I hope that everyone is doing well. I have been trying to get back into a normal training mode but keep getting side tracked by colds. Oh well the 50K in Moab in 4 weeks is going to kill me but it will be worth it.
Anyway my buddy Neal sent me this which was copied from a Blog written by Ryan Hall. In case you don't know who Ryan Hall is, he will be running the Marathon for the US in the 2008 Olympics. He was good friends with Ryan Shay who died at the US Olympic Trails last Nov.
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Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry.
These past three weeks I have been shown what it means to persevere in the face of hard times. Sara and I arrived in Flagstaff on December 30th to stay with our friend, Alicia Shay, with the goal of helping her in whatever way we could through the recent loss of her husband. However, as is the case so often when we try and help others, we are the ones who get blessed from the experience. I guess this is why Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Alicia showed me what it means to get up every day and face her troubles with courage and strength. I am sure a lot of people are proud of how Alicia has endured this hard time. I am certainly very proud and inspired by her ability to just plain get up everyday and choose to live a life of joy, even though she certainly has the right to be bitter, angry and frustrated.
Perseverance is a trait that I have had to learn a lot about during my running career.
The other day I was reflecting on how, when I was little, I always built up Olympians as these super-strong people who were just good all the time. Now that I am going to be one, it feels ironic that I thought of Olympians in this way. When I look at my strengths I realize that one of the most important characteristics I have is simply the ability to get back up. One of my favorite verses in the bible comes from Proverbs and says, “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again…” (24.16). This verse resonates with my soul because I had so many hard times in college.
I can’t tell you how many 800’s I jogged in over 2 minutes, even though I was going all out, or how many races I was doing everything I could do to just cover the distance. I remember racing in the London Super Grand Prix 5,000M two years ago getting the applause from the crowd for the last place runner who is struggling in far behind the rest of the field. After all these hard times, I, like Alicia, had a choice to make: was I going to get up or give in? I think some of the most celebrated moments in human achievement should be those times when everything is going against a person and they are down in the dumps but they simply choose to get up. That’s real greatness!
Currently, I am beginning to get ready for my next big event, the London Marathon. I know that the next three months are going to be full of challenging workouts. I know that I will hit some of them and feel great, but I also know that there will be days when I might be a little tired and may not run as well as I would like, but I know that no matter what the training and racing holds I will be thankful for the good days and I will get back up on the days when I falter.
When I was getting ready for the Olympic trials I had to put my perseverance to the test. About three months out I got a cold and started really struggling for a couple of weeks. I was pretty down about it all and even told Sara that I didn’t think I would make the team. I was blessed to have her encouragement through those rough weeks. I stayed down for a couple of days, but then I gradually lifted myself out of the dirt and got back to work. I am amazed by how much that one decision to get back up changed my life. I want to encourage you that if you are going through a tough time, get up; you have no idea what is waiting for you on the other side. Even if things don’t turn out how you hope, you still will have developed the characteristic of perseverance, which will benefit you for the rest of your life.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Goals for 2008
Hope every one is having a great New Year. I thought I would put out there my goals and races to share with everyone. There is a link for each one if you click on it. Have a great January and the next time I check it will most likely be next month with a race report from the Red Hot 50K, unless I get up into the mountains climbing before then.
2008 RACES
Moab Red Hot 50K 2/16
Moab 24 hour 3/29
Greenland 50K 4/19
Collegiate Peaks 50miler 5/3
Squaw Peak 50miler 6/7
Estes Park Marathon 6/15
Mount Evan Ascent 6/21
Leadville Marathon 7/5
Leadville 50miler 7/20
Leadville 10K 8/10
Leadville 100miler 8/16
Other Goals for 2008
1) Finish Sawatch\Front\ Elk Ranges 14ers
2) Start on the San Juan Range 14ers
3) Do the Maroon Bells 4 pass loop again in 1 day
4) John Muir Trail (211 miles) in 7 days or less
5) Start working on doing the Colorado Trail in sections (got the book for Christmas)
All and all it is going to be a very busy and exciting year!! Hopefully my body and mind will hold up to the challenge!
2008 RACES
Moab Red Hot 50K 2/16
Moab 24 hour 3/29
Greenland 50K 4/19
Collegiate Peaks 50miler 5/3
Squaw Peak 50miler 6/7
Estes Park Marathon 6/15
Mount Evan Ascent 6/21
Leadville Marathon 7/5
Leadville 50miler 7/20
Leadville 10K 8/10
Leadville 100miler 8/16
Other Goals for 2008
1) Finish Sawatch\Front\ Elk Ranges 14ers
2) Start on the San Juan Range 14ers
3) Do the Maroon Bells 4 pass loop again in 1 day
4) John Muir Trail (211 miles) in 7 days or less
5) Start working on doing the Colorado Trail in sections (got the book for Christmas)
All and all it is going to be a very busy and exciting year!! Hopefully my body and mind will hold up to the challenge!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Year in Review
As I sit here at work with another snowy Colorado blizzard going on outside with nothing to work on I started reflecting on the past year of racing and climbing. I guess it is that time of year to reflect on the past year and start planning the upcoming year.
2007 has been my greatest year yet and I did not even plan on it. Everything just kind of fell into place. I basically went from a back of the packer at races to finishing in the top 20 in my age group on every race I entered. I also got a lot of the 14ers here in Colorado completed this year, over half of 58 that there are in this great state. Here is a list of what I was able to do this year as far as racing.
Mount Evans Ascent(14.5 miles): 2:30:00 for 4th in my age group (4500 ft of climbing)
Wild West Relay (195 mile relay): No Whiners team got 4th in divison
Georgetown Half Marathon: 1:27 for 16th in my age group
Leadville 10K: 42:50 for 3rd overall and age group, race at 10,000 feet
Bohemian Alps 50K (33.8 miles): 4:31:00 for 5th overall
Denver Marathon: 3:13:45 for 16th in age group
Not a bad year of racing considering my goals these year was just to finish a marathon in under 4 hours. I have not been able to do that until this year. What a change considering that last year I finished the Estes Park Marathon in over 5 hours.
Also this past year I had the chance to climb many mountains both in the winter and summer. I have completed 29 of the 58 14ers in the state and even repeated 8 of them for 37 total 14ers for the year. Not bad considering that I was not planning on climbing that much. I went on a trip last Feb to Quandary and got hooked. This total does not include the 20 or so other mountains under 14,000 feet that I have climbed this year or the 35 mile 4 pass Maroon Bells backpacking loop. It has been a great year in the mountains.
Here is the link to all of my pictures for the past year, enjoy!
Shad's Pictures
For this upcoming year I have decided to redirect my energy into mostly just running and attempting my first 50 and 100 mile runs. Here is a picture of my upcoming training plan. Of course this is still a work in progress. If you click on the spreadsheet below it will enlarge.
2007 has been my greatest year yet and I did not even plan on it. Everything just kind of fell into place. I basically went from a back of the packer at races to finishing in the top 20 in my age group on every race I entered. I also got a lot of the 14ers here in Colorado completed this year, over half of 58 that there are in this great state. Here is a list of what I was able to do this year as far as racing.
Mount Evans Ascent(14.5 miles): 2:30:00 for 4th in my age group (4500 ft of climbing)
Wild West Relay (195 mile relay): No Whiners team got 4th in divison
Georgetown Half Marathon: 1:27 for 16th in my age group
Leadville 10K: 42:50 for 3rd overall and age group, race at 10,000 feet
Bohemian Alps 50K (33.8 miles): 4:31:00 for 5th overall
Denver Marathon: 3:13:45 for 16th in age group
Not a bad year of racing considering my goals these year was just to finish a marathon in under 4 hours. I have not been able to do that until this year. What a change considering that last year I finished the Estes Park Marathon in over 5 hours.
Also this past year I had the chance to climb many mountains both in the winter and summer. I have completed 29 of the 58 14ers in the state and even repeated 8 of them for 37 total 14ers for the year. Not bad considering that I was not planning on climbing that much. I went on a trip last Feb to Quandary and got hooked. This total does not include the 20 or so other mountains under 14,000 feet that I have climbed this year or the 35 mile 4 pass Maroon Bells backpacking loop. It has been a great year in the mountains.
Here is the link to all of my pictures for the past year, enjoy!
Shad's Pictures
For this upcoming year I have decided to redirect my energy into mostly just running and attempting my first 50 and 100 mile runs. Here is a picture of my upcoming training plan. Of course this is still a work in progress. If you click on the spreadsheet below it will enlarge.
It may be hard to read the photo, sorry about that but basically there is 2-3 short races, 2 marathons, 2 50Ks, 3 50 milers, and then the grand daddy of 2008, Leadville 100 mile trail run. There is also an attempt on the John Muir trail in California which is over 200 miles long. This would basically be averaging 31 miles a day for 7 days. I thought this would be good slow endurance training for Leadville 100 which is the overall goal in 2008.
We will see if I can hold up to all of this. I am sure some of the races and training will change based on how I am feeling as I work throughout the year. I will have to back off on the speed and just attempt to just finish each race. I need to make sure that I can recover from race to race and not grind myself into the ground until the Leadville 100 at which time I will give it my all.
As far as finishing my climbing of all the 14ers, I will fit them in here and there. I plan on doing at least Snowmass when Kirk is ready to do his last 14er sometime this year. These mountains are not going anywhere and I will get them all done, just not this year. I want my last 14er to be Handies as I finish Hardrock 100 mile trail run. I need to work my way up to that, maybe in 2009. Hardrock is the hardest 100 miler out there. What a cool way to finish all the 14ers huh?
