Run4Life

Payback feels good - North Face Marathon

2011-12-04T03:57:00.001-08:00

Back in February of this year (2011), I took on a marathon in the Marin headlands and it got the better of me. Well I just finished the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship Marathon and got that monkey off my back in what may have been the toughest marathon I've completed to date - yes, I think this one was tougher than Pike's Peak.
Like the Golden Gate Marathon, this one started near Rodeo Beach and wound its way up and over several hills in the headlands. Where GGM was a double loop of 13 miles, North Face was slightly different. It started with a loop around a hill, along Alto Trail providing great views of Sausalito and Mill Valley them swung Northwest to Pirate's Cove, then back to the loop that started it all and back to Rodeo beach for the finish. The up and over consists of five super challenging ascents, three rising nearly 1,000 ft each, and totaling only 4,500 ft of climbing. But it was the relentless up and down these very steep hills that took its toll.
The morning started with a shuttle from San Francisco over to the beach at around 7:30 Saturday morning. The race started at 9am so I had plenty of time to relax and get mentally prepared for the race. Shortly before the start, Dean Karnazes, ever the glutton for punishment, took the mike to welcome us all to his home course. He asked how many were doing their first marathon and about 30 hands went up. I was shocked. This was a very, very tough course to choose as your first. As a running coach I would never let one of my peeps do this one first - they might never come back to running.
The weather couldn't have been better. It was clear as a bell, dry and relatively warm for a December day. At the start it was in the high 40s and never got about 70 degrees.
I got right to the front before the gun went off and started in the top ten. There were some very strong runners in this group and we quickly were spread out. Everyone ran the first two hills with one guy from Spain barreling down the downhills like a mountain goat. I tend to lose time on the downhills so I don't trip and fall. This was the case for nearly everyone on the descent to Pirate's Cove as the terrain was very rocky and super steep.
Several women were total rock stars in this group at the front. A blonde woman in a black running outfit was gone at mile two and kept getting further and further ahead with each mile. She was an incredible climber.
The North Face Endurance Challenge is a series of races that take place all across the US culminating in the Championship event, here in the Bay Area. Multiple race distances are run and to keep the trails from getting too crowded, the break up the races over two days and spread out the starts quite a bit.
On Saturday, the morning started with the 50 milers, then those doing 50K, including my good friend John Rymer, and then the marathon and half marathon - all starts spread about two hours apart each.
We didn't see 50K and 50 milers until Pirate's Cove an at the point we first encountered them we were on single track with high weeds on both sides. Made for some careful footing and leaps into the bushes to let them pass. Only once did an oncoming runner and I collide - thanks to a volunteer who instructed the 50 miler to pass on the left, which no one was doing. Oh well.
Around Pirate's Cove we came to the marathon turnaround spot which was about 16 miles in. This gave me a chance to see all the runners ahead of me, as they came back down from the turnaround spot. I counted them as they went by and at this point I was running sixth overall. Holy cow!
By the third ascent, up from Pirate's Cove, everyone was walking the hills and running whenever a flat or downhill presented itself. Same for the fourth and fifth ascents. This made for slow going and we got even more spread out. A few marathoners passed me at various points here but it was tough for everyone.
A woman with a blonde ponytail, whom I had seen at the very start of the race, but not again, finally showed up passing me up the last ascent - and running it. She looked very strong and clearly had paced herself through the race very well.
As we climbed the Alta Trail for the final time you could see the skyscrapers of downtown San Francisco between two headland peaks. The views were so clear that you could see past downtown to the peninsula and when looking East you could see Sausalito, Belvedere Island, Angel Island and clear across the bay to the Oakland hills. Just spectacular.
We hit the final descent following the Rodeo Valley Trail and could see the Pacific Ocean in the distance. Everyone picked up the pace a bit here. I was feeling pretty spent but was passing people left and right as I just wanted to get to the finish by this point. My feet were sore, my hamstrings and glutes were screaming.
I crossed the line at 4:19. No record by any stretch for me but given the constant climbing and rugged terrain I was very happy. After having to pull out of the last race here in the headlands, it was good to face this challenge again - just 10 months later and defeat it.
I was planning to start my year in 2012 facing down the Golden Gate Marathon again but given that this race covered the same terrain, was not a simple double loop and was harder, I no longer feel that need. A well deserved rest seems in store now.

Rock n Roll Savannah was a Blast...Literally

2011-11-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

After an overcast and cold Friday, race day here in Savannahstarted with a perfectly clear sky and temperatures in the 50s. It was ideal conditions for a fast race and I was on pace for a PR and feeling good.

This was my first trip to gorgeous coastal Georgia.Reesa and I arrived on Thursday afternoon so we would have plenty of time tosee the city and take in the history, which is vast, and like most things youhear in the South, a bit embellished. We started the weekend with a walk alongthe river front which is composed of original warehouses converted into cuteshops, bars and restaurants, including the Candy Factory where they make theirown pralines and salt water taffy right in the store. We then strolled through the historical district andwalked into The Old Pink House on the off-chance we might get a reservation.The Old Pink House, the oldest building in Savannah, is also the top restaurantin town and it was busy when we walked in at 6pm. We took a shot forreservations and found, as we expected, Friday and Saturday night fully soldout. But tonight they could fit us in. We quickly went back to the hotel, changedclothes and returned to the restaurant for what would be the best meal of ourtrip. The restaurant is fantastically restored with beautiful plank hardwoodfloors, beam ceilings fireplaces, loads of antiques and of course ghosts.

We closed out a very warm night with a ghosttour, which was very touristy but clearly a must-do event in Savannah which wasnamed a few years back as America’s most haunted city. I can see why when youlisten to the yarns they tell here. The historic district was built over burialgrounds many times over. Several hotels in town claim to be haunted as areseveral incredible homes here, one of which includes the Mercer-Williams Housewhich was the subject of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Thetour took us past the abandoned Candler Hospital that apparently was where nearly900 people died in the 1800s during a plague of yellow fever and was laterturned into an insane asylum. And we both got the creeps when listening to atale about multiple murders that took place in 423 Abercorn Street, a single home outside Calhoun Square. The square, by the way, was used to bury slaves and two of its giantoak trees were used as hanging trees. Oh…kay… Not fun to hear about atmidnight.

The following day, we hit the expo to pick up my bib then hadbrunch at Huey’s on the River a local Cajun haunt. Despite great Yelp reviewswe weren’t impressed with this place but apparently ordered the wrong thing –they are known for the beignets. After this we got out of town and headed intoSouth Carolina to visit a plantation from the 1800s and see Hilton Head Island.The Rose Hill Plantation was a gorgeous Gothic property that had been fullyrestored by the wife of the founder of TheRobb Report. Our tour guide, Cynthia, was fantastic and seems to knownearly everything you could about the history of South Carolina from before theCivil War on, and shared great stories about the role this house playedthroughout that time. The owners of the home, who still live there, did anincredible job of restoring it, as nearly half was destroyed in afire in the 1980s. Incredibly, while the occupying forces of the Union burneddown most properties in South Carolina during the Civil War, they left this oneuntouched. An electrical fire was its downfall.

After the hosts plied us with homemade cookies, peach teaand cake, we headed out to Hilton Head to see the beach. Like many posh vacationdestinations, Hilton Head is dominated by big resorts and gated communities, soit’s not actually that easy to get to the beach. When we finally found a publicbeach entrance we learned why. The beaches here are wide, flat and gorgeous.

After the drive back we settled in to prepare for Saturday’srace. As is usually the case before every marathon, I had a hard time gettingto sleep and then was up about every hour. I finally got out of bed around6:30am and after chatting with my TNT colleagues and coaches in the hotel lobbyjogged over to the start. I jumped into Corral 1 and got to chatting with twoother TNT members here - one from Georgia and the other from Alabama. Prince,the coach from Alabama was the father of a Leukemia survivor and was shootingfor a PR that day. He needed 3:09 for that mark and given the mild temperature,perfectly clear skies and flat, sea-level course, it certainly seemed possible.

After the national anthem we took off down Bay Street indowntown. I got off to a fast, but not too fast start at 7:04 per mile. Priestwas just ahead of me and I tried using him as a rabbit for a few miles beforehe broke off with a twenty-something friend.

The first 5K were along the river, flat and very fast. Therewere some amazingly quick participants in this race and I never broke out on myown. We weaved back into downtown then headed out to the suburbs as weapproached mile 10. I was feeling good as the course was pretty with some greatparks and neighborhoods to go through and lots of enthusiastic race fans,cheerleaders and course volunteers along the way.

At mile 12 the marathon and half marathon split off andthose of us going 26.2 headed up toward the freeway. I hit the halfway point at1:34 and high fived the TNT Flex Team coaches who were hanging out on the freeway(wow, that sounds weird). From miles 14-20 the course wound up and down the highwayand around some very nice neighborhoods. My favorite was a suburb borderinga swampy river surrounded by yellow swamp grass. Through mile 19 I was maintainingsub-7:30 per mile and feeling great. But that all changed at mile 20.

At this milestone it wasn’t a wall I hit but a wall of headwind. It sapped everyone’s energy and didn’t let up until after mile 25. It was so strong, in fact, that it blew the clock and mile marker onto the arm and shoulder of a passing runner. He was ok. Most ofthis section was on the freeway which isn’t the most exciting part of any race.When we finally got off, my mile splits had fallen by a minute each and a PR waslong from attainable. At mile 25 I was hurting as I tried to crank back up thespeed knowing I couldn’t make up for lost time. I talked a TNT coach intorunning with me the final mile then attempted to use all the energy I had leftto push through the last 0.2 miles. By the time I entered the finisher’s chuteI had painful cramps in my upper abdominals and watched the clock tick off thefinal seconds of 3:19 - fifty-seven, fifty, eight, fifty nine... Ugh. I crossed at 3:20:01.

The run was 3 minutes off my PR and I was bummed given how good a start I had. Butlooking back on the race it was a ton of fun and a fantastic first time forSavannah. This was the smallest city to host a Rock n Roll Marathon event andmore than 50,000 people flooded into the town for the event. We were a verywelcome bunch as this is low season in Savannah and the local paper estimatedthe race brought in more than $23 million to the economy.

As usual, Competitor Group put on a fantastic event. Thisone culminated with a great concert from LA-based Carolina Liar. Sadly anotherparticipant died during the race; the second death at an RnR marathon in lessthan 20 days.

Next up: The North Face Endurance Challenge ChampionshipsMarathon in December.

Tahoe Triple Marathon: Around proved to be the toughest challenge

2011-10-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

At the start of this year I set the theme to my 2011 running season as, “Down, Up and Around,” taking on 3 of the toughest running challenges in the U.S. First was the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim. This over-48 mile trail proved a supreme challenge but paid huge dividends on the views and the experience. Next, the Pikes Peak Marathon took me to greater heights than I had ever climbed. But it was this final endurance feat that was the hardest. The Tahoe Triple Marathon wasn’t a single event but three straight and by the final miles I was spent – fully.

After the prior two events, with Pikes Peak coming just five weeks prior to Tahoe, I wasn’t worried too much about whether I could do the distance and knew I could handle being out there for that long. What I wasn’t sure about was how well I would do getting up on Saturday morning and again on Sunday to run 26.2 twice then three times. Two weeks prior to the event I took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend to run three straight 20 mile training runs. They were hard but I felt better after the third event that I thought I would. I felt I was ready.

After a short taper and a very long couple of weeks of work, Reesa and I drove up to Tahoe the Thursday before the race. After settling into our rental, I went over to the event headquarters to get my bib, gear and have dinner with my fellow competitors. I immediately started to feel like a loser, despite all I had accomplished. At that dinner eleven out of the eighty people signed up for the triple had run more than 100 marathons – including Yolanda Holder the Guiness record holder for the most marathons by a woman in a single year, 106. While I had signed up to run 78.6 miles over three days, there were 27 people who would run 72 miles in one night, seven who were planning to do the super triple – Friday and Saturday’s marathons, then the 72 mile ultra -- and two crazy people doing the Double Dare, the 72 mile ultra twice. Sheesh!

At dinner marathoning legend Dick Beardsley spoke. Like me, he prefers the marathon distance and kind of felt the folks doing the ultras were a little crazy; but he said it with admiration. Unlike me, Dick, now in his sixties, still runs a sub-3 hour marathon. I was starting to feel like the rookie in the room.

After the dinner, I tried to put the evening’s revelations out of my mind and concentrate on preparing to run my own race. This wasn’t a competition to see who could take the most punishment or who could out-do each other in number of events – it was one race at a time with me against the course. I’d like to say this mental strategy helped me get a good night’s rest for the first race. Oh well.

Sunrise at Emerald Bay

Day One: Emerald Bay Marathon

Each race started with a bus ride from the Horizon Casino & Resort in South Lake Tahoe to the start of each event. Day one took us to the southwest shore of the lake to an incredible small inlet known as Emerald Bay. We started from high above the shore where we could look down on the bay as the sun slowly rose in the distance. The views were incredible. It was in the high 40s at the start and the first few miles were on the highway, along some steep downhill switchbacks. This made it easy to get up to my desired pace. After the switchbacks, we were got off the highway and onto a bike path that wove through the woods. Around mile three I experienced a runner’s high as we went along this trail. If you haven’t experienced this, it is a lot like a mix of the feeling you would get catching a touchdown in the Super Bowl, on your birthday while having an incredible orgasm that lasts about five minutes. If you have ever wondered why people run, this is a big part of it. My iPhone belted out Daughtry’s Feel’s Like Tonight which struck just the right tone. I was probably doing sub-7 minute miles for the next three or so.

As the bike trail flattened out, around Camp Richardson, what I thought was a course volunteer told me to take a left down a road. “That’s what those runners did.” I looked down the road and a small group of runners who were pacing ahead of me were heading away down this same road, so I followed. This turn wound us through a series of small historic villages near the lake’s edge but I had a sinking feeling I was off course. After about two miles this trail rejoined the main bike path so I forgot about it and kept going.

As we emerged into South Lake Tahoe we were back along the highway, running on the sidewalk. This was a noisy and uneven part of the race as there was road resurfacing going on. The construction backed up traffic like crazy and we had to switch over to dirt trails a few times and dodge construction vehicles as we worked our way to the Nevada border. The halfway point came behind the casinos near the lake shore. Then we worked our way back up to the highway. From here it was past the casinos and out of town. On the one hand I was happy to get away from the traffic and congestion but on the other, we lost the sidewalk and would be running on the shoulder of the highway the rest of the way.

This was definitely the least appealing part of the run as the shoulder went from more than a car length wide to less than three feet at parts. It was still morning and traffic was relatively light, and thankfully most cars and trucks gave us a wide berth. But there were a few close calls. A Ford F-350 truck with massive mirrors that stuck way out so the driver could see around anything they were pulling came within a foot of my head at one point. And as I was hugging a guard rail, a truck pulling a flatbed blew past me going 50 miles an hour and taking up all of his lane. The wind he created nearly blew my visor off.

After a few miles of slow up and down climbing we came to a tunnel that had no shoulder from the highway at all. Thankfully, the race organizers had paid to have the Nevada highway patrol cone off the lane closest to the lake for us. This gave us a wide birth that apparently runners from previous years didn’t have (and nor would those doing the ultra). There was good and bad to this tunnel though. While the cones signaled less worry, they also were the start of a grueling 7 mile climb. The grade wasn’t very steep but the hill never gave in. I pushed on as best I could but needed a couple walk breaks before the course finally turned and approached the finish, which was in a small park and ride lot off Highway 50.

When I saw the finish line, I called out to the organizers, “Is this really the finish?” There was no finish line banner and nearly no spectators, or finishers – just a small coned off area and two guys with clipboards. Part of me feared it was just a water stop and we had more running ahead but thankfully, this was the stopping point.

I finished in 3:54, seventh place. The organizers handed me the first of the three finisher medals I would collect this weekend – a big metal model of the lake with the first course mapped around the bottom. The guy who finished before me was handed a second, larger medal, for winning his (and my) age group. Shortly after me, the first woman came in and got a similar large medal.

The finish was high above lake level so after stretching and refueling I was ready for an ice bath. Reesa picked me up and after fighting South Lake Tahoe traffic we headed to the lake looking for a beach. After searching a while we gave up and headed to a local marina. I considered acting like a boat and walking down the launch ramp but then decided to walk down the wharf and hang over the edge. I know I looked ridiculous but the cool lake water was heaven.

That afternoon I wanted to keep my legs moving so lactic acid wouldn’t build up so we all went for a hike through the woods by Fallen Leaf Lake with the dogs. We finished the day with dinner at a lakefront restaurant watching the sunset.

Kent and I at the start of Cal-Neva

Day Two – Cal-Neva Marathon

The bus from the casino took us back to that park and ride lot off Highway 50 for the start of marathon number two. My good friend Kent had signed up for this race and we prepared for the start together. The second marathon started as casually as the first had ended. The race organizer walked into what seemed like a randomly selected spot in the parking lot and then yelled for us all to gather 'round. He then swept his arms parallel to his body and said, “Everybody line up here. This is the starting line.” Then after shouting a few instructions about being careful of the traffic on the highway he said, “OK, go!” and we were off.

Kent and I ran together for the first 5 or so miles, which started with a downhill along the highway through some beautiful woods and then along the lakefront. We hugged the lake most of this race and the East and North shores are absolutely beautiful. As we came to the northeast corner of the lake we passed by Sand Harbor, a small isolated camp ground that looked like paradise. It had wide sandy beaches with gently lapping waves and crystal clear water. I’ll have to come back here sometime. After this we came to the posh Incline Village. This provided us a nice break from the highway as we cut over to Lakeshore Drive which had much less traffic and was lined on both sides by incredible vacation homes of the rich and famous. There was also a nice multi-use path next to the road so I could get off the asphalt for awhile.

As we left Incline it was back to the highway as we made our way along the lake and back into California to Tahoe City for the finish. Kent was roughly 5-10 minutes ahead of me most of the race playing a nice rabbit. I crossed the line a minute slower than Friday but again in seventh place. This course wasn’t nearly as hilly or challenging which was a needed break from day one.

Tahoe City at the end of Cal-Neva

After stretching and congratulating the other early finishers we walked down to the lake and went in. Ice bath number two was easier to get to and again very, very welcome. We celebrated our victory with burgers and beers in Tahoe City.

That afternoon I kept the legs moving with a long walk with the dogs then accelerated recovery with a dip in the Jacuzzi hot tub. Did the same Friday night as I’ve found heat and hydrotherapy to be key parts of recovery.

Day Three – The Lake Tahoe Marathon

I was definitely moving slower Sunday morning. The long ride to the start took us along the paths of the first two day’s marathons so I got a chance to relive these races and realize just how far I had already come. We also get a chance to see and cheer on some of the ultramarathoners who had started their 72 mile quest at 10 pm that night. About two miles before Tahoe City I saw my fellow TNT coach, Cam getting some refueling and a change of clothes from his dad. I would hope to catch up to him during today’s race and hopefully help him through the finish.

The race began at the lakeshore and we got off the bus just as the sun was rising over the mountains to the east. The sky went from dark blue to purple then yellow before slowing turning a perfect light blue that would hold the rest of the day. It was warmer at this start that the previous two days and where the prior two events had been casual road starts with the select few of us who had chose to do the triple, this one was a full marathon with over a thousand people. We lined up under a real banner this time, had a singer for the national anthem and a real gun was shot off to start the race.

The first few miles were up into Tahoe City and along the highway (again) heading out of town. I had driven this race course with Cam the day earlier so knew what to expect but wasn’t prepared for the fatigue that ran through my body from the very start. The first ten miles were very tough going, especially the hills as this course went up and down all day long.

As we neared mile 11 I started feeling like myself again and picked up the pace for about the next ten miles. It was through this stretch that I had anticipated catching up to Cam but had still not seen him. He must have been having a great day.

Part of the long stretch where I was feeling good included a long climb known as the highway to Hell. It took us from 6,200 to 6,800 feet in about 1.5 miles. It was grueling but nothing compared to Pikes Peak the month before and all my hill training this year had prepared me for it. I powered up it but tried to make sure I didn’t power it too hard as I had another big hill to go.

This last hill came at mile 19 and was after a long downhill to Vikingsholm, a mansion built long ago by a Swedish aristocrat. From here we had a 2 mile climb back up to the Emerald Bay overlook that had started this crazy race Friday morning. I was hating life by the time I got to the top of this hill and was running on fumes. But worse was the downhill as my Achilles was fuming and each downhill step was agony. Like Friday, the decline from Emerald Bay overlook was a series of steep switchbacks and I was forced to take them very slow. I tried to avoid stepping too strongly onto my left foot as each time I did my Achilles sent a bolt of pain up to my brain.

After the switchbacks the course leveled off a bit and returned to Camp Richardson. The detour I had made on Friday, was indeed off course on day one and turned that race from 26 miles to 28. This time it was really part of the course as it was lined with much-needed water stops. My Achilles stopped yelling at me so much through this section and the mile markers – which counted down from 26, unlike most other races – were thankfully in the very low single digits.

Sunday’s race was a celebration of running as in addition to the marathon there was a half marathon, marathon relay, 10K and 5K all on the same course. It was great having so many other runners around so you never felt alone or fearful that you had veered off course like the prior two days, but it was very disheartening to see a fresh half marathoner or relay runner blast past you. While most gave words of encouragement, as all us triplers were wearing our official bibs, I couldn’t help but envy their speed and energy.

The final mile came after four hours of running and felt forever long. Eventually I turned a corner and saw Reesa, Kent and other supporters standing at mile 26 smiling and cheering. I needed their energy and picked up the pace for the final stretch. As I caught sight of the finish line in the distance memories of this entire weekend poured into me like lifelong flashback and I began to tear up. And in a supremely fitting turn of events, Daughty's Feels Like Tonight came out of my iPhone for just the second time. This brought my emotions to a boil and I poured on what remaining speed I had, fought back the tears and held my arms high over my head as I crossed the final finish line.

Celebrating the finish with (RtoL) Emily, Kent, me and Reesa

I crossed the line at 4:19, substantially slower than the prior two days but still good enough for a top ten finish for the triple. After getting my finisher medal, I immediately ducked into the first aid tent to have my Achilles wrapped in ice. After stretching for a while and refueling, Reesa gingerly walked me to the lake where I slowly entered for a much needed ice bath. Several other triplers were there either icing or collapsed on the shoreline. We looked like the walking wounded brigade.

Cam and I in a much-needed ice bath in Lake Tahoe

I never did see Cam on the course but apparently had passed him on one of the hills. I felt terrible about this but did finally see him at the final mile. Despite my own pain, I handed Reesa my shoes and joined him on the trail for the final mile. I was in total awe of him having run 72 straight and wasn’t about to not be there for him at the end. We both went into the lake after that. A second ice bath was definitely in order.

Looking back on the race now, I can say that it was an incredible feeling to have fully looped the lake and it gave me a real sense of accomplishment. The views, the hills and the companionship I felt with my fellow runners were all worth it and the organizers did a masterful job – plus provided some awesome bling! But would I do it again? I think I’ll return to single marathons for a while before entertaining this question.

Next up: A return to Competitor's series -- Rock n Roll Savannah Marathon, November 5.

Pikes Peaked, Up Complete – Pikes Peak Marathon

2011-08-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

After weeks of what can only be called hill training by comparison, I have completed the toughest marathon of my career, summiting the 14,115-foot Pikes Peak Mountain in Colorado. Most marathons cover 26.2 miles giving you a tour of a city or covering pretty trails through national parks. Pikes Peak Marathon takes you from the cute town of Manitou Springs at 6,500-ft above sea level immediately uphill for a grueling 13 miles up to the top of one of Colorado’s famous fourteeners. The course is brutal, with endless switchbacks, tough rocky terrain with tons of big boulders you have to step high up and over; and Lord help you if you look up during the race as the top of the mountain looks impossibly far away.

My training for this event started back in April of this year with the tallest climb I had ever done, which was up the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon. Those rose 6,000 and 8,000 ft respectively and from April to August would be as high as I would get. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area you just don’t have access to anything approaching Pikes Peak. My weekends were filled with climbing Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, Mt Diablo in Contra Costa County and climbing up to the Skyline ridge along the peninsula. The distance I knew wouldn’t

be the problem. It was the altitude I was worried about.

To acclimate to the high altitudes for this race, I came to the Denver area the week prior to the race. In between client meetings and research work I trained at Lookout Mountain which rises above 10,000 feet and Pawnee Peak which gets to 12,000. All this training gave me a new

appreciation for mountain climbing as the views were simply incredible from each mountain I summited. Plus I found that, other than some stiffness in my neck the altitude didn’t really bother me. But I was told by just about every Coloradoan I met that it would be different from 12,000 to 14,000 feet.

Pikes Peak Marathon starts in the cute little touristy town of Manitou Springs, just five minutes from Colorado Springs, which is the home to the US Air Force Academy and the US Olympic Committee. Because of its high altitude, it is a fantastic town for athletic training and thus one of three US Olympic Training Centers is located here. We took a tour of the state-of-the-art facility which houses a select hundred or so promising athletes who are sponsored into this program by the governing boards of their respective amateur sports – only the top 10 percent of athletes in each Olympic sport are eligible. Future Olympians in swimming, shooting, basketball, gymnastics, volleyball and hundreds of other summer, and some winter sports train here. In fact, this program is so elite that one year’s entire class of basketball players are now all in the NBA.

Also down the street from Manitou Springs is an incredible park filled with massive red rock

formations known as the Garden of the Gods. Here you will find rocks hanging at what seem to be impossible angles, suspended or balancing on tiny rock bases and sheer cliffs that are straight drop offs on both sides. It’s a bit of a Mecca for free form rock

climbers, hikers and cyclists. This park also served as the start point for the new USA Pro Cycling Challenge, a bit of a Tour de Colorado featuring many of the pro cycling teams from the Tour de France. While I was climbing Pikes Peak, Reesa and our friends from Denver saw Tour de France three-time runner up Andy Schleck and his brother Frank training in the Garden in preparation for the following day’s kick-off time trial.

The night before the race, we stayed at the incredible Garden of the Gods resort where every spacious suite-style room had breathtaking views of the park and far beyond it Pikes Peak. From arrival, through dinner and all through the night I stared down my nemesis of the following day like a gladiator might look upon his opponent.

