San Francisco 1/2 Marathon: 1hr 38min*

Dean Karnazes, author of Ultramarathon Man, signs Julie's copy of his book.

Summary
1 hour 38 minutes and 7 seconds*.
*includes an emergency approximately 9 minute potty break.

102 out of 3859 runners overall.
89 out of 1744 men.
26 of 611 in my age group (35-39 males).


The Whole Story (Mostly)
The weather was perfect for an early-morning race. With just a few high clouds and a slight chill to the air, we headed down from our room at about 5am. The race was scheduled to start at 5:30am, but our wave was for 5:40. The five of us who stayed the night (me, Julie, Jenny, Tamara, and Jenny's kid's soccer coach, Tom) met up with our other running friends who had driven in from Pacifica (Michelle, Vicky, and Carol).

Running across the Golden Gate Bridge, glancing out over the Bay as the sun rose was wonderful -- beautiful!

I'm not sure if it was something I ate or drank, but I had major gastrointestinal problems and had to take a 9 minute emergency potty break. I "held on" for as long as I could until I had to make a mad scramble up a hillside for a bit of privacy. I couldn't even make it to a porta-potty. So, if I could subtract that 9 minutes, my time would've been a much more respectable 1 hour 29 minutes. I didn't have any other problems really although I felt a bit sluggish and had a hard time breaking 7 minutes / mile, even on the flatter sections. Also, the battery apparently went out on my foot pod even though it was a recent replacement and it has a multiple hour warning where it flashes red instead of green, so maybe it got left on by accident, but it was useless deadweight during the race. So, I didn't know what my pace was at any given moment.

http://runraceresults.com/Event.asp?ID=RCLF2006
bib #16778

Other interesting things: there were many runners dressed in costume. One was wearing a Roman warrior costume that included a breast plate (front and back), shield, and spear. Another runner was carrying a serving tray with a fake bottle of wine glued to it. Another was a clown. Our local celebrity, Dean Karnazes, the ultramarathon runner, also ran the marathon in just under 4 hours which was very respectable considering he ran the Badwater 130 last week.

Besides the race, it was fun relaxing and visiting with friends and enjoying myself without having to be concerned about Claire. Thank you, Jennifer, for watching her this weekend. We also got to see Dean Karnazes talk about his experiences and try to inspire others towards challenging themselves.

For a brief picture tour of this weekend, with commentary, please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ron-o-matic/sets/72157594219307235/

My splits were:
Mile #1: 7:36 weaving way through crowds
Mile #2: 7:24 avg. with mile #3 due to not seeing mile marker. crowded.
Mile #3: 7:24
Mile #4: 7:09 somewhere around here I started feeling problems "down below"
Mile #5: 7:05
Mile #6: 8:08 some hills getting on to the bridge
Mile #7: 7:05
Mile #8: 6:58 finally broke 7 minutes.
Mile #9: 17:06 emergency! stopped for a while behind a bush. #$%! What did I do wrong?
Mile #10: 6:21 had a huge downhill.
Mile #11: 7:42 hills?
Mile #12: 8:02 and more hills?
Mile #13: 6:38 picking up the pace towards the end
Mile #13.1: 0:34 had a bit of a sprint for the last couple hundred feet

Food diary: In spite of our best efforts, we had a really late dinner. I think we started eating at 9pm. About an hour before the race, I had a banana and a chocolate flavored Power Bar, and then a few bites of yogurt. I was thinking as I was running that the yogurt was a mistake as was a little bits of dried fruit the day before. In hindsight, I wish I had skipped some of the fruit from the day before and gotten up earlier and had coffee (caffeine has a strong laxative effect on me) and tried to get things "cleared out" earlier.

Of our group:
Ron: 1:38:07
Tamara: 1:56:46
Vicky: 2:01:33
Julie: 2:03:35
Michelle: 2:05:33
Jenny: 2:07:34
Tom finished somewhere in there in the middle.

Pacifica Trail Run 21km - 3rd place

I participated in a nearby running event this morning in the neighboring city of Pacifica. They had four different races going on at the same time and the one I decided to enter was 21 km long and consisted of climbing and descending 3 sequentially taller hills / mountains. The 3rd climb was to the very top of Montara Mountain. I felt like I should have done better -- I walked 4 or 5 times on the climb up Montara Mountain, got fatigued, and felt like I was over-heating. I think the lack of running in the last two weeks (yeah, even though I hiked Mt. Whitney) hurt me. I got passed by a bunch of people on this final climb, but then I passed some of them on the way down. I narrowly missed coming in 2nd place overall in the 21 km race. Surprisingly to me, there were several runners entering the longer 30 km race and 50 km race who ran the first 21 km faster than I did. That really makes me want to get better....

It was fun seeing many of my running friends there. I knew: Vicky, Michelle, Stan Jensen, George, Ben, and Chris.

My final time was 2 hours 1 minute 28 seconds to cover the 20.6 km (12.8 miles) and 2,930 ft of elevation gain. 3rd place. The results have been posted.

Mt. Whitney or Bust

This 4th of July holiday weekend, our little family flew down to Fontana to see my parents and for me go on a hike that my Dad organized. Our crew consisted of me, my sister Jessica, my sister Molly, her fiance Jared, and my Dad. We all returned safely and had a good adventure and 3 of the 5 of us (me, Molly and Jared) successfully hiked to the top of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S., at 14,495 feet.

For pictures and some of the narrative of the hike, please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ron-o-matic/sets/72157594188577833/

so, this fiber-optic salesman walked into a bar...

I wish this were a joke, but it's not. I went to a Dad's Book Club meeting last night in Half Moon Bay at the Kitchen & Cocktails and had an amazing conversation with this guy named Jerry [not his real name]. He said he owns a small company that does custom fiber-optic cable and equipment manufacturing.

That reminded me of an article I read recently in Wired Magazine. There have been other articles as well.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70947-0.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=AT%26T+email+spying&btnG=Google+Search

So, I asked Jerry, "Did you hear about the secret court documents that were leaked recently by Wired Magazine? The documents were about a lawsuit against AT&T and were under court seal not to be revealed. The documents give details about how AT&T worked with the National Security Agency to install equipment in San Francisco and in other locations to allow the NSA to spy on nearly every email that is sent or received within the United States. Do you think this is for real?"

Jerry says, "Oh, yeah, we worked on that contract."

Holy crap! What a freakin' coincidence! He had my attention.

Jerry continued, "We worked with a company called CloudShield. There's a splitter on the fiber optic cable that sends the data to computers that do massively parallel processing. The NSA can look at just about every packet sent on the internet in the United States."

Uhhh.... This bothered me. A secretive group within the executive branch of the federal government, without any court order or warrants or outside supervision, was examining every or nearly every email, internet chat, voice-over-the-internet phone call, and website visited by every person in the United States.

Jerry seemed to be very unconcerned about this. He went on, "Yeah, I know to some people that privacy is a really big deal and I understand that. It's like some people are afraid of heights and other people are afraid of the outdoors and other people are really concerned about privacy. As for me, I've got nothing to hide. My emails are totally mundane and boring to anyone listening."

Well, call me crazy, but since when is concern about the 4th Amendment similar to agoraphobia? There's a reason we have checks and balances -- absolute power corrupts absolutely and we cannot simply close our eyes and trust one branch of the government to not abuse its power without an independent branch of government checking up on things. Jerry agreed with me that balance of power is important and that this intrusion on civil liberties is a slippery slope and can lead to future abuses. We went on to talk about the rise of Nazi Germany and how it was a legal takeover that brought them to power, and the cycles of liberalism and conservatism. We pretty much saw eye-to-eye.

