Author Archives: Ed Mahoney

CT Cronica: Downhill

03 Sunday Apr 2011

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You rise at 6 am to dress for hiking the first segment of the Colorado Trail.  You laid out your clothes the night before and selected a slew of shirts, extra socks and even multiple hats to make your final dress determination at the trail head.  You make a ham and cheese sandwich and grab a bag of baby carrots for trail food, and stuff it in your pack with clothes, sunscreen and two bottles of Gatorade Perform 02.  You’re out the door and at Vics by 6:30 am for a large cup of half decaf, half real deal for the drive to Sedalia.

You drive about 10 miles west of Sedalia on Hwy 67 to the Indian Creek Trail Head, where your trail guide A Lo Hawk is waiting for you after having camped the night out there.  You spend 45 minutes shuffling a car to the end of the hike, and launch at 3 minutes before 9 am.  A Lo Hawk, who in many ways is more of a spiritual guide than trail guide, takes the lead.  You follow more as if chasing the wind than anything corporeal.  Your expectation is to run as much as the first half of the 16 mile trail, and walk the rest.  But that plan is fluid and will be determined by the terrain and elevation.  You warm up and quickly fall into a fast pace because the trail is noticeably downhill.  Soon you’re flying effortlessly down the single track, and recalling how this trail reminds you of the time you spent regularly running an inner city greenbelt 23 years earlier.  You wonder if this trail will fall downward forever and know that you’ll complete it much earlier than planned if the drop continues.

All downhills end with a corresponding uphill, and this experience is no different.  A Lo Hawk gradually, smoothly shifts gears to maintain cadence as the slope increases and you near the crest.  He talks of trail ultras and the concept of continuum – the notion that each segment, the runs, the walks, and the sit down rests, all comprise equal experiences in your enjoyment of the CT.  As the rise steepens, you look forward to the walking component of the continuum.

A Lo Hawk eventually glides into a walk and you take his picture.  You’ve completed the first quarter of the first segment of the CT.  You don’t know that the quarter metaphor will add up mathematically in terms of today’s hike/run having 4 stops or 4 discrete segments; but you’re thinking more in terms of running an interval track workout of quarter miles.  Such workouts might consist of 6 or 8 quarters, and for whatever reason, you think today’s run might be something like an interval workout.  You’re flexible enough in your use of metaphors to apply the term to the notion of having just  completed a quarter of the trail.  Technically, your first stop came after only 2 or 3 memorable miles – so only an eighth of the trail.  And so far, your gear choice of two layers of thin, high tech shirts – one a red long-sleeve Under Armour jersey, and the second your new crimson red Boulder Spring Half Marathon top – has kept you comfortable.  The air is still chilly but the sun is bright and the wind nominal.  You think about taking the lead for the second quarter.

A Lo Hawk Launches Off on the Colorado Trail

02 Saturday Apr 2011

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Meet A Lo Hawk.  A trail moniker birthed in a Maui volcano and carried forth on the PCT and AT.  Having fully tested the patience of loved ones on those summer-long hikes, his plan for hiking the Colorado Trail is to complete segments on weekends.  I believe A Lo Hawk told me there are 28 segments.  That sounds like half a year to me.  But A Lo Hawk suspects he can hike some of the segments in tandem, and he started early.  A Lo Hawk started today with me.

Me was very impressed with myself for being able to hang with A Lo Hawk on today’s 16 mile excursion over the rolling hills of the first segment of the Colorado Trail.  A Lo Hawk finished stronger than me but I held my own for most of the ride.  And man, what a ride.  Physically, it was much more challenging than the recent half marathons I’ve run.  And yet it was totally more fun.  Trail running presents the runner with an epic adventure, and today was no exception.

I won’t provide all the details here because I’ve decided to return to my metaphorical writing style and will publish several narratives as part of a single story on today’s experience.  I setup a new page which should appear as a tab like the About tab on this blog page.  I’m still working to understand the mechanics of publishing this on a separate page within this same blog, so please remain patient with me as I figure this out.

Needless to say, today’s adventure contains enough themes to write several stories.  If A Lo Hawk is successful in his prodding, I’ll complete additional segments of the Colorado Trail with him, and the new story will continue throughout the summer.  I’ve named the story, CT Cronica.  You should be able to view the tab near the top of this blog menu.  As of now, I haven’t added any stories, but I will.

Spring Break

31 Thursday Mar 2011

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We went snowshoeing a second day for Ellie’s spring break.  It appears we’ve acquired a new pastime.  Have you ever gone for a weekend ski trip where you or someone else didn’t fully get the skiing thing?  Maybe you liked it when you were younger.  Now your eyesight is such that you can’t see the dips.  Or your legs don’t have the stamina to complete the run without countless stops.  But you like exercise and you enjoy the outdoors.  So for you, the combination of both woods and a mountain are exquisite.  And snow is like the cherry on top.  Snowshoeing is hiking on steroids.  The three of us, two 48 years olds and an 8 year old, kept pace together for treks of 100 minutes on day one and 75 minutes on day two.  And we all seriously enjoyed it.

To be totally honest, Ellie would have preferred something else, but she took the lead for the entire second half of our hike.  I don’t care if her reason for that was impatience with my pace, the girl took charge and enjoyed it.  We had fresh powder from nonstop dumps of snow, and we were the first ones out on the trail this morning.  Ellie had to navigate by reading the signs; the ground hints were completely invisible half the time.  I can’t get inside her head but she’s leaving here with something memorable.

And actually Karen led the first half, not me.  Both those girls were clearly enthralled by the specter of fresh powder covering the trail, and the challenge of navigating by sighting trail signs.  Ellie’s seemingly random barks of caution for potential danger of holes and soft snow left me in wonder at how leadership forms in a young girl’s life experience.  And if leadership is genetic, I’ll admit here and now that neither Karen or Ellie allowed me a chance to lead today.  To the back pops.

As I planned yesterday, and related in my last blog post, we took today’s hike to the Shock Hill gondola stop and rode up to Peak 8.  We ate a nice lunch at the T-Bar – the food had a southwestern flair.  And on full stomachs, we rode back down the gondola, strapped on our snowshoes, and hiked the remaining half mile or so to the Nordic Center to complete this morning’s outing.  We proceeded directly to the ice skating rink where we all remembered we suck at ice skating.  But with full tummies we continued our day of working out.  I suffered the additional embarrassment of some authoritative 17 year old girl instructing me to sit down to tie my shoes properly before I broke an ankle.  Tired from taking the backseat to women all day, I all-to-weakly complained about the shoe strings being too long; but soon found myself benched retying my laces.  And she was right; I skated much better afterward.

Once back at the hotel, surprisingly Ellie was too tired to immediately swim.  I took that as my chance to avoid the cold pool and spend some quality time in the hot tub.  And it was perfect – a steaming outdoor hot tub in snowfall.  After about 20 minutes, 5 minutes past my second punch of the 15 minute timer, I was in some sub-level conscious state when several pounds of ice rolled off the lodge roof and slammed into the concrete near my head like a Japanese earthquake.  My 20 minutes of mental calmness was forever disrupted, but my physical stress was already fully restored.  This vacation has been a – well a vacation.  A successful one.  Karen is just so excellent at setting these things up for us.  To be fair, I couldn’t fully escape work.  And who can in the age of 110% American productivity?  But even though I had to remain engaged, my peers and even management were pulling their weight and making things happen for me to enjoy the week.  We head home tomorrow morning, but with no regrets.  This was an awesome spring break.

Spring Snowshoe

30 Wednesday Mar 2011

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snowshoe B1

My second snowshoe outing for the year – this one while on spring break with Karen and Ellie in Breckenridge at the Nordic Ski Center.  This was the first time ever for Karen and Ellie to snowshoe.  Karen really enjoyed it.  Ellie started out strong but for some reason lost her mojo and got grumpy.  Still, a grumpy Ellie is nothing like some temperamental youngsters.  She stomped onward; she even assumed the lead for awhile.

snowshoe B3

We hiked the Pence Miller trail.  It’s a loop (not sure the distance) and it took a little under 2 hours.  Tomorrow we plan to hike the shorter Willow trail, but will take it to the Shock Hill gondola stop and ride up the mountain for lunch and more activities on Peak 8.  Not sure if we’ll do any typical skiing on this trip, but we also have plans for ice skating.  No running on this vacation, but it’s good to mix things up every now and then.  I’m thinking of even squeezing in a deep tissue massage in the spa.  Why not?