On first arriving in Colorado Springs and seeing Pikes Peak, I have to admit, I was intimidated. From town it looks incredibly far away and ridiculously high up. As we were walking through the Olympic Village, touring the opulent Broadmoor Hotel, and especially as we were picking up my

registration packet and bib number, it seemed to get taller and more intimidating. I kept reminding myself that it was just 13 miles to the top and as I tell all our Team in Training participants about hill climbing -- don’t look at the top of the hill but just 50 feet in front of you and before you know it you will be at the top. I sure hoped that philosophy worked over 7,000 feet.

The night before the race, a huge grey cloudbank rolled in covering the top of Pikes and pounding us with rain, thunder and lightning. There are often afternoon showers in August in Colorado and we had had similar but much lighter showers the prior two days. This was concerning because the weather at the top of Pikes Peak can be very unpredictable. It can be as much as 50 degrees cooler than at the bottom and when clouds roll in can become very windy, let loose a torrential downpour with not a moment’s notice, or let out a lightning storm that has singed runners in prior years. That night’s storm turned out to be a good omen as it rained all the moisture out of the skies giving us a perfectly clear day for the marathon.

This event is capped at around 900 runners and sold out in less than 40 minutes back in February. I registered at 5am from my hotel room in London. There is also a half marathon here that happens the Saturday before the marathon; 1,800 runners make the Ascent which normally takes about twice the time of a typical half marathon. I factored that into my planning. As a 3:40 marathoner that meant it would take me about as long as a typical marathon to reach the top and about half that time again to get down.

At 7am Sunday, I gathered with the other marathoners as the gun was fired and we headed into the mountain. On my left was Marcos a twenty-something Colorado Springs native who as attempting to break his PR on his third attempt. On my right was Phil from Los Angeles who set his sights on Pikes Marathon a year and half ago having never run further than a 10K in his life. He jumped into running hard after setting that goal, crossing the line at 4 marathons prior to this one and summiting Mount Baldy.

The course starts out by leaving town and passing the Cog Railway Depot. This is home to a train that climbs to the top of Pikes Peak in about two hours. It gets its name from the massive iron cogs used to pull the train up the mountain. After leaving town the course jumps on the Barr Trail and begins climbing immediately; and nearly everyone walks the hills. With 13 miles of this ahead, you have to really focus on energy conservation; otherwise the top of the mountain can turn into a death march -- if you see it at all. Over the next several miles we traversed a series of switchbacks, known as the Ws stepping over boulders and large tree roots. This portion gets its name from how it looks on the course map – the letter lying on its side and repeated several times. It’s a long, slow climb. There are times where it levels out that you can run a bit and points where it is wide enough to pass a slower climber or two. The group I crossed the Ws with I would see nearly the entire race as we pass each other back and forth up the mountain.

When we emerged from the Ws there was a small clearing from which you can see just how high we have already climbed – Manitou Springs is a speck below us. Here it is mostly level as we shift from a foothill over to the main mountain. The clearing gives everyone a chance to run a bit as well as rest their climbing muscles for the next section which is more switchbacks. These are a bit tougher as the boulders we climb are larger and the incline greater. We were deep in the woods at this point working our way up to Barr Camp which about half way up the mountain; half way from a distance perspective but only 30 percent of the way in total climbing time. As we moved higher the incline got even steeper and when we got above treeline rocks took over the trail. For the next 3 or so miles the terrain was crushed rock which gave like a sandy beach making the footing a challenge. Each switchback was an exercise in pushing off, with each step losing a little ground. It was a perfectly clear sunny day so we were spared any rain or strong winds and at this point, you could see incredible views far beyond Colorado Springs – a perfect day for this race.

With three miles to the top the terrain shifted to mostly rock with large boulders you had to strain your quads to step up and over. We were using our hands and arms to help us step up over the bigger ones and many had jagged edges making the going rough. The last three miles were so steep that they took over half an hour to traverse. They call the final mile the 16 Golden Stairs (click the link if you want to know why). There are way more than 16 steps and while the rocks are kind of yellow the only thing “golden” about any of it is reaching the summit, which I do just shy of 4 hours from the start.

When you get to the top you don’t get a breather in this race as the volunteers take a bib tag from you to confirm your summiting and immediately send you back down. There’s no clearing at the top where you could walk around a bit and take in your accomplishment. That would have to come later. So I took a quick look at the view and immediately begin the descent.

The way back is the same as the way up and those still climbing did their best to get over to the left yielding to downhill runners. It was tough going at times because the trail is very narrow. Gravity pulled me down the Golden Stairs and due to the height of the boulders I was literally leaping from rock to rock. After the first couple miles down my quads and hamstrings were screaming and I knew I was going way too fast. But I have to confess, this was the most fun part of the course and I felt like a little kid bounding down the mountain. I returned to treeline about 30 minutes later and as the incline leveled a bit my legs started to feel the effects of the 16 miles now behind me. The rocks and roots jutting out from the trail made descending quickly very treacherous so I slowed way down in this section so as not to fall. Several other runners did the same and a few who didn’t, paid the price. One went by with blood streaming from his head, another twisted his ankle trying to navigate between two large rounded boulders and a third wiped out after his foot caught on a root.

When we reached Barr Camp for the second time I was heavily fatigued. I started stopping at each aid station to drink water and rest a bit. I was wearing my Nathan running vest which had a bladder filled with 70 ounces of PowerBar energy drink which allowed me to blow past all the aid stations on the way up. I still had some electrolyte drink left but by this point it wasn’t feeling so good on my stomach. Plus after 6 PowerBar Energy Gels I needed something simple.

Once past Barr Camp the downhill became easier with more runnable surface and less jutting rocks. The miles came a bit faster now – prior to this it seemed that the miles were way longer than they should have been. From here down I was running most of the way. With five miles to go the clouds moved in and thunder cracked overhead. As I ran through the Ws light rain was falling over me which was a welcome coolant. Thankfully the overnight downpour had not made this trail all that slippery and there were no large mud puddles I would have expected back home.

Shortly after passing the “2 miles remaining” marker and then the final aid station, I emerged from the Barr Trail and was back on the roads in Manitou Springs. The course was still very steep at this point and the asphalt was tough on the feet. Locals were cheering us on as we wound down the hill and into town where Reesa was waiting and cheering. I crossed the line at 6:16, winded, spent and proud.

After a bit of stretching I then headed for a small creek just behind the finish line and went right

in for an ice bath. Along with several other thankful runners I sat hip deep in the cool waters immersing my sore legs and feet. We traded stories about the Ws, the Golden Stairs, PRs and what we went through to get here. Champions all.

Now I begin training for the third leg of my ultra challenging year. In four weeks is the Tahoe Triple – 3 marathons in 3 days circumventing Lake Tahoe. Wish me luck.

Detour to Provence: A worthy break from running

2011-07-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve been absent from the blog for a while as I switched sports temporarily in preparation for one of the best vacations of my life – cycling through the Provence region of France. Reesa and I spent May getting reacquainted with our road bikes and riding hills, knowing we had a lot of that ahead of us and left from France at the beginning of June.

For the short version of our trip, watch this video.

I arrived in France via Barcelona where I was for work. I flew from there to Lyon, a beautiful large city in the south of France where I had but a few hours to look around. The town by the train station is rather uneventful but due east is the Rhone River which Lyon has adopted as a wonderful park. The river is lined on the West side with walking and biking trails, green spots for a quick game of tag and a fantastic public pool. Resting in the waters are a series of floating barges converted into wine bars, restaurants and night clubs. One, a rusty old storage ship, proclaimed to be an authentic Australian bar and grill called Ayers Rock.

I grabbed a glass of rose, which is everywhere here in the summer time and my first authentic French croissant of the trip while enjoying the sun and people watching.

From here I took the TGV down to Avignon in the hopes of arriving just shortly before Reesa so we could relax in town before the biking trip kicked off. But no such luck. Reesa’s flight from San Francisco had been cancelled due to mechanical problems and instead of a short flight to Chicago then direct to Paris, she had been re-routed SFO to Dallas, to New York, to London, then finally to Paris. Her short 15 hour trip would be elongated by 17 more. Here final arrival wouldn’t be until nearly 1:30am that night.

So I was on my own in Avignon for the evening. We stayed at a great little apartment hotel in a quiet part of old town, just steps from the Palais des Papes, the historic home of the pope during the 12 and 13^th centuries. After settling into the apartment, with its cute little living room and view into a tiny French courtyard, I headed off to see the town. Gotta love summer nights as it remained light out until around 9pm.

I walked the gardens of the Palais, through the pretty town squares and out along the medieval town walls that are in surprisingly good shape. That night, our hotel owners pointed me to a great vegetarian restaurant in town, Terre de Saveur. I had a great tofu pasta dish and a half bottle of local red wine as I took in the local flavor, watched the sun set and waited for Reesa to arrive. Dinner was finished with a fantastic rhubarb crème brulee.

After picking up Reesa and bringing her back to the hotel we both slept soundly through the night. We were awakened by a 9am call from Stefan, one of our guides from DuVine adventures letting us know they would be by around 11:30am to collect us. I showered and headed out to Les Halles and a local bakery to pick up a quick continental breakfast.

At around 11:15am, a striking young American in a matching biking outfit bounded up the stairs to our apartment to greet us and help us with our bags. David, another of our guides was in his mid 20’s, with a perfect v-shaped body, broze tan, blonde hair and broad smile. He had the looks of a character from a romance novel or TV dramedy with the personality and back story that you just can’t make up. Born to an American father and a French mother, David split his youth between Provence and North Carolina. He came to DuVine fresh off a bachelor’s degree from UNC and a stint in the Peace Corps in Africa building homes and schools. And to make the picture even more perfect, he’s leaving in the fall for a Ph.D. program in environmental sciences at the University of New Zealand. Ok, ladies, now you can swoon.

Our cycling tour couldn’t have started out any better (see the album on Picasa for all the photos). DuVine took us to our first hotel of the trip, La Vieux Castillon in the cute little hilltop town of Castillon-du-Gard. This sprawling, historic hotel was a village within the village – a series of homes that were linked together to create the hotel. It’s right in the heart of town with big rooms, a sweet little garden courtyard where they serve breakfast and a pool built into the ruined walls of the village overlooking rolling hills covered in vineyards.

After unpacking and settling in, we headed down to the pool to greet our fellow travelers over a toast of local wine and olive tapenade. There were 14 people in our group, large for a DuVine trip but definitely not too large to enjoy the vacation. Six of our fellow cyclists were from within 50 miles of us, here in Northern California; one couple lived right on Canada Road where Reesa and I had been training each weekend for the last month. Along with them were two great young couples from Michigan, one celebrating their delayed honeymoon. And two more great couples from Miami who were long-time cyclists doing their second biking vacation.

After the toast we all headed down to the bikes. As we adjusted seats, helmets and as clip pedals were put on, the DuVine crew served up a crudité with fresh avocado, tomatoes, gazpacho, local artisan bread and cheese. If this sounds like a lot of food and wine before heading out for a bike ride, it was thematic of the trip to come. No one says you have to eat it! But how can you not!

Our third guide, the veteran on the team, was Justin and he gave us the verbal preview of the days ride. Justin is a trim, strapping guy from Colorado who has a deep love of France and had been guiding tours for DuVine for 10 years. Reesa said he looked exactly like a young Clint Eastwood.

That day’s ride was the easiest. We headed down out of town and out to see Pont du Gard an

original and mostly in tact section of Roman aqueduct built in 19 BC. We then headed out and through a couple small rural towns, Ledenon and Cabrieres before heading back up to Castillon. The ride up to town was the first of the hills and gave everyone a preview of what to expect in the days ahead. I couldn’t wait!

That night, before dinner was another wine tasting where we drank in a white, rose and red

from a winery you could see from the pool. We then went out of the hotel to dinner served by Mario, a local legendary chef and rugby player with personality appropriate for both passions. He took great pride in serving us himself and describing each sumptuous dish in great detail.

The following morning, I woke with the sun and ran down into the vineyards below Castillon-du-Gard and ended up, quite by accident, running right past the winery from the toast last night. After a great continental breakfast – someone please help me understand why croissants taste so much better in France? – we geared up on our bikes and headed down to the medieval town of Uzes. This is the town the benefitted from the waters of the Pont du Gard aqueduct. The result, lush fields growing pretty much everything you could desire. We had lunch on the town square under a warm sun before getting back on our bikes and down through the villages of Flaux and Valliguieres. That night was dinner in the restaurant of our hotel which featured an incredible chocolate and coffee dessert. It had a small espresso mousse in a coffee cup made of dark chocolate, truffles and a steaming cup of espresso. Yum.

The following morning I started the day with a brisk swim in that incredible pool (did I mention it is not heated – so brisk it was), breakfast and packing, as we were leaving Castillon-du-Gard for our second hotel. Gotta love these bike trips where they carry your stuff from hotel to hotel for you.

We cycled out of the Gard region, across the Rhone River and up a hill to the Abbey de St. Michel-de-Frigolet where we parked our bikes near a tiny tree-covered grove to discover an

incredible picnic lunch prepared for us by our guide David (yes, ladies, he is single). There were four kinds of salads, three types of olives, local breads, meats and of course a full flight of French cheeses. David expertly described everything, spending extra time on the cheeses as he said he is still in search of his personal cheese. He introduced us to his mom’s signature cheese a hearty, soft cheese, and dad’s a hard, sharp white cheese. I stopped listening after he displayed my signature cheese, French camembert. This soft, ultra creamy cheese is really, really bad for you but oh so good! You can get camembert in the US but not French camembert, due to export restrictions, so next time you are here you have to try it.

We gorged ourselves on the incredible spread, then took a tour of the Abbey as the food and wine settled; for we had a full afternoon of cycling ahead of us.

That afternoon we rode through the villages of Graveson and Maillane, saw some incredible fruit and grain orchards and got a look at les Alpilles, the tiny Alps. We then headed through

more gorgeous orchards and past fields with miniature horses grazing and then a flock of sheep being herded by a very friendly border collie. We stopped to take a photo and he gleefully ran over, posed for a picture and nuzzled us for a pet.

To the right of this field was our next hotel, Chateau Roussan, a palatial country estate which was built in the 17^th century for Michel de Nostre-Dame, better known as the prognosticator Nostradamus. His mansion was surrounded by incredible grounds that included a front balcony, which could hold an entire Renaissance ball, and sprawling gardens including a pond filled with swans and goldfish.

After dropping our bags and looking around a bit, the guides offered the first of our extra rides, for those still looking for more challenge -- a 7km climb up to a view point overlooking Les Baux de Provence, a medieval village that once defied the local government declaring its independence from taxation by daring the rulers to scale its cliffs if they wanted to take it. This heritage is playfully honored with a display of medieval weapons including a catapult and a trebuchet which for 5 euros you could have a go at firing.

Justin and I led our small group up the climb where an absolutely incredible view awaited us.

Les Baux, from this height was a clearly forboding site. Behind it lie les Alpinnes to the South and the Val d’Infer (Valley of Hell) to its North. The Val d’Infer, a deep, sprawling valley of grey granite was supposedly the inspiration for Dante’s Inferno. I don’t think an invading army would dare take this route to Les Baux.

After overlooking the site we headed to Les Baux ourselves, passing a former granite mine that had been turned into an amphitheater, then walking the medieval streets of what our guides told us is the second most popular tourist attraction in France. It was definitely very touristy but had amazing views.

Day four started with a ride to nearby St. Remy where it was market day. The streets were covered with stands selling tons of local fare including some of the most colorful and stepford-perfect fruit and vegetable stands I had ever seen.

Huge flowers were displayed at several stands as were hordes of local sausages, sweets, breads, olives and more. One stand even had two massive pots filled with steaming Paella, the aroma of the fresh fish cooking in saffron rice could be smelled for several blocks.

We left St. Remy, passed a couple Roman ruins (they were actually monuments built to make the region appear loyal to the Romans, so they would be left alone) before heading out to the vast fields in the foothills of les Alpinnes. These fields were the inspiration for many of Van Gogh’s paintings, one of Reesa’s favorite artists. We then stopped for a late lunch in the cute mountain town of Eygalieres. Apparently a favorite of Brangelina, this cute town has a ruined church (St-Laurent) at its top harboring sweet views of the valleys surrounding the town.

The afternoon was a bit stressful as we had to go through a bit bigger of a town, Luberon, on our way to our next destination which meant riding on busy streets filled with tiny commuter cars and big trucks. It weared on us all and didn’t really prepare us for the long slow climb to Gordes. But when we got there, it was all worth it as this town was incredible! Another mountain town, Gordes is all packed together on a cliff’s edge.

Our hotel, a real stunner, was literally built into the cliff walls spreading out narrowly affording every room an incredible view.

The guides offered another extra ride from here, of which I was the only taker. It included a tough but fun climb through the hills surrounding Gordes and taking us right past the Abbaye de Senanque,

one of the most famous sites in all of Provence, and one often photographed with its spread of lavender fields before it.

That night we dined like locals in a great restaurant featuring regional foods. I was treated to a plate of steamed and grilled local vegetables with ratatouille and locally pressed oils. Dessert was a basket of local ripe fruit. We took it all in with incredible local wines of course, and were treated to a lunar eclipse breaking just above our table. Wow.

Day five was the final cycling day of our trip and was certainly the piece de resistance. It was a day filled with hill climbing, lavender fields, rapidly changing terrain and stellar views in every direction. This was my favorite day because of all the climbing but it was tough on others. The morning included a climb up to the red rock town of Russillon. Here another local market day was taking place but we left in short order after Reesa noticed a pickpocket strolling through the crowds. Good eye, Reesa.

We then climbed up to Menerbes, through Lacoste and up to the House of Truffles for a

leisurely lunch that included a pasta dish covered in fresh picked truffles, shaved paper thin. It’s a good thing the lunch was paced because the group was tired from all the climbing. I look advantage of a breezy overlook to rest my eyes too.

That afternoon was more climbing followed by a fantastic, fun downhill in some back roads where we barely saw anyone. We wound down the hill, then back up another that led us to an olive house where we got a tour of the pressing machines that make olive oil – and a taste of several varieties of course.

We got back to Gordes via the same long climb and everyone was greeted by the hotel preparing a classic French aperitif, pastis. This anise-flavored liqueur is prepared by pouring it over a sugar cube resting above your glass on a silver slotted spoon. Justin said this is a key

ingredient in the secret to French dominance in cycling - their EPO (eau, pastis and olive oil). Cyclists like this joke as it plays on the illegal doping that has tarnished professional cycling for years. French EPO, is of course legal.

We toasted our trip on the balcony that night as a light rain cooled off the evening before the hotel chef served us the final feast of our trip. It was an incredible six course meal that would make leaving the next morning very hard.

We said our goodbyes then spent another day in Avignon so Reesa could finally see the city before heading up to Paris for two days to celebrate our 20^th anniversary reminiscing in the city where we had first started dating. Love you Reesa! I hope we have 20 (no 50) more!

Sadly all good vacations have to end but this one will not be soon forgotten.

SMS Takes on The Relay - The Video!

2011-05-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

SMS Takes on The Relay

2011-05-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

It’s a couple weeks past watching 12 of my best friends take on an annual rite of passage here in the Bay Area – a 194-mile tour from the Napa wine country down to the beaches of Santa Cruz County and I’m relaxing in our Jacuzzi J-325 hot tub so my sprained ankle and sore muscles can get a faster recovery. The Relay, now in its 16^th year hosts over 300 teams of 12 runners who take turns running 6-8 mile segments of the course that winds through grape fields, past cow and sheep pastures, up to and over the Golden Gate Bridge, down along Ocean Beach, through the streets of Silicon Valley, up into the Santa Cruz Mountains along the always-nasty Highway 9 and down to an organic strawberry farm at the beach. Whew. And I didn’t even run it this time.

The beauty of this event comes through its incredible scenery but more so through the bonding all teams get being packed into vans for two days. This year, PowerBar returned as our sponsor providing run-ready nutrition and visors. Jacuzzi stepped up as our newest sponsor this year providing awesome racing shirts, arm warmers and water bottles (no, they didn’t throw in the hot tub; I had to buy that).

This was the third time our SMS running club had taken on The Relay and the second year we had done so in combination with one of the original teams from the very first running, Are We There Yet? Only one member from that original team stayed with us, Rick P; this would be his 13^th running. Awesome.

Joining the team this year were a few veterans and long-time SMSers, Hang, Yan, Miriam and Kent and a passel of eager newbies to the race, Krissy, John, Steve, Christine, Sigrida and Sheila. I sprained my ankle in the Grand Canyon the weekend prior so subbing in for me was Sheila’s incredibly sweet and enthusiastic niece Bridget.

We started the weekend with a kick-off party at my place where we packed sandwiches to sustain us over the two days, decorate our vans and carbo-loaded on pasta, two yummy salads, fresh fruit and enough dessert to sink a Special Forces team. Thanks to Kent’s wife Emily for the logo-emblazoned homemade cookie.

Our course volunteers Char, Alfred, Tracy and Helen were there as well. They would be helping out along the course to ensure we didn’t make any wrong turns. We are eternally grateful to them for their assistance. And to Helen who brought a six pack of beers that we celebrated with at the finish line.

I was heartsick about sitting this one out. It would have been my 5^th Relay and I was looking forward to being with my teammates for this fun weekend. However, I knew I would see them all, as our home was serving as the crash pad on Day two. However, my teammates would have nothing of this sitting out concept, so they convinced me to join them serving as a driver, switching off between vans where appropriate. At first I was reluctant to join for fear that the desire to run would overcome me elongating my ankle’s recovery but they were insistent and, heck, I love these guys! Done.

Day One – Calistoga to San Francisco

Each team loaded up their vans with coolers full of sandwiches, a case each of water and electrolyte drink, fruit, PowerBar Protein Bites, salty snacks and half the dessert haul from the prior night. Van 1 hit the trails at 11:30am (our seeded start – yeah, we’re fast). Here’s each runner’s take (in racing order).We're still awaiting the accounts from a few of our runners. Hopefully seeing their names in "lights" will push them to share their stories!

Christine:

Rick: Wow, year number 13 and we are off once again. My latest start time in 13 years; what’s up with those Van 2 runners and their sub 5-minute mile times? Drove to the start, registered and got virgin Christine ready to start us off. We drove to the leg 2 start with white knuckles because Yan “Can” not drive! J Hotter than anticipated but the short leg made it bearable. I anxiously looked for Miriam to hand off the coveted “baton.” Did I tell you it used to be a metal bracelet covered with paper, by the end there was no paper and the metal rusted….GROSS.

Miriam: It was the first nice day of weather we'd had in a long while, so I was ready to enjoy it! As I ran along The Silverado Trail, I noticed the miles markers for the Napa Marathon were painted on the pavement. I first saw the number 8, so I knew that I only had to run a little past 12 and I'd be done with my shortest leg. Normally for shorter runs I don't take any water with me, but something made me carry a little and I'm so glad I did! After a season of running in cold, rainy weather I was not used to that strange, bright globe in the sky. What's it called again? Oh yes, SUN! It was hot out there! I would take a few sips then dump water on my face. I was very happy to see Hang between the two orange cones where he took over.

Hang: It was a pleasant day as I was waiting for the baton. However, as soon as I had it and started running I realized how warm it was. The sun was beaming down on me even with my PowerBar visor on. Within the first mile I felt parched.

I spotted a runner with calf length socks far ahead. From his steady and smooth stride I knew he was a good runner but could tell that I was slowly gaining on him. I was determined to overtake "socks" and make him a roadkill, which I knew would take a long while; I needed the long term goal to distract myself from the sun. One after another we were overtaking other runners. The first one happened so soon I hardly noticed. The next one was a runner wearing Vibrams, which I took special delight in overtaking. Then it was a lady who looked like she was struggling. I said, "Good job" as I passed her and she turned and gave me a big smile.

About 3 miles into my leg, our van was ahead waiting for me with water. I took a drink and then poured the rest over my head. I was afraid "socks" had escaped but dehydration was a bigger concern. Luckily, "socks" had the same challenge and soon he was in my sights again. The water evaporating off my head gave me a boost. I was soon directly behind him. As I started to pass him, he turned and said, "You've been haunting me for miles." I smiled and we started chatting. After about half a mile and a couple more roadkills he told me to go ahead and I replied, "See ya at the finish."

About 2 miles from the finish, I saw my next target, the RightScale runner. RightScale is sort of a competitor to my company and product. Even though I wasn't running as part of my company, I needed something to play mental games with and they would do. He was also a decent runner but I was gaining on him quickly. My biggest worry was that he would reach the finish before I could overtake him. My watch told me we were near the end. I started to sprint and passed him just before a bridge. As I came over the bridge I could see the exchange point. I was worried that if RightScale saw how close to the end we were he would try to overtake me so I ran as fast as I could. I was probably running 6:30 minutes per mile near the end. I reached the exchange point and handed off to Krissy with RightScale about a quarter mile behind me.

Krissy: I was a little nervous with this being my first relay. It was pretty hot and I wasn't used to running in the heat yet. I watched four runners in front of me complete their first part of The Relay. Now it was my turn! I didn't want to let the team down. Once I started running I felt pretty good. Yes, it was hot but this is what I love to do, RUN! I was able to complete my run holding my 10-minute mile pace. It felt really good having van one cheer me in and over to Yan.

Yan: My first leg (Leg 6) was not so flattering - I thought it's such an easy leg that I should finish it really fast and easy. Unfortunately the Gu I took 15 minutes before I took off wasn’t so friendly to me and I had a stomach problem 20 minutes into my leg, resulting in a time 3 minutes off my goal.

After Van 1’s successful take-down of the first six legs, I joined Van 2 at the Napa Prime Outlets for a quick lunch before we took the wrist band and carried our team the rest of the way South through Napa:

Kent: Taking over from Yan, I could feel the Napa heat right away. The route through Napa gave me a mix of big shopping complexes, residential areas, and some open farm land. The energy from those cheering was great and a welcome sight to look forward to. I didn't see too many other runners along the way, and those that were out there were coming up with ways of cooling down. By the end of the run, I was glad I had a Jacuzzi cold towel waiting for me in the van.

