Season has arrived

Well, this summer has come and gone. As a teacher, the year is measured by the start and end of the summer. As always, I spent most of this summer on my favorite beach. Just check my twitter or instagram for dozens of pictures of paradise on the island.

Also, this was a pretty amazing summer for training. With a fairly oppressive summer, once the weather stopped cooperating for lengthy runs, I switched to biking, my new joy. Although I will get to that in later posts, I will just say that not once did I have heart rate spikes that were plaguing me in any run longer than 16 miles.

While on that topic, I made a deal with myself that any long run I did this summer would be over 15 miles and kept it right up until the last week in July, with my last 21 mile run. None of them were particularly fast, but in the heat and humidity here in Florida, I felt just happy to finish at all. With squishy shoes, saturated clothes, and dead phone bluetooth headset batteries, I did require at least on rescue from my wonderful wife.

Now I'm faced with a new season of runs. Last year I ran every race I could afford, but in many cases was just showing up and not really pushing myself. This lead to some disappinting times, but lots of medals. This year, I am trying to up my mileage and have signed up for two marathons (including the immortal WDW Goofy Race and a Half Challenge!) and am going to try for an ultra (50 miler) in April. Although I'm very nervous since my first marathon was emotionally difficult, I have gotten pretty strong this summer and feel that the mileage won't be as daunting as it was the first time. In fact, this summer I was able to run several 20 mile runs, in the heat, unsupported (except for refilling my water bottle) and although my pace slowed considerable after the 16 mile mark, I didn't feel completely wiped. In fact, I often loaded the kayaks on the car and headed to the beach.

As the weather cools, I am looking forward to some real run and some real advancements in my times.

Never thought this would be who I am, but here we are....

Is Finishing Enough?

So I have recently read several of Dean Karnazes' books, and last week was checking out his online profile (web page, Runner's World blog etc.) when I came upon his March 11th entry where he discusses the record setting time for the Marine Corps Marathon to fill to capacity. Coincidentally, this was going to be the first marathon to which I was going to commit to traveling.

If I may here is the quote that most got my attention:

....The “Oprah Effect,” as it’s been called, has drawn leagues of mid-packers into marathoning just to add another achievement to their mantel. They’re not real runners, it's been said......Is the fact that more and more people are running marathons, but at a slower pace, a bad thing?

I have had the fortune of running in many half marathon or longer races and have, over the past year, kept myself registered for a race continuously. By being registered, I always felt there was a larger reason to maintain my running schedule apart from my own well being. I figured, if I put money down on a race, I was going to be holding the medal and wearing the shirt the day after as a badge of achievement. In fact, over the past couple of months, I tried to compete in as many races as I could before the weather turned. In two of the races I got my worst times ever, while in two I earned back to back PR's. So I was feeling like this was the way to go. Although I no longer worry about not finishing, I don't always give my best effort (or my best effort isn't always very good).

So coming across Dean's statment gave me reason to pause. Am I just a mid packer who is keeping competative athletes from getting into races? I would have dismissed this very idea if it hadn't been for a kind person who was working a water table at the last race I entered. She and I were talking after I finished and she was amazed at the number of people who entered the race just to walk to the finish. She was a competative runner. She wasn't there to finish or PR, she was there to win. She believed that there was no reason to enter unless you planned on winning at least your bracket.

Now, I have only been running a short time, but I have never entered a race with the intention of not finishing, but I also held no illusion that I would win bracket or otherwise. In fact, as I have increased in age and moved from one bracket to another, I have found myself more outpaced by others in my new age group. I can only assume that as you get older, fewer people enter the sport and more drop out.

After this year, I was considering how I wanted to continue to approach running. I felt very motivated to try and push farther and harder. Reading Dean Karnazes' book continued this feeling, but at the same time I felt very content to finish. But now I'm feeling that I must be part of this mid-packers' syndrome trying to get a new medal for my mantle. Unlike Karnazes, I like my medals and am proud of them all, even the PW's I earned while recovering. Each one feels like a testament to my hard work, dedication, and lonely time on the trail. I was considering pushing onward to more marathon length races, and am considering an ultra or a tri. I am currently cycling to work 20 miles a day three days a week in the hopes that I could get conditioned for a sprint tri or longer.

