana and Bob for coming out to cheer all of the racers on...you guys rock!

Week #3 of the "TTGFS" Training Plan Recap

2010-07-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

Week #3 was by far the best week of training so far. I was able to hit all of my goals for the week. The only setback was the 7 lbs that I seemed to have found after last weekend's cruise. Fortunately, I was able to shed most of those by the end of the week.

Here is week #3 by the numbers...

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Swim 1200 yds, Bike 20 miles w/ hills
Thursday: Swim 1700 yds, Run 6 miles @ tempo
Friday: Off
Saturday: Run 6 Miles w/hills
Sunday: 11 mile bike, 3 mile run (Brick)

This week will lead me into my first triathlon of the season. It is the Castaic Sprint. I have done this race the last 2 years and I really like it as it has a small, hometown feel to it and it raises money for a local school's track and field program. It is a fun, fast race (400 yd swim, 10 mi bike, 5k run). I am hoping to shave 4-5 minutes off of my previous time.

Week #2 of the "TTGFS" Training Plan Recap

2010-06-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

I started out week #2 with the intention of hitting my 2-2-3 (2 swims, 2 bikes, 3 runs) goal for the week but knowing that we would be out of town over the weekend, it was going to take some manipulating the schedule a bit. I made some adjustments but still fell short of the goal. I was able to get in an 18 mile bike ride through Griffith Park on Wednesday and added a run on Friday (normally an off day) but did nothing on Saturday or Sunday.

Here is week #2 by the numbers...

Monday: Swim 1200 yds
Tuesday: Ran 7.37 miles
Wednesday: Bike 18 miles w/ hills
Thursday: Swim 1700 yds, Run 5 miles @ tempo
Friday: Ran 5.34 miles
Saturday: Off - Out of town
Sunday: Off - Out of town.

Friday's run turned out to be one of the worst runs I have had in some time. I am not sure if it was because I ran 5 miles at tempo the night before or the benadryl I took to get to sleep. In any case, it took it's toll on me and I ended up doing some run/walk intervals just to get finished.

This week looks promising for hitting my goal, I will have to move this morning's swim to Wednesday, but not a big deal. My first triathlon of the season is just 12 days away.

Over the weekend, we took a Carnival cruise down to Ensenada Mexico with 2 other couples, one of which was celebrating his 40th birthday. We usually try to do this trip once or twice a year and it was great timing with Mike's birthday. It is always fun to have some "cruise virgins" along and show them a good time. We are long time Royal Caribbean cruisers and 2 years ago they left the 3/4 day market in Los Angeles to Carnival, so that is all we are left with. It's not the same level of service as on Royal Caribbean, but as I say...a bad weekend of cruising is better than a good week at work.

You can see the pictures here.

Week #1 of the "TTGFS" Training Plan Recap

2010-06-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

It's done...Week #1 of the "Time to Get F*&king Serious" Training plan is in the books. I had planned on 2 swims, 2 bikes and 3 runs along with some stretching and core work. I came close to completeing that goal.

Here is week #1 by the numbers...

Monday: Swim 1200 yds, Run 5 miles
Tuesday: Stretching and Core
Wednesday: Run 5.66 miles
Thursday: Swim 1700 yds, Run 5 miles @ tempo
Friday: Off
Saturday: Run 10 miles
Sunday: Supposed to ride my bike, but Father's Day got in the way.

I was able to get 2 swims in and 4 runs, but failed to get a bike ride in. This week will be a challenging week as well as I won't be getting any running done over the weekend unless you call dashing between Papas and Beer, Mango-Mango and Hussong's down in Ensenada, Mexico...running. I will get a good bike ride in on Wednesday night when I head over to Griffith Park and ride there.

Over the weekend, I found that I have a new obsession...swim goggles. I ended up purchasing 3 new pair this weekend (helps having a son who works at Sport Chalet). I needed a new primary pair and found 3 that I wanted to try. I tested them all in my home pool yesterday afternoon and put them to the test in the gym pool this morning. I will report back on those in the future.

"Time to Get F&%king Serious" Training Plan

2010-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Since finishing the LA Marathon back in March, I have not been able to shake this "funk" I have been in. I go through periods where I am excited to be training and then other times where sitting in front of the TV is more appealing. With 3 sprint triathlons on the schedule and the still to be determined Olympic triathlon looming in the future, I decided it was time to quit fucking around. I decided that starting Monday June 14, it was time to get serious about training. My goal is to get in 2 swims, 2 bike rides and 3 runs in per week along with some stretching and core work.

So far this week started pretty well.

Monday - 1200 yds in the pool in the a.m. and 5 mile run in the afternoon heat.
Tuesday - Stretching and core.

I am determined to break this "funk" cycle that I have been in and move on.

I'll keep you posted.

RnR San Diego - The Bad and the Ugly!

2010-06-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying this was my first Rock n Roll event and I have heard both good and bad things about their races in the past. You can read about the race itself in my previous post here.

Let's start with the expo...crowded, very crowded but that is to be expected on a Saturday afternoon. After we got our bibs, goodie bags and t shirts, we were placed into the RnR "dump shop" where you could buy all sorts of RnR branded items. The area was about 1/3 the size of the hall, with lots of room to move around. I walked into the main part of the expo and it was set up in traditional trade show manor, booths on both sides of an aisle that was about 10 feet wide. I have borrowed these pictures from Glenn as I didn't take any pictures in the expo. The aisles were extremely packed and it was difficult to move around and see what the vendors had to offer. At one point, I needed to use the restroom and were told they were right outside the exit. I ventured out, found them and then ran into Linda, Glenn and a few other twitter folks. I chatted for a while and decided to head back in...I was told I had to go back through the entrance, which puts you right back into the RnR "dump shop". It took about 10 minutes just to get back and find the rest of my group.

I like to be prepared and that probably stems from my time in the Boy Scouts, so getting to 2 weeks out until the race without any information from RnR was a little unnerving. My biggest concern was how were we going to get to our relay points. We finally got the "Final Race Instructions" email from RnR that detailed how to get to and from relay points. Even up until 9pm on Saturday night, we were still figuring out how to get our team members to the various points. We finally decided that our first runner would share a cab with another runner at our hotel to the start line. Leg 2 and 3 would walk 1/2 mile to a trolley stop and head to our perspective relay points and leg #4 would drive and park near Fiesta Island...FAIL, no parking so she had to park at Fashion Valley, take the trolley to Linda Vista and walk 1+ miles to her relay point. Point to point races are always a logistical nightmare for the race directors, but in this case it was made worse by having people park at Qualcom stadium and take the shuttle to the start or trolley to your relay point. Why not park at Sea World? Why not end the race at the stadium? More on this later...

At my relay point (#2) there was some semblance of organization. There was a tent setup with a PA system and a someone from the race staff. He did give instructions on what to do as far as the hand off was concerned and then said he would be calling out team numbers as they approached. Nothing was mentioned about any food/drink at the relay stations or that is where you pick up your medal. After a couple of relay team numbers were called, the computer system went down...and came back up in about 5-6 minutes. My team mate came in and I was off. I passed by about 4 water stops on my leg and I will say that they were all very well stocked, but we were early in the race. When I handed off the baton to my team mate, I looked around for some water. I found a table with bananas and Cytomax and grabbed one of each. I saw a girl giving out medals and I went over and got mine. I walked over to Penny's cheering station and Glenn had told me that he received instructions on how to get to the finish line at his relay point...I got nothing. I had decided beforehand that I would walk the 1+ miles to the next transition point. I had to stop and ask several police officers how to get where I wanted to go. They were all very accommodating with directions.

Melissa and I started walking towards the finish area and we decided to wait for Ann (leg #4) and run though the finish with her. Francesca (leg #1) took the trolley and then shuttle bus to get to finish area and met us. When we saw Ann, we broke through a couple of people and ran down the finish chute with her. One security guard was trying to wave us off the course and we just blew past him. We all crossed the finish line together and it made for a great picture. Ann got her medal and we waited in line to take the mandatory finish picture. We moved on and got some water and hit the food tables. I was really surprised not to see bagels out there, just chips. Side note: when I finished the LA Marathon, I got a bag of 6 bagels. We then headed out into what we thought was the family reunion area...which it wasn't. We were finally told where it was and headed over there. When we got in there, it was a sea of people. Melissa and I went to the beer garden for our free beer. They were requiring photo ID to get in, the tag on your shoe has your age, what's wrong with that? Needless to say, it kept many people out since they didn't carry ID with them.

We finished our beer and decided to catch a shuttle back to the trolley stop. We saw the line and it was a HUGE line...we heard estimates of 90 minutes to get on a shuttle...ummm NO. We decided to make the walk back to the trolley stop. As we walked back (about 2 miles), I noticed that a lot of people had the same idea and many of them had just run 13.1 or 26.2 miles. When we got back to the trolley stop, there was about 2000 people in line. So got into line and waited a few minutes until someone said if you are going downtown, come this way....so we followed and bypassed all of the people going out to the stadium to get their cars and got on the trolley. We traveled the one stop and walked back to the hotel. I have to think about those poor people that ran 26.2 miles, had to walk another 2 miles back to the trolley stop, wait in line for a trolley to get back to the stadium to get in their car to go home. FAIL

So now that I have complained about the problems, how about some solutions...

Expo: Take 2 halls and spread things out, give people room the breathe and walk. Maybe limit the RnR branded items to a smaller area. I know it is a profit center for you but you are doing a disservice to the other vendors who you charged good money for a booth space and the customers cant get to see them because of the crowds.

Parking/Shuttles/Relay: How about multiple parking locations around the city and you could even do VIP parking at Sea World and charge a ridiculous price for the privilege. I'm sure Sea World would lease out a few hundred spots. Work with Taxi companies and allow them to pick up participants near the family reunion area...infuse a few more bucks into the local economy. Instead of using just the Linda Vista trolley stop, have shuttles go to the Old Town trolley stop as well. You must make it easier for the race participants to get back to their cars, no one wants to walk another 2 miles or stand in line for 90 minutes after running 26.2 miles. As far as the relay...if the relay transition point isn't fairly close, have a shuttle bus running to take them from the trolley to the transition...there were only 187 teams, that's 187 people that would need to shuttled.

I realize that the competitor group is in busines to make money and they have done a good job of raising money for the various charities they work with. They must understand that the participants in these races are what are supporting them and the charities they work with and if you alienate them, they will not come back and do another RnR event. Maybe because they added both the half marathon and relay this year, they werent as prepared as they should have been. Hopefully they will take the feedback they are receiving and make changes for next year. This race left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth concerning RnR events and I probably wouldn't run RnRSD ever again, but I am signed up for RnR LA, so I will give them a second chance. One of my motto's in life...I will try anything once, and twice, just to make sure I didnt like it.