Sheila: I was a little nervous about the whole weekend of running, although I had trained for this well. Why did running a marathon seem easier to me somehow? But, the minute I got the baton from Kent, I was eager to get a good start on my first leg. It was pretty hot out there with little shade. I had been told about “roadkill” so I was looking for my first conquest! I got into the rhythm of the run and loved it, but was ready to hand off that baton to Sigrida and finally cool down. So happy to see everyone at the exchange!

Sigrida: Somewhere between Napa and Petaluma: A short (4.4 miles) and flat route (35 feet of elevation gain – woo-hoo!) stretch – perfect for a first leg! The one challenge was that 3.4 of those miles were straight into a headwind. The fun part was the finish, running past sheep and other farm animals, through an organic farm – so very Northern California! I made good time (for me) at better than 9.5-minute miles. I will say that it was tough to hop out of a van, stand by the side of the road wait for my teammate Sheila to come in, and then start to run from a dead stop with no warmup – who does that?!? Relay runners, that’s who! The treat was our swing by Jacuzzi Family Winery. I went to Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California with a couple of Jacuzzi kids, so this was one of those “one degree of separation” type of moments for me. We scored two bottles of red, which were safely stashed away between bags beneath the middle seat.

John: I had the 10^th leg overall, and so waited many hours to begin running. By the time my leg started, I was jumping out of my skin. One of the wonderful things about The Relay is the teamwork. While I waited, we “chased” the runners in our van. Steve and I have run together many times, but I didn’t know the others in our van. It was so cool to stop, wait, and cheer them on as they motored through! And then there I was at a cool hand-off point on an organic farm, and here came Sigrida, running strong and steady (like she does). Exchange, boom! Off I went!

My first leg was a bit over 8 miles mostly on Hwy 116 with a hill at the start. The hill was made doubly fun by the construction along the route. Surprise: The construction zones were like trail running (which I adore)! Then I found myself on a long, long, long stretch of Hwy 116 hoping like mad that the drivers whizzing by me hadn’t spent too much time in a Napa tasting room. Don’t hit me, I’m just runnin’ … I was surrounded by pastureland. It was lonely too – neither roadkill nor roadkillers in sight. And where the heck was our van? Nowhere to be seen. Later Cap’n James told me the vans weren’t allowed to stop along that stretch.

Suddenly I emerged into a neighborhood and there was Steve up ahead for the exchange. Had 8 miles passed already?

Steve: I was excited to be doing my first ever relay like this. It was so cool that everyone in van 2 became instant friends and were completely supportive of each other. As soon as the van left James’ house the yakking and laughing started and never stopped. My first leg had a fast flat start for the first 5 miles then a very good climb up and over to the end. I focused on having fun and keeping my mile pace under 8 minutes so I could jam up the incline without much time loss. The best motivation was the camaraderie of the team members in van 2. The laughter and great conversation and instant bonding kept me loose and focused. It was dark when I finally made the handoff to our ringer---Bridget! Oh and eating potato chips while cheering Bridget was awesome J

Bridget: I found out I was doing the relay about four days before we packed up our duffel bags and settled into the vans for one of the craziest weekends of my life. Needless to say, I probably should have been running a few more hills, had I know I was going to be scaling mountains! Multiple mountains. My first leg was an “H”...that means Hard. It should have been a “VH” because it was straight up hill. My saving grace was that I was the last person in our van to run on the first day, therefore I was running in the dark so I could not see the hill looming ahead of me. I could only feel it in every muscle of my body!! However, it was the most AWESOME experience to be running along and seeing your van, with all your friends hopping out, waving cowbells (well the cow bell could have been left behind!) and cheering you on excitedly. The support and enthusiasm from my wonderful teammates made up for the fact that the hill was beyond steep. When I got to the hand off, it was so wonderful to hear the crowds cheering, because of course there were other vans waiting for their teammates as well and to gleefully pull off that green band and hand it, in my case, to Christine. While running, wildly decorated vans would drive past you, honking and hollering...although The Relay was competitive (and I was definitely in the OCD van!) there was an overwhelming sense of camaraderie between the runners...after all, we were all crazy enough to go run almost 200 miles in 30 hours!

As I was the one leg between Van 2 (and dinner), my fellow runners were getting a bit hungry...and as I ran past them at one point, they were all standing outside the van eating Baked Lays...here I was, puffing up a hill, while they snacked. Needless to say, I cannot even think about Baked Lays now without laughing and picturing their gleeful faces. After an hour or two and a yummy meal at Rick's brother's house (THANK YOU SO MUCH!) we piled back into the van to relieve Van 1 and to send Kent off in the chilly cold San Francisco night. We were all a bit groggy and cold, but still excited and pumped.

Van 1 took over at Marin French Cheese at the cross over from Napa to Marin County. This organic food haven is nestled deep within a collection of rolling green hills that reminds you quickly of the back country of Switzerland. Don’t stand on a bluff spinning and singing about how “alive the hills are with…” Please, just don’t.

Here dusk settled in and Van 1 took back over as the course turned onto Sir Francisco Drake and descended into ultra-scenic Marin County. Ok, so all their legs were in the dark, but trust me, Marin is very beautiful.

Christine:

Rick: In the van, what is that smell? We must really like to run. Leg two, I HATE hills, but in the pitch black it became apparent that your mind has as much to do with running as your body. I ran the entire leg not realizing I was climbing, a small feet (pun) for me. Even after 13 years, these night runs can be a little hairy with no police support or road closures. First time with chocolate covered espresso beans. I think there were laced as the girls couldn’t stop laughing after injesting them.

Miriam: On the way to the exchange, most of us in Van 1 downed lots of those chocolate covered espresso beans. Mmm! While Christine ran, they kicked in. I had the biggest giggle on record. I could not stop laughing to even catch my breath. I'd stop for a moment then start up again, and it was contagious. I got Hang, Yan and Krissy laughing pretty hard as well. My abs had a great workout! Two years ago I was runner #2, and was well aware of how dark and creepy this section of the road can be! I had a headlight, a flashlight, a red blinker in my ponytail, and mace! Yes, I was laughed at for the mace, but I don't care! I was prepared for Jason, Freddy, and Cujo! Luckily I didn't need the mace. This was my longest leg --close to 7 miles. It was nearly all uphill, but I loved it the most of the 3 legs. It was the perfect weather, nice and cool, and you couldn't see the hill or what was ahead, so I could just be in the moment and enjoy it.

Hang: The second leg of my run was very, very cold. Our first two runners told me how great it felt to run in the cold but I was fairly skeptical. I was shivering, even more so than my natural tendency to, while I waited. While my teammates huddled around me to keep me warm, "sports bra" from another team came in, handed off the baton, and started doing some variation of stretching and bicycle crunches with only her sports bra on top. Nuts. There was no way she had more natural insulation than me and I was freezing to death.

Miriam finally arrived and gave me the baton. With my headlamp and bright green vest on, I realized again how surreal the relay is. Night runs are always my favorite part of the relay. This is when we get to do something that's crazy on a couple of levels. Running is a slippery slope. Once you get used to the idea of running 26.2 miles and breaking your body so you can run that distance, doing other abnormal things is simply par for the course, as long as it involves rapid bipedal locomotion. That's how I ended up running like a mad man through a city dressed like the child of a coal miner and an elementary school safety patrol while trying to chase down someone with glow-in-the-dark arm bands carrying what appeared to be a toy lightsaber.

My teammates were right. Running in the cold was awesome. The only problem was there wasn't always a bike path to run on so I spent part of the time on the sidewalk, which wasn't very flat. With no adverse environment, my only concern was chasing down other runners. The cold kept my heart rate low so I kept accelerating. The biggest problem was having to stop for cars crossing the streets and the undulating sidewalk. I reached the exchange point with five more roadkills. My pace was actually a little slower than my first leg but my running index, a measure of running efficiency, was near a record high according to my watch.

Krissy: After a nice dinner and rest it was time to start again. It was getting pretty late and I'm used to going to bed early so I was getting pretty silly while I was waiting for my turn to run. I never got my cheesecake before my run but that's okay! I was so happy to be running at night since it was so hot earlier in the day. The cool weather felt really nice to run in. I got passed by several runners but this actually made me feel okay because I knew I was running the right way. It was pretty dark and quiet so I was second guessing myself if I was actually running the right way. I saw van one two miles into the run waiting to see if I needed anything. The run went great! I finished strong and felt good!

Yan: I was so thrilled to run Leg 18 from Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco! I have run across the Golden Gate Bridge in many races, but this one was so special - running at 1:15 am under the stars! I could see the city lights on the Bridge, and everything was so quiet on the Bridge. I passed one runner and told her "good job, almost there!" At that moment, I didn't feel it's a race, it felt like a runners' privilege to run on the Bridge.

It was about 2am when Yan hit the exchange point. Van 2 had gotten about 2 hours sleep at Rick’s brother’s house at crash pad #1 (Thank you SO MUCH for hosting us Gail!) but were excited about the next round. Kent, John and I headed to the hand-off point. Kent would be next to run and was hopping up and down in anticipation (and to stay warm). John took the van keys as he would be driving next and I was waiting for my ride as I’d be switching vans and driving them to crash pad #2 for some needed rest. “At this point in The Relay, I was living in a time warp,” John said, “It was dark, so I knew it was nighttime, but I was focused on the legs. Kent was next up; where was Yan? Our buddies from Van 1 suddenly are with us in the dark, and so Yan can’t be far away. Rick and Van 1 were immediately worried – where was *the rest* of our team? ‘You guys aren’t committed!’ Oh no, just resting up for the next set of legs. A friendly rivalry was on …”

Kent: What a change from the first leg! The second leg in San Francisco started off really cold, and I was jumping up and down to keep warm. As soon as Yan made it over the bridge, I took off as fast as I could just to warm up. The route had me running up and down hills through the city. Running by the beach in the middle of the night was fantastic. It was so quiet you could hear the waves crashing in Ocean Beach even though you couldn't see them. This time, there were lots of runners out and you could see their headlamps from a ways away. However, there weren't many out there cheering as The Relay has rules about doing so in residential areas in the middle of the night.

Sheila: Loved this leg! After training for the winter season with TNT, I had lots of experience running in the dark in the cool weather. That was perfect running weather. I took off from the corner of Sloat and Ocean Highway and headed toward Skyline. Hills are great for “Road Kill.” Lots of runners were walking up that last part of our leg, as the majority of my run was uphill. I kept concentrating on a few feet in front of me. I’m sure the views were lovely on Skyline but all I saw were twinkling red lights from my fellow runners ahead of me and I focused on getting up to them.

Sigrida: Skyline Boulevard, above Hillsboro: I was psyched when I saw that I was going to run this leg – it’s in my backyard. I’ve ridden this entire section of Skyline Boulevard (a.k.a. Highway 35) on my bike, and I’ve run on this section of bike path many a time, which is sort of an extension of the SawyerCamp Trail. The thing I hadn’t done before was run this thing in the dark! It was really great to run at night – being able to only vaguely discern the exact length and pitch of each upcoming climb was somehow oddly freeing, and I ran my best leg of the relay, averaging better than a 9:15-mile pace on long, gentle rollers. It was a bit weird running on the trail at night – it was pitch dark beyond what I could see with my headlamp, and thoughts of hungry mountain lions crossed my mind. The one consolation I had was that I wasn’t entirely alone – there was a woman running a respectful distance behind me the entire time, so I figured if I got jumped by a big cat she would hopefully help me fend off the beast. But no giant cats emerged, and once we got off the trail and onto the suburban streets of Hillsboro, she passed me and left me in the dust – at least she was nice enough to say, “Nice running with you!” on her way by. I figured she could have passed me anytime she wanted to on the trail, but was probably unfamiliar with it and thus happy to have me out in front as her “seeing eye dog.” I have to say that having such strong runners in my van as we did was really inspiring. I felt like I had to put in three solid runs so as to keep up my end of the bargain – a very positive motivator! I think that The Relay is the most team-oriented running event I’ve ever participated in – it gave me some of the same feelings of camaraderie that I’ve had on long bike rides with good friends, which I’ve missed during marathons and other running events. And then there was Captain James, the glue holding the whole thing together, a funny combination of head coach, head cheerleader, driver, and den mother.

John: My next leg was on Skyline Drive, running through some neighborhoods in the dark for a little over 4 miles. At the exchange point, it was very dark except for a pool of light cast by a temporary rig the volunteers had set up. And it was nippy to say the least. Suddenly, the generator powering the light ran out of gas. Peering out into the darkness … where was Sigrida? A runner chugged up to the exchange to find no teammate. (This happened throughout The Relay more than you’d imagine.) Suddenly, there was Sigrida, and I had to struggle out of my jacket and get the heck going.

This leg taught me a lesson: Run hungry. I have an eating routine for marathons down cold. But I was running faster in The Relay than I do in marathons. Massive stomach cramps gripped me almost immediately. All I could do was control the cramps through breathing. And watch my feet! Even with a headlamp, it was so dark I could just picture myself doing a face-plant on the side of the road.

Steve: The toughest leg of all—LOL. Whatever, the leg was shortened to only 1.8 miles due to a bridge being out?? Go Figure-- anyways it was a fast sprint early in the morning and of course my "long distance" was the perfect comedic relief to help keep everyone loose even more. I was having a blast cheering for everyone else the rest of the day but I have to admit I was looking forward to getting some sleep after everything was over on Sunday night. I started to focus on my last leg which would be the toughest with a long steep climb. Looked like I would start my last leg around 2:30pm on Sunday. I figured I would have to channel my inner “Prefontaine” for that one.

Bridget: As sleepy as we were, it was fun to watch Kent fly off into the night. And fly he did! I had a long night of waiting to run, but the thing was -- time flew by somehow. I think it was the excitement of watching your teammates pile out of the van, run their hearts out, then climb back in, sweaty and flushed after handing off the green band. One of my favorite moments of this leg was when the van decided to barely stop for Steve. He was literally forced out of an almost moving vehicle...we told him to do a tuck and roll. The love was strong at 4 AM for one of our valuable, speedy runners. Ha ha it was great watching him pop out of the van and hit the ground running. Our van was full of laughs and puns (Sigrida!) even at 3 AM as we silently cheered and whispered to Auntie Sheila because we were in a residential neighborhood along the Great Highway. Although we were out of the van, the cowbell (thankfully) stayed in at that point. Our team was so far ahead of schedule, that it was my turn to run again seemingly instantly. It was still dark when I took over from Steve. Luckily I had my Jacuzzi arm warmers (THANK YOU!) to wear, so not only was I warm, I matched my Jacuzzi singlet awfully well :) After thankfully handing off that green band to Christine, we headed to James' house for the most amazing shower of my life.

At around 5:45am everyone from Van 1 started rousing to return to the course at the foot of Canada College. Coffee all around and a few quickly-downed pastries and they were off. After Van 2’s all night running through San Francisco and the north peninsula, they were due for another rest while Van 1 carried the team down to Santa Clara County.

Christine:

Rick: Oh my God is that really the phone ringing?! I just went to sleep! Woke up the sleeping beauties, Christine, Miriam and Krissy and if looks could kill I’d be dead. Once again not letting Yan drive, we headed off to Canada Road. Christine did a great job on her last leg and handed off to me. The mind was willing, but there was no gas left in the tank. Wobbled through the 4 plus miles and Miriam never looked so good, and that’s saying sumptin’. Warming up, but bearable. Took water half way through which is not normal for me, but needed it. Last leg completed; another year under my belt.

Miriam: I wasn't feeling exhausted - mentally anyway and my spirits were high as I took on the next leg. However, my legs were like lead. I was thankful for the mostly flat terrain. Even though it was morning, it was getting toasty. When the van stopped to give me water half way, I asked them to meet me again in a mile, as I knew I'd need extra hydration. I must have been more out of it than I thought, because I never saw or heard our van go by, so when I knew a mile was up, I was sure they had forgotten and gone to the exchange. I decided to plead with another van to give me water, which I know they would have. I was about to ask a nice stranger, when I saw a mirage. Nope, not a mirage, but Hang with my Gatorade! They hadn't forgotten! For this leg, it was about 5.6 miles, so I just told myself that it was 6 miles. Every mile I completed I'd say, "Okay, you only have 4 to go ... 3 to go ... etc." So imagine how delighted I was when I rounded the corner and saw my team a half mile sooner than I expected! I did a long stretch after the hand-off and was ready to be water support for the rest of the team.

Hang: The third leg was quite brutal because it came too soon. I had only two hours of sleep. The shower I took before sleep, however, made up for it. I was more refreshed than I had expected but wished van 2 had taken their time. I couldn't understand why they didn't because it would have been a win-win situation for everyone. Why can't they see the simple logic of it!

My leg started from Los Altos. The sun was out again and I knew it was warm even before I started running. All the runners were quite tired by now and there were several walkers. We had to pass word to another team at the exchange point that their runner needed to be picked up.

With all that in mind, I asked my team to stop every couple of miles during my leg. The run from Los Altos to Cupertino was uneventful and a bit boring. The runners were spaced far enough apart that we rarely saw each other. After a couple of miles I saw my van again and was very glad to down some Gatorade. I told them to meet me again in a couple of miles but with water the next time. A mile later was approximately when the uphill started and it was a struggle. Things started to hurt. However, people driving into the state park were cheering us on. I was no longer so concerned about getting roadkills as just finishing. I cheered other runners on as I passed them and we reminded ourselves that we were almost done with The Relay. I saw the van one more time. Again I downed some water but poured most of it on my head. It felt great. After about 250 feet of climbing and passing five more runners I reached the exchange point and was done.

Krissy: It felt so good to take a shower and get a little rest! I was excited for my last run. I knew it was going to be uphill but I actually enjoy hills! This part of the run was beautiful! -- lots of trees and shade. The first mile wasn't bad. It was uphill but nothing I couldn't handle. Well things changed after that! The last 2 miles were very challenging. But I continued to move forward. I had to finish strong for the team. I would run/walk the rest of the two miles. I got my first and only roadkill so I was super happy about that! I was so nice to see the exchange point!

Yan: Rick was joking that we had no legs left! For me, Leg 30 was my last "leg." Although it was only 3.1 miles, it was BRUTAL, a net elevation gain of more than 1,100 feet. I was passed by 2 runners, but I also had 3 road kills! Woohoo!

Three hours after arriving at crash pad #2, Van 2 was off, heading toward Highway 9 East of Saratoga to take over for the final push to the finish. Van 1 could start celebrating. Their legs were over, their bodies and minds spent and margaritas and egg burritos were calling their names.
“Our next big exchange point was at the top of Hwy 9, and boy did I feel like a slacker riding past all the runners humping up that long hill (about 6 miles), said John from Van 2, “We saw our Van 1 pals again at the top – all of them looking strong but also glad their running was done. Yan came powering up the last rise and there went Ken headed down toward Santa Cruz.”

Kent: The best part of running a relay is that sometimes you get to run down a hill without having to run up the hill. This was the case with my last leg, and I made sure to take advantage of it. This was a great route down Highway 9 -- a route that you usually see lots of bikers on but very few runners. A lot of the teams were starting to bunch up at this point, so there were lots of others out there to cheer us along. By the time my last leg was over, my body was feeling the impact of the race. I was glad to have finished my running and turn my efforts toward cheering on my teammates.

Sheila: Another hot leg, but fortunately, all downhill and only 4.7 miles! Plus I had some shade. It’s a different feeling, starting off the last leg from the first. For one, over the span of the last 24 hours, I got to know everyone in my van really well. We had a lot of laughs! It was fun having my niece, Bridget, in our van, as she was a hoot! To do The Relay with her was a very special experience. So glad that my sister did not know how narrow the shoulders on the road really were!! J I was a little sad that the legs were over and I was crazy enough to wonder why we all couldn’t do four legs over the course of the weekend!

Sigrida: Highway 9 into Ben Lomond: Another stretch of road I’ve covered on my bike before – twice, both times going the other direction (climbing from Santa Cruz to Skyline). This road brought back memories of 2005, the year of living strenuously, when I completed four “double centuries” (200 miles in one day) and a small group of us, on two separate occasions, rode a 125-mile loop from our house in San Mateo to Santa Cruz and back as part of our training. Well, thankfully my leg was short enough (6.5 miles) and predominantly downhill, because my legs were tired and very sore from the previous leg. A few years ago, when I was getting ready to do a 10-k “classic”-style cross-country ski race at Bear Valley (elev. 7000 ft), I figured it would take me about an hour and that it would involve a significant amount of suffering, because the course consisted of two loops around a circuit that includes a long climb up the black diamond (i.e., most difficult) “Equipe” trail. I told myself going into it, “I can do anything for an hour.” I had a decent race that day, achieving my greatest goal: not getting lapped by the elite skiers! So here I was, hopping out of the van for my final leg with legs that were having a rather animated conversation with me before I even started running. Well, I pulled out my old motivator: “I can do anything for an hour.” I could feel the lactic acid building up with every stride, but the fun thing was that I was scoring MAJOR ROADKILL!!! I picked of 17 – count ‘em, SEVENTEEN! – roadkills over the 6.5 miles into Ben Lomond. I was picking them off two by two – way too much fun. I may have been the slowest runner on the team, but I racked up the highest number of roadkills, both overall and on a single leg – woo-hoo! Looking back on it, I’d have to say that that hour was the point in my running career that I truly learned to run with my arms – my legs were totally shot.

John: Again, I was after Sigrida, and this time we had a great view of her leg, which she crushed. Sigrida kept holding up fingers like she was counting as she flew along. Turns out she got 17 roadkill on that leg! Unheard of … it was mass murder out there and we were running out of space on the van for our roadkill symbols.

My last leg was a jaunt through a couple of quaint mountain towns until I reached a bad old hill up to a quarry. The sun was out, but the heat was not a problem. There were many runners along this stretch. At one point, two young lads asked me how far we were all running. “Two days,” I said as I went by. Then I was on the hill, and what a hill it was. Fortunately it was gorgeous but I was tired, (and fortunately I’d passed on breakfast and so wasn’t fighting stomach cramps again). Thank goodness my teammates stopped several times on the way up to cheer me on. That helped a lot.

Then … the last rise … and I was done. I wanted to run another leg, but I was finished. Next year.

Steve: Who the heck puts a quarry in the middle of a relay—UGH. The map description was bad enough but then I realized they had left off the initial climb out of the quarry. It was good I had trained with John on plenty of hills 'cause I really needed to count on that. It was a pretty run but very challenging. I just wanted to finish in under an hour and help the team the best I could. It was so cool to have the team cheering me along the way on this leg it really helped. I did record 8 road kills in those hills so I guess it suited me well. I learned a lot about myself during that last leg. My favorite saying is “persistence and determination don’t recognize failure” and I feel that I had finally lived up to it! And now the final hand off to Bridget (maybe more potato chips?).

Bridget: Thank you James for letting us use your showers, house, and couches for some much needed rest, food and cleanliness! Although some of us (no names mentioned) declined the showers, the van smelled much fresher when we all piled in for our last legs. I was the last to run, the supposed “Glory Leg” but I also thought of it as the “High Pressure Leg” as everyone kept reminding me I was between them and beer. And it was true.

Despite running past Van 2 and watching them eat chips at one point, and brownies at another (they seemed to delight in eating in front of me while running) I really enjoyed the last leg. Maybe because I met a friend named Louisa, who I chatted with while running (and who later became ROADKILL) or maybe because it was the last leg or maybe because the first two miles were downhill...however the support and excitement were magnificent. Running up that last hill to the Strawberry Farm was great and it was at that point I realized maybe James was right when he said my leg was the Glory Leg. I was so proud of our team. Not only had we run from Calistoga to Santa Cruz County, but we became fast friends. I know I can count on all these people to either run with me, eat chips in front of me while I run, or just be there for me for anything I may need. It is remarkable how quickly one bonds with others when sweating and sitting in a van and running up and down hills and not sleeping and eating at weird hours. The whole weekend was magical, words cannot really describe the emotions and experiences that occurred. I would not trade my weekend of bug bites, sore legs, sunburned shoulders, no sleep and blisters for anything in the world. Team Are We There Yet? got there...and I know that I could not have done it without the support and love shown by our teammates. Everyone had something special to offer the team...and everyone influenced me in so many ways. I think next year I will try running a few hills in the weeks leading up to The Relay however...that way I won't be so sore the following Monday :)

We all gathered for finish line pictures, beers, Sangiovese from Jacuzzi Family Winery (thanks!) and lots of hugs and congratulations. Then you could feel the fatigue from two days of running settle in. We climbed back into our vans for the final time and headed home. It was another incredible year and my thanks and love go out to all our runners and volunteers. We finished the race in 30 hours, ahead of the middle of the pack and were all winners. You don’t run The Relay to win; you do it for the experience and the friendship.

Tips from a veteran team:

We’re team #4 in The Relay and 15 years of experience has taught us how to do it right. Here’s how to make the most of this incredible event – and the rapidly growing list of other relays across the country. Want to do it like a pro? Heed Rick’s top tips – sage advice from a 13-year veteran.

· 12 passenger vans: If you are going to cram six increasingly stinky and tired runners into a vehicle for 19-48 hours it’s important to have room to stretch out and catch a few moments of sleep. Minivans might be great for hauling pre-teens to the soccer field but they are torture on aching runner’s muscles. Go for the big daddy, the Ford F-350 12-passenger van. It gives lots of room for stuff, people, food and of course cowbells.
Rick’s top tip: remove the first row of seats in the van. This gives you extra room for runners to get ready for their legs and stretch after a grueling hill climb. It also gives you extra room for the cooler which is much easier to access when it isn’t buried by bags, towels and pillows.

· Crash pads: when your Van is off, the last thing you want to do is stay in the van. Sadly many teams do just that cramming themselves into inhuman poses trying to get a few hours of shut eye. You can go the outdoor route and pull out sleeping bags to rest at the Van Exchange but they are never quiet and not all that comfortable (plus you gotta cram the bags and tents into your van leaving even less room to stretch out. The Are We There Yet? plan is to coordinate with family or friends who live near the van exchanges to serve as crash pads. Everyone gets a chance to shower, sleep on a bed or couch and fully rest.
Rick’s top tip: Don’t throw anything at the van leader when he wakes up up at O-Dark-30. It is not his fault that the other van is 5 hours ahead of schedule. Sit up and say thank you sir, may I fix you coffee.

