Thursday, December 29, 2005
Vegas_False
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Ship's Log 12/28/05
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Hi Everybody!
Running; starting to dig it again. I woke up this morning and one of the first thoughts that popped up was, "Today, I get to run!" This elicited a feeling not unlike what I imagine makes dogs yip and bite at the air. I didn't do that but I might have if the baby hadn't been asleep.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
Vegas Trivia
My cuz picked him out of the crowd.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
A post actually about running
New target: Year-to-Year 5k fun run on 12/31 - See you there
Runners who Rock
Runners who rock; thats an easy one and hard one at the same time. My father (not a blogger) ran marathons throughout my childhood, thereby letting me grow up knowing I could too. I never had an doubt that I could finish my own marathon. Thanks Dad! My wife, on the other hand, gets credit for getting me up and running in my adult life. If I didn't have her healthy influence in my life I probably wouldn't be sitting at the keyboard now. Thanks babe!
Three runner/blogger people to whom I am indebted; Danny Farkas, for running his first marathon a few weeks ahead of me with such enthusiasm and attention. It was fun to watch him ahead of my own big day. Thanks Danny! Partyrunner and Drew share as spot as my virtual training buddies leading up to Vegas. Many a dark training day I might not have made it out there had it not been for the fact that I would then have to admit my lameness online. Thanks guys! Last but not least is another team - two guys who seem incapable of not replying to every comment and who get up and run even when they don't want to and so help me do the same - Jon in Michigan and Flatman in Texas.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Meme Post; Nothing Running Related Here
Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected.
1. I have three ear lobes. Its true - on one the right, and two on the left.
2. I speak three languages
3. I used to be a cop
4. I am mildly dyslexic but love to read.
5. I'm tone deaf, can't carry a tune in a bucket, or get the hang of the 1, 2, 3, 4 thing when dancing but when I'm alone in the car, I sing it out loudly - never in front of other people.
I also tag Partyrunner, and LJ, who because she refuses to have her own blog, is hereby directed to make her post as a comment somewhere
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Reasons to run
I feel pretty good today - completely recovered from running a marathon last Sunday. I worked a half day, did some Christmas shopping, and visited the pottery studio. After that I cut, split and hauled five loads of firewood. I have five foot lengths in the shed that I cut up throughout the winter instead of having to do all the work in the summer. The stairs are five up, a landing and then twelve more. Each load is in a four foot long tub that when filled is about all I can manage to hold in my arms and still walk up the stairs. I did five loads and quit because of lack of light, not because I broke a sweat or was even remotely tired.
So that’s one good reason to keep running. Last winter, five loads would have made me very tired. Like Drew, I want to keep up with my kids, and hopefully my grandkids. I don't want to live my life in a state of weakness where something as simple as swinging a splitting maul or walking up a flight of stairs makes me tired. Eventually I will die, but as the quote on Will's site goes, "Death catches us all, but when he catches up with me, that bastard is going to be sweaty and out of breath."
Friday, December 09, 2005
thoughts
Race report Rehash
I’m still walking around with my medal in my jacket pocket. I keep the ribbon tightly folded over the medal like a tri-corner folded flag and usually have it between thumb and forefinger while walking from one place to another. Make any mention of the race and I’m sure to pull it out to show you.
Jeff documenting the action
Today I feel pretty much like normal. Yesterday I felt a sort of a disappointment I couldn’t really pin down. I think I trained really hard, for many moons, ran and incredibly long and hard race, and then had a lot of people make a big deal about it. It was exciting and gratifying, but then we all went back to business as usual and I think I was unconsciously feeling like, “Hey, remember the big deal??”
As for the actual race report I never go around to finishing; nothing all that eventful occurred before about mile 18. I was running strong, feeling great, and getting about 30 seconds lower per mile than I had expected. Brooks ran up and introduced himself. We ran together briefly but then I lost him again.
Action shot
At mile 17 I caught up with the pit crew. I wasn’t feeling as chipper as I had at mile 7. I still had 9.2 miles to go to get finished. They would be a looonnnnggg nine miles. At mile 18, I saw Super Jeff who asked me if I needed anything. Thanks Jeff!