2011 Roadmap

28 Monday Mar 2011

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Got the race results from the Boulder Half and I ran about as I thought.  I ran my second 6.55 miles 5 minutes faster than my first 6.55 miles.  I felt like I was racing again on the return.  Overall, my time was about a minute slower than the week before in Moab, or 5 seconds per mile slower.  If I consider the minute I took to relieve myself at the 4 mile port-a-potty, the two runs were equal; which is pretty amazing considering the 1000 feet difference in altitude and general variance in elevation.  The pic here is at the finish of the Moab run.

A Lo Hawk – coach that he is – left me a comment suggesting I add some speed work, even track workouts – to my schedule.  That is in fact my goal.  Gaining speed shouldn’t be so important to me, certainly not as much as improving my health.  I’ll even say that enjoying myself with a healthy outdoor hobby is near the top of my objectives.  But running faster is one of my goals.  I’d say it’s less of my competitive nature than the fact that I simply like running fast.  There’s a feeling almost animal in nature about letting your body go.  I like it.

Now that muscle tone has fully returned to my legs, I can tell that it’s my belly holding me back from running faster.  I should probably refer to the term – core.  I need to strengthen my core.  But such a convex core as mine is more aptly described by the term belly.  I’ll call it my core after it’s trimmed up a tad more.

This is not to say I wouldn’t benefit from track workouts.  While my belly is certainly an issue to be dealt with, my legs and cardiovascular system need to relearn how to run fast.  And this means interval workouts.  So my 2011 roadmap will include hitting the Niwot H.S. track this spring.  My racing objective is to run a 7 minute pace in this year’s Bolder Boulder.  That’s the only race I’m interested in running fast, so I’ll probably stop the track workouts by June.  For the summer, I want to run some half marathon trail runs.  Those won’t require speed as much as stamina and hill training.  So after I’ve improved upon my speed, I intend to increase my mountain trail running.  If the year of training goes well enough, I’ll run another marathon or two by year end.

The Boulder Half

27 Sunday Mar 2011

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I completed the Boulder Half Marathon this morning and it went really well.  I must be learning my pace.  I ran this exactly how I described my plans in earlier blog posts.  I ran the first half nice and easy – maybe a 9 minute mile pace.  Upon turning back at the 6.55 mile marker, I dropped a minute or more off my pace.  Man did that feel good.  But let me start at the beginning.

For breakfast, I ate a banana and a tasty organic tangerine.  I also had a mug of java – half decaf, half the real deal.  I included a sip of OJ and a glass of water.

I reached the Boulder Reservoir at 7:15.  It was nice being able to park there close to the race start in terms of not having to commit to my race gear until the final minute.  It was chilly as I expected but the wind seemed fairly calm.  I committed to the two race jerseys I described in my last blog post, along with a thin pair of Under Armour tights and runners gloves.  I figured I didn’t really need the tights, but they kept me comfortable while waiting for the race to start.  And I felt confident I wasn’t over dressed as easily 80% of the crowd was wearing tights of some sort.

I also had to make a decision on what hat to wear.  I brought a fleece runner’s hat and my Barr Camp runner’s cap.  I have three fleece hats of varying thickness.  This was the thinnest – my baby bear edition.  But the idea of wearing it for 13.1 miles didn’t appeal to me.  Fleece hats get so sweaty.  Since the wind wasn’t strong, I figured my ears would be fine and opted for the runner’s cap.  It’s easy to pop that thing off and force the sweat out of it by swinging it a few times.  Plus the bill shades the sun – which came out from the clouds right at the start of the race.

I launched my playlist in shuffle mode and started the race to REM.  Seemed appropriate.  By 2 miles, I’d warmed up nicely and would not have needed the tights, but they were such a light pair that I felt fine with them the entire course.  I noticed the first race photographer at this spot too – I didn’t know this event would have them.  I’m guessing the Flat Irons were in the background at this spot so I hope they got a picture of me.  I was dressed head to ankle as black as a cat burglar.  Ideally, this color selection will make me appear more slender than the white compression jersey I wore in Moab.  The picture above might not show this, but in other pics it made my prominent belly pop.

I removed my gloves at 4 miles, and also surrendered a minute to take a leak.  A minute well spent I assure you.  I encountered the lead runner around 4.5 miles coming back on the out and back course, and saw the first female around mile 5.  When I say she was pretty in pink, she was wearing pink and she was a blond cutie.  Boulder’s finest.

Upon turning back myself at the half way point, I did exactly what I had hoped I would do – I turned on the jets.  It could have been the down slope, or it might have been Green Day.  ENGLAND!  I feel like I dropped a good 90 seconds off my pace.  I felt awesome.  And I wasn’t the only one – a couple of guys and a couple more women had the same plan and challenged me.  But I kept strong and didn’t let anyone surge past me until the final half mile when I decided to coast in for a warm down rather than race it in.  I ran strong the entire way back and that was my reward to myself.  I’d accomplished my workout plan and didn’t feel a need to kick.

I don’t know my true chip time yet but the clock read about 49 minutes – which is the same time I ran in Moab.  This felt so much better though.  I started out slow the first mile in Moab but otherwise ran a strong, consistent pace.  The final 3 miles in Moab were difficult as the course sloped uphill.  Today I ran easy for the entire first half.  And it was noticeably tougher than Moab because the first 6 miles were completely uphill – an elevation gain of 300 feet.  And at 5200 feet, you feel every one of those 300 feet.  So controlling my pace was smart.  The return back down those same 300 feet felt great.  I started so fast between miles 6 and 7 that I didn’t know if I could maintain my pace.  I know I dropped back off a good 30 seconds, but overall I stayed strong.  I’m really glad I decided to run this event.

Drinking a Boulder Beer at the finish, I sat down next to this guy, he said his name was Jim Frimers.  Not sure if I spelled that correctly, but he’s a writer for Trail Runner Magazine.  I really enjoyed talking to him and plan to look up his column.  Next weekend I’ll meet up with A Lo Hawk to hike the Colorado Trail.  Looking forward to that.

Next Up – Boulder Half

26 Saturday Mar 2011

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How’s this for a finisher’s pic?  This is a little less than half our running crew at last weekend’s Moab Half.  That’s me, Amy (aka Gadget Girl), Jen and Steve.  I’ll be running alone tomorrow in the Boulder Half out at the res.  Might as well listen to my iPhone, so I’m charging my Phillips Bluetooth Earbuds.  Gadget Girl doesn’t have a pair of these!

I’m also washing some cold weather gear.  It’ll be 32° at race start, and maybe 35° with rain by race finish.  That won’t be too bad if the wind stays out of the way.  An 8 mile wind is expected which will probably be more of an issue while lined up at the start in terms of keeping warm.  I’m thinking of wearing two long-sleeve high-tech shirts; the under shirt being thin and the over short being thick.  I also think that the 30s is cold enough to justify tights – but not a heavy pair.  Something with pockets would be good though.  I’m big on pockets.  If you find yourself ever buying me some running gear, look for pockets.

Gadget Girl asked me earlier today what pace I thought I’ll run tomorrow.  Certainly slower than last week.  I pushed myself a bit in Moab but I’m taking this like any other workout.  Of course, if it were a workout, I’d average a 9 minute pace.  I plan to start out at that pace but hope that I loosen up enough to run the second half at 8 or 8.5 minute miles.  I need to start working on my speed.  Registration for the Bolder Boulder opens up Monday.  I’ve set a goal to run that at a 7 minute pace – which is a pretty aggressive target.  I ran a 7:35 pace in the Longmont Turkey Trot last fall though; and I think I’ll use that to pick my starting corral.  I ran last year’s Bolder Boulder at an 8:01 pace, so anything in the 7s will demonstrate improvement.

