Oh Yes, My Forerunner 305!

Well, all is good with the world. My technique worked. I plugged it in and just let it sit for about 12 hours. When I got home from my track workout and visit to 24hour Fitness I looked over at it and saw that wonderful statement, "charging in progress". Awesome, thank you Triune God.

OK, so the track was a pretty tough today. I finished 7x400 and they were not that fun. It has been about 10 days since I've run real hard so I was feeling a little sluggish. It'll be alright I just need about another week of solid running in my town and I'll be back to normal.

Oh No, My Forerunner 305!

OMG! I get to my Friday run this morning (I don't usually run on Fridays, only when I've been slacking during the week) jump out of the car and turn on my trusty Forerunner 305. What? Turn on! Maybe I need to re-push the button. Nope. What the $#@$? OK, so when I get home I'll simply plug it back into the adapter. Nope, that didn't work either. Dag gum it. What is the problem? Will I lose all my saved data? My last ditch hope is the try plugging it back in and hoping that through some electronic miracle it will "fix itself". I'm no idiot, I'm just hopeful. If this does not work then I will capitulate and send it in for repair or replacement. I cringe at the very notion.

5K Racing is Hard but Fun

OK so on April 14 I race in 5k. It's one that is held every year and is good for charity. I am coaching a group of folks who are trying to get faster 5k times this year. They are doing so well. At this race they all improved by about 3 to 4 minutes. Quite amazing, I'm sure they were holding something back at the beginning of the program. Of course, back then they did not know their abilities so our training has really taught them to push themselves outside their comfort zones.

Anyway back to me. I raced my first 5k in over a year. Mainly because last year I trained and finished 6 marathons in 14 months. Now for some that may not seem like much of a feat, but those 6 marathons have brought my total marathons to 7! I'm running one in every state. No, I'm not a member of any of the official 50 in 50 clubs. I'm doing this for me and I can set the rules as I go.

OK back to the 5k. I ran it pretty fast considering it's been so long since I've trained for that distance. I really didn't know what to expect. Now, it was not a PR but was only about 15 seconds from a PR. Wow, that's the first time I did the math on that. But, it's true, only 15 seconds off. The kool thing about this fact is that I felt strong enough to run a little faster during mile 2. Instead of running faster, though, I settled in behind one of my running buddies. Her marathon times are faster than mine and when we run together during the week her easy pace is always faster than mine. Besides that she has much more racing experience than me so I thought it smart to settle in behind her rather than risking running too fast in mile 2 and not having anything left for mile 3.

I may have worn off my welcome for a little bit because when I turned it on near the end she did not stay right with me. I was expecting to see her breeze past me at the last second but she did not. During our race we had another friend come up and start pacing us. He is much faster than both of us and found it quite easy to jump in front and keep the pace. I know I have to get to his pace before I have a shot at qualifying for Boston. I know I've got it in me but I need to lose about 25-30 pounds before he and I are at the same weight. Still working on that, of course.

The only problem is that now I'm 1200 miles away from home visiting a terminally ill family member and I'm not eating right at all. I know my progress has completely frozen even though I've been keeping my running up. I would hardly call it running, more like jogging. 9:20-9:50 pace for 7 miles yesterday. I have not been running yet today but I expect to only run about 5 miles. I'm feeling pretty lazy.

Longest blog yet for me and still no one has been reading them. It's OK. I have not given the location of this blog to any of my friends or family. I half expect someone to find my site on their own and start reading it because something here interest them. We'll keep watching. If in about two more weeks or so no one finds this site then I'll start sending it out to my running buddies so they can have something boring to read when they need to fall asleep.

First real track work out in a while

Well this morning I met some friends at the track for 10x400s. And today was the first time I ever wore my Asics Speedstars. I felt like I did as a kid when I used to get new shoes. Thought I could conquer the world and they're suppose to weigh less than typical trainers, thus lending more opportunity to me running faster. I don't really know about that, I think losing several dozen pounds will help more, but I can dream can't I. The shoes are pretty good but because of my overpronation I had some fairly uncomfortable sensations in the plantar area. I also had my custom orthodics inserted in the shoes so, I may try a track date without them to see if that helps. Any things' worth a try.

Another typical early run around the Lake

Today was another early morning visit to my regular weekend running location. What does today's run have to do with going to Boston? Just another early morning 9.5 mile run. I took it way easy today. In the dark at 6 am preparing, just keeping my legs moving. I'm still looking for the chance to drop more weight so that I can get faster. I have about 40 lbs to go before I feel that I seriously have a shot at being fast enough to qualify for Boston. I need a 3:15 marathon, sounds like an impossible time but, I know plenty of people who have done it. So I press.