San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon Relay Weekend and Food Fest

2010-06-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

Back in January when the RnR San Diego Marathon Relay was announced, I became excited for several reasons. I had never done a relay before and it sounded fun, I would run this race with 4 good friends and we would make a weekend out of it. From the get go, we decided we were going to run this race in costume and since it was a Rock N Roll race, what could be better than Elvis. Over the last few months, we have been putting the final touches on our costumes and purchasing wigs. As Bob Babbit, the original Running Elvi says, No Outfit, No Wig, No Glasses...No Running Elvi! So with the costumes set, the focus turned to food...when and where were we going to eat for the weekend. With that all set and reservations made...it was time to get the weekend started.

Thursday
I was able to score 4 tickets to the Dodger game and myself, Melissa(@xoxo_meme) Linda (@msv1959) and Mike (@mikedotta) met at Dodger stadium. Once we found our great seats, we went up and got Candy (@cowhateration) and Nadim (Hawaiianbound) and brought them down to sit with us...kind of a mini "tweetup".

During the game, the banter between Linda, a rabid Dodger fan, and Melissa, an anything but Dodger fan, grew more humorous. All of us were tweeting from the game. In the end, the Dodger's lost and the "rub it in your nose" tweets started in full force. After the game, we spent some time taking pictures. We had an interesting moment, Linda was taking a picture of the empty stadium, I was taking a picture of her, Mike took a picture of me and Melissa took a picture of all of us. We capped the night off with a picture of all of us in the Official Merchandise Booth. What a great night and it was a pleasure to meet several tweeps in person.

Saturday

I left early in the morning and made my way to San Diego. I got checked in and met up with Melissa and Francesca. We had 11:30am reservations for lunch and proceeded to drive downtown. On our way, I tried to run a red light and make a wrong turn onto a one way street...I don't seem to remember any of that happening! :) Lunch was at the Karl Strauss Brewery and all of our meals and beers were pretty good. After lunch we made our way to the Health and Fitness Expo at the convention center. After we got our bibs, t shirts and swag bags, we (means Melissa) proceeded to do some shopping for a sweatshirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt, t-shirt...in the end...she got both. I wandered out to the lobby and met up with Linda, Glenn, Mike, and Lori and chatted with them for a while. I made my way back into the expo and ran into Mike and Melissa G. at the Ecco booth and Melissa and I made our way to the MGD 64 beer garden. We met up with everyone and had a beer...cant beat a beer for a $1. Since it was getting late and we were tired, we decided to make our way out of the expo and head back to the car.

Back at the hotel we were making last minute arrangements for getting our team members to the start line and the various relay points. Time for dinner...we headed to Little Italy and Bencotta for a great meal with Melissa, Ann, Francesca, Marcia, Marina and myself. It was nice to relax and enjoy a meal amongst friends.

Sunday

I was wide awake at 3am but decided to lay in bed until the alarm went off at 4:30am. I got dressed in costume and waited until 5:30am and met Melissa. We walked over to the trolley station and went our separate ways. I talked with several other relay people on the trolley and we made our way to the transition point. As I stood there waiting, I had several people come over and ask if I would take a picture with them...of course I said OK. It was my first foray into stardom...I felt like one of today's celebrities that people want to take a picture with.
I met up with Josh (@speedysasquatch) and we talked for a bit as the Elites came by. I got ready for my team mate to arrive at the transition zone. When I saw her, I stepped out into the zone and waited for the hand off of the baton (a Drum stick). I took off heading up Broadway, the support of the crowd was incredible, especially dressed as Elvis. I made the turn at 10th street and headed up the 163 freeway. Leg #2 had about a 300 foot elevation climb in about 2.5 miles. I was laboring getting up the hill, but the support from the spectators and the other runners pushed me to the top. I made my way down to Friars Road and was tossing a cup of water on my chest and back at every water stop. The full rig (polyester jumpsuit, wig, etc) was taxing my body and the sun was peeking out from the clouds. I made it to mile 14 and ran into Penny (@southbaygirl) and @tiayas who setup a cheering section.

I stopped by and said Hi, and continued on. On the way to the relay transition, I ran into Glenn and got a high five from him. I handed off the baton to Melissa and headed back to Penny's cheering station. I hung out there for a few minutes and headed off to the relay transition zone #3. I made the 1+mile walk to the relay transition zone, I found Melissa, Linda and Josh.

Melissa and I headed off to the finish to meet up with Francesca and wait for Ann. When we saw Ann, we jumped into the finish chute and ran the last 200 yards with her. We all crossed the finish line together and took pictures. Melissa and I grabbed a "free beer" and that's when the "clusterfuck"started. The line for the shuttles back to the trolley stop were terribly long...we heard 1-1/2 hour wait to get on the shuttle. We decided to walk back to the trolley stop, which added an additional 1.5 miles to our day. We made it back to the hotel for a quick shower and then off to brunch at the Tractor Room. We had a great brunch with lots of food and then headed over to Baby Cakes for a cupcake and coffee. All in all it was a fantastic weekend, spent with some great friends. Thank you to Melissa, Ann and Francesca for being a part of Team "Need 4 Speed" and to Melissa for putting so much effort into making sure things came together. As "Hannibal" Smith (A-Team) would say..."I love it when a plan comes together!" This weekend will definitely make my "Highlight Reel" of my life. We rocked it! Official finish: 4:09:28 #57 place out of 187.

Update: Last night we found out our finish line picture made it into the San Diego Union Tribune's Photo Gallery from the race.

Here are a few pics from the food fest....

Runnin' in Nashville

2010-05-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

Note: This post will have very little to do with running, mostly my observations from being in the air and on the ground in Nashville, Tn May 2-5, 2010

Last Sunday I hopped on an airplane for Nashville for a conference/trade show. Sitting at LAX, I checked the weather in Nashville and it showed thunderstorms for Sunday afternoon, no big deal, I packed a rain jacket. Fast forward to 3.5 hours into the flight...the pilot comes on and says the Nashville airport is closed due to severe weather and that we would be circling for a while. After circling the area for an hour, the pilot came back on and said that because of our fuel situation, we will either be diverted or make an attempt at landing. Five minutes later, he came on and told the flight attendants that he wanted them in their seats and strapped within 2 minutes. He told everyone it was going to be a bumpy ride down. He pointed the nose of the airplane down and we started our descent from 39,000 feet. The plane was shaking and bouncing, I have never seen an entire airplane full of people go completely silent. It was the roughest flight I have ever been on but once we broke through the clouds, I realized this was not just a thunderstorm, but something bigger. On our approach, we could see neighborhoods flooded, and cars were sitting in flooded parking lots. Once on the ground we sat on the tarmac waiting for a gate and only then did I realize how hard it was raining. Once in the terminal, I got my bag and called a friend who was diverted to Louisville and still on the ground there. As I looked up at the board for their flight number...they canceled every flight in and out of Nashville.

Once I got to the hotel and got checked in, I had a couple of hours to do some sight seeing. The rain had pretty much stopped, so I grabbed my cameras and headed out. I walked down Broadway and got all the way to Riverfront Park, I walked up 2nd Ave to the Wildhorse Saloon and back up Broadway until I got to the Ryman Auditorium. The strange thing was that nothing was open. I figured it was 5 o'clock on Sunday night and most places were either closed Sundays or closed early. I headed to one of the two "honky tonk" bars that were open and had a beer. You know that saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"? I had to drink Bud Light, that's all I saw people drinking and quite frankly, it was so busy in there the bartenders didnt have time to go through the list of available beers.

The next morning I headed out for my run at 5:45am. I headed east on Commerce to 2nd Ave, turned south and headed to Broadway. When I got to Broadway, they had the road blocked at 2nd Ave and there were a bunch of local news crews there. I then realized that the Cumberland River overflowed and had come through Riverfront Park, past 1st Ave and almost to 2nd Ave.

We started the day with a keynote speech by Jack Canfield, author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series. He was very inspirational and motivational. We then spent the rest of the day in meetings with various vendors. The one thing that kept coming up was that we found it strange to be conducting business in the middle of a natural disaster. Most felt our time would have been better served by helping those in need. Monday night brought the awards dinner and yet another round of cruising the bars on Broadway. We met some locals (Alex and Gauge) and we hung out with them for a few hours and we had a great time getting to know them.

The next morning I ventured out early again for a run. I headed down the same route except this time when I got to 2nd Ave there was police tape across the street, so like any good tourist, I just crossed under it. Just as I was ducking under, a rather large City of Nashville police officer stepped out of his car and asked what I was doing. Ooops...he turned me around and sent me off in the other direction. I wound my way back to Broadway and today, they had it blocked off at 3rd Ave. I ran up 3rd for a while and found the parking lot where the national news trucks were set up. As I rounded the corner I saw this section of downtown flooded, it was unbelievable.

That evening we were supposed to have a private concert at the Wildhorse Saloon with Gretchen Wilson, but since it was flooded, she agreed to bring the band, a PA system, and lights to the Renaissance hotel ballroom. At 8pm she came out rockin' and put on a great show. About half way though, John Rich (Big and Rich) came out and did 3 songs. She is one rockin' "Redneck Woman"!

After the show, we made one last trip through the honky tonks and called it a night. I flew out early the next morning and from the air you could really see how much flooding occurred. This was my first visit to Nashville and from what I saw of the city, I really liked it. I will be back.

You can see all of the pictures I shot in Nashville here.

This is probably the best video I have seen that sums up the Nashville Floods...

Finally a Good Run...

2010-04-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

After missing Tuesday's early morning swim due to the desire to stay in bed, I decided to try again Wednesday and set my alarm for 5am. My wife and I had a guest in our bedroom all night...a cricket (get your minds out of the gutter) and I didn't sleep much. Actually I spent most of the night with a flashlight trying to find the thing...and never did. Needless to say...I skipped the swim. As I sat there reading tweets and blogs about people's workout they had done or were going to do, I thought, I gotta quit f#*king around. I said to myself...self...you gotta run 5 miles tonight. I quickly made it home and changed and headed out for my 5 miles. I have several 5 mile routes I could take but I saw my neighbor and her daughter running up the hill so I decided to chase them down. They were about 150 yds a head of me and by the time I reached the top of the first hill...I caught them. We chatted for a minute and when they said they were heading the other direction, I took off fo the major hill loop. I haven't run this route in a while but it is a 4.5 mile loop with 534 feet of elevation gain...something I can use to prepare for my leg in the RnR San Diego Relay. I was cruising along at a pretty good pace and hit the steep section which is about 1 mile long and I ran that at a 10:27/mi pace. I was very happy about that. I made it to the top and headed down the other side and kept a nice even pace, never feeling labored, actually, I probably could have given it a bit more. In the end it was 4.5 miles in 39:12 (8:52/mi avg)

This morning I finally got that swim in that I had been trying get in all week. 1700 yards in 38:59, seeing some improvement in the water, but need to start doing 3 swim workouts per week. My arms and shoulders felt tired, so I am thinking some weight workouts are in order....where to find the time though???

From the "Unbelievable File"

Last Saturday morning on my run, I came to a stop light. While I was standing there I noticed that the curbs were freshly painted red. When I looked over at the storm drain, this is what I saw...the brilliant City of Los Angeles Street maintenance people painted the trash that was in the storm drain instead of removing it first. This is one big #FAIL!!!

I Seemed to Have Misplaced My Mojo...Once Again!