Right about the same time, Drew materialized on my left and introduced himself. He was wearing a gray sleeveless shirt. We only spoke briefly as he was looking for his family who were at supposed to be coming up any step now. Its funny how your mental images of people build up based on the words they write. I imagined him as being skinnier and shorter but he actually looked sort muscle bound. Was there an East coast accent there too? Hard to tell when you only exchange a few words and are in a mental state where complex tasks like simple addition and subtraction are becoming more difficult.
As we were passing one of the wheelchair guys on a hill, lots of people were cheering for him and yelling out things like, "Way to go William!" and "Hang in there William!" I didn't hear anyone saying squat when he flew by us on the downhill.
I ran on by myself, down into the long straight downhill. I hit all the hydration stations but, nevertheless, became increasingly thirsty and tired. Picking ‘em up and putting ‘em down was turning into a chore. I turned my iPod on for the first time, hoping to distract myself with NPR podcasts. I had purposefully stocked many hours of my favorite podcasts for just such an eventuality and then back filled the rest of the drive with music files incased all my podcasts somehow turned out to be stinkers. Unfortunately, the stupid thing would only play the same five gangsta rap tracks, which weren’t helping me any. No matter whether I chose shuffle mode or advance to next track, all I got was obscenities and misogyny. At about mile 22 I turned the stupid thing off. I’m still mad at it and it is currently still grounded (jammed in the bottom of my gym bag). Without the iPod, which I used successfully throughout my training, I was stuck alone with my own thoughts.
It looks a lot cooler in real life - the desert at dawn.
As we came through the Frank Sinatra underpass and made our final turn to start towards the
Afterwards pizza-beer-sleep-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz the end.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Marathon Recap
I’ll try to keep my race report short. A lot of the observations I had have already been reported by my brother and sister bloggers who ran Vegas.
My stats according to the Forerunner:
Time run: 4:05:47
Distance Traveled: 26.33 (including running out into the bushes a couple of times)
Calories burned: 4539
Other Stats:
Most number of buffet visits in one 24 hour period: 3
# beers drank b4 run: too many
After racing: too many
Mile Times:
Mile 1 – 7:48 Mile 11 – 9:10 Mile 21 – 9:07
Mile 2 – 12:23 (!!) Mile 12 – 8:55 Mile 22 – 8:49
Mile 3 – 9:28 Mile 13 – 9:14 Mile 23 – 9:09
Mile 4 – 9:53 Mile 14 – 8:55 Mile 24 – 9:52
Mile 5 – 9:56 Mile 15 – 8:47 Mile 25 – 10:12
Mile 6 – 11:00 Mile 16 – 8:48 Mile 26 – 10:21
Mile 7 – 9:25 Mile 17 – 8:51 Mile .2 – 1.33
Mile 8 – 8:36 Mile 18 – 9:41 .
Mile 9 – 8:45 Mile 19 – 8:59 .
Mile 10 – 8:43 Mile 20 – 9:13 .
All in all it was an awesome experience – one of a handful I’ve had in life so far I’d say – definitely in the top five hardest things I’ve ever done. We got in Thursday night and left Monday afternoon. Thursday night we were alone – no kid, no friends, no family, aloooonnnnneeee. It was very nice because it happens so rarely. Friday and Saturday we had plenty of time to sample the attractions of Vegas. I think I got my fill of that town for a good long time. Despite all the last minute plan changes Saturday, we got to have a nice meal and meet with the blog people and then get to bed by nine. I slept from about 10 to 4 and amazingly didn’t stress too much. By the time I got to the lobby at 4:20, Jeff the super trooper had already been waiting for me there a half hour. He had the traffic figured out and deposited me at
Pursued by the Little People:
I had just stolen a golden head from one of their temples and they were trying to stick me with poison darts.
To the woman who told me not to peek while she and I peed behind some construction equipment at about mile 4; I didn’t
To the five women who were walking with their arms interlocked at mile 5; please let me know what marathons you will be obstructing in the future so I can not run them.
Did this a lot... I think this was around mile 18 and I think thats DREW behind me.
When was it we ran under the boom arm photographer. I tried not to have my tongue hanging out.
Goo makes me want to hurl and yet gives me the energy to keep going - its a love/hate thing...