Life On the Course of the 31st Annual Marine Corps Marathon

Hello friends (sorry, very long blog),

You are probably reading this sometime in early November 2006. But guess what, I started this thing on October 16th, 13 days before the marathon. Why? Well, because for the last few days (that would be since October 12, or so) I've been on the Marine Corps web page looking for a way to set up runner tracking on-line. Also, for the last couple of days, I've been trying to get a *#%& readable map of the freakin' course. Needless to say I can find neither. I certainly hope someone comes to my rescue soon and tells me what I'm missing. The map is just too dang advanced for its own good. Really, I could get more useful information from Google maps. Just an element of my personality you should realize (uncooperative, inanimate objects genuinely freak me out). Thus, this Marine Corps Marathon site has me seeing pure red! More to come after marathon day.
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Now it's several days after the marathon and I've had some time to think about my experience in Washington, DC. So, here's my story in graphic detail.

It is quite amazing to weigh life in the span of a marathon race. On Sunday, October 29, 2006 a man finished the Marine Corps Marathon in just 4:09 after having completed 43 others in as many days. On this same course, on the same day a man succumbed to heart problems and died at mile 17. On one hand, you witness a remarkable event and joyous occasion of someone doing something rather incredible. On the other hand, you have the devastation of a lost life while that person was competing in an event he must have loved. This we cannot take for granted. We have all been given a great gift to have such a full life of running. Not just running but a pretty abundant life in general. OK. Enough of me going on about the brilliance of life. I just know I'm grateful to God for it.

The one thing that's so awesome about D.C. is how easy it is to get around on the mass transit system (Metro Rail). I took the metro rail practically everywhere I wanted to go. When I went to the Expo on Friday I took the Metro. It was held at the DC Armory which is right at the DC Armory/Stadium rail station. I mean, when you go to D.C. avoid the expense of a rental car. You won't need it. If you fly into Reagan Int. Airport you can take the Metro to any place in town.

OK. So, the Expo on Friday was very well organized. Of course since this is a military event all the conspicuous security was in place. Once I made it indoors there was absolutely no line to pick up my packet. The nice thing is that they did not make you wade thru a sea of exhibitors to get your packet either. I just walked in, went to the far right and worked my way down the wall. It must have taken not more than 10 minutes. Then I went thru the rest of the Expo buying everything my budget would allow - two pair of throw away gloves and one Tyvek pant – total of $10. One neat thing they offered this year is a DVD of the race with guaranteed shots of you running the event. A must for 50 bucks as long as you finish well. If it turns out to be a bad run for you, then you probably won't want anyone else to ever see it.

One more thing about the Expo...At all cost, even if you have to pay for an extra night in the hotel, don't dare venture to this thing on Saturday. Everyone who went on Saturday waited in line for at least 40 minutes just to get into the building. Some waited as long as an hour and forty minutes. Not the best way to spend Saturday before your marathon.

The Dallas contingent had dinner at Tuscana West on I (eye) Street. Pasta, of course, with some grilled chicken was my meal. Not bad, but not especially great. The service was decent. We did have a blast talking strategy and about the incredible line at the expo earlier that day.
Race day I got up and took the Metro over to runners' village behind the Pentagon. Now don't be deceived by the brevity of that sentence. Really, once we got off the Metro we had to walk about a mile just to get to the village. I was astonished, shocked and a little P.Oed. Also, don't believe for one moment that a car would have gotten you any closer - no chance. As we're walking into the staging area again we're greeted by ubiquitous Marines wanting to inspect our bags for any inappropriate devices. (This was little more than a show - it took 10 seconds for them to look me over). Did I mention that during my mile trek to the village I had to transverse a 15% sudden down grade on wet, slick grass? I was careful to be sure to avoid a slip that would end my day early.

Very well organized UPS trucks waited for our bags as we prepared for what would be an absolutely perfect day for running. Yes, there was sun, but the temperature was so comfortable that the sun gave little worry. It was quite a bit windier than ideal at times during the run which added challenge to an already challenging course. The race started in waves and the first wave got off on time at 8:25. But, me, I was in the second wave where we waited an extra 20 minutes past our scheduled start time of 8:40. Apparently, at the start line was some medical emergency that had to be dealt with.

Holy Cow, Batman! What an event! My legs were still in full recovery mode 5 days after this race. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it was that this is the 5th marathon in 12 months for me. Perhaps it was the difficulty of the course or the sheer hoards of people surrounding my every move. Maybe the blister on my big toe I sustained at mile 10 interfered with my plans. Whatever the case, I almost threw in the towel on this race. Somewhere around mile 19 - 20 I thought to myself, "self, let's walk off this bloody course and go back to our comfortable hotel."