2010-04-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I thought I had got my swimming/biking/running mojo back after the LA Marathon and got back to my regular schedule of swimming, biking and running. This week, it seems that I have misplaced it once again. I am finding it more enjoyable to stay in bed in the morning, instead of heading to the gym to swim or out on the streets to run. On Sunday's, which is my normal bike day, I just find it too much work to get all of my bike gear together, pump the tires and head out for a ride. The last few weeks, I have done a run on Sunday instead. This week I even joined Ms. V's Virtual 10K and placed in my age group! Woo Hoo...I think I was the only one in my age group though, but I'll take it!

I think part of the problem is that I do 90% of my training alone and in the past I have enjoyed that. I was only running with other people on Thursday nights and occasionally with my running partner on Saturdays when I wasn't running with the MT Gleason (SRLA) Runners. I can't wait to get back to running with the kids, they are a lot of fun to be around. Lately, our Thursday night "Fun Runs" have been just that...lots of fun and now I am craving that on every run! It sure make the runs more enjoyable when you have some great people to laugh with. So I guess what I am saying is...RP, lets not make those runs so much fun :) Actually, it looks like this week, there wont be so much laughing as we start to pick up some speed over 7 miles...should be interesting. The next few weeks are going to be challenging as I am off to back to back trade shows although I am looking forward to Nashville next week. I have never been and thanks to Penny @southbaygirl, she has given me some tips on areas to run while I am there. Hopefully after mid May, I can find the mojo and get back a regular training schedule.

A while back I posted that I was working on a medal rack for my medals so I could have a place to hang and display them instead of hanging them on the corners of bookshelves in my office. Here is a picture of the finished product, but I am working on Medal Rack V1.2 and that one will go to my RP.

San Diego Rock N Roll Recon

2010-04-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday while I was in San Diego on business, I decided to drive my leg (leg #2 7 miles) of the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon Relay. For those running the full marathon, this will be miles 7.5-14.5 I based this on the most recent course map that was available.

I started at the transition point down near the Sante Fe railroad station and proceeded to drive up Broadway. There is a slight incline all the way up Broadway, but it is not too bad. I made a left onto 11th and proceeded to get onto the 163 freeway. I am not sure if the course runs north on the northbound lanes or north on the southbound lanes, but in any case the incline is the same. As Glenn pointed out in a comment, the road does have a fair amount of camber and the shoulders are the most flat spot to run. The incline is about 250 feet over 2.5 miles and there is a 1.5 mile downhill into Fashion Valley. Once on Friar's Road it is a fairly flat 2 miles with some small rollers into the transition area.

I noticed that there are some sections of Broadway and 10/11th, the road is a bit rough, but once you are on Hwy 163 and Friar's Road, the pavement is pretty smooth.

San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon Course Map

Here is the video I shot, sorry for the poor quality, I was the driver, navigator and cameraman using a Flip video camera. There is a condensed version (1:14) and the full length version (4:48).

Long Version

As far as training, I was able to get a 5.3 mile run in on Thursday afternoon after spending 9 hours in the car to and from San Diego. Needless to say, that run was crappy...should have gone to the pool to swim instead. I set out on Saturday with my running partner Melissa for a 12 mile run that we ended up cutting short at 7.25 miles because neither of us were feeling it and old injuries were acting up. Sunday is usually a bike day for me, but since I have had a reoccurring knee issue on the bike, I decided to run 6.2 miles instead. That was actually the best run of the week.

I Feel the Need...The "Need 4 Speed"!

2010-04-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Next up for me is the San Diego Rock N Roll Relay, while some people might be content to spend the weekend with some great friends, run a leg of the relay dressed as one famous, deceased (questionable), singer from Tupelo, Mississippi...not us! We, Team Need 4 Speed, have set out to not only do the aforementioned, but we want to run a sub 4 hour marathon as well! Keep in mind that none of us are world class, elite runners, but we have heart, determination and dedication. That will only get us so far...we are gonna need some speed.

Last weekend I set out on a 7 mile run with some hills to simulate my leg (leg #2) and try and keep an average pace of 8:30/mi. After analyzing the data from my garmin, I found that I ran "more hill" than I would be running in San Diego, but I was able to keep an average pace of 8:53/mi. Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday (depending on when you read this), I will be in San Diego on business and plan to drive as much of leg #2 as possible to get a feel for the hill in that leg. It looks to be a 250 foot gain over 3 miles.

This week has been kind of a let down. During Sunday's bike ride, I noticed a bit of pain on the outside of my left knee and it hasnt gotten much better with rest. I have not run nor have I been to the pool to swim and I am not happy about it. I am hoping to get in 6 miles when I get home from San Diego, but we'll see what happens. This is my busy time of year and I have 2 trade shows back to back the first 2 weeks of May. I have to get focused and get back to training.

Gettin' Back Into The Swing of Things

2010-04-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Weeks before the LA Marathon, I decided that I would take a few weeks off after the race to recover and give my groin time to properly heal, after all, I was training pretty hard for the last 18 weeks. For the month leading up to the marathon, I decided that I would focus solely on running and opted to not do any swim or bike workouts until the marathon was done. I didn't need to get sick from the pool or crash on the bike to ruin my marathon debut. After 4 days, I decided that taking a few weeks off was not for me and decided to get back into the pool. Surprisingly, after taking a month off, I seemed to remember how to swim and knocked out 1000 yards. Later that evening, I ran my first run since the marathon, 6 easy miles.

Last week saw 1700 yards in the pool, an easy 5 mile run on Thursday night and a 14.5 mile long run/adventure on Saturday. I must say that Saturday's 14.5 mile run/adventure was the most fun I have had while training in a long time...good friends, good location, good times!

This week, I will try to get back to a normal routine of 2 swims, 3 runs and 1-2 bike workouts per week. I am also starting a 1/2 marathon training plan in preparation for the San Diego Rock N Roll Relay that I am participating in. It has been decided that Team "Need 4 Speed" will be running a sub 4 hour relay, meaning I am running leg 2 (7 miles) at an 8:30/mi pace. Time for a little speed work.

On a side note, I went out to the Great Race of Agoura, armed with my new Nikon D 5000 camera and shot 300 pictures, mostly of friends running the race, but lots of strangers as well. This was the first race that I can remember not running, it was a bit strange to be a spectator, but truly enjoyable. Here are a few of my favorites...

You can find more of the pictures here and more are being posted as I get time. If you know anyone in the pictures and they would like the original, Hi-Res picture, at no charge, have them contact me and I would be happy to email it to them.

Lessons Learned and What Comes Next

2010-03-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that it has been a week since I lost my "marathon virginity". In the last week I have had time to reflect on my marathon experience and what went right and what went wrong. All in all, it was a good experience, but there were a few speed bumps along the way.

Let's start with what went right:

I started and finished the LA Marathon.
I followed my race plan pretty closely, but had to modify a bit on the fly.
I saw parts of the city, I have never been to in all the years living here.
The volunteers and spectators were awesome.

Now...what went wrong:

I started the race too fast and got sucked in with the crowd.
I followed my race plan pretty closely, but had to modify a bit on the fly
I had an electrolyte issue again even though I was using Salt Stick, Cytomax and Gatorade. I had this same problem at the SRLA 18 mile race a month earlier. This is something I need to get figured out.
I had a constant pain in my right foot from mile 5 on. I loosened my shoes, I tightened my shoes, nothing seemed to alleviate this pain. Again, this is something I need to get figured out.
I didn't look around enough and enjoy all of the sights.

I have time to fix the problems that went wrong as I won't run another full marathon until the LA Marathon next year, but some of those things can help me with the half marathons I have coming later this year.

So what is next for me? I will continue to train and will not be a slacker. I still plan on swimming 2 days a week, running 3 days a week and biking 1-2 times per week. I am taking the next 2 months off of racing and won't do another race until the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon Relay with my team..."Need for Speed". This will be my first foray into a relay team and should be fun, although I have been told by my team captain that we will be going sub 4 hour for this race. Yikes...gotta start doing some speed work. Over the summer, I plan to do at least 3, possibly 4 triathlons culminating with the Los Angeles Tri in October. Later that month I will run the Inaugural RnR Los Angeles Half Marathon.

2010 LA Marathon Race Report

2010-03-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I have reading some great race reports from this years LA Marathon, here are a few of the good ones. Toky Photography, The Running Fat Guy (check out the video) and Nina's Race Report. I will give you some of the highlights and lowlights from my first marathon experience.

The Expo: It was a pretty good expo, with lots of vendors selling product or handing out samples, although, I feel the Disney World Marathon expo was better. Bib pick up went smoothly, got my t-shirt (disappointing) and goodie bag (disappointing) and wandered around. I saw Sarah Reinertsen was sitting there signing copies of her book, "In a Single Bound", so I walked up started chatting with her and bought a book which she personalized for me. She is truly inspirational...if you don't know about her, she is the first above the knee amputee to complete an Ironman triathlon, which she did in 2005. If you get a chance to see the 2005 Ironman replay, she is featured quite a bit in it. I have not been able to put down this book, I am about half way through it and will review it here on the blog in the coming weeks.

Saturday I was invited to the Mt Gleason Runners (SRLA), end of year luncheon, where we ate a nice lunch, watched a great video recap of the year and awards were handed out. You could tell that these kids really enjoyed the program and Coach Moss. Thanks again for letting me be a part of that.

Race Day: I got up at 3am and headed to Santa Monica at 3:45am. Got parked right away and onto one of many waiting busses. I was at Dodger Stadium by 4:45am. The parking/shuttle situation concerned me the most, but I had no problems at all, although I heard that later busses were stuck in traffic. I wandered into the stadium and sat down and ate some breakfast. At 6:30am I decided ti hit the restrooms and head to the starting corral, much to my surprise...the bathrooms in the stadium were jammed with huge lines. Plan B - head out to the porta potty's in the parking lot. As I wandered out there I ran into Chris and we stood in line for about 30 minutes. While waiting, we noticed people going up the hill behind the porta potty's and going in the bushes...at one point it was both men and women using the bushes...quite a funny site.

I made my way to the corrals and was looking for the 5 hour pace group and they were about 100 feet ahead, but there was no way I was going to get up there. Just stayed where I was and the race started, took me about 10 minutes to cross the starting line. The first few miles, I was trying to find my pace and settle into it. From downtown (mile 3) to Hollywood (mile 8) was a constant incline and I think that zapped a lot out of me.
I also developed an issue about mile 5 with a shooting pain between #2 and #3 toes on my right foot. It felt as if I was being injected with a needle between the toes every step I took and that continued until the end.
Miles 9-15 were pretty uneventful but by mile 18, I was starting to cramp in my calves. I took a few salt tablets and some gatorade and walked for most of that mile. I ran/walked mile 19 until I saw my friend Derek walking towards me with a gatorade and we walked and filled my bottles until we met my running partner, Melissa, at mile 20. I felt some renewed energy seeing a friendly face in a crowd of strangers. Derek and Melissa ran the last 6 miles with me, they stayed out in front of me a bit and I was trying to keep up. It felt like we were running a 9:00/mile pace, but it was more like 11:00-11:30 pace. In my head I was calling them a few choice names, none of which I will repeat, but in the end, it meant finishing at 5:14:15 instead of 5:30:00 or later as I would have tried to walk much of the last 6 miles. After crosing the finishline, I took my picture and met them and walked down on the pier. It was so crowded that we turned around and headed back up the pier and decided to go elsewhere for lunch. We had a great celebratory lunch including my first beer in 2-1/2 months...tasted good!