· Plan ahead on when to leave the pad. While each team tries its best to calculate when it will arrive at the next van exchange things never go as planned. Runners hit a high and take off faster than planned, routes get shortened by construction and the blood lust for roadkills results in a PR. The running Van’s responsibility is to call the resting van when they are starting to approach the end of their last legs but cell phone reception is a problem in the hills where the exchanges take place and you can’t miss a hand-off. If you finish a leg and the next van and next runner aren’t there, you gotta keep running.
Rick’s top tip: Plan on leaving the crash pad between 30-60 minutes earlier than you scheduled and ask the running van to call you when their fifth runner is on the course or as soon around that hand-off as they have cell reception.

· Headlamps and blinking reflectors. The Relay mandates reflective vests and carrying a light when you run at night but we err on the side of greater visibility for the cars on the road and for the runner. As a coach for Team in Training I usually advise runners who have to share the road with bikes and cars to run at traffic as this gives you and the oncoming vehicles equal visibility to each other and equal chance to dive in the bushes if your eyes are more alert than the oncoming driver or rider. But The Relay mandates running with traffic. Since no one wants to be slapped on the back by a cranky old biddy in a two-ton Volvo it’s in your best interest to be as visible as possible and that’s where the blinking red reflector on the back comes in. Looking forward you must carry a flashlight but I find that a handheld breaks up your natural arm swing to hold the beam where you need it, right in front of you. Headlamps are better as they keep the light right where your eyes go so you always have a safe step ahead.
Rick’s top tip: For added visibility, carry the hand-held flashlight anyway, but point it behind you. This gives drivers even more visibility to you. And you can quickly flash it into the woods if you hear scary noises at night. Miriam, no watching scary movies the night before The Relay.

· Register and reserve your vans early. When I first joined Are We There Yet? for The Relay the even capped the number of teams at 199 (matching the total mileage of the event most years). Now there are well over 300 which means sellouts are inevitable and renting 12-passenger vans from the local rental car agencies can be difficult. The most famous relay is Hood to Coast in Washington and has sold out every year for the past several years. Registration for most relays opens up to a year in advance and rental car companies take reservations that far in advance too. Don’t risk being a minivan moron.
Rick’s top tip: Next year’s vans are already reserved (at the same price). It pays to know people.

R Recover like a champion. While I missed out on running this year, I’ll be back again until they tell me I can’t (and probably a year or two after that). With nearly 30 marathons, 5 relays and a few ultras under my belt I can tell you that proper recovery is the fastest path back to the trails. My recipe: chocolate milk followed by lots of stretching, a good go on the foam roller, a long soothing shower, and a dip in a Jacuzzi hot tub. At 102 degrees and its jets on full blast there’s little else that beats it for relaxation and recovery. I like to rotate between the seats of my J-325 starting with jets pulsating on my lower back muscles, then to the spine-tingler opposite the foot jet for a nice arch rub, then over to the seat with jets hitting the shoulder blades. Pop open a bottle of Jacuzzi Family Winery’s award-winning Barbera. invite in the wife and a couple other runners and let recovery take over. Sweet.

Run it next year: May 5-6, 2012 www.therelay.com.

Down: Done. Grand is putting it lightly

2011-04-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

From R2R2R Grand Canyon

It’s Sunday evening and I’m flying back from the hardest run of my life. My right ankle has swelled to twice its normal size, my feet are raw and blistered, my hip is sore and I’m physically wiped out. Saturday’s Rim to Rim to Rim run through the Grand Canyon did this to me but also provided incredible scenery, camaraderie and a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

This incredible ultramarathon was the “down” of my three major goals for the year – down, up and around. Up is Pike’s Peak Marathon in Colorado in August. Around is the Tahoe Triple in September. It’s hard to imagine these events will pack more of a wallop than Arizona’s massive ode to erosion; if so, I may be in trouble.

After three day of work in Boston, I arrived in Phoenix Thursday night, crashed at a local airport hotel then got up early for the 4 hour drive to the Canyon. I had been here several years back with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Hike for Discovery Program (not part of Team in Training). During that trip, Reesa and I went with our teammates down the South Kaibab Trail several miles but not as far down as the river. It felt very unsatisfying not to reach the mighty Colorado. This time we’d be seeing it twice.

Here's the short, video, version of our adventure:

Photos can be found here.

Our group, all Team in Training coaches and our families and friends, caught at early dinner at the Arizona room of the Bright Angel Lodge, overlooking sunset as it hit the South Rim. We discussed and finalized our plans for the following day. We decided to leave at 4am so we could get across the river up the North Rim and back across the river before the mid-day heat which was projected to be in the high eighties. This would be in high contrast to a morning start expected to be in the low 30s. We agreed on running down the Bright Angel Trail because it was less steep and thus more runnable in the dark and to return along the same trail since it had three spots where we could replenish our drinking water. The alternative was the South Kaibab Trail which was about a mile shorter, a bit steeper but didn’t have any water stops along the way. On the north side we only had one choice -- the North Kaibab Trail. The record for this feat is a little shy of 7 hours and we weren’t about to challenge that time. We estimated based on our fitness levels and the expected weather that we would probably finish in around 12 hours. But again, we pledged not to try and push the time because if one person had a bad day we all would.

After we had all ordered, Ellen, coach Cam’s wife and a TNT team manager surprised us with awesome running shirts to commemorate the event. There were grey dri-fit shirts with R2R2R Grand Canyon on the front and the date and all our names on the back. Awesome. Post-meal we all went back to the lodge to prepare for the next day’s run and get what little rest we could knowing what laid before us. I was able to sleep from about 10pm to around 1am, then was up about every 20 minutes after that.

Right on time at 4am we gathered in the hallway and up with all of us were our families to send us off. We took some pre-race pictures, hugged our loved ones and were off in the dark. We ran a short 1.5 mile warm-up from the lodge to the Rim and arrived at the Bright Angel Trailhead. As we were taking our first photos of the day, we met two other guys, there for the same reason. We wished each other a good day, fired up our headlamps and Cam led us down into the Canyon at 4:20 am.

The headlamps were fantastic at lighting up the trail on a very dark morning. We took off at a careful and manageable pace keeping enough space between us so as not to be right on the heels of the runner before us and to ensure we saw the terrain before we took each step. After a few switchbacks and after only about a mile the trail surprisingly came to a dead end. We turned back and shortly found a switchback we had missed. Now running in reverse order, I had the lead. The two younger guys we had met at the trailhead were ahead of me, pushed the pace and were quickly gone.

About 90 minutes into the downhill, dawn broke and we were able to switch off our headlamps using the faint morning light to guide the way. We stopped briefly at Indian Gardens which is 4.5 miles down to strip off some of our outer layers and put Kim into the lead for the rest of the descent. We hit the bottom surprisingly fast but found no bridge. Bright Angel requires a 1-2 mile jog to the East before you can cross the Colorado at the Silver Bridge. Once across we stopped off at Phantom Ranch to replenish supplies and I chose to dump some of my cold gear, food, headlamp and PowerBar Endurance beverage here so I’d have less to carry up to the North Rim and plenty of supply for the climb back out of the Canyon.

From here I was fully expecting a quick rise up the North Rim but that’s not what the North Kaibab Trail does. Instead it makes a gradual West-Northwest ascent following a creek that feeds into the Colorado. This part of the trail goes about seven frustrating miles before it starts to seriously climb. Not expecting this, it made me a bit cranky. The creek we followed was benefitting from the heavy rains and snowfall from the North Rim and thus was brimming and running fast. We crossed over it several times on a series of wood and concrete bridges, stopping for photos along the way.

At the point the North Kaibab Trail starts to climb you can’t see the South canyon wall were you started; you are deep within the slotted canyons of this incredible National Park. You can’t, really, even tell which Canyon wall you will ultimately come up on. We kept a steady pace for the first couple thousand feet at the trail got steeper, slowing when we needed and snapping photos of the incredible views. With each 1,000-foot increase the terrain changed as we moved from desert at the floor of the canyon, up through rocky hills holding hidden streams that every plant bore its way through the rock to get to, through rich purple, then dark red stone that stopped in a perfect line before changing to yellow limestone and dense forest above. The climb was slow going but well worth the trip as the North side has far more scenic vistas than the South Rim that most visitors see.

Past Cottonwood Campground, which is about 1.5 miles from Phantom Ranch, you are pretty much on your own for water this time of year and we had drained our drinking water pretty substantially by the time we reached the top of the North Rim. No water here, either. You could run along the rim to the ranger station about 1.7 miles away or do what we did which was fill our Camelbacks with snow.

Downhill is always easier and provided a very necessary recovery for our aching climbing muscles. We took it careful but were back to the base of the canyon and Phantom Ranch by 4pm. So much for the 12 hour time goal. We took some extra rest time at Phantom as we knew the ascent back up Bright Angel was going to be tough. I retrieved my stash of supplies and found a squirrel had helped himself to some of the food. It had gnawed through the bottom of my fleece jacket’s pocket, then through the ziplock bag and had about a third of a PB&J.

On the way back down from the North Rim and while resting at Phantom Ranch we met several other runners taking on the R2R2R challenge. The first was a couple guys from Northern Arizona University in nearby Flagstaff who were on their first attempt and had turned back around a mile from the top when one of them developed stomach cramps. The downhill was good to them as they pushed a stronger pace than ours returning to Phantom. Another climber was a 50-something former wrestler who had completed the R2R2R over eighty times. “Yeah, I’m retired. I come up here every few weekends with friends.” This time he had brought along a newbie – a woman about 5-10 years his junior who wasn’t nearly as excited about this run as he was.

After resting up at the bottom we took off for the Silver Bridge and the flat run along the Colorado’s southern bank. As we passed under the bridge the Colorado was rushing beneath us with the force you would expect from a body of water than had carved this canyon over millions of years. As we ran along the shore, we were lamenting the tough going through the soft sand – it’s a lot like running on the beach, far from the water’s edge – while gazing at the river longingly, as an ice bath in those cold waters would feel so good about now.

Another time, though. It was around 5pm when we started to climb back up Bright Angel Trail and we had a long way to go. It had taken 2:45 minutes to come down this trail; up would be nearly twice that.

We climbed the trail at a little faster than a walk as the trail is mostly composed of tall steps set off my large logs anchored in place by steel rebar supports; not the most runnable surface. The long run, which would total 48 miles when it was all said and done had taken its toll on a couple in our party so we slowed the pace and made our way back up the 5,000 foot climb.

We had put back on all our gear since the start of the race as the temperature dropped with the sun. Sunset in the canyon sprays the walls with color making our breaks between climbs rewarding. After dusk the stars overhead came out by the thousands. We sent our freshest runner to the top at around 7pm to tell our families where we were and that we were okay. At around 9:30pm we emerged topside to warm greetings and hugs of relief, accomplishment and deeper friendship than when we had started.

Showers, ice baths and warm comfortable beds were all the remained and boy did they feel good.

At this point, I think we all earned a few days off.

Eleven and a butt days to the Big Ditch – Gulp

2011-04-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

As I sit writing this I’m shivering like a frightened Chihuahua hugging fresh coffee with my left foot ankle-deep in an ice bucket. It’s the day after our final long training run for our Grand Canyon ultramarathon. Over the weekend of April 22^nd the coaching staff for the Team in Training San Francisco Peninsula running team will be taking on the extreme challenge of running from the South rim to the bottom, then up to the top of the North rim and back again – all in the same day. For me this is the Down in my Down, Up and Around 2011 running season and I’m beginning to wonder what I’ve gotten myself into.

Twice during the past month we have embarked on a simulation of this run that pales in comparison to the actual event – seriously, you try to come up with a desert, rocky canyon run in the Bay Area in early spring. It did provide the down, up, down up elevation change the canyon will have but not the temperature, altitude or full-sun exposure extremes that await us.

Our diorama started at the Skyline Road entrance to Wunderlich Park in San Mateo County, went top to bottom through this park, then through Woodside to Huddart Park, bottom to top (to Skyline Road again) and back. Mileage was a little hard to judge as most of this run was under a canopy of trees blocking GPS signals (and so we decided not to bring them). In Wunderlich, we went down Alambique Trail and back up Bear Gulch Trail for a round trip of about 10 miles. Through Huddart we went up Crystal Springs Trail and back Dean Trail for a round trip of around 12 miles. Google Maps says the trek between the two parks is 4.3 miles for a round trip of 8.6. So our training run was roughly 30 miles. That’s still between 12 and 18 miles short of our actual event.

However, I did learn a few things from this self-made mini Canyon run. First, when you start a race by going downhill, it is deceptively easy to start out too fast. Second, the first ascent feels easier than you may have feared. Third, the final ascent doesn’t.

Coach Cam and myself took on this run first, and sadly picked one of the rainiest days this spring. It poured nearly the entire day. We started out our run trying to avoid streams rushing along where trail should be but after the first couple splashdowns we stopped caring about trying to keep our feet wet. On the way down Alambique a downed tree blocked our way in the second mile. We did our best limbo and pushed on. We hopped a few logs, forded some newly-formed streams and swerved through Woodside to avoid rain gutters that seemed to be doubling for fire hoses as they blasted out more water than they were designed to accommodate.

As we entered Huddart Park we saw signs and course markings from Pacific Coast Trail Runs. It seems an official trail marathon was on our course. We entered the park around 9am but only saw a couple runners blast past us. We found the rest of them on the way back down from Skyline. First came the distance runners who we would see once again at the top of Wunderlich. They were doing a 50K that included a short cut trail between the two parks along the Skyline Ridge. Not us. We went back down to Woodside for that. As we made one turn along Crystal Springs Trail we came into frame of a race photographer who thought about taking a picture of us, until he realized we were running the wrong way. Cam confirmed to him that we were not lost but with no one behind us, we certainly felt like we were leading.

Back down to Woodside and over to Wunderlich for the final climb was a slog. More constant rain, more gushing downspouts and a bit more traffic this time. We took advantage of every trail we could to get off Woodside Road. Sadly one of the trails we chose had mud deep enough that it almost took our shoes. That would happen again on our final trek up to Skyline. Had the mud succeeded I’m sure I would have let it have them.

We entered Wunderlich and started to climb but about half-way up fighting the elements was taking its toll. I had made a nutrition error. I brought my usual marathon nutrition – a PowerBar to start, Power Bar Endurance drink in the Nathan backpack and PowerBar Gels for fast fueling while running. However, ultras tend to require solid food and my body was craving some this run. I started to get a little light headed which isn’t good when you need fast, nimble feet. Thankfully I had packed an extra PowerBar for the finish and it did the trick. When we would attempt this same run the second time, I came with multiple PowerBar Protein Bars so this wouldn’t happen again.

Climbing through Wunderlich after 24-plus miles of mud, cold and elevation took its toll on us. We had to walk several times but finished the run in around six hours.

On the second attempt the weather was completely different, as was the companionship. Cam was replaced by coaches Terry and Kim. Terry is our ultramarathon man with multiple 50, 75 and 100 milers under his belt. Neither Kim, nor I had gone further than 50K before. Terry shared some of his sage advice along the run such as how to go out (slower than you think), how to fuel (solid foods if you can tolerate them) and what to pack (as lightly as possible).

Repeating this run was good and bad for me. The good part was finishing stronger than the first time, knowing my gear and nutrition plan worked (at least the second time) and getting yet another long run under my belt prior to the Canyon. The bad was knowing that, even though it was a sunny and warmer day, it still wasn’t even close to the extremes we will face later this month. Still, I know I will be attempting this with seasoned runners and we have vowed to leave no one behind. If any of us has a bad day, we all do. And we also know we aren’t doing this for time but for the experience, camaraderie and beauty of it.

As much as I am nervous, I am equally excited for this run. While I have been to the Grand Canyon before, I haven’t made it down to the Colorado River before and never seen the North rim. I can’t think of a better group of people to be doing this with. Wish us luck and good weather.

Oh yeah, and the following weekend is The Relay. That should be a nice recovery run.

Dutchy was a treat

2011-03-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m on the train to London from Cornwall after a fantastic weekend in Southwest England which culminated in a fantastic small town marathon. The Dutchy Marathon, put on by the Cornwall Athletic Club started in the town of Redruth which used to be the center of the mining trade in England back in the 1800s and the birthplace of the steam engine and steamliner. Today it is a sleepy town in a mostly farming and tourism district dominated by the coastal cities that garner the bulk of the attention today.

I arrived in Heathrow on Friday and took a 6 hour train to the near end of the Cornwall peninsula to start the weekend. I was worn out from travel that had started at 4pm on Thursday in San Francisco so I hit the bed hard that night. I was staying in the Penventon Park Hotel, a quaint but upscale hotel a five minute walk from town and the train station.

Saturday was a rest day but I wanted to see the town and learn as much as I could about Cornwall so I toured the city and hit their small local tourist office. Here I learned how important Redruth was to Corwall during this mining times and read about the Cornish Pasty, the original Hot Pocket. Being a local treat I couldn’t leave town without having one and there were four shops offering them piping hot and fresh. Yum.

Near town is Carn Brea a rather large hill providing incredible views of both the north and south coastlines on a clear day. Saturday, unfortunately, was not such a day. So I skipped the climb to its peak and instead took a few photos (will add the link to them soon) of it, the pastureland surrounding town and a few other sites.

Those who read my past blog entry know I have been nursing an undiagnosed injury and I wanted to take it extra easy today, so I booked a deep tissue massage midday then spent the afternoon in the lounge writing and enjoying another Cornish favorite – Cream Tea. This is English tea service consisting of Clotted Cream made fresh, scones and Earl Grey tea. If you haven’t had this cream it is a very thick, almost buttery cream. I learned how to make it in the tourist shop but can’t follow a recipe to save my life so I’ll leave that to the professionals. Very worth trying if you find yourself in Cornwall.

That evening was the usual pre-race pasta party where I met several of the runners in Sunday’s race including a chap from South Africa, living in Barcelona who is in the middle of a running holiday. Dutchy is just a training run for him – he was doing the Dutchy 20 miler, not the marathon – as the London Marathon in April was his big goal. He had already run the marathon in Barcelona and had several other races lined up. The other goal of his holiday was to test the theory that sex was a good stress reliever before a long run so he was on the prowl much of the weekend. I watched him attempt his charms on the front desk girls for a while.

I also met a couple from about 40 miles from here who were down to celebrate the husband’s 50^th birthday on Sunday. He too was running the 20 miler in preparation for the London Marathon. We had a very interesting chat as the couple were soon to be moving from Cornwall up to the Birmingham area where he was to become the new headmaster at a private school there. It sounds like an incredible job with envious perks. The couple, soon to be empty-nesters would be moving into the headmasters house and filling its 8 bedrooms, enjoying its full size pool and 20 acre grounds. They were trying to figure out how to furnish such an immense place coming from their small 3 bedroom flat.

In meeting with the race organizers I learned I was clearly the racer who had come the farthest for this event and that tomorrow’s race would be mostly flat with a few small rolling hills and great views of the southern English coast line. There was a hill at mile 3 and two on the back side of the double-loop course; the second a mile long. The hills certainly didn’t rival anything in the Bay Area and since hills had done me in at Golden Gate in February, I mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

That evening I slept well, not worrying about sleeping through my alarm because the race didn’t start until 10:30 the next morning. I dressed my chair then watched BBC footage of the on-going saga in Japan, where they are living through the aftermath of the worst earthquake there in recorded history.

Race day started at around 7am for me, up before the alarm, then down for some breakfast and preparation for the race. I checked out of my room 30 minutes before the start and quickly stripped off the second layer I was planning to wear because the skies above turned to nothing but blue. The sun was out and it was going to be a monumentally gorgeous day in Cornwall. There were about 750 people signed up for the race, the majority were only up for the 20 miler but about 250 of us needed 6.2 more.

We all casually lined up behind a small tape line marked with road cones and precisely at 10:30 the starter's pistol went off and so did we. The race quickly left Redruth and headed out into the country side. We passed grazing fields for cows and farms growing various vegetables. There are no fences between properties here. Instead the boundaries are marked by thick hedges with vines intertwined. There was a gorgeous field of bright yellow marigolds at mile three.

As we passed through the next township a little old lady in her compact car decided to join us. The course monitors tried to stop her from cutting across the course but she was adamant about taking the same road with us and butt right in. She drove slowly up the course surrounded by runners for much of the next mile. We joked about affixing a bib to her front bumper.

After a short climb up the first hill we got our first view of the southern coastline. Absolutely gorgeous. The clear blue skies gave us sweeping vistas. A flock of very lucky sheep were grazing on a pasture right at the cliff’s edge affording them a million dollar life.

As with many races after the first 5 or so miles you start to see the same people who are holding a pace very similar to your own. One woman in particular, stood out. She was between 60 and 70 years and held an incredibly strong and consistent pace. She was a model of running economy and was just ahead of me. She became my rabbit for the day.

After the coast line, the course turned inland and we hit the first of the two backside hills. Neither was all that challenging but being from very hilly country in the Bay Area I was able to pick off several runners during the climb. Downhills are the hardest on my injury so I tried to take them easy and most of those I passed regained their position by mile 13.

The nice thing about a double-loop marathon is knowing the landmarks along the way. You know that when you can see the coast you are nearly half way. When the hills come it will be 20 and 22 miles. And this helped me hold a strong pace throughout the second loop with Jenny, the 60-something steam engine and I trading positions.

Twenty miles in I was feeling great. My injury had not been bothering me. Sure a few muscles had said hello from time to time but the conversation never turned ugly and passed nearly as quickly as it had started. Even the final hills weren’t generating leg fatigue – just the usual ache most marathoners feel at this point.

Mile 25 was a junction where we had turned left to start the second loop. This time we would go straight toward the finish. Or so I thought. That mile was anything but straight. We turned numerous times and went up, down and up again before reaching the finish. A cruel way to end a marathon. But the final hill led into the finishers shoot and with 3:43 on the clock I stepped over the final chalk line.

Congrats all around and groan-filled stretching was then everyone’s activity. What made this marathon extra special was that the Penventon Park Hotel, the event sponsor, opened a series of first floor rooms to us to use for showers and changing. Heaven.

Cornish pasties, hot coffee and lots of water from the other sponsor H2O on the Go brought us all back to health.

Marathons are a great way to experience a place you have never been and Dutchy provided an incredible tour of Cornwall. I certainly understand why so many English come here for holiday. I look forward to returning myself.

A six-hour train trip back to London was tough on a weary body. My left Achilles is screaming. Wonder if I can get shock therapy in London?

It wasn't my day

2011-03-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

It has taken me a while to get to this entry. It is now close to 4 weeks since my first marathon of the year, or attempt at it anyways. For the first time in my running career I failed to finish a race I started. This is a humbling experience but I have certainly come to know that you learn more through failure than through success. In this case, I learned a lot but left many questions.

On February 19, I took on the Golden Gate Marathon, a Coastal Trail Runs event in the Marin headlands, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge (Facebook friends, click here for photos from this event). This is a spectacular place for a run and was my second such event up here. I always enjoy coming to Marin because of their incredible beauty and challenging terrain. I had also chosen this event because of its elevation gains which are a necessary part of my training, as I am taking on some very mountainous runs this year. Golden Gate Marathon provided over 4,000 feet of climbing throughout a double loop course that started at Rodeo Beach and looped around the headlands overlooking Mill Valley, Sausalito the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge and the gateway for which it is named.

It was a miserable day for a run, turns out. The temperature was perfect; in the 40s to start and throughout but rain fell nearly the entire day. It was a light rain, rather than a downpour, but was cold enough to produce sleet and hail intermittently and the kind of cold that went right through you. The night before had been one of the coldest in the Bay Area, dusting the foothills, Mt. Diablo, Skyline Ridge, and as I would get to confirm first hand, Mt. Tamalpais with snow.

As some of you will recall, the latter half of 2010 was a bit of a challenge for me, not only in the number of events I took on in completing the Rock n Roll series but due to an injury I had sustained sometime before the Denver marathon. That injury naggingly stayed with me throughout the rest of the year but never impeded my running. It would talk to me, communicating through a series of muscles in my right leg for the first several miles of each race, then warm up and shut up allowing me to complete each event in my usual times. However, after Denver and Los Angeles, the rest of the Rock n Roll series were relatively flat courses and hills seemed to bring out the most muscle conversations - and soreness post event.

I backed off a bit from the long distances in January so my injury could heal and took up more hiking and got even more acquainted with my foam roller. But around the end of that month it was time to start hill training in prep for the 2011 race schedule. And as it turns out, the rest I gave it wasn't enough. I continued to have pain in my right leg; sometimes in the quadriceps, others in the knee and IT band, others in the hamstring or calf. The non-specificity of the pain was the most frustrating part as I was unable to arrive at the right course of treatment.

Yet, based on last year, I felt that while my body was talking to me in a bigger voice than usual, it had never let me down and I had two days in the snowbanks near Yosemite immediately following the Marin race, so I'd have plenty of chance to recover.

As I pulled off the Great Highway and into the parking lot at Rodeo Beach, it was raining lightly. Everyone was scrambling from their cars out to pick up their numbers and shirts, then rushing just as fast and uncomfortably back to their cars to huddle in the warmth. I pulled on my rain jacket and dodged puddles from the lot to the tent and followed suit. As I waited for the volunteers to locate my bib I was greeted by my good friend and work colleague, John Rymer who was cheerful as always and looked ready to run. He and I had talked another colleague, Mike Gualtieri, into staying in California an extra day to run this race with us. He was in from Boston for a Forrester conference and we had hoped to give him a taste of what makes the San Francisco Bay Area such an incredible place to live and run. Oh well.

After a short greeting the rain picked up a bit more and we high-tailed it back to the parking lot to get warm and await the start. There I ran into Coach Kim from our Peninsula Team in Training group. I had hoped to see one of my fellow coaches here as we all need lots of hill training since we plan to run the Grand Canyon together in April, and this was a great course to test the training thus far.

That was the real reason I was running this event - to test my endurance as a signal to where I was along my training plan for this monumental challenge. I had been wanting to run the Grand Canyon ever since Reesa and I, along with the LLS' Hike for Discovery program (now part of TNT) had ventured down into this abyss several years ago. As we were ascending the South Kaibab Trail we were passed by a small team of runners who had started at the North Rim and were emerging at the south. I had suggested this run to my fellow TNT coaches who jumped at the idea but wanted to do it one better, suggesting we run it Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim. I hesitated at first because that took a 21 mile idea into ultra marathon territory and doubled the climbing. I agreed knowing it would be a serious challenge and my health and training would have to be tops to do it. So Golden Gate needed to go well.