The Capitol 10K in Austin is also run tomorrow.  I had that on my radar but opted for the Austin Marathon instead.  Can’t be flying down to Austin for everything.  I have some friends running it though so I’ll check out the online results.  I ran the very first Capitol 10K in I think 1977.  I won some age division awards at that event in ’81 and ’82; so if I ever become age competitive again, I plan to return to that race to repeat past glory.  Wish me a good run tomorrow.  A blog post will follow.

Post Race Awards Ceremony

23 Wednesday Mar 2011

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This is not what you think.  I mean it’s not really an awards ceremony.  Nobody in my inner runner’s circle won any awards.  But we awarded ourselves tonight with a foot stompin’ good time.  To reward ourselves for our 13.1 mile efforts, we pampered ourselves with pedicures.

Four beers deep into the evening, I discovered my inner chick runner and enjoyed the massage, wax, hot wraps, buffing, chips, dip, olives and more beer.  I neglected to mention in my earlier blog posts on the Moab Half that the vast majority of Team Prospect were women.  Keith and Steve were the only two other men, but they weren’t man enough for this celebration.  With that said, can you tell which feet are man and which are woman in this pic?

Seriously, I not only enjoyed this – I plan to make a habit out of it.  Why not?  I beat the hell out of my feet running.  There are times Karen wants to put a bag over my feet.  My feet are a vessel and I should take care of them.  Before this, I didn’t understand what taking care of them meant.  Now that I know, I’d be reckless not to get pedicures.  You say what you want.  Or think what you want, you feckless voyeurs.  You got something to say, leave a comment.  I could have used this back in the day when I was a young athlete.  Of course, I didn’t exactly have the coin back then, but I imagine San Marcos had some cheap back alley spas that I could have afforded.  I’ll be joining Karen as a regular going forward.  That’s my foot on the right without any polish in the pic.

Running Alone

22 Tuesday Mar 2011

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The best thing about the half in Moab wasn’t the spectacular scenery, it was spending the weekend with friends.  What are the odds I could have so many friends fit enough to enjoy such a demanding sport with me?  If this weren’t Boulder County, I’d say pretty low.  In this pic is Eve, Suzy, Coach Jabe, Katherine, Keith and me.

But I’ll be running by myself this weekend in the Boulder Half Marathon.  Sort of hard to get excited about that.  I am thinking about it as simply a workout, and that’s fine; but man – what a difference!

I checked out the course online today at the Boulder Res.  I’ve run those backroads before.  Good God, I must be spoiled but talk about boring.  In fact it’s double boring because it’s an out-an-back route.  6.5 miles north on gravel roads, turn around, and return back to the Res on the exact same 6.5 miles.  Now that I think about it, the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler was that way too.  But that was different.  It included a half mile loop at the turn-around, and the hills were so intense that they seemed new the second time.

So what will it be like running alone this weekend?  Not much different really.  I wouldn’t even be thinking about it if last weekend weren’t such an extroversion.  Before Moab, I ran the Austin and Denver Marathons completely by myself.  So this isn’t exactly unusual for me.  But then I ran the IPR with my buddy A Low Hawk before that.  Running with friends turns a workout into an event.

Can’t do an event every weekend though.  I think running an organized run as my workout is smart.  I typically run by myself and I suspect running with the crowd will push me to run a little harder.  Not as hard as Moab where I was under some pressure to beat Keith.  Poor Keith started out too fast, sort of like me in Austin, and hit a bit of a wall at 11 miles – when the course flipped its slope to an incline.  I plan to run as slow as I would in a workout.  I’ll certainly start out nice and slow, although I expect the event factor to keep my pace strong.  I ran an 8:12 pace in Moab.  I predict an 8:30 pace this Sunday.  Forecasting is hard though because the elevation is dramatically different from Moab.  Boulder rises 300 feet the first half, and then gives back that altitude on the return.  Just another reason to start out slow and hope I loosen up.  That’s the game plan.

The Moab Half

19 Saturday Mar 2011

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Look at those rocks.  These are nothing.  You haven’t seen rocks until you’ve been to Moab and run 13.1 miles down Hwy 128.  Moab is where rocks come from.  As scenic as this course was though, the entire drive to Moab ain’t too shabby.  The tunnels through Glenwood Canyon are pretty awesome.  Dave and his two daughters drove with Karen, Ellie and me.  We had lunch a little after noon in Vail and arrived in town around 5pm.  We stopped less than we anticipated along the way, ironically, more for the adults needing rest stops than the kids.

We hit the one liquor store in town before going to the condo.  It was interesting; being a state run liquor store, they didn’t have coolers or sell ice.  Needless to say, they didn’t have little brown paper bags for your single either.  We arrived to a happening party at the condo with most of our friends already enjoying happy hour in the front yard.  Not a bad start to the Moab Canyonlands Half Marathon.  We ended the night at the Red Cliffs Lodge for dinner where both the service and food were as good as the view.

I walked to the race start around 7 in the morning with Keith, Susan and Katherine.  We stopped for coffee first at the Red Rock Bakery and Net Cafe.  The owner was unbelievably personable – and the coffee was very good.  Then we completed our walk to Swanny Park and boarded a bus for the race start up Hwy 128.  The start of the run wasn’t until 10am, so we queued up for the port-a-potties and then found a nice spot up the canyon wall to sit on some rocks.  The picture above is of my running mates at this time – Katherine, Suzy and Keith.  One of the professional race photographers came by later and took our picture after more of our group had joined us.

The weather felt fairly pleasant at first and I was starting to feel like I might have over dressed and felt remiss for not bringing a short-sleeve shirt.  I could have taken multiple shirts with me inside my gear bag, but I’d committed to my white Under Armour, long-sleeve compression jersey.  I wore a red long-sleeve fleece top over that, along with gray fleece pants – both Under Armour as well.  But my plan was to store those in my gear bag before running.  Then the wind picked up noticeably and the clouds began to form overhead.  I actually pulled my wind jacket out of my gear bag at that point to stay warm.  We had another 60 minutes before the start of the race and we all began to re-assess our wardrobe selections.  I did however start to feel more confident that I was good with long-sleeves.

With 20 minutes left, we were allowed to walk the remaining half mile from our bus drop off area to the start up the hill.  We had to commit to our dress gear on that walk as the gear bag trucks were positioned before the starting line.  Upon reaching the starting corrals, the wind began to howl.  So many runners, in short shorts and tank tops were shivering.  The situation seemed almost dire and I considered whom I might spoon with for warmth.  No options presented themselves but I did start up a conversation with Allison, a charming lady from the Springs.  She noticed my Barr Camp running hat and asked if I’d run the Pike’s Peak Ascent.  I haven’t, but I did hike Pike’s Peak and stay at Barr Camp.  I ran the first half mile or so with her and she read out our pace from her Garmin.

I found this helpful as my goal was to try my best to run no faster than a 9 minute pace for the first mile or two.  I think I hit this although it might have been more due to starting at the 9 minute mile pace sign and the road being so narrow that it took several miles before there was sufficient room to run my own pace.  The shivering subsided immediately upon running.  It was never so cold that my ears were numb, but the wind was super strong.  After two miles though, I was feeling pretty warm.  I even rolled up my sleeves by mile six.  Compression shirts are tricky though.  I found it uncomfortable for my sleeves to be rolled up past my elbows and had to roll them down below my elbows where they didn’t feel tight.

I felt really comfortable at this point and even though I didn’t have any confirmation of my pace, I felt certain I was running around an 8.5 minute mile.  I didn’t wear ear buds for this race.  Not sure why I made that decision but once running I definitely appreciated the heightened visual of one of the world’s most spectacular roads without the distraction of audio.  Something I wouldn’t have noticed listening to audio was whenever the wind roared up around a bend, its effect rippled across a hundred race bibs leading me to imagine I was flying with a flock of birds.  That probably sounds weird but the sound must have triggered something in my subconscious.  The wind wasn’t at all constant.  It was dead still at times, like around two miles when I felt hot; but after some bends the canyon would inhale into my face and chest while it exhaled against my back around other bends – all seemingly random.

