Chris Solomon's Blog

Week 2, Day 7 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-09-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Friday was a day of rest according to the training plan.

Saturday was a different story though. Friday we had a sitter for Gracie so we could attend a doula class. A doula is a person who helps out during labor. Maria & I had talked and thought it would be nice to have someone trained to help us through Garridee's birth. I got off work & got home & changed. Dropped Gracie off, and by the time we got to where the training was, we weren't able to get any dinner before the class started. They had light snacks, but not food. We thought the class would be about an hour... nope! We didn't get out until nearly 10:30pm! So we had to rush around & find somewhere that was still open to get something to eat. We ate, got back home & went to bed. Saturday morning, we woke up and the ladt who was keeping Gracie thought she had a stomach virus, so I had to go get her. We were busy all day Saturday, plus I had to work a shift for my unit's booster club serving Frito Pies at the base bazaar. Needless to say my 3 mile pace run was a wash.

I did get my long run in on Sunday though. Link is below. I need to get my mileages worked back out. I thought I hit my 6 mile turnaround... guess not.

Week 2, Day 7 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 2, Day 4 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-09-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Let's catch up, shall we.

Week 2

Day 1 - Stretch & strengthen. I got some good deep stretches in. I did push ups & situps, as well as some powerband exercises.

Day 2 - This was an odd day. I was supposed to do a 3 mile run. Instead, my unit has military PT (Physical Training) on Tuesdays. One of the guys ran us through an hour of college football type drills in the base gym, while alternating laps around the gym floor. It hurt a little.

Day 3 - The tightness has really set in from yesterday's workout. Think I actually pulled an oblique. Hurts to bend sideways so badly I want to smack someone! I was awakened at 12:00am by a pretty gnarly sinus headache... yes, I've been battling this stuff for close to 2 weeks now, honestly with no relief in sight! Got home, thinking I was going to run. Instead, relaxed. Headache finally went away around 8:00pm, just in time for bed!

Day 4 - Below is the link from this mornings run. Pretty tough run, especially the long uphill stretch as I was coming back in to Queidersbach. I haven't run that hill in a long time, and I see why. It's probably 1/2 - 3/4 mile stretch that is all a pretty decent incline grade. I powered through it, but my legs were on fire.

Week 2, Day 4 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

On a side note, I picked up new running shoes yesterday. The BX stopped carrying my Asics Gel Nimbus 11's. They upgraded to the Gel Nimbus 12's. I got them. They look hot like fire, but the verdict is still out on thier runability.

Week 1, Day 7 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-09-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm back with a recount of the rest of the week.

Day 5 was a day of rest according to the training plan.

Day 6 was supposed to be a 3 miler. We had a baby shower that night that didn't let out until almost 11pm, so needless to say, I didn't get my run in.

I did get my run in this evening after church & Gracie's AWANA session. It was okay. Weather was turning bad toward the end, so had to cut it just a little short. I'm not happy with the pace... I'll blame it on being sick with sinus garbage, but ultimately it's just that I'm slow! :)

Click the link below for the details of my run!

Week 1, Day 7 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 1, Day 4 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-09-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Day 2 was a torrential downpour in Queidersbach, so I ran on the elliptical. I did just over an hour. It was supposed to be a 3 mile run, but I figured that I should go for a longer time since I was using a less intense form of running.

Day 3 was supposed to be interval sprints. I had to rush home form work & change the brakes on our van since they were grinding... can you believe that our 2006 Toyota van doesn't have a break wear indicator. No squeal, just straight to grind. Japaneese! My buddy Evan helped me change the brakes & since we hadn't gotten to hang out with the Osbornes since Ashley got back from the States, we stayed for dinner... yes, they invited us! So, guess I will try out intervals next week.

Here is Day 4.

Week 1, Day 4 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

Enjoy!

Back on the Wagon

2010-09-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially begun my training again. This time only a half marathon though. I think I might have a few folks at work interested in running a half marathon to be announced at a later date... But around the November time frame. Weather should still be "okay" to run in most parts of Europe. Think I'm leaning toward a run in Belgium.

Today was day 2... Rainy, so I ran on the elliptical. Got interval sprints tomorrow... Yea! We'll have to see how that treats me!

I am, once again, using a training plan from halhigdon.com. 12 week Intermediate Runner Half Marathon plan. See if I can beat my marathon half split time. Unfortunately, my buddy Taylor who ran the Paris Marathon with me will be deployed, so he won't be able to run this one... Sorry TR!

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The Remnants

2010-04-20T09:17:00.001-07:00

Okay, I had a friend call my stone bruise in to question as an excuse! He was kidding, but when I took Gracie to the pool for her swim lesson today, the ball of my foot felt funny. I looked, & here's the remnant of my marathon injury! Maria said it has a green hue to it... The interweb, which is 100% truth, says that it was an extremely deep bruise that is almost healed... Just have the yellow stage to go! Woo hoo!

Doing some elliptical work tonight if we get home early enough. Is it bad that I'm kind of looking forward to it?

On a totally unrelated note - we're expecting our 2nd kid! :)

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Dear Paris, Thanks for the Stone Bruise!

2010-04-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

34th Marathon de Paris - Apr 11th 2010 by kingsolo at Garmin Connect - Details

Click the link above to see my marathon run!

The weekend finally arrived! Maria, Gracie, Mandy, Taylor & myself all loaded up in to the Toyota & headed toward Paris on Friday at about 5:30 am. Yeah, a little early, but we wanted to have some of the day to get some sightseeing done.

We arrived in Paris, and it the traffic was crazy! I chose our hotel, the Elysee Ceramic, based on it's proximity to the finish line of the marathon. It was in a great location for that, but the traffic getting there was ridiculous! It took us over an hour once we got into Paris to get to the hotel. Anywho, we got there & got settled in, after a slight run in with the lady at the counter & an additional 90 Euro for a pull-out mattress for Gracie. You can actually see our room in this picture. It's the top left room with the curved balcony railing. We really didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room of course, but it was a typical European hotel room... small, hard beds with tiny, nearly non-existent, pillows, small bathrooms, etc. At least it was clean. The gentleman at the front desk that took over for the lady I had the run in with was AWESOME! Such a helpful guy and actually saved us some money on the trip.

The hotel sat on Avenue Wagram, just off the Place de Charles de Gaulle. Even though we didn't spend a ton of time in the room, at least we had a decent view! This is the view from our balcony, looking toward the Arc de Triomphe. That's maybe 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. I saw maybe a dozen or so other runners staying in our hotel, so I guess the hotels near the finish line are pretty popular.

After getting some lunch at a brasserie near Taylor's hotel, we headed to the Metro (Paris Subway) and took off to the Marathon Expo. Yeah, Taylor stayed at a different hotel, and we think that by the end of the trip, he was probably wishing he would have chosen to pay the few extra dollars to stay at the same hotel we stayed in. It was quite a walk from his place to ours... maybe 10 or so blocks away. The Marathon Expo was a mandatory stop to pick up our bibs and timing chips for the run.

The Expo was pretty large. Tons of stuff to see as far as shoes and clothes and such. We were constantly berrated by leaflet hander-outers, and to our surprise, all of the leaflets at an INTERNATIONAL MARATHON were in French. Not one thing we were handed by the folks schlepping leaflets was in English... too bad too, as some of it looked pretty interesting. So, in we go, picking up our bib packs with our bib & timing chip, then grabbed our swag bag with flyers, promo items, etc inside. We shopped around a little bit, ran in to a co-worker & his wife, then back out into the streets of Paris we headed.

We went and toured the Arc de Triomph. Taylor, Mandy & I climbed all the stairs to the observation platform on top... probably not the smartest thing to do a couple days before a run like we were about to endure, but hey, you only live once! We enjoyed dinner on the Champs Elysee at a resturant named after Visuvius, the legendary volcano. Afterward, we took the Metro over to Montparnasse tour, then went up to the 56th floor to watch the Eiffel Tower light up like a million Christmas tree lights had been turned on... it was pretty awesome looking! After that, we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

The next morning, we were up early & out in to the streets, looking for crepes & some sight seeing. We stopped at a place called Le Fleme. It was a pretty nice place... lots of purple velvet chairs & rock music pumping out of the speakers, even at 8am. Though not my picture, you can get an idea of the place from this shot. It was a very 1970's feel to the place.

After breakfast, we took off to the Louvre. After that, Hard Rock for lunch, then Notre Dame Cathedral. We were supposed to head back to the hotel & change after our tour of the Notre Dame to go to a ballet at the Paris Opera, but the show was cancelled. It didn't say why, but I am a little glad it did. We were on our feet all day. We headed back toward the hotels and stopped on the Champs Elysee for dinner at a resturant called Georges V (George Saank). It was pretty good... I had pasta to try to last minute carbo load. The only bad thing about this place is they gave us shot glasses for water. Everywhere we went, we ordered tap water so they brought it to us in pitchers or caraffes. This place had the best water because it was ice cold, but you were constantly refilling your glass because they were so small!