I want to thank everyone for their support and help this year. Everyone from my girlfriend Ashley for running with me and putting up with my long climbing trips and my crazy training schedule. I also want to thank my main training partners Rebecca, Neal and Rachel for the motivation this year, it sucks to do long runs solo. I am looking forward to the adventures on the trail that we have planned for 2008! I also want to thank climbing partners Kirk, Dan, Scott, Chris, and Prakash along with Rebecca again for getting after the 14ers with me this year, hopefully my training will allow me to get in a few climbs in 2008 with you. I am also thankful for all the people I got to meet/train with/climb with from meetup.com and 14ers.com websites. I also want to thank Clyde for introducing me to ultras. We will see where this leads to this year buddy. I am looking forward to all the ultras that we have planned together in 2008.
I hope that everyone has a great 2008 and see you on the trails!
Shad
Friday, November 9, 2007
BACK AT IT.........
I have been slacking the last few weeks and have ran a total of 30 miles or so. I think it is good that I took the time off. I have been going at since last fall without any kind of a break. This week the slow rebuilding process will be starting. Every run will be at an easy to moderate pace, it will be all about base building from here on out. I am not saying that I will not be running hills just that I will not be going full bore up them. I did sign up for my next major race this week, The Red Hot 50K in Moab, here is the Link:
Red Hot 50K
Also this past weekend I reclimbed Longs Peak again. This a 16 mile round trip hike that can be very challaging this time of year. The wind beat the crap out of us. In Aug I did this climb in 7 hours and 50 mins, last week it took us 13 hours. Snow and ice really slow you down. Anyway below are some pictures of the climb and KirkT should be posting a trip report on 14ers.com in the next couple of days.
Here is the link to Kirk's trip report:
Long's peak trip report
Red Hot 50K
Also this past weekend I reclimbed Longs Peak again. This a 16 mile round trip hike that can be very challaging this time of year. The wind beat the crap out of us. In Aug I did this climb in 7 hours and 50 mins, last week it took us 13 hours. Snow and ice really slow you down. Anyway below are some pictures of the climb and KirkT should be posting a trip report on 14ers.com in the next couple of days.
Here is the link to Kirk's trip report:
Long's peak trip report
Sunday, October 14, 2007
DENVER MARATHON 10-14-07
It finially arrived, race day. My uncle Steve and I signed up for this marathon almost 10 months ago when they were running a special of when you signed up you got a free entry. I never thought it would get here and at the same time I was hoping that it wouldn't. I have had nothing but bad experences with marathons the last 2 years and have not been able to figure them out. I always seem to crash around mile 22 but at least I finished every one. This year on my third attempt it is different, I have been running a lot more and even got a 33 mile run under my belt to prove to myself that it was not the distance but a mental block that I put on myself. All week I have been ready until I saw the weather forecast, rain, rain, and more rain. I hate running in the rain. Don't really know why but I do. Maybe it is because I can not get warm or that I can not hear since I can't wear my hearing aid. Either way I just plain hate the rain.
So Sunday morning everyone gets up around 6am, we get all the kids loaded up into the van and on the way to the race downtown around 6:45 for the 8am start. Having already gotten our chips and race number all we had to do was show up and run. It was a cold and wet morning when we got there, I am guessing around 40 degrees and a constant drizzle of rain. I do not think it got above 50 all day long and it never stopped raining.
As the 8am start got closer Steve and I got into the chute for the mass start. They had different sections marked off based on what pace you were expecting to run. We lined up between the 7 and 8 mins per mile signs. Knowing that people always line up in a faster group than they usually run we worked our way up closer to the 7 min sign. Shortly after 8am we were off to a quick start. About 1-2 miles into the run Steve and I caught up with the 3:20 pace group. I told Steve at this point that my goal was to try and stay in front of this pacer. At that point Steve must have decided to back off a bit because I looked to my side and he was not there, that was the last time I saw him until the race was over. I passed the 3 mile mark at 21 mins, right on pace and feeling good. From mile 3-13 I do not really remember anything. I just went on auto pilot and chugged along. I pasted the 10K mark in 43 mins and the 13 mile mark in 1:31.
At the halfway point I realized that maybe I can qualify for Boston, I had 1:39 to get the finish. The qualifing time for my age group is 3:10. It is possible. From mile 13-22 the course has you running through houses south of downtown and through Wash park which I hate. Since I could not really hear anything or see anything due to not wearing my hearing aid and glasses I basically just looked at the 6 feet of pavement in front of me and tried to hang on as much as possible. Around mile 16 I think it was I did finally see Ashley and my uncle's family though!!! That was a huge mental boost for me. I knew that they were on the course cheering me on but I could not pick them out due to not being able to hear or see well. I was very relieved when I saw Ashley and picked up my pace.
As we were heading back downtown for the finish I pasted mile 21 at 2:30. That gave me 40 mins to run 5.2 miles, just under 8 min miles. I tried with everything that I had but the cramping in my legs hurt to bad and I was so cold from being wet. I finished in 3:13, 3 mins off from qualifing for Boston. Crap, so close! I ran the second 13 miles in 1:42. As I crossed the finish line I almost fell, my joints hurt so bad and one of the volunteers caught me. Finally I saw Ashley again, she was so happy for me and that is what I needed to hear. I was bummed about falling 3 mins short but like she said, I took off 1:15 from my best marathon time in only 1 year, not bad. If I keep this kind of improvement up I will be under 3 hours before to long. I am so lucky to have her to help me keep things in persective.
After the race we all went back to the condo to warm up. Steve and family took off back to Nebraska. Ashley and I on the other had some friends over for food and drinks to celebrate an end to a great summer and to cheer on the Rockies as they beat the Diamond Backs. What a great day!!!
My results.
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
61 of 1563 16 of 159 00:07:23 53 31 03:13:45
Steve's Results
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
542 of 1563 65 of 125 00:09:17 405 43 04:03:37
So Sunday morning everyone gets up around 6am, we get all the kids loaded up into the van and on the way to the race downtown around 6:45 for the 8am start. Having already gotten our chips and race number all we had to do was show up and run. It was a cold and wet morning when we got there, I am guessing around 40 degrees and a constant drizzle of rain. I do not think it got above 50 all day long and it never stopped raining.
As the 8am start got closer Steve and I got into the chute for the mass start. They had different sections marked off based on what pace you were expecting to run. We lined up between the 7 and 8 mins per mile signs. Knowing that people always line up in a faster group than they usually run we worked our way up closer to the 7 min sign. Shortly after 8am we were off to a quick start. About 1-2 miles into the run Steve and I caught up with the 3:20 pace group. I told Steve at this point that my goal was to try and stay in front of this pacer. At that point Steve must have decided to back off a bit because I looked to my side and he was not there, that was the last time I saw him until the race was over. I passed the 3 mile mark at 21 mins, right on pace and feeling good. From mile 3-13 I do not really remember anything. I just went on auto pilot and chugged along. I pasted the 10K mark in 43 mins and the 13 mile mark in 1:31.
At the halfway point I realized that maybe I can qualify for Boston, I had 1:39 to get the finish. The qualifing time for my age group is 3:10. It is possible. From mile 13-22 the course has you running through houses south of downtown and through Wash park which I hate. Since I could not really hear anything or see anything due to not wearing my hearing aid and glasses I basically just looked at the 6 feet of pavement in front of me and tried to hang on as much as possible. Around mile 16 I think it was I did finally see Ashley and my uncle's family though!!! That was a huge mental boost for me. I knew that they were on the course cheering me on but I could not pick them out due to not being able to hear or see well. I was very relieved when I saw Ashley and picked up my pace.
As we were heading back downtown for the finish I pasted mile 21 at 2:30. That gave me 40 mins to run 5.2 miles, just under 8 min miles. I tried with everything that I had but the cramping in my legs hurt to bad and I was so cold from being wet. I finished in 3:13, 3 mins off from qualifing for Boston. Crap, so close! I ran the second 13 miles in 1:42. As I crossed the finish line I almost fell, my joints hurt so bad and one of the volunteers caught me. Finally I saw Ashley again, she was so happy for me and that is what I needed to hear. I was bummed about falling 3 mins short but like she said, I took off 1:15 from my best marathon time in only 1 year, not bad. If I keep this kind of improvement up I will be under 3 hours before to long. I am so lucky to have her to help me keep things in persective.
After the race we all went back to the condo to warm up. Steve and family took off back to Nebraska. Ashley and I on the other had some friends over for food and drinks to celebrate an end to a great summer and to cheer on the Rockies as they beat the Diamond Backs. What a great day!!!
My results.
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
61 of 1563 16 of 159 00:07:23 53 31 03:13:45
Steve's Results
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
542 of 1563 65 of 125 00:09:17 405 43 04:03:37
Thursday, October 4, 2007
You know you're a 14er nut when...
This is from many people on 14ers.com.... I can relate to most of these if not all of them.
Train hard.......Shad
You know you're a 14er nut when...
You visit REI more often than your local grocery store.
Noticing the mountains can stop you mid-sentence in a conversation.
Your work schedule revolves around your climbing schedule.
You hear about a "summit on world poverty" and wonder how climbing could improve the world economy.
You walk into your room to go to bed, realize that you washed your sheets today but didn't put them back on the mattress, and just nab your sleeping bag and collapse anyway.
You rate a potentially compatible member of the opposite sex on a difficulty level of 1 to 5.
Your friends consider you a "mountain geek."
You look at a pebble and notice that it resembles a 14er on a very small scale.
You wear hiking boots or shoes on a regular basis (if you wear them to a formal event, extra points.)
You don't need to have any kind of entertainment when you're on a long car ride in Colorado... the view is sufficient.
You can recognize all of the 14ers by name just by seeing a picture of them.
Your ideal vacation is in the mountains climbing for days on end.
You know who Albert Ellingwood was.
You consider naming pets and children after 14ers.
You consider naming pets and children after people or screennames you discovered on 14ers.com.
You examine a stone building and wonder what it's difficulty rating is.
You hear someone in the middle of a conversation say "I like it on top" and don't take it in a derogatory way.
You know the name and screenname of a man who climbed Mt. Elbert in a purple pimp suit and demoted Sunshine Peak to a centennial 13er.