Highlights: Meeting Sarah Reinertsen at the expo, parking/shuttle, the course, the volunteers, the spectators, seeing Melissa and Derek at mile 20 and having them run the last 6 miles with me, seeing several of the Mt Gleason Runners kids out on the course, finishing my first marathon, the LA Marathon.

Lowlights: Porta potty situation (need 2-3 times more), the course (mile 3 -8 were tough), the jackass that knocked my garmin off my wrist at mile 5 and I had to go back about 30 feet to find it and grab it with all these runners coming towards me!, went out a bit too fast, miles 18 and 19 were brutal, finish line area needs to be rethought, pier was too crowded, traffic on the 10 after race.

Derek , Me and Melissa

I have a new found respect for the city of Los Angeles and the people who live here. I will be back to run this race next year.

Running Really is a Team Sport

2010-03-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

For years I played baseball and adult co-ed softball and I enjoyed being on a team. After a few years, I realized that the team is only as good as the weakest player. I was on a softball team that was more social than competitive, it was at that point I decided to stop playing all together.

I always thought running was a great individual sport, after all, who can you blame for failure, but yourself. Over the last 6 months or so, and throughout my training for the LA Marathon, I found that running really is a team sport. The friends I have made in the running/endurance sports communities are some of the best and most supportive people around.

Now that I have completed my first marathon (3/21/2010 5:14:14), I want to acknowledge the many people on my team...whether you knew you were or not. Without you, this would've not been possible.

My Wife: she is the person that got me into exercising when I was lazy and fat, it was she that wanted to do the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2007 and when her friends flaked on her, she convinced me to do it with her. We will be doing Disneyland Half marathon #4 in September, going for our "Coast to Coast Challenge" medal. She has supported me in everything I have done and will continue to do in the future including a possible Ironman triathlon.

My Family and Friends (West Coast, East Coast and Texas) - they have been very supportive and my cheerleaders, even through tough times (injuries, my no drinking/cigar smoking until the marathon policy) you stood by me.

To Everyone at the ARC Run Club - my "dysfunctional running family", you make Thursday, the best day of the week.

My Twitter Peeps: There are so many but, these few are very special to me...Glenn - Thanks for all your words of wisdom!, Linda - Thank you for the pep talks and the support. Chris - You're an inspiration. Craig and the MT Gleason Runners - You and the kids are a great inspiration, thank you for letting be a part of the group and for all of your advice and support.

Last, but definitely not least...

My Friend and Running Partner Melissa - You believed in me when no one else did! I always wanted to use that line after hearing it at the Academy Awards for so many years. :) Seriously, you have been an amazing friend and running partner, you have been a cheerleader and supporter and I have enjoyed the miles we have logged together and look forward to all of our future miles. You met at mile 20 of the LA Marathon, you ran with me and pushed me through the finish, even though I was calling you a few choice words in my head! In the end, it was all worth it, and I thank you!

Thank You!

LA Marathon Race Recap - Reader's Digest Version

2010-03-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

LA Marathon 3/21/2010

Woke up at 3am, drove to Santa Monica by 4:15am, got on shuttle to Dodger Stadium, sat at Dodger Stadium for 3 hours, stood in line at the porta potty's for 30 minutes, got an interesting show above the porta potty's (funny), ran 26.52 miles, finished the LA Marathon and had a celebratory lunch and beer with good friends. Sat in traffic on the way home, had sushi with my wife and crashed until this morning.

Official time: 5:14:14

I'll write a more detailed report in the next few days.

It's Showtime!

2010-03-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

In less than 12 hours I will be crossing the starting line of the LA Marathon. I am still a bit nervous, but very excited. I spent a few hours at the expo on Friday and got to meet and chat with Sarah Reinertsen, who is truly inspirational. Today, I went to the MT Gleason Runners (SRLA) end of year carbo loading luncheon. We had a nice lunch, watched their end of year video presentation and awards ceremony, it was truly a great time.

I have spent sometime today and this evening on the phone with several friends and family members offering their advice and well wishes. I have gone through my check lists several times and have set two alarms for 3am. At this point, the training is done, the mental plan is laid out and now it is time to go lay it down on the streets of Los Angeles. I was reminded of this saying today and I think it sums it up..."Pain is temporary, finishing the LA Marathon is forever!"

See you out on the course...Bib #9334

Marathon Induced Insomnia...

2010-03-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

...is in Full Effect!

So much for my plans of getting a little extra sleep each night this week before the big day. I was prepared not to get much sleep the night before the race, but waking up at 3am (incidentally the time I will wake up on Sunday) everyday this week is getting ridiculous. I lay there thinking about the race itself, getting to the race, hydration, nutrition, etc. and I cant get back to sleep. I hear that this is normal before a big race, but I have never experienced it like this before. I want my sleep! Hopefully, I can break this cycle for the next few nights.

This week has been pretty lackluster in terms of runs, I skipped Monday's 30 min spin on the bike and yesterday's 5 miler. My legs are feeling a bit heavy and tired. I got in 30 minutes on the bike tonight and then 3 or 5 miles Thursday night with the group from ARC. Friday afternoon I will head to Dodger Stadium for the expo and Saturday I will be attending the Mt Gleason Runner's luncheon and trying to rest and stay off my feet as much as possible.

I have made my checklist for Pre-Race, Race, and Post-Race and now will gather everything together and check and re-check it several times before leaving the house at 4am Sunday morning.

26.2 - The Final Week

2010-03-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

As I sit here writing this, one week from now, I will be about 3 hours into my first marathon. I am sitting here thinking, where did the last 18 weeks go? It seems like yesterday that Glenn sent me the marathon training plan that I would follow, boy time sure flies.

Yesterday, before my last long run with Coach Craig and the SRLA kids, I told him, I couldn't wait to get the marathon over with and move on with my life. He told me I was approaching it the wrong way and that I should enjoy my first marathon. After thinking about it for a while...he's right, I want to enjoy all of the aspects of this marathon from the expo, lining up in the "mosh pit" as Chris put it, all of the sights along the way and particularly...crossing the finish line! I have worked hard for this, I have overcome a serious injury and now I need to focus and enjoy this experience.

This week's schedule has just a few runs of a couple of miles and some rest days. I will focus on preparing mentally for the race this week. I will put together a nutrition strategy for the race as well as my pre-race plans on race morning. I will try and get extra rest each night and start to add extra carbs to each meal this week.

Yesterday, we did an 8 mile run, which I made a tempo run (1:13:39/ 9:12 mi) out of it. Today, I did an easy 4 mile run with the first 2 miles at my marathon starting pace (12:00 mi) and the last 2 miles at a bit faster pace (11:00 mi). Physically and mentally, I think I am prepared for this task...we'll find out in 7 days.

26.2 - The Mental Challenge

2010-03-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

As I have stated before, this will be my first full marathon and from what I have heard from all of my friends that have run a marathon, the biggest challenge will be the mental game. I think back to September 2007, when I ran my first half marathon (Disneyland) and what I felt before that race. I was nervous, excited and unsure how my body and mind would react to the distance. I was under-trained, under-prepared and went into it with a bit of an ego thinking I would run my first race in 2:30...boy was I wrong. I hit the wall...no, I splattered against the wall at mile 10 and struggled to get through the rest of the race. I finished in 2:41:31 and felt horrible, in fact, I didn't run again for several months. All I know, is that I don't want that to happen this time.

So how do I prevent that from happening? I think the best way to approach the race is to first, get rid of the ego and time goal. My goal is to just finish the race...upright and not requiring a ride in the "big, red, limousine". At one time, I thought that 4.5 hour time goal was within reach, but given the severity of my injury 2 months ago and I missed training for 3 weeks, I have had to for go any time goal at all. I need to break the race down into much smaller, more manageable segments. I will break it down in 10K increments, since that is a comfortable distance for me and I run a 10K route in training, I can imagine that run in my mind. I have to start slow and pace myself, I am running 26.2 miles, not a 5 or 10K race. I must not get sucked into the crowd at the start, I need to pick a pace and stick with it.

Once I get to mile 20, that is where things will get challenging since I have never run more than 20 miles and I will be entering uncharted territory. If I stay focused and look at it as the final 10K, I think everything will be OK. Dont get me wrong...this will be a challenge, one of the biggest in my life, but if I stick with the game plan and stay focused, I will cross the finish line!

My Saturday Run with The Mt. Gleason Runners

2010-03-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I ran the SRLA 18 mile Friendship run and I met Coach Craig Moss and his kids, the Mt. Gleason Runners. I was impressed with Coach Moss and his group of kids that when the offer was made to run with his group, I jumped at the chance. Saturday morning I met them at their starting point (McDonalds, doesn't get much better...does it?) and after some quick announcements from Coach Moss, he introduce me to the kids and the last thing he said was "Don't laugh at him, when you run past him." We headed out on the scheduled 11 mile run, which was a 5.5 mile out and back. During the first 5.5 miles, I would say hello to the kids as I was passing them and then I got in with a group of girls that was running at my pace and we stayed together until the water stop, when they stopped for water and I kept on going. I got to the turn around and there were a few kids stretching and walking, I just made the turn and headed back. I was feeling pretty good and decided to try and keep my pace all the way back. As I was heading back and came across students running the opposite direction, I would give them a thumbs up and say "Good Job" or "Way to go, keep it up" and I got a lot of smiles from that. I even heard a few kids say "Good job Bob" which really impressed me that they were actually listening to Coach Moss when he introduced me.

As I was heading back, I noticed my pace was slowing a bit because of some uphill sections of the run. Little did I realize, on the way out was all downhill....now I have an uphill run all the way back.

As I was running back I would come up on some kids walking and would engage them in conversation. I asked them if this was going to be their first marathon, and when they said yes, I said "me too" and that put a smile on many of their faces. I noticed something funny, as I came up to kids that were walking, they would look over their shoulder and see me running, they would start running as to not get passed by the old guy. About 2 miles out, I came across this boy who was walking and as I passed him, I told him there was less than 2 miles to go. He started running and caught up with me. He asked me a few questions, so I took my ipod out and we started chatting. He told me his name was Arine (not sure of the spelling) and that this was going to be his first marathon. I asked him how he expected to do and he said he wants to finish in 6 hours or less. We started getting a light drizzle and the conversation turned to running in the rain and that he felt it was not good to run in the rain. I told him that there was a good chance (hopefully not) that we could see some rain on race day. He said, that's the marathon, that's different. I said to him, you need to know what it feels like to run in the rain, clothes, shoes, socks all wet and how your body reacts to it. He shook his head in agreement. As we came up to a small intersection, where a car was getting ready to turn right, I gave him a lesson in safety. He was getting ready to go in front of the car and I stopped him and said, "If you can't make eye contact with the driver, don't step out in front of the car, go behind the car". Sure enough, the driver never looked to her right before she pulled out. As we came to a stop light, he noticed my Garmin 305 and asked what it was. I explained that it was a GPS and that it would tell me my real time pace, distance, elevation and heart rate. He seemed impressed and then asked what pace we were running. As we started to run, I would call out our pace. We finished up with a short spring to the finish. I got my recovery meal (Egg McMuffin, hash browns and a large iced coffee) and headed home. Total run 11.21 miles in 1:51:28.

