Explanation

I felt like since there were a lot of questions in my comments I thought I would take the time to answer some of them. My wife is learning how to knit, my kids are running around playing with their new toys, and my father in-law is watching Abbot and Costello. Need I say more about why I am on the computer posting on my blog?

As far as my injury goes I have been playing it safe in comparison to my normal running schedule. I normally would be running 6-9 times per week at 50+ miles a week. The week that I decided to run the marathon I ended up with 54 miles. After this, because I had no pain in the marathon, I thought I would be ready to ramp up my mileage again. I took the Monday after the marathon off and then proceeded to run twice on Tuesday for a total of 10 miles and then Wednesday morning I ran 6.5 miles slowly. That morning I felt some pain that scared me a bit, but I had the Christmas light run that night scheduled and did not want to miss out on all the fun. I ended up running 2.5 miles that night and felt no pain.

Since then, I ran on Christmas Eve for about 5.5 miles with no pain, and then on Monday through the trails here in Portland with no pain. I went to the gym yesterday, and after lifting ran a mile on the treadmill before I called it quits. I felt uncomfortable, but it had been over a year since I have run on a treadmill so I could not decide whether I was uncomfortable due to injury, or due to running on a treadmill. I am stuck at this point where I do not feel that I am 100%, but do not feel like I need to stop running completely to let my injury heal more. Would it be smart if I stopped running for another 2-4 weeks? Of course it would. Am I going to stop running? If I come to a point while running that there is no question that I am still injured, I will stop once again, but as of yet, that time has not come.

There was a tagging type question going around that I saw on other blogs about summing up your goals for 2006 in one word. I like to have a big goal every year to shoot for. It needs to be something that seems out of reach at the time I make it. In 2005 it was completing a 100 miler. For those that are not very familiar with ultra marathons, or trail running, most of these runs are not on flat surfaces, but have a lot of elevation gain to them as well. They are typically through mountainous areas in which, for normal runners, it is almost a combination of running and hiking. Some of the hills you climb are too steep for normal people to run up. For the more elite runners they do run up even the steepest hills, but that is not me.

The 100 miler I finished had approximately 21,000 feet of climbing and 21,000 feet of descent. At the time I made this goal there was no way I could have obtained it if I had to do it right then. I used marathons, 50K's, and 50 milers to reach the ultimate goal of finishing the 100 miler. I understand that running a marathon is a huge accomplishment as is a 50K and 50 miler. I was thankful for every run I finished. I ran 2-marathons, 7-50K's, 1-60K, and 4-50 milers in the 8 months leading up to the 100 miler. All those races were simply stepping stones to my ultimate goal. I used them as training runs and not as ends in themselves.

If I judged each race individually most of them would have been considered failures, even though I completed all of them. However, I was assessing them as a collective whole and taking the good out of the bad. The last 50 miler I ran 4 weeks prior to the 100 miler I finished about 2 1/2 hours slower than I had hoped. I bonked around mile 26 during an 8 mile 4,000 foot climb in the middle of the afternoon. There were flies buzzing around me and I could picture the vultures above me waiting to pick at my rotting carcus once I dropped to the ground. I never actually dropped to the ground, but I felt like it for about 2 hours while I climbed that hill. I could muster nothing faster than a walk, but knew I had to continue to move my feet and hope I would feel better soon.

When I was nearing the top I started to run again and made it to the aid station to re-fuel and douse myself in cold water. I was re-born and finished the race fairly strong, but completely worn out. I finished 87th out of 115 finishers. In a marathon I usually finish in the top 5-10%, but in this case I was happy to feel like I could have run farther at the end of the 50 miles. I was happy to stop of course, but mentally it was a big boost to know that I was prepared for my ultimate goal. The races I had run up to that point were not about where I placed in the field, but about putting in the work that I knew needed to be done in order to obtain my ultimate goal.

For 2006 my one word summation for the years goal is "epic." I will not be focusing on speed this year, but rather distance. In 2005 I did a mix of both and it may end up that way towards the end of 2006, but for now it will be long and slow. I have a race calendar for 2006 on my sidebar that has most of the races I plan on running, but not all are listed as of yet. Also, because of life's uncertainty it is inevitable that I will have to cancel a few of these for family, or school reasons, which are more important.

I am very fortunate that my wife understands that I am far from normal. She understands that God made me a certain way and that I cannot deny the ambition that I have. If I did deny that ambition then I would not be who I am. I would be someone else and I could not look myself in the mirror every day if that were the case.

The run on Saturday is the beginning of an epic journey for me. It will not be fast, but it will be shared with a good friend of mine who was there for me when I ran my 100 miler. I will be able to fill her in on my goals for the year and listen to all that has been going on in her life as well. I will not wear a watch and I will not care if I finish last. I will simply be happy that on the last day of the year I am fortunate enough to be able to do the thing that I love doing with good friends that I met out on the trails. After that I will be able to spend the rest of the day and night celebrating with my family. Could life get any better?

Happy Running!

Vacation

Well I am in the land of dial-up, which makes it difficult to keep track of what everyone else has been up to. I have been trying to visit all the blogs that I follow on my list, but have not been able to get through them all as of yet. I will be in Portland, Oregon at my in-laws until Sunday and then will head home to get prepared to get back in some kind of routine.

Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family and we had a great time as usual. The kids got way too much stuff so we are going to have to give away some of the old stuff to make room for the new stuff. We hit the road at 9:30 p.m. and made it to the property a little after 1 a.m. where we would spend Christmas Day with my wife's side of the family. We finally got the kids to bed by 2 a.m. after they said hello to everyone and telling them that Santa could not come if they were not asleep soon. Christmas Day we opened up more stuff and spent the rest of the day lounging around and relaxing. I did manage to read one of the books that I bought myself for Christmas, but book #2 is taking me a bit longer to get through.

We arrived back in Portland on Monday and I went running at a local nature park that has about a 4 mile perimeter with pine needles to run on. They call it a nature mosaic and it is a beautiful place to run through at all different times of the year. I usually run there and also around the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon when I am in town. My in-laws live about 4 miles from the Nike headquarters and there is a 2 mile path around the perimeter that is covered with pine chips so it is a very soft surface versus running on the roads.