You log onto 14ers.com more than your e-mail account.
you go to take your clothes out of the washer and they are already dry
You see a painting with a mountain in it and start to try and figure out what the best route would be to climb it (same goes for movies)
You name your fantasy football team the Colorado 14'ers
Train hard.......Shad
You know you're a 14er nut when...
You visit REI more often than your local grocery store.
Noticing the mountains can stop you mid-sentence in a conversation.
Your work schedule revolves around your climbing schedule.
You hear about a "summit on world poverty" and wonder how climbing could improve the world economy.
You walk into your room to go to bed, realize that you washed your sheets today but didn't put them back on the mattress, and just nab your sleeping bag and collapse anyway.
You rate a potentially compatible member of the opposite sex on a difficulty level of 1 to 5.
Your friends consider you a "mountain geek."
You look at a pebble and notice that it resembles a 14er on a very small scale.
You wear hiking boots or shoes on a regular basis (if you wear them to a formal event, extra points.)
You don't need to have any kind of entertainment when you're on a long car ride in Colorado... the view is sufficient.
You can recognize all of the 14ers by name just by seeing a picture of them.
Your ideal vacation is in the mountains climbing for days on end.
You know who Albert Ellingwood was.
You consider naming pets and children after 14ers.
You consider naming pets and children after people or screennames you discovered on 14ers.com.
You examine a stone building and wonder what it's difficulty rating is.
You hear someone in the middle of a conversation say "I like it on top" and don't take it in a derogatory way.
You know the name and screenname of a man who climbed Mt. Elbert in a purple pimp suit and demoted Sunshine Peak to a centennial 13er.
You log onto 14ers.com more than your e-mail account.
you go to take your clothes out of the washer and they are already dry
You see a painting with a mountain in it and start to try and figure out what the best route would be to climb it (same goes for movies)
You name your fantasy football team the Colorado 14'ers
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Endurance Athlete's Personal Ad Translation Guide
I came across this somewhere a while back and loved it. I wish I knew who wrote it but I don't.
Endurance Athlete's Personal Ad Translation Guide
"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If its raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints cause I will still train in it and your just a big wuss for complaining about it.
"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: with or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peleton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then your not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you I will see ya later. I am a capable mechanic, but don't expect me to change your flats or tune your
bike. You need to learn that on your own.
"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Lets run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.
"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy cause with the amount of food I eat you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of ya. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Eventually though if your not burning 4000+ calories a day your going to plump up and have a terrible complex due to watching me eat deserts and not gain any weight. Friends and family will eventually decide not to dine with us anymore due to my horrid table manners. Ohh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, Mid Morning Lunch, Lunch, Afternoon lunch, Dinner or Recovery Dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.
"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into a 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way you're going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.
"I find fullfillment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing I am volunteering and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclist going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.
"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off cause I am strategizing and in a pissy mood cause I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.
"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to myself during the offseason and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so lets make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day. If you are a licensed message therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.
"I enjoy road trips and leisurely drives." Really means: You have your choice of Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don't expect to do much site seeing. If I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.
"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a moutain bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.
"I like stimulating conversation." Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.
"I enjoy relaxing soaks in the tub." Really Means: I'm going to stop on the way home and buy two bags of ice, throw them in the tub with some water, and sit in this torture chamber for 30 minutes.
"I'm interested in photography" Really Means: My a camera is permanently perched a tripod in front of my trainer. I obsess over taking photos of my bike position and analyzing them to get the perfect setup.
"I'm into in technology" Really Means: My HRM and bike computer are my best friends. Until you can give me some hard data that can improve my training, don't bother trying to buddy up to me. You could one day break into the top three if I find you as entertaining on long runs and rides as my mp3 player.
Endurance Athlete's Personal Ad Translation Guide
"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If its raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints cause I will still train in it and your just a big wuss for complaining about it.
"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: with or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peleton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then your not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you I will see ya later. I am a capable mechanic, but don't expect me to change your flats or tune your
bike. You need to learn that on your own.
"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Lets run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.
"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy cause with the amount of food I eat you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of ya. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Eventually though if your not burning 4000+ calories a day your going to plump up and have a terrible complex due to watching me eat deserts and not gain any weight. Friends and family will eventually decide not to dine with us anymore due to my horrid table manners. Ohh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, Mid Morning Lunch, Lunch, Afternoon lunch, Dinner or Recovery Dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.
"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into a 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way you're going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.
"I find fullfillment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing I am volunteering and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclist going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.
"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off cause I am strategizing and in a pissy mood cause I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.
"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to myself during the offseason and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so lets make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day. If you are a licensed message therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.
"I enjoy road trips and leisurely drives." Really means: You have your choice of Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don't expect to do much site seeing. If I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.
"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a moutain bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.
"I like stimulating conversation." Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.
"I enjoy relaxing soaks in the tub." Really Means: I'm going to stop on the way home and buy two bags of ice, throw them in the tub with some water, and sit in this torture chamber for 30 minutes.
"I'm interested in photography" Really Means: My a camera is permanently perched a tripod in front of my trainer. I obsess over taking photos of my bike position and analyzing them to get the perfect setup.
"I'm into in technology" Really Means: My HRM and bike computer are my best friends. Until you can give me some hard data that can improve my training, don't bother trying to buddy up to me. You could one day break into the top three if I find you as entertaining on long runs and rides as my mp3 player.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bohemian Alps 50K 9-15-07
I thought I would share my photos and a short race report from my first Ultra Marathon this past Saturday. The link to all my Photos is at the end of this e-mail, just click on the Bohemian Alps Ultra Marathon Album to view them.
This past Saturday Sept. 15th, I attempted my first of hopefully many Ultras with the great support of my girlfriend Ashley, her son Braden, and my uncle Steve. This race was called the Bohemian Alps Ultra Marathon 50K and was located in the central part of Nebraska not to far from Lincoln. The race was actually a little longer than 50K, it was a 32 mile run. I chose this race because it gave me a chance to drop down in elevation to 1000 feet above sea level and visit family on the way back to Colorado. One would think that since it was located in Nebraska that it would be a flat course but boy was I wrong. It was 32 miles of pure steep rolling hills. The hills were short but steep. You would run up a hill that was only 400-500 yards long and gain 200-300 feet only to look over the top to see miles and miles more of the same. Hills as far as the eye could see, FUN!!!!!
After a night of no sleep due to the rooster crowing from 3:30 am on, we lined up to start at 7:30 am. The first 2 miles I stayed in a pack of about 5 people as I warmed up. The 3 leaders took off like bandits and we lost site of the leader after 2 miles but could always see the other 2. At about the 2 mile mark after a good warm up a guy that I meet in the pack I was running with named Jason from Wahoo (I believe) Nebraska (was a cross country runner at Kansas State) and I decided to push a little since we both felt good. We took turns leading and breaking the wind for each other. It did not take us long to catch and pass the 3rd place guy. About 10 mins later we passed the second place guy around mile 10 and could see the first place guy ahead of us about 1/2 mile. I was starting to hurt as Jason and I pulled into mile 13-14 or so. I looked down at my watch to see that we covered the first 13-14 miles in 1:11ish or so. I just ran the fastest 13 miles that I ever have, there is no way I could keep this pace for 32 miles. At this point I told Jason that I was not going to be able to keep that pace and needed to back off and that I would see him at the end. I needed to run my race. Jason asked me if I was sure about that and I said yes. At this point I set myself into a 8 min mile pace and just chugged along. Ashley even rode her bike with me for a bit, that was great. At mile 16 my uncle Steve decided that he would join me and run for a while to keep me company.
Over the course of the next 10 miles from mile 16 to 26 was pretty uneventful. I did stop once to go to the bathroom but outside of that I just plotted along at my pace. Most of this section was long a tree lined bike path so my crew only had access to me every 2-3 miles or so. This was the most boring section of the race. After breaking off the bike path and getting back on the dirt roads we hit the 26 mile mark fairly quickly at 3:18. Not bad!!! I still felt good too, I was feeling good with only 6 miles left and starting to get cocky when I crashed and hit the bottom of the valley.
At mile 27-28 or so we had to head off into the local cross country course called Timber Point or as the locals called it Timber Hell. This is where I started having stomach and leg issues. I started to feel like I was going to puke and my legs were starting to cramp a bit in the calves. Usually I start feeling this way at mile 22 so not feeling this way until 28 is an improvement I guess. Timber Point was a 2 mile run around a lake on path that was mowed threw the weeds. I slowed greatly because of my problems and out of the fear of rolling an ankle or something. After power walking/ jogging through Timber Hell, it was a great relief to see my crew at mile 30 and get some Cyomax (drink). I ran out while going around the lake only had water which will not do the job. I need calories which is why I was not feeling good.
At this point I only had 2 miles left of jogging/power walking to the finish. These were the longest 2 miles I have experienced so far. I had to break down and put my I-pod on so that I could go away mentally. I did not want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to go away and keep moving forward. The whole time I was cussing at myself for slowing so much and for starting out so fast. Needless to say I finally crossed the finish line at 4:31 in 5th place and it was over........ I could not believe that the last 6 miles took me over an hour to complete. Wow that was a shock.
This was a very humbling experience for me and I am think that I am ready for the Denver Marathon in 3 weeks. I was worried because I seem to crash and burn at mile 22 or so the past couple of races. This seems to no longer be the case. We will see.
I really want to thank Ashley, Braden, and Steve for going with me and crewing for me. This would have been a nightmare without them! Thanks guys!!!