The next morning, I woke up and began to prepare as best I could for what I was about to do to my body. I showered, dressed, stretched & met Taylor in the lobby right around 10 or so after 8. I don't think you can envision what 40,000 runners looks like, or what kind of mess they can make! There were so many articles of clothes thrown on the ground, plastic parkas, energy gel packets, water bottles... you name it. You really had to pay attention for the first mile to prevent from rolling your ankle on the left over garbage at the starting line. If you break out a microscope, and look all the way in the back near the Arc de Triomphe, you still can't see Taylor or me!

This crowd stayed this packed for at least the first 2 miles or so. You could move a little, well, after we crossed the starting line after about 25-30 minutes after the starting gun. Yes, you read that right. 25-30 minutes AFTER the race began, my race began! Crazy, but that's why they gave us timing chips. See, there is the race clock, which begins as soon as the gun is sounded, and then there is your chip time, which is how long it takes you to go from the starting line to the finish line. It's a little confusing, but at the same time, for a race this size, it's the only way. Not to mention, it keeps people honest, since you have to cross all of the timing mats for your race time to be valid.

So, I ran. And ran. And ran. And RAN! Do me a favor. Next time you have some spare time, drive 26.2 miles. See exactly how far it is. Use somewhere that you know, so you can get a good idea of how far this is. It's a carazy distance! Yeah, it sounds like it's a good distance, but when you can associate it with a trip to Walmart & back... 3 times, you really begin to be able to fathom how far this run actually was. It wasn't all that bad though... I did meet some people.

Judith, bless her heart, was a 50 or 60 year old lady from Scotland. She was running her first marathon. We played "leap frog" until the last 5 miles of the race. When we'd pass each other, we would make small talk, when we had the breath to do so! Mostly, it was checking to make sure each other were still doing okay, and not dying on the course. She finished her race, and beat my time in the process. Her husband finished in 2:46! Amazing!

I am going to go ahead & rat myself out. I got beat by a rat! Well, at least a little rat of a dog. Yes, I got passed by a guy running with his Jack Russel Terrier! I felt horrible after that one. This little dog was not on a leash. He would run up ahead of his owner by like 25-30 yards, sniff around the edge of the course, his owner would pass him, thne all of a sudden, this dog would race past everyone to get ahead of his owner again. I am still amazed at what God has created & what his creation can do. This little dog had legs about as long as a POPSICLE STICK & RAN A MARATHON! Yeah, it wasn't so bad that I got beat by a 50-60 year old woman, but the dog, that's just a kick to the old nads!

I was a little disappointed by the organization of the race. I had heard stories from some of the people here on base, but I had read online that the organizational "incompetence" had been fixed. Let me assure anyone who may want to run Paris in the future, some of it was organized well, but the port-a-potty issue MUST be resolved! I saw maybe 30 port-a-potties on the entire 26.2 mile course. At the starting line, there was 1 port-a-potty for each time group. There were easily 100+ people in line to use the single port-a-potty. At the 2nd kilometer, basically not very far in to the race, people were stopping on the side of the road peeing on buildings. I saw one guy making his own masterpiece (yes, drawing with his urine) on the side of the Louvre. Okay, I understand that organizers did not provide enough facilities for the runners, but there was a Metro station not more than 50 yards from where the new "art work" was being deposited. At least choose a building that is not of huge cultural significance. It was a pretty sad state of affairs though, seeing grown people dropping their pants on the side of the road and doing their business. I had to go once, but I was able to use a port-a-potty! I'm a super slow runner, so by the time I had to go, around mile 16 or 17, the major crowds had thinned and I was able to pretty much walk right up to an available port-a-potty.

At about mile 21, I hit a rather large patch of cobblestones. Paris is notorious for their cobblestone streets. Well, on this particular stretch of cobbles, right as I was getting ready to get off the cobbles back onto normal paved street, there was a cobblestone that was quite crooked. I caught it right on the ball of my left foot. I felt it immediately. I knew that it was going to be a stone bruise. After that, I was pretty much slowed to a walk. Every few hundred meters I could muster a stretch of running for a couple hundred meters, but that was about it. Every step was pretty painful.

I finally finished with a total time of 5:46. Not exactly what I wanted, but it's still an accomplishment for me. I am glad I did it. I learned alot about what the human body is capable of & what it can endure. I learned a good bit about myself. I will run another one before too long. Maybe even May!

Au revoir, Paris, bojnour marathon finisher!

Just When You Thought It Was Over

2010-03-02T00:38:00.000-08:00

I am tired of the snow! At least it has come on a decent day... Still working with the sore foot & some chafing from the worn out Under Armour. Guess it's God sayin to rest today. Hopefully back out on the road tomorrow?

***Update***
It did stop snowing... nothing stuck, it's just aggrivating, LOL! Hopefully I will be back up on my ankle & over the chafing soon so I can get back out on the road. I also did some internet searching, I think my foot issue is a stress fracture of the talus (or talas, not sure how it's spelled).

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Weekly Data Points

2010-03-01T03:45:00.000-08:00

Here's the data for my first runs back on the road after the massive thaw out we had.

Count: 3 Activities
Distance: 25.22 mi
Avg Distance: 8.41 mi
Time: 04:53:25 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:37:48 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 4,486 ft
Avg Speed: 5.2 mph
Avg HR: 167 bpm
Calories: 4,793 C
Median Distance: 8.13 mi
Max Distance: 11.84 mi
Median Time: 01:33:38 h:m:s
Max Time: 02:22:38 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,495 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 1,493 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 2,085 ft
Elevation Loss: 4,650 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,550 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 1,561 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 2,130 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.5 mph
Max Speed: 12.1 mph
Max Avg HR: 173 bpm
Max HR: 185 bpm

It was a pretty good week of runs, though I did experience some pain... my left calf & foot still ache from my 13 miler where my GPS messed up, but I am handling it okay. Hopefully back out on the road next week.

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 27th Run (Week 6, Run 70)

2010-02-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 27th Run (Week 6, Run 70)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Man, a half marathon is as long as it sounds! If you look at the track at the link above, you'll see it came out to 11.84, or something like that, miles. I had a GPS error. I looked down at my wrist and noticed that somehow the stop button got pressed. So, there is a bit of time & mileage that didn't get counted. I know it ran fine all the way out, so it was on the way back, around 8.9 miles... not exactly sure how long it was stopped though. I know I ran out 6.5 miles, so it should've come to 13ish miles total.

Worn my new shoes today. Unfortunately, it looks like I may have to buy a new set of quick laces. Quick laces are this bungee cord material with one of those plastic squeeze lock things to hold it tight. It allows the shoe to be tight to the foot, but expand as your feet swell with the pounding of the pavement. I wore the regular laces today and had to stop a couple times to retie my shoes.

I wore out my first pair of Under Armour compression shorts. The material, I guess from the friction & constant washings, has began to pile. It's no longer smooth, which caused some chafing today... not fun!

All that after working the overnight shift!

In case ya'll want a beautiful area to go walk through, the town of Steinalben is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! It kept me pushing forward to see what else I'd get to discover! Will definately have to go walk though this area & just take my time to enjoy the scenery one day as the weather gets better.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 25th Run (Week 6, Run 69)

2010-02-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 25th Run (Week 6, Run 69)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

I think I learned a few things on my run this morning:

- I think you can run too slow. I was running and my pace was way down, and my knee started hurting. I picked the pace up & the pain subsided. Weird, huh?

- I think I need a new pair of shoes. The outside edge of my left foot started hurting about mile 7. I checked when I got home & sure enough, the cushion on the sole has worn WAY down... like dangerously worn in my opinion. Wonder if this is what has been causing my knee pains.

- I think 8 miles for my second day back on the road was a little too ambitious. I had to walk a couple times, which really didn't bother me. My pace was still way slow, which I fully expect to last at least a little while longer while I strengthen up my legs from that dreaded elliptical machine.

All in all, not a bad day of running though!

Dwindling Time

2010-02-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

45 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes, 45 seconds. My marathon experience is almost upon me!

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Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 24th Run (Week 10, Run 68)

2010-02-24T01:01:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 24th Run (Week 10, Run 68)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning!

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you, The Great Thaw!

Man, it was nice to get back out on the roads today. I have decided, I DISPISE the elliptical though. While I admit, it kept me in some kind of running shape, even doing hill repeats on the machine, I managed to lose 7 minutes off my goal pace. Got to kick it in to high gear now and get that time back for the big race... 9 more weeks of training to go until I suit up and jog my chunky body through the streets of Paris.

My route was pretty much all clear of ice, except for 2 spots. 1 is right around the bridge area where I turn right before entering Linden and is about 25-50 feet of mostly patchy ice. The other is on my uphill climb as I round the corner from the bridge. This one is the one that worries me. It's on a pretty steep incline and it's a pure sheet of ice, probably 7"-10" thick... may take awhile for that one to thaw. It's about 100', so the entire uphill portion. At least it's not the downhill portion of that hill too. That'd be treacherous.