As the others have already attested, the run itself was amazing. I think they should have done a better job of organizing the start. Maybe instead of telling us how cool it was to have been an Olympian competitor, the announcer could have spent more time telling the walkers to get to the back and the faster runners to the front. Nevertheless, by the time the first runners were away, I was finding a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye – just for being allowed to be involved in something so cool – an emotion that revived itself regularly between the start and about mile 18.
Stay Tuned - Real race report to follow...
At this point (mile 7), I loved the whole world.
She was so cute with her orange ribbons and her blogger shirt.
I think Black Beard the Pirate may be immediately to the left of 'Talia.
I think at this point she is getting goo and Advil. I'm not sure.
The Thank You Post
My wife and family made a lot of sacrifices so that I could train and come to the event. Thank you baby.
I still can't quite comprehend how generous two people can be. Jeff and smsmh drove to Vegas from San Diego, not to run the race, but just to help us runners. Thats an incredibly long way to come, both in time and money. They took us to dinner the night before the race, picked me up in the morning at my hotel and drove me to the race, and then ferried family members to different way points throughout the race. After I finished, I was driven to food and then deposited at my hotel within hobbling distance of the hot tub. Thanks guys! It was hard, but would have been incredibly harder without your support.
All the RBFers that gave me advice and support along the way made things so much easier as well. At about mile 24, I hit the wall big time. Suddenly, Drew was there, encouraging me to dig deeper and keep running. I stopped and walked briefly a couple of times after that and I'm not sure I could have ran in the last mile if he hadn't have been there to keep me going.
Thanks to Riona for blogcasting the event. I felt so special!
Signs of Life
Sunday, December 04, 2005
LV Marathon Update
SCOTT DENNIS, 04:05:47 (chiptime) @ Final time (unofficial):
powered by Devine Racing.
Overall results
1 STEPHEN KIOGORA 02:11:56 5:01 KEN
2 TITUS MUNJI 02:13:19 5:05 KEN
3 TEKESTE KEBEDE 02:14:36 5:08 ETH
4 GIMMA TOLA 02:14:49 5:08 ETH
5 ARAYA HAREGOT 02:15:29 5:10 ETH
Women:
1 ADRIANA FERNANDEZ 02:32:13 5:48 MEX
2 GALINA BOGOMOLOVA 02:32:13 5:48 RUS
3 DOROTA GRUCA 02:32:14 5:48 POL
4 NUTA OLARU 02:32:37 5:49 ROM
5 IRINA SAFAROVA 02:33:34 5:51 RUS
Where are they now?
Burning question
- Gatorade?
- That protein-based recovery drink thingie?
- Beer?
- Shots?
Half marathon update:
PartyRunner's heading for 4:01:24 and an ETA of 10:12.
This blogcasting is very exciting for me.
Go Scott
PartyRunner 15K splits
10K NA
15K 1:45:21
She's picked up the pace from her 5K split and on track for a 4:01:01 marathon and a 10:01 AM finish.
Current top 5 men: all from Kenya.
2 STEPHEN KIOGORA 01:08:26 5:13 KEN
3 LABAN CHEGE 01:08:26 5:13 KEN
4 GIMMA TOLA 01:08:26 5:13 ETH
5 GILBERT KOECH 01:08:26 5:13 KEN
Man. Here's a blog link to a really interesting series of articles about the Kenyan Kalenjin runners. They really are supermen.
Filler. A look back on our heroes
I *love* having access to someone's blog. Mwuahahahahahah!
Scott's official training schedule started on August 1. Back then his long run was 8.2 miles, well under a third of what he's doing today. And he was just beginning to discover the evils of cotton socks.
Around the same time, August 4, PartyRunner announced her plans for Vegas in a manner after my own heart: by deciding what she'll wear for the post-race party (a slinky turquoise number).
Not too far away now.
6:19 - passing Harrah's on the strip.
6:22 Now they're passing Westward Ho, which might just be the name of my next Halloween costume.
They're off!
Jeff headed out to pick up Scott and shuttle him to the start. The plan is to take Brit and Natalia to mile 7, wait for the runners, and then head on to mile 18 where Brit and Natalia will wait, and Jeff will cycle on to 20.