The first half of the Golden Gate Marathon was simply spectacular. It began with a serious climb up to the headlands ridge, past a series of World War II gun bunkers. Part of this section was through a tunnel those soldiers must have called home during these freezing hours of duty. There were several rooms off this tunnel and a duty roster and schedule that looked like it had recently been restored. As we emerged from the tunnel it was up again along another ridge that provided the most spectacular view of the day - a snow-dusted Mt. Tamalpais. Having lived in the Bay Area nearly 18 years I had never seen this site and hope someday I do again - simply gorgeous.

So far my right leg had been cooperating. I was taking it relatively easy, knowing I had 24 more miles to come. My quad and I had a painful conversation on the second ridge but as usual, it had shut up by the downhill. The course then dropped through some farmland, then up another ridge providing a fantastic view of a fog-covered Mill Valley at the foot of Mt. Tam. I ran alongside a professor visiting from a small college in Tennessee who had specifically selected a conference in San Francisco the week prior so he could come do this run. We understood each other instantly.

Our conversation carried us up that hill which turned out to be as steep as the two before; it then leveled off for a meandering 7 or so miles with, first Sausalito off to the left, then just the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge ahead. The trail was narrow and technical which is always fun provided you mind your footing, and I was being extra careful not to tweak anything. On a few uneven surfaces I came down painfully on my right leg but was able to recover each time.

At the next rest station, I grabbed some food and along came Coach Kim who escorted me the rest of the way through the first loop. At around mile 12 we were running down the road that returns us to Rodeo Beach and when I was jogging on the asphalt my right leg started talking again. This wasn't the usual one-muscle-at-a-time whining but a total upper leg statement of fatigue. It wasn’t pain. It felt as if it was weakening. On level and uphill portions the discussion died down and when I was able to get off the asphalt and run on the shoulder it went away. Was my leg allergic to pavement?

Kim and I crossed the midway point as the majority of the runners around us turned toward the half marathon finish. We kept straight and were soon climbing the first hill once again. This was a very different experience for me the second time around. After ascending the stone and then log-built steps of the first ridge the fatigue in my leg returned. I fought it through the gun bunkers and set my goal at seeing Mt. Tam once again.

I've learned that in endurance running it helps to set small goals throughout the race - make it to the stop sign, then once there, make it to the turn up ahead. I was using this technique now. Coach Kim, had long left me and was disappearing around turns far above as I headed to the soldier's tunnel. Fatigue in my right leg was a constant conversation now.

I reached the clearing, and turned to see the mountain but it wasn't there. Clouds which had continued to roll in as the race progressed were obscuring it. I started up the next ridge and the fatigue in my leg kept with me. I set my next small goal to get to the farm house, it would be up this ridge and down the other side leaving just one more large hill to go, but my right leg wasn’t cooperating.

I was immensely frustrated. My mind was up for the challenge. My heart, lungs, left leg, heck every other part of me was ready to climb, but my right leg was not cooperating. I tried ascending the ridge once again but that leg had nothing left. After a few more feet, I stopped. I contemplated quitting; not for the first time – every runner contemplates it from time to time (usually around mile 20 of a marathon, or so). But each time prior I had worked through this thought. I turned to look back and saw I was barely above the start of this hill. It would be a rough climb. I started ascending again but my right leg protested immediately. I wasn’t going to make it. It wasn’t pain I was fighting, it was fatigue. My leg simply couldn’t go on.

If the protestations were this strong now, I knew I would never make it up the next ascent which was twice as long and steadily rose. I had nearly 11 miles ahead of me and was one leg down.

What finally made me quit was this thought, “this isn’t the race.” While it was certain a race it was merely a training run for the Grand Canyon. That was the more important goal. And I knew further injuring my leg trying to get through this race wasn’t going to help me achieve that one. So reluctantly, I conceded that this simply wasn’t my day. I turned around and headed back down to the half-way point and the parking lot.

The following day, deep in the snow at Tenaya Lodge, I booked a sports massage so the rehab could start immediately and found both legs incredibly tight with my quads and calves protesting the most. When I returned to the Bay Area I booked an appointment with a sports medicine professional – it was time to get to the bottom of this problem.

Now it is mid-March and so far the diagnosis has been inconclusive. I’m still running and training but have woven in yoga, physical therapy, reverse elliptical training and less hills. The pain and weakness persists but I have been able to complete several long runs as well as a few hill challenges with no return of the defeating fatigue. The doctor hasn’t ruled out a muscle or tendon tear but thinks it unlikely. The next step, if needed will be an MRI.

I’m in Redruth right now, an old mining town in the heart of Cornwall, England resting up for the Dutchy Marathon, the second of my goal events for the year. I’m heading into this race thinking, once again, that this is simply a training run for the Grand Canyon but knowing it is also a test of the leg as well as a mental line I must cross.

While this small town marathon won’t be the equal to Golden Gate, it is hilly and remains 26.2 miles long. As a training run, I know I don’t have to complete it. The bigger goal is in April and for this run, the more important objective is to return to marathon running free from total right leg fatigue. Fail that and the Grand Canyon will be in jeopardy.

Wish me luck.

2011 Race Plan: Down, Up and Around

2011-01-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

How do you top running every Rock n Roll Marathon in a single year? Well, you don't but you can take on some new challenges that "rise above." For 2011, that's exactly what I plan to do. After running 282 miles over 8 Rock n Roll Marathons, 6 Rock n Roll Half Marathon and completing The Relay's 199 miles from Calistoga to Santa Cruz with 11 of my best friends. It was time for a break. But I'm now training for some of the biggest challenges of my life - some of the biggest challenges in running. I call it my Down, Up and Around tour.

It's earned that name because the challenges this year will take me down into the deepest canyon in the United States, up and over one of the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains and around the largest lake in the West.

I finished my first 20 mile training run this morning, on the course I think is the prettiest in the world. It starts in front of the historic ferry building in San Francisco, goes out along the Crissy Field, up and over the Golden Gate Bridge, down into the quaint town of Sausalito, up through the marshes of Mill Valley and on to the town of Tiburon for a victory breakfast overlooking Angel Island and the San Francisco skyline. It's a 20-24 mile trek that rings the western edge of the San Francisco Bay with views the entire time. It rained most of the day but we didn't care because this beauty can't be matched and its a thrill to see it all different conditions. I do this run with my SMS friends at least twice a year and it never disappoints. Today was a light team of just John Rymer and myself who are both training for the first event of the year - the Golden Gate Trail Marathon. This mid-February run starts at the beach and takes you up through the Marin Headlands where you get sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and the bridge. If you haven't spend time in Marin, you have to see the headlands. Incredible green hills with lush vegetation and oceanfront trails that will leave your mouth agape.

This even is a half, full and ultra marathon and runs a similar course to the Stinson Beach marathon where I ran my first ultra marathon, by mistake. I missed a turn along the course and ended up at the finish line after just 13 miles, when I was planning 26.2. With permission of the race director, I ran back out, repeated the original 13 and this time found the turn market I had missed before and ended up doing a 50K.

There will be no mistakes this time (I hope) but I may do the ultra again. Not because I'm switching sports and moving up to ultras but because I'll need it as a training run for the bigger event coming up in April.

After the Golden Gate event I'll be off in March to England for a work conference and on these trips I always scan the International marathon schedule for possibilities. This time, I'll be heading to Pembroke, in the south west of England for a small town marathon. I really like these events because I get to see a part of the country that I normally wouldn't see and meet the local running community who are always very proud of their town.

The only downside of doing this marathon however is that southwest England is pretty flat and I will be in strong need of hill training in March. Hill and valley. That's because April's goal is a biggie. Along with the other coaches on the summer Team in Training team, I'll be heading to Arizona to run the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim. This will be the biggest run of my career, covering over 40 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing and descending. It's hard to train for the Grand Canyon because there aren't many runs you can take that start with a big downhill and where you can experience over 80 degrees of temperature change in a single run. This will be a significant challenge for me and I'll be starting with a deficit on my fellow coaches. All of them are experienced ultra marathoners with at least a 50 miler under their belt. Yikes.

Assuming I survive this trip, I'll be taking a long break to recover - six days. because the very next weekend is The Relay. I can't miss this event as SMS has teamed with Are We There Yet? one of the original teams for the inaugural season. They have retained team #4 and we must uphold the consecutive streak of appearances. We're recruiting for this year's event, on the weekend of May 1st so please let me know if you want in.

After that, then I'll really take a break. No events planned until Up. Where the Grand Canyon will take me down, down, down, the next event does just the opposite, packing 13,000 feet of climbing into a single 13 mile stretch. Pike's Peak Marathon is one of the hardest races in America as you climb from the base up to the top of the mountain, then down the other side. TNT head coach, Terry Lee said this was the toughest race he's ever done, and he's completed the Western States 100 miler. Gulp!

So maybe May through August won't be as much of a break as it will be intense hill training.

I figure if I survive the Grand Canyon and Pike's Peak then I'll be feeling pretty invincible by September. Anticipating that I've decided to test my resolve with Around. In 2009 I took on my first crazy mutt-event challenge by running the Goofy Challenge in Disneyworld. This January event is a half marathon Saturday and a full marathon Sunday garnering big honkin' gold medals. I was nervous as could be about how I would feel Sunday morning and was planning on just finishing and not even worrying about time. After a 1:34 half I turned in a 3:36 full which is par for me. And we walked around the parks all day each day. So if I can do that, I surely can take on the Tahoe Triple. Especially if I am feeling invicible, like I hope I will.

The Tahoe Triple is a marathon a day for three days which when combined takes you all the way around Lake Tahoe. I chose to do this event in support of coach Cam from the TNT summer team who will be making his second attempt at the Tahoe 70, which circles the lake on that Sunday finishing on the same marathon course that I will be on. Assuming we both survive, the fin a marathon will give me a chance to support Cam and hopefully help him bring home a victory. And if invincibility passes from me to him, he can hopefully help me slog through to the finish.

That will just about do it for me for 2011, although I usually can't let the fall season end that early, so I might add on one or two other events. Under consideration are the Mesquite Marathon in Nevada, the newly added Rock n Roll Savannah Marathon. I'll decide later in the year if I'm up for these.

What are your plans for 2011? What keeps me going is always having a goal in front of me and shaping a training plan that ensures its success. And for me that means always running. I hope you will share your goals for the year here or at the SMS site and that you will join me for any of our fabulous SMS training runs. And even if you can't join us get out there and exercise in whatever way you enjoy. Good health awaits you.

My 2011 running schedule:

Golden Gate Trail Run (Marathon) - 2/19/11 - Sausalito
Duchy Marathon - 3/12/11 - Penbroke, UK
Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim - 4/22-24
Pike's Peak Marathon - Aug 21 - Boulder, CO
Tahoe Triple - Sept. 23-25 - Lake Tahoe, CA

And Maybe:

Mesquite Marathon - Nov. 19 - Mesquite, Nevada

Savannah Rock n Roll Marathon - Nov. 5 - Georgia

A victory lap in Arizona

2011-01-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

After a year filled with Rock n Roll Marathons you might think the last place I'd be in 2011 would be at another Rock n Roll Marathon, but suffice it to say these are some of the best organized, fun events around and I had a slightly different purpose this time. This was a victory lap. In fact I was invited to PF Chang's Rock n Roll Arizona Marathon by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Competitor Group Inc. to honor my accomplishment and promote the 2011 series and the spring TNT season. And we couldn't have picked a better event or a better day for everyone involved.

The weekend began with a morning flight to Phoenix and the usual ritual of the marathon expo. Here I picked up my bib and ran into CGI's Dave Hussa, the director of their charity relations program. LLS is the official charity of RnRAZ which is why celebrating my feat of being the first person to run every mile of every Rock n Roll event in a single year would be honored here. I first met Dave at the Country Music Marathon, then again at RnR San Diego and RnR Seattle. If you've run an RnR event in the last couple years and seen the Elvis at the marathon/half marathon split directing you where to go, you've seen Dave. At the Rock n Roll Series booth, he handed me a VIP pass and said he looked forward to seeing me at the TNT Inspiration Dinner tonight. Then followed this with, "You don't know what we have for you, do you?" No, I didn't. CGI had provided me with a framed gold record and RnR series jacket at RnR Las Vegas where I set the record and I certainly didn't expect anything else. He wouldn't tell me what it was so I went away curious.

I then met up with Adam Ricklefs, the author of one of the most popular endurance running blogs, The Boring Runner. I first met Adam on an episode of The Runner's Roundtable podcast and then in person at RnRAZ last year. He was volunteering in the Brooks booth and enjoying being a new father.

This weekend was NFL Playoff weekend so I left the expo and hit a local bar to catch the Ravens\Steelers game before the TNT Inspiration Dinner. I'm glad I did, as it turned out to be a classic and definitely the best game of the weekend. Congrats to the Steelers.

Around 5pm I, along with over 400 TNT runners, descended on the Phoenix Ballroom for the Inspiration Dinner. John Bingham, long time friend of TNT and author of the Penguin Runner column on Competitor.com was the host and started with a great comedic monologue about what to expect tomorrow during the race. I first heard John speak at the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, my very first marathon and Reesa's first half. John calls himself the ultimate back of the pack runner and spins some great yarns about how long it takes him to finish which puts all the TNT first timers at ease. If you haven't heard John at one of these events, you really should (there's a video from his speech at the TNT dinner before RnR Seattle on his blog). He's terrific.

After his remarks, the SVP for CGI came to the stage, Tracy Sundlun, to talk about tomorrow's race and the relationship between TNT and CGI. Tracy, is a former Olympian and long time marathon coach for the US Olympic team - an impressive resume. I met him at the speaker's table shortly before the event began. He struck me as a very serious, executive, focused on his speech. But when he took the stage his real personality popped out and I saw how funny and witty he was. He opened with an awkward silence that got everyone giggling again, and had a great little quip. "Look to your right. Now to your left. One of the three of you will do something stupid tomorrow." Everyone laughed and pointed at each other. His point was that tomorrow one of the three would try something new - a new drink or breakfast food. New shoes, a new routine. Something that would throw off your game. This is a really bad idea and something we preach endlessly in TNT, but it is inevitably ignored. The lure to try all the new stuff from the expo is usually was does people in.

After his remarks it was time to honor the top fundraisers who had come to RnRAZ. From the local Arizona team was a woman who had secured a $5,000 grant as a donation and Lori Jomsky from Los Angeles who I had seen pop up on Twitter several times last year who had raised over $10,000 for this event getting nearly half, she said, from social media, from people she hadn't ever met. Impressive. And not my experience with social media at all.

Then Tracy turned to my accomplishment. After mentioning what I had done, he reached down under the table and slid free a large black leatherette case. I knew immediately what it was. "No, you didn't!" I said with surprise and excitement to Dave Hussa. He acted innocent. "No!" I repeated, this time to Tracy Roseboom, the TNT national director for this event. She gave me a wry smile. After Tracy finished describing my 2010 feat and the money raised (thanks again to EVERYONE who donated to my cause) he pulled out a brand new classic, Fender Squier Bullet Strat electric guitar. It had a steel plate mounted below the strings commemorating my completion of the entire Rock n Roll Marathon Series with congrats from TNT and CGI. Dave leaned over and said, "Looks like you will need a larger shadow box for all your medals."

I grasped his shoulder in gratitude, hugged Tracy and leaped onto the stage to shake Tracy's hand. What an incredible gift and a fantastic honor. Upon holding the new guitar and feeling its heft and incredibly perfect construction, I knew this one wasn't destined to be locked away in a frame. It demanded to be played. I gave it a few mock strums for the cameras demonstrating my complete lack of experience. But I'll change that. Incredible. Just incredible. I can't thank you enough, CGI and TNT for this.

On the way back to my room I exchanged congratulations with the high fundraisers, wished good luck to all the TNTers in attendance and made my way back to my room to give the guitar a closer examination and to dress my chair for tomorrow's run.

That evening, I was interviewed by the local Fox affiliate who featured me and other runners on the 10 o'clock news while warning viewers to avoid the road closures tomorrow as me and 30,000 of my closets friends would be taking over the city, Scottsdale and Tempe for the day.

No matter what the event, whether a marathon or not, I can never seem to sleep the night before a race. I was in bed by 10 but up until 12; then up at 4, 5 and 6am. I finally pulled myself from bed at 6:45 so I could meet Tracy and other TNT half marathoners in the lobby at 7:15. Today's half marathon would be very different for me because I was going to watch the start knowing I wouldn't be jumping in until later. That was because local channel 3 wanted an interview 10 minutes after the start. As someone who usually starts in the first few corrals I wasn't sure how I'd feel watching all these people take the course while I sat on the sidelines.

We gathered some fellow mid-pack TNTers to join me for the interview, then we were off. I crossed the start line with corral 18 and commenced weaving through the crowd hoping to get up to my normal race pace by the second mile. Competitor does a great job with its wave starts as each group isn't so crowded that you can't get room to run shortly after crossing the line. But the best part of starting here was the chance it gave me to see so many other TNT runners and wish them good luck. A few recognized me from the night before calling out, "Hey, guitar boy! Way to go!"

Rock n Roll Arizona is a fantastic place to do your first marathon or half because it is dead flat, the weather is mild and on this day, it was sunny and beautiful. I set my marathon PR on this course last year and once I was able to get up to speed I was feeling fantastic. I'm not fully healed from the RnR series last year and the muscles around my right knee were talking to me through the first 6 miles. They shut up (or more accurately, fully warmed up) by the half-way point and I couldn't have felt better. At mile 7 I passed a guy dressed as Slash, the guitarist from Guns n Roses and gave him high horns, the metal god salute. Three female Elvis impersonators were next up on the left and before the next water stop was a cheer squad all dressed as the cookie monster from Sesame Street. It's always interesting seeing the costumes along a marathon course. Two younger guys were running in Mexican wrestling masks, sewn tight to the backs of their heads. Didn't want to know how they would be feeling by the end.

Near the finish, the most impressive guy was the mid 30s muscle man who crossed the line with a large tree trunk slung over his shoulder. He had carried it all 13 miles and had run in work boots. Wow.

Around mile 8 I caught up to runners my pace and ran alongside Nick, a college student from Reno. He was running his first half marathon and already had the endurance bug. He had biked around Lake Tahoe and was planning a fantastic event for the summer - cycling 2,000 miles from Washington state to Canada then back down to Southern California. I told him it was a fantastic idea and encouraged him to add a charity element to his adventure. He said his grandmother suffers from Cystic Fibrosis and I let him in on the secrets of fundraising - it's actually easier than you think.

Nick and I ran together swapping stories, goals and ambitions through to mile 12 where I lost him at the last water stop. I always pick up the pace in the last mile of a race, if I can, and I was more than able today. I crossed the line in a respectable 1:40:33. Later, after Reesa had looked at the online results, I felt pretty good about this time as the first mile had been far slower than my normal pace due to the weaving.

After grabbing a banana and bottle of water, I headed over to the VIP area getting there between breakfast and lunch to find little more to eat than, well, a banana and another bottle of water. But the timing was good because American half marathon record holder, Kara Goucher was there with her newborn. I asked her how she did on this her first event since having her child. "Ok considering. Seventy-four minutes." Here's the difference between the elites and the rest of us. They express their times in minutes. The rest of us: hours and minutes. It certainly wasn't her best time but darned impressive.

A few minutes later Josh Cox came into the area with an entourage of K-Swiss handlers. Josh had set out today to break the American record in the 50K by adding 6 or so miles to today's marathon. He met his goal, beating the prior American record by 3 minutes and nearly smashing the world record. He fell just 7 seconds shy. Wow. No wonder he looked tired.

I had an early afternoon flight so I left shortly after that and on the way back to the hotel sat on the shuttle with a young shoe designer from Brooks, named Dana. She had just finished her first half marathon and did so in prototype shoes she had helped create. They were minimal, racing style shoes - just the kind I liked. She had a good race but was fearing the whole time that the shoes, being prototypes, might fall apart on her. No worries with quality Brooks construction, apparently. We had a good chat and I learned about the Brooks wear-testing program. Something to consider since I love to try new shoes.

This race was my testing ground for the Innov-8 f-lite 195 racing shoe. These flashy red racers are designed for the efficient strider who lands midfoot and likes a barefoot-like feel but with enough cushioning to handle the pounding over 13-26 miles. I had run in them a few times prior for training and found them to be very comfortable and responsive. Much like wearing next to nothing on your feet. Fantastic. But I felt a little embarrassed talking to Dana with them on my feet; Brooks being the series sponsor and all. But who knows. Maybe my experience in Mizuno, Asics, Brooks Green Silence, GoLite and Nike Frees will make me a good candidate to help Brooks with its latest designs.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better experience in Arizona. Running this first leg of the 2011 Rock n Roll Series made me nostalgic for last year's feat and ready to start my 2011 season. More Rock n Roll this year? Maybe. But not the full series. I have new goals to conquer. I'll fill you in on my next blog post.

Happy running!

Reflecting on a grand achievement

2010-12-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

About this time of year I started spreading the word that I planned a crazy feat for 2010, to run every event in the Competitor.com Rock n Roll Marathon Series. Well here I sit, 12 months later having completed this crazy objective and ready to reflect on what was a wonderful experience.

In December 2009, Competitor had just announced its final events for 2010 -- Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half and Rock n Roll Denver Marathon -- bringing the series up to 14 events. Having run no more than five marathons in a single year I wasn't sure I was up to adding three more and tacking on 6 half marathons to boot, but was bound and determined to try. But I certainly wasn't going to do this alone or just for myself. I knew this would be a great way to spread the word about my love for running, encourage others to give it a try and to promote healthy living. But the higher cause was to help spread the awareness about blood cancers and the need for more research, support and funding. So I set a second goal, to raise $10,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I'm proud to say that I not only survived the series but set two personal bests in the marathon and the half, exceeded my fundraising goal with over $11,000 collected and made it through the year mostly injury free.

The series provided some incredible highs and very few lows. I met some great members of the running community and dodged some harrowing weather. Here's a look at the highlights from the year that will hopefully provide some inspiration for your future experiences. I highly recommend putting a few Rock n Rolls on your calendar of events.

There are plenty of reasons to run Rock n Roll marathons such as:

Reason #1: The courses. Each Rock n Roll event is a fantastic tour of the host cities. Competitor does a great job of taking you past all the highlights so you really get a feel for these cities. But of course, they leave you wanting more and there's no better way to recover from a tough run than to walk around the city - in compression tights of course.

Best Marathon - Mardi Gras Marathon (Run it Feb. 13, 2011). Its hard to top a run through the Big Easy. The new course, changed to accommodate a 3-fold increase in participants in 2010 was a fantastic tour of the city going through all the famous districts, past Tulane University and finishing in a fantastic park. The city shows itself off beautifully and how can you go wrong with so many fantastic restaurants, hotels and music halls to help you celebrate.

Runner Up - Country Music Marathon (Run it April 30, 2011). Like Mardi Gras, Competitor set up a fantastic course that really showed you all the big sites near downtown. I especially loved seeing Music Row where all the record companies were located. Downtown is beautiful and its party central after you cross the finish line. We had some exciting weather last year, which should mean smooth sailing for 2011.

Best Half Marathon - Rock n Roll Dallas (Run it March 27, 2011). This was a first-time event in 2010 and at first, having lived in Dallas when I was younger, I had to say I was skeptical about how good this could be. But Competitor really found a course that shows off Dallas better than I could have imagined. The course passes by all the best sites, the old historic neighborhoods and finishes at the Cotton Bowl. The course is fast, mostly flat and very festive. Despite a tragedy at the finish line, they couldn't have had a better inaugural year.

Runners Up - Rock n Roll Virginia Beach & Philadelphia (Run them Sept. 4 and 18, 2011, respectively). These two events stand out for different but similar reasons. For Virginia Beach, how can you argue against an event that starts and finishes along the gorgeous eastern seaboard. With waves crashing to your right, a fantastic little surf town and a tour through Camp Pendleton, how can you go wrong. Plus the music festival going on all that week makes it worth an extended stay. Phillie gets props for being, well, Phillie. Its a fantastic town with a great spirit and the course really shows it off, especially Museum Row.

Best marathon course to run a half: Rock n Roll Seattle (run it June 25, 2011). For some reason it seems there are always more people signed up for a half marathon if that same event is also a marathon. Maybe its aspirational, in that if you can complete the half there, you can shoot for the full the next year. Well some events (and some runners) are very different their second 13.1 miles. Seattle is a good place to run half way because the front 13 are a great scenic tour of the Pacific Northwest. You wind through pretty little tree-lined towns and past a vast lake before a tour of downtown Seattle and the finish near the home of the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks. It's not a PR course, necessarily but a great experience.

Reason #2: To Set a PR. A lot of people might tell you that if you want to set a PR you should avoid the big races because the crowds can slow you down. That's true if the start isn't well coordinated and if the course isn't well designed. That was never true of any Competitor event - and I ran them all. Competitor has clean starts down to a science. They break each race start down into corrals based on your expected finish time and for the most part, I rarely found myself weaving though slower runners. At the very biggest events, such as Rock n Roll Las Vegas you may take a bit more time to get to the start line but the timing chips they use are very accurate. Not every Rock n Roll marathon is good for a PR.. A few are rather hilly, like Rock n Roll Los Angeles and the Country Music Marathon. And weather can sometimes be an issue as it was in the Country Music Marathon, Rock n Roll Chicago and almost was at Rock n Roll Virginia Beach.

Best course for a PR: Marathon - PF Chang's Rock n Roll Arizona (Run it Jan 16, 2011). This is a flat, fast, low altitude course with some nice scenery and awesome bands. If you use winter to rehab, interval train and prep for the coming marathon season then you will be ready to run fast through the Phoenix downtown area. I know because I did. Great way to start the year.

Best course for a PR: Half Marathon - Rock n Roll San Jose (Run it Oct. 2, 2011). It's my hometown half marathon and I set a PR here its inaugural year. It was the first RnR event I'd run at that time and was surprised at how pretty the course was. This year was special because so many of my TNT and SMS friends were running it and the bands and cheerleaders along the course were just the best.

