Looking back while looking forward

It’s nothing unusual to think about what’s next after a big race, especially one as satisfying as this one. But I already know what’s next — the Richmond Marathon. At least that’s what I signed up for four months ago. After setting a PR in a half marathon, I’m still on Cloud 9 with my speed at a long distance.

While I’m celebrating my success, there’s part of me that knows I can go faster. I know that getting in the 1:30s is very much reality — shaving just three minutes off my time puts me at 1:39. Is it worth it training for a marathon? In 2007 when I had some of my best running going on, I was training for the marathon … after that though, I was filled with a whole lot of disappointment.

For now, I’m not making any decisions. I just know that right now I can capitalize on what three great months of training has already done for me. Waiting until November for the next “big” event just seems weird. Community races in between will be nice and I have some times I’d love to beat … but I love the half marathon.

Anyway, here some more thoughts following this past weekend’s Shamrock Half Marathon …

* I am the owner of a Power Balance wristband. Take a look at the website for yourself. In looking up things on the Internet, some say it’s a scam. I say it works. If it’s just a mental thing, so be it.

* I bought a new pair of Brooks Ravenna even though I don’t need them for a while. They were 20 percent off and I saved about $5 from what I paid for online earlier this winter. The nice thing is I’m set for shoes until mid-summer probably. I hope longer — these shoes tend to have a good life on them more than other shoes have worked for me. I’ve stayed injury free since I switched to these, so no reason to change.

Speaking of being injury free, a little more than a year ago I went to the doctor about my lingering foot problems that started at the end of 2007 (after the, um, marathon). After wearing a special insole for a couple of months and then switching to nothing at all, my feet haven’t bothered me much. I’m not putting anything else into my shoes again. I didn’t have any problems for a long time, and then for some reason I put gel insoles in. While it was initially comfortable, they haven’t really “worked.” And by “worked,” I’m not really sure what good they do anyway. It’s a personal thing, I think.

* The Shamrock event expo is great. After some issues with it in my first Shamrock in 2007, they’ve made drastic changes to the layout of the floor plans and picking up the race number and T-shirt. It’s been mostly flawless ever since. The Virginia Beach Convention Center in general is just a good place for a race expo — even as much as I’ve complained about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half event, the expo is always great there.

* The Shamrock Half Marathon is the first event that I’ve done four years in a row. I have also done the Bedford Christmas Classic four times, but one of those events was a 10k. It’s pretty cool to look at my race times since 2004 and scroll to the end and see this:

1:42.52, March 2010 – Shamrock Half Marathon
1:44:23, March 2007 – Shamrock Half Marathon
1:46:53, August 2007 – Lynchburg Half Marathon
1:49:07, March 2008 – Shamrock Half Marathon
1:49:30, March 2009 – Shamrock Half Marathon
1:55:28, August 2006 – Lynchburg Half Marathon
1:59:19, September 2009 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon
2:06:16, August 2008 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon

All four of the Shamrocks are in the 1:40s. It’s kind of weird to think that I beat last year’s time by almost 7 minutes. It’s also very satisfying to know that I’ve done eight half marathons since 2006.

* Lastly I wanted to give a big thanks to the Shamrock organizers, the hundreds of volunteers, the sponsors and all the people who lined the course this weekend. This is always a special event no matter what the time was on the course and each year it seems to get better.

2.6.2010

* “I heard it was …” That was the talk around the office since Tuesday afternoon about the weather. The rumor in the Lynchburg area about 30 inches ran rampant, but you know what? It wasn’t too far from the truth. A few hours away it’s still snowing, and some of those areas already have 30 inches. Here we got about a half a foot of snow, a lot of sleet, some freezing rain and then another inch of snow. This afternoon it’s sunny, the roads are in great shape and the snow was pretty easy to just push off the vehicles. It’s actually kind of nice. But the softness of the snow right now will quickly change with temperatures dipping to the mid-teens the next two nights.

* Since my 10-mile struggle the other night, I’ve had two good runs. A watchless 4.1-mile journey with my dog on Thursday and then 7 miles today. Today’s run was in a light snow, through a few very lightly covered back roads. It was kind of peaceful actually.