We're watching!
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Gone To Croatan
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Official Marathon Blogcast
Monday, November 28, 2005
Six and a WU
I think it is cool that you can look up who else will be running on a city by city basis on the lvmarathon.com site. So, to the other three people from my area running I say, "Have a good race Andy, Mark, and Cathy!"
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
1. My family - I can't think of two people I've known who have been better parents than mine. I can't imagine how I ended up with someone as intelligent, thoughtful and supporting as my wife, or how we have been so blessed as to have our son, whom I think of first thing when I wake up and who I can't wait to see at the end of the day.
2. My Health - this frosty morning, I went and did an incredibly short seeming 3 mile hill work out. The cool air was like sipping champagne. 'Nuff said..
3. My community and career - I live where I want to live and do a job I chose and look forward to going to each day.
Happy Turkey Day Everyone!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Goal Oriented Much??
Tapering is the way to live
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Vegas Freaky Thoughts
Last night I got to the lake to run my scheduled eight. As I started down the trail I was weighed down with unhappy thoughts about not getting everything done at work that I had wanted to... how the heck am I going to run 26.2..... when am I going to find the time to get the pile of leaves I raked up off the lawn before the grass dies.... 26 point freaking 2..... I need to get some firewood split... A MARATHON? ARE YOU CRAZY!?!
I ran faster and faster, and it felt pretty good, so I ran a little faster. By the time I had completed one circuit of the lake (3.8 miles), I was running a 6.47 which is unbelievably smoking for me. Walking back to my car, I felt better. Like Partyrunner said in her last post - thank you running for being a stabilizing force in my life.
Shirt News; All but one payment has been received. Shirts to be mailed have been so sent off. The rest have little sticky notes with their owners names to be handed over in Vegas. We're off to see the wizard.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Vegas Shirt Back
eek.
In other news, I took my new RBF shirt out for its maiden voyage. I don't think I'll be leaving the reflective vest tucked away in its pocket. The weight bouncing on my back was just a little too irritating.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Wherein Scott Solicits Advice from the Blogosphere
I wasn't all that satisfied with my performance this past week and I'm not feeling as confident as I'd like to be at this point. I finished the run without undue pain and without injury but I walked a lot and came in almost a full minute per mile slower that I usually run my distance runs at. I'm considering running the short runs per the plan this week and then doing one more long run before I start my candle. What, dear readers, do you think of this idea?
Main Entry: 1ta·per
Pronunciation: 'tA-p&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tapor candle, wick, perhaps modification of Latin papyrus papyrus
1 a : a slender candle b : a long waxed wick used especially for lighting candles, lamps, pipes, or fires c : a feeble light
Friday, November 11, 2005
Taper is Here, Yes!
Tu Oh, Two Zero, 20. I can’t say I ran it well, but I ran it. According to the forerunner my average pace was 10:14, which is just about a minute per mile slower that I usually run. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I hit that wall big time somewhere around mile 17. By the time I got home I had devolved to the point where I would have to pick a landmark ahead and force myself to keep running to it and then walking for a minute or 45 seconds before picking a new landmark. It didn’t help that at about mile 16 the driving cooolllldddd rain started pounding down. On the positive side. My darling wife drove out twice to check on me and give me water and gel. I’m a lucky man.
“Hello! Your shirts are in! They look GREAT!! I think you will be very
pleased. Feel free to stop by anytime and pick them up. Our hours are
Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:30pm, see you soon.”
Drat. I can’t say I didn’t deserve it, though. I guessing if you call my work line at about 8:45, Monday, you won't get an answer.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Confessions of a Bad Blogger
I'm still alive and I have a pulse. I just haven't been blogging much lately.
I'm excited about running, though. This is last big week before the taper starts. I've got 40 miles to go this week, with my long 20 on Saturday. I'm still injury free and looking forward to a pretty good chance of having a good marathon. Sub-Four? maybe, possibly... We'll see how the 20 goes this weekend.
And in Shirt News; They came! They are really light and clingy feeling. I can't wait to give my XL a test run. I took them in to the printer's this morning. Unfortunately, they sent us one too many larges and one too few mediums. The invoice has the correct number of shirts in the right sizes but what they stuffed in the bag doesn't match up. I'm not sure how we'll sort that out.