Here is the link to some pictures. Just click on Bohemian Alps Ultra Marathon album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shadmika
This past Saturday Sept. 15th, I attempted my first of hopefully many Ultras with the great support of my girlfriend Ashley, her son Braden, and my uncle Steve. This race was called the Bohemian Alps Ultra Marathon 50K and was located in the central part of Nebraska not to far from Lincoln. The race was actually a little longer than 50K, it was a 32 mile run. I chose this race because it gave me a chance to drop down in elevation to 1000 feet above sea level and visit family on the way back to Colorado. One would think that since it was located in Nebraska that it would be a flat course but boy was I wrong. It was 32 miles of pure steep rolling hills. The hills were short but steep. You would run up a hill that was only 400-500 yards long and gain 200-300 feet only to look over the top to see miles and miles more of the same. Hills as far as the eye could see, FUN!!!!!
After a night of no sleep due to the rooster crowing from 3:30 am on, we lined up to start at 7:30 am. The first 2 miles I stayed in a pack of about 5 people as I warmed up. The 3 leaders took off like bandits and we lost site of the leader after 2 miles but could always see the other 2. At about the 2 mile mark after a good warm up a guy that I meet in the pack I was running with named Jason from Wahoo (I believe) Nebraska (was a cross country runner at Kansas State) and I decided to push a little since we both felt good. We took turns leading and breaking the wind for each other. It did not take us long to catch and pass the 3rd place guy. About 10 mins later we passed the second place guy around mile 10 and could see the first place guy ahead of us about 1/2 mile. I was starting to hurt as Jason and I pulled into mile 13-14 or so. I looked down at my watch to see that we covered the first 13-14 miles in 1:11ish or so. I just ran the fastest 13 miles that I ever have, there is no way I could keep this pace for 32 miles. At this point I told Jason that I was not going to be able to keep that pace and needed to back off and that I would see him at the end. I needed to run my race. Jason asked me if I was sure about that and I said yes. At this point I set myself into a 8 min mile pace and just chugged along. Ashley even rode her bike with me for a bit, that was great. At mile 16 my uncle Steve decided that he would join me and run for a while to keep me company.
Over the course of the next 10 miles from mile 16 to 26 was pretty uneventful. I did stop once to go to the bathroom but outside of that I just plotted along at my pace. Most of this section was long a tree lined bike path so my crew only had access to me every 2-3 miles or so. This was the most boring section of the race. After breaking off the bike path and getting back on the dirt roads we hit the 26 mile mark fairly quickly at 3:18. Not bad!!! I still felt good too, I was feeling good with only 6 miles left and starting to get cocky when I crashed and hit the bottom of the valley.
At mile 27-28 or so we had to head off into the local cross country course called Timber Point or as the locals called it Timber Hell. This is where I started having stomach and leg issues. I started to feel like I was going to puke and my legs were starting to cramp a bit in the calves. Usually I start feeling this way at mile 22 so not feeling this way until 28 is an improvement I guess. Timber Point was a 2 mile run around a lake on path that was mowed threw the weeds. I slowed greatly because of my problems and out of the fear of rolling an ankle or something. After power walking/ jogging through Timber Hell, it was a great relief to see my crew at mile 30 and get some Cyomax (drink). I ran out while going around the lake only had water which will not do the job. I need calories which is why I was not feeling good.
At this point I only had 2 miles left of jogging/power walking to the finish. These were the longest 2 miles I have experienced so far. I had to break down and put my I-pod on so that I could go away mentally. I did not want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to go away and keep moving forward. The whole time I was cussing at myself for slowing so much and for starting out so fast. Needless to say I finally crossed the finish line at 4:31 in 5th place and it was over........ I could not believe that the last 6 miles took me over an hour to complete. Wow that was a shock.
This was a very humbling experience for me and I am think that I am ready for the Denver Marathon in 3 weeks. I was worried because I seem to crash and burn at mile 22 or so the past couple of races. This seems to no longer be the case. We will see.
I really want to thank Ashley, Braden, and Steve for going with me and crewing for me. This would have been a nightmare without them! Thanks guys!!!
Here is the link to some pictures. Just click on Bohemian Alps Ultra Marathon album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shadmika
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Doing the Bells with Traverse (South to North)
This is the trip report that I wrote on 9/1/07 for the Maroon Bells climb. Enjoy
Maroon Peak & N Maroon Peak
Date: Saturday, Sept 1st 2007
Route: ascend S Ridge of Maroon Peak, traverse to N Maroon, descend N Maroon NE Ridge
Team: Kirk (KirkT) and Shad (Shad)
I have been zeroing in on these peaks all summer after seeing them on my 4 pass loop trip around the Bell in June. That was the first time that I have been in this area. The first time I saw the Bells I got the urge to climb them. They were officially on my summer of 2007 list.
One week before Labor Day KirkT called me to see what my plans were for the Labor Day weekend. I was supposed to go down to the San Juans for a few days but really was not in the mood to drive that far and had to be home on Monday. He made the suggestion of the Bells and it was game on from that point on.
Friday night at 5pm we left the Denver area and headed to Aspen arriving around 8-9pm. The overnight parking lot was full so we had to park in the overflow parking about 1/4-1/2 mile down the road. I was a little worried about this. How many people are going to be on the mountain tomorrow? Was it going to be safe? We will see.
After a great night of sleeping under the stars we were off at 4:15am hiking up the road to the trailhead. After about 45 mins into the hike I realized that I should not have been leading without my head lamp on. I was on the wrong trail and was doing the loop around Maroon Lake, I missed the turn off for Crater Lake. So an hour was wasted, oh well. After getting on the the correct trail we hit Crater Lake and the turn off to head up the ridge by the bent tree in no time. At Crater Lake I thought about hiding my rope and climbing gear here and picking up on the way back because I had a pinched nerve or something in my neck and the weight was bothering me. I decided to take it anyway and suffer with the weight so I popped a couple of pills. Good think I did as you will see later. From here on out it is going to be an uphill slog.
The first half of the trail to gain the ridge was easy to follow but we lost the trail once we got into the rocks so we decided to make our own way up. Here is a trail map. In blue is the standard route and in red is our route. I may be off a little but should be very close to where we went. We tryed to stay as direct as possible.
At this point in the game we have passed 2 or so people and could see 3 head of us. I guess all those people were somewhere else and not on the Bells. We only saw about 10-12 people all day.
We finally gained the ridge by the notch.
From here we just followed the carins to the summit.
It took us about 6 hours to get to the top of South Maroon with the 1 hour side trip around Maroon Lake that I lead us on. But we made it no problem.
After spending a half hour on the summit watching the clouds we decided that we both were ok with the weather and that we were going to commit to the traverse. We left down the traverse around 11 or so. The first part of the traverse from South to North is the down climb down into the bottom of the saddle. This down climb is not bad if you take your time and not rush it. After hitting the bottom of the saddle the fun begins as you climb up North Maroon.
It took us two hours to complete the traverse from South Maroon to North Maroon.
The decent off of North Maroon took all of my energy and I did not take the time for pictures. This was one of the hardest down climbs that I have ever done. We did the traverse without using the rope but due to how poorly the route was marked on the decent of North Maroon we kept getting off route and caught in cliff bands. We ended up doing 2 repells to get off this mountain, one of about 30 feet and one of about 100 feet. It was the longest and most tiring decent I have ever done. It took us 6 hours to get from the top of North Maroon back to the car.
We finally reached the lovely site of Kirk‘s truck at 7:30pm, 15 hours after starting. What a day!!! We were both beat and in trouble, Kirk with his wife and me with my girlfriend. It took us 5 hours longer than we thought it would and they were worried. They had every right to be for we under estimated how hard the route finding on this mountain would be. Even with all of this this has been my favorite climb so far as I hit the halfway point of my 14er list. I would gladly do it again for everyone that knows me well knows that I am sucker for punishment.
Here is a link to all my pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shadmika
Link to trip report on 14ers.com, just cut and paste into browser:
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=3754
Maroon Peak & N Maroon Peak
Date: Saturday, Sept 1st 2007
Route: ascend S Ridge of Maroon Peak, traverse to N Maroon, descend N Maroon NE Ridge
Team: Kirk (KirkT) and Shad (Shad)
I have been zeroing in on these peaks all summer after seeing them on my 4 pass loop trip around the Bell in June. That was the first time that I have been in this area. The first time I saw the Bells I got the urge to climb them. They were officially on my summer of 2007 list.
One week before Labor Day KirkT called me to see what my plans were for the Labor Day weekend. I was supposed to go down to the San Juans for a few days but really was not in the mood to drive that far and had to be home on Monday. He made the suggestion of the Bells and it was game on from that point on.
Friday night at 5pm we left the Denver area and headed to Aspen arriving around 8-9pm. The overnight parking lot was full so we had to park in the overflow parking about 1/4-1/2 mile down the road. I was a little worried about this. How many people are going to be on the mountain tomorrow? Was it going to be safe? We will see.
After a great night of sleeping under the stars we were off at 4:15am hiking up the road to the trailhead. After about 45 mins into the hike I realized that I should not have been leading without my head lamp on. I was on the wrong trail and was doing the loop around Maroon Lake, I missed the turn off for Crater Lake. So an hour was wasted, oh well. After getting on the the correct trail we hit Crater Lake and the turn off to head up the ridge by the bent tree in no time. At Crater Lake I thought about hiding my rope and climbing gear here and picking up on the way back because I had a pinched nerve or something in my neck and the weight was bothering me. I decided to take it anyway and suffer with the weight so I popped a couple of pills. Good think I did as you will see later. From here on out it is going to be an uphill slog.
The first half of the trail to gain the ridge was easy to follow but we lost the trail once we got into the rocks so we decided to make our own way up. Here is a trail map. In blue is the standard route and in red is our route. I may be off a little but should be very close to where we went. We tryed to stay as direct as possible.
At this point in the game we have passed 2 or so people and could see 3 head of us. I guess all those people were somewhere else and not on the Bells. We only saw about 10-12 people all day.
We finally gained the ridge by the notch.
From here we just followed the carins to the summit.
It took us about 6 hours to get to the top of South Maroon with the 1 hour side trip around Maroon Lake that I lead us on. But we made it no problem.