The course never dropped more than 100 feet over the entire length, but it felt downhill forever.  A pace changer of a hill presented itself at mile 9 but gave back all its altitude on the far side.  Mile 11 began the climb back out of this gorgeous canyon hole.  It was never steep, and hardly even noticeable, but it was enough to keep me from increasing my pace as I neared the finish.  I kept my pace steady to the end and was really happy to discover I’d finished the 13 miles with an 8.12 pace.  Even more pleasing was that after my lessons learned from the Austin Marathon, I effectively controlled my pace and remained comfortable the entire run.  I’m really excited to think I’m learning my pace.  I finished with my family cheering me on, took the official race photo, and proceeded to claim my gear bag and change into dry clothes.  I returned to watch my friends finish, although not fast enough to see Keith come in.  Everyone did well, although I’m still so impressed that so many of my neighbors can run a half marathon period, let alone well.  We attribute this to Coach Jabe, who has been leading Team Prospect in fitness for well over a year now with the result being our accomplishment today.  I got to see Amy’s strong finish; and took another round of photos with her, Steve and Jen.  Then it was lunch with Karen and Ellie, back to the condo for beer, hot tub, beer, prepping ceviche – and finally to a post race dinner of pulled pork with the gang.  I’m now calorie neutral for the day, if not a little heavier after all that eating and headed to bed.  Next weekend is the Boulder Half Marathon.

Road Trip

17 Thursday Mar 2011

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This run has been planned for awhile.  I had time to run a full marathon since registering for this half marathon.  I haven’t run a race with a group of so many friends since college when I used to run the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi every Labor Day weekend.  And now it’s time, we leave tomorrow morning.  I have to squeeze in a business call first at 7:30 am.  Not to be outdone, Karen is teaching an aerobics class in Boulder at 6am.  Then we drop Jack off at the doggie ranch and we hit the road.

I expect lunch in either Vail or Glenwood Springs.  And 2 or 3 hours later we’ll be in Utah.  I’ve never driven west of Grand Junction before.  I’m looking forward to turning south off I-70 onto U-128 for the slow scenic drive alongside the Colorado River.  We’re leaving early enough to take the slow road.  I wish I had a camera other than my iPhone.  I need to work on that.  But I expect some great team pics during this event.  And you should too – look for me to post some pics by Sunday for sure.

Pasta Jay’s Bites

15 Tuesday Mar 2011

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Have I not mentioned Pasta Jay’s several times in my recent blog posts?  So you all know I was planning on having dinner at their Moab site this Friday with a dozen of my fit friends before running the Moab Half Marathon.  Barb went out of her way to call them several times to set reservations.  Each time adding a couple more people.  So just now they call her back to not only state they don’t accept reservations, but to be so rude about it as to make her feel she should have known better than to trust one of their staff who happened to answer the phone on each of her calls.

I know many restaurants don’t accept reservations anymore.  It  runs counter to their business model of quickly turning over tables.  But the more business savvy of these places still make exceptions for large tables of 10 or more persons.  Few of them are ever rude about it.  I used to like Pasta Jays.  I think mostly because it was cheap.  But you get what you pay for and I can’t recommend this place to anyone.  At least not the Moab site.

Pre-Race Delirium

14 Monday Mar 2011

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I’m out of control.  With another 5 days before I run the Moab Half Marathon, I just registered for the Boulder Half Marathon for the following weekend.  Why not?  Spring training is in full swing.  I’d probably do my 12 mile run on East Boulder Trail anyway; might as well get a finisher’s medal for my efforts.  Plus I hear they hand out finisher’s shot glasses.  That will be a nice compliment to my 100 plus shot glass collection.

And here’s the kicker.  When I’m standing in the Moab starting corral with my friends, and Keith asks me what pace I plan to run, I’ll respond, “Around eight and a half minutes Keith.  I don’t want to push too hard cuz this is just a warm-up for next week’s Boulder Half.”  What an ass!

Pre-Race Excitement

13 Sunday Mar 2011

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If you’re a mountain biker, then you know this sign is in Moab, Utah.  Land of magnificent sandstone archways and red rock canyons that funnel the Colorado River toward Lake Powell.  And for a biker, Slickrock Trail stands out as one of the world’s best.  With less than one week remaining before the Moab Canyonlands Half Marathon, the neighborhood emails have reached spam proportions as everyone details their plans and arranges what will be the true highlight of the event – eating and drinking.

We’ll meet up at Pasta Jays on Friday Night, Dave will slow cook pulled pork Saturday while we swim in his condo’s heated pool, and Sunday marks Jen‘s birthday.  There are nearly a dozen of us from the hood running, but Steve is planning on hikes with his kids while Dave and Kelly are gearing up for a ride on Slickrock.  Something for everybody.  But seriously, how many of you have a dozen neighbors who could and would run a half marathon for fun?  Living in Boulder County is insane.

Since I returned to road races last summer, I’ve scored some really nice venues.  It doesn’t hurt that I live in Colorado.  The Imogene Pass Run from Ouray to Telluride stands out as the most spectacular, but Garden of the Gods wasn’t too shabby.  We stayed at the Cliff House in Manitou Springs while we enjoyed two different places for the IPR, spending the first night in Ouray at the Beaumont Hotel and the second night in Telluride at Hotel Columbia.  I don’t run a big event every weekend, but when I do I make the most of it.  Two other events I’m looking into this summer are the LaSportiva Half Marathon Trail Run in Vail and the Vasque Golden Leaf Half Marathon Trail Run in Aspen.  Those can’t be bad.

I feel good that I’ve been able to blend my fitness kick in with events that I can share with friends and family.  The Garden of the Gods run was my family’s first visit to Manitou Springs – which marks the trail head to Pike’s Peak.  The IPR was our first drive down to Ouray and Telluride which are both unbelievably beautiful.  And next week will be our first venture over to Moab.  I’m as excited as all my neighbors.

Breakfast of Champions

09 Wednesday Mar 2011

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Is coffee not the best thing ever?  I liked Squeeze’s song, Black Coffee in Bed, before I ever drank coffee as a regular part of my nutritional breakfast.  Think I’m being funny when I call it nutritional?  Read that last link.  Coffee contains a surprising amount of vitamins and minerals – especially magnesium.  I’ve read an article or two (I had a subscription to Runner’s World for awhile) about the benefits of a cup of coffee before exercise.  I forget the details but recall it advising something about small quantities being good before a run.  I’m thinking of this now because I ran 8 miles today after two missed days of running and had a bit of a stitch from the 8 cups of java I had for breakfast.  8 cups probably exceeds the limits of small quantities, I know that.  But I’m just wondering, how good or how bad is coffee for training?

I know too much caffeine is bad, no question.  Especially in Colorado with the dry climate.  In fact, when I determined to seriously return to high-mileage running a couple of years ago, I had to give up caffeine.  I went from 8 cups of coffee each morning to zero – cold turkey.  Such prodigious amounts of joe led to incredible dehydration and headaches.  After a good number of months, I think by Christmas after quitting in the spring, I began to drink decaffeinated coffee.  I used to think drinking decaf was odd, but I get it now.  I love black coffee – caffeine or not.  I’m now even more lax and will drink regular coffee when traveling or I simply run out of decaf.  If I go down to Big Daddy Bagels or Vics, I’ll order half regular and half decaf.  So like with most things I’m pretty flexible.  Still, I’ve crept back up on the quantity of coffee I’m drinking and caffeine or not – I have to wonder what the effects of such voluminous java is doing to my diet – or for that matter my running.  It certainly bounces around in my gut so that’s less than optimal.  I’ve heard stories that caffeine actually makes your body hold onto fat cells, and similar bits of wisdom saying it’s good or it’s not good before a run.  No idea what’s true.  And of course, I’m more concerned with better understanding the effects of coffee sans caffeine.  I’m interested in comments.