Scott Out
Saturday, October 29, 2005
You Know You Want Me
Due to poor communication on my part, one of our more petite female runners inadvertently ordered a men's size L shirt that she really doesn't have a use for. If the are any size L guys out there who wanted a shirt (women too I guess) but didn't get one, you now have a second chance, plus you get to be the good guy in this deal.
Ehhh? Come on now, don't be shy...
Week's end, Months End
| WEEK TOTALS |
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| MONTH TOTALS |
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| YEAR TOTALS |
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Looks like I should shoot for starting with the 4:15 group - not a qualifier for Boston, but not a bad start for my first formal distance race.
Shirt news: They've shipped from overstock.com as of Thursday afternoon. Next stop the printers here in town. Woo Hoo!
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
My Daily Post about the Shirts
If you want to send a check:
PO Box 44
Longview, WA 98632
Or if you want to do Paypal, email me and I'll send you a payment request.
Thanks,
SD
Monday, October 24, 2005
Shirts, Part Duh!
Go HERE for a peek. I hope they'll be as cool as they look online. I'm going to try to get the printing done in time to priority mail them to folks that might want to test run them before the marathon.
Shrtz!
Vegas, baby!
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Go Girl
Lets change that to "scotts(not)running.blogspot.com
Did I fall down the stairs and have a compound fracture? No
Was there an earthquake causing a big peice of masonry to fall on me? No
I just don't feel like getting out of the jammies today. Granted, my butt stayed in the captain's chair all weekend while I wrote a 3800 word paper for grad school, but claiming that was what kept me from going would be the definition of weakness. I just wanted to make a big pot of sauce out of the last of this season's tomatoes and be naughty.
I'll do my scheduled 12 miler tomorrow. I promise.
Riona tapped me for the 23rd post/5 line thing. Here goes:
"Normally I make no effort what so ever to run any faster than my feet want to." This was more or less running at the mouth/running babble. I was talking about how I went out too hard and got shin splints. This taught me to warm up on the days I'm going to try sprinting (rocket science).
Now, I'm going to hurry and tag five people before Brit gets them first!
Keith, LJ (she'll just have to make something up), Partyrunner, Drew, and Danny (to be obvious about it), You're it!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
What is your favorite color?
She asked me what color I wanted the shirts to be. She couldn't give me a definitive list of options on the spot but said she'll probably get back to me in the mean time. In general, what color would you-all who are placing orders prefer?
Thanks,
SD
Monday, October 17, 2005
Order Time
Order totals:
Me - two shirts, one L, one XL
Jeff - two shirts, both M, to be handed over in Vegas
Drew - one shirt, M, to be handed over in Vegas?
P-runner - at least two shirts, size unknown. I checked, sorry but there doesn't appear to be any preemie shirt options! Shirts to be handed over in Vegas
LJ - one shirt, size unknown, to be handed over in Vegas
Who did I miss? What sizes do you-all want?
Thanks,
SD
Sunday, October 16, 2005
End of the Week Posting
| Oct 12, 2005 |  3.78 | |||||
| Oct 13, 2005 | 3.78 | |||||
| Oct 16, 2005 | 16.93 | |||||
In some ways, the fact that I had a pretty good week, while having a bad one at the same time was a good sign to me, a sign that this training stuff is actually doing the trick. This week the same crud that had already done in the rest of my family caught up with me - chills, sore throat, coughing, blah, blah, you know the drill. My first scheduled run of the felt pretty good. The breathing and sweating was good for me I think. Wednesday I headed out for an eight miler and just couldn't get the steam built up. After one trip around the lake, I got in my car and drove home. The next day I stayed home from work, ill, something I do maybe once every three years.
Today's weekend long run was 16 on the schedule. I decided to go out the same route as the Turtledash half marathon but instead of being bussed out a ways, I decided to run from the house, out all the way and back. I was apprehensive about this plan for two reason; first, I still felt like hell, and secondly, this is the same route I took on Mr Toad's Wild Ride (when I got a wild hair a month or so after starting to run and decided to go out and hurt myself).
