3.65 miles - blah

I'm not sure if writing very little is better than not writing at all. My run was like my day, slow and painful. I need this weekend to get here soon so I can go home and see Melissa. I'm so excited to go home that I am not even having the requisite panic attacks about flying. If you ever want to appreciate everything you have, pack your car with some clothes and an air mattress and go live 2500 miles away for 3 months in a grey city. Actually, it will only take you a couple weeks to really appreciate what you've got, trust me.

Oh yeah, almost forgot that I went to the allergist yesterday and got some meds. I tried an inhaler before the run today and did not wheeze at all. That's happy. I was running pretty slow because my shins hurt, but hopefully I will be able to breathe again on all my runs. My fingers are crossed.

6 miles - The Birds!!!

Near Aloha High School, there was an stretch of sidewalk through some long grass where I was attacked by 2 birds today. It is funny to think about now, but I was not having any fun while they were diving at me and flying over my head. I must have looked like a madman running with my hands on my head and flailing them over my head everytime the birds dove. I was alternating sprints and sudden stops as though I was trying to avoid sniper fire, it was crazy. Thankfully, they never actually made contact with my head. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful.

Day two of CheeseRunning (ChiRunning) has me believing. I ran 6 miles in 54:32 which is probably a PR and it didn't really hurt much at all. Everytime I started to ache a little, I just thought about relaxing and leaning. I think that I was probably running much less efficiently before, because this same run was a lot harder 1 month ago. It also helps that I am down almost 10 lbs in the last month. There is nothing amazing about the weight loss, I've finally started eating better, and I'm working hard. I am NOT dieting. The only thing that is strange to me is that I'm not losing weight consistantly, it's kind of a step process where I'll lose 3 lbs in a week and then not lose anything for 2 weeks.

3.65 miles - ChiRunning or CheeseRunning?

I used Google Earth to map out a new route today. I was happily suprised with how flat this route turned out to be. The only drawback was the amount of time running along main roads. I'm sure that I will run this path again soon.

I started reading "ChiRunning" last night and to be honest, I think it should have been titled "Cheese Running" as in, this book is really cheesey. I have nothing against what the author is saying, but I feel like the message is very simple and I don't understand why it takes such a long book to get it across. It is somewhat ironic that the author talks so much about self discovery as a result of the T'ai Chi influence on his running, but then writes so much that there seems like there is very little room for self discovery left for the reader. I'll keep reading it because I like the running style tips. I really don't mean to sound overly negative about the book, it just brought out the skeptic in me more than I felt like it had to. It was definantly worth the $14, and I would recommend it to anyone that feels like they could use some advice in the running form department.

To be fair, it helped me a lot with my run today. I thought about 3 things during my run today from ChiRunning:

1. Keep my back straight from hips through shouldlers and lean forward a bit.
2. Push back with my arms, instead of pumping them forwards.
3. Relax all hip, shoulder, and leg muscles and just let the lean take over.

Thinking about these things really helped me with my landing on every stride. I didn't feel like I was pounding the pavement as much with every stride. I admit that this was probably one of the easiest runs I've ever had, and it was also a very good pace for me, 3.65 miles in 31:50.

3.5 miles - PRs are supposed to hurt!

Feeling good for the first time in 2 weeks, I decided to run my familar 3.5 (it's actually 3.6 but who's couting) mile route. I was out in 7:30, had my fastest 2nd mile at 8:28, didn't fall off too bad at 9:16 even though I walked up a bit of the monster hill, and finished with my fastest final .6 at 4:51 for a PR of 30:08. I saw that I was at 25:17 at mile 3 and knew I'd have to run fast to break 30. It's my fastest trip around this loop by 30 seconds, and 2 minutes faster than when I first moved here 6 weeks ago.