When asked if I would be back again...I said yes! I had a great time running with these kids. I normally train by myself except for Thursday night fun runs with our group, so this was a welcome change. Thanks again to Coach Moss and the kids for welcoming me! See kids...old guys can run too! :) See you next Saturday.

Sunday was an easy 6 mile run at marathon pace...finished and then went for a massage. Time to relax now.

Taper Time!

2010-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

This whole concept of tapering before a marathon is all new to me. I understand the purpose, but I have never really done a full taper before any of the half marathons I have run in the past. I have just not run a long run the week before the race. Since the LA Marathon will be my first marathon, I am trying follow my training plan as closely as possible. The next couple of weeks look to be pretty light in terms of running.

Here is my plan for the next few weeks:
I am trying to rest and get more rest over the next few weeks, but that has become a challenge lately as I have been having trouble getting a good night's rest. I am trying to eat healthier meals while not gaining any more weight. I was able to drop 5 lbs in February and look to drop another few in the coming weeks. I have eliminated all swimming workouts until after the marathon as I am afraid to get sick before the big day. I will continue to do some light spinning on the trainer a couple of days a week. I know what clothes I will wear on race day and what fuel (Cytomax, Gu and Salt Stick) I will be using during the race. I know all of these things work and work well for me.

Now is the time for me to prepare mentally for the challenge of running 26.2 miles. I got a nice pep talk last night about the mental aspect of the race. One point that was made was that if things started heading south for me mentally during the race, I know now how to comeback and get back on track to finish the race. I have been blessed with a great group of supportive people who have and will continue to offer great advice with regards to running and finishing my first marathon. So to all of you whether I have said it in the past or not...Thank You!

Tomorrow I am going to do my long run (11 miles) with the Mount Gleason Runners which is part of the Students Run LA program...looking forward to it, should be fun, I hope the rain holds off until we finish.

Have a good weekend!

Chinatown Firecracker 10K Race Report

2010-03-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

2/28/2010

I got to Chinatown early and met my friend and RP, Melissa and we headed over to the registration tables. Once we got our bibs, goodie bags(probably the best goodie bags I have seen at a local race) and t shirts, we went looking for A Runner's Circle's tent. After making a couple of trips back to the car...don't ask...we headed to the starting line to watch the opening ceremonies. After the Boy Scouts presented the colors, and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the traditional Chinese ceremonies started with the drums, gong and dragon dance. After the dragon dance came the lighting of the 100,000 firecrackers.

After the ceremonies, Amy, Melissa and I did a nice little warm up jog down Broadway Ave. We started to make our way closer to the starting line and ended up about 2/3 of the way back. We started at a nice pace and after my 20 mile run on Saturday, I was definitely feeling my tired legs. The first 2.5 miles are up hill, actually there is about 500 feet of elevation gain in that 2.5 miles. We tried to keep up a decent pace but ended up walking a bit up the steepest portion of the course. I think Melissa's comment sums it all up...

We finally got some relief...it was all downhill from here on out. We picked up the pace quite a bit. I actually struggled to keep up at some points but eventually caught back up. We cruised through the Dodger Stadium parking lot and headed for the home stretch. We turned back on Broadway and could see the finish line and really pushed hard. In the end, Melissa came in at 59:39 and I did 59:40...so yes, I did get "chic-ed"...but I'm OK with it. We had a well run race. I enjoyed the race, I would like to do it again on fresh legs as I know I could shave a couple of minutes off my time.

After the race we met up in the beer garden with several of our friends. We then headed over to Ocean Seafood to try and catch the official "Tweetup" but we were late to the party. We did get to say Hi to everyone and then got our own table for some yummy Dim Sum. This day was a day of firsts for me...first time to Chinatown, first time running the Firecracker 10K and first time eating Dim Sum.

Be sure to check out Glenn - The Running Fat Guy's Race Report as well. He did a much more thorough report with pictures and video.

The 20 Mile Monkey is Off My Back

2010-03-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Since I started my marathon training plan back in November, I always dreaded the three 20 mile runs that were on the schedule. The first two 20 milers happen to hit while I was recovering from the groin injury, so I was never really faced with running them. Last week was a different story...I have been back to running for 3 weeks and completed the SRLA 18 mile run the week before. (Click here for race report) That 18 mile run didn't go so well. I started out too fast, I had hydration issues that led to cramping and the socks I was wearing were just not comfortable. Looking at my schedule, I had 5 days to figure out what was wrong and prepare for Saturday's 20 mile run. I sought advice from several trusted people and we came up with a plan that included new socks with more cushion, salt stick and a much slower pace. I was watching the weather all week and the forecast called for rain most of Saturday and since I was running the Firecracker 10K on Sunday morning, I couldn't switch the 20 miler to Sunday. I planned out two loops starting from home, the first was to the West and was 12 miles and the second was an 8 mile loop to the East. I decided that if it was raining, I could stop after the first 12 miles, change shoes, sock, clothes and reload the water bottles.

I woke up about 6am to pouring rain and didn't really want to get up and run in it, but I HTFU and got ready to go. I walked out the door at 7am in a light rain. By the time I got to mile 1, the rain had stopped and I shed my rain jacket. Everything was going well until mile 6, when the sky opened up and it just poured. I put the rain jacket back on and just slogged through. My shoes and socks were soaked, but I felt really good. I arrived home after mile 12 and changed, grabbed a PB&J and headed back out. It was raining pretty good, but the sky to the west was blue...but I was heading east. Thankfully the storm moved faster than I did and I was able to run 7 of the 8 miles without rain. When I crossed 18.40 miles, I was in uncharted territory and was unsure of what would happen. Surprisingly...nothing, I just kept moving along at my slow pace and finished the 20 miles. When it was all said and done I ran 20.17 miles in 4:01:39 (11:58/mile). I felt much better than last week's 18 miles, but between the socks, salt stick and slowing down...it made all the difference. Could I have gone another 6.2 miles? Maybe, but that test will come in less than 3 weeks. The next morning, I ran the Firecracker 10K in Chinatown...look for that race report tomorrow.

SRLA 18 Mile Friedship Run Race Report

2010-02-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

2/21/2010

The SRLA Friendship Run is a yearly race held mostly for the kids of SRLA but the public is welcome as well and it is the qualifier for the kids to be able to run the LA Marathon. I decided that this would be a good test to see if my injury was healing and I was able to run 18 miles, pain free. This would be the longest distance that I have ever run and a jump from my longest post injury run of 10 miles.

I arrived at Hansen Dam around 6:15am and headed over to register. I got my bib and headed back to the car to gather my backpack. I wandered around looking for the Mt. Gleason Runners and their coach Craig. Once I found their tent, I found Chris and Craig and introduced myself. I have been following them on twitter for a while but this was the first time we actually met in person...a tweetup! While Craig was readying his kids for the run, Chris and I talked for a bit and did some stretching. Soon after, photographer, Rich Cruse came by and I was introduced to him and we talked cameras for a bit. After a few photos and a pep talk from Coach Craig, I made my way to the starting line.

The race started right at 8am and the crowd shuffled forward to the starting line. We headed out of the park and onto the surrounding streets. About 3/4 mile in, I could feel the pace was a bit fast...Mile 1 - 9:20. I kept trying to dial back the speed but just couldn't seem to slow down. Miles 2-7 I was averaging 9:30/mile, I was shooting for 10:30-11:00/mile pace. I finally was able to slow my pace around mile 8. Miles 8-12, average pace was 10:30/mile. I was feeling pretty good, there was no pain from the recent groin injury.

Midway through mile 13 is where the wheels fell off...I was tired, the bottom of my right foot was starting to hurt, almost like running on sandpaper. I had to walk for a bit, I tried to shake it off, downed another Gu with some Cytomax and continued on. I started to feel better miles 14 and 15 and was running a comfortable pace. I was starting to get the feeling of a cramp coming on in my left achilles and it was worse when I would slow to a walk. I took another Gu along with Gatorade and tried to start running again...my body didn't want to run. I walked for close to a half mile before running again. I continued that run/walk interval until the last half mile and then ran it across the finish. During the last 200 yards, I felt that my left calf and hamstring were getting ready to cramp...I could feel it coming on, fortunately, it never did. I got my medal, t shirt and some food and headed over to the Mt. Gleason tent where I chatted with Chris, Rich and Craig for a few minutes before heading home. Once home, I stood waist deep in my pool for about 10 minutes...did that feel good.

I learned a lot from this run and it has made me re-think some things, but at this point, I will try and run the LA Marathon. I found that I was dehydrated and although I was consuming Cytomax and Gatorade, I was short on electrolytes and will try S Caps, Endurolytes or Salt stick on my 20 mile run on Saturday. I also found that the socks I have been wearing are not really suitable for long distances...at least for me, so I will try some others with a bit more cushioning. The biggest thing that I learned...I need to slow my pace dramatically. I will work on that this weekend when I attempt to get a 20 mile run in.

Enough about me...let's talk about the kids and adult leaders in SRLA for a minute. Until Sunday, the only experience that I have had with SRLA kids is when I run past them during my training runs and occasionally see them at a local race. I have never said much more than hello or good morning in passing on the streets. During the race, I chatted with several kids and found them to be truly amazing. I saw one kid who was in a wheelchair, not a racing wheelchair, but a regular hospital type wheelchair pushing himself on the course. As I ran by, I gave him a thumbs up and said good job, he looked up, cracked a smile and kept on going. Many of the adult leaders were offering words of encouragement to the kids, helping them to keep focused on finishing. The volunteers were awesome as well...either working the water stations or the ones just there to cheer, it was all welcome and they deserve a big "Thank You". This is one race that I think I will try and add to my calendar for next year.

You can see all of Rich Cruse's Photos from the Friendship Run here.

Update: Final Results 3:20:44 (11:09/mile)

Enough About You...Let's Talk About Me Some More

2010-02-22T08:21:00.001-08:00

This is Part II, you can read Part I here

Heroes, Role Models, Influences
When I was a kid my heroes were baseball players, I loved the game (not so much anymore) and felt that some of those players were great role models. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to meet some of my heroes and with the exception of Roy Campanella...none of them are/were worthy of hero status! Actors/Athletes/Musicians are not heroes or role models, the real heroes are the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces that fight to protect our freedom. Remember...Freedom isn't free and these men and women sacrifice alot for us and some give the ultimate sacrifice.