Today went a lot better. I went out really slow and had good support from my darling wife and dad, who both drove by and gave me fluids. At about mile eight I started to feel pretty good. I could breathe, the chills were burned out of me, and my energy levels were really good.
I'm not a medical doctor (OK, I'm not even a PHD), but I think my new theory is that exercise, when coupled with good diet and a lot of rest may be one way to kick a cold.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Vegas Shirt Design Number Six
So, unless anyone else whats to take a stab at the graphics, should we go with this look or the plain text back?
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Word of the Day is "Celerity"
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2005/10/12/sports/news01.txt
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Land Fill Starter Kit
You know how when you have a problem, you’re the last one to admit or realize that you have a problem? By the time you are willing to say, “I have a problem” everyone in your life is ready to give a huge sigh of relief? Well, I’m wondering if I have a problem, or if We have a problem.
Human beings are essentially big bags of water. Our largest organ, the dermis, holds in the squishy rest of us that is ninety-some percent water. We cannot live without continuously replenishing our supply. Becoming a distance runner has reacquainted me with that reality. I drink a lot of water throughout my day, and may drink 64 or even 96 ounces of fluid on a long run in the heat. I’m like a sieve in that respect.
So it strikes me as being particularly wasteful to vote with my dollars to have someone pipe up petroleum, combine it with acetates (or whatever they do to get long strand polymers – I got a D in chemistry so who knows) to make plastic, so that my 8 ounces of water can be encased in a plastic bottle. I drink water at approximately 2 ounces a swallow, so the water sits in the bottle long enough for me to get around to making four glugs – all while my home, office, and favorite running spot are all less than five miles from a river that is over one half mile wide. Then the bottle goes to the landfill, the war on terror goes on, and I go on to drink another eight ounces in another hour or so, and the cycle repeats itself.
My personal response to this conundrum has been to avoid buying my fluids in personal serving containers where possibly convenient and when someone gives me fluid in a small bottle to reuse the container as many times as I can before I lose the lid. This has worked pretty well up until now, even though we give each other fluids all the time without thinking about it - the water guy who refills the office cooler nonchalantly leaves a 36 pack of bottles as a no-cost treat. I bet the last time someone came to your house or office, you offered them liquid refreshment of some sort.
This past weekend we had 17 runners and many more spectators and general potluck attendees at our house for the second annual Turtle Dash Half Marathon and four mile walk. It kicked ass. We ran. We drank Guinness, and ate a lot of really good food. Mike barbecued three salmon at one time… After it was all over, I washed out all the empty eight ounce bottles and added them to my collection. Now, if I filled them all up, I would have enough water to supply several families of Katrina victims for a week or drink as I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail end to end.
Should I just give up on the bottle washing? Just take them all to the recycling center? Should I not even bother?
Wow, I wish I could right this much with so little effort for one of my night school papers.
She is just that fast, really
Mothership must be near
Freakishly Large Tack in her shoe is what I heard...
Its a dead heat...
Also, I forgot to ask people to specify what shirt sizes they want. If you want to go to the printer's website, I think I made the original post with the link Jeff found on August 17th, or there abouts.
Sorry for the fly by posting, hectic life continues (I'm getting my runs in though, heh, heh).
SD
Sunday, October 09, 2005
RBG Shirt Design 5
What I need to know from each of you is:
1. How many shirts do you want?
2. Do you want your shirt(s) mailed to you ahead of time or handed to you by me when we get there (I will mail them to you at shipping cost to me).
3. Will you have any trouble sending me a check?
4. What is your vote on whether the front logo should stay on the left breast or move back to covering the chest?
5. What is your vote on adding a hand of cards to the back?
6. I don't think we should do the web address this first time. Do you vehemently disagree?
Thanks,
SD
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Salmon of Capistrano
Last night we barbecued 1200 servings of salmon at an open house for the public. I was on the barbecue crew and spent 3.5 hours slinging fish. I inhaled a lot of smoke, got physically tired from the fast work, ate about a pound or two of delicious fish, and can neither confirm or deny that I may have had a couple of Coronas as well. After that I went for my second longest run of the week, which is currently seven miles. I thought I'd be paying the piper but aside from me being a little extra thirsty the run was quite pleasant and my times were good.
