DailyMile

The best thing about running is the accomplishment.  Not so much the races or the medals, although those are nice, but much more the experiences. Those are the ones that make me the most proud.

A few months ago I signed up for DailyMile. This website is just like any other social network site but with one big difference: members post about their exercises. Most of the members are training for races of all kinds, be it 5Ks, 10Ks, Marathons or even triathlons. The community is very supportive and everyone is very friendly.

I've become friends with a few people from all over the country on the site. One of them, Mauricio is a Nashville resident, a very dedicated and am extremely inspirational triathlete. In May when the flood swept through his city he created a challenge on the website inviting us to run 18 miles and dedicate them to Nashville, its citizens, and the quick restoration of the city.

I was very touched by the situation and was compelled to finish the challenge as quickly as I could. Before the week was over I had gone out on 3, 5, and 10-mile runs and felt very proud to have completed the challenge.

A few days later Mauricio sent a message to all those that had completed the challenge thanking us for the support and giving away ten awesome DailyMile stickers. I've been wanting one of those for a while but this one would have a lot more meaning attached to it. So I contacted him and last week I received it!

I put the sticker on my computer since I take it everywhere and I want to display it proudly.



Bad picture but you get the idea.

I'm proud of this sticker. It wouldn't mean as much if I would have bought it. So, if you haven't checked out DailyMile and you're interested in using a great tool to keep track of your training progress, and want to meet some really cool, friendly, and encouraging bunch go check it out!

7Miles. +1

Just got back from this morning's run. 7:30am is too late to start. The temperature was already in the high 60s and the cloud cover was nowhere to be found.

As I mentioned yesterday it was my first time running with someone as, or more, into running than me. I didn't know I was in for a surprise. Patrick is a Sub-4 Marathon runner who just finished his junior year of high school! His PR for his competitive 2-mile races is 11:50!! Needless to say, I was playing catch up the whole time. Thankfully he was gracious enough to stay next or only one step ahead of me. The first three miles were a bit difficult since they were a slight, long uphill but after that the decline began and I was able to maintain a faster pace.

Another thing I was preparing for was talking while running. Since this is the first time we've met (He's a friend of a friend and we've only talked on Facebook) I knew we were going to talk about all things running and whatnot. I found talking and running to be easier than expected. We chatted up and my breathing never became difficult, so that's a plus for me!

He's also into the five finger running shoes. I've read the argument that has been brewing for about a year regarding this new trend. We didn't really discuss why he was into them but I'm sure that's a conversation for another time.

We finished 7 miles in about an hour and five minutes. I accidentally hit the stop button as I was putting the timer away right at the start, so the time is just an estimate.

Running with someone else is very different from running alone but is something I now welcome a bit more. We're going to try to do this every week and I'm looking forward to see how it develops.

Running Solo

A lot of the people I know do not see running as their choice activity for staying in shape. So since I started I've very seldom gone on a run with someone who is into it as me. I've learned to enjoy being out there alone and have found my mind follows a regular pattern when out and about.

A typical run goes something like this:
First Couple of Miles: Complaining about my legs and being tired.
Next Miles: Listening to music, remembering shows, and counting how many other people are out working out.
Last Miles: Focusing on finishing, putting one foot in front of the other, and reminding myself I've run farther.

After getting home I come off the running high, check my time and post on my DailyMile page. For the last four months, this has been my running routine.

However, tomorrow I will be running with a partner for the first time.  This is the route we're going to take:



This is going to be interesting.  Usually, I maintain my pace depending on how I'm feeling.  Sometimes I start slow and pick up later, sometimes I do the opposite.  Running with someone else will force me to maintain a pace that works for both of us.  OR, I will have to keep up if he's used to running faster than me.

I will find out all this tomorrow morning.  Wake up call is 7:00am.

Thinking and Running

The more time I spend running, the more time I spend thinking about it. This has led me to noticed a couple of things. First, I work much better when I have goals to reach. Its a lot easier to get something done when you're doing it for a concrete reason. Second, I have to pay for races way in advance so I don't get lazy. Third, it's a lot harder to get up early to run than I thought. And fourth, I have to run for enjoyment, I can't let it become a chore.