After spending a half hour on the summit watching the clouds we decided that we both were ok with the weather and that we were going to commit to the traverse. We left down the traverse around 11 or so. The first part of the traverse from South to North is the down climb down into the bottom of the saddle. This down climb is not bad if you take your time and not rush it. After hitting the bottom of the saddle the fun begins as you climb up North Maroon.
It took us two hours to complete the traverse from South Maroon to North Maroon.
The decent off of North Maroon took all of my energy and I did not take the time for pictures. This was one of the hardest down climbs that I have ever done. We did the traverse without using the rope but due to how poorly the route was marked on the decent of North Maroon we kept getting off route and caught in cliff bands. We ended up doing 2 repells to get off this mountain, one of about 30 feet and one of about 100 feet. It was the longest and most tiring decent I have ever done. It took us 6 hours to get from the top of North Maroon back to the car.
We finally reached the lovely site of Kirk‘s truck at 7:30pm, 15 hours after starting. What a day!!! We were both beat and in trouble, Kirk with his wife and me with my girlfriend. It took us 5 hours longer than we thought it would and they were worried. They had every right to be for we under estimated how hard the route finding on this mountain would be. Even with all of this this has been my favorite climb so far as I hit the halfway point of my 14er list. I would gladly do it again for everyone that knows me well knows that I am sucker for punishment.
Here is a link to all my pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shadmika
Link to trip report on 14ers.com, just cut and paste into browser:
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=3754
Friday, September 29, 2006
Some things I noticed about Triathlon
I came across this posting in the Triathlon Forum on MySpace a while back and I can totally relate to about every single one of these. I had this on my blog on Myspace but since I have started this I thought I would move some things over.
Cheers,
Shad
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some things i noticed about fat, out of shape idiots that don't know a thing about or have ever participated in a triathlon...they:
1. repeatedly call it a "marathon", "superthon", etc.
2. repeatedly call me a triathlon
2. refer to olympic and sprint distances as "easy"
3. think only the ironman is a "real triathlon"
4. want to verify I am training and racing correctly
5. think i have "a lot of spare time" to train
6. think i am not training enough or correctly
7. think it is "impossible" that I could "do" a triathlon
8. doubt and talk negatively about me or my training partner to me (wtf?!)
9. think i'm a faster cyclist than them because my bike is faster
10. like to race me on their 1st lap @ my lap 130 in the pool
11. like to race me on their mile 1 @ my mile 40 on the road
12. think my positive attitude about myself is a negative one against them
13. "accidently" almost kill me as they turn into McDonalds on their cell phone
14. promise to show up and cheer for you and never show
15. reminisce about high school and how triathlon couldn't ever be tougher
16. how they go on and on about becoming a triathlete but dont do anything...
i just kinda let this stuff slide off my back... instead of trying to help someone that doesn't want to help themself I just let them be... it a waste of time to change their feeble minds...
then theres the moment they ask how i did in my race (with that smirk of how they expect me to have finished last or something) and i answer them with an outstanding finish time and placing.... the look on their faces is hilarious... like they swallowed a big rat or something....
Cheers,
Shad
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some things i noticed about fat, out of shape idiots that don't know a thing about or have ever participated in a triathlon...they:
1. repeatedly call it a "marathon", "superthon", etc.
2. repeatedly call me a triathlon
2. refer to olympic and sprint distances as "easy"
3. think only the ironman is a "real triathlon"
4. want to verify I am training and racing correctly
5. think i have "a lot of spare time" to train
6. think i am not training enough or correctly
7. think it is "impossible" that I could "do" a triathlon
8. doubt and talk negatively about me or my training partner to me (wtf?!)
9. think i'm a faster cyclist than them because my bike is faster
10. like to race me on their 1st lap @ my lap 130 in the pool
11. like to race me on their mile 1 @ my mile 40 on the road
12. think my positive attitude about myself is a negative one against them
13. "accidently" almost kill me as they turn into McDonalds on their cell phone
14. promise to show up and cheer for you and never show
15. reminisce about high school and how triathlon couldn't ever be tougher
16. how they go on and on about becoming a triathlete but dont do anything...
i just kinda let this stuff slide off my back... instead of trying to help someone that doesn't want to help themself I just let them be... it a waste of time to change their feeble minds...
then theres the moment they ask how i did in my race (with that smirk of how they expect me to have finished last or something) and i answer them with an outstanding finish time and placing.... the look on their faces is hilarious... like they swallowed a big rat or something....
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Estes Park Marathon 2006
This was one of the weirdest races that I have been involved in so far. The race itself was great, the support was great, and it was well organized. The weird part was the way that my body reacted to the work that I put it through. You will see what I mean in the following paragraghs.
We (my uncle's family, Barb, and myself) left the house at 4:30 am on Sunday to make the 1 hour 20 min drive. It is such a pretty drive that time just flys by. We arrived 1 hour before the start of the race to pick up our packets and let our nerves run crazy until start time. ;o).
Come 7 am it was time to get it on. The first 16 miles went great!! We (Steve and I) said right on pace of about 9:40 per mile and plotting right along. I kinda set the pace off of my heart rate montior, trying to keep it below 155 beats per min. Of course after 16-18 miles my heart rate montior is useless because when your body starts getting that tired your heart rate shoots though the roof. To keep the same pace that I had at 155 meant that now my HR was about 170. That is just to high, but I just kept going along.
At about mile 22 Steve got in front of me to take a turn setting the pace and all of the sudden I started feeling sick to my stomach. I lasted for about another 1/4 of a mile and then everything started coming up, I freaken started puking. This continued for the next 2 miles to mile 24 when a race official saw me and pulled from the course. The held me from finishing the race for about an hour and 15 mins while they put an IV in me and cooled me down. It was a bit warm out at 85 and the course was pretty hilly. I really do not know why my body reacted this way. I did all the training but for some reason my body quit asorbing the fluids that I was taking in causing everything to back up.
Needless to say after spending over an hour getting fluids put into me I refused to be transported and finished the race on my own. I will not have a DNF (Did Not Finish) on my record if I can help it. I guess that I did learn one thing though, even with all the training in the world you never know how your body is going to react on race day.
My final time, with my over an hour stop, 5 hours 21 mins.
Train Hard and Take care of yourselves, thanks for reading my blog.
Cheers,
Shad
We (my uncle's family, Barb, and myself) left the house at 4:30 am on Sunday to make the 1 hour 20 min drive. It is such a pretty drive that time just flys by. We arrived 1 hour before the start of the race to pick up our packets and let our nerves run crazy until start time. ;o).
Come 7 am it was time to get it on. The first 16 miles went great!! We (Steve and I) said right on pace of about 9:40 per mile and plotting right along. I kinda set the pace off of my heart rate montior, trying to keep it below 155 beats per min. Of course after 16-18 miles my heart rate montior is useless because when your body starts getting that tired your heart rate shoots though the roof. To keep the same pace that I had at 155 meant that now my HR was about 170. That is just to high, but I just kept going along.
At about mile 22 Steve got in front of me to take a turn setting the pace and all of the sudden I started feeling sick to my stomach. I lasted for about another 1/4 of a mile and then everything started coming up, I freaken started puking. This continued for the next 2 miles to mile 24 when a race official saw me and pulled from the course. The held me from finishing the race for about an hour and 15 mins while they put an IV in me and cooled me down. It was a bit warm out at 85 and the course was pretty hilly. I really do not know why my body reacted this way. I did all the training but for some reason my body quit asorbing the fluids that I was taking in causing everything to back up.
Needless to say after spending over an hour getting fluids put into me I refused to be transported and finished the race on my own. I will not have a DNF (Did Not Finish) on my record if I can help it. I guess that I did learn one thing though, even with all the training in the world you never know how your body is going to react on race day.
My final time, with my over an hour stop, 5 hours 21 mins.
Train Hard and Take care of yourselves, thanks for reading my blog.
Cheers,
Shad
Sunday, June 4, 2006
I have Escaped from Alcatraz
It is offically over, I have escaped from Alcatraz!!!
What a ride and adventure the past week has been. It has been non-stop running since I left last Thursday. We, Barb (roommate) and I took off at 6am on Thursday with the mind set to drive as far as we could in one day so that we would not have to drive much through out the weekend. Needless to say as I talked in the third person all day Thursday to drive Barb crazy we made it all the way to Reno (15 hours) so that we could hit the slot machines late that night and drink a few beers (free when you play slot machines).
The next morning (Friday) we got going around 7am to head towards NAPA Valley, the wine making capital of California. We rolled into the town of NAPA around 9am and I could not have been more impressed. That is such a great place!!! Grapevines and winerys as far as the eye can see. Needless to say Barb and I had our share of wine intake after visiting 7 different winerys that day and tasting everything that each one had to offer. That night while sitting in the hotel room waiting for the effects of the wine to go away I started to think about my race that I had in two days and prayed to the Gods above that I will make it through in one piece. Maybe going wine tasting all day was the best thing to be doing before a race but I would not have change a thing looking back on it now. It was so much fun.
Good food Good wine = Good Times
Saturday morning we got rolling around 8 am and hit the city of San Francisco around 10 am. My first thought as I drove into the city is that there is a shit load of money in this town. The houses (everywhere) and cars where all big money. All we did on Saturday after getting to the city is drive the race course so that I kinda had an idea of what I was in for and we went to the race check in and meeting. The check in and meeting is required so that you can understand how things are going to be ran and what the rules are, even though they never change from race to race. After that was all set and done it was just a matter of relaxing and getting mentally ready for the next day. I had a 4 am wake up call coming.
Ok the race report, here we go.