I had one person in my life that was a great role model for me...his name was Ken and he was my high school science and math teacher. He understood that high school was a very difficult time for a lot of teenagers and knew how to connect with us. I have often said that from the 4th grade through high school is the toughest time in a person's life, they are trying to figure out who they are, and what they want to be. Sometimes they just don't fit in, sometimes they become followers, instead of blazing their own path in life. Ken and I remained friends long after high school, we shared lots of things in common, trains (both real and model), music, and racquetball, which we played every week for 10 years. In 2008, Ken was diagnosed with prostate cancer that spread to his spine. He spent the last 6 months of his life in a convalescent home, he died in July 2008 at 61 years old. He lived his life as a loner, but that is how he wanted it and enjoyed it. My biggest regret is that at the end, I didn't push him to give me his sister or nieces full names and contact info. After he died, I took his laptop hoping to find their names and found nothing. To this day, 18 months later, they have no idea that he has passed. I have been working on it for 18 months and have hit many roadblocks as all I have to go on is first names. I have made it one of my goals in life to try and track them down and let them know, I hope I am able to complete this task.

Today I am influenced and inspired by a great number of people. Some are friends, some are family, some are people that I read their blogs, some are those I have never met and may never meet but they have all shaped me in some form or another. I try to find inspiration from the people I deal with on an everyday basis...if you look hard enough, you will find it. I was recently re-watching the Ironman World Championships (I keep them on the DVR for inspiration) and two people stood out as inspirational...Jon Blais, the first person with ALS to complete an Ironman and Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the first double amputee above the knee to complete the race. These people are amazing!

Goals
A Few years ago, I started living my life with goals in mind. My main goal is to be the best husband, father, son, brother, and friend to the people in my life. I have both short term and long term goals as well. Short term, I want to finish the LA Marathon, complete 5 triathlons this year including Malibu and the LA Triathlon (Olympic distance). I also want to start giving back...instead of writing checks, I want to volunteer my time and hopefully to a cause that has to do with athletics. My long term goals are to complete both a 1/2 and full Ironman race.

Why I Blog...
I enjoy sharing my experiences with you, the reader. To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, Van Wilder,"Inspire the Uninspired." If I can inspire just one person, then it is all worth it.

**Most of this post was written last week. Yesterday I ran the SRLA 18 mile Friendship Run and was fortunate enough to meet some very inspiring kids and some great adult leaders. I will post more on that in my coming race report.

Thursday Night Fun Run

2010-02-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

Thursday nights are the highlight of my training week, as I head over to A Runner's Circle for the Thursday night "Fun Run" through Griffith Park. About 2 years ago I started running with them on Thursday nights as a way to break up the monotony of training by myself. At first there were a handful of people every week and since has grown into quite the crowd, averaging 20-25 runners each week. There is a 5 mile and a 3 mile run and there are pace groups for all ranges of paces. Last night the store was hopping...in addition to the Fun Run, there was a Team in Training shoe clinic, "The Pain Eraser" who helped alleviate pain through massage and pressure points, and a representative from Accelerade/Forze was sampling both Accelerade and Forze GPS bars.

Here is a link to pictures of last nights event.

I had a nice, easy run with my running partner, Melissa and our friend and San Diego Rock n Roll relay teammate Ann (See Below). We kept a real slow pace and talked and laughed most of the way. Couldn't think of a better way to knock off 6 miles! Final stats: 6 miles in 1:15 (12:30/mi)

If you are interested in joining us for the Thursday Night Fun Run, come on over to A Runner's Circle, we start at 6pm...everyone is welcome!

Enough About You...Let's Talk About Me!

2010-02-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

I have been reading quite a few blogs for several years now and the one thing I have noticed is there is not a lot of information about the writer. Usually there is a small profile blurb, but you don't really get to know the person. I am often wondering what the back story is on a person and how or why did they get to this point in their lives. Sometimes it takes months or years of reading a person's blog to get some of that information, so I thought I would share a bit about myself with you.
About Me
My name is Bob and I am 42 years old, I live in Northridge, Ca, which is a suburb of Los Angeles.You may have heard of my city as we had a 6.7 earthquake in 1994 that was a life-changing experience for all of us. I have been married to my wonderful wife Tina, for almost 15 years (20 together) and we have two kids, Nicole (26) who was recently married and Ryan (24), a college student.

I know, I know...if you start doing the math, it appears I was a pretty active teenager. Truth is, they are step kids, but since I don't really care for the term "step", I just call them my kids and have since day 1. I sell dental supplies and equipment and have been selling for the same company for almost 20 years. I am fortunate to have some great customers and we are surviving this economic downturn, together.

Interests and Hobbies
I have had a passion for music since I was a child, I started playing the guitar at age 10 and progressed to piano, bass, and drums (parents didn't really care for the drums...wonder why). In college I took a couple of recording engineering classes and I am pretty proficient around a mixing board. My dream at one time was to score for movies an TV, but it is a very tough business to get into. I have written hundreds of "snippets" (short segments of music) that could be used to aurally fill a scene. I have had a couple of pieces used as bumper music in podcasts. I still write record and play when ever I get the chance.

I also have a love for cars...especially my 1969 Chevy Camaro convertible that I have been working on a ground up restoration for the last few years. When I started this project I didn't know much about a complete restoration, but I went and took automotive classes along with welding classes. I am a certified welder in Mig, Tig, and Oxy Fuel and I love burning two pieces of metal together! I have recently renewed my interest in photography and I am particularly interested in sports photography.

Why I Got Started with Running
In 2005, I was 240 pounds and not happy about the way I looked and felt. For years I played baseball/softball and racquetball, but I had given up all of that and was packing on pounds at a rapid rate. I decided to try Weight Watchers after seeing my wife's success using the program. I started on the "points" system and soon realized I was eating way too much. After an adjustment period, I settled in and started losing some weight. I knew that to break through the plateau I was at I would have to incorporate some exercise into the routine. I started walking on a treadmill 3 x a week, then progressed to a jog and finally a run. I have always hated running and it probably stems from a bad PE class in elementary school where our punishment was to run laps. In two years I took off 25 lbs using the Weight Watchers, walking/running plan. (I have since shed another 10 lbs and would like to drop another 10lbs by years end.) In 2007, my wife said she wanted to walk the Disneyland Half Marathon, so I decided that would be a good challenge for me. I started running outside and for the first 2 months, I couldn't run 1/2 mile without walking and I started to question my ability to run 13.1 miles. I got tips from my aunt (multi time finisher of the LA Marathon) and a neighbor who was an avid runner. In September 2007, I started and finished the Disneyland Half marathon( See below) in 2:41:31, wearing the wrong shoes and cotton shorts and shirt. ( I didn't know better) Something funny happened...I enjoyed running, and wanted to do it again. I spent the next year increasing my mileage, got the proper shoes and apparel, and improved my running techniques. I ran my second half marathon in September 2008 (Disneyland HM) in 2:13:30. Since that time I have run 5 more half marathons, numerous 5 and 10K races and ventured into the world of triathlon. I have since gone sub 2 hours in a half marathon.

I think I will make this a two part post so you don't get too bored. Part II will include my heroes, role models and influences along with my goals for the future.
Stay Tuned...

I Finally Listened!

2010-02-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

I have been accused of not listening in the past...it started when I was young and it got me a lot of time in the corner, detention, and occasionally the Principal's office. Later in life, it got me in the "dog house" but in recent years, I learned to listen more, except to my own body. I would often just push though the pain and take care of it later with an "Advil/Aleve" cocktail. Last year, I had an IT Band issue in my left leg. Although I rested for two weeks, I started running before I should have. I was addicted to running and didn't care what my body was saying...I wanted to be out running.

This latest injury (groin pull) is pretty serious. I did take two weeks off and did absolutely nothing at all. Week 3, I started swimming and week 4, I did two runs totally 11 miles. This last week I ran 8.42 miles on Thursday at a pace that was too fast and Saturday, I did 10.21 miles at a much slower pace. Since I didn't have my running partner with me to tell me to slow down, I made up a wristband that said "SLOW DOWN - RP" and every time I looked at it, I heard her voice telling me to slow down. I must say that it worked. I still cant figure out why it is so hard to run slower.

Around mile 6, I started to notice a "hot spot" developing on my right foot. After a brief potty stop at LA Fitness, I had to make a decision...continue to go for 12 miles or turn left and call it at 10 miles. The old me, would have just pushed on for 12 miles, but the new me decided to turn left and just do 10 miles, knowing in the back of my head, I have the SRLA 18 mile run next Sunday and that is my test to see if I will be able to run the LA Marathon. Once I got home, I stood waist deep in my 50 degree pool for about 10 minutes, once you get over the shock of the cold, it actually felt pretty good. I had scheduled a 6 mile run for today, but this morning when I woke up, my legs felt heavy and sore, so I decided to make today another rest day. (See...I'm learning!) This coming week will see a lot of time in the pool, 4 days to be exact with a run on Thursday night with the group and Sunday's 18 miler to finish off the week.

On a side note, Saturday afternoon was very productive...I started working on a rack to hang all of my medals. I got tired of seeing them hang on the corner of a bookcase in my office. I made an initial design, got out the saws and router table and went to work. I hope to paint it today and have pictures later in the week.

Slow and Easy....NOT!

2010-02-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

After today's marathon driving session (9 hours) to San Diego and back to see some clients and check in with our office down there, I decided to head out for a "slow and easy" 8 mile run. I grabbed my gear and headed out the door. The first thing I noticed was that I didn't feel tight at all as I had in my previous two runs, but I felt and my garmin confirmed it...I was going too fast. In the back of my head, I heard my RP's voice telling me to slow down, but my brain and my legs weren't talking. By Mile 5, I started to slow down a bit and kept that slower pace through Mile 8. I started to get a bit tired at mile 7 and was fading fast at mile 8, but pushed through to get home. When it was all said and done...8.42 Miles in 1:25:59 (10:12/mi pace). Friday is a rest day and Saturday I will attempt 10-12 miles.

Things are looking up...sort of.

2010-02-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

After feeling so good after Thursday nights 5 mile run, I decided to take a crack at 10K on Sunday morning. This was the first time I had run on the streets around town in over a month and I must admit, it felt good to be back on the street running. I kept telling myself, "nice and easy" is what we want, since this was only the second run since my groin injury 3 weeks ago. I started out and like Thursday night, things were tight for the first mile or so. Things loosened up and I fell into the familiar grove of running. I looked down at my garmin and it said I was running a 9:03 pace. Whoa!!! I slowed to a walk...that was way too fast. I started running and settled into a slower pace. Miles 4, 5, 6 were 10:36, 10:52 and 10:14, better but not ideal. I finished 10K in 1:02:22 (10:03 pace), I was shooting for an average between 11:00 and 12:00 minutes per mile.

On the positive side...I felt really good afterward. I did a bit of stretching, used my "Stick" and the all to familiar...icing my groin. I am starting to feel a bit more positive on my chances of running the LA Marathon. I will run the SRLA Friendship 18 miler on February 21 and the Firecracker 10K on February 28. Somewhere/somehow, I am going to have to get at least one 20 mile run in before tapering for the marathon.