Is this last one that has hit me the hardest. I've noticed that running Half marathons is what makes me happy at the moment. Fulls are not really something that drive my interest too much right now. I've always had a thing with timing myself and on a Half I can improve my time more than on a Full. So, I will scrap my plans to run the SF Full BUT I will run the 1st Half. I still want to run over the Golden Gate Bridge and I will not let that opportunity pass me by.

So for now, I'll get ready to do that, and look forward to completing the 10K of Keep LA Running on July 11th!!! I can't wait for that because I got Leksifer and N8I to run the 5k! Its fun to run with friends.

2010 Laguna Hills Half Marathon Recap

I figured it couldn’t hurt to run a Half Marathon while training to do a full. So I signed up for the Laguna Hills Memorial Day run. Since I don’t like driving a long distance before a race, I spent the weekend at my friend’s house in Irvine. Saturday and Sunday were spent watching TV and playing COD. At some point I bought my routine Race Day Breakfast: plain bagels and chunky Skippy peanut butter (Chunky is the only way to go). Monday morning came about and after getting showered and dressed I drove to the Laguna Hills mall where the race started. Since this was my third race I wasn’t sure what to expect. To my surprise the parking lot was empty and there were only about 40 runners at 5:45 am. I probably could have slept 30 more minutes but oh well. I had a goal to break 2 hours since I was so closed at the O.C. Half but I spoke to a couple of other runners and they mentioned that this is not a course to PR in, the hills were not going to cooperate. I gave this serious thought and decided to just run it and not worry about time.

After everyone poured in, we got in the starting corral, stretched, heard the National Anthem and we were off!

If there is a word to describe this race it would be Hilly. The first half is technically downhill. However there are a few rolling hills all the way to the reserve which happen to be steeper on the way up than the way down. By mile 4 the sun came up and the temperature started to slowly rise. It was somewhere around this point where I realized I had forgotten to put body glide on. Now I had chaffing to look forward to. No biggie, I had run a couple of 10 and 11 mile training runs forgetting to do this as well. At the reserve we came to an area of two-way traffic where the front runners pass right by us. At this point is where the uphill back to the finish line begins. To make this point more palpable it starts with the steepest hill of them all and set the pace for the next long miles. These last 6-7 miles are all a slight uphill with a few very short flat areas. And not to make it easy, they are a few underpasses we go through that only make the inclines a bit worse.

It was at about mile 11 that I had had enough. My body was angry at me, my feet were hurting and I was feeling very tired. This is where the mental game started. I keep telling myself that each step got me closer to the next mile marker. I keep the pace with a group of flag bearers who were representing the Armed Forces but those guys are made of steel and quickly left me in the dust. I think they were the only ones that passed me during the whole race. Suddenly I started to see more people and the noise of the crowd gave my pace a slight kick right before the finish line. As soon as I made the last turn I saw the clock reading 1:59:04 and I knew I had done it!

My official time was 1:58:42. Reaching my goal of under 2:00 was in the back of my mind the whole time, but the way I was feeling after mile 11 made me think that I was nowhere near getting to it. The fact that I did it in the most challenging race I have done yet made it the more sweet.



I'm starting to get a nice collection!



Overall, a great experience.

2010 Orange County Half Marathon Race Recap

I was pretty disappointed with myself for not preparing correctly for the 2010 L.A. Marathon and consequentially not running it. I had to make it up somehow, so I signed up for the OC Half Marathon which was only 6 weeks away. This way I could either train and run it, or lose the registration money. I've learned that I do better when the goals are set in stone.

The weekend of the race I drove down to Irvine and relaxed at Ryan's apartment with his girlfriend and roommate.  To give my legs some down time we mostly played video games and watched Adult Swim shows.  I went to bed kinda late and wasn't able to sleep well, but that's no surprise. I was pretty excited about running my first Half and getting an official time on it.  I like setting benchmarks.  They keep me on my toes and give me personal goals to break.  If there is anything I learned in school is that setting goals is the only way to get things done.