Although I can't be sure, I don't believe I've ever entered an event where my being there has prevented someone else from running, but if the Marine Corps Marathon is an indicator, selling out in 2:41 is an unbelievable speed. Even if I wanted to run in it, I never would have gotten a slot, and how many competitors are now kicked out of the competition becuase they couldn't get registered. In fact, I look at running local races as a way of helping to support local communitites of runners and know that they have never closed due to capacity.

Should I be content to just run? I got into longer distances becuase I wanted to see what my body could do and I get excited by the prospect of running a race, even if I have no chance of winning. Should I change my mindset to get away from simply getting a PR and focus on moving up in the pack to win my bracket? Entering the sport, so late in my 30's does have its disadvantages. I think I'm gonna keep getting medals, maybe be slightly more selective, and keep plucking away at my PR's. Maybe I will get those low enough where the PR's are in line with the front of the pack instead of the middle or back. Who knows.

St. Pete Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

Long over due, but here is my experience during the St. Petersburg Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. Leading up to the race my daughter had dancing competition in Lakeland, so I was going to be driving a truck with all the props back from Lakeland at 11:00 PM the night before. Although I had known this ahead of time, I didn't realize the impact this would have on my performance.

As the race approached, the event planners released parking details which required us all to pay $10 to park and then an additional $5 for vouchers for a bus ride from the finish to the parking area. We were welcome to park off site (and pay local rates) but you could be walking a mile or two to get to the start and back from the finish. Although this seemed extreme and there was a lot of discussion about this leading up to the race, it was no more than what was going on across the Bay over at the Gasparilla preparations. The one irritation was that you also had to pay $10 to park to attend the expo where you would get your packet pick-up. They did not allow anyone to do pick up in your place, and did no on site pickup the morning of the race. This meant you had to make two trips and potentially pay $20 worth of parking fees. I was able to park on the street to attend the Expo and pick up my materials early enough to avoid the fees.

The Expo was ok. Not nearly as big as Disney and not as big as Gasparilla. There was nice Brooks running gear with the Rock 'n' Roll logo (all sized very small) so I didn't buy anything. Packet pickup was quick and easy and the t-shirts were nice.

 

As explained, I was driving a truck back from Lakeland (about an hour) the evening before, but I also had to pick up the truck and take it to Lakeland that morning at 7:00 AM. So all told, the day before started at 5:30 and ended when got to bed around 1:00 AM. I knew I would be out most of the day, so I had made my preparations for the run the day before so I could come home and collapse. The race started at 7:00 AM so I planned on being at the parking lot at 6:00 AMor so. But, the parking was backed up all the way onto the interstate, and it took me 30 minutes to get parked. As always, I did my normal prep for the race and was waiting in line to use the portapotties, and by the time I made it to the front, they were singing the national anthem. I was running to bag check to find out it was closed and ran another half mile back to my car to drop my bag and deal thhe the repercussions at the finish. I thoughfully grabbed my bus voucher so I wouldn't be stranded at the finish.

By the time I made it to the start, my wave had long since been started as did the pace group with which I was hoping to run. I jumped in and started. I had already been running, and I hadn't really had a chance to get myself mentally prepared. I was frantic and tired. Not to mention it was cold! (Well cold for me, it was in the 40's). I had finally bought some running gloves, and wore a jacket. I was glad to have the goves, but I wish the jacket would have disappeared. I didn't have time to find a disposable jacket, so I wore one I wanted to keep. I tied it around my waist and kept going. The course was nice enough (downtown St. Petersburg), but I found the water stations to be manned by lots of kids who were not always in tuned to what they were doing. Also, we were told that any discared clothes would be picked up and given to a shelther. What they didn't tell us was that our clothes were being snatched up off the ground nearly as fast as they came off. It was a little creepy.