So, what a conversation and revelation. This reminds me when my mom first got on to the Internet and started using email. In one of my mom's first emails, on Nov. 1, 2004, she wrote a bunch of political and religious opinions followed by "Is it safe to write stuff that's not politically correct? Just wondering!"

My response was, in part, "Regarding e-mail security, it's basically not secure. You shouldn't send credit card info in an e-mail, for example." At least I got that part right. At the time, I would have thought only a conspiracy nut would believe that our government was scanning nearly every bit of every American's online communication. No longer. Any NSA employee with the right clearance can examine any email you send without a warrant. If they can further identify your computer by IP address, they might be able to know every website you visit and anything else you do online.

Add to this the NSA's warrant-less wiretapping of phones. And the recent revelation that the government knows about every phone call you make and who and when you called (except for Qwest subscribers; they didn't cooperate). Again, all this without warrant or independent oversight.

Getting on my soapbox:

Our Founding Fathers created a pretty amazing document -- The United States Constitution. They were aware of the dangers of unchecked government power. Here's the 4th Amendment, short and sweet:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

One more infuriating aspect about all of this unconstitutional spying is that I don't think it's necessary. We don't really have to choose between security and civil rights. The FISA Court was set up for the sole purpose of quickly granting secret warrants to enable tracking down terrorists. The warrants can even be gotten for several days after the wiretapping has begun. There could be put in place a similar system of checks and balances for examining internet communications.

What can we do? Here's what I can think of:
1. Call or write or email your Representatives and Senators. They perked up when people complained about the high gas prices. But this requires some extra effort and maybe our voices would not rise above the noise.
2. Mid-term elections are coming up. Vote for members of Congress who have a backbone and who are financially independent of (currently) the Republican National Committee. A Congress that rubber-stamps whatever the president wants and ignores unconstitutional behavior is not acting as a check on the executive branch's power. On a related note, if you want independent politicians, give your donations to them directly rather than to the national public parties, then politicians won't be so beholden to national party leaders.
3. Bush is stubborn and arrogant. He's not going to change. Impeachment seems completely reasonable for trampling the Constitution and ignoring the law. Don't buy the "but not at a time of war" rhetoric -- short of annihilating the whole human race, there will always be evil doers and terrorists. It's a time-honored technique for those in power to declare a never-ending state of emergency to scare the population into submission.
4. Pass this along? Perhaps someone with more time and energy than I do can make more of a difference.

--Ron

Update 6/7/06:
Pretty Good Privacy is a standard for sending secure emails:
http://www.gnupg.org/

For a good article on how email works and why it's not normally secure:
http://luxsci.com/extranet/articles/email-security.html

The Relay - 27:00:59

What a great adventure; thank you everyone for making this happen. We challenged ourselves, pushed ourselves hard, and lived life to its fullest this past weekend.

Our team, Maverick Waves, consisted of 12 runners and 2 drivers and we ran this relay race non-stop for 27 hours and 59 seconds. We covered the 199 miles from Calistoga, CA to Santa Cruz, CA. The runners never got lost and no one got hurt. I'm very proud of how we did. I was the captain of this team and I got the people together, and did most of the planning, but in the end it was of course a team effort and everyone did their best and did well.
http://www.therelay.com/Results/Results.php3
21st of 104 teams. In our division, Open Mixed, we were 4th of 25.

Highlights from van #2:

It has to be Greg, finishing his first leg, leg #8 consisting of some tough steep hills in the vineyards. With wide eyes, looking like he survived a near-death experience, "that was soooo much worse than ANYTHING I could have POSSIBLY imagined." And well, you just had to be there. Brings tears to my eyes it was so funny. It was great having you on our team and in our van, Greg.

Another highlight, especially for Ben and me, would be meeting Dean Karnazes. For some reason he only ran 145 miles that weekend. That feels weird saying something like that -- "only ran 145 miles", but I guess that shows what an amazing athlete he is. He was very gracious and friendly and signed my book and let us take a couple of photos with him. Our poor Julie Mell -- you missed getting a hug from Team Dean.


Dilly.... Dilly-man, The Dilly Meister... an aspiring comedian, enthusiastic one-man support team, and the van #2 public relations manager. Thank you for driving and taking the photos and watching out for us boys and girls.

Jenny smashed my estimated time for her second leg and I didn't give van #1 a full hour's notice, so we lost about 3 minutes at the next handoff waiting for van #1 to arrive with Kiko. Sorry again about that. I think that was the only big mistake we made which is very minor compared to what could have gone wrong. Just getting 12 runners, 2 vans, and 2 drivers all together on time felt like an enormous accomplishment. From my perspective, it felt like we were half way done already!


BORING, DIARY PORTIONS HERE. Ben, skip this section, if you made it this far. :)

My most intense moment: running on the steep downhill side of leg #10 (8.9 miles, "very hard"). It was steep and fast and rocky and wet and at night. The terrain just seemed to be flying towards me in this circle of gray and brown, illuminated by my headlamp. It was a surreal out-of-body experience, like watching this sepia-colored silent movie with terrain and mud and rocks flying towards me, my eyes glued to this center of light. Even blinking my eyes seemed to be a dangerous distraction for this intense 20 to 25 minute period. A cow guard suddenly came into view and I was on one side of the trail and the plywood board only covered the middle of the cow guard. My left foot landed on the strong parallel bars and then the front of my foot plunged in between the metal bars. I instinctively yanked my foot out as my right leg was in the air, coming forward. I was running very fast (for me). It was only moments later that I realized how serious an accident I almost had. I made sure to cross the remaining cow guards in the center of the trail.

My best leg: my 3rd leg. I felt pretty "dialed in". I had developed side cramps in my first two legs because I think of the extensive downhills which I pushed myself hard on. My 3rd leg was pretty much flat for 4 miles with a strong headwind and then huge inclines for the last 2+ miles. I averaged 7 minutes 6 seconds a mile and passed 5 other runners on this leg. I had predicted 48 minutes and did it in 44:05.

All-in-all, I'm happy with how I ran. For the record, my times were:
leg #10, 8.9 miles "very hard" (the hardest leg in the race). 1:06:22
leg #22, 4.2 miles "easy". 27:53
leg #34, 6.2 miles "very hard". 44:05
I passed 3 runners in my first leg, 2 in my second, and 5 in my third. I didn't happened to get passed by anyone although there were certainly many better runners out there.

Los Angeles Marathon -- 3:18:59

Well, what can I say... it was an amazing day. The weather was beautiful -- nice and cool with clear skies. A storm had passed through on Saturday so the air seemed especially crisp and clean. There were cheering crowds and well-wishers along the whole route that formed a large flat loop in central Los Angeles.