I feel a little tingle in myright knee, the one I suspected I have Illiotibial Band Syndrome in, but there is no pain. Hopefully the time on the elliptical actually helped in that aspect. We'll see tomorrow when I run my 8 miler. That'll be out & around the church in Horbach & back. Hopefully this weekend I can go out with the camera and take pictures of my route out to 10 miles & back, so ya'll can see what I see. No such luck on the Paris one though... but hey, ya'll can always come for a visit and we'll head out there and you can see it first hand! LOL!

Enjoy!

A Special Day

2010-02-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that today is World Cancer Day... Take time to do something for those you know who are battling this beast, beat their cancers, or something for the families of those who've lost loved ones to this horrible disease!

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Tuneage A.K.A. My Personal Marathon Soundtrack

2010-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you, if there is one hurdle that is the hardest to cross, it's the mental barrier that comes along with knowing you are about to run 10, 15, 20+ miles. People do things to help ease their minds, but some marathon organizers are all about removing extrernal helpers.

Case in point, in October of 2009, 2 people were disqualified from the Lakefront Marathon in Wisconsin due to iPod usage (or alleged usage), one of them being the fastest female finisher. You can read the full story by clicking HERE. While I get the fact that professional runners shouldn't be allowed to use iPods or other devices to help overcome the mental challenge, people, like myself and millions of others, are just out trying to prove something to ourselves, raise money for a charity, or just get in better shape. I do not see the foul in taking the people's money for a road race, then hanging a DNF (Did Not Finish) tag by their name at the end of the race because some bystander or some company hired to take photos during the race find out that a casual runner used an iPod during their run.

The kicker is when you apply to run a marathon, most of the time you are categorized by your time, if you have an established PR (Personal Record). These times are used to place you in the starting grids. Obviously, they want people who are world-class athletes & runners in the front. These people usually win big bucks every year by finishing races in the top positions & bonuses if they beat a marathons current record. In a lot of cases, such as the Disney Marathon, to be placed in one of these forwards starting positions, you have to send in certified proof that you can run that fast, by way of a certificate of finish from a recognized, official prior marathon. These people are professionals at punding pavement. The people in the back of these gaggles of hundreds to tens of thousands of people are amatures... like me. I just want to finish! Who cares how, as long as it's on my own two feet and I pass through every check point required of me. My final complaint is most marathons actually have bands set up across the course & the music can be heard across the entire route, so what's the big deal if I want MY style of music?

I guess I am willing to get a DNF if I decide to run in a marathon that doesn't allow iPods. I have to have mine to run. IT'S REQUIRED! I wonder if I can get a doctor's note stating that I must have my iPod? I need the music. I have to have the constant thumping of some bass in my ears. Basically, I want a wave of music hitting me while I run. While the picture is not exactly what I had in mind, you get my drift! (Such a great piece of art by the way!) Go check out the artist's website HERE. But, not just any music will do. In fact, here's what is on my iPod that I run to now:

- AC/DC – Thunderstruck - Good song to get me pumped
- Barenaked Ladies – One Week - Reminds me of hanging with my brother while home on leave
- Beastie Boys – Intergalactic
- Beastie Boys – Sabotage - First song I ever timed myself running to to keep a pace
- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – You & Me & the Bottle Make 3 - Reminds me of my 21st B-day in - Vegas with some of the coolest guys ever!
- Black Eyed Peas – Pump It
- Britney Spears – Toxic – Armand Van Helden Remix edit - Reminds me of my wife... she says all BS's songs sound the same, and she is absolutely right! This mix just has a great beat.
- Bush – Everything Zen - Helps me stride out a tough hill... seems to always hit when I need it
- Cake – The Distance - Come on... I'm running 26 miles here!
- Casting Crowns - Between the Alter & the Door - These Christian songs are scattered through to boost my spiritual energy,
- Casting Crowns - The Voice of Truth
- Chumbawamba – Tubthumping - Reminds me of my first military unit Christmas party!
- Coldplay - Speed of Sound - This was at the top of the charts when my daughter was born!
- Darius Rucker - All I Want (You to leave me is alone) - I'm a Hootie fan, his country music is good!
- Fall Out Boy – Dance, Dance - Reminds me of the music I listened to to help cut weight in Korea.
- Fall Out Boy - Thanks for the mmrs
- Family Force 5 - Kuntry Gentleman - Another Christain group that ROCKS YOUR FACE OFF!
- Fatboy Slim-The Rockafeller Skank
- Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains - Reminds me of hanging out with Steve in Idaho.
- Good Charlotte – lifestyles of the rich and famous
- Green Day – welcome to paradise (live) - Reminds me of college at PRCC.
- Green Day – American Idiot
- Guns ‘n Roses – It’s so easy - Reminds me of hanging with my cousins in Oak Grove WAYYY back in the day!
- Guns ‘n Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
- Guns ‘n Roses – You Could Be Mine
- Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
- Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta - Another memory of being home on leave.
- Hawk Nelson - The Show - Another Christain hit!
- Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie
- Linkin Park – Faint
- Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe
- Moby – James Bond Theme (Moby’s re-version)
- My Chemical Romance — I’m not okay (i promise)-rtb - Another remnant of my days in Korea.
- Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit - Reminds me of living at home with my mom & brother.
- OutKast – Hey Ya! - My wife loved this song! Really reminds me of California.
- Survivor – Eye of the Tiger - Do I really need to expalin this one?
- Talking Heads – Burning Down The House
- The Killers – Mr Brightside - Reminds me of driving in my 1500 Daytona in Ocean Springs.
- The Killers – Somebody Told Me (Mylo Remix)
- The Offspring – Get a Job - Reminds me of my buddy Rob A.
- The White Stripes – Thinking About My Doorbell

There are a ton more songs on there. Most of them have some trigger to a good memory to me. One thing I read was that when you are hitting the mental wall in a marathon, DO NOT think about anything negative. The fact that you are tired, that your legs feel like lead weights, that your muscles feel like fire ants are making a home in them, NOTHING NEGATIVE! Hopefully these songs will trigger the memories I need to push through. I recently found a set of CD's called MTV Mash Volumes 1-14. They take several songs and DJ Mix them into tracks. For example, in Volume 1, they mix Grease - You're the One That I Want with Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg's - The Next Episode. Yeah, odd pairing, but makes for some awesome running tracks. While not all of them are great for running, I think about 95% are useable. The crazy mix up of songs keeps you guessing too.

I currently run with a First Generation iPod Touch. Yeah, I know... it is bulky. I may downsize, but for now, it's what I have& don't want to spend the money, or the time uploading more songs to it for that matter. My biggest drawbacks about this iPod are pretty obvious. It's size, a little bigger than a deck of playing cards; it's weight, about as much as a roll of quarters; it's cost, too much; and it's delicateness (if that's a word), I really have to make an effort to keep this thing safe. The iPod performs well, I just have to be stupid crazy about protecting it. I'd hate for that thing to get wet on a rainy day run. I have found some tricks to help though. If you are going to do any type of athletic type thing with this device, I want to caution you to buy another one. I didn't buy this one with the purpose of using it while I ran. I got an amazing deal on it in the Youngsan Electronics Market in Seoul while stationed in South Korea. It was as much as a normal mp3 player when I got mine, plus, it was an insurance claim, so it's not like I paid for it... okay, I did through premiums... let me live my dreams guys!

I carry my iPod in a Belkin Arm Band. This think is nice! It's biggest feature is that it's adjustable, so if you have monster Hulk Hogan guns, o big fatty arms like mine were, it'll fit. And when I say fit, not only does it not slide due to the texturing on the inside of the elastic arm band, it just down right feels good. It's almost like a neoprene material... who knows, maybe it is. Nonetheless, it fits like a dream. While the picture isn't exactly like mine, it's a close enough representation. Mine has a case for the iPod that is not made onto the band like the one in the picture. I like the fact that I can remove my iPod from my arm if need be, without having to pull the armband off. Additionally, the little headphone keeper is handy, though not as great as I though it'd be. The bonus of this is there is 3M relfective material on the armband to help increase your visibility to drivers on night or early morning runs. This armband IS NOT water proof! I can't stress this enough! That's why I like being able to remove the iPod. Get it out of the heavy rain. Why just heavy rain?

I put my iPod in a trusty Ziploc baggy! I put it in so the baggy opening is at the bottom of the iPod. This helps keep water from running down into the baggy. It may get the baggy wet, but hopefully it will not get into the iPod itself. To help with this, I usually put a twist or two on the baggy and fold it back over on top of itself. With the baggy over the iPod, pulled tight across the front, I can still control the devise with the touch screen inputs. Pretty handy. I also turn the armband so the iPod is under my arm when the rain starts. This adds one more layer of protection to my gear.

To get my tunes to my ears, not just any old head phone will do. I need the soft earbuds cause wearing hard earbuds for 5 hours will probably make for a bloody mess, but I also have a condition to take into account.

"Hello, my name is Chris & I have SECS."