I was already laying there awake when the wake up call came at 4 am, needless to say my nerves were a bit on edge. I was really starting to get nervous about the swim part of the race from Alcatraz. After arising I ate a bannana and a Clif Bar with a glass of milk so that I at least have something in my stomach for the long morning that I have laying ahead of me. Our hotel was about a half mile walk to the race start so I wanted to get going by 5 so that I was there by 5:30 to set up and get all my gear around. As I was setting my gear and unpacking my duffle bag I discovered that my wetsuit is gone!! I totally freaked out, there was no way that I was doing this 1.5 mile swim in 55 degree water without my wetsuit. I dumped all my gear in the fenced in area and took off running back towards the hotel down the street that I came in on. I got about 3/4 of the way back when I found my wetsuit laying there in the middle of the sidewalk. The stupid thing fell out of my duffle bag as I was walking to the start. What a way to start the day, made me start to wonder what else could go wrong today.
The start of the swim is from a boat that is parked in front of the island of Alcatraz. They unloaded 1800 plus swimmers off that boat in under 6 mins. They removed a railing from one side of the boat and everyone just starts going over the edge like a big tidal wave into the bay. That was crazy!!!! Once I got away from the boat and things started to calm down it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was just hard to site where I was going because of the waves and the fog that rolled in half way through the swim. When the fog rolled in I decided that I would just follow everyone else and not worry about siting. Hopefully we would all end up in the correct location on the shore. The swim took me 48 mins., not great but better than I thought it would be.
Next up was the bike and run parts of the race. Nothing really eventful really happened during these 2 parts of the race. I word of advice that I can give to anyone who does this race is to train in the hills. I spent a lot of time the last couple of months trail running in the hills west of Boulder. If I would not have done this there is no way that I would have finished this race in good shape like I did. The reason that I say that I finished in good shape is because after finishing the race Barb and I went to Pier 39 for lunch and to look around and I was not totally wiped out.
It was a great trip and hope to do it again someday, but the chances of that happening (hard race to get into) are very slim.
VIDEO OF MY FINISH:
Alcatraz 2006 finish
Add to My Profile | More Videos
PICTURES:
What a ride and adventure the past week has been. It has been non-stop running since I left last Thursday. We, Barb (roommate) and I took off at 6am on Thursday with the mind set to drive as far as we could in one day so that we would not have to drive much through out the weekend. Needless to say as I talked in the third person all day Thursday to drive Barb crazy we made it all the way to Reno (15 hours) so that we could hit the slot machines late that night and drink a few beers (free when you play slot machines).
The next morning (Friday) we got going around 7am to head towards NAPA Valley, the wine making capital of California. We rolled into the town of NAPA around 9am and I could not have been more impressed. That is such a great place!!! Grapevines and winerys as far as the eye can see. Needless to say Barb and I had our share of wine intake after visiting 7 different winerys that day and tasting everything that each one had to offer. That night while sitting in the hotel room waiting for the effects of the wine to go away I started to think about my race that I had in two days and prayed to the Gods above that I will make it through in one piece. Maybe going wine tasting all day was the best thing to be doing before a race but I would not have change a thing looking back on it now. It was so much fun.
Good food Good wine = Good Times
Saturday morning we got rolling around 8 am and hit the city of San Francisco around 10 am. My first thought as I drove into the city is that there is a shit load of money in this town. The houses (everywhere) and cars where all big money. All we did on Saturday after getting to the city is drive the race course so that I kinda had an idea of what I was in for and we went to the race check in and meeting. The check in and meeting is required so that you can understand how things are going to be ran and what the rules are, even though they never change from race to race. After that was all set and done it was just a matter of relaxing and getting mentally ready for the next day. I had a 4 am wake up call coming.
Ok the race report, here we go.
I was already laying there awake when the wake up call came at 4 am, needless to say my nerves were a bit on edge. I was really starting to get nervous about the swim part of the race from Alcatraz. After arising I ate a bannana and a Clif Bar with a glass of milk so that I at least have something in my stomach for the long morning that I have laying ahead of me. Our hotel was about a half mile walk to the race start so I wanted to get going by 5 so that I was there by 5:30 to set up and get all my gear around. As I was setting my gear and unpacking my duffle bag I discovered that my wetsuit is gone!! I totally freaked out, there was no way that I was doing this 1.5 mile swim in 55 degree water without my wetsuit. I dumped all my gear in the fenced in area and took off running back towards the hotel down the street that I came in on. I got about 3/4 of the way back when I found my wetsuit laying there in the middle of the sidewalk. The stupid thing fell out of my duffle bag as I was walking to the start. What a way to start the day, made me start to wonder what else could go wrong today.
The start of the swim is from a boat that is parked in front of the island of Alcatraz. They unloaded 1800 plus swimmers off that boat in under 6 mins. They removed a railing from one side of the boat and everyone just starts going over the edge like a big tidal wave into the bay. That was crazy!!!! Once I got away from the boat and things started to calm down it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was just hard to site where I was going because of the waves and the fog that rolled in half way through the swim. When the fog rolled in I decided that I would just follow everyone else and not worry about siting. Hopefully we would all end up in the correct location on the shore. The swim took me 48 mins., not great but better than I thought it would be.
Next up was the bike and run parts of the race. Nothing really eventful really happened during these 2 parts of the race. I word of advice that I can give to anyone who does this race is to train in the hills. I spent a lot of time the last couple of months trail running in the hills west of Boulder. If I would not have done this there is no way that I would have finished this race in good shape like I did. The reason that I say that I finished in good shape is because after finishing the race Barb and I went to Pier 39 for lunch and to look around and I was not totally wiped out.
It was a great trip and hope to do it again someday, but the chances of that happening (hard race to get into) are very slim.
VIDEO OF MY FINISH:
Alcatraz 2006 finish
Add to My Profile | More Videos
PICTURES:
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Runners
I moving this from Myspace over to here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a story that I came across on Scott Dunlap's blog that I just had to share with everyone and I loved it so much that by sharing it with you I am also creating an archive for myself. Hopefully it is ok to re-post this. Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you haven't read "Runners", a short story by award-winning author Roger Hart, I thought I would reprint it in the blog (with permission). I can only hope to have such stories 20 years from now!
Roger Hart is an Creative Writing Instructor at Ohio University, and boasts a 2:27:48 marathon PR. If you like this story, you can order Erratics, his collection of short stories that won the George Garrett Fiction Prize. Roger is currently working on a novel, and assures me he still gets out regularly to run!
Thanks to Alan Abbs for pointing me to this.
Enjoy, SD
Runners
BY ROGER HART
WE RAN THROUGH BLIZZARDS, THUNDERSTORMS, freezing rain, covered bridges, creeks, campgrounds, cemeteries, parks, a nuclear power plant, county fairs, and, once, a church service. We were chased by goats, geese, a crazed groundhog, guards (the nuclear power plant), a motorcycle gang, an armed man in a pickup, a sheriff's deputy, and dogs, both fierce and friendly. We ran when 2 feet of snow covered the roads, and when the windchill was 30 below. We ran when it was 80 degrees at seven in the morning. We ran on streets, sidewalks, highways, cinder tracks, dirt roads, golf courses, Lake Erie beaches, bike trails, across yards, and along old railroad beds. Seven days a week, 12 months a year, year after year.
During the hot days of July and August, Ed ran without a shirt or socks; I always wore both. Norm ran with a screw in his ankle and joked that it was coming loose. Ed was faster going downhill; I was better going up. The three of us met at a race and became training partners, competitors, best friends. We ran together on Saturday mornings, usually a 20-miler along the shore of Lake Erie or a 22-mile route over hilly country roads through Ashtabula County [Ohio]. We ran thousands of miles and more than a dozen marathons together, but most of the time we ran alone.
We gave directions to lost drivers, pushed cars out of snow banks, called the electric company about downed lines and the police about drunks. We saved a burlap bag full of kittens about to be tossed off a bridge, carried turtles from the middle of the road, returned lost wallets, and were the first on the scene of a flipped pickup truck.
We ran the Boston Marathon before women were allowed to enter and way before the Kenyans won. We were runners before Frank Shorter took the Olympic gold at Munich, before the running boom, nylon shorts, sports drinks, Gore-Tex suits, heart monitors, running watches, and Nikes.
We ate constantly, or so it seemed. My favorite midnight snack was cookie dough or cold pizza. Ed enjoyed cinnamon bread, which he sometimes ate a loaf at a time. Norm downed buttered popcorn by the bucketful and Finnish cookies by the dozen. We all loved ice cream, and drank large vanilla shakes two at a time.
Still, friends said we were too thin. They thought we looked sick and worried something was wrong.
We measured our lives in miles down to the nearest tenth, more than 100 miles a week, 400 a month, 5,000 a year.
The smells! From passing cars: pipe tobacco, exhaust fumes, and sometimes the sweet hint of perfume. From the places we passed: French fries, bacon, skunk, pine trees, dead leaves, cut hay, mowed grass, ripe grapes, hot asphalt, rotten apples, stagnant water, wood smoke, charcoal grills, mosquito spray, road kill. And from ourselves: sunscreen and sweat.
Some people smiled and waved. A few whistled. Once or twice women from passing cars yelled we had nice legs. Others, usually teenage boys in sleek, black cars, yelled obscenities, called us names, gave us the finger, and mooned us. They threw firecrackers, lit cigarettes, soda cans, half-eaten ice cream cones, beer bottles (both full and empty), squirted us with water, drove through puddles to spray us, swerved their cars to force us off the road, swung jumper cables out the window to make us duck, and honked their horns to make us jump.
We saw shooting stars, a family of weasels, a bam fire, a covered wagon heading west, and a couple making love in a pickup. We ran with deer on a golf course, jumped a slow-moving train to get across the tracks, hid in ditches during lightning storms, slid across an intersection during a freezing rain, and dived into Lake Erie to cool off in the middle of a hot run. We drank from garden hoses, gas station water fountains, soda machines, lawn sprinklers, and lemonade stands. We carried toilet paper, two quarters, sometimes a dog biscuit.
We were offered rides by "The Chosen Few" motorcycle gang, old ladies, drunks, teenagers, truckers, a topless dancer (not topless at the time but close, real close), and a farmer baling hay, but we never accepted a single one. We argued about the dancer.