How did the race go? I put in my best effort, I trained as hard and as well as I could, and I used the best race strategies that I know, so ultimately, I can't help but to be happy with the results even though I had hoped to do better. My goal time was to qualify for the Boston Marathon by running the race faster than 3 hours and 10 minutes. I was on pace up until about the end of mile 19 and fatigue just seemed to creep in and when I tried to run faster I felt the twinges of cramps in my calves and thighs and hips. During mile 20 my left calf suddenly clenched up briefly and I had to stop momentarily and walk a couple steps, but then the cramp settled down quickly and I resumed running. The only other time I stopped was to get my salt capsule out of the plastic bag. There's something I should've practiced more beforehand! With sweaty hands and a tight seal on the small ziplock bag, I tried 3 times to open it while running, but I just couldn't get a grip. So right at the end of mile 20, I stopped briefly and opened it up. George gave me the salt capsules after hearing about my Honolulu Marathon experience. Thank you again for all your help and advice and encouragement.

Around mile 22 I thought I could still beat my previous marathon time by about 5 minutes, but the fatigue kept on getting worse. I felt just like I did in the Pillar Point Half-Marathon last September when I ran the first two miles way too fast and my legs felt "burned out" about half-way through and I was gradually forced to slow down. So mile 23 through to the end was an even slower and more difficult struggle. It was hard seeing the tall buildings of the financial district so far away still, knowing that the finish line was buried inside that cluster of buildings somewhere. I stuck with it, trying a couple of times to speed up, but then immediately feeling the onset of cramps, so I slowed right back down again.

It occurred to me that being forced to slow down sucks not only because of the disappointment of missing one's goals but because the damn race takes that much longer to finish! Mile 24 goes by. I see my parents, my sister, and her fiancé. I gave them a big smile, two thumbs up, mumbled something about slowing down, and trudged onwards. Mile 25 goes by. I see a big sign saying 1 more mile to the finish! People are cheering me on by name. (All the runners got to choose a nickname to be printed on their bibs.) "Go, Ron, Go!" "Pick up the pace, Ron, you're almost there!" "Good job, Ron!" "You can do it, Ron!" It was great and I really appreciated the crowds and how energetic they were. Finally... I turned the corner on to Flower Street and was looking up the final gradual hill towards the dense crowds and the huge banner strung across the street. The finish line! The end is in sight! The roar of the crowds wrapped around me like a blanket. I was on a total natural high. I was going to do it. I was going to finish. My time was still going to be very good in the grand scheme of things and was going to be faster than my last marathon. I crossed the finish line. A terrific challenge overcome!

The volunteers removed my electronic chip from my shoe and placed a medal around my neck and gave me one of those metallic reflective blankets. And animal cookies. And a banana. And water. I was a bit wobbly and someone asked me if I was OK. Pretty soon I was stretching and able to walk more normally. There was a terrific band in the friends & family reunion area and they did a cover song of No Doubt's "I'm Just a Girl" and Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". I started dancing. Oh, and earlier in the race, about mile 13, a DJ was playing one of my current favorite songs, "Dare" by that animated band from England, Gorillaz.

So, quite a day. I kept an eye out for Juliana but didn't see her. Also, before the race, we were going to try to meet next to the Clif Bar pace groups, but I was packed in like a sardine near the front and I learned afterwards that Juliana was near the rear of the pack. So we didn't get a chance to hook up and so sorry, Julie and Jenny, I have nothing further to report about Juliana's boyfriend. Oh, except his name is Nathan and he did come down to the marathon with her and walked about 15 miles apparently (!?!) with their dog.

What else... I ran with the 3:10:00 Clif Bar pace group up until the fatigue started settling in. I used the lap timer on my watch to record my mile splits although somehow I must not have pressed the button hard enough at the beginning, so I'm not sure how long my first mile took. And later, I must not have pressed it hard enough again or I forgot and I missed a mile split. But anyway, next time I think I should stick with my own pacing because we were somewhat all over the place and I can't help but to wonder if some of the faster miles hurt me later on. My goal pace was 7:15. (That's 7 minutes 15 seconds a mile.) My split times at the following mile markers were:

1. 7:25 (estimated)

2. 6:49

3. 6:56

4. 7:12 left hip and right quads start feeling tight.

5. 6:57

6. 7:43

7. 6:53

8. 7:23

9. 7:03

10. 7:28

11. 7:20

12. 6:57

13. 7:11 left hip and right quads mysteriously feel ok again.

14. 7:07

15. 7:19

16. 7:13 average with mile #17

17. 7:14

18. 7:22

19. 7:25 starting to fall back from the pace group a bit.

20. 8:03 oh oh. trouble settling in. pace group out of sight.

21. 7:47 can't speed up!

22. 7:43 ditto.

23. 9:02 boom... big time fatigue.

24. 9:33 red alert, red alert.

25. 8:54 after all that resting, speeding up?

26. 8:50 approximate. Got combined with next 0.2 miles.

26.2. 2:10 approx. didn't stop stopwatch immediately.

Total: 3:18:59.

I was 384th out of about 25,200 runners. I was 71 out of 1512 in my age group.

This was my second marathon, so I can't help but to compare it to the Honolulu Marathon. Pros and cons? Let's see, here's what's good about the Los Angeles Marathon:

• nicknames on the bibs!
• probably more crowds and more energy.
• slightly better supported with many more water stations and even a few more sports drink stations.
• had more prominent mile markers with huge banners stretched across the street at every mile marker. You couldn't miss them. In Honolulu, they were much smaller and to the side and more easily missed.
• Los Angeles is a heck of a lot closer than Honolulu!
• There is more prize money, about $450,000 total, for Los Angeles. It's also interesting that the elite women got a 20 minute head start over the elite men and some company gave $100,000 to the first person, male or female, to cross the line. This year a woman won, but last year a man won. The 1st place male and female also received about $62k, including the value of a car.

What's better about Honolulu?

• the 5am start time keeps you out of the glare of the sun for most of the race for most runners.
• the scenery is better. Los Angeles is a seemingly endless urban sprawl. The route did not go through any parks or even next to any parks as far as I recall unless they were very small.
• Hawaii in general is a more enticing vacation destination, albeit expensive.
• The Honolulu Marathon route has a large portion that doubles back on itself so that you can see the front runners and those behind you. It was fun seeing the world's best runners in person while running. The LA Marathon is a loop so the elite runners are quickly separated from everyone else.
• ice cold sponges at two aid stations!

And I have to give an enormous thanks to my parents for driving me all around Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday and feeding me lots of good food and getting me to the starting line right on time. And a huge thanks to my sister Molly and her fiancé Jared for taking the time to see the marathon.

Kaiser Permanente Half-Marathon, 1:27:10

It was a beautiful day this morning in Golden Gate Park. The weather couldn't have been more perfect -- clear blue skies, cool air, and almost no wind. Jenny, Vicky, Michelle and I rendezvoused at 6:30am in Pacifica and made our way over. It was crowded! They announced that this was their biggest race yet. 7500 runners I think. After a 15 minute wait at the porta-potties, I didn't have much time to spare for the 8am start time. Fortunately, I was able to weave up towards the start line without too much difficulty. Let's see, long story short...

• Michelle turned her ankle at mile 2.5 but it wasn't bad enough to make her stop. Stoic! *gulp*
• My time was about 1:27:10 -- a new personal record by almost 3 minutes.
• Vicky came in at 1:47 if I remember correctly.
• Michelle... 1:52? or 1:53?
• Jenny... 1:54 I think. I might be off by a minute.

Good racing, everyone. I'm tired and sore, but not Jenny! We dropped her off on Haight to do some shopping and she's got a long busy day planned in S.F.