I went to the downtown YMCA this morning and lifted weights and then ran a bit on the treadmill before heading back. Not much else going on except for extreme laziness. I have not woken up before 8 a.m. since last week sometime, but things will change when I get home. I will enjoy the rest for now. I am running a 50K on New Years Eve, in the morning, which will cover the entire length on the Wildwood Trail, and then some, which I am excited about because I always mean to run the trail when I am here, but never seem to make it there. It has been raining a lot in this area so I expect a lot of mud. It is just a fun run with no aid stations so I have to pack everything I need with me. I am looking forward to it.

Happy Running!

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take the time to wish all those out in the blogging universe a Merry Christmas. I am busy, of course, trying to get things done before we head out of town for the week to spend Christmas and New Years with my in-laws. We spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family and make the 4 hour drive down towards the Oregon Coast and Seaside so that the kids can wake up Christmas morning with their stockings stuffed and the wonder of how Santa Clause was able to find us so far away from home. I hope you all get what you wished for, and are able to spend the holiday season with those you love. Merry Christmas.

Rest

I decided to take the next couple of days off to rest and hope that I do not aggravate anything any further. I may go to the gym in the morning and do some lifting and maybe hit the pool for an hour. I figure misery loves company and DGC could use a little help right now to lift her spirits while she battles injury. I am hoping to stay away from injury so I think it is a good idea. The mileage build up will have to wait a little while longer.

I am going to be working at Fleet Feet on Saturday for a few hours to get some more training in so that I can help out around the store when Paul has other obligations going on. This is a good thing since I need a new headlamp and they just started to carry two different Black Diamond headlamps that are sweet. This is the one I got my eye on.

I am also planning on starting a Monday night trail run group through the local WSU extension forest. This idea came to me from reading about Bad Ben's nighttime running adventures in the woods and I finally decided to take the plunge and lead a group of my own. The forest has a 3 mile loop with a bunch of different routes you can take and it is all flat, but it is going to have to do for now. It is a mile from my house and with my busy school schedule and family life it is as crazy as I can get on a Monday night.

Nothing much else going on. I was done with school last week and am enjoying the freedom of not having to study. I will be heading out of town on Christmas Eve night to spend the holidays with the in-laws through New Year's day. This is usually the one time of year that my wife gets to spend a little extra time being with her family, although she does go visit at least once a month. They live about 3 hours away in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon. I enjoy being there and running in some different areas. Portland has been rated one of the best running towns in the country and for good reason. Happy Running.

Christmas Light Run

Tonight was the 2nd annual Christmas Light fun run put on by the local Fleet Feet store that just opened up last year. It was actually quite comfortable before and during the run, but started to rain a bit afterwards. Ironayla took the picture and so to the left is me in my orange jacket to hopefully keep the cars from hitting me and evidently it worked since I am typing this as we speak. The picture to the right is of some of the other members of the Y-runclub, one of which is lady lurker. Can you guess which one is her?

There were about 25-30 people that joined in on the opportunity to run through some neighborhoods and check out the beautiful Christmas light displays in the process. I wish I had some pictures of the lights, but for some reason ironayla did not feel like lugging around her camera while running. Her camera is a little too big to stuff down her bra like RunnerSusan was able to do in her last half marathon.

After the run Paul from Fleet Feet raffled off some prizes and then a few of us from the Y-runclub went to Starbucks to talk about stuff we never get bored talking about. All in all a nice night for a run. As for my injury I have not decided whether it may be acting up, or I am just so in tune with any little pain in that area that I am over analyzing the situation. I am fully aware that if things do get painful again then I will have to accept the rash of I told you so's that I am sure will break out because of my irresponsible behaviors when it comes to easing back into things. I guess I just have a different style than others and that's what makes me who I am.

Should We Settle (amendment added)

As I spend a lot of time reading other people's blogs and also listening to conversations within my running group, I am struck by the feeling that often times we settle for something less than. The less than may be many different things and relate to many areas of our life, but I listen to people and at times I think it is sad that we do this to ourselves. Whether it be running the 5k instead of the 10k because you ended up too busy at work and have not been able to run in the past few weeks, or running a half instead of a full because you question what your bodies capabilities are. I understand that we all have busy lives, but I think that often times we sell ourselves short.

We are all capable of much more than any of us can imagine. We can tell ourselves that we may not be prepared, or we can tell ourselves that we will struggle through to the finish in order to obtain that feeling we get when we obtain a goal that has seemed out of reach for so long. My feeling is that if a goal doesn't seem a bit out of reach then maybe that goal should be something a little bit bigger, or a little more difficult to obtain. The act of running is a noble pursuit that can lead us to bigger and better things in other aspects of our life. I focus on running so much because at times I feel that I am way behind everyone else when it comes to normal pursuits.

I am 32 years old and have not had a real occupation my entire life. I can sit around and read blogs right now because I am out of school for two weeks and I actually enjoy reading what a lot of you have to say. It gives me something to think about when I am able to draw off of the knowledge that others have. I may be a decent runner and capable of high mileage and running numerous marathons a year, but so can all of you if you made the decision to do so. We are all capable of great things, but along with all the great things we might achieve in the process of the struggle often times comes failure. I believe that we have to be able to accept that we are going to fail numerous times before reaching that elusive goal that is worthy of pursuit. Whatever that may be.

There is an article that was written about a member of the Marathon Maniacs and perhaps one of the nicest ladies that I have ever met. Maybe her story will inspire those of us who need it.

This 'slug' Loves to Run
Seven years after having a stroke, Diana Robinson has one goal: to run a marathon in all 50 states in the same year.

Marathon runner Diana Robinson of Bellingham suffered a blood clot on the brain and underwent exploratory open-heart surgery in 1998. She didn't attempt to run another marathon for more than three years, but she did enter 76 shorter races in 2000, ranging from one 15-mile race to many two-mile and three-mile events.Among her memories are: Finishing 75 times in 76 races. Collecting 65 T-shirts, now all in a huge quilt. Winning five placing trophies, 19 placing ribbons, 11 placing medals and two placing plaques, plus one "best costume" ribbon - as Morticia Adams! Spending $1,397 on entry fees. Being late to only one start (it was her dog's fault). Being the first woman to finish, the last woman to finish, and the only woman to finish in separate races. Bringing home three abandoned black-lab puppies from a race. Going through five pairs of shoes.