Gadget Girl

06 Sunday Mar 2011

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I ran 7 miles this morning with my friend Amy. I rarely run with anyone because I don’t generally have the time to synch up with people, but it’s amazing how fast the time goes by when you’re chatting away about your kids, training, injuries and the next big event – which for us will be Moab. We ran on one of her favorite trails, McIntosh Lake in North Longmont. Nice route, it’s a 3.5 mile loop about half trail and half sidewalk.

Now, you know I like gadgets as much as the next guy. But apparently not as much as this girl. Amy has it all. She wore this killer wind jacket – it was so light – made by Pearl Izumi. I could have used that for the IPR last fall where jackets, gloves and hats were pre-requisites for lining up in the corral. The weather was just cold enough for a light jacket. I got by with a single layer compression jersey, but the wind picked up before we were done and dressing any lighter would have become uncomfortable.

Of course, Amy had a top-of-the-line Garmin GPS sportswatch. This thing knew our distance and would have told us what we had for breakfast if we were interested. Now the next piece of gear might surprise you. She wore patella knee straps. I’m not sure what brand but they could either be ProCare, Bioskin or Breg based on the pictures at this gear catalog website. Amy has had knee surgery and swears by these straps. The last gear of significant note would be her compression shin socks – not the full socks which I understand you can also buy. I like my compression tops and tights, so I have no doubt those things feel good. The theory is they help with circulation to avoid cramps. She also wore some good looking Mizuno shoes which I heard are among the lightest on the market; and she had this cool running long sleeve top – not sure the brand – that had holes to hook her thumbs through to act like partial gloves. Perfect for today when the temperature was such that many other runners on the trail were in fact wearing gloves – but it was too warm for me.

Running with Amy this morning was a wake-up call. Before we run the Canyonlands Half Marathon later this month, I need to gear up. High altitude running in the desert could be tricky. It’ll likely start out fairly cool but warm-up dramatically. I’ll want light and efficient gear. I want what Amy has, but in more masculine colors.

Next Up – Moab

03 Thursday Mar 2011

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I feel fully recovered from the Austin Marathon. Admittedly, I’ve only been running my little four mile route, but the runs have felt strong and all the lingering pain from the marathon has dissipated. It’s such a relief to escape any ultra distance conflict injury free. Just ask Alohawk pictured here descending Imogene Pass about that. Or better yet, read his blog on how such injuries can impact later events. He got lucky in that he mostly recovered before his next big event. I feel like I dodged a bullet considering I launched this season with a marathon. Could have ruined the entire season. Instead, I’m feeling pretty confident.

Moab Canyonlands is next up in 16 days. This is going to be a blast – half the neighborhood is going. We’ve already made reservations for Pasta Jay’s on Friday. And I expect Dave will cook up some awesome BBQ on Saturday. Some of my friends will be biking on Slickrock, which I’ve never done since I’ve yet to visit Moab; but I understand it’s one of the most fantastic mountain trails ever. Biking is on my list of things to find time for this year. First, I’ll need to buy a bike.

I’m not certain if I’ll amp up my training for Moab. These 4 mile runs are feeling nice and comfy. I’ll squeeze in more distance on the weekends of course, but I’m not looking to race Moab in spectacular fashion. In fact, I’m more interested in using it to gain experience on pacing myself. I’d like to control my first mile or two with about a 9 minute mile pace. And assuming I feel good after that, speed up to whatever. It’ll be interesting to see what “whatever” turns out to be. You’ll be the first to know, as soon as they post the results. Sooner if I decide to wear a watch.

Run Rabbit, Run

01 Tuesday Mar 2011

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See the way these runners are eyeballing me in the last 50 meters of the Austin Marathon?  Either they are concerned about me dropping dead in front of them, or they are amazed how anyone in Texas could possibly be more butt white than they are.  Regardless, they went on to pass me in their sprint to the finish line as I was struggling to maintain even a semblance of forward motion.  And this is because like the hare and the tortoise, I started out running too fast a pace and couldn’t hold it.  Sure, I was quick to blame my shoes and inserts.  So now I’ve showed my personality, so what?  Actually, I don’t blame myself for being quick to cast aspersions elsewhere; I blame my hypocritical, unaccountable, debt-ridden, hippie, boomer culture for setting my thought processes to where I would assume fault elsewhere before considering to blame myself.

And then my buddy Rob, aka A Lo Hawk, suggests that I should always begin a long run at a fast pace.  I immediately saw through this facade of apparent advice for what it was – calling me stupid for not controlling my pace.  Fair enough.  I used to understand my pace better but have clearly lost that experience.  I recall in high school cross country, when we only raced 2 miles, my running mate Mike used to beat me daily in practice – but I would finish ahead of him on race day.  Part way through the season I convinced him to start off slower.  He did, and he never looked back.  I didn’t beat him again in a race until late in the season after he drove his Ford Mustang into an opposing school bus.  The resultant head concussion took the edge somewhat off his racing prowess.

Don’t be fooled by the a lo hawks of the world.  Use the start of any race as a warm-up.  I felt so comfortable during the Denver Marathon after having slowly increased my pace.  I so wish I’d have ran that way in Austin.  My memories would be that much better.  Since I’ve renewed my interest in road races last summer, I’ve yet to actually put on a kick at the end.  I’m not really racing and so far I haven’t seen any reason to finish up sprinting.  I would however like to run the entire event comfortably and finish strong.  But that won’t happen by starting out too strong.

Spring Season

26 Saturday Feb 2011

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Sure it’s still winter – especially in Colorado considering it just snowed the last two days.  But that little 26.2 mile jaunt down in Austin last weekend marked the end of my winter training.  And today was gorgeous outside.  About 45° with strong sun splashing off the new snow.  I was able to wear a single layer of Under Armour cold weather gear.  I bought a new white, mock turtle compression shirt.  Looks pretty good from my chest up.  Compression gear isn’t too flattering on my bowling ball belly.

I feel pretty good after the marathon.  I ran 4 miles Thursday and 8 today.  I was quite a bit more sore after the Denver Marathon, perhaps from running faster.  I had a sore lower stomach that felt like a hernia for several months after.  It didn’t go away until I began doing sit-ups again in January.  From the Austin Marathon, I have a pain lingering in my lower left leg.  It feels sort of like a high ankle sprain.  I’m guessing it’s from running so much of the marathon on the right side of the road which is not normal.  I recall a number of times shifting position from the curb to the crown of the road for a more natural feel.  It should go away soon but I might try some toe raises to see if that speeds up the recovery.

This official race pic above was taken maybe a minute after crossing the finish line.  My finish time is finally posted – 4:23.  That’s 23 minutes slower than I expected, which is fine.  What I learned from the splits being posted is I clearly went out too fast.  I ran the first 10 miles at an 8 minute pace.  I was running with the 8:30 pace team, so some help they were.  I didn’t notice because my breathing was fine, but clearly my legs are not in shape for such a torrid pace.  I believe a 9 minute pace would have been perfect.  As it was, I probably slowed down ultimately to a 12 minute pace as I finished with a 10 minute pace overall.  Bottom line is I need to relearn how to pace myself.  I used to have such a good feel for that 20 years ago.  And since I’ve learned I can’t trust the pace teams, I might have to start wearing a watch.

This pic to the right catches my fatigue in the last 50 meters.  I’m going to remember the pain from this race for years to come.  It might have been harder than my very first marathon at age 16.  The rest of the year should feel downhill.  My next event is in a month – the Moab Half Marathon.  I intend to practice my 9 minute pace for that puppy.  I hope to show some improvement in the Bolder Boulder in May.  I don’t have anything officially planned after that.  I did enter the lottery to run the New York Marathon in November.  I won’t be too disappointed if I don’t get selected.  Otherwise, I’m looking forward to some hiking on the Colorado Trail with my buddy Rob this summer.  I think I might finally be in good enough shape to hang with him.