After waking up, showering and getting ready I headed to the OC Fairgrounds to park my car, eat my bagels with peanut butter and get shuttled to the starting line at Fashion Island.  I decided to wear my red Asics shirt since it feels good and it has a pocket on the shoulder.  I thought this was a great idea since I could put my car key in there and not have to leave my car open.  So I did that and headed to the bus.  As usual, I was early and had to wait for about an hour before the crowd started to show.  To relax a bit I talked to a couple of other runners who coincidentally were also running for the first time.  I like how this community is so tight, everyone is friendly and they're always so chipper.  As time moved on we started to get ready on the corrals and after the anthem and all the particulars, the race was off.  There were a lot of people running this event so it took about 10 minutes to get to the starting line and my personal time going, but after that it was 13.1 or bust!

Since I lived in Irvine for 3 years I was really excited to run this race.  After a couple of turns after the start the course took us pass Corona del Mar.  If you've never been there, you need to, its such a beautiful and secluded beach.  It was here when it happened.  All of a sudden I felt my car key drop inside my shirt, hit my leg and clank on the pavement.  I was really confused since I assumed that the shoulder pocket was secure and would keep my key safe.  What I didn't notice was a hole on the top of it that was big enough to make anything fall out of it but small enough so it can be easily missed.  this worried me much.  I put the key back in and continue running.  I made sure to check the pocket and felt the key about every 2 minutes to make sure it was still there. After that the course winded around some richy residential areas of CdM. By then there were a couple of people out waving and giving all the runners support. Seeing people out there supporting the runners always makes me smile.

But, of course, at about mile 4 my smile went to a frown when I reached for the pocket and didn't feel my car key.  Great.  I completely stopped.  I had a couple of thoughts: I could walk back and look for it, or I could keep going, finish up and then come back to the same area and look for it later.  I contemplated doing the latter but I figured that would simply be the stupid move so I started backtracking looking at the ground for it.  While I did this I heard a couple of people say "He's going backwards LOLZ"..... I really like how astute some people are.  The gods must have been happy with me because I was able to find the key in less than 5 minutes.  I grabbed it, quickly decided that I would hold onto it the whole run and try to forget about it.  At this point I was not feeling too great. The key issue coupled with sluggish legs were really keeping me down.

Somewhere after mile 5 my legs stopped feeling weird and my stride improved.  From then on the race went more or less without a hitch.  I keep my pace and enjoyed the scenery of the Newport Back Bay.  After a bathroom break at about the 8-mile marker I decided that I could pick up my speed somewhere between mile 9 and 10, but, somehow I missed those markers.  By the time I picked up my speed I was coming up to mile 11. The last few miles I was running way faster than I should have been able to if I had maintained a faster tempo the entire race.  Oh wells.  I finished in 2:11:55.  A bit short of the 2 hour mark, not to shabby but with a goal to break. Soon after I passed the finish line I heard Jillian and Ryan calling for me.  They made an awesome sign to encourage my running. How awesome is that?!



If I had noticed the markers I really believe my time would have been much better. But no matter, I have a goal to break and that's a Half in under 2:00!! Hopefully I can do that this year. Well see.



This picture makes me happy.

100% vs. Half Measures

The Marathon training program I abided by consisted of 16 weeks of gradual training. I began this plan on Feb 2nd and followed it to the T until April 1st. After that, a few personal snags and slight injuries slowed me down to the point where, at the beginning of May, I didn’t run for a whole week. With the May 25th date quickly approaching, I haphazardly began to run distances which I thought would help me reach my goal.

After the race I felt very accomplished. However, I know I could have done better. If I had continued following the training my finishing time would have been much faster, I most likely would have broken the 5 hour mark. Same with school, I barely studied a subject which really interests me and instead of As I was content with Bs. This has made me think about the potential I have when I put my all into something.

I have been lucky enough that circumstance has handed me very many things without much effort on my part. This has caused me to lack discipline most of my life. Now, I’m starting to see the value of putting my 100% into the goals I set my sights on.

Jim Roth said “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”. If I can achieve major goals not doing my best every step of the way, I’m sure I can excel at the same goals when I prepare myself 100% for them. Knowing this, I will focus my all into all my future endeavors. I will teach myself to be disciplined and to achieve my objectives the right way.