Diana Robinson likes to remind everyone, "Slugs don't race." But one Bellingham "Slug" - as Robinson calls herself when she enters marathons - sure loves to run.

Seven years after suffering a stroke and enduring exploratory open-heart surgery - and more than two decades after quitting high school track in painful frustration following a two-day tryout - the 39-year-old runner has chalked up 31 marathons this year. Now the self-effacing lifelong Bellingham resident - "I'm just a runner, just a slug, certainly not anything like a star" - dreams of running a marathon in all 50 states in the same year. During her career, she has run in 15 states and British Columbia. "I really don't worry about my times," she says of her multitude of marathons. "I've been last, I've been first, and I've been in the middle, and I've loved every one."

It's no wonder she recalls she was the first Bellingham resident to join "The Marathon Maniacs," an Internet running club. Now she exchanges enthusiastic e-mails with runners around the country, constantly talking up the agony and ecstasy of running. She knows a lot about both. Her fondest dream isn't to win the Boston Marathon, because she knows that's not going to happen. Instead, she just wants to inspire others to take up running.
Even "slugs" like her. "Just remember that you don't see a slug moving, but if you turn away, the next thing you know it's all the way across the yard," she said.

Robinson has been married for 11 years to Steve Robinson, a commercial fisherman. She is in her 18th year of working at Ron Bennett Commercial Real Estate, where she notes her title is "administrative assistant/bookkeeper/feeder of the cat." In fact, slugs are far from the only creatures she admires.
"Ron donates me to the Whatcom Humane Society every Friday afternoon," she says of her animal-loving boss.
Robinson, a 1984 Bellingham High graduate, wasn't into running at all as a kid.

"My best friend, Chris (McCauley) DeBondt, ran track all four years at BHS and loved it so much that I thought I would try out as a sophomore," she says. "I lasted two days. I had to run up this hill and I thought I was going to die, I was in so much pain. "I asked myself, why would I want to do something that hurt so bad?"
So Robinson stuck to her studies and finished first in a class of more than 30 students at the old Cascade Business College. And in her 20s, she really was a slug. She doesn't recall running anywhere for anything.

That all changed not long before she turned 30, when a friend inspired her to train for the Honolulu Marathon to raise pledge money to fight leukemia (she raised $5,500). She isn't quite sure whether it was the lure of travel or a restless spirit, but she did more than train. She entered and finished. "It was hard for this slug," she says with a grin. "But I'll never forget that finish line, no matter how many more marathons I do."

She wasn't a certified Marathon Maniac - yet - but she did run marathons in Anchorage, Portland, Ore., Las Vegas, Vancouver, B.C., and San Diego over the next year and a half. "Then came the stroke," she says. "In September of 1998, I had a blood clot in my brain. It didn't paralyze me, but it affected my vision. I'm fine now, but I couldn't drive for four months. "Doctors told me women of my age who have that type of stroke usually drop dead," she says. "It was probably my good health that saved my life. I'm a vegetarian, non-smoker, and I exercise. They think a medication might have caused it, so I also underwent exploratory open-heart surgery, but they didn't need to do anything."

What she did need to do was resume running. With her doctor's permission, she was back on the road before Christmas three months later. "I told her, 'You know what you can do,'" says her husband. "Now I try to go to quite a few of her marathons. I just support her, especially if I can go and help. I'm just amazed that anyone can run that many marathons."

She spent 1999 in recuperation and ran only short races in 2000 and 2001 - she has a compelling quilt of all the T-shirts - before returning to the marathon in December 2001, in an event in Tucson, Ariz. She hasn't stopped since, logging 55 long-distance runs in all, the longest being 33 miles - nearly seven miles more than a marathon.
Robinson even qualified for the Boston Marathon, finishing the 2002 race in three hours, 32 minutes.
"It would be nice to break 3:30," is about the closet thing the modest runner will come to a dream or a boast.
"I couldn't do this without my running team," she says. "My husband, Steve; my running buddies Stacy Otter and Judy Sande; my running dog Jack, a black lab-greyhound mix; and my pet-sitter, Brenda Hudson. They make it all possible."

She ran her 31st marathon of 2005 on Sunday in Olympia's Christmas Marathon. Her personal New Year's Day celebration will come a bit early, when she runs her 32nd and final marathon of the year: her own self-designed "Last-Chance Marathon" with at least 18 friends on the trails of Bellingham. As always, this slug just won't stop moving - across the yard, across town or across the nation.

MICHELLE NOLAN FOR THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

After thinking about this post I wanted to add that I think running, or exercising to improve your health is wonderful and I don't want to make that out to be "less than" in any way. I think all of us who have had the courage to start exercising and start running and making it a part of our lives should give ourselves a big pat on the back. I am sorry if this comes across in a negative manner in any way. I do not intend it to.

Recovery Slog

My legs feel pretty good, but a bit sore as usual. I attempted to go run in the pool yesterday, but when I arrived at the pool to meet Paul and Colleen there was a note on the door saying it will be closed until January 2nd for some maintenance work. Oh well, I took the day off. Today I met Lisa at 6 a.m. about a mile from my house at Allan Yorke Park and we ran a 5 mile out and back route that is fairly flat and uneventful. There was a bit of a drizzle this morning, but nothing to dampen our spirits.

I was reading through a guide to the Lydiard running method trying to figure out if this is something that I want to tackle, or not. I believe in high mileage and I also like the idea of the periodization with different phases of training. This is something that I have never really done before. I have been in the habit in the past of jumbling everything together and trying to get a good mixture, but I do not really think that is what has produced results for me. I believe that I have had a good year in 2005 mostly from an increase in mileage that has raised my level of fitness.

I have a marathon on May 21st that is going to be an attempt at another PR. That leaves me 23 weeks if I include last week in my training plan, I think. By my calculations based on the little that I have read with the Lydiard program that would be only 9 weeks of conditioning, which I would like more, but do not have. Four weeks for hill resistance, four weeks for anaerobic, and six weeks for co-ordination and freshening (tapering).

I think I am going to go for it, but with the realization that I wish I had more time for conditioning. Also I realize that I will have to improvise on the training a bit because of the ultras I will run. I will use them for slow long runs.