I know that time doesn't matter for the first marathon, but I'm infected by the 4-hour bug. I took it just fine when I missed the 2 hr mark in the half by 3 minutes. It didn't ruin my pride in that race, and if I finish the marathon in 4:30:00, I'll be really proud. But in the mean time when I am only running 3-7 miles, I feel like picking it up a bit is just fine.

Post run ice on the shin and routing for the Pistons in game 7 are the plans for the rest of the night. I hope to bounce back strong tomorrow night for an easy 3 miler.

3.5 miles - practicing my nose breathing

Breathing through my nose makes me feel like I am running under water. I have an appointment next Monday with an allergist. My Mom has been telingl me that I need to go to the allergist since I was 13, after 15 years, I'm finally on board.

I wonder how my swimming career was impacted by my allergies. I think that swimming and running are totally different. A distance event in swimming is 500 yards and good swimmers finish that under 5 minutes. But just seeing how big a role breathing has played in my runs recently makes me wonder.

Tonights run was tough, but it felt better than the last few. I think that because the last few have been so bad, the hardest thing was just getting out the door. Now I'm looking forward to the 4 miler tomorrow.

6 miles - more walking than running

The stars really were not aligned for my attempt at 7 miles today. My shin is still sore, so I'm not sure I've really made it back to 100% from the half marathon. My allergies were also really bad, I need to see a doctor about that. Lastly, I went a little nuts this weekend on the food(4 restaurant meals in 2 days) and last night I had a few beers.

I'm not going to think too much about this one. I need to do something so that I can breathe, but beyond that, I'm just happy to have gotten the miles in and I'm going to put this one behind me. According to Hal's plan, next week is pretty easy. I'll use that easy week to get back on track, feeling good about my runs again.

Need to take a day off...

It's frustrating, but I think I need a day off today. I am hurting too much this morning for the 3 mile run I did last night. I think my ankles are telling me something. I look at the distances and the build-up to the marathon and I get worried when I run into problems like this. I know that I did 10 more miles than I was supposed to last weekend, but I'm suprised that I am still hurting so much from that. I'll take the day off, watch the Pistons beat the Spurs, and get ready for a fun weekend with Melissa. Everything should be back on track for a nice 7 mile run on Sunday.

I think that one of my biggest issues is losing a little weight. I'm down about 5 pounds since I started running 3 months ago, but 200 lbs is still a lot of weight for my feet and legs to support. 10 years ago when I was a senior in high school, I was about 165. I don't think that 165 is a reasonable goal for the near term, but 190 would be ideal. It's so hard sometimes because weight loss is so slow. Thinking back, it's not like I was 165 and woke up the next day at 210, it took about 3 solid years of fast food, pizza, and beer to add that much weight. I can't expect to lose it all overnight. It would be nice though. I know that my body composition is changing for the better, but I would like to see the scale give me some better news. I think my legs would thank me for lightening their load.

3.2 miles - still recovering from Helvetia

Running in pain sucks. My shins are killing me. I iced them after the run and they feel much better now. I need to put in an easy 3 miles tomorrow and then I can rest until Sunday afternoon. Melissa is coming into town this weekend... I'm really happy about that.

I started reading "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong. That guy is pretty impressive. It is a very open and honest book. How can you complain when you are reading about what it is like to fight cancer?

One great thing about running is that it keeps me too busy to pay attention to stupid things like the MJ trial or the runaway bride.

3.5 miles - wish I could breathe

Here is what my breathing sounds like after a fast pace training run. Needless to say, I need to do something about my allergies. I felt great during the half marathon, which was about 2 hours after taking my claritin. Maybe I need to take my claritin later in the day if I know I'm running after work.

I was trying to take it easy, but ended up running one of my faster trips around the 3.6 mile loop. I misread my watch at mile 3 and thought I had a chance to break 30 minutes. Because of that, I ended up running my fastest final .6 miles, even faster than when I run the route in reverse. I know that time is not the key to the marathon, and that I should only be worrying about getting my milage in and finishing, but it is more interesting to keep track of splits. Besides, I can see progress this way.