Reason #3: The Bands. Competitor's marathons are best known for having lots of bands along the race course which definitely make the events more festive but recently the company has become known for the headliners it bring in as well and they mostly perform right at the finish line. And we're not talking no-name headliners either. Main stage acts in 2010 featured Bret Michels (Rock n Roll Las Vegas), Rick Springfield (Rock n Roll San Antonio), Sister Hazel (Mardi Gras Marathon), Big Bad VooDoo Daddy (Rock n Roll San Diego) and Semisonic (Rock n Roll Denver).

Best band - Cowboy Mouth at Mardi Gras Marathon. If you haven't heard of these guys seek them out. They are an old school party band and just reached out and grabbed us and demanded to be loved. Their lead singer, drummer Fred LeBlanc is a total showman and no matter how bad your legs may have felt you couldn't help but dance around.

Runner up - Neon Trees at Rock n Roll Los Angeles (Run it in costume on October 30, 2011). I had only heard one song from this alt rock band prior to this event and you just can't tell from the radio how amazing this band is in concert. Their lead singer, Tyler Glenn reminded me very much of Michael Hutchence of INXS - massive kinetic energy and emotion on stage. Highly recommend seeing one of their shows.

Reason #4: The Bling. Who doesn't like to receive a big, heavy piece of brag-worthy hardware when they cross a finish line. And Competitor rocks some of the biggest, heaviest medals of them all. And they are the pioneers of progressive medals. After your first event in 2011 you become eligible for their Heavy Medal series which rewards you with medals for completing combinations of events throughout the year. If you are crazy like me you can try to collect them all. Last year the highest medal went to any person who completed 7 Rock n Roll marathon events in a single year. Expect them to up the ante in 2011 when the series goes from 14 events to between 18 and 20.

Best single event medal - Rock n Roll San Diego (run it June 5, 2011). This is the event that started it all and of course you'd expect it to have the best medal and it was. It's hard to top a big 1.5 pound depiction of surf and sand.

Best Heavy Medal - Rock Legend. It's shaped like the head stock of an electric guitar, it weights nearly 3 pounds, requires two anchor points to attach around your neck and signifies 7 Rock n Rolls in a single year.

Reason #5: The Unexpected. I guess you could say this is a possibility at just about any race but I recommend the Rock n Rolls even when this happens because of their professionalism and experience. We had three unique incidents in the 2010 season but all were handled with grace and understanding. When you put on so many races in a single year you'd think the staff would burn out and crack under the pressure but somehow Competitor always manages to perform like, well, rock show roadies, making it all come together.

Tragedy struck at the finish of Rock n Roll Dallas in the form of an unexpected death right at the finish. A 32-year old former Texas Tech baseball player, completed his first half marathon alongside his brother, then collapsed at the finish and never regained consciousness. The cause, an undiagnosed heart condition that resulted in a fatal attack. While tragedies like these tend to make the news and cause a rise of "experts" calling out the risks of endurance running, these tragedies are exceedingly rare. They are also preventable. Many european marathons and other endurance challenges require participants to have an MRI which can find these heart problems. But thanks to the US health care system, which de-emphasizes preventative care, requiring the same here would be cost prohibitive. If you have this condition, it's not the marathon that will kill you - anything high endurance might. If you are concerned you may be at risk for this problem, get tested. There's no other way to be sure.

Weather is always unpredictable and we got a full reminder of this at the Country Music Marathon where a Tornado curtailed the race. A tornado watch had been in effect for that whole weekend and there was talk on Saturday of potentially canceling the race. Hourly updates were pushed out to racers via e-mail and the web site and while there was no all clear, the forecasts suggested the race could go on. It was clear at the start but got progressively worse as the race went on and finally too bad to continue about 3 hours after the start. When a tornado touched down about a mile from the race course, Competitor and the city of Nashville called the race and started turning participants around. Those that didn't finish certainly were disappointed but the rain came down so hard at 3:30 minutes in that you could barely see five feet in front of you. Competitor made the right decision.

Weather caused a sense of deja vu in the days approaching Rock n Roll Virginia Beach as a hurricane made landfall at the start line. That was Friday, the race was Sunday and thankfully the storm had moved up to Boston by then leaving a gorgeous day and very little damage in its wake. The race went off without a hitch but after Nashville I was running through every contingency plan I could think of.

Transportation can also sometimes ruin your day. One incident happened to us, the other was self-inflicted. At Rock n Roll San Antonio, Competitor touched base with every city service, state agency, and transportation service to make sure the course would be clear, the right roads would be blocked off and that nothing would impede the runners. But sometimes you just can't prevent a train running late that refuses to be even later. About a mile into the race, said freight train pushed over the tracks that crossed the course, causing a 15 minute delay. Competitor, that evening, sent a note to all participants apologizing for the incident and within two days credited every runner affected for the lost time and offering them a discount on another Rock n Roll event, including next year's RnRSA.

There's a reasons race organizers are always harping on you to get to the race start early. Sometime the unexpected happens. That was the case for me at Rock n Roll Denver. I was driving down from Boulder to the start of the race and thought I had given myself enough time, but found this not to be true when I sat in line to park my car at the University for 45 minutes. As the race start grew closer and closer, I made a call to jump the line, head downtown and try my luck with either street parking or a local lot. Neither was successful and with just 5 minutes until the gun went off, I had to ditch my car in a private lot. I then spent 3 1/2 hours running with the added stress of losing my rental car and $350 to a towing service. Not the way to enjoy a marathon at altitude.

Reason #6: The Truly Unique. Another big reason to run Rock n Roll is to have an experience you will never forget. For me, each of these events has one special memory that makes it unique but some are more unique than others.

Best Stand Out: Rock n Roll Las Vegas. What happens here, everyone should hear about. Las Vegas pulls out all the stops. First, they close the strip, which only happens for one other event all year. This means you get to run all the way to old Vegas and the Fremont Street Experience with no cars, no cabs and no vans advertising Girls Direct to You. Second, there's two great fun runs the days before the marathon - the Santa run and the running of the Elvises in which every participant dresses up. Third, is the on-course wedding ceremonies that happen in front of the Venetian Hotel. You'll see some great costumes at this event which is another reasons to run it - heck the best costume might just be yours!

Reason #7: To Be First! While yes, there is a chance you can win a Rock n Roll event - if you happen to be Kenyan, five feet tall, and expert at chasing down wildlife - being first means taking home chotckes from an inaugural event. And you will have at least three chances to do that in 2011. Last year was the first for Rock n Roll Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles. Next year you can be among the first to run Rock n Roll Providence (run it August 7), St. Louis (run it Oct. 23) and Savannah (Nov. 5).

Reason #8: Run for Others. Finally and perhaps the best reason to run a Rock n Roll event is to honor and help others. Each Rock n Roll marathon supports a number of charity groups and nearly always has an official charity for each event. I ran for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society who has a fantastic endurance training program - Team in Training. If you know someone who has suffered from Chrones disease, heart disease, breast cancer or a number of other causes, you will find a program and a Rock n Roll where you can honor them. Raising money and running for others is just as rewarding as the race itself.

Just finishing any half marathon or marathon is an accomplishment to be proud of. So get out there, start training and set your goals for 2011. There's no better way to get in shape, stay that way and stick to a program than to have a data circled on your calendar and a race entry bought and paid for. Having a schedule of events keeps me going and motivated. Let me know if I can help you decide what's next on your schedule.

8 minutes to history: Rock n Roll Las Vegas ends a fantastic season

2010-12-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

It's mile 26 of the Rock n Roll Las Vegas marathon. For the last 12 miles I have been teased, taunted, twisted and denied. But not deterred. My mantra since mile 15 has driven me onwards, "11 more miles to history." For those who haven't been following my running saga this year, history means being the first person to complete every mile of every 2010 Rock n Roll Marathon series event. This collection of marathons and half marathons, put on by Competitor Group has taken me back and forth across the US and the 14th and final event is here in Sin City.
While others have run every event in the series in prior years, and some had run in every event this year, there has never been 14 Rock n Roll events in a single year and none of my Heavy Medal compatriots would run every mile - completing all 8 marathons and 6 halfs.
With every remaining mile I ticked down the distance to the final finish line. But it was feeling more like a cruel death march than a victory lap.
Rock n Roll Las Vegas started with a lot of anticipation and planning. Since much of our running club, SMS, and our local Team in Training group knew about my plans, many had registered for the event and would be running it with me and helping me to celebrate when it was all over. Close to 30 people were expected to come be part of the festivities.
Reesa and I arrived in Vegas the Saturday before the race, dropped our bags at THEhotel, a special tower in the back of Mandalay Bay that is reminiscent of a W Hotel. We then met some friends for breakfast and headed over to the race expo. While the event was being hosted at Mandalay which would serve as the start and finish line, the expo was up the strip at the Sands Convention Center behind the Palazzo Hotel. While inconvenient, I don't think Competitor had much choice as Mandalay's own convention center was over taken by cowboy central. The National Rodeo was in town and a western wear supercenter had moved into Mandalay. This created an interesting juxtiposition of country and western fans and Rock n Roll athletes for the weekend.
At the expo we picked up our race gear as usual then I got a nice surprise at the Competitor Group booth where Kyle, who runs the Heavy Medal program, presented me with a framed gold record commemorating my completion of the 2010 series. That plus a nice jacket and running bag from Brooks completed the prize. Thanks, Kyle, this is going in my office.
That afternoon we chilled in the room then hit the official pasta party which featured appearances by Sarah Rinertson, one of my personal heroes, and the voice of all things excess, Robin Leach.
That evening we walked off the pasta with a tour of City Center before returning to our rooms to dress our chairs, set the alarms and prep for the next day's race.
It doesn't matter how many times I run a marathon, I always have nerves the night before. With all the anticipation of finally being done with this incredible feat, I was feeling it extra strong this night. I woke up pretty much every hour and my dreams in between were filled with projections for the following day. The usual scenes took place: waking up late and running to catch everyone who had already started, working my way up to my corral just as I realized I didn't have my timing strip, not finishing because of injury, and a cavacade of other disasters. When I remembered the dreams upon waking I'd look over at my dressed chair, double-check the alarm on my iPhone and my Timex Ironman watch, then fall back to sleep confident I was prepared.
I finally awoke for the last time at 5:40am, five minutes before my alarm, and got ready.
The corrals at the start were arranged in a U shape. The start line, heading up the strip was followed by corrals 1 through 11. Twelve and 13 were on a curve crossing the strip and just ahead of 14 through 33 which headed down the strip the opposite direction. This made it easy for everyone to walk right up to their corral, that is until they closed the passage through the U. This, of course, happened just as I was making my way to the corrals so I had to run around the complete U to get to corral 2. It served as a nice warm up and killed time before the start. When I got into the corral I met up with Tim, a fellow Heavy Medaler from Canada who was wearing a commemorative bib denoting his status having, with Vegas, compeleted 7 RnRs in a single year.
We didn't have to wait long for the start for just 10 minutes later a Cher impersonator appeared on the deck above the start, in full feathered gown, to do a Vegas rendition of our national anthem. It definitely sounds different in Vegas, especially with the storytelling interlude in the middle of the song. At least she (it was a she, right?) didn't cut to a runner and ask, "Hey, where ya from?"
After we all took our hands from our hearts and replaced our caps the wheel chair start commenced and our corral started moving up. Within minutes we were off.
The first half of RnR Las Vegas is a scenic trip up the famous strip, then up to old Vegas where some of the original hotels dating back to the 1960s are located. We turn around in front of the Fremont Street Experience a covered road that turns into a free light show every night.
What makes this trip up the strip so special is that Vegas closes the road to runners, something they only do twice a year and don't even do on New Year's Eve. As we passed by several of the enormous hotels they had switched their large promotional boards that face the strip to live coverage of the race provided by the KLAS TV 8, the local CBS affiliate. It was quite a treat to see the sea of runners streaming down the road on a 5-story electric billboard.
Two quintessential Vegas traditions were on full display during the race. The first was the constant stream of Elvis Presley impersonators peppered throughout the course. There were several very fast Elvi - I have no idea how they kept from overheating in their spandex suits - and a few back of the packers. All, to a fault, were portraying old, Vegas Elvis, none went for the teen heartthrob version. My favorite was SpongeBob Elvis. Loved the jiggly nose, stapled-on sideburns and cape.
The other Vegas tradition was the running wedding chapel. On the steps of the Venetian Hotel was a run-in altar complete with preacher and corrals for runner and non-runner guests on both the groom and bride sides of the aisle. None from my corral were taking part as I went by but I heard there were between 70 and 90 people who got hitched that day. Classic.
As we left the strip Vegas reminded us why its called Sin City as a proliferance of advertisements for strippers, tatoos, and escorts lined the streets.
After returning down the strip and approaching Mandalay Bay the course split with half marathoners carrying forward to the finish while we broke right and headed away from Mandalay for another 13 miles. Suffice it to say that the first half of this race is the scenic part. Now began the challenge. The second half started with the first "hill" of the day, an overpass crossing Luxor Drive. Off in the distance was the fabulous Red Rock Canyon state park, which would have made a great destination, but no, we would be denied this vista - and the view of the finish line many, many times today. After the first overpass it was time for another, this one crossing the freeway. After a few miles down Hacienda Avenue we turned right for what would feel like a thousand times. At first the miles went by fairly quickly thanks to all the bands on the course as well as the cheerleader squads who were there to pump us up. If you start dragging in one of these events just veer over to a cheer squad to get some high fives. It's instant energy.
I was also kept company by another Heavy Medaler, Nicole, a student at UCLA who was also completing her 7th Rock n Roll of the year. In all, I would see or run with three other heavy medalers including Guitar Girl who also completed 7 events, all while wearing a guitar headdress. Nicole and I traded paces from mile 12 through 18 where her youthful energy separated us.
I got another boost of energy starting around mile 15 where I came across Andre, a colleague from work who was there to cheer me on, Android phone at the ready. The second half of this marathon could be best described as a corkscrew since you basically do a series of out and backs and loops along Hacienda Avenue before eventually returning to the strip for the finish. This turned out to be good planning for spectators like Andre for the corner he chose I ran past four times. I needed his enthusiasm and friendly face at each one.
If you haven't toured Hacienda Avenue, you aren't missing much. Behind Mandalay and on the opposite side of the freeway it doesn't provide much to write home about. The area is filled mostly with industrial complexes, body shops and warehouses. The low-light was Dean Martin Drive which borders the freeway but without a sound wall.
What drove me crazy all these final miles was the torturous teasing. Countless times we turned onto Hacienda Avenue heading towards Mandalay Bay and the finish just to be denied that goal with another right turn down yet another industrial road. Thus the importance of the mantra. Seeing the finish before you is a tease but a false one when the mile marker ahead reads mile 19. Eventually, you know you'll be turning away from the finish so mentally it made more sense to count down the miles than look forward.
At mile 25 we made the final turn back onto Hacienda and faced what you hate to face this close to the finish - a hill. To get back to Mandalay we'd have to cross the last two overpasses to get back to the strip. With the 25 sign behind me, I picked up the pace. With just over a mile left, at my new pace, I was 8 minutes from the finish line - the last version of my mantra.
I was passing people on both sides as I ran up the first overpass' incline and was telling my talkative right hamstring to be quiet, this was almost over. I passed more people on the second and final hill, then picked it up a bit more as I rounded the corner onto the strip. What?! Where's the finish! It was nowhere in site. Was this yet another tease? I did read that last mile marker correctly, right? We were now passing in front of Mandalay Bay and I was beginning to think I had picked it up a little too early. But then the course turnede right, into the Mandalay parking lot and there it was - the finish line. I stepped up the pace once again and started seeing familiar faces and hearing my name. I waved to the crowd, my wife Reesa, her best friend Brooke, SMSers Stephanie, Randy, Kari and Regina as I started to sprint. I then thrust my fist in the air as I crossed under the banner. Three hours and 34 minutes later and it was over.
Twelve months earlier this crazy quest had started on a desert road in Arizona. Now, 288.2 miles later complete. What a relief. What a feeling.
I shook hands with Tim, Nicole and several other runners in the finisher's corral, then made my way over to the Give Your Sole booth. This great charity collects lightly-used running shoes for children in Africa and poor countries. I had already given them 3 pairs and with two marathons and two halfs and two 10Ks on these, they were ready to serve another.
With flip flops soothing my sore feet it was time to dance.
I met up with family and friends in front of the stage where the day's winners were crowned and onto the stage came Bret Michaels. And he put on a hell of a show. The former Poison front man pulled out the classics including Talk Dirty to Me, Look What the Cat Dragged In, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Unskinny Bop which had us swinging and singing. What pain?
That evening we celebrated.
An incredible year - complete.
My great, great thanks to everyone who supported me throughout this endeavor. I really could not have done it without you. Together we raised nearly $12,000 for the fight against blood cancers and raised the awareness of this worth cause.
This season's accomplishments were run in honor of those dealing with this crippling disease.
Father Mason of Haverhill, MA, Kristen, Jim, Doug, Betsy, and all the rest of my honorees, this was for you.

Hi my name is James and I’m a run-a-holic

2010-11-23T12:39:00.001-08:00

How do I know this? I proved it early this morning. I had gone to bed at the normal hour after a productive but not too stressful day. But around 3:30 in the morning I awoke to the playful growling of my cairn terrier, Scout. He needed out and must have subtly been trying to wake me for quite a while because by the time I got him downstairs he went immediately. Twenty minutes later I was back in bed staring at the ceiling unable to get back to sleep. And off my mind went, racing through my to-do list for the following day. It also took time to wonder, “hey, why am I wasting time in bed right now, knowing I’ll never get back to sleep?”

My mind does this every once in a while; usually around 4 in the morning. Don’t ask me why. As usual, the urge to get out of bed was winning. It’s very persuasive. While the rational part of my brain was trying to get to sleep while organizing the action items for the next day, the irrational part was scheming. It likes to play “what if” with the rational part of me. I’m not supposed to be running hills right now as I still have a twinge in my quad, a recovering IT band and weak hamstrings. And it’s less than two weeks until the final Rock n Roll Marathon of the year in Las Vegas. My rational priorities are recovery and preparation for that event – and the prep is mostly easy, flat runs.

But the irrational part of my brain knows my weaknesses are hills and the unknown. And it prays on these weaknesses. Living in the San Carlos hills I’m surrounded by awesome hill running. My all time favorite is Water Dog Park and it’s up the road to the North. South is Edgewood Park with its glorious views and awesome roundabout trails. South and west are Pulgas Ridge, Canada Road and at the end of Edgewood Road a fire road I’m dying to try, that heads up the hills to Skyline Road.

It didn’t use any of these to tempt me this morning. Instead it said, “Look, I know you don’t want to do any hills so what if we just run along the Crestview ridge. We’ll take it down to Hallmark, turn onto Ralston and then we can go to Sawyer Camp and watch the sun rise. Awesome, huh?!”

The rational side was intrigued. We have run Sawyer Camp many times and it’s a fantastic destination but we had never run to Sawyer from home. It’s mostly flat and I love running in the early morning before the sun is up. The quiet neighborhoods, the occasional deer wandering the streets and the beautiful city lights make for a tremendous setting. Plus Scout and Annie were sleeping hard and wouldn’t be bugging me to go out until 6:30 or so. Ok, I’m in.

So I quietly stepped into our closet, pulled out some fall-appropriate running gear: Adidas running pants, Nike running shorts and technical shirt and socks and tip toed out of the bedroom. When I got downstairs, I listened to hear if I had disturbed anyone’s sleep and all was quiet. I hit the hall closet for a running jacket, Under Armor knit running beanie, disposable running gloves and my trusty Mizuno Wave Musha 2 running shoes. I strapped on my iPod and was about to head out the door when my wife’s voice entered my head. The much more rational half of our family had only one recommendation for me after my last 4am run -- perhaps I should wear a reflective vest if I’m going to run in the dark? So I took my hand off the doorknob and went to the garage to dig out a reflective vest from the box containing all our gear for The Relay (next one is April 30^th. Who’s in?).

All gear on, I tapped the iPod wheel and guided it to the Ultramarathon Man audiobook and we were off. I had been listening to Dean Karnazes’ book, off and on, for a few months now and didn’t have too much left. As I left our cul de sac, Dean was approaching the South Pole to complete his marathon in Antartica. His mask had frozen solid, his cheeks and nose were beginning to show signs of frostbite and his shoes were sinking in the snow. But off in the distance was a red and white striped barber pole marking the bottom of the Earth. He spent a month waiting for the right conditions to do this to his body. I know what you are thinking. No, I’m not that crazy. Addicted but still sane.

Anyways, Dean had recovered from his frostbite and was preparing for his next great challenge, to run The Relay by himself when I hit the end of Hallmark Road in Belmont. I turned onto Ralston and was amazed at its lack of traffic, the calm stillness around me, and the fact that it was still very dark. Streetlights were plentiful though, so I could see where I was going. I headed north toward San Mateo and Sawyer Camp. As I crossed over Highway 92 I looked up to my left and saw the county buildings that lie just up the hill from here and realized I had never been up there, and was curious. So I ran up the road to where they were and found a nice piece of architecture. I now know why I hadn’t ever been up there because I hadn’t the need (and I hope I never do) to visit the county court and lock up. There’s a youth camp and a separate camp for girls up there too, along with the elections office and a motor pool but I don’t need those services either.

Still it was fun to see something new and the main county building is beautifully designed. I was surprised, though, to see cars parked in the visitor spots at this hour. There were a lot of cars here overall, but visitors? I started thinking that maybe people drove to court and it didn’t go so well. Let’s get out of here.

I returned to Polhemus Road and started toward the Crystal Springs Shopping Center and two things occurred to me. First, it was still very early. Sunrise wasn’t for another two hours and if I ran to Sawyer Camp I’d have to hang around a long time to see the sunrise. And they really don’t want you in there before sunrise and Crystal Springs Road doesn’t have the widest shoulders, nor any streetlights. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Second, I had passed a road on the right as I went down Polhemus that I hadn’t been down before and wondered where it went. Come to think of it, I had driven up De Anza road, which goes from the shopping center to Highway 92 but never continued up the road past the freeway. I wonder if these two roads are connected? Let’s find out.

So up De Anza I ran. As I passed the shopping center, Dean was in Marin about 40 miles into The Relay and feeling good. He was being chased by his family in a rented RV. This is how I remember him from The Relay the first year I ran it. In the audiobook I was listening to, he was running it for the first time. The year I ran into him, he had tacked on a few more miles. That year he ran from his house in Marin to Calistoga then ran the whole 199 miles. I passed him that year as we were both struggling up highway 9. For me it was the last of my three legs and I was trucking up the hill. He was, understandably, struggling as it was about mile 214 for him. Dean: crazy. Me: I know what crazy looks like and that’s not me.

I crossed under highway 92 and kept on De Anza charting new territory. I always get this excited feeling when I hit a trail or road I’ve never been on because it’s a new experience and kind of a thrill not knowing where you are. Granted I’ve lived on the San Francisco peninsula for over 15 years so it’s not like I was going to get lost but I really didn’t know if this road would lead me back to Polhemus, then to Ralston. But I was eager to find out.

In the darkness lit only by the occasional streetlight and the city lights bouncing off the cloud cover, the hill was climbing in the correct direction. I started to pick up the pace a bit when it began to rain. It was a light misting and felt good as I was beginning to regret the running jacket, and the beanie was starting to get warm. I’d be glad I brought them about 10 minutes later though when the skies opened up on me.

This happened at an appropriately biblical moment, I thought, as when the rain came pouring down, De Anza had turned into Glendora and come to stop at the Laurelwood Shopping Center. This was definitely not taking me back to Ralston. I was now deep in the heart of San Mateo. Glendora crossed Hillsdale Road. One way would take me to the College of San Mateo where our Team in Training group sometimes works out. The other way wound down towards the mall, and that way I knew how to get home. But it would be a much longer and hillier run than I had planned for. And down came the rain.

I was feeling good this morning and had no choice but to run on. Dean was in San Francisco now, running past a guy dressed to the nines who was walking along the relay path at around 2am. Both were surprised to see each other. The dandy was covered in lipstick and was ending his night. The other was covered in sweat, carrying a bottle of Pedialyte and was more than 24 hours into his run. I looked at my watch – 5:50am. How long was this run going to be?

Running along Hillsdale during the day is a treat, as it’s a long climb with pretty homes lining it on both sides. I was thankfully going down it and in the pale, rainy dawn it looked very peaceful and welcoming. I ran past Laurelwood Park and across a few streets heading West wondering if any of them would take me back to the west end of Ralston which would be an easier way home than what lay before me. I decided to try my luck at Laurel Creek Road but it dead-ended. Rather than run back to Hillsdale I turned and took Fernwood. It was heading roughly the same direction as Hillsdale and I hadn’t run along it before. New. Exciting. Lost.

My instinct was a good one as Fernwood ran into Alameda de las Pulgas taking a few feet off where Hillsdale would have put me. I started up the Alameda when a sinking feeling came over me.

It wasn’t an emotional response to fear or doubt. No, it was a feeling that my running pants were sinking past my waist. I hadn’t chosen the best gear for pouring down rain and now the Adidas pants were weighed down with water. I stopped and redid the drawstring to keep them at my waist and ran on. As I adjusted, I realized that the running jacket I chose wasn’t a rain jacket either and the cold droplets was seeping into me from every direction. The beanie was double-lined and was keeping me dry and warm which was great. I pulled off my soaked gloves, stuffed them in my pockets just as I crested a street corner and dove my running shoes into a large puddle that had newly formed. Great. It was too dark to see it coming and dodge around it. Now my feet, too, were soaked.

Alameda at this point starts a slow climb into Belmont. I’d run this stretch before and biked it during the annual Tour de Peninsula so I knew the way. I tried to stay on the sidewalks but they came and went as I ran. Sometimes they were there along the right side, then ended, then started again on the left. I didn’t feel like playing rabbit and crossing the road unnecessarily so I stuck to what Coach Terry had taught me – run at traffic. This way if they don’t seem to see you, you certainly see them and can take action to get out of the way. Run with traffic and you risk a blow to the back that ends your day quick.

Alameda emerged at Ralston and as I waited for the walk signal I checked my watch. It was 6:30am. The sky was beginning to turn light grey as the day began. Scout and Annie would be up and wandering around the bedroom about now. I better get a move on.