Progress Report

2010-02-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

After almost 3 weeks without running due to my groin injury, I decided that I would try a short, slow run to see if I could in fact continue training for the LA Marathon. All day Thursday as I was out calling on customers, I resisted the urge to run across a the street or jog through a parking lot. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to arrive. I couldn't wait for 5:30pm to come and when it did I headed right over to A Runner's Circle for the Thursday night Fun Run. Due to a hectic schedule in December, the holidays, my vacation and this injury, I hadn't run with the group since the first week of December and I missed it.

When I got there, I was talking with a few guys about the new ARC Tri Club and some of the new brands the store will be carrying in the near future. At 6:15pm the group took off. My running partner, Melissa, and I started out really slow, which was good since I didn't know how my body was going to act or react to running. I felt a bit tight at first but after a short while, things seemed to loosen up. When we got to the 3 mile loop turn, we decided to go for the full 5 miles. We kept a nice easy pace through out and finished in 1:05:32 (13:05/mile) I didn't think I have ever run that slow, but it felt good. After chatting with some fellow runners, I headed home to use my new Stick and iced down for a while.

I am going to swim on Saturday due the rain that we are experiencing here in Los Angeles and I will try another slow, easy run on Sunday.

Swim, Bike...No Run

2010-02-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

I am continuing to make progress with my groin injury. Last week, I decided to hit the pool and swim since I didn't really need to use my legs, although I did minimal kicking. After 1000 yards on Thursday, I went back on Saturday morning and up the yardage to 1650 yds (1 Mile in the water). I actually felt really good about the distance and wasn't all that tired afterwards. The doctor told me that if I could ride my bike pain free, then it would be OK to ride short distances at an easy pace. Sunday morning I headed out for a trial run...I used a relatively flat course through the northern part of the Valley. I found that the first 2 miles, my hip was a bit tight, but it loosened up after that. The good news is that all the miles were "pain free" and I was happy about that. I tried to keep the pace easy, but since it was my first time back on the streets in about a month, I decided to hammer it a bit for a couple of miles. Felt good but I was winded so I scaled back and leisurely rode the rest of the way back home. It was only 13 miles, but it gave me hope that I could possibly keep up my fitness level by biking and still be able to run the LA Marathon in 7 weeks.

Monday is usually a rest day for me but, I decided to hit the pool once again. I swam another 1650 yards and if I had a bit more time, I would have tried for 2000 yards, that is how good I felt. I started swimming back in April of last year and I could barely swim 2 lengths (25 yd) of the pool before I had to stop and rest. Over the summer, I decided to try out the 0-1650(mile) swim program and it didn't go as well as I thought. Actually, I never did finish that program, I started reading "Total Immersion Swimming" and started to use some of those drills which I think really helped my swimming. I am still far from where I want to be for swimming, but I am now more confident in the water.

Last night, I rode 30 minutes on the bike trainer in the garage. I did a few intervals to get the HR up, but I get soooo bored riding on the trainer. Today I am just going to do some stretching, core work and try a couple of yoga positions to see if I can loosen up my tight hip. Thursday is a big day for me...I am going to attempt a short, easy run with my group from A Runner's Circle. Hoping all goes well...I'll keep you posted.

Frustrated being on the sidelines...

2010-01-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

I have been sitting on the sidelines since January 16 with a very serious groin pull. More specifically it is the "adductor longus" that is the problem. That is the muscle that runs from the pelvis to the thigh bone. An example of using it would be bringing your second leg into the car, something I couldn't do without the assistance of my hand for several days.

Over the last 10 days, I have been resting the muscles, treating the area with ice and some light stretching. In the last week, I feel that I have improved 150%, but I still have a long way to go. I am now facing the fact that I may not be able to run the LA Marathon on March 21st, which is something I have looked forward to since I made the commitment in November. I have a number of friends running the race and I thought it would be fun to be surrounded by some great people as I venture down the path to completing my first marathon. I still have hope that I will be able to make that journey with them.

Yesterday, I made an attempt to run just a few feet and there was just too much pain in the pelvic area after a few steps. So I decided to hit the pool this morning and see if swimming had any effect on the groin. After a short warm up, I started to get back into my normal swimming rhythm. I noticed some slight discomfort in the first few laps, but then it went away. This was the first time I had been back in the pool since December 24th, although I swam about 800 yards in the open water in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel, both of which were so much more fun than swimming in a pool.

Once I knocked out 500 yards, I decided to try and run in the pool. The discomfort in the groin area returned, so I decided to go back to swimming. I finished up 500 more yards for a total of 1000 yards for today. I sat in the hot tub for a while and I must say that I felt pretty good when I got out.

My plan is to hit the pool several times over the next week and take my bike out for a quick spin on Sunday. The doctor says if I can ride the bike, pain free, it's OK to ride then. I will continue icing and stretching and if all goes well, I will try a very short and very slow run next Thursday at A Runner's Circle....that is a big IF right now...trying to keep a positive attitude though.

I'm on the Disabled List...

2010-01-20T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here we are at week 9 of my LA Marathon training program and I end up with a pulled muscle in my groin. I did it on the last day of our caribbean cruise and as always I followed my mantra..."Go Big or Go Home" and boy did I. I am taking this week and part of next week off before I try to run again. I will most likely make it to the pool this weekend to get in a few laps. I am going to have to readjust my training plan but I feel that I will be ready on March 21st.

So you are probably wondering what I did to injure myself...

This should explain it...although this wasn't the actual incident.

2010 Disneyworld Half Marathon Race Report

2010-01-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

Disneyworld Half Marathon 1/9/2010

We arrived in Orlando on Thursday evening to temps in the high 50’s and thought that just maybe all of the weather forecasts were wrong for the weekend. We got checked into our hotel, Port Orleans French Quarter and met up with a couple of our friends.

Friday morning we got up to some very cold temps, predicted high for the day was 45 degrees.

We had some breakfast and got over to the expo early. The Expo was about 2-3 times bigger than the Disneyland Half Marathon in Anaheim. We got our bibs, t shirts and goody bags and wandered the aisles of the expo. We decided to buy each of us a Tyvek jacket for $10 each and that proved to be the right move. It seems that the Tyvek jacket and pants vendor was the big winner that weekend. After wandering for a bit, we decided to board the bus back to the hotel. We spent Friday afternoon roaming around the Disney complex and met up with our friends from www.crowncast.org for dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Express. We spent the rest of the evening looking over weather reports and talking about strategies for the race morning.

Saturday morning we woke up at 2:30am and began to get ready for the race. I decided on tights, base layer shirt, run club shirt, long sleeve tech shirt, throw away sweatshirt and the tyvek jacket. Hat and gloves rounded out my ensemble. We met our friends at 3:40am and boarded a bus for the starting area. The temperature was in the high 20’s and later found out that the temperature at the start of the race was 24 degrees. When we got to the starting area two of our friends went to the race retreat and the other three of us got to stand out in the bitter cold. I bought a cup of coffee to try and keep warm, but that was really difficult as there was no covered area to wait. (More on that later) The three of us waited for the porta pottys and the snow started. It was light and never made it to the ground.

We made our way to the start. The walk to the start was about ¾ mile and we were late, the race started as we were getting to the last corral. We ended up waiting and getting into the last corral, G. I had been assigned corral C but there was no way to get there. It took about 30 minutes to make it to the starting line and away we went. Corral G is very crowded, mostly with walkers and those that didn’t furnish proof of time. As we made it to the starting line, the snow was turning into a "wintery mix".

Corral G was very crowded and I spent the first couple of miles trying to get past some of the slower runners and walkers. The first 2 miles were littered with discarded clothing, the Orlando homeless shelters got alot of donations that weekend. I saw other runners taking discarded clothing and putting it on because they were cold...I guess there is a first time for everything. At mile 2 I shed my throw away sweatshirt and made a pitstop on the side of the road. The next few miles is where the sleet became rain and continued on throughout the race.

There were not as many runners dressed in costume as I have seen at the Disneyland Half, but I think that was due to the extreme cold. The y guy dressed as Stitch looked to be pretty warm.

We finally made our way up to the Magic Kingdom, turned inside the park and headed up Main Street. The Castle was light up along with Main Street and all of the Christmas decorations...what a sight.

The course narrowed as we made our way up Main Street and into Tomorrowland. At some points the course was no wider than about 10 feet, so the pace slowed a bit as I tried to maneuver around other runners.

Next up was Fantasyland and Cinderella's Castle.

We then made our way through a backstage area and they had a Pirates of the Caribbean ship setup along with Capt Jack Sparrow, who incidentally looked an aweful lot like Johnny Depp...go figure.

We then exited the park along a backroad that was really narrow, I ended up running on the grass for a while just to be able to pass people. After a mile or so we ended up on the main road again heading back to Epcot and the finish line. There were 2 overpasses in the last couple of miles and I felt them.

At the end of the overpasses was Epcot where we entered the park, headed down to the waterfront at World Showcase, turned around and headed for the finish line.

I finished in 2:11:25, which is about where I had wanted to come in. (My target was 2:10-2:15) I wasnt pushing the pace and felt good the entire run. I enjoyed the scenery and the race itself. I went down the finish chute, got some mylar, my medal and some food, now the waiting begins...

My wife walked the race in 3:15:51, so I had about an hour to kill. I was getting text updates from the race so I knew her approximate finish time. I went and got my bag out of bag check and looked for a dry place to wait for her to finish. The only place that was dry was the massage tent, so I headed in and stood around for a while. I was getting cold so I shed a couple of damp layers and put on a sweatshirt, but I was still cold. This is where I and many others as well feel that Disney failed...they had several days warning that this cold front and storm were coming. They could have set up some tents in the family reunion are for runners to wait both before and after the race that was covered and a bit warmer than standing in the open. This would not have been a big deal for them as they have plety of tents at their disposal. I was so glad when I got the text saying that my wife had crossed the finish line. I went out to meet her and we immediately headed for the bus pick up. We got in line for our resort, which turned out to be a very popular place based on it's location. There were about 400 people in line in front of us, whereas the other resorts had 50-100 people in their lines. The buses would come, fill up and leave and another would come about 7-10 minutes behind the last. That's fine on any other day...but not today and Disney realized it. They started sending more buses to our stop and then they started scanning the line looking for people that were starting to get hypothermia and getting those people on buses right away. We got on a bus and headed back to the resort. We took showers and still couldnt get the chill out of us. Later that day we headed over to Downtown Disney to see a movie and have a good dinner. Our original plan was to go to a theme park, but with the terrible weather we decided to scrap that idea.

All in all, it was a good race and an interesting experience! I now have the difficult part of the Disney "Coast to Coast Challenge" done and once we run the Disneyland Half in September, we will collect our Coast to Coast medal. The people that I would really like to thank is all of the volunteers...they sat out in the cold/snow/sleet/rain and handed out water and encouraging words, all with smiles on their faces...so to all of you I say a big Thank You!

The next day we all boarded Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas for a cruise to the western caribbean. I will post about that later in the week.

Disneyworld Half Marathon

2010-01-10T05:22:00.001-08:00

Cold, Cold, Cold...and a bit of snow!