Here's some more about my experience. I was really pleased with how it went. My main goal was to not start off too fast and to keep an even 6:43 pace as best I could. My final average pace was 6:39. My first mile was my slowest, 7:02. I also tried a new technique which I think helped a lot -- I used the lap timer on my watch to count each mile so that I could try to stay at the right pace. I know, if only I could remember what my previous mile marker time was, it's not too hard to do the subtraction, but I've found that I can forget what my stopwatch reading was the last time. It's so much more simpler to press the Lap button on my watch. Plus, I'll have a history of the per-mile times for later review. My Polar watch also reports the pace that I'm running at, but I hadn't calibrated it for the shoes / pace / terrain or something, so it was quite a bit off. Typically it was showing about 20 seconds / mile faster than my true speed.Next time, I'll try better to calibrate it because it can be a very useful tool; kind of like having your own pacer to help you keep a steady pace. Anyway, it helped a lot to get accurate feedback on my pace at every mile marker.

Random running diary stuff: This morning, at about 5:35am, I ate a vanilla Power Bar and a banana and drank some sports drink. The race started at 8am. I drank a cup of Gatorade at the first aid station and it felt like it was too much. It felt like it was sloshing around in my stomache. Since I didn't seem to be sweating at all, I skipped all of the remaining aid stations until the last one (mile 10.5? 11?) at which I drank some water. I didn't feel thirsty, but I thought it would be a good idea. During the race I actually felt pretty good. I was getting fatigued, certainly, but it was not an epic battle of will to keep going, so I think it really helped to run evenly and not too fast in the beginning. Except for the very beginning with the walkers and slow runners packed up at the front, I passed the most runners along the Great Highway, which is effectively the 2nd half of the race. I interpreted that as a sign that I was keeping a good steady pace. It was nice that there was this yellow-shirt guy who bumped into me around mile 1 and I kept seeing him and I finally pulled past him when he slowed down at an aid station shortly before I got my last water. Tracking him during the course was a good motivator. It was also great seeing Vicky and Jenny during the race. Thanks for keeping an eye out for me! Towards the turn-around point past Sloat Ave., I was getting anxious and nervous about the uncertainty of how much farther I had to go. I was trying to "keep it all together" and spend my energy reserves as best I could so that I could last the entire race. Because of additional uncertainty about where the finish line was, I probably held back a little too much. As soon as I saw the finish line I was able to really let loose and all-out sprint for it. I think ideally I would've had a slightly better time by picking up the pace more on the last mile or so. Finally, this course has a net elevation drop. Combined with the perfect weather and hard fast surface, this is going to be a personal record that is hard to beat!

Crystal Springs Reservoir

I participated in a fun excursion this morning -- 20* miles through a closed watershed area nearby in Crystal Springs Reservoir. A running friend, George Miller, invited me although he ended up not being able to go. I was worried for myself because my daughter Claire woke up last night saying her ear hurt plus I was sick with some kind of virus; I felt "achey" and fatigued. But still, I couldn't pass up this opportunity if I could help it. There were some amazing runners there and I wanted to meet them and it's always fun to run in a new area. So, at 8:08am this morning, in the light rain and heavy fog, we took off and had a successful journey. Suki Martin led the way. She's an ultra marathon runner who has completed many 100 mile, 50 mile, and 50km races. Her fastest marathon time was just 3 years ago at 3 hours 28 minutes. Nice! I spoke extensively with Greg Ausley, an ironman triathlon runner about the pros and cons of the Garmin GPS watch versus the Polar watch -- Garmin wins for ease of use and accuracy. He did lose satellite coverage twice during our run, but only for 20 seconds each time. Anyway, the 13 of us had a good run although one of us had to turn back quite early; he hadn't recovered from a past injury as well he thought he had. A big thanks again to Suki for being our guide and for providing the water and chocolate goodies at the half-way point.
Anyway, here are a few foggy pictures:




*20 miles was the posted length, but Greg with the GPS watch says that the first mile marker was much less than one mile from where we started. Our overall distance may have been around 19.2 or so. It took us 3 hours 49 minutes -- a very liesurely pace.

Honolulu Marathon Survivor - 3:19:19

Last Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005, I participated in an act of massive group madness, and ran 26.2 miles along the roads of the lush tropical cities of Honolulu and Waikiki, accompanied by about 28,000 24,643 runners (28,048 registered) and thousands more walkers. How often can you leave your hotel room at 3:00am and as you ride down the elevator from the 17th floor, the elevator stops at every floor and runners board and crowd in! I was on a shuttle bus about 8 minutes later and was walking across the field near the starting line at 3:26am. There was plenty of time to get ready and take in the scene and do final preparations for the 5am start time. It seemed to take forever! At about 4:40am or so, a police escort worked its way from the back of the crowds to the front, parting the sea of people so that a long line of wheelchair racers could get through. The racing models looked like they belonged in the future -- very aerodynamic with one little steering wheel in the front and large carbon fiber drive wheels in the back, slanted inwards. They reminded me of Star Wars land speeders in Return of the Jedi. The crowd cheered as they worked their way down the middle of the wide avenue.

5am finally arrives. Bang! The gun is fired, the fireworks shoot off into the night sky in sync, and the rows and waves of runners start peeling away from the sardine pack. About 1 minute and just 100 feet later I crossed the starting line and started my stopwatch. In spite of the signs suggesting that everyone in this section was running the marathon between 2 hours and 3 hours, I swerved around: a blind woman runner being led by her companion, dozens of walkers, and many joggers. My goal time for the first mile was 7min 30s and it took me 8:16. Oops! I seemed to easily gain back the time and I tried to focus on running each mile at the desired pace, starting off more slowly and building up steam for the 2nd half of the marathon. My breathing was easy, I felt good.

I had not drank anything since about 2:30am so I was actually getting thirsty by the start of the race. I drank a full glass of water, probably 8oz, at the first aid station. It felt good. There was no sports drink available. At the 2nd aid station, I looked again for sports drink because I wanted to make sure I had enough salts and calories, but again there was no sports drink.

Mile 5 came along and I was approaching the hotels where Jennifer and I were staying and where my parents were staying. I thought I heard someone call out "Ron" behind me, but I didn't see who it was. I was disappointed not to see anyone, but the race had only just begun practically. There was a long way to go.

Mile 8 began the hill around Diamond Head Peak. Pshaw! Easy! The 124' of climb seemed gentle and was nothing compared to the hills that I train on in Montara. No problem. I hardly slowed down at all. And on the downhill side, my legs felt like wound-up springs and without any effort at all, I seemed to pick up a lot of speed and pass people even more quickly than I had been. Every mile marker I noted my time and added 7:20 to 7:10 to it, making that my goal for the next mile. My plan was to start more slowly and to increase my pace during the race. Sometimes I would forget the exact goal time and a few times I somehow missed a mile marker. Several times I found myself running a mile faster than intended but since I lost time on the first mile, I didn't mind too much and I felt very strong. At about mile 9 my right knee started feeling "weird", like there was some swelling and a bit of stiffness and soreness. It didn't seem to affect my running, though. At the half-way point, I still felt great, my breathing was smooth and easy, I had eaten my first Cliff Bar, and I found myself thinking, "this marathon running business is pretty good and is so far easier than running a shorter race because I was consciously slowing myself down and my breathing was like I was in a training run." Well, the good times didn't last forever.