* Running 20 miles or more a week consistently is very hard to do. Running 20 or more good miles is even harder. But for the third week in a row, I’ve done that. While I did struggle a bit the other day, I had a good week overall. For the five weeks this year I am just under 100 miles, averaging 19.68 miles a week. I might get in a short run tomorrow that would increase that even more. It’s early, but that actually has me on pace for more than 1,000 miles for the year. That’s another thought for another day though.

* I bought new shoes. (A quick shout-out to Holabird Sports for an awesome transaction even though the shoes were out of stock for a day.) I opted to stick with Brooks Ravenna (the color to the right). With this weather, though, I’ve only gotten one run in them. For this pair I vow to do a better job with counting how many miles I get in them. I haven’t been doing that much lately and I need to figure out if I’m getting good enough mileage in my shoes.

I stuck with the Ravenna line because they work well for me. I debated on whether or not to go back to Asics, but I’ve worn my previous Ravenna shoes since early September. That’s five-plus months of somewhat low mileage until recently, but they’ve been through two races, a lot of rain, over mountains, through the snow (including today) and they’re still holding up. They’ll continue to be good shoes for messy trails and bad weather for the next month or so. If it ain’t broke, don’t fit it, right? It’s no offense to Asics, but Brooks just last longer for me.

* There are six weeks and a day until the Shamrock Half Marathon. I sure hope this weather pattern changes by then. That race, by the way, sold out a while ago at 8,000 registered runners. It’s weird to say this so far out, but I’m more ready for this race than I’ve ever been. With six weeks to go, I have time on my side to get faster and stronger and put more effort into it than I ever  have. The work remains, but I’m ready, eager and willing to do it. I haven’t been able to say that too confidently before.

Top 5 Moments of the 2000s

Last week I got into a brief argument on Twitter that this is not the end of the decade, so why are news stories saying such things? Well, debate all you want – maybe there was no year “0,” but that was 2,000-plus years ago. I didn’t celebrate the end of the 1980s at the end of 1990 or the end of the ’90s at the end of 2000. So this decade, to me, is ending. If you want to celebrate it next year, then go for it. Just don’t invite me to your party at the end of 2020 to celebrate the end of the ’10s. To me this decade began Jan. 1, 2000, and ends in about two weeks. A decade is a period 10 years – you can’t deny the definition of the word.

Anyway, enough of that rant. It’s time to reflect. When looking back on this past decade of my life, it’s easy to say that my adventure into adulthood has been full of changes. I’ve graduated college, gotten married, changed cities a few times, had a son, bought a couple of houses and started running after a long layoff. To have a “Top 5 Running-related Moments of the 2000s” is kind of weird since I’ve only been running since 2004, but running helps define who I am today. It’s important to me to highlight the top events since this adventure began. It’ll help lead me into the next 10 years.

#5 – My first race
After getting married in 2004, I had to do something to keep me motivated so I signed up for the four-miler in Lynchburg that was part of the Virginia Ten Miler event. I’ll never forget standing at that starting line being so nervous. I had those weird thoughts of finishing last or falling down or something crazy like that. What happened, though, was this amazing feeling of accomplishment at the end of the race. It was almost overwhelming. Most importantly, it kept me going. Forty races later, I’m still running.

#4 – The right gear
Getting properly fitted for shoes, getting a Garmin, discovering non-cotton attire and getting an iPod – all these rolled into one at various points in the past six years – have transformed my running experience.

#3 – 13.1 as a father
I revisited this post earlier this year in my top highlights from the year, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be on this list too. In fact, I debated whether or not it should be No. 2 or No. 3. The feeling of just doing that race so soon after my son was born is still indescribable.

#2 – 26.2 miles
Two-plus years later, I still can’t explain this feeling to you. If you haven’t read my post from that day, click here to check it out. I can’t wait to go on that journey again.

#1 – Jan. 1, 2004
A hike up to Crabtree Falls in Nelson County was the beginning of this journey. While I had a goal to lose weight for my wedding, this picture of me changed everything. It could be the most important picture of my life. I saw it and knew I had to change. Little did I know how much change it would bring, but I’m so glad it did. This photo helps remind me of where I came from and where I never want to be again.