3.5 miles - slower than mud

Did you see the FoodTV special about competitive eating? There was a guy on that show that demonstrated his workout routine of shuffling around from kitchen to dining room to living room to family room and back through the kitchen in his socks. He said that he would do this for hours and that he had lost over 50 pounds using this workout routine. Today, I was shuffling around the streets of Beaverton just like that guy. I ran the same route that I ran last Wednesday a full 6 minutes slower.

I was still sore from yesterday, but it felt good to get outside. I like the new mp3 player a lot. I think that it is going to work really well. I just need to convert some of my AAC files to mp3s.

I'm taking tomorrow off.

Nike 128MB PSA200 mp3 player

My first gen iPod is great, but not for running. I have had bad experiences with it quitting every 20 minutes during a run. I will still use it for flights, but it is much bigger than I need for running. I almost bought a shuffle, but those don't come with headphones and I really need a sporty pair. I ended up getting a Nike (Phillips) mp3 player that came with cool wrap around headphones perfect for running.

I really like the headphones, they were over $20 alone, so I don't feel too bad about the $69 price tag of the whole package. It only has 128MB memory and it only plays mp3s, but it is perfect for my trianing runs.

Even though I am still sore from yesterday, I'm going to do a quick run today just so I can use my new toy.

13.1 miles - Helvetia Half complete

What a fun day I've had, and it's only 11:30. I didn't sleep all that great last night, so I got up a little ahead of schedule to begin preparing for the race. I had some cereal, coffee, allergy meds, ibuprofin, and a vitamin before I jumped in the shower. I started sipping my gatorade as soon as I was out. It was 6:30 and I was on my way to the stadium. I stopped at Safeway for some vaseline, sunscreen, and a couple liters of bottled water. I wish that I had done this the night before, because as I soon found out, there isn't much privacy in a Jetta to put vaseline on your butt once you get to the race parking lot.

I got to the lot about 45 minutes before the race started. I tried to go number 2, but my body wasn't cooperating. I thinkn that I was too nervous. I walked around to warm up and ran about .25 miles with my headphones on just to kill some time. There were a ton of people wearing red Portland Fit shirts that all seemed to know each other, seems like a nice group. I walked over to the starting line about 10 minutes before the race started, and sat down. I felt as good as I've felt in a couple weeks.

My plan was to run right around 10 minute miles. The only reason I wore a watch was to keep from going too fast early on. I held pretty close to that plan, but I was feeling so good in the middle that I had a stretch of 9 minute miles. They may have contributed to my final mile of 10:20, but all in all, I was happy with my pacing. I finished in 2:03:45. That was way faster than I thought I would run. After all, every step beyond mile 7 was a new PR.

Post race I feel pretty sleepy and my muscles are sore. I took a shower and I'm making sure to drink a lot of gatorade. My problem with number 2 has gone away, I feel the same way I used to in college after a night of drinking beer and eating pizza, the john is my friend.

I'm not sure what this is going to do for the marathon training confidence. I can't imagine running twice that far. I didn't walk at all though, which is a confidence booster. Time to be lazy the rest of the weekend. I think that I've earned a trip to Chipotle.

Race number pick up

I drove over to Portland Running Co. during lunch to pick up my number. There was a small line, which made it all seem real. These are the people I'll be running with tomorrow. The guy commented on the fact that I was registered with my MI address. I looked at last years results, they don't get many out-of-state runners. Another guy commented that there are nearly 2k runners, that is nearly double the size of two years ago. Either this race is still gaining momentum, or there are a lot of people like me that are just getting into running.

All that is left to do is eat some pasta for dinner and relax. My hip is a little sore, but other than that, I feel pretty good. We'll see what 13.1 miles does to my outlook.