SECS, or Sweaty Ear Canal Syndrome, is what I have called my condition. It's never a real condition until it has a name & an acronym! Basically, I'm considered a cllydesdale runner... yeah, like the big old beefy Budweiser beer horses. So, naturally, I sweat a lot... a lot doesn't even do it justice. I sweat EVERYWHERE. Hence, SECS... just like it sounds, I have sweaty ear canals. It's not that my ear canals themselves sweat. What happens is I sweat so much from my head, it fills my ears, seeping past my earbuds and will pool in my canals. I know it's gross, but I never said my blog would be all perfume & roses! This running blog is a gritty man thing!

I had to search for some special earbuds to run with. I needed something that was going to stand up to the constant bombardment by my sweat. What I found was a set of JVC Bi-Metals. They sound great, JVC is known for their audio quality, and they are sealed for waterproofing. Not to mention, they have interchangeable soft earbud pieces for comfort on a 26 mile run. I wansn't looking for this feature, but these earbuds actually fit over the ear. The cord wraps over the ear to support the weight of the earbud to take preassure off the opening of the ear canal. I will probably have to put some Body Glide on the tops of my ears, just to make sure there will be no chaffing. I haven't experienced any yet, but 26 miles is a different animal!

Now, go load up some tunes, lace up your running shoes & as my boy Jack Black says, melt your face off!

Poor Posting

2010-02-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll! Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting. If I can't show ya'll my runs, there is relaly no point in posting that I ran on the elliptical! Kind of boring! Well, here's what has happened since I have been away:

I hurt my back on Jan 16th Run, which I posted about. I actually ran outside that day.

I was laid up from the 16th till the 26th letting my back heal. I began easing back into the elliptical to test my back & by ITBS issue. I am beginning to pick back up the durration of my elliptical runs.

Bonus was I found some awesome DJ mixes (MTV Mash-ups Vol 1-14) that I am loading up on to my iPod to run to! LOL! I found running on the elliptical is less monotonous if I slap on some TV shows. I have been replaying episodes of Glee & Friday Night Lights... yeah, odd pairing I know, but it gets me through!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Jan 16th Run (Week 13, Run 54)

2010-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Jan 16th Run (Week 13, Run 54)

Click the link above for my run details!

Man it was great to get back out on the road again! It had been awhile. Bad news again today!

I got through my stretches and warm up and took off on my run. Everything was great until I got back. It was a little icey and I slipped a little on the trail, not sure if that added to what happened next. I did have to walk just over a half mile due to my knee... same issue that I think is ITBS.

I finished the run and walked back to the house, as was my norm, letting my heart rate drop a little and getting some water in me. I get back to the area in front of the garage and begin my cool down stretches. The norm, hamstring stretches, quadricep stretches, a little extra attention to my right knee, etc. When I go to do my back stretches, my lower back muscles sieze up. I litterally had to push myself up to get back upright. It was excruciating pain! So, needless to say, I'm hurt again and have to figure out how to get over this injury bug that is plaguing me!

One Step Closer

2010-01-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

I went and picked up my running jersey from the post office today. It looks so sharp... the picture doesn't do it justice. Key features are 3 larger pockets across the back, they look like they will do fine to throw a few packs of sport beans in. Additionally, the zipper on the front sips down to about my belly button so if I start to overheat, I can run the race J. Lo style!

Maria is going to help me modify it a little bit. We are going to figure out where to embroidier the names of the people I am running in memory & in honor of. Any ideas?

Jan 12th Run (Week 13, Day 53)

2010-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

I got off of the midshift this morning and had some stuff to do on base, so I went to the gym & got a run in on the elliptical. Man, this snow is a real bummer for running. I did see this afternoon that the bases running trails were cleaned off. I guess they spray them with deicing liquid so we can run on them, it's just not done very often, kind of a last priority thing.

Hopefully I will be able to get back out on the roads soon. Probably not tomorrow since they are calling for a major ice storm tonight. Booooo!

Jan 7th Run (Week 14, Day 52)

2010-01-07T01:14:00.000-08:00

Yep, no link today. I woke up this morning to a fresh layer of icy snow on the sidewalks. There's no way I can run with me trying to check out my knee on ice today. So, I threw on some tunes, and ran on the elliptical in the Dog House. Sorry, the Dog House is the first floor of our house here in Germany. It's my area... all my uniforms, my bathroom, a spare bedroom, and our game room. Basically, it's my area in case Maria ever gets mad at me, I can get away and she doesn't have to see me till she calms down. Not to mention, with as much running as I have been doing, I didn't want to track my smelly clothes through the house!

I ran for 30 minutes today, granted there was no real impact on my knee to check it out 100%, but I am comfortable saying that I am at at least 80% right now. It ffelt really good to run in just shorts & a short sleeve shirt today! It's been awhile since I have been able to run with this little clothing! I felt almost free! Hahaha!

This will not count in my final tally for mileage & time. I am only going to count the runs that I do out on the street for that. I really think our elliptical console is unreliable as it said I only ran 1.4 miles today in 30 minutes! That's extremely laughable since out on the road I am running 6 miles in an hour and I run 1.5 miles in around 12-13 minutes.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back out on the road on Saturday for my long run day. I probably won't go the full 10 miles like I am supposed to, but I got to get caught back up to where I can do my LRDs. Without those, April will be a flop. I will probably just let me knee decide what Iam going to run on Saturday. Wish me luck ya'll!

The IT Bands Have It

2010-01-06T01:32:00.000-08:00

I think I have self diagnosed my knee issue that arose last week. Basically, as a refresher, I felt a little pop & started getting pain as I ran up hills. I did a pretty exhaustive search online and came up with what I think is my issue... say it with me now kids,

Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ill-e-o-tib-e-al ba-n-d sin-dro-m-e)

In a nut shell,

ITBS is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. The iliotibial tract (iliotibial band) is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femur to the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.

That according to the experts at Wikipedia.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here ya go!

So, basically, it's a more severe form of Bursitis. See the bursa that the line is pointing to above. Well, you have these sacks of fluid where tendon or ligaments can rub against bones. These sacks of fluid prevent chaffing of the tendons & legaments. Something happens creating friction on the sack, which in turn causes swelling & inflamation of the bursa, also called, you guessed it, Bursitis.

For those of you who knew me at Korea, I had a bout of Bursitis in the same knee, though it was below the knee where the patellar tendon connects, that had me hobbling around base for a good month. This one hasn't been as bad. Not really sure what caused the bout in Korea, but this one I think was either caused by running on the ice, which is a crazy ballet style of running; or by taking the break then jumping back in to it running all out. Not really sure, but could be both, who knows.

Anywho, I am going to attempt to run again tomorrow and see what it does. Hopefully I won't be too far set back.

Weekly Data Points

2010-01-06T01:19:00.000-08:00

For the data lovers.

Count: 2 Activities
Distance: 12.84 mi
Avg Distance: 6.42 mi
Time: 02:22:15 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:11:07 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,093 ft
Avg Speed: 5.4 mph
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Calories: 2,506 C
Median Distance: 6.42 mi
Max Distance: 7.47 mi
Median Time: 01:11:07 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:21:35 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,046 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 1,046 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,567 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,217 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,109 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 1,109 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,620 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.5 mph
Max Speed: 19.3 mph
Max Avg HR: 161 bpm
Max HR: 178 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 31st Run (Week 15, Run 51)

2009-12-31T10:16:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 31st Run (Week 15, Run 51)

Click the link above for my run from this evening.

Well, I woke up to rain to have to run in today. I drug myself out of the bed & ran anyway. It was shaping up to be an okay run until a hill right around the 6 mile point. I felt a little twinge in my right knee on the upper outside area. From then on, it was kind of painful to run uphill. I decided I'd best not push my luck and walked up the hills. By the end of the run, the pain was constant, so I may have hurt myself today. I stretched good & wasn't pushing the pace too hard. I'm about to start chewing on some Ibuprofen and see if that will help. May have to break the ice pack back out in the morning. I hadn't frozen it back since the last time I used it or I'd take it with me to work tonight.

Oh well... we'll just have to see how it goes!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 29th Run (Week 15, Run 50)

2009-12-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 29th Run (Week 15, Run 50)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

I'm calling it a GPS error, but it was really my fault. I actually only ran 5.27 miles today at around 55 minutes, but during my cool down walk & stretches, I guess I hit the start button on the Garmin again & it counted another .10 mile & 5 minutes worth of time. Wrecked my goal pace count for today, which I can go in and get from the link above, but for my overall tally, it messes up that, as well as the Weekly Data Points. Oh well.

Decent run today, even though it was drizzling the entire time. I guess I stepped in a pile of doggy poo somewhere on the trail too, as I was smelling it the entire run, so on the way back, I decided my shoes could use a washing, so I detoured through a few HUGE puddles. One was like the size of a lake! I decided that on the next semi-decent weather German day, I am going to take the camera out & follow my run route taking pictures. All the way out to the 9 miler turnaround at least. I'll try to do this for my 20 miler too. I know ya'll can see my route on the satellite image at the link above, but seeing from my perspective I think would be kind of cool. Showing off some of the more interesting checkpoints I use I think could pull ya'll into my run experience.

Off to the showers! Later!

Weekly Data Points

2009-12-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here they are, as miniscule as they are, for the last 2 weeks.