Spontaneity

The Night Before

It is 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night and I am contemplating on running the Christmas Marathon in the morning. I signed up for it months ago, but since I was injured I was going to skip it. Partially because I was trying to err on the side of caution with my recovery bid, but now there is something eating me up inside telling me I should just go run. I have to say that I have not had this exhilarating feeling for quite some time now. If I run the marathon tomorrow it will definitely be the slowest marathon I have ever run, but I want to be there. I have 2 very good friends of mine that are running their 3rd marathon in 3 months to qualify them to become Marathon Maniacs. Not to mention all the other Maniacs that will be there.

I love running this marathon right before Christmas. I have run it 2 other years and it is one of my favorite races. Not because of the scenery, the course, or the organization, but because of the people that I run with and am able to celebrate life in a way that we are so fortunate to do. To non-runners this might sound like a strange way to celebrate, but for me it is an incredible blessing. I must go to bed now.

The Morning of

I have made the decision to run this morning and I am now quite nervous about it. I think there is a sense of doubt within me about whether I should physically be running 26 miles this morning. I am eating some pre-race Cheerios with sugar on top and am going to catch a ride to the start from ironayla.

The Race

We got to the race two hours before the start time, but I was planning to take the early start, which was an hour before the normal start time. I got my bib number and waited for my good friend Patch who was going to be running his 3rd marathon in 3 months to become a Marathon Maniac. It was bitter cold out and a hat, gloves, and long pants were going to be a must for the start. It was probably about 20 degrees out and I could feel the cold through my gloves. Patch arrived and we got our stuff together headed down to the restrooms and got ready for the start.

The race starts and finishes in Millersylvania State Park. The course itself is not the greatest and is an out and back with about 10 miles of it on a somewhat busy road with speeding cars flying by, but it is tolerable if you know what you are getting into from the start. I heard the announcement that the early start would be in 5 minutes and made my way along with Patch over to the starting area. There were about 10 of us taking the early start and this would be the 1st time I have done so. It was a new experience for me, which I was happy to undertake.

Patch likes to get a jump on the competition and started out much faster than I was planning on. We did not make any plans to run together and he was happy to have his mp3 player to keep him company. I started out near the back of the pack with ironayla averaging about an 11 minute mile at the beginning of the race. The legs felt good just to go slow and be able to chat away and enjoy the sun that was shining down and beginning to warm things up a bit. Since I took an early start there was no aid out on the course until about the mile 10 mark. Sonya, Patch's wife, was roaming ahead every couple miles and acted as our moving aid station. Not that we needed a whole lot, but as I went along I began to shed the clothing.

By mile 6 I decided I was warm enough to take my long pants off and go with shorts, but I kept the hat and gloves. I drank a Venti Eggnog Latte before the race so I had to make some pitstops every 3-5 miles along the way, but I was not worried about time so it really did not matter. I just wanted to run a steady pace and not aggravate anything unnecessarily. I felt really good and added in some walking breaks every once in awhile to break things up a bit. Since there were only about 10 of us that started early it was pretty lonely out on the course, but me and ironayla chatted away as we ran. I had run this marathon a few times previous so was familiar with where I was going. Ironayla told me to go on ahead at about the 11 mile mark so I increased my pace slightly.

I reached the half way point in 2:22 and was ready to pick the pace up a bit more. I got a Gu from Sonya and a drink of water and also said hello to John Curly who is a local t.v. show celebrity. He was waiting for his friend to reach the half way point and was going to run with him to the finish. He was a very nice guy and wished me well with my race. So off I went in search of a somewhat faster 2nd half.

Since the course was an out and back the regular start marathoners were now catching up with the early starts. I gave high fives to the maniacs as we passed each other and many of them were surprised to see me out there. I was also somewhat surprised myself that I decided to take the plunge. My other good friend Brandy was also running her 3rd marathon in 3 months to become a maniac and she did not know I was going to be at the race. I have been pressuring her for awhile and she had a shocked look on her face when we met up. I gave her a quick hug and let her continue on her way.

I was moving pretty well now and starting to make up some time. I was flirting with the idea of trying to break 4 hours, but decided that it would not be in my best interest to do so. It was not the smartest thing that I was running 26.2 miles to begin with so I restrained myself to keep tickin along. I focused my attention on my stride and tried to glide my feet along the ground with very little impact. I always know that I am running well when I can barely hear my feet hit the ground. If I can come upon another runner and make them jump as I pass them then I know that my stride is in check.

My legs were definitely feeling sore, but I had no cramping and no pain in my tibia where my stress fracture was just a few weeks earlier. I do not wear a watch so I had no idea how fast I was going and I cannot say that I really cared. I knew that I was running faster than I had all week and the effort felt appropriate. I was not breathing hard, or stressing my legs more than they needed. I passed Patch at about mile 22 and would have stayed with him, but I was ready to be done. Not to mention he had his mp3 player so loud that he could barely hear me anyways.

The miles passed pretty quickly and I got closer and closer to the finish. I had no overwhelming emotions, but was so happy that I was out doing what I love on such a beautiful day. I made my way back into the park and towards the finish in 4:17 something. I did not check my official time, but ironayla took a picture of the tag for me, which I will try to add later when she sends them my way.

I ran the 2nd half in about 1:55 and was very pleased with the effort. I was tired, but not overly so. I ate a couple of Bologna sandwiches and cheese nips that tasted so good. It is the one time of the year for me when a Bologna sandwich with mayonnaise can taste like a gourmet meal. I chatted with fellow maniacs and friends and then headed home, which brings me to this point.

I am a bit sore, but can walk up and down stairs just fine. I am glad that I ran the race even if it was not the smartest thing to do. I think sometimes we just gotta step away from the plan and make decisions from our heart. That is what I did and would not change a thing. Happy Running!

Loops

The Y-runclub meets Saturday mornings at 7:30 for one of their weekly runs. I decided this morning to get to the Y an hour earlier to get some extra miles in before the group arrived. My faithful training partner Jamal met me and we headed off to do some loops around the Y building and the strip mall on the other side. The loop is about .7 miles and nothing but concrete and buildings. There is nothing exciting about it, but there are some mornings when I just want to keep things simple so that I don't have to worry about making it back before the group leaves.