I crossed Ralston and had two choices: climb it back up to Hallmark Drive and go home the way I came, or go straight and face the trek up Club Drive to home. Club is notorious as it’s a long steady, steep climb to Crestview. I’ve come to view it as a fitness test: make it all the way to the top without stopping and I’m ready for my next marathon. I hate running the same way twice, so I opted for Club. Bring on the fitness test.

As I started up Club I was feeling good. The heart was pounding a bit more and my lungs were filling. Dean, by this time was about 40 miles from the finish and was ascending highway 9. My brain immediately jumped to that fateful day in 2003 when he and I were ascending the same stretch. As Dean climbed 9, I climbed Club. Two runners; side by side.

He was downing Pedialyte and peanut butter and honey sandwiches like there was a run on the adolescent ward kitchen and his legs were only mustering a slow shuffle, he revealed. I was feeling strong, just as I had in 2003 but neither of us felt like looking up the hill any further than a few feet in front of us.

As Club crossed Witheridge Road, Dean and I were neck and neck. I was tiring from the endless hill and he, since he was writing in the past tense and thus skipping the boring stuff, was nearing the top of his. Poppy Lane went by and took with it most of my remaining strength. I slowed to a walk. I needed about 30 seconds of recovery time, then ran on to the top of the hill. When I reached Crestview I felt elated as it was nearly 7am and I was less than a mile from home. Dean crossed the finish line in Santa Cruz as I did the same. I stretched a bit reflecting on a great, but unexpectedly long run. The rain had stopped as I was climbing Club and it was shaping up to be a beautiful morning.

The run turned out be to just shy of a half marathon – 12.7 miles. If you care to repeat my adventure, you can find the route here. Who needs sleep when you can have an experience like this to start your day?

See y’all at the Turkey Trot.

Train! No really…train! Runnus Interruptus in San Antonio

2010-11-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

Another milestone is down – Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon, event number 13 for the year, is in the books leaving just a single marathon left between me and history. My quest to run every mile of every 2010 Rock n Roll event in a single year will close December 5th in Las Vegas. Can’t wait. But don’t think I haven’t savored every moment along the way. And San Antonio was certainly no exception.

Reesa and I arrived in San Antonio on Friday afternoon, hit the expo, dropped our bags at the fabulous Omni la Mansion del Rio hotel and headed down to the second-most famous spot in San Antonio – the Riverwalk. The Alamo is certainly destination number one but we had both toured it during our last trip to town. If you go, be sure and look through the rolls of names of those who served in the Alamo and fought the famous battle that led to Texas independence. Yes, Texas was a country before a state and there isn’t a Texan alive who isn’t quick to tell this story. If you find yourself looking through the names, look for my namesake, James Burleson Staten. You’ll find him there and yes, we’re related. I can’t say I’m a descendant of his, though, as he died at the Alamo and left no children.

Reesa and I rushed down to the Riverwalk for only one purpose. The greatest Mexican dessert in the world and we knew at least two places on the river had ‘em – Sopapillas. If you haven’t had these, think Beignets like they serve in New Orleans but larger. And if you get them authentic they aren’t covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon or whipped cream. Nor do they come with ice cream. Real sopapillas are plain puffed dough served with a side of honey. You tear a corner off and pour in the honey, then roll it around so it coats all the sides. Heaven.
After this was the first pre-race concert of the series featuring Rick Springfield. Being 40-something this was a real treat as the now 61 year old Springfield (shocker!) put on a great, high energy show. With the exception of a few wrinkles he still looks like the 30-something heartthrob Reesa and I remembered from our youth in the 80s. The best part was when he came out into the crowd and basically worked is way over the chairs and around the whole orchestra section. Several women in our age group descended into teen-hood following around the rock star breathlessly.

Day two was a reunion of sorts as Michael Mathis, a founding member of SMS, had moved a few years ago to Austin, Texas and works just 40 minutes from San Antonio in San Marcos. We met him for breakfast and truly enjoyed catching up. We miss you Michael and are very happy for your success.

After that we stayed in San Marcos to hit the fantastic Premium Outlets there. This one has stores you can’t find at the usual outlet mall such as Michael Kors, Ferla, Ed Hardy, Kate Spade and a ton of other designers. Retail therapy for Reesa and myself.

That evening we hit another fabulous TexMex place along the river where I had fantastic veggie tacos, a perfect meal to prepare me for the following morning’s run.

Staying at the Omni was a great decision for this event as I got up about 30 minutes before the race start and walked five minutes to the start. I had packed running gear for a variety of situations as the forecast mid week called for thundershowers on Sunday. Turned out the luck of Competitor Group carried forward yet again as the rain slipped off to Sunday night giving us a fantastic running morning. It was overcast, cool and low humidity at the start and stayed that way throughout the race.

We took off at 7:15 am and looped through town past all the historic streets, past the Alamo and over several Riverwalk entrances. Riverwalk snakes throughout downtown but is too narrow for a marathon. Be sure to visit this great attraction if you come to town. It has a little something for everyone: quiet romantic walks with waterfalls, high class restaurants, trendy nightclubs and raucous margarita bars.

At about mile 1 we crossed over a railroad crossing just as its safety bars began to flash and lower across the road. We weren’t sure if this was really happening during a marathon until I got to the middle of the tracks, looked left and stared right into the oncoming lights of a freight train – and it wasn’t inclined to stop for us. And it didn’t. Those running just behind me had to stop and wait for it to pass. And this took about 5 minutes as it was a long train.

The first half of this run was well constructed as it wove through downtown, then out to a neighborhood, then back through downtown giving spectators several chances to see their loved ones. And there was a perfect picture spot where you could shoot runners as they past right in front of the Alamo. One neighborhood in particular was along King William Street. Every other home was an historic Texas estate. Sadly every other home was either in disrepair or for sale (or both). Shows that while Texas is faring well in the recession not all of Texas is handling it the same.

At the split where full marathoners headed out we were sent toward the Mission District, where San Antonio has a string of famous catholic missions. I had been told that this was not very scenic and a bit boring but I have to disagree. The course ran along parks most of the way and crossed the Guadalupe River a few times. At one point, though we ran along the San Jose Burial Park. While beautiful it was a bit morbid. And thankfully I was feeling good at the time and didn’t feel its lure.

The second half was essential a lions tail – out and back with a loop at the end which gave several chances to cheer on your compatriots and to see the elite runners heading toward the finish.
If there was anything lacking along the way, it was a dearth of good bands. Although the rockers at mile 15 took the cake; their lead singer sounded just like Nickelback.

I’ve written earlier about my ongoing injury issues so I thought I’d let you know how the race went along this aspect because I was sincerely worried a week prior. Coming off Rock n Roll Denver, I was still dealing with a sore quad and IT band. I rehabbed through the week but Rock n Roll LA with its net downhill course and occasional ups took its toll. After the race, stretching was agony; especially the quadriceps. With three weeks to prepare for Rock n Roll San Antonio I decided to forgo running entirely concentrate on getting well. But the pain below the knee caused by the quad and IT band kept recurring. I took my foam roller with me on a couple business trips and became religious in its worship. I was walking my dogs, using Reesa’s elliptical machine and stretching every day. But each time I would workout hard it would come back.

In Rock n Roll San Antonio my quad spoke up whenever there was a hill. And when I say hill, I don’t mean San Francisco-style hills. I mean little gradual ups as there really weren’t any worse than that in San Antonio. But they were enough to tax my sore body. Around mile 4 was the worst. My quad, knee and IT band didn’t want to shut up. But eventually they did and I settled into a comfortable 8 min/mi pace, which I held nearly the entire race. After the run, I wrapped my legs in Skins compression tights and used my arms on every stair. Lots of stretching got me back to normal – injured normal that is.

So for the next three weeks I’ll try a similar rehab program: little running, lots of cross-training and lots of foam roller and stretching. The only runs on the schedule are the Applied Materials Turkey Trot in San Jose and the Run Wild in San Francisco. These are on the schedule so I can rack up miles on the New Balance Movement Challenge. I’m in the top ten on their board now and am pushing to win it all as it adds another $25,000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, bringing our grand total for funds raised in 2010 to over $35,000. Thanks so much for your support, encouragement and friendship throughout this crazy quest.

See you in Vegas!!

What better place to be a VIP than LA

2010-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

The gauntlet of half marathons is over and I’m just two events away from my goal of being the first person to complete the entire 2010 Rock n Roll Marathon Series. The final half marathon was a special one for me thanks to San Francisco 49er great Roger Craig and fantastic Southern California fall weather.

After finishing the Rock n Roll Denver marathon I had just six days to prepare for Rock n Roll Los Angeles and my legs weren’t too thrilled with this news. I’ve been nursing sore quadriceps and an IT band for several weeks and they could have used a bit more rest. I took it easy on them that week choosing short hikes with my dog Scout and brief recovery runs over the usual push before an event. And it paid off.

At a Forrester Research conference, the week prior, I had run into a client who works at the same company as Roger Craig who said that the hall of fame running back had access to VIP passes for this upcoming race and could hook me up. He came through midweek when I got an e-mail from Roger confirming this news.

I had seen the VIP tents and roped off areas at prior Rock n Roll events but had not partaken myself. Guess I wasn’t worthy. I was certainly curious about what special treatment Competitor Group provided to the elite runners, celebrities and other important people it invited into these areas and would find out for myself in four days.

The weekend started early Saturday morning when Reesa and I flew down, picked up our rental car and immediately got nostalgic. We both had earned our Master’s degrees from USC and met in a class our first year. And had lived for a short while in Manhattan Beach so made that our first destination. It was only around 9am when we arrived so we stopped into an MB institution, The Kettle, for pancakes and omelets. We then walked down to the pier and along the strand as surfing and beach volleyball got underway as they do nearly every day in this fantastic community.

That afternoon we hit a few other LA hot spots, the marathon expo and then took a long nap. It felt good to get off my feet and rest up for the next day’s race. That evening we headed down to West Hollywood for a fantastic vegetarian meal at Hugo’s on Santa Monica Boulevard. Even if you aren’t a veggie, this place is worth visiting. Creative dishes mixing genres and flavors are their specialty. After the dinner we walked down to Barney’s Beanery, another local institution to watch the final game between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. In a dramatic 9^th inning duel, SF’s Brian Wilson put the tying an go-ahead runs on base before striking out the final batter and sending the Giants to their first World Series since 2002. In typical LA fashion the bar grew silent as the umpire signaled the final out. Dodger fans can’t stand the Giants.

We returned to the hotel on a major high, which made turning in early before the race, a bit of a challenge. Plus all that great food from Hugo’s was making us both feel like stuffed ticks (great image, huh?). I don’t know why it is but no matter the race, I can never sleep the night before. I awoke at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5:24am that morning – six minutes before my alarm. While the race didn’t start until 7:30am, we had to board a bus from downtown to Griffith Park where the race would start an you never know how difficult it will be to get to the start with over 12,000 people going to the same place.

This was the second Rock n Roll event that bused us to the start and as before, Competitor was very much up to the challenge. I got to the corner of Chick Hearn Court and Cherry Street and there were buses lined up four across and ten deep awaiting runners. I got on immediately, the bus quickly filled and we were off. Thirty minutes later we were at the starting corrals. Great organization.

Since I had 90 minutes to burn before the start of the race, I slowly made my way towards the VIP area in hopes of relaxing a bit and maybe getting some coffee. When I arrived and showed my pass I found a nice spread of fruit, bagels, coffee an other drinks awaiting us. And to the right of the food sat Roger. I had seen him at Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon and being a rabid football fan, certainly knew what he looked like. So I walked up confidently, introduced myself and thanked him for the hookup. He couldn’t have been a nicer person. He introduced me to two of his children who were also running in the event – their first half marathons – and took me around to meet others including the president of Competitor Group, as if I were an honored dignitary. Thanks, Roger. I will never forget your incredible hospitality.

The other benefit of being a VIP, in LA especially, is being in the same area as the celebrity runners. Having worked in LA and been around actors and other celebrities before I’m not typically one to get start struck but it was nice seeing Jennifer Love Hewitt, James Mardsen and Jerry O’Connell among the star runners. I’m a big fan of O’Connell’s new drama series on CBS, The Defenders, and told him so. I ran along side Jerry for a short while during mile two; it was his first half marathon and I think he went out a bit fast as I didn’t see him again after that. In the running world there are few celebrities more exciting to see than Deena Kastor and she was here, too.

I started the race along side fellow Heavy Medaler Adam Ricklefs. He too was coming off Rock n Roll Denver and so we both viewed this as a recovery run.

About mile 5 I started feeling really strong and left Adam as I picked up the pace. I had done an 8:15 min/mi pace for the first mile or so – part of the recovery run mentality – but felt up to a bit more after loosening the leg muscles.

The course was a net downhill run from Griffith Park, where the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory make their home, down through a few nice LA neighborhoods, along the Sunset strip and into downtown where the race finished in front of the Staple Center, the home of the LA Lakers.

Much of the course was new territory for me, which made it engaging to visit. The Silver Lake district and Echo Park had some nice parks and interestingly architectured homes. There were a few uphill sections along the way which suit me well and helped me to pass several runners who were unaccustomed. With each mile I felt stronger and upped the pace a bit as I progressed. When we hit mile 10 I was doing under 8 min/mi. This turned out to be the first reverse split half marathon of my career, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever achieve. It was an incredible feeling.

I crossed the line at 1:35, stretched my aching muscles, hugged Reesa (who was a little reluctant due to how sweaty I was – can’t blame her), showered then went down to the VIP tent to greet the other finishers. It was at the finish that VIP status took on its meaning. Competitor laid out a fantastic spread. There were organic breakfast burritos for the early finishers, followed by a fantastic lunch with salad, sliders, pasta and fresh fruit plus beer and wine. Nice.

We closed the day by heading over to the outdoor stage where Neon Trees put on an incredible, high energy show. I knew the band only from their biggest hit, Animal but was blown away by some of their other songs. Lead singer, Tyler Glenn was an adrenaline-filled force on stage – at 10:30am, no less!

Thanks Competitor Group for yet another fantastic experience.

Onward to event number 13 – Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon.

Rock n Roll Denver Marathon – Please don’t tow my rental car!

2010-10-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

The 11^th Rock n Roll event of the year is in the bag but it didn’t come without a little added stress – all my fault and all rather dumb moves. But I learned something positive through all this so I guess it was worth it.

As the weekend approached I had some trepidation. After (ok, a bit before) the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon, I had developed an overuse injury. It wasn’t a bad one, it was soreness in my right quad and IT band. I was foam rolling both more than usual, stretching religiously and hoping this effort would let me keep up my normal running routine. It had to. I was nearing the end of the late summer Rock n Roll gauntlet – an event every two weeks that started with Rock n Roll Chicago. Most were halfs with Denver being the sole exception and the gauntlet would end with Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon a mere week after Denver. So I couldn’t afford to get injured. But with that brutal training schedule it wouldn’t come as a big surprise.

As noted in my race report from San Jose, the injury didn’t affect me in that event, in fact, I felt great the whole way through, including the extra 10 or so miles of coaching that immediately followed. But by the Tuesday after this race, soreness in both muscles had returned. I kept at the recovery routine and, since I was now officially in taper for Denver, I pulled back on the running. But by the weekend run between San Jose and Denver, the pain was back. I quickly called in the big guns – Sports Medicine Institute in Palo Alto for a sports massage and an assessment of the injury. Of course, I was only looking for one answer: “yes, you can run Denver with this injury. It’s minor.” And no, I didn’t bias the therapist (not too much) by prefacing my massage with the need to run Denver.

Thankfully, Victor, was able to determine that the soreness wasn’t major and his healing hands were able to get it back into shape. That and a short session in the SMI ice tank – something to be feared and embraced.

After Victor’s work, I took most of the next week off from running. I had already done the miles and a last push wouldn’t buy me much anyways. Friday I flew into Denver and after a day of client meetings went for an altitude-adjustment run. The first mile or two were brutal. I couldn’t get enough air to my lungs or muscles, it seemed. But as the miles came, so did the oxygen and by 45 minutes in I was feeling great. Well, at least in terms of breathing. My IT band and quad were another story. They kept talking to me through most of the run. Not much more than a twinge to say hello, though; no warning bells, tearing or lightning bolts of pain. And I was really enjoying a gorgeous day in Denver and some great tunes, so I ran on.

That night, however, my quad was more than saying hello. I had flown to Denver without my foam roller and Victor certainly wasn’t available. I was staying with my great friends Steve and Michelle who had a fabulous converted basement that was a Shangri-la of an apartment. I searched the space looking for something that could substitute for my foam roller. Nothing seemed close. I popped open the fridge and found little there either except for a can of Sprite Zero. Hmm. I wonder?

I found an open section of carpet, laid the can on its side and tested it to see if it would hold my weight first, then began rolling. Bingo. While it was harder than my foam roller it gave me a very nice self-massage and the coldness of the can felt great. Instant relief.

The following day I repeated this routine in the morning and to ensure I was fully used to the altitude we went on a short 4-6 mile hike through the mountains behind Boulder. It wasn’t a poles-and-hiking boots jaunt, just an easy hike – I did it in flip flops. Afterward my IT band and quad were back to their chattiness so I reached for the Sprite once again.

During dinner that night, though, both muscles were unhappy and more than happy to tell me so. I Sprite-rolled extra that night and went to bed hoping they would cooperate for the marathon. What choice did I have?

That night, I dressed my chair as usual and planned out the morning, working backward from the 6:55am start. I gave myself 30 minutes for the drive from Lafayette to Denver, 20 minutes to park and 30 minutes to get to my corral, do a few dynamic stretches and be ready for the gun.

I had made a few changes to my plan for this marathon. The first was that I planned to do the event in a different pair of shorts than usual. I normally run my marathons in New Balance or Asics shorts that have two large pockets on the front where I can store my 4-5 PowerGels, some money and my ID. But sometimes the gels bounce around a bit too much and get uncomfortable against my legs. Plus sometimes when I reach into the pocket while running to pull out a gel I get paranoid my ID will fall out. So this time I decided to try a pair of Nike shorts that had a zippered pocket in the back and a small Velcro-sealing pocket on the side that was roomy enough for 3-4 gels. I had also bought a running case for my iPhone 4 and decided to try running with it for the first time. The last couple marathons, I had felt I could have used a bit more constant music during the last 8 miles or so, which can be a slog.

The morning of the race, I was up at 5:20am, washed, applied sunscreen and BodyGlide, hit the Sprite-roller one more time and was out the door at the planned time. The drive to Denver was also exactly as planned leaving ample time to get parked at Metro State and head over to my corral. That was when the backup hit. I got off the highway at Colfax Street and slowly inched over the freeway, a distance of no more than 0.3 miles in 15 minutes. And I had another mile or so to go. This wasn’t good. I saw a few cars cutting over to the right lane to bypass the traffic going into Metro State and chose to join them and try my luck on the Denver streets outside the race closure zone. Street after street had no parallel spots left. I passed two pay lots that were full and began to get a little more stressed. It was 20 minutes to the start of the race and I was still looking for parking. I tried another street, again no parallel spots but two large lots and very few cars. I pulled in after a couple other cars feeling I had found a hidden gem. I got out, went to the pay station and saw, “Reserved Parking. No Public Parking.”

10 minutes to the start and I was running out of options. The folks in the cars in front of me shrugged their shoulders, locked their cars and started for the race corrals. I looked around, next to our lot was a pay lot and it appeared to have a few spots left but then I saw a line 20 deep of runners waiting to pay for their spot. I was in corral 3 and would never make it. I decided to do as those before me had – I shrugged my shoulders and started towards the race corrals. I did lock the car, right?

I got into the corral as the national anthem was being sung and felt my stress level start to rise. Oh no. What if they towed my rental car while I was running the marathon. I had left my wallet in the car (hidden; as was Reesa’s iPad) with my credit cards and ATM card in it. If they towed my car I knew Reesa could get the money necessary to get it out of the pokey but would we have time? We both had flights home that left around 4pm meaning we had to get to the airport by 2pm. I immediately felt my stress level jump another level. I contemplated rushing out of the corral, moving my car and hoping I could jump back into the race with the last corrals and weave my way back up to my pace group. But by then the national anthem was over and the announcer was counting down the start for corral 1. I’d be on the course in less than 3 minutes. Oh well. I reset the chronograph on my watch, moved forward with my corral and crossed over the start line with just one thought, “Man, I hope they don’t tow my car.”

The first mile added to my stress even more because the side pocket of my shorts, weighed down with four gels was bouncing around uncomfortably and the iPhone on my arm was bouncing up and down my bicep in an alternate rhythm. Oh great.

But I quickly forgot about both as the course unfolded. It was a gorgeous morning in Denver. Not a cloud in the sky and the pre-dawn temperature, mid-50s, was perfect. We started out in Civic Center Park and quickly weaved our way through downtown Denver which has some great neighborhoods, eclectic eateries and a mix of modern and rustic buildings and condos. By the time we passed Coors Field where the Colorado Rockies baseball team plays I was immersed in my music and feeling good. So far no word from my quad or IT band and the bouncing on my left and right had settled into something I could get used to.

I held a consistent 8 min/mile pace through the first half and felt good the whole way. I usually eat a gel every 40 minutes which helped lighten the load in my side pocket a bit, but they were a pain to get out as I couldn’t open the Velcro pocket with one hand. I hate to stop when I’m running. Competitor Group served Gu Energy Gels on the course and just as my second gel time came up, there were volunteers holding out a gel. Sweet. This happened nearly right on my 40 minute interval at mile 20 as well.

I finished the first half at 1:45 and had good energy which helped me hold the 8 min/mile pace the rest of the way. The course wound through some great older neighborhoods of Denver, in and out of each city park and out and back a few times so you could see the runners ahead and behind you. The occasional cheerleader group helps supply some needed energy as well as the spectators who saw my name on my shirt and gave me a special cheer. Thanks!

By mile 20 neither my quad nor my IT had said a word, the sun had broken fully above the course and the heat began to rise into the 60s. I welcomed this change because my right hand wasn’t responding well to the morning chill. It was numb most of the way and a bit unresponsive. I had never had trouble squeezing gel from a gel pack before but found it rather difficult with my cold hand. Hope that isn’t a circulatory problem, but being in my 40s, it wouldn’t surprise me.

By mile 22 the bouncing iPhone had become a bit too loose on my arm and I had to stop and adjust the strap. I normally hate to stop because getting started again is tough but no problem in this race. I jumped quickly back up to my pace and rejoined the runners I had been shadowing. The 3:30 pace runner went by but I didn’t let that stress me out – I wasn’t shooting for a PR today. I just wanted to survive this toughest challenge of the Rock n Roll gauntlet.

As mile 23 came along my stress about the rental car returned. Oh no, it was past 10 am and I’m sure the tow truck was up and making its rounds. I swear the stress of this was pushing me during these normally very tough miles. By mile 25 I was plotting how fast I could get from the finisher’s chute to the parking lot to see if my fears had indeed been fulfilled.

Reesa, Steve and Michelle were at the turn at mile 26. I gave them a high five, entered the chute and was all about saving the car. I picked up a bottle of water and some apple slices but immediately left the chute, told my friends what I had done and led them quickly to the lot. Please be there. Please, please please be there.

It took a while to work our way around the finisher’s area and walk the mile or so to the lot and as we turned the corner there it was. Whew. I dropped my Amphipod running bottle, pulled off my Mizuno Wave Mushas, slipped into some flip flops and immediately moved the car to a legal space.

Now I could finally relax. We headed back to the finisher area to see the headliner band, Semisonic. They put on a good show as I stretched and regained my breath. My stress level returned to normal in time to hit a local British brew pub, Pints Pub, for my traditional victory dance. They didn’t have Guinness but did have a nice Irish stout that was a very close second.

Back to Steve and Michelle’s a shower a bit more Sprite-rolling, pizza and relaxation. Now that’s the way to celebrate the completion of number 11.

Thanks to everyone who gave a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in September and October. Thanks to you we crossed the $10,000 mark this week! This was a big milestone for me but I’m not stopping there. There’s still time to give, so please make a donation today if you can.

Next weekend is Rock n Roll number 12 and the last of the half marathons – Rock n Roll Los Angeles. I’m looking forward to this as a recovery run as just three weeks later is Rock n Roll San Antonio, the seventh full marathon of the series. Look for more race reports as I move closer to the final goal.

And San Jose makes 10

2010-10-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

There's something special about running in front of your hometown crowd and the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon was a special day for all. Personally it was a great run and put me into double-digits for the Competitor.com Rock n Roll Marathon Series. But it was also an official Team in Training (TNT) event for our summer season which meant I had the opportunity, after completing the event myself, to help our many participants cross the line - many for the very first time.

I have been a coach for TNT since 2007 and I keep coming back because there is no greater feeling than helping someone who has never completed an endurance event - some not even a single mile - grow into marathoners and half marathoners. It is always a special day for them and for us on the coaching staff. And we had nearly 30 people cross the line for the first time that day.It's also extra special knowing that collectively our participants helped raise over $150,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The week prior to the event the San Francisco Bay Area was experiencing its Indian summer and San Jose was hitting temperatures in the 90s each day. The Sunday before the race, was 98 degrees and we were starting to worry about how the heat would affect our participants. Our final TNT training run along the Los Gatos Creek Trail gave us a taste of what the event might be like as it sapped the energy of nearly every runner - myself included. Thankfully everyone made it through the day without incident.

However, as the week wore on, the mild sumer that we've had all year slowly crept back in and by midweek a cooling trend was sending forecasts for race day Sunday down into the 80s. Sunday morning turned out to be mid 60s at the start and highs in the mid 70s. And since nearly everyone was off the course by 11:30am, no one felt much heat the entire way.

There were approximately 12,000 runners at the start line. I was granted a spot in corral 1 with the elites running the event, including Olympic Silver medalist Meb Keflezighi who won by a huge margin that day. There's good and bad when you are in the first corral. The good is not having to weave through a horde of runners to get to a comfortable pace and being out in front which is a good feeling. The bad is that you can easily get caught up in the excitement of the first corral and take off too fast, burn through your energy and be left with nothing for the final miles. Thankfully I had already done that in my running career and so knew to avoid that temptation.