Count: 2 Activities

Distance: 12.84 mi
Avg Distance: 6.42 mi
Time: 02:14:45 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:07:22 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,503 ft
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Avg HR: 163 bpm
Calories: 2,550 C
Median Distance: 6.42 mi
Max Distance: 7.58 mi
Median Time: 01:07:22 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:19:25 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 751 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 751 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,206 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,501 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 751 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 751 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,172 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 12.3 mph
Max Avg HR: 167 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 26th Run (Week 16, Run 49)

2009-12-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 26th Run (Week 16, Run 49)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know. Shame on me for not having run more over the past 2 weeks. Yes, I know I still have a marathon to run, and yes, I know that if I don't get my runs in, I won't be able to finish the race. Working mids, the first since I left Korea, really zapped me. I have them again next week, but I think I am getting used to them again. I have to learn to get my runs in, as after the New Year, I will be working a rotating shift schedule... 2 days at 0600-1400, 2 swings at 1400-2200, 2 mids at 2200-0600, then 1 1/2 days off. So, it will be a challenge. Maria asked me the other day, and forgive me but I can't remember the words she used, but the way I took it was her asking me if I had lost focus or motivation toward my goal. I want to assure everyone, NO! In fact, after today, I am MORE focused & motivated! I looked at my wall chart I made and this week was my halfway point!

This 30 week program by Hal Higdon seems like the first half is a gradual build up to a normal 16 week marathon prep program. The next 15 weeks, instead of gradual build up, seems like it makes leaps & bounds to get you up to 20 miles for the longest run of the program. It's a little nerve racking looking at the mileages per week, but I know I have put down 25ish miles in a week, so I should be able to keep up. One of my favorite movie quotes is from Major Payne with one of the 400 Wayans brothers,

"Alright my little patch of brussel sprouts, uproot yourselves and get some
rest... tomorrow, we gonna start the hard stuff!"

Merry Christmas to ya'll!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 16th Run (Week 17, Run 48)

2009-12-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 16th Run (Week 17, Run 48)

Click the link above for my run from yesterday.

Okay... yes, running on ice is one of the hardest things you can do! The trail I run still has ice on a large portion of it. In fact, from Quiedersbach to Linden is still pretty much covered, with only small breaks here & there. I honestly felt like a Looney Toons character during my run as I turned to go up one of the hills on my route. My feet were moving, but my body was pretty much stationary. I was explaining to my wife last night, that it was like a mix of a Reebok Slide & being pulled around a tile floor in socks. Very weird feeling, plus my legs are sore. I guess it used different sections of my muscles to manage the ice running?

That wasn't the strangest part of the run though. Here comes some science content that I can't explain, so if anyone has any explanations, fire them my way. So the trail was pretty much covered in ice. Why is it that in the broad open sections that had no tree cover, the ice was thick & solid, yet the parts that had tree cover, even trees that had already lost all of their leaves for the winter, weren't covered with ice. In fact, there were several parts that didn't have ice, where only 1 or 2 branches of trees overhung the trail and the ice was thawed. It was just very weird to me, and I just can't explain it. I figured the open areas, that got sunlight yesterday, would have been more thawed than the areas that weren't exposed to the sunlight due to the tree cover.

It was a nice run though, a little slower because of the ice, but I managed. My shin didn't hurt at all yesterday, until I ran! 3 days off had me not feeling any pain until I started running again. Not too excited about that. Sounding more & more like it might be shin splints or a micro fracture to my shin bone as opposed to a muscle injury. Guess I'll just keep plugging away.

This will probably be the last run of the week, unless I get one in on Friday, as we are help some friends make Christmas cookies today & going to Nurnburg & Rothenburg to the Christmas Markets on Saturday... all day trip from 0530 til 2300. Woohoo!

Weekly Data Points

2009-12-13T00:10:00.003-08:00

For the data-heads like me out there!

Count: 3 Activities
Distance: 20.76 mi
Avg Distance: 6.92 mi
Time: 03:34:48 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:11:36 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 3,848 ft
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Avg HR: 159 bpm
Calories: 4,095 C
Median Distance: 6.40 mi
Max Distance: 9.11 mi
Median Time: 01:05:38 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:37:01 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,283 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 940 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,996 ft
Elevation Loss: 3,930 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,310 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 990 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 2,052 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.0 mph
Max Speed: 13.7 mph
Max Avg HR: 162 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 12th Run (Week 18, Run 47)

2009-12-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 12th Run (Week 18, Run 47)

Click the link above for my run from yesterday.

Well, I had snow flurries pretty much my whole run. Nothing stuck, but it was like little ice chunks hitting my face. Everything else was covered, but my face & ears were exposed. It took the better part of the day for me to fully warm back up. Looks like next week is going to be rough as I woke up today to a good bit of snow everywhere!

Shin felt pretty good today. Wish I had the test full 2 days off, but I have my fitness test for the military on Monday afternoon.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 10th Run (Week 18, Day 46)

2009-12-09T22:36:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 10th Run (Week 18, Day 46)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Man, rough run today. It was nasty rainy out! Made for a long run when after the first 3 minutes you are soaked like an abandoned puppy. I made it through though and faster than last weeks mid distance run.

I have decided, to try to help my leg/shin/calf/whatever heal, since I still can't tell if it's the muscle or the bone, I am switching to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday runs. I will do a short run on Tuesday, a mid distance run on Thrusday and still keep my long run on Saturday. Hopefully, this will help the healing process. It seems to feel pretty good after a day of rest, so maybe with enough days of rest, it will fully heal. I am still doing some home therapy that I will blog about a little later, so I'm praying that these things will help me out!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 8th Run (Week 18, Day 45)

2009-12-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 8th Run (Week 18, Day 45)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

NICE!!! I came in under my goal pace today. 9:55/mile is pretty good. Maybe this is a sign that my shin is getting better. I did kick it up a notch on the last leg when I glanced and saw my time. The last 1/4 mile was ran way fast for what I usually run it in. Admittedly, I do usually save a little in the tank for the last little bit of my runs and push the pace up some, but today, I was pretty much sprinting! LOL!

It was a good run, but rainy. It was a driving mist, that turned in to a slight rain for about a mile, then back to a driving mist. If it was colder by about 10 degrees, I probably would have been running in the snow... I am sooooo ready for that! Okay, maybe not, but it'll be cool for the first few minutes! :)

Weekly Data Points

2009-12-06T00:52:00.000-08:00

For the dorks like me out there who dig the statistics of things!

Count: 3 Activities
Distance: 20.61 mi
Avg Distance: 6.87 mi
Time: 03:38:03 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:12:41 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 4,501 ft
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Avg HR: 159 bpm
Calories: 4,087 C
Median Distance: 6.33 mi
Max Distance: 9.02 mi
Median Time: 01:07:19 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:37:17 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,500 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 1,176 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 2,577 ft
Elevation Loss: 4,691 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,564 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 1,197 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 2,615 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 12.6 mph
Max Avg HR: 167 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 5th Run (Week 19, Day 44)

2009-12-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 5th Run (Week 19, Day 44)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning!

Man, long run today! A hair over 9 miles! It was cold & dreary today.

I ran through Horbach to this resturant that Maria & I had found before. It's a biker... as in pedal bike, not motorcycle... resturant in the bottom of this valley just on the other side of Horbach, before the turn to the village of Schopp. I run the sidewalks through Horbach, but I found where the bike trail picks back up, right at the Festplatz (Festival Place) at the foot of the church. It was a good run, but let me tell you, 9 miles will wear you out!

The resturant is in an old farm house, and is also a hotel, or Guesthaus. Is sits at the bottom of a valley, with a creek and spilt rail fencing that keeps horses in a pasture. The valley wall on the south side have HUGE rocks justting out of it, of which most are covered with an extremely bright green moss or alge. It really is something out of a fairy tale! Will see if I can grab a picture this week! Ready for my next long run now so I can go see it & bask in it's beauty.

Shin didn't hurt so bad after an extra day of rest that was actually for my hamstring! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 2nd Run (Week 19, Day 43)

2009-12-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 2nd Run (Week 19, Day 43)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

It was just a run today. Yeah, nothing real amazing about it other than it was my medium run for the week. Got started a little later than normal... guess I need to start waking up earlier! :)

Right hamstring is a little tight today... guess I will be icing that tonight!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 1st Run (Week 19, Day 42)

2009-12-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dec 1st Run (Week 19, Day 42)

Click the link above to view my run from this evening.

Decent run today... a little slower than I wanted due to the still nagging pain in my left shin. I guess I may have to get it looked at before I get in to my longer runs in case I have to rest it for a week. Nonetheless, I am still pusshing through. I had to run after work today... no way am I getting up at 0200 to go run... I'm crazy, not stupid! :) Afterward, I had Greek food with my favorite girls at Vogleweh... another Air Force Base over here, not too far from Queidersbach.

That's about the gist of it today!