The benefit with running loops is that I am always close to the car so that I can add clothing, or take off items if I get too cold, or warm. Also if I need a drink of water, or something to eat I am only a few minutes away. For me simplistic loops break running down so that I can think about my stride and not worry about how far I have until I get back to where I started, or where the next hill is, or whatever. I simply concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.

I know many people would go nuts running around in circles for long extended periods of time, but it is actually one of my favorite running route options. If I am by myself then I find a loop in a park, or around a track and just count the laps one by one. I have to admit that sometimes I fantasize about being able to listen to an ipod, or mp3, but I enjoy the solitary time to just think about whatever comes to mind.

My interest in loops may stem from the fact that when I started running I had never run more than 4 miles before I signed up for the Portland Marathon. I knew I needed to get my long runs started immediately so I headed for the track and logged 10 miles by running 2.5 miles at a time and taking a water break in between sessions. I think it took me about 1:50 with the breaks, and it felt so good to take that huge step from 4 to 10 miles within one week. I think what helped most was the security of being so close to everything I needed. I guess it was my comfort zone at the time.

The following week I began doing my long runs at a park a mile from my house that had a 1 mile loop that was marked every 1/4 mile. It had bathrooms, a water fountain, baseball and soccer fields, lots of trees, and a river that I could hear in the distance. It was the ideal setting for a beginning runner like me. I continued to do most of my long runs at the park working my way up to 20 miles. Since it was a mile from my house I would run there and then do my 18 loops and head back home. I loved doing loops.

My love for loops has not changed and I actually miss not doing them more often. I suppose my loops have just been extended over the years as my comfort zone has grown. When I started it was a 1/4 mile loop that quickly extended to a mile. Nowadays it may be a 10 mile loop and sometimes even longer. I guess this is like a new beginning for me so I have returned to my roots, or loops I should say.

Building Slowly

I have been able to restrain from running every day and have run every other day this week, thus far, and plan on continuing in this fashion. I will end up with 3 days of running although I did a double yesterday and ran 4.5 in the morning at 5:45 a.m. in order to try to get back into running early, and then met with the Y-run club at the track later that night for another 5.5. I plan on running 10-12 miles tomorrow and then taking Sunday off. I cannot run very fast, but I am happy that I can run no matter how slowly it may be.

Next week I will add a day, but continue with the every other day theme. I am trying to run anywhere from 6-12 miles on these runs so that I can ramp up quickly once I feel that my body is ready to do so. I would like to get into more detail on how my body is reacting to the mileage, but I think that will have to wait until I return to a point near where I was at before I got injured. I enjoy reading Mike's descriptions of how his body deals with the stresses of high mileage and Andrew's as well. I hope to be at the level they are at in the future. Have a Happy Friday!

Good Sport

Since I teach my children to play nicely with others I will do the same. My sisters will probably get mad if they read this since I never play along with them when they send these e-mails to me, but oh well. I have been tagged and I will comply with the majority of the rules except for the one about sending an e-mail to each person letting them know they have been infected. I suppose you can call this a compromise.

So here are the rules: Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected. Now, my own answers:

1. I loved to write stories when I was in elementary school and loved to write poetry later on in high school. Most of the poetry I wrote was dark and twisted due to my rebellious lifestyle. I got my first tattoo on my senior prom in the bathroom of a friends house. It was a peace sign on my ankle, which later had to be touched up to get the lines straight. My mother was not thrilled.

2. I met my wife when she was 16 and I was 19 living in my own apartment. She was only 18 when we got married, but turned 19 a month later. We just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on December 3rd.

3. Our first three children were born in order according to their birthdate. My first daughter was born on August 1st, our second daughter was born on May 2nd, and our third daughter was born on December 3rd. Our son was born 4 hours too soon on January 3rd, I tried to talk my wife into holding out until the 4th, but for some reason she could not wait any longer.

4. I once ate 10 cheesburgers from Jack in the Box when I was in high school. They were 2 for $1 so me and my friends would go there and pile up 30 or 40 in the middle of the table and eat away. I could usually eat the most.

5. I would like to run across the United States some day when my children are grown. I have informed my wife of my plans already so that she cannot tell me she had no idea when I finally save up the money to do it. I am fully aware that the cost of the run is going to be far less than the cost of items I will have to buy my wife so that she will allow me to do it. And yes I want her to join me on the trip. Driving of course.

So there it is. I tag my good friends ironayla and also puddyrat . In the interest of knowing more about them I also will tag marathena, DGC, and Susan. These are the ladies I first started reading when I first started my blog and so you all can play along, or not. I suppose they will only know if they read my blog, but I did not want to be the one to end the game, or meme, or whatever you call these things. I might of even said some things that Lady Lurker did not know about.

Balancing

I have never been all that good at balancing aspects of my life to maintain an even order between them. For whatever reason at some point in my childhood, or adolescent years I began to engulf myself in things that interested me at various times and ignore items that did not. I suppose a lot of it has to do with biological inheritance, but I also believe that we all have special characteristics that make each of us unique apart from what we receive from our parents.

I still struggle with the same difficulties today in balancing my life. Right now my life is filled with God, family, school, running, and work. The one aspect out of those five that is temporary is school. I believe that this is the order of importance in my life although that does not necessarily mean that the time spent involved in each component is directly related to how I feel about each of them. I also believe that once I finish with my schooling that my work will overtake the importance of running, but at the moment I rate running much more important to me.

What made me start thinking about this topic more seriously lately has been my upcoming schedule with school and trying to figure out how I can maintain order in my life, or at least make it appear orderly to my wife and family.

The work that I do in order to make a few bucks now and then is lawn maintenace, plant maintenance and that sort of thing. I remember when I first began my lawn maintenance business I took a class at the community college that my Dad worked at on how to prune various types of plants and trees. The instructor had been in the business for many years and he said the secret to pruning was to have a truck full of trimmings and branches that you had cut off the bushes and trees when you left, but the bushes and trees themselves should look completely natural, or untouched. That is the same idea that I am striving for. I want a week full of high mileage without my wife and family being aware of it.