Somewhere shortly after the half-way mark I saw the first-place wheelchair racer coming in the opposite direction, on this long section where the course double-backs on itself. This guy was amazing and was moving at a moderate bicycle speed, 15mph maybe? Then I saw more wheelchair racers. Each wheelchair rider had an entourage of two or more bicyclists, all with flashing lights. 10 or 15 minutes later I saw the first runner. He was shorter than I had imagined and of course he was extremely thin. My thought was that his running didn't actually look that much different from those like myself who were running two minutes a mile slower. His cadence was very similar, he looked very efficient and fluid, but he was taking longer strides. But it all added up to him being one of the world's very best marathon runners. I saw his #1 bib and so I knew he was Jimmy Muindi. Far behind him, 2 or 3 minutes at least, followed another group of Kenyan runners. Then the very fastest male Japanese runners. Then the first female -- I clapped for her. I didn't recognize her from my studies of past marathons. Then I recognized the fast Russian woman, Lyubov Morgunova, who won this last year and a short while later the very fast Japanese female runner, Eri Hayakawa, who was a complete unknown and who had won the Honolulu Marathon a few years ago.

Around this large park we go and then I'm headed back to the finish line and I can see all of the people behind me. The crowds were getting bigger and bigger behind me whereas in my group, we were still just a trickle, relatively. More runners were developing problems and stopping and walking. I saw one of the elite runners who had dropped out, #7, who had removed one of his shoes and had apparently injured that foot. I passed mile #16 and I thought, "ok, just one moderate Sunday run away now. I do 10 miles all the time."

I was feeling strong and ate my second Cliff Bar. I thought, "hey, I think I can really achieve my goal and qualify for the Boston Marathon! Maybe even by a good margin!" But I still had a long ways to go -- about 8 miles. Then rather suddenly, I felt a twinge in one calf muscle followed by the other. Then within seconds it seemed, my calf muscles started cramping and freezing. My brisk pace drastically shut down. "Oh, no! No no no no no NO!" Not enough salt? But what else could I do at this point? I've been drinking nothing but sports drink since about mile 6 and had eaten two Cliff Bars (500 calories!). I thought of my running friend, George, and his salt tablets and how he had cramps during a 50 mile race.

Mile 20. I had 45 minutes remaining for my goal time of 3:10:00 and had to run 10K (6.21 miles). This is only a bit longer than my Tuesday and Thursay morning runs with my Pacifica Group. On a fresh pair of legs this would be extremely easy and feel like a training run. (My best 10K time is 37 minutes.) Yet I could not get my calves to work so my stride had turned into a painful shuffle. I tried running differently by swinging my hips more and that seemed to help somewhat. Mile 21 came. It had taken me almost exactly 9 minutes. My goal was shot. I had nothing left to do but to shuffle on in and to try to not make a bad situation worse. The hill at mile 24 didn't feel hardly any different than the flat section -- it was a very gradual climb. On the downhill, the supposed last dash to the finish, where I would normally easily pick up speed and cruise down, I had nothing. It was painful and slow and I shuffled down the hill. I was getting regularly passed by other runners for the first time in the race. I passed a few poor souls who were struggling even more than me and who were also dealing with cramps, it seemed. The sun was out in full force and the heat was ratcheting up noticeably. Fortunately, I was in the shade most of the time for the last couple of miles and the sponges of ice cold water at the aid stations were fabulous.

The home stretch, the final miles, yards, and steps, were finally here. The crowds of onlookers and well-wishers and cheering volunteers increased dramatically as I entered the park that had the finish line. I tried to pick up my speed a bit to put in a good show and a good finish. BAM! My left hamstring froze in a wonderfully powerful painful yet funny spasmatic attack. OK, that was a bad idea. Hey, I'm right in front of the last aid station, might as well get a drink. I gulped a full cup of sports drink and started running again. OK, my calves are still fried but my hamstring is OK again. I probably picked up the pace to about 8 min / mile. I'll try to put in a good show and good finish. I saw my dad taking pictures. Yay. And then my mom. And she pointed across the street where Jennifer and Claire were and Jennifer had the video camera. Thank you, everyone! I started feeling powerful emotions and almost came to tears. I thought of my running friend Vicky and her recent emotional finish of the San Francisco Nike Women's Marathon. I waved to the cheering crowds and pumped my fists a few times. I picked up the pace some more and had a good strong finish and I heard my name and # being announced, "Ron Little from Montara, California". Oh what a beautiful sight that finish line was, lined with cheering people on both sides. What a feeling, what a terrific challenge that was overcome. Congratulations to all who finished that day.

I need to give a huge thanks to Jennifer and to my parents for their encouragement and support.


Post-Race Thoughts & Results
It's now Tuesday late morning. We got back Monday night at around midnight. My calves are rather tight and sore, but frequent stretching helps. My right knee was sore from after the race and all day yesterday but I haven't felt any pain or discomfort this morning, so I'm happy about that. The results,bib #5052:

Ronald P. Little II #5052
of Montara CA USA

10K: 00:44:51
Half Marathon: 01:35:15
30K: 02:15:19
Gun Time: 03:19:41
Finish Time: 03:19:19
Place Overall: 357
Place Men: 311
Place Men 30-34: 57

Update: The Honolulu Advertiser printed my name in Monday's paper in their Mainland Top 200 list. I'm #25! Woot!

Next time, I'll try carrying some salty pretzels or salt tablets, and making sure I get some more salt the day before. I'd like to give this marathon another try next year. It was truly a great vacation spot and being surrounded by so many runners was encouraging and fostered a sense of camaraderie.

Pt Reyes Half-Marathon, 3rd Place

I ran the Pt Reyes half-marathon today, put on by the Redwood Trails Company. The weather was perfect -- clear and cool. The course consists of 0.6 miles on the sandy beach, followed by a wide trail that we do two times out and back, and then 0.6 miles on the beach back to where we started. Picturesque views, 4 aid stations, and lots of friendly competition make for a good race. I ran this same race a year ago, barely coming in 4th place overall (of 63) with a time of 1:41:40. I was hoping to do better this year!

I left my house at 6:50am and was parked by about 8:20. It turned out that so many people arrived late, apparently misjudging how long it would take to drive about 28 miles on curvy roads plus walking a half-mile to the starting line, that the organizer started a second round of half-marathoners 14 minutes after the first round. A guy recognized me from last Saturday's race and we chit-chatted about strategies for this race. I didn't recognize anyone. Looking around, there seemed to be two guys who were likely to be very strong runners. My competition!

9am comes and off we go! I angled out towards the water where the sand is much firmer although the entire beach was firmer than average due to the rains last night. One of the two guys I thought would be a strong runner started even faster. He did not look like he should be running that fast! He had bleached hair, was listening to his portable music with an earpiece in both ears, and had a lot of upper body strength. Yet there he was, blazing ahead. I didn't want to keep up with him; I was sure he would burn out.

Also, I remembered from last year how much strength the sand sapped from my legs and how important it was not to start too fast. I still probably started too fast. I was starting to feel soreness in my feet and calves after about the first mile. Yikes! My breathing was fine, though, and I adopted what I hoped was a reasonable pace, trying to take it easy.

The first turn-around came and I was probably 20 seconds behind the leader. The other runner that I identified at the beginning was about 30 seconds behind me. He asked, "where do we turn around?" I gestured behind me and blurted "aid station"; racing and talking don't mix! I kept what I thought was an even pace and I started to catch up to J.D., the bleached-hair jock. I joked as I slowly passed him, "don't laugh if you pass me later". He laughed and said he was hurting. I believed him!