Running Down the Right Home Remedy

2009-11-28T05:20:00.000-08:00

I have had a few "injuries" since I have started my marathon training. The reason I say "injuries" is a throw back to playing high school football. Our coach, Jim Sizemore, the high school coaching legend in the Hattiesburg, MS area, would always ask players who went down if they were "injured" with quotation fingers. He subscribed to the theory that an injury means you cannot get up or continue to perform. I agree with that. It's more of getting hurt. You can keep going if you are just hurt. This, my friends, is a running INJURY!

I have been both hurt & injured during my training. My knee was an injury. I could barely move, not to mention I could've never run on it after I injured it. My shin, on the other hand, is a hurt. I have also had a hurt foot, a hurt knee, and several... SEVERAL... hurt muscles! When you repeated slam 240ish pounds on to your feet on to pavement, you are bound to hurt something!

For my hurts, I have found some, less than officially licensed means to help. Let me break them down for you. You may be surprised what you can use, just around the house, to help some of your hurts.

Large Muscle Soreness - for large muscle groups, like the thighs, calves, & glutes, I use a wooden rolling pin. This allows for broad even pressure to be placed on the muscle to work out the soreness.

Arches of Feet - for sore arches, I have resorted to placing a golf ball on the shower mat in my bathroom, and rolling my foot across it for a few minutes. Do be careful with this though, as too much pressure kind of hurts.

Shins & Feet Aches - I have found that a raquetball feels REAL good on my sore shin and on the tops & sides of my feet. Even on the balls of my feet. I will rub the raquetball all over the sore areas of my shins & feet and the grip it gets due to it's texture really feels good & helps massage away the pain for awhile.

Muscle Cramps - you all probably already know this one, but bananas ain't just a song by Gwen Steffani! The potassium in bananas helps prevent muscle cramps. It's just plain science!

Tight Shin Muscles - there aren't many stretches you can do for tight shin muscles. One that I did find is to sit in a rolling desk chair and place your foot back behind you. Now, with the other foot, slowly pull yourself forward, stretching the shin muscle. This works & really helps.

General Aches & Pains - there is no substitute for vitamin M as most folks in the military refer to it as. Motrin, or some form of Ibuprofen, is proof that God loves runners! 800mgs of this wonderous concotion soothes the pain & makes life after your first 5 miler much easier!

These are just a few of the tricks I have found to help keep me on the roads, running & abusing my body more. They really have helped me stay out of the hospital though, and if I can avoid that place, I am super happy!

Weekly Data Points

2009-11-28T05:12:00.000-08:00

For the folks who like to see the numbers!

Count: 3 Activities
Distance: 20.03 mi
Avg Distance: 6.68 mi
Time: 03:28:26 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:09:28 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,812 ft
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Avg HR: 157 bpm
Calories: 3,965 C
Median Distance: 6.60 mi
Max Distance: 8.17 mi
Median Time: 01:08:12 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:26:46 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 937 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 825 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,310 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,790 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 930 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 807 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,353 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 10.0 mph
Max Avg HR: 162 bpm
Max HR: 174 bpm

Not too shabby for 3 days of running!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 28th Run (Week 20, Day 41)

2009-11-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 28th Run (Week 20, Day 41)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Now, before anyone says anything, yes, I know my run was slow for having the past 2 days off. Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll by the way! :)

I started looking at my running chart I made to track all my run days and such on. As I progress, I will be gaining a mile each week. This morning, I figured I'd test my knee to see if it's the mileage that hurt it last time. As you can see in my GPS tracker above, I ran the same route and got roughly the same distance. My knee feels great so far... it's been about 5 hours since I ran. I ran intentionally slow so if I felt any twinges of pain of unusual snaps or pops, I could stop and try to isolate where it's coming from, plus I don't need to overdo it. It felt good during... well, except for my left shin is still bothering me, and today, it felt like someone had pulled my right arch so tight it was about to snap. I looked that up and will be trying some home remedy using a golf ball & raquetball... I'll explain in a later blog about home remedies for the runner.

It was cold this morning, but I warmed up quick. It's nice seeing all the Christmas lights & decorations going up little by little. It's actually helping to motivate me to see what's new along my route! I love this time of year!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 25th Run (Week 20, Day 40)

2009-11-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 25th Run (Week 20, Day 40)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Today's run was a pretty good one. Almost had to stop a little short as my distance was getting close to 6.66 miles! LOL! Call me superstitious, but with the problem I had with my knee & my current shin problem, I'm not chancing it! But I was able to make it to my stopping point at 6.60 miles.

Shin was a little better on the pain scale, but nagged me a little longer than on yesterday's run. I'm just working to get to my 2 day break after my long run & I'm going to ice the mess out of it. I may even soak it in an ice bath for 20 minutes to see if that'll help it... not really!

It was nice & the sun was shining today. What a welcome change from either runs before dawn, runs after sunset, or runs through dull gray fog. It was a little foggy, which made me realize something kind of neat.

When I was training for my SCUBA certification, we talked about something called a thermocline. See Allen, some people actually do pay attention in class! :) A thermocline is a point in the water that you can actually see, where the temperature changes. That's what it was like today! I was running through some light fog, that was actually hitting about mid chest level. Then I ran down a hill and I was fully in the fog & it was colder. As I climbed back up the next hill, I felt the warmth go from my head, all the way down to my knees before I went back down into the fog. I've said it many times on here, I'm a science nerd, so seeing something like that on my run made it all worth while!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 24th Run (Week 20, Day 39)

2009-11-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 24th Run (Week 20, Day 39)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Decent run this morning. Shin is still tender. I don't know what's wrong with it... don't want to go see a doctor about it either as he'll probably tell me to stop running and to give up the marathon training. I already have 200ish miles & 36+ hours invested in this training, so I cannot forsee me giving up.

The rain was coming down as an icy, driving drizzle this morning, making me pretty chilly to begin with, but by the turn around point I was shedding the gloves & unzipping the collar of my all-weather outer shirt.

Other than my shin, I felt pretty good though.

Weekly Data Points

2009-11-23T00:21:00.000-08:00

For the data-heads!

Count: 4 Activities
Distance: 23.81 mi
Avg Distance: 5.95 mi
Time: 04:03:08 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:00:47 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,693 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Calories: 4,688 C
Median Distance: 5.58 mi
Max Distance: 7.50 mi
Median Time: 00:57:26 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:16:33 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 673 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 545 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,262 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,864 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 716 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 595 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,255 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.0 mph
Max Speed: 10.2 mph
Max Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 187 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 22nd Run (Week 21, Day 38)

2009-11-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 22nd Run (Week 21, Day 38)

Click the link above fro my run from this evening.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I ran on Sunday. We went out on K-town with some friends on Saturday after I got off work, so I had to push my long run to Sunday evening.

Was a good run today... 7.5 on the button. My shin is really sore when I start running and after running, but while I am on my run, it feels okay. I don't know what it is, guess I will have to look it up.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 19th Run (Week 21, Day 37)

2009-11-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 19th Run (Week 21, Day 37)

Just a "ho-hum" run today. Nothing exciting about it... a little slow. I guess that's the great thing about training for a marathon... no matter how bad a run is, there are usually several more to try for a good one! LOL!

On a side note, my shin feels a little better after icing it yesterday. Will ice again today and tomorrow before my long run Saturday.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 18th Run (Week 21, Day 36)

2009-11-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 18th Run (Week 21, Day 36)

Click the link above for my run from this morning!

Well, I'm glad it was my mid week run today. Mid week for me is morphing into a slightly longer run. I need it after last night too!

A friend from high school, Kara, was in town TDY to Ramstein for a training class. It's been since graduation in 1995 since I had seen her. I was excited to introduce her to my wife & daughter & just catch up on life events. We decided to hit this resturant in Ramstein Village calle The Big Emma.

The Big Emma is known for their portions! It's reputation was well earned too! I ordered the 1/2 Cheeseburger, and literally, the thing was the size of my head... and if you know me, you know that's pretty large! I ate maybe, MAYBE 1/3 of the burger, & the leftovers FILLED a togo box! It was humongous! I needed this run today to burn those calories! LOL! The snitzels were pretty large too!

Run was okay today... a little slow, but I managed. A little sore in my left shin. Guess I will start icing it with my compression wrap thing. Great invention!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 17th Run (Week 21, Day 35)

2009-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 17th Run (Week 21, Day 35)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning!

Okay, so I'm back on the horse! It feels good to be running my normal schedule of runs this week. It's definately been awhile, and I can tell you, once you stop running, everything you have built up goes away, REAL fast! I felt so slow this morning, but I nailed my goal pace, so that made this morning feel pretty good, not to mention I am going to get my truck this morning! It's not new, but new to me... LOL!

Weekly Data Points

2009-11-14T01:03:00.000-08:00

Here's this weeks unspectacular data.