Like a lot of people, I tend to obsess about my diet and hydration leading up to a run. I usually make myself eat a big serving of oatmeal about an hour before my long runs and spend a lot of mental energy to those ends. Its nice to know that its possible to also have a good run after less than optimal preparation.
Is a salmon hangover possible?
Monday, October 03, 2005
Hat Trick Quick
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Another Week Come and Gone
Another first on yesterday's long run - peeing in someone's yard. We are semi-rural out here, so finding a clump of concealing landscaping to duck into wasn't much of a challenge. Lucky for me, they waited until after I was done and back up on the road and had been running along innocently for at least three seconds before coming around the corner in their SUV, waiving at me sunnily and pulling into their driveway. "Hi! Never mind the pee on your bushes!"
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Thoughts on Running
Seen for the first time:
A woman jogging in a warm up top, track pants, and wooden clogs with two inch heels and open toes. Now I've seen it all.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Pain Free!!
Sunday, September 25, 2005
TSD; Future Century Runner
Hope you are all feeling good too.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Weekend Long Run
| WEEK TOTALS |
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Twelve miles today in one hour and 52 minutes. I went out to Willow Grove, which is surrounded by a six mile long looped levi with the Columbia River on one side and a dike on the backside. In the middle is mostly sleepy grazing land and little farm houses. Its quiet. People in pickups and SUVs wave at you and get completely in the other lane as they pass. Old men are particularly prone to the two or three finger wave from where their had is resting atop the steering wheel. In other words its a pleasant place for run.
Ever since Mr Toad's Wild Ride, I've had this reocurring, lancing pain that shoots up the left side of my knee with I push things. It started out behind my knee and has migrated to the outside. If I take shorter runs and rest up for a week, its mostly gone by my weekend long run. I've sort been deal making with this pain. "If you let me have my weekend run, I won't push it during the week." This seems to be working.
Anyway, the pain went running with me today and seemed to be enjoying itself immensly. It doesn't really hurt much when I'm running, just later when I want to go up and down the stairs, etc. I wasn't getting the most out of my run and was worrying about The Pain until about mile eight when I passed some sort of mental hurdle and relaxed. It seemed that my breathing came easier, the fatigue melted away and I felt obscenely happy. Maybe I got a good squirt of brain chemicals. Who knows? Feeling pretty good now after my ice bath and some rehydration.
One more week of slackertude and then I start back up on the Vegas shirts. I promise.
If you run with an mp3 player and haven't checked out Steve Runner's podcast yet do so right now by going to steverunner.com to get his rss feed. I've found his episodes to be uniformly entertaining and informative. If you don't know what I'm talking about with this podcast/rss stuff, email me.
As he says at the end of his casts, Run Long and Taper.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Quote of the Day
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Back and Forth, Oh My
I haven't been blogging much the past couple of weeks. First I was on vacation/home renno time for a week and then I came back to the two busiest weeks of the year for someone in my profession. For any of you contemplating doing something similar, I'd say it is about as bright an idea as violating the golden 10% rule we are all beholden to.
Anyway, tonight the plan called for six miles. Lately, I've been letting go and just following my plan - no broad strokes or romantic dashes, just putting the old head down and following the plan. I decided to drive about a mile to a little section of graveled dike access road that covers about 1.8 miles if you start at one end and run it as an out and back circuit. I took Jonah and was looking forward to a quiet and peaceful time of easy rhythms, repetitive motion, and maybe some interesting podcasts.
What I forgot was that this little ribbon of gravel is the most noticeable landscape feature in a fairly densely populated residential area. The dike hugs the line where the floodplain meets the hills. By curtaining the floodplain in the 2.5 miles or so between two adjoining rivers our city planners created a pleasantly flat and dry area for suburbia to flourish. Now all the houses on the lower parts of the hill look down on the dike road and it towers gently above all the houses in the floodplain. Anyone standing in the kitchens of any of those houses probably looks at that .9 miles worth of trail and thinks to themselves, “Man, I really need to start getting some exercise.” Before I started training for a marathon (k-k-k-crazy!), I fit in here, slowing chugging through a leisurely almost two miles and then going home.