Post Race

22 Tuesday Feb 2011

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OK, now that the race is over, work is behind me and I’m airborne headed back from Austin, I can muse over Sunday’s marathon and other post race events.  It all went so fast.  A business trip to Detroit midweek, return home to Longmont Friday night, fly to Austin Saturday afternoon and big run on Sunday morning.  I was already apparently mentally fatigued half way through these events because I missed the exit for Pena Blvd on the way to DIA Saturday and drove another 10 miles on E470 conversing with Karen before I noticed.  That added to my toll charges.

I understand now more of why my run was so hard.  And I feel stupid for it.  The primary reason was my shoes.  Or more specifically, my new Sofsole inserts.  As I related in an earlier blog post, I bought them just this last week and was able to walk in them enough to be confident I wouldn’t get blisters.  But I wasn’t able to run in them.  To be fair, I might not have noticed the problem.  I would have only run 4 miles or so training but I didn’t notice my feet hurting in the marathon until 10 miles.  But man, when they started to hurt, it was like walking on hot coals for 16 miles.  My feet hurt both top and bottom.  My first thought was that I laced them too tightly.  Of course I put up with that until late in the race before loosening them, but it didn’t make much difference.  It didn’t affect my soles at all and only slightly alleviated the tops of my feet.  This didn’t make any sense at the time.

After the race, I figured the unique lacing architecture contributed to the top foot pain.  This shoe, the ASICs Gel-Nimbus,  has a unique lacing pattern that is off-center following a point from the big toe at the bottom of the shoe, up to the middle near the ankle.  I can tell you now that this is stupid.  You might not ever notice it on shorter runs, but it becomes quite evident in a marathon.  I hate to be overly critical of an ASICs shoe, because they’ve been my favorite training and racing shoes my entire life.  I’ve rarely deviated from them.  However, meeting up with family and friends at this event provided me with interesting feedback on my running blog.  I’ve heard before that it motivates some people to run.  I heard more of that this weekend.  But I also heard for the first time that my description of running gear and apparel motivate my readers to purchase some of the mentioned products.  Clearly that’s not my intention.  I don’t receive ad revenue.  I am only averaging 10 hits per day so that’s hardly an ad revenue business model.  But I do want to be as helpful and informative on products as I try to be on any other stories that could be mistaken for advice in this blog.  The askew lace design sucks.

The second issue with this shoe is that I bought it for its advertised stability.  Indeed, its promoted stability.  The shoe is in both this season and last season’s Runner’s World training shoe roundup.  I bought last year’s model and it still did not prevent me from pronation.  Beyond the lacing pattern, I think the shoe design itself is probably fine for stability but it needed new inserts.  Why the hell do they sell $140 shoes, designed for stability, with such cheap inserts?  Do I seriously have to spend another $30 on my own inserts?  After the pain I suffered through the last 16 miles of the Austin marathon, I don’t mind ripping on these shoes.  Yeah, ASICs was great when I was young and fast.  I always felt like they were a fast shoe that matched my running style of a mid-foot to toe landing.  But I land on my heels nowadays.  At 48, I’m no longer sprinting through long distance runs.  I’m ready to move on and will be sporting a new shoe for next month’s Moab Half Marathon.  And while I’m dishing it out, what’s up with Runner’s World.  Their writers wear a pair of shoes to evaluate for a week or two as part of their normal running regimen.  Wouldn’t running something more substantial like perhaps a half marathon be more journalistically sound?  They wear these shoes on an average run and report on how they feel.  They talk about it feeling hard or squishy.  Man, try running some real distance and report on how your feet hurt so dag-nab much that your ribs and shoulder blades feel bruised too!  Did I mention that the next day I discovered the soles of my feet were all purple from bruising?  Not the entire sole really, but just behind the ball of my feet and into the arch.  Now to be fair, this is probably more from the non-ASIC insert than the shoe, but back to my earlier point – why doesn’t a $140 shoe have decent inserts to begin with?  If I’m starting to come across as an angry writer, I should mention now that I’ve started drinking on the plane.  I don’t generally drink on flights anymore but I’m unwinding and Karen is picking me up at DIA so I won’t have to drive – or search for my car.

So I’ve shared with you.  If any of you want to comment, give me some advice on shoes I should buy.  I pronate in my left foot.  My race pace appears to be 8 minutes per mile for 10K to half marathon, 8.5 minutes for a full.  And I run about 8.5 to 9 minutes per mile on training runs.  I also run trails but have good shoes for that already.  Should have worn them Sunday.  The other post race thought I’m having is on the hills of the Austin course.  I swear I read a pre-race elevation chart that suggested a different pattern.  I described how I thought the hills would go in an earlier blog post.  More importantly I expressed my confidence that I wouldn’t have issues with the hills.  It’s very likely I just read the chart wrong.  I had it in my head that the course would rise for the first two miles then drop for the next four and then rise until the 18  mile point and then drop back down.  I clearly did some shortcuts in my mind.  I’m often accused of having a highly selective memory.  This course hit some small hills at the start downtown.  Nothing significant since they were short and the crowd was so thick that we weren’t running full speed yet.  But South Congress Avenue has a serious three mile hill between the 2 and 5 mile markers.  I felt fine running up it.  The crowd started to thin out and the slope wasn’t steep.  Bit I think that’s deceptive.  Yes I felt strong but I suspect it was still a mistake to run as fast as I did.  I’ve learned this in the Bolder Boulder 10K which is downhill the first mile.  A disciplined runner would force him or herself to purposefully run slow on that.  It’s trickier in the Bolder Boulder being downhill, but regardless; you need to control the emotion of the race start.  Especially in a marathon.  The Austin Marathon then returns down the same slope, albeit on 1st Ave rather than S. Congress.  I did actually refrain from speeding down this slope knowing I had another 20 miles to go.  But for all I know that braking might have contributed to my sore feet.  It was at the bottom of 1st Ave. when we turned west toward Tarrytown that my feet began to scream.  And by 11 miles, I think my form was starting to become impacted.  There’s a hill on Exposition as you near the turn-off to the half marathon where I first truly felt the grade and believe that is where I gave up on the 3:30 pace group.  And when I say I gave up, my pace dramatically slowed.  I prefer not to relate the rest of the run because it would be like reliving a nightmare and my selective memory is in control now.

I do remember some very pleasurable post race events.  For whatever reason, I decided late last year to try to reconnect with my old running teammates from high school.  Actually I know the reason.  My buddy Dave met up with his New Mexico swim team last summer and really enjoyed it.  This seemed brilliant to me because even though I’ve never attended a HS reunion, I am actually interested in the people I ran track and cross country with in high school.  For the most part, I haven’t kept up with them.  But I know them.  Like all distance runners, they’re good people.  I know that Scott Holman would crack me up.  Perhaps because today he’s a stand-up comic.  I know Toby would start me giggling for hours on end.  And I suspect cavorting with Rob or Mike, or certainly the two of them together, would end up with me swimming naked at Hippie Hollow.  As I recall our last skinny-dip was in the month of January and resulted in extreme shrinkage.  If we do have a Cross Country reunion, it should be in the summer.

As bitter as my race experience might sound, or was – my selective memory already forgets – this trip’s highlight was reconnecting with my old friends.  I touched on this in my last post, but I wrote that before having dinner with Toby and his family.  He brought along one of his stunning daughters, Lauren.  And his beautiful wife Margie was so charming I could have sat down with her all night to chat and felt like we’d grown up as neighbors rather than her and Toby.  Toby really did marry the girl next door.  And I still feel so good after meeting up with Nancy Basey for lunch.  I’m not sure how to express this, but it’s somehow very comforting to see that your old friends have grown up and are happy.  Sort of like how a team victory is always sweeter than individual accomplishments.  For all of us to have succeeded in life is just so cool.