Some of you might have picked up on me talking about beginning a training program designed by Arthur Lydiard. I am not well versed as of yet in all the details and am not going to attempt to explain how the system works. What I do know that I plan on increasing my mileage up to 100 miles per week by the end of January. In order for this to be successful I am going to have to be more disciplined about waking up and getting out the door by 5 a.m. to get my running taken care of before everyone else is awake.

It should be interesting to learn how everything is going to work. This morning I went down to the high school pool and did an hour of pool running with Paul. My legs felt good after yesterdays 8 miler, but I am still trying to slowly work back into the groove.

The Long Way Home

I went out for a 5 mile run with my friend Lisa whom I have not run with since before my injury. The plan was to do a 5 mile route along the lake by my house and loop back through some neighborhoods to round it out. That was the plan.

What happened though was we started out along the lake and then I got sidetracked by some road construction in a neighborhood where I was supposed to take a left to get back to the main road. I thought I was supposed to stay straight since it had been awhile since I ran this route so we just continued on chatting away. By the time I was ready to admit that I was lost we were already about 40 minutes into the run and moving continuously farther away from where we parked.

I started to figure out where we were and realized that we were now about 4 miles from our cars. Luckily Lisa had nothing else going on and we were running slow enough that we made it back with no trouble, although it took a little longer than expected. I thought as we were running back that at least I would have something interesting to write about. Ended up with about 8 miles in 1:18 and pain free. Yeah!

My Name is Rob and I AM a Runner

By the title of the post you can most likely guess that my run last night went well. The tale of the tape equaled a run/walk time of approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, which I probably walked about 10 minutes of that here and there along with the rest of the group. We ran slowly, probably about an 11 minute mile, looking at Christmas lights and chatting away.

There were 18 of us running along the streets, or down the middle of the road at times, in remembrance of Kelly Bisson. Kelly died on January 7th, 2004 at age 39. Most of us that were running tonight had never met Kelly, but in our own way I think we were all thankful that we had the opportunity to get together on a Sunday night to celebrate life in her memory.

This morning I woke up early, before the kids (I have 4 of them) and wife (I have one of those) were awake and went pool running with Paul and Colleen. Colleen swims, but we all go to the pool together. I think it is a good idea if I alternate running days with pool running, or some other non impact activity until I can build up my base again. And yes I will build up my base again. There will be no fast stuff out of these legs for quite awhile.

That is all for now. Happy Running.

...is your training your LIFE?

I do not think that "kt" was directly trying to ask me a philosophical question when she asked this of me, but the question speaks for itself. I have asked myself this same question many times, as I am sure many others have done also, and I thought it deserved an attempt at a clarifying response. A difficult task, to say the least.

I do not think that training is my life, but it definitely is a big part of my life and perhaps defines me as what type of runner I am, or want to become. One of my favorite running quotes is, "The will to win means nothing if you haven't the will to prepare" by Juma Ikangaa.

I am a goal driven individual and it motivates me to have something to strive towards. I also like to be prepared for whatever task it is that I am taking on, which drives me to train. There are so many motivations for me to train that I have a hard time thinking that there is any other way in my life, but to train. I want to keep my weight down, I like to be active, it helps me blow off steam, I love to run, I love to be outdoors, I love running on trails, I love running in new places, I love running in circles (ok not so much), but training brings me so much joy most of the time that it is no wonder that I want to train as much as I am allowed.

There are also conflicts to training that I have not yet fully addressed, and I am not sure when I will come to terms with these conflicts. Some of you will understand these conflicts and some of you may shake your head. One big conflict is family time. How do I justify having the time to run as much as I do, but not having time to do certain family activities. Do I need to justify this? How can I find balance? These are questions I need to answer.

Another big question is in terms of my faith. I will be honest to say that I struggle with feeling guilt on Sundays when I am able to get my long run in, but somehow come up with a dozen excuses why we struggle to make it to church. The kids do not want to go. We have too many kids, which makes it difficult. We have too much to do. The list goes on and on and I have no defense other than to say that I am human.

My faith is the biggest consumer of my daily thoughts and drives my motivations. I run because God has given me the will and the ability to do so. Steve Prefontaine said, "To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." I want to do my best and am always raising my standards higher and higher, which means more training. I am satisfied with my results, but am never content.

That is about as close as I can come to answering the question for now, or at least explaining some of my thoughts. The simple truth is that I love the feeling that I get when I run. I hope to be able to post tomorrow about my activity as a runner and get back to talking about my training and my progression with my recovery.

Re-thinking the Glory Days

I have a few fond memories of running when I was a child. I never ran cross country in high school. I participated in track when I was in elementary school for a few years, but predominantly became a baseball player in my youth. My father was a runner when I was young and I have an image etched into my memory of being up at the local high school track that was practically right in our backyard. I do not remember anything else about going up to the track only the image of being there.

Another memory I have is of my first 5K that I ran with my dad when I was 12. It took place at the community college that my dad was a dean at. They had an administrators cup that they would race for every year, which my dad won quite a few years and I am sure entitled the winner to bragging rights for a year. I do not remember if we ran together the whole time, but I am pretty sure that we did, or he was close by at least. I finished in 20:31, or somewhere very close to that time. Another 12 year old boy got in front of me right at the end of the race and beat me by 1 second. I definitely remember the 1 second.

The last memory I have of running was at some point in junior high. I remember it was during the Summer and I had a big baseball tournament that I was playing in the next day. I believe I was pitching, and I would always get so nervous before games that I would feel like I wanted to throw up, but I hid it pretty well. I could not sleep the night before so I decided to go for a run around midnight. I remember being tired when I first started, but then reaching that point where it felt effortless to run. That was the first time that I ever experienced "the zone" while running. I never forgot that feeling over the next 15 year period of my life and perhaps it is what brought me back to running after all those years.

What is the Plan?

I like to plan my year out ahead of time and pick a few key races to focus my training around. Last year I was focused on the Cascade Crest Classic 100 miler in August, and all the longer races I did prior to that were geared towards training for that race. Right now my plan is to run the Bear 100 in September, but I also want to focus on a marathon most likely in May.

As of now I am thinking I will train for the Capital City Marathon in May and then switch my focus to the Bear 100 in September. If you look at my scheduled races for 2006 I have a lot of races planned, but I will use them as training races done at a base building speed. For example, if I am going to race a particular 50K in say 5 hours, to use it as a base building training run I may finish the race in 6-6 1/2 hours instead. I know it does not sound conventional to do 50K's, or 50 milers as training runs before a marathon, but hey, I am not a conventional type of guy.