Time goes on, I'm in first place. My stomach or side or both seem unsettled. I wondered if I ate too much that morning (Cliff Bar, 250 calories, medium banana, coffee, and sports drink). I was having trouble breathing as much as I wanted. I still had plenty of strength and seemed to be consistently moving. After the second turn-around, I heard the rapid beating of footsteps and heard someone get right up behind me. I didn't have to turn around to realize it was J.D. What the hell was he doing? Did he just do a sprint about 1/3rd the way through a half-marathon? Yes, he did. I kept what I thought was a steady pace and I pulled away from him. As the course goes back on itself I saw that Adam, the young (23 years old I found out at the end) strong lean looking runner was not far behind me and J.D. I kept up the pace. Turning around again at the other end of the trail, I saw that J.D. and Adam were very close; they had gained ground on me. Not a good sign as I did not feel like I had anything in reserve. I thought 3rd place was going to be my destiny. Everyone else was so much farther behind us, that I didn't think I was in any danger of falling to 4th. I was breathing very hard and rapidly now. I was still ahead at the last turn-around, but J.D. and Adam were now very close. Around mile 11, Adam passed me with a strong pace. I just could not catch my breath and get enough oxygen. I felt like my legs had plenty of strength left if I could only get them the oxygen they needed! J.D. caught up to me, seemingly with another sprint. He passed me but then slowed down to my pace. On a short stint of downhill, I felt I had the strength to pass him again and in hindsight that was probably a mistake. I should have drafted off of him, for whatever that's worth, and got my breathing under control. But after passing him, my lungs seemed to be shutting down again and I slowly slowed down. J.D. soon passed me. We turned off the trail back on to the sandy beach. 0.6 miles to go and I could not find any energy reserves. I could not sprint. I could not breathe deep or rapidly, only slow short shallow breaths. J.D. seemed to be looking back over his shoulder every 5 seconds at me, but he was safe. It was all I could do to keep moving and coast on in, about 17 seconds behind J.D. and another 45 seconds behind Adam.

Although of course I would have liked to have won, I was actually pleased with how I did. I'd like to figure out how to avoid the breathing problems and my only regret was not getting my breathing under control earlier even if it meant slowing down earlier. My theory is that it is harder for the breathing to be restored than it is for the leg muscles to regain strength. Still, I was happy with the race and my time, especially considering 1.2 miles is on the sandy beach. My time was 1:30:18 which was good enough for 3rd place overall out of about 60 runners. I beat my previous time, from a year ago, by 11 minutes and 22 seconds.

The three of us introduced ourselves and congratulated each other on a good race. J.D. was a triathlete who runs in Iron Man triathlons where the running portion alone is a full marathon (26.2 miles). Adam had recently graduated from U.C. Davis and had been in some kind of organized running club (he was wearing their club shirt) although I'm not sure it was officially associated with the school. Anyway, they were both accomplished runners, and nice guys, too. J.D.'s mother also ran the half-marathon. Inspiring! Adam's parents were there, too, and jogged a few miles along the course.

Was a good day. Thanks, Jennifer, for watching Claire.

UPDATE: The results are in. Although I was told that there were 60 people who paid to enter the half-marathon, only 40 actually showed up (on time, anyway) and finished. I was 3rd place with a time of 1:30:18 and a pace of 6:53 per mile.

Huddart Park Half-Marathon - 3rd Place

The deer were grazing, the sun was shining, and the trails were soft and welcoming. What an excellent race in Huddart Park, well organized as usual by the Redwood Trails Company.

The route along the trails of this pretty park in the city of Woodside effectively formed one large hill. We trudged uphill for just over 4 miles at the beginning, climbing almost exactly 1500 ft, but then we were rewarded with mostly level ground and a nice long downhill towards the finish line.

About 60 of us in the half-marathon race lined up at 9am and off we went! I was in a front pack of 5 people pretty quickly. The guy setting the pace was probably going too fast for his own good and he started gradually slowing down and we passed him when we could on the single-track trail. The amazing runner, Kevin, from the Pumpkin Run 10K was in front of me, quickly eating up the steep uphill switchbacks. He was soon out of sight and I was in 4th place at around mile 3 with the guy behind me slowly falling back until the first aid station. As a reward for quickly climbing 1500 ft, and out of a disdain for littering, I completely stopped at the unmanned aid station for a liesurely 5 or 6 second break, gulping down a whole cup of sports drink. I suddenly felt great again, taking off on the now mostly level trail. But then a strange thing happened, my left foot started to fall asleep! How can a foot fall asleep while running? I figured it must have been a combination of the shoe laces being slightly too tight while continuously climbing that steep hill. I wiggled my toes to keep it awake and I thought about stopping to fix the problem but then after a short segment on the asphalt road, the foot woke up completely and didn't cause any more problems. Weird! So now I was feeling strong and fast and cruising along easily. But then I started getting cramps in my chest around the sternum, presumably from so much heavy breathing. I tried to vary my breathing which helped a bit. Then I started getting a cramp in my right side which surprised me since I never got cramps in my side any more, either during training or races. Sigh. The course had turned back on itself by now and it was a nice distraction facing the oncoming runners. Everybody congratulated each other "good job" and gave each other encouragement. Finally I was getting into some real downhill and I opened up my stride, covering the ground quickly. I started feeling good again and my side ache disappeared. Somewhere around mile 8 I caught sight of Kevin again and I was surprised. Here's the guy who ran 5 minutes 58 seconds a mile in that 10K, beating me soundly! Yet I was quickly catching him on the downhill. After a 20 seconds or so of riding his heels there was a good opportunity to pass him after a short bridge and he stepped to the side and congratulated me. I quickly resumed the fast downhill pace but I was getting plenty fatigued, unable to quite catch my breath, on the flat sections and brief uphills. I made a mistake of looking at my watch one time and it read 1:12:00. One hour, 12 minutes into the run, I was feeling tired, and I had probably 35 to 40 minutes remaining. Disheartening. At mile 12, I would have been quite happy to stop! But I kept on going, slowing down a bit, I'm sure. Finally I got to the wide open sunny area where we had started and I tried to put in a good finish but I was in no shape to sprint. I was worried that Kevin would have caught up to me and could sprint past me to the end. I heard some familiar cheers and was happy to see that Jennifer and Claire had made it, in addition to my friend Tamara from Santa Cruz being there (she ran the 5 mile race today). I did a little wave (Jennifer said she didn't notice and thought I hadn't seen them!) but I was in no condition to really smile or do anything else except run the last couple tenths of a mile to the finish. (See photo above.) Whew!

Was a good tough run and I was happy with how I did. My time was about 1:36:17 with a pace of 7 minutes 21 seconds a mile on average which I feel good about considering the size of that initial climb and the inherent limitations of trail running. Thank you, Jennifer, for watching Claire so I could do this!

UPDATE: The results are in. I was 3rd place of 63 runners. My official time was 1:36:17.

Pumpkin Run 10 km

I was very happy with the race this morning in the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Run 10K. I decided to start celebrating Halloween early by donning a green fluorescent rock 'n roll wig. I didn't get any pictures of this, but it's wild and definitely stands out. I told people I hoped to distract my competition. I knew it would slow me down somewhat but it's only 10 km (6.21 miles) and I wanted to have fun with it. To compensate, I wore my lightest weight racing shoes which feel about as heavy as wool socks -- I believe each shoe weighs about 4 ounces while still providing good support and cushioning.