Honorable mentions
For six years of running, it’s hard to pick a top five. I wrestled with certain things to put in here, such as starting this blog. I started as “Running in Lynchburg” in the spring of 2007 to document my Richmond Marathon training. Blogging is right up there with gear — it’s helped keep me motivated in the past few years.

This year alone has been full of memorable moments, but I didn’t want immediate hindsight to play a role in this list. It’s hard … very hard … to keep “Stung in the eye” off this list. To me, though, the decade list was more about my accomplishments rather than the negative things. Moments like the Virginia Ten Miler and my first Shamrock Half Marathon that happened before my blogging days were great, but didn’t quite make it to the top 5.

All in all my running experience since 2004 has been great. I’m looking forward to what this next decade has to offer …

Dear Santa

Two days removed from a good race and one day removed from a nice and cold 3.2-mile run, I find myself sitting out the couch wanting to run … but I just don’t feel like it. I rarely run three days in a row, but tonight I want to … but the couch is too comfortable. So instead I am seeking motivation in what is now an annual event — my Christmas wish-list.

Just like last year’s post, I want to first say that I’m very happy with where I am with my running gear. There’s nothing I really need right now … there are just some things that would be cool to have, or have updates of. My world will continue to spin around as normal without these things.

* New shoes: OK, OK, so maybe I do actually need new shoes. I can probably get another month or so out of my current pair (Brooks Ravenna), so I’ll probably buy some new ones with Christmas money. The next pair will be key to getting me through the Shamrock Half in the first quarter of the year. As far as what I wish for … another pair of Brooks Ravenna would be nice, but I’m also considering returning to Asics, so the 2140 line would be fine too.

* A new Garmin: I keep thinking that my 205 is on its last leg. One day it’ll beep when I turn it on or push the Lap button; the next day it won’t; sometimes I charge it up only to turn it on and have a low battery; occasionally it’ll search and search and search for a satellite signal; and earlier this year I had to do some research on forcing it to reset. So yes, a new watch would be nice. I’d love a Garmin Forerunner 405, but the price needs to drop more. A new, unused 205 would be fine though. (I have no idea how old my watch is — I bought it on eBay.)

* Shirts/shorts: I’m still stuck on my Target C9 line. It’s cheap, yet durable and I’m not about to change.

* iPod: I love my iPod shuffle, but it is also limiting. After a few months, the songs need to be rotated out. I’m also becoming more picky selective with what I want to listen to. When I do use my iPod, I tend to spend a lot of time skipping. So anything other than a shuffle would be nice. What holds me back, in addition to the money involved, is the fact I just don’t use it that much. That being said, I’d probably use a newer one more.

* Underwear: I really like the Sonoma brand at Kohl’s, but most any non-cotton boxer brief is fine with me.

* Sneaker balls: The best thing to keeping things fresh since I discovered how well dryer sheets work.

* Good health: Staying healthy and injury free is priceless. I’ll replace any nice gear if I could assure myself to be injury free. Thanks to taking more time off than I really need to, I think I’ve assured myself of kicking off 2010 in a good place. Of course I didn’t want to start from scratch with training, but if it means I won’t have foot issues three months from now, then I’m fine with that.

In all seriousness, I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season this year. As always, thanks for following along.

Ready to slowly rock ‘n’ roll

I know that I’ve been a little critical of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon this year, but perhaps I’ve been a little unfair too. Overall, minus the last-minute deals for people who sign up late, this is a well-organized race and an organized series of races across the country.

The organization starts at the race expo, which I went to this morning — I was there for about an hour and a half, which is unusual for me. Usually I roll through quickly, get a few free items, maybe buy a new hat or socks and that’s about it. Today, though, I think I picked up just about everything free there was, entered to win registration to several other events, purchased three pairs of DryMax socks and bought a pair of shoes.