Working on Race report, will post soon.

Orlando Bound

2010-01-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

I started packing last night for our vacation that starts Thursday morning at 5am when we head to Orlando Florida, meet some friends from Texas and New York to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Following the race we will make our way to Port Canaveral to board Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas for a 7 day cruise of the Western Caribbean.

With this week's cold snap hitting the south, it forces me to rethink what to bring and wear for the race since at the start the temperature should be around 30 degrees. This will not be a PR race for me as I want to enjoy the scenery and hang out with our friends during the race. I will try and tweet from the race as well as shooting video on my Flip digital video camera. By doing this race and the Disneyland Half Marathon in September, my wife and I will receive the coveted "Coast to Coast" medal, a nice addition to our collection.

I am 16 weeks into my Higdon marathon training plan and it is not going as well as I had hoped. I am still getting in my quality workouts on Thursday's and my long run on Saturday's, but I am trading some of the shorter runs for 30-40 min swims in the pool. Over the next 10 days, it will be tough to stay on schedule. I will spend sometime each morning either running on deck or on the dreadmill in the gym. If I can get a longer run in somewhere in one of the ports we will visit, I will. I will also be doing some open water ocean swimming at least 2 of the days.

I hope to do some posting either on twitter or facebook as we will have wifi (dialup) service in the cabin. In any case, I should have a great race report with video when we return.

Looking Back...Looking Forward...

2009-12-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

I finished my last run of 2009 this morning. One of the reasons I like to run in the early morning are the beautiful sunrises and today was no exception. It also give me time to reflect on life and today I thought back to 2009 and looked forward into 2010. I took my Flip video camera with me this morning and shot some video.

2009 has not been a great year, by any stretch of the imagination, but there were a few good things that happened. For one, my daughter got married, and I am so proud of the woman she has become. I set new PR's in the Half Marathon, 5K and Sprint Triathlon distances. I swam 17.7 miles, biked 253.4 miles and ran 744.6 miles, all of which were new highs for me. I made a lot of new friends this year...mostly due to running/triathlon and a little thing called Twitter. I was in touch and got together with old friends, some of which I hadn't seen in 27 years and some friendships became incredibly strong over the last year.

Looking ahead to 2010...next week we leave for Orlando to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon, followed by a week of cruising through the Western Caribbean. I will spend every waking hour mastering the "Flowrider" as I did 2 years ago on this ship.

In March, I will run my first marathon - The LA Marathon along with some fellow twitter friends, it should be fun and challenging. I will run the Disneyland Half Marathon in September so I can get my "Coast to Coast" medal and than I think I will retire from Disney races. In October, I will do the Inaugural RnR Los Angeles Half Marathon followed by the Santa Clarita Half Marathon a few weeks later. As far as triathlon is concerned...I will do the 2 Castaic sprints over the summer and would like to do both the Malibu and Los Angeles triathlon in September/October.

Every year on New Year's Eve, I sit down and write out a few goals for the coming year...Personal, financial, business, running/triathlon. I try to make them just out of reach and strive to attain them. I put that piece of paper in an envelope and seal it, not to be opened until 1 year later. Then I open last years envelope and see if I made my goals for the year, where I failed and how can achieve them in the future. I have been doing this for about 10 years now instead of resolutions...which I never seemed to keep. I will do that once I post this.

So on this last day of 2009, let me say Thank You to my old friends, my new friends, my old friends that are now new again and to those few that became really great friends...you are all a great support system...and I appreciate each and every one of you.

Happy New Year!

Bob

A Week of Firsts

2009-12-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

This past training week was a week of firsts for me. Thursday morning I hit the gym at 5:30am to swim 1200 yards as I normally do on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Being that it was Christmas Eve, the pool was pretty quiet accept for another swimmer knocking of lap after lap. I started doing my laps and when I got to 1000 yards, I was feeling pretty good and decided to push it up to 1500 yards (the distance of an Olympic triathlon swim). When I hit 1400 yards I thought lets just take it up to 1650 yards (1 Mile). I made it through the 1650 yards and then another 50 yards of cool down and felt great. My first time swimming a mile, I did it in 41:17, granted it was a bit slow, but 6 months ago I struggled to get through 200 yards. I will now try to do that 2x a week for the next month or so and then I will increase it to 2000 yards.

I left the gym and headed home and ran 7 miles with five 1/2 mile pickups (10K pace) in the middle.

Christmas Eve starts what I call "The 24 Hours of Christmas" at our house. We start with an open house on Christmas Eve followed by family on Christmas morning and more family in the afternoon. When the last person leaves it is about 24 hours after we began on Christmas Eve. This year we had to extend the day by 3 more hours for my daughter's MIL birthday party. Now I was tired and was looking at running 16 miles in the morning, but I went and had dessert and then came home and went to bed.

My marathon training plan called for 10 miles long this week, but since I am heading to Orlando in 2 weeks to run the Disney World Half Marathon, I thought I had better switch weeks and run next weeks 16 miles, this week. I had my PB&J and banana before I left and loaded my water belt with Gatorade G2 and 1 bottle of Hammer Perpetuem(wouldnt use this product again) and headed out the door. It was a beautiful sunrise (see left) and the weather was perfect, cloudy and about 50 degrees when I left. Started knocking down the miles, at mile 9 I stopped at LA Fitness for a pit stop, got some funny looks wearing a fully loaded water belt to the gym, little did they know, I wasn't staying, I was heading back out for another 7 miles. By mile 14 I was a bit tired, but just kept pushing through and made it to mile 16 and felt pretty good. I immediately waded into my pool waist deep for about 5 minutes and I think that definitely helped with recovery. So when it was all said and done...16.1 miles in 2:45:46 (10:19/mile)...a new first!

Next up...The Disney world Half Marathon in Orlando...then...vacation!

Some Great Peeps and Tweeps

2009-12-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have been fortunate to meet some great people through running/triathlon. Most start out as strangers, and before long, we become friends. I like to think of it as one big dysfunctional family. Here are some of the friends I have met along the way, I urge you to check them out and follow them on Twitter if you are not already doing so.

A Runner's Circle - This is my choice for running shoes and accessories. They offer a great selection at affordable prices. Very knowledgeable staff to assist you. I also run with this group for the Thursday Fun Runs, so if you are in the Los Feliz area and want to join us we leave from the store at 6:00pm.

Iron News Man - Chris Schauble, NBC Anchor just completed his first Ironman in Arizona and is now training for Ironman South Africa. Follow along while he trains and offers his insights on running and triathlon.

The Running Fat Guy - Glenn describes himself "Just an old guy who has been running for a couple years. Trying to get fast, drop weight, and keep it fun!" Glenn was one of the first blogs I started reading about running and I still enjoy reading about his training and such. I got to meet Glenn at a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot Tweet Up that we had back in November and we will be running the LA Marathon in March.

Gym Notes - Linda blogs about her running and the trials and tribulations of being a Dodger fan living in Giants territory. I had the fortune of sitting down with Linda for coffee this week and we had a great time talking about running and life in general. She is very inspirational.

Here are a few of my favorite Running/Triathlon Blogs...

Anatorias
Chicrunner
Quadrathon
LA Runner
Marathoning With Willis
Sam I am - From Fat to Fast
A Girl Named Sam

Follow these people on Twitter:
@xoxo_meme
@StartTrainingLA
@chrisschauble
@gwjones00
@msv1959
@anatorias
@ridgeley
@southbaygirl

I know there are many others that I have left out...I will keep posting more of them every so often.

From my family to yours...have a Merry Christmas!

14 Miles - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

2009-12-19T15:59:00.001-08:00

On the schedule for today was a 14 mile long run. I must admit, I was a bit scared of the distance as I have only run 13.1 miles in the past. I went to bed early, got up and had a PB&J sandwich and a banana and headed out the door. When I stepped outside I realized that it was windier than I thought but it was much better than last week's rain. About 2 miles in, I started to get "that feeling" and needed to find a bathroom, unfortunately, where I was running, there was nothing. I managed to walk/shuffle home. After a brief pitstop, I headed back out the door.

I decided to change up the planned route and headed East. The wind was blowing pretty fierce along Rinaldi and it was a cross wind. I tried to "crab"(flying term) into the wind, but that didnt help. A few miles later I turned south and had the wind at my back. Around mile 11, I noticed some discomfort in my right calf/achilles, which started after last weeks 10K, so I walked for a bit and it seemed to subside. I was trying a new drink mix on this run, it was the Gu electrolyte drink. It was OK but I think I will stick with Cytomax for my long runs/rides.

I turned north and headed uphill and into the wind (15-20mph), it was definitely a struggle, I felt that I was standing still. I made it up the hill and headed home.

Final stats: 14.25 miles 2:32:47 10:43/mile. Kind of misleading as Miles 1-3 took 39:00

The Good: 14.25 miles, for the most part, felt pretty good.
The Bad: Calf/achilles issue.
The Ugly: The "poopy dance" home

Say No To Drugs 10K Race Report

2009-12-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

December 13, 2009

I ran this race last year and it was held in Griffith Park here in Los Angeles, but this year they moved the race to the backlot of Universal Studios.

I arrived at Universal Studios about 6:15am to register for the race. This year they were very organized and I breezed through registration in about 5 minutes. I grabbed my bib, t shirt and goodie bag and headed back to the car.

I got all my gear together and headed out to the expo which was held outdoors. It was a bit chilly but there was no rain in sight, which after running 7 miles in a full on rain storm on Saturday, it was a welcome site. I hung out with the guys at A Runner's Circle in their booth until I decided to run around the expo in circles to warm up, just like the elites were doing. About 7:15am, Francesca, another ARC runner, and I headed to the starting line. The start was about 100 yards downhill from the expo, so we pushed on and made our way to the front 1/3 of the runners. This was a 10K & 5 K run along with a 5K walk and everyone started at the same time. I wish they would have made an announcement to have the walkers and folks with strollers, start in the back, but they didnt. The plan was simple, start out about 8:30/mile, break away from the crowd and settle in to a 9:00/mile pace for the remainder of the race.

The gun went off and the shuffle began, the first 3/4 mile was downhill and I got going pretty fast to try and get away from the crowd and get some breathing room. We ran past Jaws and Cabot Cove (Murder She Wrote) and then headed down Western Street. The next mile and half was run along the LA River and through a parking lot. Next came "Sparticus Square" and a run through European cobblestone streets. Once we left "Europe" we made a turn and headed back up hill and passed the entrance to Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives). Near the top of the hill was a Whoville Christmas set and then the famous "Bates Motel". Right around the corner was the Psycho House and "War of the Worlds" Set. After running past a couple of other sets I remember from TV and movies, the 10K runners split off to do it all over again.

Lap 2 I was able to settle into a more relaxed pace. I decided on lap 2 I would use my phone and snap a few pictures. (See Below) I ended up with a time of 53:24 with an average pace of 8:57/mile. It was not my fastest 10K but it was still respectable considering the hill and stopping to take a few pictures. This was a fun race and I look forward to running it again next year.

Official Race Photos