Your mind tells you all kinds of stories and paints endearing excuses when the pain sets in. I could go back to my room and start an ice bath and just plan to run a faster race in Tucson in December. I could always come back next year; I would really love coming back to DC since I lived here for 6 years - like returning home. What kept me from doing that? Was it my hardened character developed thru tough marathon experiences? Was it the motivation I felt every time I saw that one guy pushing his two kids thru the course in a double stroller (thought they didn't let strollers on the course)? Might it have been my knowledge that Dean Karnazes was running his 43rd marathon out here in as many days? Was it the countless spectators, men and women, shouting at me, "Go Don, We Luv You"? Gina made a neat sign with those words I pinned to the front of my shirt. By mile 19, however, I took the blasted sign off my chest and almost threw it to the wind. Why do you people love me? I asked in my anguish. I hate all of you. I want to go home; I think my mommy's calling me. The truth is friends, I didn't have any money or ID on me and I couldn't bare the notion of being taken off the course in one of those motorized carts. So, I had to press on to the finish.

I pushed on for 6.2 miles to that finish.

Oh, My Dear God! The Finish! The last 385 yards were STRAIGHT up the steepest hill I have ever seen. The push up that hill to the Iwo Jima Memorial was killer, Killer I said. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a line of Marines shouting, "GET UP THAT HILL". I would have just loved that.

Well, not a pretty one for me, 4:43. But, that's 6 down and only 44 more to go. See you in Tucson on December 10 th for number 7.
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My observations and recommendations for when you get ready to do the Marine Corps Marathon:
1. If you want to PR you need to realize you will need to start as close to front as possible or you'll have thousands of people to run through. Yeah, yeah that's standard information but this has got to be the most crowded marathon I've run yet. And some of the paths were so crowded that we were at a 14 minute pace many times during the first 7 miles or so.
2. Stay at the Hilton Garden Inn at 815 14th Street NW in DC. It is directly across the street from the McPherson Metro - which is on the same line as the Reagan Airport, the location of the Expo, and the start & finish of the race. You can't go wrong, they offer free cookies at the front desk, free (in-room) wireless Internet connection and the price was less than $110/night. You would think I stayed there, BUT NOoo, I was at the Wyndham, three blocks from the Metro, no free cookies, they wanted 10 bucks a day for the freakin' Internet, and the price was over $115/night.
3. Don't rent a car, take the Metro. It's more fun and you get to see lots of people. It's much safer than you imagine and no one is going to bother you. The Metro certainly seems to be safer than White Rock Lake has been over the last few months.
4. Be prepared for an especially long walk after you finish the race to pick up your bag. It was so horrendously crowded and quite the hodge podge of weeding through marathoners and spectators. What a real mess. 5. The course was terrifically scenic. You go through Georgetown, Rock Creak Park, and Downtown DC. We ran directly to the Capital building, turned and hit The National Mall, which was neat to see again. Many of the runners I spoke to after the race never even saw the Awakening at Haynes Point (mile 17) - I think they were asleep. It's not an especially flat or hilly course. Rather, the grade seems naturally random. That can be tough for us Dallas runners without dedicated hill training, though. I think what made the course so tough were the frequent turns and a few fairly narrow roadways. If you don't believe the course is tough, ask the Male and Female winners. Ruben Garcia finished in 2:21 while it was 3:00 before Laura Thompson finished her race.

San Diego Marathon - Purple Purple Everywhere

There is an R&B song titled: "It never rains in Southern California". They must have known what they were singing about. Sunday at Balboa Park at 5:30 a.m. PT was just wonderful. Overcast or foggy or something, but what a mild morning and never a chance for rain. First off, I walked from my hotel to the start, about 1.6 miles. Not a bad warm-up, right? Believe me it was a lot simpler than taking the trolley then a shuttle bus to the race. Shucks, when the guys got off the shuttle they still had a 3-5 min. walk to the park. Most folks just prostrated themselves on the nice comfy grass before the race and did final check and preparation for the start.

OK. Can I digress for a moment? We stayed at the Bristol Hotel on 1st and Broadway. Cannot have picked a better location. The center of anyplace in San Diego. The Expo was at the Convention Center less than a mile from the Bristol. Horton Plaza was a mere block away. That place had absolutely everything you needed. Big outdoor mall with a Macy's, Movie theatre, and even a pharmacy for last minute drugs or ice cream. Two more blocks South and your at a Kroger cousin grocery store open 24/7. Oh and just four blocks up the street on 5th Ave, there are a host of restaurants to choose from. Saturday evening we ate at Asti Restoranti at 5th and C. I had the Pollo ricotta pasta with sun dried tomatoes and red peppers, fresh bread and calamari for an appetizer. Buona sapore!!