The bands were nearly every mile and were a great mix of blues and rock. There was some great entertainment, and the course was nice and flat. The beginning of the course was all downtown, and the end was all near the pier and park. I enjoyed the run, but got an asthma attack at the end. I made it the last couple of miles at a decent clip, but it didn't make up for the time I spent going slow and I paid for the increased pace with a demoralizing finish where I found a patch of grass and collapsed to the sweet rocking sounds of Flo Rida. Thats right, I finished just in time to see the headliner. Unfortunately our race was scheduled the same day as the Grammy's, and all major acts had to be in California for the show. This meant that many people didn't get to see the beginning of the show since he went on at 10:00 AM.

Generally, I had a great time but the punishing weekend events the day before took their toll and I walked away with a pretty poor time. Not quite my worst, but for such a cool day and with no shin pain, I should have done better. I do have my Inagural medal, but I was not very competative, even with myself.

 

Rock On!

 

 

How much longer......

I want to say that I am one of those people who loves to run. I love it when I'm done. I like it when I'm getting ready. I like it when I first start. I tolerate it when I'm 4 miles in and have more to go to meet my goals.

But when I've been running for 8 miles or more, and I'm getting tired sometimes I just want to be done. I seldom stop, but sometimes I just want to quit and be done-maybe forever.

One such time, none of my montras were working. However, I had noticed that during a particular part of my music playlist, I would finish a mile almost every three songs. So once I reached that part, I would count the songs to know how far I was going. (Once I got a sports watch this all kinda stopped).

One time I was particularly unmotivated and tired. I actually started to say, only four more songs and I will be back at the car. Well, if it's only four more songs, can I just advance it to the next song and then it will be three. In fact, if I advance it two songs, I will only have two songs left. In fact if I advance it all four songs I will be done. I actually started reaching for my ipod and was advancing it when I realized I would be no closer to the end.

Ummmmm.....Duh?

Magic Kingdom

Well, on our most recent trip to Magic Kingdom, my wishes were finally received. I've been complaining, to anyone who'd listen, that Magic Kingdom, and the other parks at Walt Disney World were being neglected as Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure were expanding and adding great attractions. In fact, the entire Cars' Land coming to DCA looks absolutely amazing, and I can watch World of Color videos over and over again. Then there are times when I sit and watch Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios and long for the days of sitting around Frontierland watching it transform for the Fantasmic at Disneyland. And then there is the bain of Magic Kingdom, Mickey's Toon Town Fair, and week attempt to capture the spectacular Toon Town from Disneyland.

So when it was announced that we would be getting a well earned expansion of the park, I was excited. I know that we won't see Mr. Toad's again, nor will we ever get any of the storybook rides that make Disneyland so charming, but a major expansion was just what was needed for the park. Over the past year as the fences went up and the construction began, I was giddy with excitement to get on Dumbo (a ride I never wait for any longer) just so I could get a peek over the fences.

But it hasn't just been an expansion. All over the park the tarps have gone up over the buildings as one by one Main Street was brought back to glowing splendor. Further, Big Thunder will be going down for long term refurbishment hopefully to repair the effects that make it so spectacular. Maybe I could look past the disappointment that was Space Mountain's refurb for the hope that some real investment is going into the park to make them sparkle.

Of course that means that currently walking around the park can be tough. There is definitely a hint of work in nearly every corner that you look. So if you plan on visiting make sure you are aware that many attractions are down during these next months and some of the parades will be restricted or even cancelled. You may wish to spend more of your time in other parks rather than at Magic Kingdom.

And, finally, we had a chance to go back to the Tiki Room which has been restored to its original show after the fire in the ceiling and I can't help but wonder if this is just a stop gap plan until a true update to the show can be employed. The old show was charming, but it is no longer entertaining. My children, who love all things Disney and can tolerate going on most attractions over and over, were definitely not enjoying the "new" show. I hope that something new is in the wings.

I never knew I could do that....frostbite

I'm going to start a new series on things that happened during my training that either made me discover something about myself or things I did to myself during my training that I never considered or perhaps I never knew were possible.