So, I was out the door at 7am with friends Cathy and Tamara (who stayed with us the night before) and we drove over together. I met my running friends George Miller, Julie Mell, and Peggy Ruse there. Caroline couldn't make it at the last moment -- sick. I warmed up a bit, chatted a bit, and got plenty of looks and positive comments on the wig. I had worked on building a fence for some friends for about 5 hours on Saturday and it involved a lot of hard work with a pick axe and shovel, so my upper body and back were noticeably sore. My legs felt good though and I had rested the last couple of days otherwise, only running a few miles on Saturday morning.

At 8am, the very short kids race began and then ended about 12 minutes later. Cute! Then the 10K race started at 8:15am. One tall powerful guy took off and was the obvious uncontensted winner within seconds. The rest of us settled in. I was in 6th place or so, out of about 200 I think. (They had a 5K "fun run" start at the same time, so it's a little hard to know how many were in the 10K.) I was impressed that an older guy, in his 50s, passed me around mile 1 and went on to pass a couple of others. I tried to "take it easy", knowing my inclination towards running the beginnings too quickly. At mile 3 I checked my watch -- 18:06. Oh, boy. Kind of fast. Only a week earlier did I run the fastest 3 miles in my life in exactly 18 minutes. But on the other hand, I was almost halfway through the race. I could feel some burning and fatigue so I increased my breathing, inhaling in one step and exhaling on the next step. (Called 1:1 breathing.) Typically, when running steady my breathing cadence is 2:2-- two steps on inhale and two steps on exhale. I think this helped me feed oxygen to my legs and I "kept it all together".

This is a flat course that consists of a run through a residential area towards the coastal trail, then north along the trail to a turn-around point that doubles back on the trail and then takes a shortcut back to the elementary school where the race started. So, while running back on the coastal trail after the turn-around point, the runners get to face each other as they're going in opposite directions. I enjoyed the distraction as dozens of people said things like "nice hair", "cool hair", "I like your hair", and "you're 1st place of the green haired runners". Funny! Before I knew it, there was less than a mile to go. I was slowly getting closer to the guy in front of me, but he knew I was behind him thanks to all of the comments plus I was breathing rather heavily, too! With about a half mile to go, I decided to let my heart rate shoot to the moon and pour on the speed and go for broke. I was in 7th place. My competitor picked up the pace in response but then seemed to lose heart and slowed down suddenly. I kept up the sprint and finished in 37 minutes and 37 seconds, give or take a couple of seconds. My average pace was about 6 minutes 3 seconds a mile which I'm thrilled about not only because of the speed but because of the consistency.

The organizers gave awards for the 1st and 2nd place finishers overall, male and female, plus 1st and 2nd in each age bracket. Being in the male 30 to 39 age bracket and 6th place overall, I didn't win any award, but I did get a t-shirt and 2 small pumpkins and a great feeling. Woot!

Our friend Tamara crossed the finish line without giving them her bib stub. I told her she should so that her time can be recorded and she reluctantly did so. Then during the award ceremonies, she realized that she was first place in her age group! Her time was 46 minutes, I believe. Julie Mell was the 4th place woman and her achilles tendon still hurt from our 19 mile run almost 2 weeks ago. Cathy had a 5 minute bathroom break during the race and still did a couple minutes better than her 6 mile (not 6.21 mile) race in Santa Cruz a shortwhile ago. Funny! Peggy did it slow and easy and was happy to be there. George Miller, having completed a 50 mile (yes, 50 mile) race yesterday in about 11 and half hours was in good spirits and was just volunteering to help the race out.

Claire slept in and Jennifer didn't make it to the race this time. I watched Claire for most of the afternoon and evening. Was a good day.
UPDATE: The results have been posted. There were 202 runners who finished the race and my official time was 37 minutes 35 seconds.

Good Training Runs

I've had so many good training runs lately, I thought I should post a little update on my progress. I set a personal record for mileage in a week last week, running 64.85 miles from Monday through Sunday. I've been ratcheting-up the miles. My weekly totals read:
8/21/05 35.42
8/28/05 39.39
9/4/05 46.28
9/11/05 37.11 (half-marathon race)
9/18/05 53.80
9/25/05 61.40
10/1/05 42.82 (business trip)
10/9/05 64.85
Additionally, I've completed my longest training runs -- 22.46 miles (3:06:05 hrs min sec), 21.78 miles (3:07:31), and 19 miles (3:30:00). The times vary a great deal according to how much I am running with others versus by myself. I did a 14.05 mile run yesterday by myself, trying to "take it easy", but did it in 1:44:20 which I realized afterwards was a pace nearly identical to my first half-marathon race, but over tougher terrain and longer! So that's encouraging that my training pace is quite close to my race pace from a year ago! Finally, today I ran 3.11 miles at a pace of nearly exactly 6 minutes a mile which is the fastest I've ever covered that distance in my life, including cross-country in high school, and I ran that relatively fast 14 miles yesterday! Very encouraging.

Upcoming Goal Paces
Pumpkin Run 10 km, flat cool coastal course: 6 minutes 20 seconds a mile.
Honolulu Marathon: 7 minutes 15 seconds a mile.

Pillar Point Half Marathon

Yesterday morning, Sunday, Sept. 11, I ran in the Pillar Point Half Marathon, a charity race put on by the Coastside Infant/Toddler Center. One year ago, this was the first race that I ran since I started running again in June, 2004. So I was looking forward to this as a gauge of my progress over the last year.

It was a cool overcast morning, ideal for running. There was some confusion about where to pick up our racing bibs (the #s that we pin to our shirts) and also some confusion as to where the race began. The active.com website was correct but the Coastside Infant/Toddler Center website was out of date and had the wrong starting location. Fortunately, I got to the race plenty early (about 7:15am for the 8am start time) and the two locations weren't more than a mile apart.

Five other runners from my running club were there, which was nice. (Dale is missing from the group shot above.) Julie and Dale are my long-distance running partners and Caroline ran in the race a year ago and was one of the founding members of our club. Finally, Juliana was running one last time in the Bay Area before moving to near Santa Barbara yesterday.

I met a young guy, Jimmy, from Los Angeles who drove the 400+ miles here just for our little race because his marathon training schedule called for running a half-marathon this weekend. Talk about dedication! He said he's been running for only 5 months and has really gotten into it. Also, that he forgot to bring his running shoes with him! He bought a new pair and I spoke with him after the race and fortunately they didn't give him blisters or other problems.

Anyway, as we were warming up, chatting, and waiting for the start of the race, I noticed many fewer runners this year. I don't think there were more than 40 and maybe only about 30. [UPDATE: was told later there were 37 at the start.] After a brief question and answer session, we were off!

I guess I did too much speedwork recently because I started out at what felt like a strong but comfortable pace and at the two mile marker, my stopwatch showed 12 minutes 36 seconds. Doh! Way way too fast. I started feeling a burning in my calves, like I was using up their energy faster than my body could replenish them and I was gradually slowing down I think, although it's hard to tell. At about the 5.5 or 6 mile mark, the course turned back on itself and it was fun running towards the other runners. We encouraged each other, especially the people I knew.