Also in these races that I use as training runs I do a lot of experimentation with pre-race meals, as well as eating different types of foods while I am running to see what is going to work the best for me on race day. This applies more for the 100 milers, but it is good to test different gu's out for the marathon as well. I also experiment with salt tablets and other products to see how many I need to take to avoid cramping up during a race. I am not a mathematician so trial and error works the best for me rather than relying on a complicated formula.

Like I have mentioned in previous posts, I plan on following the Lydiard program, which I will do more reading on in the next few weeks to devise a program to fit my needs. I may need to ask for some advice since I will be doing longer training runs than the plan would most likely call for. I will also add some shorter races in the schedule when I figure out when my track/anaerobic phase will take place.

If I am pain free on Sunday then I will probably run 4 days next week for a total of around approximately 25 miles. I will keep my speed slow and build up my mileage through the end of January when I hope to be back to peak mileage. I am not sure of my mileage progression yet, but I know I want to do at least 2 months of 100 mpw before the marathon in May. I will wait a few weeks to see how my recovery is coming before I work out my plan as far as mileage goes. That's all for now.

Feedback

After I wrote my last post a good friend from the Y-run club, also known as Lady Lurker, responded to me saying how much she enjoyed it. I then responded to her regarding the upcoming run on Sunday night and how I do not know how I will respond if there is still pain when I attempt to run. I was surprised by what she wrote to me next and found her words quite inspiring. I asked her if I could post her e-mail on my blog and she kindly agreed.

She is currently reading the book Einstein Never Used Flashcards and got some of her inspiration and material from the book, which she thought also applied to my situation. She teaches early childhood development classes and works with parents in a pre-school program through a local community college. Here is what she wrote.

Rob,

Recovered or not, here is what you will do:

Reflect. Resist. Re-center.

If it still hurts or just doesn't feel right...reflect on how long recovery could be if you push it. Resist that desire to run. Re-center yourself - around your family, your education, your recovery. What is important in the long run? It'll come, maybe not as fast as you like, but it will come.

If it feels okay...then you'll reflect on your comeback. How fast? How far? How many miles? You'll resist the urge to jump in full throttle and instead, ease back in to running. Once again, you'll re-center. You'll set new goals, you'll focus on reaching them without injury.

Either way, you have a strong will and you will manage.

You are entering a period in your life where the stressors will be huge - you'll have to find a balance between school, home and running. But keep your eye on the final point - in a short 18 months you'll be there. You can do anything for 18 months! That's only twice as long as it took you to train for that first marathon. Accomplishing the enormous goal of finishing your Masters and beginning to teach is worth the struggle.

I don't know a lot of the Bible, but I do know this passage:

Ecclesiastes 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.

There have been times that I have struggled with life and I use this passage to remind me that there are seasons in my life. There was a time when I felt like I had put my life on hold to raise and homeschool the boys - and this passage really helped. It reminded me that raising children was but a season of my life and that it would be over soon enough, and that there would be other seasons to my life that would allow me to stretch and grow.

I think this applies to you as well, both for this injury and for this coming year and a half. It's a short season in your life...where maybe running won't get the priority you want it to have, during your recovery and possibly during your quest for a Masters. Hang in there Rob! You can do it and you can do it well. I have faith in you and in your perseverance. I know you will reach all your goals, both physically and mentally.

Signed, Lady Lurker (She did not really sign it that way, but I told her I would protect her identity)

Suffering and Hope

"...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character: and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us..." Romans 5:3-5

As a long distance runner I think what draws me to the sport the most is suffering and hope. When I started to run it was in the hope that I would improve my health. What I soon came to discover was that I found something that I had lost in my childhood. The exhilaration of breathing the fresh air and coming in from the outdoors being spent and forced to take a shower by my wife. The only difference as an adult was that it was my wife telling me to take a shower rather than my mother. After a few months of being a runner I began to realize that I was back in the game. I was no longer sitting on the sidelines watching my life and my health waste away.

When I decided I wanted a bigger challenge and signed up for my first marathon, which was a goal that I had had since I was a child, I began to find out that there was not only the joy of completing a run, but also the suffering of increasing my mileage and going further than I ever had gone before. My brother-in-law had run a couple of marathons before I began to run and I remember being amazed that he would run 6 miles at a time several days a week. I thought, who in their right mind would do such a thing?

After months of training, and nine months after I began to run, I completed my first marathon. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life on a personal level. I remember the anticipation before the race and the chills that were running through my body before the gun sounded. After the gun sounded there were drums pounding, and my heart was beating faster than it had since I was a teenager. I just wanted to explode out of the starting area and did once I got enough room. I let my heart lead me through the initial miles and I recall so much joy and excitement, which by mile fifteen had turned to pain and agony.

The suffering was the most enduring part of the race that I will never forget. I felt pains in my body that I did not encounter in training. I knew I had come so far and there was no way that I was going to turn back at this stage. I remember being able to see the city when I was at mile twenty and thinking that there was no way I was ever going to make it back. My hamstring cramped up severely shortly after mile twenty and I just kept walking until I could begin to run again. I continued to run, albeit slowly, and before I knew it I was less than a mile from the finish. That last mile I was in tears nearly the whole way thinking back over the past nine months and all the training I had done and realizing that my life will be forever changed.

The pain that I feel and all the suffering that I go through in training is what builds my character and gives me hope. The reason I run long is to try and obtain the same feeling that I had when I finished my first marathon. I run many events for fun, and to experience trails that I have never run on, and talk with people that I may have never met otherwise. However, most of the races I participate in are done in the hope that my body will get in good enough shape so that I can push myself beyond "normal" limits.

In big events that I spend months training for, more than anything, I want to suffer. I want to have the feeling when I get to the finish that I had nothing left to give. I want to be brought to tears at the end of a race. With the suffering that I endure, and the tears that I shed, there is always hope. Hope because I know that I am alive. I can feel life pulsating through all my muscles that are screaming in agony after hours and hours of pounding.

Hunter S. Thompson said, "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'WOW' what a ride!"