The San Jose course was flat, fast and for the most part ran through some very beautiful neighborhoods. We had clear skies the whole way and a light breeze in some neighborhoods. The bands, spread out approximately every mile, were playing inspired, upbeat classics and cheerleader groups from the local schools were well spaced along the course to give you that extra boost when you needed it. They had a new inspiration tactic I hadn't seen on the earlier Rock n Roll events - the cheerleader tunnel. The first group to do this was Los Gatos High School's cheerleaders who at around mile 5 lined up on opposite sides of a narrow section of the course, wide enough for 1-2 runners abreast to go through. With cheerleaders on both sides of this narrow passage a runner could get high fives on both hands as they ran. I couldn't pass this up and for good reason - as it totally pumped me up and I flew through that section of the course.

This technique was a real boost to Kristi, one of our first time half marathoners who at mile 11 ran another cheerleader gauntlet and nearly doubled her pace through them as a result.

While many people might not have a strong impression of San Jose - thinking it's a sleepy San Francisco suburb or, being the heart of Silicon Valley, has very little but high tech companies and office parks - would be pleasantly surprised by this run. It snakes through downtown past The Tech and Children's Museums, through San Pedro Square, home of some great local restaurants, and out through the University neighborhoods where you find wide boulevards, classic big-lawned homes and gorgeous old-growth trees. On the way to the finish you also run past HP Pavilion, home of the San Jose Sharks hockey team. Where was Sharkie!?

The past couple Rock n Roll Half Marathons, I had struggled through miles 11 and 12 as I started to run low on energy but not in San Jose. The weather, all the TNT participants and supporters who lined the course and knowing my beautiful wife was waiting for me that end all served to drive me forward at a steady pace. In fact I was even able to pick up the pace after mile 11 and sprint to the finish line.

Former TNT mentor, Riya, was in corral 1 with me and took off like a rocket at the starting gun. I didn't see her again until the finish. She crossed just ahead of me and we high-fived over a great day where we both registered 1:33.

After navigating the finisher's area, I met up with my wife Reesa switched out of my sweaty race shirt and into a TNT Coach shirt and ran off towards miles 10 and 11 where I could cheer on and run with our TNT participants who were quickly approaching the finish line. I'm normally pretty spent after a half marathon but felt fully energized when I saw our team members approaching. And they all looked great!

Hats off to all the finishers of RnRSJ for a great day and a superb effort.

Rock n Roll San Jose also served as my final long training run before the Dodge Rock n Roll Denver Marathon in just two weeks. There are only 4 events remaining in the 2010 Rock n Roll Endurance Series and it will be a challenging finish. Denver is the first of three full marathons in the remaining four events. The lone half marathon is a short seven days after Denver so even that one won't be easy.

But I can see the finish in site now both in running and fundraising. We topped $8,000 raised to fight blood cancers this week so a huge thank you to all my supporters thus far. But we have just under $2,000 to go so keep the donations coming. If you donated in late 2009 to my cause, it's time to reup now for the 2010 tax season. Please give by clicking the Donate Now link above!

Philadelphia RnR: A perfect day in a lovely city

2010-09-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

I entered Rock & Roll number nine with a bit of trepidation. It wasn’t due to the course as that would turn out to be flat and fast. It wasn’t due to the weather which could not have been more perfect. In fact, we have yet to have a more perfect weather day for any of the Rock & Roll events this year. It was mid 60s at the start, warmed up into the low 70s but thanks to a fantastic tree-lined course the wound past Boathouse Row we were covered in shade nearly the entire back ten. It wasn’t due to the distance. While no half marathon should be taken lightly, I was well prepared and in the end would have a good run and a strong finish. It wasn’t lack of sleep either, although that might have been suspected had we shared the same Friday before.

The week leading up to the Rock & Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon was a tough travel week. After working from home Monday morning I was at the airport that afternoon for a flight to Dallas. The following morning was a customer event and speech on cloud computing, followed by a flight to Boston. Day three started with a short but enjoyable run along the banks of the Charles River then a full day of collaboration with my colleagues in Cambridge, then another evening flight, this time to Chicago. Thursday was another customer event and speech followed by client meetings just outside Milwaukee. Not expecting my day would end in Wisconsin I had booked a flight from O’Hare to Philadelphia and found my meetings ended too late to catch the last flight from Milwaukee, so I rushed to O’Hare just in time to face delays that stranded me there for nearly 4 hours. It was close to 2 in the morning when I finally got to sleep in Philadelphia. Six hours later I was back in front of clients. I made it through most of the day in good spirits and few signs of fatigue but was on empty when my 3pm conference call started. A sleep deficit that had started to build up Monday night had finally caught me.

Thankfully no appointments or deadlines loomed on Saturday, so that night I got mostly caught up.

You might also guess my trepidation was for the pace of Rock & Roll events. Since Virginia Beach, the next several Rock & Roll events have been coming steadily every two weeks - Phillie just 14 days from Virginia, San Jose two weeks later, Denver (a full) two weeks after that, then Los Angeles the following weekend. No, it wasn’t for this reason I was a bit on edge – and had it been, I’d be in real trouble come October.

No, my trepidation was caused by a nagging pain in my back and hip. On top of the ever-escalating Rock & Roll event schedule, I was engaging in longer and longer runs during the off weekends preparing for Rock & Roll Denver, the next full marathon since Seattle. Last weekend included an 18 mile run through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and 6 the following day through Edgewood Park and Emerald Hills in Redwood City. Prior to these runs I had gone to visit a sports medicine clinic recommended to us Team in Training coaches and in response to my back issues they had given me an adjustment which, they said would be acknowledgeably sore. I hadn’t anticipated when it would become sore, however.

You would think this would rear up after the appointment or after the 18 mile run. No, while my back did say hello prior and a bit after the weekend runs it didn’t decide to grab my attention until my Friday in Philadelphia. And it kept saying hello all through Saturday. The pain was worse than when I had visited the clinic and despite doing exercises throughout the week to strengthen my back and core, it was protesting mightily. Sitting still seemed to hurt, as did sleeping. Walking and running felt better so I spent my Saturday touring the historic district of Philadelphia.

I took in two great highlights all should see on your next visit. The first was the relatively new National Constitution Center. This building at the far end of Independence Mall from the first capital of our nation is an education and discovery center about the founding of our nation and it sheds light on the backstory of the document that guides our government to this day some 223 years later. I learned some very interesting things about its creation, struggles for ratification and evolution.

The second is the City Tavern. This pub, opened in the 1760’s still stands today serving some of the same fare shared by (and created by) our forefathers. I stopped in for a pint of porter that was crafted from a recipe borne by George Washington. Tasted like America’s Guiness.

Friday evening was the worst of the pain. Walking around all day on Saturday helped but as I headed for bed, I was rather nervous about the race as I hadn’t attempted a run of this length with such back pain before. And now the pain had radiated down to my right knee as well. In fact if I slept on my side with my left knee resting on my right, the pain from this weight would wake me to move positions. Not good.

At the half marathon expo, I received a free packet of Mission Pain Relief lotion and slathered it on my sore hip down to the knee prior to walking around all day Saturday. This definitely seemed to ease the pain but I was worried.

Saturday night’s dinner took my mind off the pain, though. Johanna from our North Peninsula TNT team invited me to join her for dinner in Wilmington, Delaware with one of her personal honorees, Karen. A former colleague when Johanna worked at DuPont, the then largest employer and land owner in Wilmington, Karen had gone in for a routine mammogram through which the doctors discovered stage 1 lymphoma. Having caught it so early, Karen had been treated early and is now looking in the rear view mirror at her chemotherapy cycle. Don’t skip those mammograms, ladies.

Saturday night, after a truly tasty Malaysian dinner and great conversation, I returned to my hotel and busied myself dressing my chair, prepping my PowerBar Endurance drink and setting my alarm. Thankfully Sunday’s race didn’t start until 8 am and I would be able to sleep in a bit; a good thing, because I clearly was still running a sleep deficit from the week of travel.
When I awoke Sunday morning my back protested the movement and my knee resisted all fast movements. Uh oh. I proceeded to wash up, lather Body Glide on the sensitive areas and prep for the run. Each activity loosened up my knee and back. I walked to the start, passing the historic City Hall with William Penn looking off into the distance from his multistoried perch. We then passed through Logan Circle and past the fountains where many runners stopped for a picture under the Love sculpture. The start would take me back in front of my hotel on Market Street then back the way we came down Arch. Curiously, the street one-over from Arch is Race, not sure why we didn’t take that one.

At the start of the race I took it easy going out at a 7:15 pace and have to confess was listening intently for protests from my back and knee. They were there but faint. After the loop back to Logan Circle the course passed through Museum Row, the Free Library and headed out to Boathouse Row. This is a wide boulevard with boathouses on the left facing the river and trees overhanging the path for the full length. It created a fantastic setting for a run.
There weren’t as many bands along the course as on most Rock & Roll events (nothing like Virginia Beach) so there were long stretches of quiet. I might have enjoyed having my iPod with me but there was plenty of scenery and competitors to keep my mind going. What didn’t fill my mind any longer were calls of protest from my back or knee. In fact, they both seemed pretty happy right now and I was still holding roughly a 7 minute pace. Around mile 8 we crossed a bridge to the other side of the river affording great views of the water and the front sides of the boat houses. Trees lined this wide boulevard too so heat never became an issue.

At mile 10 I felt a surge of energy as did many around me and the pace seemed to pick up collectively. We passed the gentle waterfall in the river then saw behind it the Museum of Art where Rocky had ascended the staircase in the classic original film. Seen now from behind, the museum sits on a perch of rocky cliffs that have been lashed by the river waters for years creating a majestic pedestal for the building. After passing by here the mile 12 marker went by and again I surged the pace. I passed this market with 1:21 showing on my watch. I held the pace until the finish line was in view, then sprinted the final tenths. 1:34. Just barely.

Congratulations all around then the 1.5 mile walk back to my hotel. I was filled with accomplishment and was taking in the remains of a completely gorgeous Sunday morning. Small whispy clouds were in the bright blue sky.

I got back to my hotel room which was as dark as night and as I saw the inviting bed, fatigue overcame me and I was out. Hip and knee pain? Gone.

While I won't attest to running being the cure that I needed, it certainly seemed to help. Sunday night I tossed a turned a bit due to back pain but nothing like the prior Friday. I think I'm on the mend. No more visits to that sports clinic, though.

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I plan on getting plenty of sleep the next two weeks before Rock & Roll San Jose. And will spend some extra time with the foam roller to get my hip and knee (and the muscles that link them) back to a happy place. Nagging injuries are common in runners especially when you combine lots of running with lots of work stress. I don’t recommend it, but if this sounds like you, take care to stretch and get lots of sleep.

Nine Rock & Roll Endurance events down, five to go.

Virginia Beach knows how to Rock

2010-09-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Rock and Roll Marathon Series event number 8 is in the books and Virginia Beach was a great host. It was kind of the trip from hell for me but once I got to the beach all was good.

As with most of my RnR trips this year, I combined work – client consulting and visits – with the trip but had lots of snafus at the beginning. First off, my work laptop died the day before this trip and I had to send it back to my company to be reimaged. Which normally wouldn’t be a big deal as I back up my work files at home and could grab my trusty MacBook Pro. However, despite it being able to reliably connect to the corporate network over the past several months, it and the VPN decided to part ways when I got to SFO for my flight. The Mac isn’t fully supported by our IT department (neither is Windows 7 which was also on my Mac via Bootcamp) so I was hosed. And to make matters worse, when I got to DFW for my layover and found an outlet to recharge the Mac I found no power supply. I had left it plugged into the outlet in my home office. Not a good start to the week as I had deadlines looming and needed to be productive on the flight to Washington, DC. Oh well.

Got a replacement power supply the next day and had some great meetings with clients but luck struck back at me again when I left one of the afternoon meetings and couldn’t find my Oakley Half Jacket sunglasses. We called back to the client, they couldn’t find them either. Ugh. And I had just bought replacement lenses for them.

Things calmed down a bit from there. Until that evening’s weather report showed that Hurricane Earl was headed our way – right at Virginia Beach. Thankfully it didn’t plan to stay long. It brushed the coast line about 2 am Friday morning and was on its way to Boston by that evening. Virginia Beach reported some crazy early morning waves and showers but was gorgeous by the that evening and reported clear skies for the weekend.

Of course, the drive to Virginia Beach would be another story as it was Labor Day weekend and everyone was heading out of the Washington area for a last summer fling. My last meeting ended at 2:30 pm and I promptly plugged Virginia Beach into the Garmin and was off, hoping I’d beat the rush. For the most part this plan worked out. The first hour was all 20 mph and bumper to bumper but cleared shortly after that to freeway speeds. I lost about 10 minutes along the way when my GPS tried to get me to take an HOV lane from highway to highway. When I skipped this option (and the $395 ticket I surely would have received given how the rest of the week went) she persisted to try and turn me around and take that damn HOV onramp. I finally found the signs for the rest of us to switch freeways and I was off.

Arriving at Virginia Beach was a very welcome relief. It was around 8 pm when I got there and was still light outside. The beaches looked gorgeous and tons of people were out strolling the boardwalk. I dropped my bags at The Cavalier, a circa 1920 classic hotel (where the elites were staying as well, BTW) and headed down to join all the beachcombers.

Coinciding with the Rock and Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon was a music festival featuring live bands on 4 stages up and down the beach. Headlining that night was Camper von Beethoven, a throwback to my youth. I caught a couple of their songs before hunger got the best of me.

For those that aren’t following me on Twitter or Facebook I’ve decided to try being a vegetarian for at least the month of September so I passed on all the burger and seafood joints (very hard to do in a beach town) and found a great little restaurant called Eat and had their vegetarian lasagna. It was a great surprise as it wasn’t your typical heavy meal with tomato sauce and cheese but a baked stack of pasta, then fresh tomato, then fresh zucchini, then cheese and another layer of pasta. This continued two more rounds and it was delicious. Highly recommend Eat if you get to this town.

Saturday started with a swim in the indoor Olympic-sized pool at The Cavalier. This was a total treat as it was a classic pool surrounded by verandas so you could watch the swimmers. I rarely get treated to a hotel with full Olympic distance and well marked lanes, so I took it.

After that I walked down to the best breakfast place in town (or so a few locals told me) Pocahantas Pancakes. At 8:30am it was packed and I spent the morning sharing a table with a couple who have lived in Virginia Beach for 48 years. Wow. They had great stories about what it was like before the Chesapeake tunnel was built (“it was a two-day trip from Norfolk to the beach”) and the days when The Cavalier was the toast of the town.

Next up was the Half Marathon expo and some relaxing time at the beach. Heaven. That evening it cooled down nicely to about 70 degrees and I was itching to run so I decided to see more of Virginia Beach than just the boardwalk and the course which I would see Sunday. It was a perfect night for running and the city has bike trails everywhere. I certainly understand why this is a such a hot destination for regional tourists.

Virginia Beach was celebrating its 10^th running on its half marathon this Sunday and thanks to its partnership with Competitor Group it celebrated with nearly 19,000 participants. Several elites came to run the course as well, including Constantina Dita the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the marathon.

The sun broke over the hotels just as the starting gun went off and we ran straight into it the first half mile, then turned south through town. The course was mostly flat and beautiful. It ran down into a gorgeous tree-lined nature preserve, past some stunning waterfront homes and on two loops through famous Camp Pendelton. After this, it worked its way back to town. There were lots of places where the course ran back onto itself allowing you to cheer on other runners and check out their form and style. Especially noteworthy was a guy running in a Yogi Bear costume and a couple TNT volunteers dressed as a parrot and a cowboy riding a dodo bird. That was especially original.

I say Virginia Beach really knows how to rock because of the bands. Where most of these events have a band per mile, Virginia Beach had about 16 bands on the course and a string of bands playing at the finish, then an evening celebration concert (free to all runners) featuring Pat Benatar and REO Speedwagon. I have REO Speedwagon-aversion so I got out of there Sunday afternoon.

Weather wise, Virginia Beach shined as well. It was in the low 70s at the start of the race and shady roads and a coo ocean breeze kept the temperature perfect. I didn’t have a perfect running day but I’ll take a 1:39 finish.

Another great Rock and Roll adventure is behind me. Six more events to go and the next few are every two weeks starting with Philadelphia. Wish me luck.

Rock & Roll Chicago – Diary of a Wimpy Californian

2010-08-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Seven Rock & Roll events down, seven to go. Chicago was the half way point in events and it took its toll on me. While it may only have been a half marathon, the humidity was a factor as there was no way for me to prepare for it, living in Northern California. Not even a lunchtime run in Minneapolis a few weeks prior – overcast.

The weekend started with a reminder of why you shouldn’t rent a car when visiting Chicago. I normally don’t but will need it for client meetings in and around Illinois Monday. At O’Hare I hopped into the car, plugged the address for the McCormick Center into the GPS and it said I would be at the race Fitness Expo in 15 minutes. Sweet. The reality: 45 minutes of mostly bumper to bumper traffic heading into Chicago. Once I got there came the second reminder about renting a car – Chicago’s outrageous parking fees. I spent more parking my car for the weekend than I did renting it.

At the expo I sauntered over to the Competitor.com booth as I was expecting to pick up my Rock Legend Heavy Medal. In their progressive medal series this is the highest honor, signifying the completion of 7 Rock & Roll events in a single calendar year. A pretty cool medal; and definitely heavy. I got to hold it and take a picture but the full supply of medals didn’t make the trip to Chicago unfortunately, so mine’s in the mail.

After settling into my hotel, the historic Intercontinental on Michigan Avenue, I headed down to the beach to take in the sun. The ultra-touristy Naval Pier was a short walk from the hotel. I turned north to the beach and got a view of a floating college party. There were hundreds of boats lashed together in the lake and teens were hopping from boat to boat mingling and drinking with party music blaring from some of the bigger boats. Very cool. Wish we had that during my college years.

One of the highlights of the Interncontinental Hotel is the 20s era décor and the pool.

It’s a junior Olympic sized pool with grandstands that was used by Johnny Weissmuller back when he was training for the Olympics. I dropped into lane two for an hour swim. I don’t think my slow and steady freestyle drew a crowd but in my own head, it was me versus Tarzan in lane one. Come on, Johnny, show me whatchagot!

Dinner was at a great tapas bar, The Purple Pig, right across Michigan Avenue from my hotel. This is tapas Chicago style meaning heavy on the pork products. They had a great selection of European wines (no California wines – huh?), cheeses and special tapas like pork liver pate, braised pork knuckles, fried pigs tails and several appetizing vegetarian dishes as well.

After that, I took a walk along the river, passing between the famous Wrigley building and WGN and over to Millenium Park. These are sites you really need to see in the summertime. Nine o’clock at night and it was in the mid seventies and gorgeous. And I finally got a taste of dark chocolate covered bacon at Eno a local specialty chocolatier. Can’t say I’m a fan. I know, I know, how can I say no to any bacon dish!

After dressing my chair and settling into bed the usual pre-race nerves kicked in around 3 in the morning. I was up about every 30 minutes checking my watch, making sure it wasn’t time to get up. I had one of those race nightmare dreams around 4:30, in which my alarm went off and woke me up but not at 5:30am, but 5:30pm and I had missed the race. Coach Terry was there and when I got to Millenium Park he was slowly shaking his head in disappointment. I normally don’t have pre-race jitters before a half marathon but given my year-long quest, one DNF would do me in.

As usual I woke up a couple minutes before my alarm and set to getting ready. It was a short warmup run from my hotel through Millenium Park to the start line. On the way I passed by a street that was closed off and occupied by several large trucks and large studio lights. A film crew is here filming scenes for the upcoming movie Transformers 3. I couldn’t see much, but there was a lot of rubble in the street so I imagine there were busying themselves destroying Chicago. I think I’ll wait for the DVD.

At the start, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was slowly rising off Lake Michigan. That’s not a good thing, as the temperature was slowly creeping up as was the humidity. The organizers were busily interviewing B-list celebrities who had come out to run the race. I hadn’t heard of any of them but they were apparently from shows including The Gates, The Bachelor and a few others. Last year’s winner, Kara Goucher was the final interview. She’s not running this year due to her pregnancy but commented that one of the best parts of last year’s race was beating all the guys. I could run a five minute mile, too, you know. For about 200 yards.

The race finally kicked off at 6:30am and it was a very nice course. We started heading north into downtown. We crossed the river and wound around the shopping districts and came back south on State Street. I wasn’t real thrilled running on the bridges which were a bit like cattle grates - steel footbeds that discourage crossing.

The tall downtown buildings provided nice cool shade for running but after crossing back over the river the sun was above us and the humidity started to kick in around mile 5. It started sapping my energy and sub-7 minute miles started creeping over to the other side of seven. We ran past some of Chicago’s fantastic museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art and Field Museum before coming to the alien landing. Chicago’s Soldier Field was modernized a few years back and it’s a stark contrast in architectural styles. They kept the old surrounding building of the stadium which looks like an old historic field house made of stone with stone columns like those in front of the US Treasury Building in DC. But inside is an ultramodern glass and aluminum circular stadium that bursts out of the old building like an alien spaceship just landed inside. It’s really an incredible design. Guess I’ll have to come back for a Bears game.

After Soldier Field the sun, and more so the humidity, was really starting to get to me. Miles 5-9 were brutal. Along this route we were circling the massive McCormick Center where most of the large conventions are held in Chicago. We wound along trails through its grounds and after nearly every turn I kept looking for the point where we would start heading North. Finally it came just after mile 9. What also came at that time were clouds. Hooray!

I was slowly able to regain some energy as the humidity subsided a bit and the course cooled down. Miles 10-13 were along the Lake Trail and brought us back up to Millenium Park. I finally had energy again in the last half mile and booked it to the finish. I crossed at 1:38. I’ll take it.

Now begins my longest break in the Rock & Roll 2010 season – five weeks. The next event is another half marathon in Virginia Beach. It’s historically humid and hot for this Labor Day Weekend run and I’m not sure how to modify my training from here. Any suggestions are welcome.

Finally, thanks to all my supporters. We’ve raised nearly $8,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to date. I still need a bit over $2,000 to make my goal so keep the donations coming! As we Texans say, “y’all are the best!”

Freeway Marathon marks my Super Six and Life 25

2010-06-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Another city, another marathon but this one marked a few milestones for me:

Half-way point in total miles for the 2010 Rock n Roll Endurance Series
My 25th career marathon
My 11th US state - completing a marathon in each

Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon is the 6th event in the 2010 Endurance Series and while Chicago, in August will be half way through the number of events, the series was front-loaded with full marathons (5 of them). Seattle provided near-perfect running conditions, some gorgeous scenery and some not-so-nice out and backs.

The event started at the health and fitness expo on Friday where

Competitor Group allowed me

to pick up my Super6 Heavy Medal. And heavy it was - over a pound. This is the next to last

medal in their progressive medals program - or so it appears. The folks at Competitor keep telling me they are planning something special for 14 so we'll see what they come up with.

Race #6 started in Tukwila, Washington, a suburb of Seattle and as usual, the stellar event organization by Competitor Group shined early on. I walked from my hotel, the Inn at the WAC the few blocks to where the downtown buses collected us to shuttle up to Tukwila and there were an ample supply of transports. I waited around for my fellow SMSers a while but when it was time to board, I got right on. The temperature at the start was just perfect - mid 50s and overcast. No wind, low humidity and lots of local adrenaline.

After wishing my colleagues well, I met up with @adamrisu in corral 2 and we took off just minutes after the starting gun.

The first few miles were rather uneventful as we passed through some industrial streets, past a few junk yards and scrap dealers (didn't exactly show Tukwila in its best light) before entering some nice quiet neighborhoods where everyone came out to cheer.

The highlight of the run came a few miles later along Lake Washington which provided sweeping lake views to the right and gorgeous wooded neighborhoods to the left. I will definitely have to return here during one of my many business trips to Seattle to run here again.

After this, the race turned into people acting like cars, as the majority of the rest of the event was on freeways and highways. we took a short out and back jaunt into the lake region on the Interstate 90 bridge. The

tailwind on the way out was nice as were the views but the headwind on the return sapped a bit of my energy. Since Lake Washington I had been running with another San Francisco Bay Area runner doing his first full but lost him in the wind.

We then came into the city on I-90 then merged onto Highway 99 for two, yes two out and backs. This event played a rather cruel mental game with us 26.2'ers in that we turned onto H-99 just as the half marathoners were turning the other way and heading to the finish, then on the way back south on 99 we passed right by the finish are and continued on south for another out and back. Ugh.

Thankfully, however, my good friend and fellow SMSer Faisal was waiting for me at the mile 18 turn around in North Seattle and rode his bike alongside me, keeping me company and energized through this whole last section. Faisal - you da man! Thanks a ton!

With 27,000 runners I can certainly see why Competitor Group was relegated to the highways as running on the downtown streets might have been a bit congested if all the halfers and full marathoners were on the streets together, but only us crazy marathoners made the turn onto Highway 99, so hopefully they will look at this next year.

The nice part on Highway 99 was the northbound loop as it provided nice views of Puget Sound and the Seattle downtown skyline. There was even a Norwegian Cruise Lines tour loading for a trip up to Alaska. Man, the cruise ships today are enormous!

The weather was a real godsend for this event as it helped a ton with keeping my body temperature down so I could keep a strong pace and never had to use any of the water stops.

My trusty Amphipod water bottle filled with PowerBar Endurance drink and my PowerBar Gels kept me going strong. But I gotta say, the freeways really took their toll in the back half. After holding a 3:15 marathon pace for the first half, I couldn't hold it and watched the 3:20 pace group, then the 3:30 pacer pass me by in the 20s. No matter. I'll take a 3:33 and the fact that I live on to race another day.

After finding Reesa and the SMS crew at the finish we headed over to the nearest pub for a

victory dance - Guiness -- and the world cup match between the US and Ghana. Hats off to the boys from Africa for the victory and heads held high for our boys. They played a strong game and have nothing to be ashamed of. We'll get 'em in 2014!

Rock & Roll Seattle marked the 25th marathon of my career taking me halfway to my long-term goal of completing 50 marathons by my 50th birthday.

Next up is Rock & Roll Chicago Half Marathon in August. The next full is Rock & Roll Denver in October. I'm looking forward to the short break from 26.2s so I can focus on the summer TNT season. Go Team!

Thanks again to everyone who has thus far supported my efforts and my fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We've raised $7,500 thus far but have $2,500 still to go, so keep the donations coming!