That brings up a question I’d like to pose to Asics – where were you today? Is 20,000-plus runners not enough to have a booth set up? Anyway, I walked away in a new pair of Brooks Ravenna (Washington Redskins/Virginia Tech colors included), which is a change for me. For the past two years or so I’ve been wearing either the Brooks Adrenaline line or the Asics 2100 series, but the new Adrenaline GTS 9 didn’t feel right and no Asics 2140 were around. In fact, the only Asics available were at a discount shop with not much to choose from. So with a nice 20 percent discount today, I now have something different for my feet. Whether or not I wear them tomorrow is something I’ll decide on in the morning. I’ve discovered in the past year or so that a breaking in period really isn’t necessary. And since I’m not out to set a PR, this run may be a good test to see if these are the right shoes for me or not.

Lastly, I got in a very short run this morning as the sun was coming up on one side and the moon was coming up on the other. There’s a small part of me that would love to live so close to the beach to run on the Boardwalk a few times a week. Anyone in Virginia Beach looking for communications/PR/social media help? I can make myself available.

A great site this morning after my short run.

Update Central

When things are going well, I find there’s not much to say. So take my relative silence this month as a sign that things are going well. Here are some updates on how things are going:

* I feel that I’m on a good pace with my running and the distance I’m doing right now. This week’s long run was 6 miles. With the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half 8 weeks away, I’ll be at a good place at the end of August to have a couple of double-digit long runs before the race. I actually would like to be at about 8 miles right now, but that’s how last month’s illness impacted things.

* Since being sick, I’ve had three straight weeks of steady increases with my overall mileage — 13.6, 15.2 and 16.3.

* Somewhere along the way, cross training once again became unimportant. I changed that this week with a nice cross training day at the gym with 2 miles on an elliptical machine and 4 miles on the bike. Today I went to the gym since it was so hot and ran 2 miles and biked 3. I know how important cross training is — I just haven’t been doing much of it lately.

* I forgot to mention I bought new shoes a couple of weeks ago. After a year in the Brooks GTS 8 series, I switched back to Asics — the 2140 line. To put it simply, I can thank the shoes for helping turn things around lately. These shoes are great — they might be the most comfortable pair I’ve ever worn. That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning Brooks though — I’ll stick to Asics though for at least the next couple of pairs of shoes to get me through the end of the year.

* Remember that injury in which I went to the doctor? Remember how all this stuff was supposed to happen? PT, gait analysis, a shot? Well, none of that happened. After doing exercises and stretches I was instructed to do, all seemed to get a lot better. And after I cut back with running in May, everything felt a lot better. I wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent, but I’ve learned how to manage my problem. I stretch more; I wear my boot at night if my foot hurts; I do a lot of self massaging of my foot. The most important thing is my foot doesn’t hurt when I run.

Is my Garmin dying?

This morning, my Garmin didn’t turn on. When I put it on the charger, I got nothing. So since I don’t have any set routes, I decided to not worry about my long run today and just go out and run. It was both peaceful and maddening. It was nice at first just running without worrying about time or distance. But after I got to the point that I knew I had gone more than a couple of miles, I was like a baby without his pacifier.

Surprisingly, I got in a little more than 5 miles. It was a good run overall and, honestly, I didn’t feel like running 10 miles today. It kind of works out well so I’ll get in another good run tomorrow. In the end, because of the watch woes, I’ll end up having more miles for the week than I originally planned. Plus the weather is fantastic this weekend. After record lows and dressing up in three layers on Monday for my run, temperatures this weekend are in the upper 70s/low 80s – close to record highs.

So, about that watch … I was prepared to go through several options — run by time using a stopwatch and then mapping my runs with MapMyRun.com (which I did today) for a short time; look on eBay for another Garmin; buy the cheaper Garmin 50; buy a different brand GPS; and I even thought about saying the hell with using a watch for a few weeks. When I did a Google search on Garmin problems, though, I discovered the “soft reset” that can be done — similar to that of Control-Alt-Delete on a computer, a Garmin can be reset by hitting three of the buttons on it (unless it’s completely shot). Fortunately this worked. However, my Garmin isn’t making any sound and it’s been like that for a couple of months now. I’m worried that it’s on its last leg. I have no idea how old this one is. It’s the 205 that I bought on eBay about two years ago, and I don’t know who owned it before. It’s a great watch and I hope that it doesn’t completely die anytime soon. I simply can’t afford another one right now.