Back to the race. Wow, the beginning was very well organized. We're all in corrals according to our supposed finish times we gave at registration. They offered baggage drop off just across from the main drag. About 25 UPS trucks were numbered 1-25 parked neatly with plenty of attendees eager to take your goody bag so that it would be waiting for you at the finish line. About 15 minutes before the start, the Marine Corps marching band marched right down the main strip. Seventy sharp corpsmen marching and playing instruments in tight formation was very inspiring and patriotic. A cool way to get pumped up for the task ahead.

Since I was in Corral 12 it took about 9 minutes to cross the start line. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I had to wait about 3 minutes for my Timex GPS device to find a signal. The mess started when I turned it on about two minutes before the scheduled start. Of course we started late and by the time I was ready to approach the start line it shut off. Everyone who understands what I must have gone thru please say, "boy, he was pissed". So anyway, the darned thing finally located a signal again so I crossed the start line and pressed start on my watch but, now the GPS device on my bicep won't sync with the freaking watch on my wrist. Oh, I am HOT now! I have to carry this blasted useless %#$& brick on my arm until mile seven. I nearly lost my mind, I've been sitting there watching people start the race waiting on this stupid thing to restart and all the while it doesn't even work.

{{Note to self: Get that Garmin 305 just as soon as I save up 300 bucks. Ouch!}}

So, the first few miles were entirely down hill. You really had to just let yourself fall forward rather than trying to hold back. I know you might be used to the early parts of the White Rock marathon where the start is downhill but you know you have inclines to come. You could not be further from the truth in San Diego. I mean the up hill parts of the race are barely worth mentioning. Anyone who runs the Dolly Partons, Winstead, the Friday run from Legal Grounds or the hill run on Tuesday morning in Dallas would have more than enough to tackle anything in the San Diego race. The course director certainly went out of his/her way to avoid too many inclines in this event. Even the continuous incline from mile 5 to 10 was so tamed that my legs welcomed the change in grade. I imagine, however, near the end of mile 10 we all felt like we had seen enough of the climb and our legs were getting a bit tired.

Really everybody, I think this is a perfect course for a PR or Boston qualifier. The course is either flat or down hill for most of the route. They even dumped us onto a freeway for several miles of down hill racing. As we approached mile 21 heading into Mission Bay I saw this tall pseudo brick wall named, "The Wall". Of course, I hit it. So to my rescue came my wife, Gina. She missed me at our preset rendezvous at mile 13. So, she spent the next hour reading maps, jumping off and on buses, and running around the city to get to me by the time I hit the 21st mile. I don't know how she did it. It was like a bad scene from "Last of the Mohicans"... "You stay alive, no matter what happens, no matter what occurs, I will find you!". Anyhow, she gave me my mp3 player and I jotted off revived and invigorated. At mile 22 we met up with a couple huge bands playing great music. But, honestly, I don't remember more bands than White Rock or even Chicago. I'd say the music rating on the course was just above average.

At the finish (the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, MCRD, near the airport) we were greeted with our medals and then Spenco sandals. What a relief for my feet. The typical bagel, bananas, oranges, water and recover bars were also served. And there, just off in the distance were those same UPS trucks waiting with our goody bags. How'd they get there so fast...oh yeah I saw them over 4 hours earlier.

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As I try to cut this message short I'll do some final brief ratings that I left out during my diatribe:
- EXPO Saturday: extremely well organized, took hardly anytime to get in, obtain your bib, t-shirt and confirm chip.
- Medical tent at course end: well supplied with table salt, ice and doctors (I should know since I spent about 45 minutes there lying on a cot after tossing my cookies- or should I say bagel, oranges and recovery bars). Not cool.
- The route: Scenic near the later miles with Mission Bay beach just to your right and looking out into the bay was marvelous. The early miles though, were very routine and blah. Reminiscent of the first half of Austin - not much for aesthetics and a little industrial. We did run by the San Diego Zoo, but no wild animal attacks, also reminiscent of the Austin marathon.
- My time: OK I guess, 4:31 not a PR. But remember, that's really 3:31. The course was truly designed to promote even faster times. This IS a PR course just keep in mind there's 20,000 runners out there.
- Transport from the finish back to the hotel (downtown): Be prepared for some walking my friends. You're gonna do a lot of walking, I mean a lot of walking. If you have a car don't even think about parking at MCRD.
- Purple Purple Everywhere - TNT must have brought runners in from every state in the Union. I could not get through the ubiquitous TNT coach shouting, "Way to go team". Or the large crowd of purple dressed marathoners counting off to ensure they were all still together. I read one purple shirt that said, "Just Cure It". Indeed.

OK, that's it. I'm sure I left a lot out but I needed to send this before the year's end. Most of you I'll see out on our routine runs and I can't wait to rejoin the fray.
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5 down and 45 to go. Marine Corps and Tuscon on the horizon.