Count: 2 Activities
Distance: 10.73 mi
Avg Distance: 5.37 mi
Time: 01:49:17 h:m:s
Avg Time: 00:54:38 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,757 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 160 bpm
Calories: 2,135 C
Median Distance: 5.37 mi
Max Distance: 6.04 mi
Median Time: 00:54:38 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:01:42 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 878 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 878 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,235 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,880 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 940 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 940 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,340 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 11.1 mph
Max Avg HR: 163 bpm
Max HR: 177 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 14th Run (Week 22, Day 34)

2009-11-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 14th Run (Week 22, Day 34)

LRD of 6 miles. It actually shows 6.04. I forgot to turn off the GPS after the 6 mile point, so it shows .04 of my cooldown walk!

Run went okay... both knees feel a little sore today, but not like last week. Legs are still tight during my runs... need to get them loosened back up. My morning runs next week should help get me fully back in the swing of things. I am back on to the 5-6-5 cycle during the week next week, and probably 7-7.5 on Saturday.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 12th Run (Week 22, Day 33)

2009-11-14T00:57:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 12th Run (Week 22, Day 33)

First run back after the knee issue. It felt okay I guess... my legs are definately yelling at me, trying to figure out why I am punishing them after 5 days of no running.

I kept it shorter than my normal run distance today to make sure my knee would hold up. It seemed to do okay. Back on the run cycle now, off on Friday, back on Saturday for a long run... this week is 6 miles.

Big Day Tomorrow

2009-11-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

Well, after a few days of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, & Elevate) of my knee... Throw in a handful of Ibuprofen for good measure... And my knee feels 100%. I wa going to run today, but after we got back from The military cemetery at Saint-Avold, France, and grabbed groceries, and it was already pretty late. I will be running tomorrow, then again on Saturday to get back on my schedule.

Thanks for those who sent me warm wishes & prayers.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oh No!

2009-11-09T01:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I went all weekend with just minor soreness after my long run on Saturday. This morning, at around 4am, I woke up in pain. My right knee is killing me. I hope it's just overuse and not a severe injury that will make me stop my training for too long. I got up and took some Advil and put on a patellar compression wrap and put my cold wrap in the freezer. Guess it's time to start the RICE cycle.

RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. This is the common method of dealing with overuse injuries. Maybe with a few days of RICE, I'll be back to my old self and running again. I will keep ya'll updated.

:(

Weekly Data Ponts

2009-11-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

Another week of review for all you data-heads out there!

Count: 4 Activities
Distance: 24.64 mi
Avg Distance: 6.16 mi
Time: 04:10:51 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:02:42 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 5,229 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Calories: 4,904 C
Median Distance: 5.64 mi
Max Distance: 8.22 mi
Median Time: 00:58:27 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:24:27 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,307 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 1,191 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 2,460 ft
Elevation Loss: 5,314 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,329 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 1,199 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 2,531 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.2 mph
Max Speed: 12.7 mph
Max Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 174 bpm

Man, that's alot!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 7th Run (Week 23, Day 32)

2009-11-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 7th Run (Week 23, Day 32)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Today was a special run. I participated in World Run Day, that I blogged about a couple weeks ago. Basically, World Run Day is an event that people can sign up for, and run either by themselves, or in a local group, to help raise money for the charity of your choice. Of course, I donated to Livestrong. I was only slated to run 6 miles for my World Run Day entry, but I wound up running 8.25. I was planning on doing around 7.5 miles today, but lost track of my mileage as I neared Horbach. At least I know I am capable of making it that far! LOL! Next week is a step back week. I cannot afford to lose track of my mileage next week. The step back weeks are designed to let your muscles repair the micro tears you put in them by extending your runs, and to give you body extra time to heal. It's expecting to run a long istance, so when you run a shorter distance, it seems easier to run longer the next time. I'll admit, it's been a few weeks since I did a step back week, so this will be a welcome change of pace. Not to mention, I have swing shifts next week at work, so I need to figure out what time I am going to run... I may just keep it the same though, just to stay in some sort of cycle.

I took Horbach, the next village past Linden, by storm this morning. A whole new batch of people staring at me wondering what this guy is doing, where are those weird sounds coming from, and why is he spraying our village with snot rockets! LOL! I made a loop around their church and back to Queidersbach. Sorry, I looked extensively through Google, and couldn't find 1 picture of Horbach, Germany. I did learn that there are 2, 1 is up near the Netherlands, and I did not run to there!

It was pretty chilly this morning when I started running, but my gear kept me warm enough once I started running. I had a head wind on the way out to Horbach, with a driving, misty rain the entire run. It rained pretty much every day this week over here. Made my autumn carpeted running trails a mushy mess!

I can definately tell the difference when I use the Jelly Belly Sport Beans! Man, it's crazy how much 15 jelly beans will feed your muscles. I know, they aren't exactly ordinary jelly beans, but I did read a few forum posts about someone who uses just your plain old jelly life savers. Makes me wonder!

Today was special for another reason. I am 1/4 of the way to Paris right now. That's a huge accomplishment for me. I still have a LONG way to go on the fundraising though, as I don't think I have gotten 1 donation! *sigh* Hopefully my band of friends will swoop in and save the day! Most of the folks I know are procrastonators anyway! Love you guys & gals though!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 5th Run (Week 23, Day 31)

2009-11-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 5th Run (Week 23, Day 31)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

Sorry for the late post, but I forgot to publish this blog! LOL! I'm scatter brained sometimes!

Nothing very remarkable about this run, other than I ran it about 12 hours after my last run! I think I felt a little of what "The Wall" feels like! I could literally feel my legs tightening up on every stride. I decided I'd better not run for pace, but run just to log the mileage. I still kept it respectable though!

Ready for 7+ on Saturday!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 4th Run (Wek 23, Day 30)

2009-11-04T11:18:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 4th Run (Wek 23, Day 30)

Click the link above for my run from this evening.

Man, what an eventful run tonight. I saw this break off from the trail on my run on Saturday, so I figured, since I am running with some sunlight, I'd try a new trail today. More on that in a second.

God decided it was time to start cleaning house today. It was some pretty gusty wind all morning here, so it blew a lot of the leaves off the trees during the storms. It was awesome, running with a perfetly laid, autumn colored carpet at my feet. This picture isn't of the trail I was running on, but it sure is a close approximation, though, the trail that I was running had a much plusher carpet of leaves, no tire tracks, and was 100 times more gorgeous than this picture. In fact, even if I went to take a picture of the trail tomorrow, I doubt a picture could do it justice. The experience was amazing! I do not deserve the blessings God gives me!

So, back to the trail I took today. It looked like it was another of the paved walking/bike trails around here that I normally run on. I get about 1/2 mile down the trial, and it turns in to Mississippi dual rut gavel road. If you don't know what they looks like, here's a good example. The bad thing about this is it collects the water. Since it rained this morning, and the leaves were falling, it made like the leafy, murky camoflauge for the puddles, or should I say lakes. My shoes are now soaked & muddy. That wasn't the worst part about the trail though.

This trail, about 1.5 miles out to where I turned around, was mostly uphill. It wound through the foothills around Queidersbach. If I would have kept running, it would have dropped me out on top of Queidersbach hill that I discussed in one of my earlier blogs. But even still, this wasn't the worst part about the trail.

Around the point where I turned around, there was what could only be described as a Nazi training camp! Big sand pit, plain metal monkey bars, the works. Nothing that really denoted it as a Nazi training camp, but it really looked like the same stuff you see on CNN when they show confiscated videos of Al Queda training camps! LOL! I'm sure it wasn't, but it was just out of no where. There were other runners on this trail, so I am positive it was safe.

I still won't be running this trail again. I'm a pavement pounder, not a root jumper. I prefer running on paved surfaces, no matter how bad they say it is on my knees. I figure, I'm running my marathon on paved road, I might as well put Coach Jim Sizemore's words to use, practice how you want to play boys!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 3rd Run (Week 23, Day 29)

2009-11-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 3rd Run (Week 23, Day 29)

Click the link for my run from tonight.

Great run! Relieved a lot of stress from my day today. It was a little cold, but I warmed up once I started running. It misted rain the entire time, but never really dumped on me, so that was good. My cold weather gear really does what it's supposed to!

Weekly Data Points

2009-11-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

For the Data-heads like me out there!

Count: 4 Activities

Distance: 23.75 mi *NOTE* 1/4 mile added due to GPS malfunction

Avg Distance: 5.88 mi

Time: 03:56:47 h:m:s

Avg Time: 00:59:11 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 2,597 ft

Avg Speed: 6.0 mph

Avg HR: 158 bpm

Calories: 4,409 C

Median Distance: 5.68 mi

Max Distance: 7.00 mi

Median Time: 00:58:07 h:m:s

Max Time: 01:09:55 h:m:s

Avg Elevation Gain: 649 ft

Median Elevation Gain: 647 ft

Max Elevation Gain: 825 ft

Elevation Loss: 2,809 ft

Avg Elevation Loss: 702 ft

Median Elevation Loss: 724 ft

Max Elevation Loss: 837 ft

Max Avg Speed: 6.1 mph

Max Speed: 20.9 mph

Max Avg HR: 161 bpm

Max HR: 175 bpm

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 31st Run (Week 24, Day 28)

2009-11-01T03:07:00.000-08:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 31st Run (Week 24, Day 28)

Click the link above for my run from yesterday.