I gave myself frostbite. This wouldn't be a big deal if I lived in Canada, but I live in Florida. So how in the world did I give myself frostbite. Well, I froze my skin. Since my injury, I would either lie in an ice bath, place my legs in a cooler of ice, or in the evening elevate and ice my ankles and shins. Well, I found that the area around the injury was very sensitive to pressure and would often hurt if the ice poked it.

Lamenting this to a concerned family member (my mom), she made me ice slushy bags. These were ziplocks filled with water and rubbing alcohol. (You chemistry folks should be able to see where this is going.) The first time I used them, they were great. I was in a cold bath and I placed them on both shins. They conformed perfectly. The bath began to warm and I simply elevated my leg and iced the shins. Of course, after a little while I stood up and showered not thinking about it.

Later that day, my skin on the left leg was a little irritated. I figured some alcohol was on the outside of the bag and had caused a little reaction with my skin.

The next time I used them, they were solid (4 degrees F or so). I placed them on the other shin and after a while (notice I used the word 'while' several times here. I don't know how long I had them on, and they cold felt so much better than the pain I kinda stopped paying attention to how long the ice was on.)

After removing the bag, I thought some of the condensation had left some ice on my skin. So I went to brush it off when I realized, my skin was hard. I panicked a little and rubbed them gently until it was no longer frozen. As I watched, the area that was hard, turned a bright pink like the irritation on the other leg from the day before. It was then that I realized I had given myself frostbite on both legs. I never really felt a thing, but this was now three weeks from my first marathon and I was worried I had done some tissue damage.

It has been four weeks since I froze my skin, and I will take and post some pictures soon, but just know that I am definitely going to have some scaring. The skin has been healing from the inside out and the best I can describe is that the damaged tissues is slowly making it to the surface like dry ashen colored skin. So no matter how much I think I've gotten this running thing down, something knew is always around the corner!

My Marathon Playlist

I've been running to the same playlist since I started training for a half marathon in 2010. I would add songs to make it longer and take songs away that didn't work for me. Once and a while I would reorganize the list but really it is the same list as always. Well, after the marathon, I decided its time for something new so here is my old list for everyone to see and critique and now I'm going to start building new.

Name	Artist
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)	ACDC
Fuel	Metallica
Savior	Rise Against
Smells Like Teen Spirit	Nirvana
Gone Daddy Gone	Gnarls Barkley
Moves Like Jagger	Maroon 5
Vertigo	U2
What Do You Want From Me?	Alice Cooper
Rock & Roll	Motörhead
Shake That Bush Again	The Mooney Suzuki
Whiskey in the Jar	Metallica
Banditos	Refreshments
(It) Feels So Good	Steven Tyler
Make Some Noise	Beastie Boys
Crazy	Gnarls Barkley
Take It Off	The Donnas
Chinese Democracy	Guns N' Roses
This Is Gonna Hurt	Sixx:A.M.
Learn To Fly	Foo Fighters
All the small things	Blink-182
Pain	Jimmy Eat World
A Favor House Atlantic	Coheed And Cambria
Welcome To The Jungle	Guns N' Roses
Thnks Fr Th Mmrs	Fall Out Boy
Weightless	All Time Low
Saccharine Smile	Donots
What I Like About You	The Romantics
End Love	OK Go
Major Tom (Coming Home)	Peter Schilling
Hot Night Crash	Sahara Hotnights
A Little Less Conversation	Elvis Presley
The Best Damn Thing	Avril Lavigne
Memory	Sugarcult
Makin' a Mess	Skid Row
Long Way Down	Goo Goo Dolls
Alive & Amplified	The Mooney Suzuki
Whole Lotta Rosie	ACDC
Kickstart My Heart	Mötley Crüe
The Middle	Jimmy Eat World
Girlfriend	Avril Lavigne
Rock Zone	Scorpions
That's The Way I Wanna Rock n Roll	ACDC
Chicken Fried	Zac Brown
Are You Gonna Be My Girl	Jet
(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To	Weezer
Crazy Bitch	Buckcherry
Here I Am	The Explosion
Shake Your Blood	Motörhead
mOBSCENE	Marilyn Manson
Baby I'm a Star	Prince & The Revolution
All Night Long	Buckcherry
Makin' Magic	Tesla
Molly's Chambers	Kings of Leon
Stone Cold Crazy	Metallica
Humans Being	Van Halen
Only the Good Die Young	Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Use Me	Hinder
Die With Your Boots On	Iron Maiden
Tick Tick Boom	The Hives
Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)	Rob Zombie
Let Me Hear You Scream	Ozzy Osbourne
Higher Ground	Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Distance	Cake
Got the Time	Anthrax
Ace of Spades	Motörhead
Weekend Warrior	Iron Maiden
Coming of Age	Damn Yankees
Make a Sound	Autopilot Off
Everyone Alive	Local H
Beast and the Harlot	Avenged Sevenfold
Walk This Way	Aerosmith
Takin' Care of Business	Bachman-Turner Overdrive
You And Me And The Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)	Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Pump It	Black Eyed Peas
It's My Life	Bon Jovi
Fortunate Son	CCR
Don't Stop	Fleetwood Mac
Don't Stop Believin'	Journey
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough	Michael Jackson
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'	Michael Jackson