I held on to second place overall until about mile 8. The two guys behind me had been slowly but surely catching up over the last 5 miles, like the clock's minute hand slowly and inevitably passing the hour hand. There was nothing I could do about it; it was a huge effort to just "keep everything together". I congratulated the #3 guy as he passed me and he said "the route is longer than it appears, isn't it?" Not exactly encouraging words, but I had plenty of purely physical struggles to keep me occupied between my calves getting burned out and my lungs working double-time. So I finished 4th place in 1 hour 29 minutes 55 seconds which is a pace of 6 minutes 52 seconds a mile. That's a little more than 7 minutes faster than my time last year, so I'm happy with that but disappointed that I couldn't keep a more even pace.

After the race, I spoke with guy who came in first place. His name is Dan Rhodes and he ran another race just on Saturday! He said it was a "cross country race" in San Francisco although he didn't say how long it was. He said he runs 5 or 6 days a week, 40 miles a week at a minimum and up to 50 or 60 miles a week depending on the training schedule. I was encouraged by him -- he looked to be about the same age as me, or maybe even older, and had a similar body build as me. I'm hopeful that I can rise to his level. I currently run about 40 miles a week with my maximum so far being 47 miles, which I ran on the Monday through Sunday prior to this race week.

Now it's back to building up the miles for the Honolulu marathon on December 11. Wish me luck!

Wedding in Vermont

Jennifer, Claire, and myself had a nice long weekend in Boston and Vermont, leaving on Thursday, 8/25 and returning Monday night, 8/29. The purpose was to attend our friend Kerry's wedding in Vermont. What a wonderful ceremony it was, not because it was so lavish, but because so much care and thought went into it. It was highly personalized and went far beyond the couple writing their own vows. There was music integrated into the ceremony, lines of poetry read by 14 friends of the bride and groom, and even the finger of the hand that the ring was put on was personalized -- the index finger, not the "ring" finger because "a vein in the index finger leads directly to the heart".
Claire did great and played well with our friend Audrey's son, Tristan.
I did a two-hour training run on Sunday, running across Cambridge, including across Harvard, and well into Arlington and back. The run went well -- I carried a 16oz bottle of Gatorade and drank it all during the run. I ran on the fast side and started getting fatigued in the last 15 minutes or so, so I walked a couple of times and was less aggressive about crossing busy streets, taking my time to recover my strength. I think I ran at least 15 miles.

Yosemite!

We had a good time in Yosemite this weekend except for my various ailments. I had gotten a cold and I had run a relatively-fast-for-me 15 miles early Friday morning in 1 hour 53 minutes. I felt good after the run, but somewhere during the day, after carrying my beautiful and hefty 38 pound 3-year old around for a couple of miles, my right foot started hurting. Then carrying her a lot on a 2 or 3 mile hike on Saturday was even more painful. So, I went 5 days in a row without being able to run.

Claire had a great time, swimming and splashing in a pretty lake and in the Merced River.

Cold Shoulder at Blizzard

So, Blizzard, the computer game company that Jennifer works at, is shutting down their northern California office. They offered the employees there a decent severance package or the chance to continue working at the main office in Irvine, CA. Jennifer doesn't want to move, so she has some free time now while looking for a new job. Anyone need a friendly, well-liked and effective video game producer or project manager?
Editorial comment: It's my opinion that if there were problems with the direction of the game they were working on or with the progress that the game was making, they should have brought in some new management rather than to abandon a really good product that almost certainly would have been a big seller.

Wharf-to-Wharf Weekend

I knew five people who were in the Wharf-to-Wharf run in Santa Cruz yesterday although it was such a big event, I didn't find anyone! So how did it go? From our little group, Lynn, Juliana, Caroline, and I were planning on being there. I heard from Lynn that she had a great time and it seemed as if she took the time to really appreciate the spectacles and music along the route. My approach, not surprisingly I suppose, was to run it as fast as possible with Jennifer (my wife) worried that I would give myself a heart attack.

It was hard getting out of the crowds (15,000 runners!) at the beginning although I had been warned (thanks, Tamra) that many people completely disregard the pace signs and there were quite a few walkers or very slow joggers packed up right near the starting line. I started probably within 50' of the start line. It still took me 15 seconds or more to get to the starting line after the gun went off and I was often blocked by slower runners during the first mile which was officially was 7 minutes 20 seconds. I ran hard, passing a lot of people in the first couple of miles. It seems like no matter how long the race is, I feel like stopping with about 2 miles to go! So I was getting fatigued around mile 4 and was very much looking forward to finishing but I tried to keep it all together and I hung on until the end. I was quite happy to see the finish line at the end of that long downhill. The announcer was calling out that the top 100 finishers were still coming in, so I pretty much sprinted the last couple hundred yards. In hindsight, I should have remembered based on the 2004 results that there was no way I could be in the top 100 males and that the announcer must have been referring to the women finishers. Anyway, I was pretty happy with my performance all-in-all, and my time of 40 minutes 20 seconds would've made me tie with the 62nd woman last year! (Hey, I have to look for positive reinforcement where I can get it!)

I did enjoy the sights and sounds, especially the Clock Man with the accordion. Wild! And the orchestra, marching band, rock bands, cheerleaders, spectators, water-sprayers, etc., were great. It is quite the event and I'll definitely (try to ) attend Wharf-to-Wharf again.

Rex Was a Good Dog

We celebrated July 4th with Jennifer's sister's family in Pacifica, where fireworks are legal. Unfortunately, here in Montara, even though fireworks are illegal, there were enough going on to have scared Rex. When we got home, around 11pm, Rex was nowhere to be found and he had dug a hole under the fence, including moving a 15 lb concrete block. I walked around the neighborhood, calling his name, for about 20 minutes, but there was no sign of him. Jennifer made fliers the next morning and I posted them around the neighborhood. Less than an hour later, someone called, said his name was Andy and that he had some bad news -- he had found a dog on Highway 1 that looked like ours. He insisted on bringing the body to me and he showed up a short while later with the body wrapped in cardboard, lying in the back of his pickup truck. The grief didn't hit me until I identified him as Rex. Poor stupid dog. He was about 8 and a half years old and never was very smart about cars and streets. I had the body cremated and Jennifer wants to have a little ceremony where we spread the ashes.

I was very grateful for the kindness of strangers. An older woman dropped by on Tuesday (7/5) saying she had found Rex running around and got a hold of him and brought him to our house (we weren't home yet) and put him in the back yard. So, he was saved once, but obviously he got out again. And of course I was very grateful for Andy's help. I wish I had gotten his phone # so that we could take him and his wife out to dinner or at least thank him again.

Claire took 4 or 5 days before she noticed that Rex was gone and she asked where he was. It's odd that she didn't grieve over him until days later, on three different occasions in particular. Her lamenting was heart breaking. We said he died, that he wasn't coming back, and that he was "OK" or "happy". Jennifer mentioned heaven once, in an effort to console her, even though neither of us believe that there's a literal heaven or hell, as described in popular culture. But myths can be useful, just like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The heaven thing didn't work with Claire though -- "who's going to feed him? who will put on his leash? why won't he come back?". My take on it was to emphasize that Rex was not sad or hurt and he was OK and that we can remember him.

Claire's Birthday Party: 3 Years Old!

Gymtowne Gymnastics -- 2 hours of frenzied fun, yummy pizza, and delicious cake. Thank you everyone who attended, especially Claire's cousins, Owen and Rylan, who drove 4 or 5 hours to get here.