In this past month I have had a chance to reflect on the gift that we are given with the abilities that we have to use our body for sport. Many of us take this for granted, including myself. What running gives me more than anything is hope. The hope that there is always a goal to be achieved, and always new friends to meet, and always someone out there that may need our inspiration in order to change their own life. I look forward to returning to the sport that has changed my life.

Monday Monday

Not much going on in my world. I plan on another session of pool running on Wednesday and Friday and I hope I will be healed when I attempt to run pain free on Sunday. Besides that I have been pretty lazy. I have only gained one pound, even with Thanksgiving, and considering my lack of exercise I feel pretty good about that.

Pool Running...Sucks

I may have had it with the pool running. I went to the Y this morning since the Y-runclub meets on Saturday mornings at 7:30 for one of their weekly runs and got in the pool at about 7:10. The roads were cleared up from the snow, but the sidewalks and everything else still had snow and were pretty icy and slippery as well. A little after 7:30 I began to see some of the Y runners running on the track inside the Y. Lady Lurker was running with Army Chick (she wanted this nick name, trust me) and they both waved as they went by.

At this point I began to get really bored with the pool running and only stayed in the pool because I did not bring my running shoes in order to go do the bike or the elliptical. I only had my trusty Birkenstocks. Now although I believe Birkenstocks are all purpose sandals that can be used for running, biking, elliptical, weight lifting, or any other activity, the Y has rules about not wearing open toed shoes while doing these activities. Whatever.

Another Y member, Emily, came to the pool to do some swimming so I chatted with her for awhile, which also made me get out of my pool running rhythm, if I have such a thing. The conversation combined with stopping and waving to the Y-runners running on the track above ended my futile attempt at the lame pool running workout. I decided to get out and sit in the hot tub for 10 minutes before getting dressed. I wonder if I have hit my limit on lame workouts done in one year. I am certainly ready to get back on the roads and trails. So I have my debut return to running planned for next Sunday at one of the Y-run clubs annual events. Read below for details:

We would like to schedule our 4th Annual Kelly's Christmas Light Run for Sunday December 11th. It will be in the Sunrise area at 6:00 pm. We will follow it up with Pizza at Patch and Sonya's house. For those of you who don't know the history of this run, here's the story. Kelly Bisson was one of the founding members of the Y Run Club. She was a single Mom, a dietician at Good Sam, and an avid hiker and runner. She was also a survivor of Hodgkins. Kelly organized our first Christmas Light run - a slow and easy run through the Sunrise development to look at the displays. We had a great time and decided to make it an annual event. Kelly is the reason most of our runs are an hour - she'd say, "If you're gonna go out and run, you're gonna run for an hour!" If she was short of an hour, she'd loop the Y till she hit the mark. She's also the reason we run to the stop sign as we come back to the Y - there was no cutting short the run when you were with Kelly.During the next year, Kelly's cancer came back. She was in chemo and fighting it hard. Kelly was amazing - she wore me out every time we ran together, even in the midst of chemo. She'd say, "Michelle, I'll slow down for you", but her slow was my top speed. She was tough, she was funny and she was inspirational. Kelly picked up a virus right around Thanksgiving and was admitted to the hospital. She slipped into a coma. Members of the Y Run Club spent many hours at the hospital sitting with Kelly, her friends and family. We decided to go ahead with plans for our annual Christmas Light Run that year, beginning with a prayer for Kelly's recovery. Kelly died on January 7th, 2004 at age 39. We decided to have a Christmas Light run every year in honor of Kelly. Even though many of you did not know Kelly, this run gives us an opportunity to celebrate the Christmas season with friends, enjoying an activity that we all love. It is a celebration of life and health. It gives us a chance to remember that life is short and that we should all savor every moment as Kelly did. Please join us to celebrate life and joy and friendship at our annual run.

Snowy Day

Well it snowed throughout the day and over night so the kids did not have school this morning. I love the snow and I especially love running in it, but I behaved. Perhaps thoughts of recovery kept me off my feet and contained, or perhaps I am just lazy. I have to admit that this whole being lazy business is not all that bad. I am able to do more homework, sit around and read blogs all day, as well as spend more time just hanging out and having snowball fights with the kids.

The problem with having so many kids though is that you go outside and play out in the snow for an hour and then the house looks like a disaster area afterwards with wet clothes and boots laying all over. It is all worth it though. The in-laws are coming up tonight for my daughter's 5th birthday tomorrow, which also happens to be our 11th wedding anniversary. I know, not many romantic anniversaries in the near future for us until the kids get older and my daughter can allow us to celebrate her birthday before, or after it happens. But for now we will celebrate her birthday with some cake and ice cream and a small party with mostly family. And yes, I better come home from the Y in the morning with a card and some flowers for my wife. Maybe I can have Lady Lurker help me pick some out tomorrow, or if you are lurking this evening maybe you can bring them to the Y for me. I can sign the card before you seal it. (Just Kidding)

Lack Of...

I should start by saying that I did go pool running for an hour on Wednesday, but could muster up no motivation this morning to go to the gym and lift weights, or just do something. It just does not satisfy me like running does. Maybe it was the conversation on the Y-runclub message board debating whether or not lifting weights does anything to help ones running ability. I know cross training is good, but can big biceps get me across the finish line faster?And the fact that my wife is not impressed by big biceps does not help either. I mean if she was impressed then it may give me some motivation, but no, she does not care.

I guess I should be thankful that my wife is not impressed by physical accomplishments, but my life would be much easier if she were. When I finished my first marathon there was some pride beaming from her that I had accomplished such a feat. Now I get more of a, "That's nice dear" response from her when I tell her what I am doing, or what I did. I can say, "Honey I am going to run 50 miles, I will be back later." And the response, "That's nice dear." "Honey I am going to run across the state I will be back in a few weeks." And the response, "That's nice dear." Actually she may say something like, "I hope you're taking the kids with you."

I would love it if I could run a certain distance and that would count for a week or so worth of madly impressed with me feelings from her. You know, run a marathon and she can't take her hands off me for a week. Run 100 miles and she can't take her hands off me for a month. Wow, I might be tuckered out by then. Well I am at school and I gotta go to class and talk about women in the global economy, or I should say listen. I am not much of a talker.