Austin Marathon 2011

20 Sunday Feb 2011

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Austin Marathon 2011I can tell you now about the wisdom of training on only 4 miles a day for a marathon.  More specifically, I can tell you what has more impact, gaining ten pounds or dropping in altitude from 5280 feet to 550.  Gaining 10 pounds.  I’ll expand on that topic a bit later.  This pic was taken by my brother Steve in the final 100 meters on Congress Avenue.  Fortunately he can’t figure out the video on his camera so you can’t see that the other runners in this pic were all passing me.  I’m back at my mom’s house, showered and blogging with a Miller Lite by my side.  I’ve got about an hour before I meet up with some high school friends at Chuys.

This run started at 7am on Congress Avenue a block north of the Texas Capitol and proceeded north a few blocks toward the UT campus.  The darkness of night may have faded, but it was hard to tell with the thick overcast.  The weather was awesome.  Drizzle was projected but never materialized.  It wasn’t cold though and I wore Nike Dri-FIT® runners shorts and my Denver Marathon short-sleeve shirt with hi-tech fabric.  I also wore my black Barr Camp runners hat but carried it the second half of the race as the sun never came out.  I launched a 17 hour playlist from my iPhone in shuffle mode.  I love the random nature of my 17 hour universe when just the right song comes on as I need it.  Dream On by Aerosmith led today’s charge.  I was huddled in a scrum with the 3:30 pace runners.  I actually hung with them for 10 miles or so.  That might have been too fast.  The street was crowded and didn’t start to yield room until crossing the Congress Avenue bridge after a couple of miles.  Lance Armstrong was larger than life on an electronic billboard at the end of the bridge looking down approvingly at us all like some brew pub deity commanding us to drink Michelob Ultra.

The race blogs I read to understand the course weren’t downplaying the hills.  This little run didn’t shy away from elevated terrain.  We climbed up South Congress Avenue for 5 miles non-stop.  My crowd of runners got a kick out of the Austin Motel sign after 3 miles.  This phallic signage stood erect as if to point the way “up” South Congress.  Other signs were notable.  My favorite was around 18 miles where some young woman held a large white poster board in front of her body.  Above the sign were bare shoulders and below the sign were her bare thighs and feet.  The sign read, “I’m naked behind this sign”.  There were lots of runners looking over their shoulder as they strode past.  Speaking of women, I absolutely love that sporty look of braided pig tails and ponies with fitted running outfits.  Austin has some real beauties.

I also read a number of references to the great Austin crowds in some blogs.  Wow, I can’t say enough.  I was truly impressed by the number of supporters out on the streets.  Reminded me of my early days running the Capitol 10,000.  They would read the names on the race bibs and call them out for a personal touch.  It might have been the difference between me finishing and still lying out there somewhere in a gutter.  This run was hard for me.  At 12 miles or so the course split for the half marathoners to head back toward downtown.  If they allowed last minute decisions, I’d have turned for the shorter run then and there.  I was feeling beat and knew then that I wasn’t in shape for the full marathon.  It’s a fair argument to state I wasn’t in shape for the half.  My legs didn’t have the strength for this distance.  They totally melted.  I felt fine otherwise.  The hills didn’t bother me until after 11 miles.  My feet hurt like hell.  Talk about inexperience.  While my shoes were not new, I hadn’t been running in them much because they needed inserts to protect my left foot from over-pronating.  I was busy with travel for work this week and didn’t have a chance to run in them after buying inserts.  My feet felt like they were in a vise, but loosening them didn’t help.  I didn’t get any blisters on my hills or arches, but did get one on a toe.  But they just hurt.

Running through the old Austin neighborhoods was special.  Each neighborhood reminded me of some old girlfriend or date.  But the ravages of age kept me from remembering any of their names.  Running through the last neighborhood I lived in before moving to Boulder was pretty cool.  And the bonus was that Hyde Park was nearing the finish.  I knew at this point I’d make it.  The Hyde Park Bar & Grill was around the 24 mile point.  I’d been walking at each aid station to drink water since mile 16.  I’d let the 3:30 mile pace group go long ago and had since been passed by the 4 hour pace group.  I wasn’t too disappointed even though I’d expected to finish in 4 hours.  I was just focused on finishing.  I’d accomplished my goal of using this to keep myself motivated through the winter and this was good for that.

This run has also been good for meeting up with old friends.  Nancy Wilson Basey met my brother and me for lunch at Kerbey Lane off 38th Street.  She looked as good as ever and made me feel pretty good that she went out of her way to see me.  We hadn’t seen each other in 30 years.  And I’m meeting up with some other friends from my RRHS Cross Country team in 30 minutes at Chuys.  Toby Thurman and Bill Hay.  That’ll be a trip.  I come down to Austin every Christmas but don’t generally meet up with old friends because I focus on family.  Time to publish this and head over for a frozen rita.

How to Train for a Marathon…

17 Thursday Feb 2011

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…on four miles per day.   Assuming it’s even possible.  I’ll find out this Sunday when I run the Austin Marathon. The first step to establishing this training regimen is to let work take priority over your personal life.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive to most serious runners.  But it’s key to not having the time to properly prepare for 26.2 miles.  Next step is to gain 10 pounds.  Don’t forget to gain weight as you near your event. Imagine the horror of reaching mile 18 and some volunteer hands you a half gram packet of honey.  Fat runners never hit the wall.  At least not on America’s Biggest Loser.

Maybe that was too many sentences of sarcasm in a row.  But it’s more than warranted.  You tell me.  Who else do you know that’s gained 10 pounds training for a marathon?  I’m still glad I scheduled this February junket to Austin for a 26 mile ramble up and down Congress Avenue; I was out there running in some pretty unfair winter weather.  Gaining 10 pounds isn’t as bad as gaining 15.  But I’m disappointed knowing I won’t be completing my second marathon in less than 6 months in more impressive fashion.  I really can’t predict just how I’ll run because I don’t have enough races under my belt to have a strong sense of my pace.  I do feel a little bit more experienced.  My feeling is that I’ll finish right around 4 hours.  More likely over than under.  My time isn’t as important to me though as being able to run the course comfortably.  Failure would be having to walk.  I might not admit to walking but if I finish closer to 5 hours – you’ll figure it out.

I won’t admit to wimping out over the last four months.  My excuse is work.  It got the better of me.  Even now, I’m writing this blog in a Detroit hotel room.  I had to fly out here Wednesday and will return Friday.  I haven’t run since Tuesday and won’t again until the big day Sunday.  I’ll have a 12 hour turn-around in my own bed Friday night/Saturday morning, and then get back on a plane to Austin.  Pretty poor prep for a marathon, but we’ll see how it goes.  I’ve never considered canceling.  I’m confident I can run it slowly.  I feel sorry for one of my RRHS cross country buddies who was going to run the half marathon.  Nancy Wilson Basey got sick this week – fever, coughing, the works.  She has to be disappointed and I can empathize.  It helps me appreciate that at least I can still run, albeit slower than I had hoped.

I suspect this will be my last post before the race.  Thanks to everyone whose been lending me support.  Especially my understanding wife, Karen, and my brother, Steve who is picking up my race packet as well as me from the airport.  Next blog post will be Sunday night.

Web Security

12 Saturday Feb 2011

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This was annoying.  I received an abuse letter (email) from Comcast, my ISP, last night.  For copyright infringement related to the illegal file sharing of some inane Kanye West song.  I’ve appended their email to the end of this blog.  The first thought that ran through my mind was, “Really, I have a Kanye West song?”  So my first action was to query my iTunes library of over 5000 songs and sure enough, I have exactly one Kanye West song – Gold Digger featuring Jamie Foxx.

I immediately suspected my tenants since they’re fairly young.  Although I knew it could also have been from Brittany – she always brings her MacBook whenever she comes home from college.  I doubt I could prove the source of the Gnutella file sharing.  I turned off my web filtering half a year ago when I was trying to install Lo-Jack on Brittany’s new laptop.  It required some call home function that my firewall was blocking.  Unless I’m specifically blocking something, my firewall won’t log the traffic.  It can, but I didn’t have it configured to do that either.  So the Kanye West download could have been from any computer in my house – or carriage house which I rent out.  The Comcast abuse letter only lists the IP address of my cable modem and it doesn’t provide the DHCP address from my home network(s).