Tonight I arrived, right after dinner time, in my technical gear, with my hydration plan, ear buds, two-layer Wright socks, and a slight sense of unworthiness if my average mile pace were to creep above about 9 minutes. I did a quick out and back on another side road and then commenced running back and forth on the dike. I passed about 9 groups of walkers multiple times. At first I felt energized and flattered by their encouraging calls of “Hey, you’re a really good runner!” or “I’m going to be running like that in a week, right! Ha ha!”
I ran faster and faster, holding my head up and feeling good about myself. I was even pleased because my dog was better behaved than any of their dogs. Then I started to feel like a bit of a putz. I started to feel like that college sophmore who shows up at the high school party and flexes his muscles. Not like I’m Mr. Hotstuff or anything but I’ve graduated past the level where women feel uncomfortable about setting out to exercise and change themselves for the better without wearing a lot of makeup and hairspray and you see old men wearing jeans and work shoes who meet your eye aggressively as if daring you to question the proposition that they’re not actually there to exercise but are maybe instead simply walking to work… along the dike… at six thirty at night…
Tonight I went back to my old stomping ground and found out I’d outgrown it. As Ljisaak says, “2 months, 20 days.” Let’s roll.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Pints to Pasta 10k, Portland, OR, 09/11/05
Run Time:52.26
Run Dist: 6.31
Avg Pace: 08:18 per mile
Best Pace: 6.44 per mile (last .3 I sprinted)
Mile One: 8:01 (8.01)
Mile Two: 16:24 (8.23)
Mile Three: 25.03 (8.38)
Mile Four: 33.12 (8.10)
Mile Five: 41.50 (8.37)
Mile Six: 50.20 (8.30)
That Last Bit: 2.26 (6.44)
Saturday, September 10, 2005
End of the Week Tomorrow
| Sep 7, 2005 | 3 | |||||
| Sep 8, 2005 | 3.51 | |||||
Remember alll those people who tell you to never ever violate the 10% rule? THEY'RE RIGHT! I didn't do any permanent damage, I don't think, with my indulgences last week but I came pretty close. I now know what ITB pain feels like. Yay!
I didn't run hardly at all this week. Partly to let myself recover and partly because I spent a good part of the week sanding a hardwood floor and just wasn't feeling up to running after a day on my knees.
Tomorrow will be my first formal running event since I started training for Vegas. Keith, Natalia, Brit, Lauren and the Moo are headed down to Portland for the Pints to Pasta 10k. I'm feeling 95% recovered and looking forward to it.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Belt Pic for Jeff
What the numbers signify:
1. The original velcro patch, which sewn behing the key pocket.
2.new velcro
3. old velcro
4. new velcro
This makes the belt about twice as tight as it used to be. It doesn't squish me or chafe but I wish the hip mounted fluid bottles were a bit further back. The belt also now overlaps one of the front goo or mace holsters. This is actually a good thing as you could now put something in there and have it stay more securely.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
End of the week post
Weekly Total:31.08
| Aug 30, 2005 | 3.60 | |||||
| Aug 31, 2005 | 7.17 | |||||
| Sep 1, 2005 | 4.56 | |||||
| Sep 3, 2005 | 15.75 | |||||
This past week, at least as far as running goes, was a good one. The week before I took it easy and recuperated. This was necessary, and relaxing but boring. This week the batteries were charged up and I decided to fire off all the guns at once, as it were.
Today I ran from my house out to where we used to live at the beach and back home again. I logged 15.75 miles on the forerunner, drank 32 oz of sugar water, and did two goo packets while preambulating. The hydration belt I got off the Internet (after flatman bought one) worked just fine after Brit sewed a few new Velcro patches into it (slipped over my non-gadonkadonk before the tightening up). I ran at the pace of a snail (and not the one from Never Ending Story) but I still ran about a mile and a half farther than I ever have in my life.
Thanks to all of you who have participated in the shirt design project so far. One Internet friend told me that working on the shirt and thinking about Vegas in general helped lift her out of a week-long blue funk (Yay Part II!). I'm thinking we should keep soliciting input and then order the darned things in about the middle of October/early December.
If you’ve made it this far in this way too long posting, you qualify for Dear Reader status.