I thought of some more reasons to do the half instead of the 10k:

• it would be better to fail (not planing on it...) at this distance in a controlled environment than on my own somewhere 6 miles from my apartment
• it is going to be a mild day tomorrow

3.25 miles easy - half marathon on my mind

I wanted to take it easy tonight because of the big run on Saturday. I felt great cruising through a few miles. Is there a difference between a jogger and a runner? Sometimes when I see how fast some people run these races, I feel like I am not participating in the same sport. That's okay, I'm enjoying the jogging. I ran the same route that I ran the first day I got to Portland, 2 minutes faster than I did it 4 weeks ago.

Helvetia Half Marathon - totally on impulse

I went looking for races in Oregon for this weekend because I need to run around 6 miles according to the plan. I found the Helvetia Half Marathon and Drop Top 10k. I ignored my better judgement and signed up for the half marathon.

Here was my thinking:

• this might be the only long distance race I have a chance to do before the marathon
• I have nothing else to do this weekend except recover
• my biggest hangup is that my furthest run ever has been 7 miles, I could take care of that pretty fast
• last year over two thirds of the field of 1500 runners & walkers finished over the 2 hour mark
• it looks like fun

So what the heck, right? I just need to run slow and safe so that I don't hurt myself and ruin my training. I may regret this, but I'm being realistic about it. I just want a base from which to build.

Keyhole / Google Earth - best route finder

I remember driving around my neighborhood down random streets with my Dad on our way to dinner measuring his previous running distance. I also remember him with a street map and some rolling measurement tool like some sort of navigator mapping out routes. The internet has changed things a bit, but I hadn't found a really flexible way to measure running routes until I downloaded Keyhole (now Google Earth) a few months ago.

As long as you live in a somewhat populated area, you can get to street level pretty quickly with Google Earth. Once you are there from the tools tab you can select Measure, and then select Path. Now you are armed for route finding. All you have to do is click on the map and play connect the dots between street corners to until you get to the distance that you want to run.

It's that easy. And it adds one more step to the pre-run fun.

3.5 miles in the sunshine

It hasn't been very sunny since I got to Portland 4 weeks ago, but today was an exception. I did yesterday's run in reverse and felt much better about the splits 8:40, 9, 8:40, although I really have to stop worrying about my time. My allergies still were bugging me, with some pretty heavy weazing towards the end, but I remembered the claritin today and they were better.

I don't know about running with the iPod. It is a distraction when I have to adjust something which I'm running, and the headphones aren't really comfortable. I'm also not sure that it is very safe. I do agree with Melissa that it helps to not listen to yourself breath heavily. And some good songs came on during my last mile which really helped me finish strong. Maybe I'll look into a shuffle, that would be less of a distraction.

That is exactly what I need right now though, more gear. I started running 13 weeks ago and I've bought shoes, 2 x shorts, 3 x shirts,3 x sports socks, Hal Higdon's Marathon, a camelback (used once so far), 2 issues of runners world, and
$130 worth of Chicago Marathon registration. I still need to get a hotel for the event. I thought running was going to be cheap!

LaSalle Bank Chicago marathon registration complete

It's official, I've even confirmed that they have my name spelled right. 121 days from today I'll be running over 26 miles. I must admit, I think that I am in over my head. Hal Higdon has given me a lot of confidence, but having just finished his novice spring tune up program, I still haven't run further than 7 miles in one day. Yesterday was the first day of the 18 week marathon program, I guess I'll be passing that 7 mile distance pretty soon. Doing all this running has made me feel a lot better, but I just don't feel like a marathon runner.

Yesterday's run: 3.6 miles in 32:30
My allergies were killing me. My mile splits were 8:20, 9:00, and 10:00, I could hardly breath on that third mile. I ran the route where mile 3 is almost entirely downhill too. I guess the molds and grasses in Beaverton, OR are just as bad as Farmington Hills, MI and Chicago, IL. It didn't help that I forgot to take claritin yesterday.

Today's scheduled run: 3 miles

Final thoughts: This is probably going to be one of the longer posts to this blog, a typical rookie blogger move.