My second action, after reviewing my iTunes, was to turn web filtering back on.  I have an old IBM Proventia FW that I have setup between my cable modem and my home LANs.  One network is for my tenants, and they have their own WiFi server.  I allow that LAN access to the Internet but not to my home office LAN (network 2) or my home LAN (network 3).  My home office network has access to all three networks in order to manage the WiFi servers.  With the web filtering running, I setup two FW rules to block traffic to the Gnutella service.  One rule for TCP ports 6346 to 6347 and another for UDP ports 6346-6347 – both at 202.0.0.0 with a 28 bit mask.  Then I asked my tenant if he was using Gnutella and informed him about the abuse letter and my new web filters.  He was pretty humble about it and apologized.

I’m relating this in my blog, and probably FaceBook, because it occurs to me many of my friends could use some advice on computer security.  I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and I just got in trouble from my ISP.  Maybe I should be embarrassed – I’m not.  I do appreciate the irony.  But I know that many of my friends have kids – with their own computers – whom run these illicit and dangerous file sharing applications.  The last link above shows you how to block some of the more nefarious sites.  Understand that I’m not judging.  I support some copyleft arguments as they juxtapose certain tenets of innovation against the precepts of copyright protection.  But these applications put your computer and home network at extreme risk of being compromised.  These apps are favorites of hackers and are as likely as visiting free porn sites to result in your machine becoming pwned into a botnet.  Forget fears of Comcast cutting off your access – be afraid of being pwned.

I’m serious.  I’d rather blog on my running themes, but you need to know this stuff.  My YouTube instructions on protecting your texting privacy was originally intended in jest when Tiger Woods got clubbed by his wife after she saw his text history.  I was just having fun, but it’s turned into one of my most watched YouTube episodes.  Likewise, my commentary on the Google vs China cyber story last year continues to receive 4 or 5 views a day based on people searching on the terms cyberwar and cyber warfare.  So I figure this is good information.  I hope so.  Or if not, I hope you get a chuckle from knowing that Comcast is on to me.

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Notice of Action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Abuse Incident Number:      Not Applicable
Report Date/Time:           Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:31:02 -0600

ED MAHONEY
1805 S COFFMAN ST
LONGMONT, CO  805047568

Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber:

Comcast has received a notification by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, reporting an alleged infringement of one or more copyrighted works made on or over Comcast’s High-Speed Internet service (the ‘Service’).  The copyright owner has identified the Internet Protocol (‘IP’) address associated with your Service account at the time as the source of the infringing works.  The works identified by the copyright owner in its notification are listed below.  Comcast reminds you that use of the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of any copyrighted work is a violation of Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account.

If you have any questions regarding this notice, you may direct them to Comcast in writing by sending a letter or e-mail to:

Comcast Customer Security Assurance
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
1800 Bishops Gate Blvd., 3rd Floor East Wing
Mount Laurel, NJ 08054 U.S.A.
Phone: (888) 565-4329
Fax: (856) 324-2940

For more information regarding Comcast’s copyright infringement policy, procedures, and contact information, please read our Acceptable Use Policy by clicking on the Terms of Service link at http://www.comcast.net.

Sincerely,
Comcast Customer Security Assurance

Copyright work(s) identified in the notification of claimed infringement:

Infringing Work : Graduation
Filename : Kanye West – Graduation – Stronger.mp3=20
Filename : Kanye West – Graduation – Stronger.mp3=20
First found (UTC): 2011-02-10T12:21:17.61Z
Last found (UTC): 2011-02-10T12:21:17.61Z
Filesize  : 7583872 bytes=20
IP Address: 76.25.159.42
IP Port: 17677
Network: Gnutella
Protocol: Gnutella    =20

Game Day

06 Sunday Feb 2011

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You think I ran today, or do you think I sat around and just watched the Superbowl?  Well, the game wasn’t until late afternoon, so I squeezed in a little run before hand.  I wanted to run a long one but I didn’t have that much time.  I spent most the day painting my dining room.  It would have been great weather though for a long run.  I woke up to 4 inches of fresh powder and the sun was out – up until I stepped out the door and it turned cold and cloudy.  I considered snowshoeing today but would have needed to start earlier.  The painting took longer than expected.

My big run is only two weeks away so no amount of extra training is going to help me prepare.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I can’t get more fit aerobically in two weeks but I can properly maintain with a healthy diet and regular running.  I’ll try to do as many 8 milers as possible – if my work schedule allows.  And I’ll do weights to stay strong.  But eating healthy might be more important than any actual training at this point.  So I only had one beer at the super bowl party.  When I say “diet”, I’m usually referring to alcohol.  In fact the only other substance I’ve ever curtailed is caffeine.  I’m not likely to eat differently.  My breakfast typically consist of a toasted bagel with cream cheese, lox and capers.  Lunch is a sandwich of some sort.  Dinner is average Americana but more meaty than starchy and a few veggies.

I don’t expect the Austin Marathon to be special in terms of performance.  Matching my time from the Denver Marathon last fall would be nice but my expectations are for somewhere right around four hours give or take.  I’m mostly excited about hooking up with some of my high school cross country teammates.  At a minimum I’ll be meeting up with Nancy Wilson Basey.  She’s running the half and we plan to have lunch afterward.  And Bill Hay said he’d be at the finish with a cold one.  I’m hoping to maybe see some others the next night at Chuys.  I visit Austin at least once a year for Christmas but rarely visit my friends because so much time is focused on family.  For some reason I feel like catching up with people I haven’t seen in 30 years.  If I do, pictures will follow.

Leg of Lamb

30 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by in Running

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I know, not my typical running pic.  But when I say I really enjoy the outdoors, that includes grilling.  And I’ve got a 5 pound bone-in leg of lamb on the rotisserie right now.  I ran 12 miles earlier today on the East Boulder Trail.  Why wouldn’t I enjoy some of Colorado’s famous mutton after such an extreme calorie burning endeavor.  I love lamb.  I love red meat.  I haven’t been eating as much of it since Karen started cooking most of our meals again.  I don’t believe runners need a high-carb diet.  I’ve always been pretty good at listening to my body; and after massive runs like today – my aching knees, muscles and joints are screaming for some fatty meat.

With that said, I am going to try to diet somewhat going into February.  The Austin Marathon is in 21 days and I’m a bit heavier than I was last fall when I ran the Denver Marathon.  I’m not looking to set any records.  I scheduled this to motivate myself to run through the winter and I’ve done that.  I just want to feel comfortable.  Losing five pounds would likely help.  I haven’t been consistent at lifting weights but I’ll try harder because I believe weights help too.  I believe a little strength training helps to avoid injury.  I’ve been reading some running blogs on the Austin course and apparently it’s considered hilly.  That’s the Austin I remember.  I’m not running hills during the week but I do on the weekends so I’ll be fine.  The course begins with a 300 foot climb in the first two miles.  I like that because it almost forces you to start out slow as you should.  The course then drops back down over the next 4 miles.  This is followed by a 12 mile climb back up those 300 feet but after mile 18 it’s all downhill to the finish on Congress Avenue.  Nice.

My flight gets in too late Saturday night to pick up my bib and race packet, but my brother Steve said he’d do it on the way to the airport to pick me up.  I’ll be staying at my mom’s house in Round Rock.  Steve will no doubt try to talk me into hanging out at the Cool River but I’m smart enough not to do that.  Hopefully he won’t stay out too late because he’s my ride to the race the next morning.  If I didn’t have family in Austin I’d have stayed downtown, probably at the Driskill Hotel – that would be convenient.  I’ll remain in Round Rock at my mom’s house for a couple days after the race, my return flight is Tuesday night.  I can work from her house – she’s got wifi and high-speed Internet.  I learned from the Denver Marathon that I should do some walking the first couple of days after the event to work out the lactic acid and loosen up.  It’ll be interesting to see how well I recover.  That will demonstrate both my level of fitness as well as my post race experience.