We were nervous before races and said we'd quit running them when we weren't. We won trophies, medals, baskets of apples, bottles of wine, windbreakers, T-shirts, pizza, pewter mugs, running suits, shoes, baseball caps, watches, a railroad spike, and, once, $500. Often we didn't win anything, although we never looked at it that way.
Ed liked to race from the front and dare other runners to catch him. I preferred to start a little slower, stalk those who went out too fast, and sneak up on them around 20 miles when they began to look over their shoulders. I felt like a wolf, and they were the prey. When I passed, I pretended not to be tired, and never looked back.
Our goal was to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon, to run faster and farther, to beat other runners.
Did we ever have runner's high? Didn't it get boring? What did we think about? Why did we always look so serious? Sometimes. Sometimes. Running. We didn't know we did. One spring day it rained so hard the road was one giant ankle-deep puddle, and Ed was huffing, and our feet were splashing, and it struck us funny. We laughed until we collapsed, tears and rain running down our faces. We joked about the time Ed had to pee and caught himself showering a snake, the time we got lost during a winter storm and refused to turn around, and the time we ran by Don King's ranch and were mistaken for two boxers. (We never understood how anyone could mistake us for boxers, but we loved it.)
We felt guilty about the time we ran into a church service being held in the middle of a covered bridge, and were too tired, too inconsiderate, too stubborn to turn around, so we sprinted down the center aisle, dodging the two men with collection plates, and ran out the other end of the bridge while the congregation sang "Praise God from whom all blessings flow...'
And the dogs! The ones that tried to follow us home and the ones that attacked us. The time that Ed, Norm, and I yelled at a growling Doberman, and told it to go home. The owner jumped in his pickup, chased us down the dirt road, swearing he'd shoot us for bothering his dog. We ran through a field and across a four-lane highway, circled back through the woods, hid beneath the underpass, and then jogged into a gas station where we celebrated our escape with ice-cold Cokes.
Or the time a sheriff's deputy stopped his cruiser to protect us from a German shepherd as large as a Poland China hog in a nearby field. The dog jumped through the open window and landed on the deputy's lap, and, while they wrestled in the front seat, we ran, afraid of what might happen if either ever caught up with us.
We found pliers, purses, golf balls, bolt cutters, billfolds, money (once, over $200--returned to an 18-year-old boy--no reward, no thanks), tape cassettes, CDs, sunglasses, school books, porn magazines, a Navajo ring, car jacks, a fishing pole, a pair of handcuffs (no key), an eight ball, and a black bra (36C).
We ran farther and faster. We sprinted up long steep hills by the Grand River until all we could do was stagger. We ran intervals on a dirt track: 20 quarter-miles in under 70 seconds, the last lap in 56 flat. We got lightheaded, our hands tingled, and sometimes blood vessels in our eyes ruptured from the effort.
We ran because it beat collecting stamps, because we were running toward something, because we were running away, because we were all legs, lungs, and heart, because we were afraid of who or what might catch us if we stopped.
One winter, while running twice a day, I was on my way home from a 7-mile run, and I couldn't remember if it was morning or night, if when I finished I would shower and go to work or shower and go to bed. I looked at the horizon and the stars, the passing cars, and the lighted barns for a clue, but couldn't figure it out. Ed said one time he went out for a run and bumped into himself coming back from the previous one.
We lost toenails and we pulled muscles. We suffered frostbite, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, sunburn, blisters, dehydration, and tendinitis. We were stung by bees, bitten by black flies, and attacked by red-winged blackbirds. Sometimes, after a long run, speed workout, or a marathon, our legs would be so sore, our Achilles so inflamed, that we could barely walk, and we'd limp or shuffle painfully when going from the couch to the refrigerator or from the front door to the mailbox.
We treated aches with ice and heating pads, or soaked our legs in DMSO, sometimes in Epsom salts and hot water. We tried medical doctors, surgeons, chiropractors, acupuncturists, podiatrists, massage therapists, trainers, and quacks. We were given shots of novocaine and cortisone, told to take ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin. We were warned that we were ruining our knees, our hips, damaging our feet, breaking down too much blood, that we would suffer arthritis and degenerative joints.
BUT SOMETIMES IT WAS LIKE FLOATING, as if you were sitting on top of a pair of legs that you didn't think would ever get tired or slow down.It was as if the legs were yours but they weren't.
It was as if we were part animal: a running, flying animal. A horse, a bird. It was like feet kissing the pavement and effortless strides, the body along for the ride. It was like sitting in Ed's '67 Corvette, that monster engine gulping high-octane fuel and turning 6,000 rpms, your foot ready to pop the clutch. Like freedom and invincibility. When we ran around comers, we were jets sweeping in formation.
We each had a resting pulse in the low 40s and body fat of 7 percent or less. I was 6' 2", raced at 148 pounds, and went through a pair of running shoes every 6 weeks.
Once, I experienced chest pains, a sharp stab beneath the ribs. A Saturday morning, 22-mile run. Seven steep hills. We raced up the first hill to find out if it was my heart or not, and when I did not drop, we raced up the second and third. After 6 miles the pain eased off, and Ed said if it had been a heart attack, it must have been a mild one. Thousands of miles later, a doctor unfamiliar with a runner's heart sent Ed to the emergency room where he was poked, prodded, hooked up, and given oxygen. Finally, Ed said enough was enough, pulled the IV, and ran home. Two weeks later, he set an age-50 record for the mile in a local meet.
Although we ran faster and faster, it was never quite fast enough. We failed to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Still, four times we drove for hours and slept in our cars to watch others compete for the three Olympic spots. Then, just as we once stalked other runners, time stalked us.
We began looking over our shoulders and thinking about the marathons we had run instead of thinking about the next race. We slowed down. Our bodies balked at 100-mile weeks, and it took longer to recover from a hard run. Sometimes when the weather was bad--very hot was always worse than very cold--we took a day off. Sometimes we would skip a day because we were sore or tired. We stopped giving the finger to those who ran us off the roads. We gained 5, 7, 10 pounds. More.
Now, Ed has a granddaughter; Norm has "screw pains," and I have a retirement clock and deformed toes. We've turned gray, lost hair, and joined AARP. We run 25, 30 miles a week. From time to time, we race, no marathons but shorter races, 3, 4 miles, maybe a 10-K. We measure our lives in days, months, and years, not miles.
Ed and Norm still live in Ohio; I moved to North Carolina, then to Minnesota. We no longer run together, but we keep in touch and reminisce about the time the newspaper ran a front-page story about a group of snowmobilers who had ridden nearly 10 miles on a day when the temperature was 5 below. We had passed them during a 20-mile run. We argue about who threw the rock at the house, whose fault it was we got lost, and which one of us the topless dancer really wanted to take for a ride.
We complain that we're running slower than we once did, and make jokes about timing ourselves with calendars and sundials. Sometimes when we're running we'll spot other runners ahead of us and the urge to race comes back, and we'll do our best to catch them. Last fall while I was running in a park, I overheard a high school coach urge his runners to pass "the old, gray-haired guy." I held them off for a mile although it almost killed me, and, when I had completed circling the park, I ran by the coach and said, "Old guy, my ass."
But my ass is getting old along with my other body parts. When I sometimes fantasize about one more marathon, the fantasy seldom lasts more than a day. Fast marathons and 100-mile weeks are things of the past.
And what did we learn from running 70,000 miles and hundreds of races, being the first to cross the finish line and once or twice not crossing it at all, those runs on icy roads in winter storms and those cool fall mornings when the air was ripe with the smell of grapes, our feet softly ticking against the pavement?
We learned we were alive, and it felt good. God, it felt so good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a story that I came across on Scott Dunlap's blog that I just had to share with everyone and I loved it so much that by sharing it with you I am also creating an archive for myself. Hopefully it is ok to re-post this. Enjoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you haven't read "Runners", a short story by award-winning author Roger Hart, I thought I would reprint it in the blog (with permission). I can only hope to have such stories 20 years from now!
Roger Hart is an Creative Writing Instructor at Ohio University, and boasts a 2:27:48 marathon PR. If you like this story, you can order Erratics, his collection of short stories that won the George Garrett Fiction Prize. Roger is currently working on a novel, and assures me he still gets out regularly to run!
Thanks to Alan Abbs for pointing me to this.
Enjoy, SD
Runners
BY ROGER HART
WE RAN THROUGH BLIZZARDS, THUNDERSTORMS, freezing rain, covered bridges, creeks, campgrounds, cemeteries, parks, a nuclear power plant, county fairs, and, once, a church service. We were chased by goats, geese, a crazed groundhog, guards (the nuclear power plant), a motorcycle gang, an armed man in a pickup, a sheriff's deputy, and dogs, both fierce and friendly. We ran when 2 feet of snow covered the roads, and when the windchill was 30 below. We ran when it was 80 degrees at seven in the morning. We ran on streets, sidewalks, highways, cinder tracks, dirt roads, golf courses, Lake Erie beaches, bike trails, across yards, and along old railroad beds. Seven days a week, 12 months a year, year after year.
During the hot days of July and August, Ed ran without a shirt or socks; I always wore both. Norm ran with a screw in his ankle and joked that it was coming loose. Ed was faster going downhill; I was better going up. The three of us met at a race and became training partners, competitors, best friends. We ran together on Saturday mornings, usually a 20-miler along the shore of Lake Erie or a 22-mile route over hilly country roads through Ashtabula County [Ohio]. We ran thousands of miles and more than a dozen marathons together, but most of the time we ran alone.
We gave directions to lost drivers, pushed cars out of snow banks, called the electric company about downed lines and the police about drunks. We saved a burlap bag full of kittens about to be tossed off a bridge, carried turtles from the middle of the road, returned lost wallets, and were the first on the scene of a flipped pickup truck.