* * *

I thought I’d let you know that I finally updated the Photos page on this blog. It’s nothing too exciting — it’s just a few running photos from the past few years. Eventually I’ll add some older ones as I dig through some old files. I actually lost a bunch of photos on a computer recently, so I’m having to sort through MySpace, Facebook and blog files to find photos of my life. I also hope to add more with future races in addition to posting more on blog entries.

All I want, but don’t really need, for Christmas …

Please forgive me for what’s about to be a very selfish post. With Christmas technically next week, I wanted to put a wish list out there. Some of these things are just big wishes; others are things I could actually use; and a few items are things I already have but could always use … I must stress, though, that for the first time since I started running a few years ago that I feel fairly complete with what I already own. But …

* First on my list is the new Garmin. The Garmin Forerunner 405 is probably on every runners list. It would be awesome to have that sleek watch on my wrist. It’s not that my 205 isn’t working perfectly fine … but damn that thing is big. I did notice this week that my 205 stopped beeping, so I hope it’s not dying. I highly doubt anyone would actually buy me the almost $300 405. One day it will be mine … through a deal on eBay.

* Shoes. Yes, I just bought myself some, but who wouldn’t love an extra pair of shoes? Then I wouldn’t have to worry about buying any until my birthday gets here … and then of course I need a nice birthday gift. After finding Holabird Sports recently, you can save about $30 getting me a new pair. My preference is the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8, size 11. Any color is fine.

* Running shirts (and shorts to match). Short-sleeve. With the discovery of how great being a member of a gym is, my winter gear is fine for another year. Despite having enough, my running shirts are a few years old. So one or two would get me through 2009. Target’s Champion line is just fine. Size large. None of those tight ones … just the cheapest of the cheap.

* Socks. Anything non-cotton is fine. Actually, I probably won’t be able to get through next year without having to buy new socks. I can wear socks out pretty quickly, especially since I always having them on. You won’t catch me walking around barefoot … ever. (Just ask my wife.)

* Underwear. Same non-cotton rule applies. And before you ask boxer or briefs, I like the combo boxer-briefs.

But be careful buying me clothes — my mom and my wife will quickly tell you that I prefer to get clothes myself, although I’ve been on a quest for two years to find a red turtle neck sweater to wear during Christmas. So if you find one, send me a link to it. Even when it comes to running, I think that I dress myself best. And I’ve been doing that since I can remember. So, onto some more realistic things (although that Garmin would be lovely) that would be nice, but don’t really need.

* Clif bars. I’ll need ’em for the long runs later in the year.

* Gatorade Rain. A simple six pack actually lasts me a while since I still mix Rain with water (doesn’t that sound weird?).

* Sneaker balls. In all seriousness, my wife has bought me these before and it’s quite possibly the best gift ever from a running perspective. They work great.

* A new iPod, headphones that last longer than a year and gel insoles.

* I’d also like a cure for my over pronation, my lack of speed and some help breaking my PR in a half marathon.

New shoes, a new look

It worked! My shoes that I ordered the other day — for $30 cheaper than retail — showed up today. See my post below for details on how I found them. I gave them a half mile test run tonight and everything felt great. I’ll be slowly breaking them in this week.

Meanwhile, you’ll probably notice that I changed my template today. In the process I lost some of my links, so if I read you before and you’re on the list, please let me know! Also, you’ll notice that some of the “comments” links are not English. Anyone out there know enough about HTML to help me out? I’ve done all I know how to do. It doesn’t really bug me that much, but it would be nice to be consistent!

Let’s hope Reader’s Digest helped me

After mentioning the other day that I wanted to buy shoes, I remembered reading in the October edition of Reader’s Digest about bargains. The main story in that issue was “Get A Great Deal on Anything.” When I usually read stuff about bargains, I tend to ignore it, but I remembered reading about getting a discount on athletic shoes.

The article referred me to Holabird Sports located in Baltimore. To make a long story short, I have ordered a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8 through this site at about $30 cheaper than retail, plus free shipping. I wanted the black shoes, but they didn’t have my size. I instead ordered the ones with yellow … I’m currently wearing the green version. I’ll let you know early next week if I got a good deal or not.