Marathoners still change the cat box

Well, its been a week since I ran my first marathon at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. After a quick trip back home to the reality of everyday life, I've had some time to reflect and get a little distance from this accomplishment. No, I didn't finish in the 4:30 time that I wanted, and yes, during the run I was hating it, really hating it.

But I've had a chance to reflect upon this accomplishment in the reality of everyday life. I always believed that I could run a marathon if I tried hard. In fact, I believe that anyone can run a marathon if they really apply themselves to their training. But here's the thing, people don't. Some don't aspire to run a marathon. Some aspire but never get serious, and then there are some that take it serious and apply themselves, but either can't see it through to the end or won't see it through to the end. Injuries, illnesses, and the pressures of life, can all sideline a perfectly planned path to a marathon.

It's those of us that not only commit, but see it through to the end, toe the line at the start, and push their body around all 26.2 miles, that can say they did it. I've read dozens of blogs of people who have trained and prepared. I've read how they kept their pace straight on through to the end of the race.  I've felt that they were just more committed or perhaps were more determined. Somehow, I got it in my head that my time wasn't good enough to put me in the club. But now, with some perspective, I can say that's simply ludicrous.

I trained hard, pushed through an injury, put myself on the road rain or shine and made sure that at the end of the day, I did everything I could to prepare for the finish. In the end, I'm holding the picture of me crossing the finish line. (Actually, Brightroom is holding the pictures, but I'll buy them eventually). I'm in the club.

I'm never going to be a 4 hour marathoner. With each passing year, I'm going to be getting farther and farther away from the young body that could have made a real go a time like that. I had my chance to be a runner when I was in my twenties and didn't seize the chance then. Now that I'm on the other side of 40, I know that exercise and health will be harder and harder to maintain. This is why I need to not see this marathon as the end of a long training, but the opening of a door and the start of my new life as a marathon runner.

The everyday pressure of maintaining a home, taking care of kids, cleaning up after the pets, and going to work can't change the fact that I can run a marathon. Moreover, I've shown that my life can accommodate the time needed to pursue running not only as a training plan, but as a lifestyle.
Next week I'll run the Clearwater Halfathon for the second time and be able to stand there with the other athletes comparing this run to last year. I'll take some extra pictures to help me remember where I've been and with faith, I'll cross the finish and collect my medal and a little more pride.

As the weeks continue to stretch out in front of me, and as the registration opens for next years WDW Marathon Weekend I'll eye that next prize, maybe a Goofy is in my future. Not to mention, I've always wanted to go to New York and I hear they might have a marathon too :) (hehe). Who knows, maybe I'll see the shores of Hawaii from the soles of my running shoes as well.

I'm a marathoner, now I just need to get that tattoo I promised myself.