We ran the Boston Marathon before women were allowed to enter and way before the Kenyans won. We were runners before Frank Shorter took the Olympic gold at Munich, before the running boom, nylon shorts, sports drinks, Gore-Tex suits, heart monitors, running watches, and Nikes.
We ate constantly, or so it seemed. My favorite midnight snack was cookie dough or cold pizza. Ed enjoyed cinnamon bread, which he sometimes ate a loaf at a time. Norm downed buttered popcorn by the bucketful and Finnish cookies by the dozen. We all loved ice cream, and drank large vanilla shakes two at a time.
Still, friends said we were too thin. They thought we looked sick and worried something was wrong.
We measured our lives in miles down to the nearest tenth, more than 100 miles a week, 400 a month, 5,000 a year.
The smells! From passing cars: pipe tobacco, exhaust fumes, and sometimes the sweet hint of perfume. From the places we passed: French fries, bacon, skunk, pine trees, dead leaves, cut hay, mowed grass, ripe grapes, hot asphalt, rotten apples, stagnant water, wood smoke, charcoal grills, mosquito spray, road kill. And from ourselves: sunscreen and sweat.
Some people smiled and waved. A few whistled. Once or twice women from passing cars yelled we had nice legs. Others, usually teenage boys in sleek, black cars, yelled obscenities, called us names, gave us the finger, and mooned us. They threw firecrackers, lit cigarettes, soda cans, half-eaten ice cream cones, beer bottles (both full and empty), squirted us with water, drove through puddles to spray us, swerved their cars to force us off the road, swung jumper cables out the window to make us duck, and honked their horns to make us jump.
We saw shooting stars, a family of weasels, a bam fire, a covered wagon heading west, and a couple making love in a pickup. We ran with deer on a golf course, jumped a slow-moving train to get across the tracks, hid in ditches during lightning storms, slid across an intersection during a freezing rain, and dived into Lake Erie to cool off in the middle of a hot run. We drank from garden hoses, gas station water fountains, soda machines, lawn sprinklers, and lemonade stands. We carried toilet paper, two quarters, sometimes a dog biscuit.
We were offered rides by "The Chosen Few" motorcycle gang, old ladies, drunks, teenagers, truckers, a topless dancer (not topless at the time but close, real close), and a farmer baling hay, but we never accepted a single one. We argued about the dancer.
We were nervous before races and said we'd quit running them when we weren't. We won trophies, medals, baskets of apples, bottles of wine, windbreakers, T-shirts, pizza, pewter mugs, running suits, shoes, baseball caps, watches, a railroad spike, and, once, $500. Often we didn't win anything, although we never looked at it that way.
Ed liked to race from the front and dare other runners to catch him. I preferred to start a little slower, stalk those who went out too fast, and sneak up on them around 20 miles when they began to look over their shoulders. I felt like a wolf, and they were the prey. When I passed, I pretended not to be tired, and never looked back.
Our goal was to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon, to run faster and farther, to beat other runners.
Did we ever have runner's high? Didn't it get boring? What did we think about? Why did we always look so serious? Sometimes. Sometimes. Running. We didn't know we did. One spring day it rained so hard the road was one giant ankle-deep puddle, and Ed was huffing, and our feet were splashing, and it struck us funny. We laughed until we collapsed, tears and rain running down our faces. We joked about the time Ed had to pee and caught himself showering a snake, the time we got lost during a winter storm and refused to turn around, and the time we ran by Don King's ranch and were mistaken for two boxers. (We never understood how anyone could mistake us for boxers, but we loved it.)
We felt guilty about the time we ran into a church service being held in the middle of a covered bridge, and were too tired, too inconsiderate, too stubborn to turn around, so we sprinted down the center aisle, dodging the two men with collection plates, and ran out the other end of the bridge while the congregation sang "Praise God from whom all blessings flow...'
And the dogs! The ones that tried to follow us home and the ones that attacked us. The time that Ed, Norm, and I yelled at a growling Doberman, and told it to go home. The owner jumped in his pickup, chased us down the dirt road, swearing he'd shoot us for bothering his dog. We ran through a field and across a four-lane highway, circled back through the woods, hid beneath the underpass, and then jogged into a gas station where we celebrated our escape with ice-cold Cokes.
Or the time a sheriff's deputy stopped his cruiser to protect us from a German shepherd as large as a Poland China hog in a nearby field. The dog jumped through the open window and landed on the deputy's lap, and, while they wrestled in the front seat, we ran, afraid of what might happen if either ever caught up with us.
We found pliers, purses, golf balls, bolt cutters, billfolds, money (once, over $200--returned to an 18-year-old boy--no reward, no thanks), tape cassettes, CDs, sunglasses, school books, porn magazines, a Navajo ring, car jacks, a fishing pole, a pair of handcuffs (no key), an eight ball, and a black bra (36C).
We ran farther and faster. We sprinted up long steep hills by the Grand River until all we could do was stagger. We ran intervals on a dirt track: 20 quarter-miles in under 70 seconds, the last lap in 56 flat. We got lightheaded, our hands tingled, and sometimes blood vessels in our eyes ruptured from the effort.
We ran because it beat collecting stamps, because we were running toward something, because we were running away, because we were all legs, lungs, and heart, because we were afraid of who or what might catch us if we stopped.
One winter, while running twice a day, I was on my way home from a 7-mile run, and I couldn't remember if it was morning or night, if when I finished I would shower and go to work or shower and go to bed. I looked at the horizon and the stars, the passing cars, and the lighted barns for a clue, but couldn't figure it out. Ed said one time he went out for a run and bumped into himself coming back from the previous one.
We lost toenails and we pulled muscles. We suffered frostbite, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, sunburn, blisters, dehydration, and tendinitis. We were stung by bees, bitten by black flies, and attacked by red-winged blackbirds. Sometimes, after a long run, speed workout, or a marathon, our legs would be so sore, our Achilles so inflamed, that we could barely walk, and we'd limp or shuffle painfully when going from the couch to the refrigerator or from the front door to the mailbox.
We treated aches with ice and heating pads, or soaked our legs in DMSO, sometimes in Epsom salts and hot water. We tried medical doctors, surgeons, chiropractors, acupuncturists, podiatrists, massage therapists, trainers, and quacks. We were given shots of novocaine and cortisone, told to take ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin. We were warned that we were ruining our knees, our hips, damaging our feet, breaking down too much blood, that we would suffer arthritis and degenerative joints.
BUT SOMETIMES IT WAS LIKE FLOATING, as if you were sitting on top of a pair of legs that you didn't think would ever get tired or slow down.It was as if the legs were yours but they weren't.
It was as if we were part animal: a running, flying animal. A horse, a bird. It was like feet kissing the pavement and effortless strides, the body along for the ride. It was like sitting in Ed's '67 Corvette, that monster engine gulping high-octane fuel and turning 6,000 rpms, your foot ready to pop the clutch. Like freedom and invincibility. When we ran around comers, we were jets sweeping in formation.
We each had a resting pulse in the low 40s and body fat of 7 percent or less. I was 6' 2", raced at 148 pounds, and went through a pair of running shoes every 6 weeks.
Once, I experienced chest pains, a sharp stab beneath the ribs. A Saturday morning, 22-mile run. Seven steep hills. We raced up the first hill to find out if it was my heart or not, and when I did not drop, we raced up the second and third. After 6 miles the pain eased off, and Ed said if it had been a heart attack, it must have been a mild one. Thousands of miles later, a doctor unfamiliar with a runner's heart sent Ed to the emergency room where he was poked, prodded, hooked up, and given oxygen. Finally, Ed said enough was enough, pulled the IV, and ran home. Two weeks later, he set an age-50 record for the mile in a local meet.
Although we ran faster and faster, it was never quite fast enough. We failed to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Still, four times we drove for hours and slept in our cars to watch others compete for the three Olympic spots. Then, just as we once stalked other runners, time stalked us.
We began looking over our shoulders and thinking about the marathons we had run instead of thinking about the next race. We slowed down. Our bodies balked at 100-mile weeks, and it took longer to recover from a hard run. Sometimes when the weather was bad--very hot was always worse than very cold--we took a day off. Sometimes we would skip a day because we were sore or tired. We stopped giving the finger to those who ran us off the roads. We gained 5, 7, 10 pounds. More.
Now, Ed has a granddaughter; Norm has "screw pains," and I have a retirement clock and deformed toes. We've turned gray, lost hair, and joined AARP. We run 25, 30 miles a week. From time to time, we race, no marathons but shorter races, 3, 4 miles, maybe a 10-K. We measure our lives in days, months, and years, not miles.
Ed and Norm still live in Ohio; I moved to North Carolina, then to Minnesota. We no longer run together, but we keep in touch and reminisce about the time the newspaper ran a front-page story about a group of snowmobilers who had ridden nearly 10 miles on a day when the temperature was 5 below. We had passed them during a 20-mile run. We argue about who threw the rock at the house, whose fault it was we got lost, and which one of us the topless dancer really wanted to take for a ride.
We complain that we're running slower than we once did, and make jokes about timing ourselves with calendars and sundials. Sometimes when we're running we'll spot other runners ahead of us and the urge to race comes back, and we'll do our best to catch them. Last fall while I was running in a park, I overheard a high school coach urge his runners to pass "the old, gray-haired guy." I held them off for a mile although it almost killed me, and, when I had completed circling the park, I ran by the coach and said, "Old guy, my ass."
But my ass is getting old along with my other body parts. When I sometimes fantasize about one more marathon, the fantasy seldom lasts more than a day. Fast marathons and 100-mile weeks are things of the past.
And what did we learn from running 70,000 miles and hundreds of races, being the first to cross the finish line and once or twice not crossing it at all, those runs on icy roads in winter storms and those cool fall mornings when the air was ripe with the smell of grapes, our feet softly ticking against the pavement?
We learned we were alive, and it felt good. God, it felt so good.
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