Yesterday was a challenge. Not for the run, yeah, my legs were tight after the run and stuff being as it was my LRD, but it was a challenge mainly because I had to work. I have to be at work at 0545. Yeah, way to early. That's normally the time I am heading out the door to get running! If I want to run before my day shifts, I figure I need to get up around 0300. Being as I don't usually get in to bed until around 2200, 5 hours of sleep just won't cut it! So, I had to run when I got in from work.

Something about it just zapped my energy. My back & legs were tight while I was running, and I just generally wasn't interested in the run. Oh well, hopefully they will get better as since I have almost gotten my Watch Supervisor rating in the tower here at Ramstein, I'm sure I'll be pulling more of these shifts. I will probably just have to take my gear & run on base like I did before I started training for the marathon. Maybe the change of scenery will do me some good! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 29th Run (Week 24, Day 27)

2009-10-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 29th Run (Week 24, Day 27)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Well, so far, so good. I sent an email to Garmin Customer Support last night with a link to my run. The guy contacted me pretty quickly with a solution. I had to reset my GPS as it had gotten some bad satellite information that the unit stores to make the connection to the satellites faster. That's what I got from the techno jargon he sent back! LOL! Anyway, seemed to work fine today, so I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

Construction on the running/bike trail that runs along the north side of Quiedersbach is forcing me to alter my route back home. Soon, it will probably force me to have to run on a different trail. I'll probably hit the trail that leads to Gelterswoog Lake (pronounced Gell-ters-voog) in the vicinity of the village of Hohenecken (pronounced Hoe-neck-en), which sounds very dirty! That trail is very hilly, but will be a good change of pace. Pretty straight, but it does cross the main street (Barbarossastrasse) a few time on the way out & again on the way back. I don't really like that, as it's pretty dark & we are entering fog season over here.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 28th Run (Week 24, Day 26)

2009-10-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 28th Run (Week 24, Day 26)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Okay, so I was in total disbelief when I finished my run today. I decided I needed to start doing what I am supposed to be doing & running a longer midweek run. I figured since I had ran over 5 miles yesterday, I would run 6 today, and get on a 5-6-5-Long Run type pattern. I finished my run right at an hour & I know I did around 6.08 miles because it was the same run I did a couple Saturdays ago. To my dismay, my GPS said I ran 5.7ish miles! What, a whole 1/4 mile short? how'd that happen.

I uploaded the data from my device & took a look. The time is correct, 1:00:04. Awesome, so I was either WAY slow today, or right at my goal pace. So, I look at the map. There is a straight line on the way out of Queidersbach, almost all the way to Linden! The GPS dropped signal for some reason. The part that's kind of making me mad about the whole ordeal, the device seemed to just go into a frozen mode for awhile. I doubt my heart rate is right, or the elevation as they don't look like they should from my previous trends. Looks like I'll be forwarding this link to Garmin customer service today! Hope my GPS isn't going out! Grrrrrr!

Back of the Packers

2009-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

I found an amazing blog tonight that talked about slow runners like me. I know, some of ya'll are probably thinking I am doing pretty well. Yes, I am shooting for a goal pace of 10 minutes per mile during the marathon, but 26.2 miles is a forever long way!

I would love to be able to put up a 10:00/mile pace for 26.2 miles. If I could do that, I would truely be amazed at my progress & know that God gave me wings to fly the marathon! I am realistically shooting for 10:00.mile for maybe the first 13 miles. After that, I expect quite a bit of taper on my per mile pace. The glory of this is, no matter how fast or slow I run the Paris Marathon, there are a couple guarantees:

1 - I just ran my first marathon... I set a personal record.

2 - If ya'll help, WE will have raised a good chunk of change for cancer research

3 - I can cross this off my list of things I want to do before I die

After trying to do a Google search to find out why when I feel slow I am actually running faster & vice versa, I stumbled across this guy's blog. His name is Jason, and he is a definate motivator for me know!

See, Jason was like me. He was fat & felt fat. He did what he had to do to lose the weight. Jason's now a lunatic who runs ultramarathons... distances of more than 26.2 miles. He ran 12 marathons in a year! That blows me away! New goal for me? LOL!

Anywho, I found a blog on his page that talked about "back of the packers" or people who run slow marathons. I will probably be in that category at Paris, so the story piqued my attention. The article was about a debate that these slow runners aren't really running a marathon cause they aren't pushing themselves. I equate this to running a marathon with an iPod.

See, alot of marathons are outlawing iPods, claiming that the mental portion is part of the challenge of the marathon. I say, you are the challenge of the marathon. Whatever you need to get you through the long hours of running, the sore muscles, and the mental challeges you face while preparing & running a marathon is what you should be doing! A marathon is not a mythical beast to be conquered, but rather a milestone in someone's life.

Check out Jason's blog & really check out the article about the "back of the packers" by clicking HERE. Show Jason some love while you're there too!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 27th Run (Week 24, Day 25)

2009-10-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 27th Run (Week 24, Day 25)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

HALLELUJA! No more cold runs for me! My Under Armour finally came in yesterday! I now mave my ClodGear Tights, Mock Turtle Neck & Hat, got a free pair of gloves to boot! Woo hoo! Today I ran in it. Felt nice. A little warm since it wasn't as cold out as it has been, or maybe it was as cold, I just couldn't tell it! LOL!

Run was pretty good this morning, felt slow, but was faster than I have been in a week! Hmmm... I am seeing a trend here. When I feel slow, I am actually fast. When I feel fast, I am utterly slow. Weird. Anyone out there know why that is? I guess I have new material to look up on The Grid tonight!

Have a good one folks, celebrating the gifts God has given you!

Wanna Join Me?

2009-10-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Running, while mostly a solitary, competitive event, has long been known for joining groups of people together who share the common intrest of running. Be it for health, raising money, or for out right competition, running has been bringing people together for years.

I am not a competitive runner... anyone who has seen... well, heard me... clomp & clammor out of Queidersbach & back (that's you Luigi!), shooting snot rockets & sweating worse than any celebrity paired to be on stage at the same time as Kanye West! I guess I fall into the solo category for neccessity right now. I can't carry on a conversation long while I run as I still huff & puff quite a bit while I run, but I can see me becoming more of a social runner.

Any search of the interweb will probably yield a runners club in or around your city. If not, there are some that are strictly online, but I think they are more along the lines of the more serious runners, some, like the Marathon Maniacs, actually require you to show proof that you have run several marathons and other criteria. I'm not there yet, but I will reserve the right to join the Maniacs, based on how I feel after Paris! LOL!

To keep things new on my trail to Paris, I am signing up for 5k & other events. My first event is November 9th, 2009. I will be running a 6 miler (10k) for charity... yes, Livestrong. The event I will be running is called World Run Day.

World Run Day was founded in 1999 by Long Island Runner Bill McDermott. World Run Day is intended to promote the sport of running and charitable giving on one special day each year. Starting with just 100 runners worldwide, runners connected and impacted their communities in a positive way. As a result, World Run Day was the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths, nationalities, and benefited their favorite charities. Soon group events formed in different cities such as World Run Day - Philadelphia, World Run Day - London, World Run Day - Sydney, etc. (even "World Run Day - Afghanistan" was celebrated during wartime). The event was designed to allow every runner, whether with a group or running individually, to be a part of the day. You can find out more about World Run Day & the events in your area, by visiting their website HERE.

While there, sign up to run with me on November 8th, even if we can't run in the same place, at least we can be running for the same event! If you can't run, why don't you drop on by my Livestrong Donation site & make a donation to help those who are in the race for their life against cancer. You can find my Donation site below.

Weekly Data Points

2009-10-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

For the Data-heads:

Count: 4 Activities

Distance: 20.78 mi
Avg Distance: 5.20 mi
Time: 03:29:23 h:m:s
Avg Time: 00:52:20 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,788 ft
Avg Speed: 6.0 mph
Avg HR: 160 bpm
Calories: 3,956 C
Median Distance: 5.47 mi
Max Distance: 6.33 mi
Median Time: 00:54:39 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:03:26 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 697 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 699 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,134 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,846 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 712 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 732 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,093 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.0 mph
Max Speed: 11.0 mph
Max Avg HR: 162 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm

Not bad for a weeks work! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 24th Run (Week 25, Day 24)

2009-10-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 24th Run (Week 25, Day 24)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Well, I was shooting for 7 miles today, but my body told me to turn around and start back home. Nothing like a sick kid at home to demotivate you to run... especially when she sleeps in your bed the night before a long run and plants her foot in your neck! Poor little girl is pretty bad off with being sick right now... hopefully it will pass soon.

1 second off my goal pace of 10:00/mile, but I'll take that any day of the week! LOL!

Lets Talk About Nipples

2009-10-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

First of all, you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking like that! This is a runner's blog, not a pornographic website! Now that the reprimand is out of the way, imagine if you will, you are running and all of a sudden, you feel a burning sensation on your chest in your nipple area. It progressively worsens and the next time you look down and you see red spots on your shirt. By the end of your run, you look like this! It's chafing & that's not my bag baby!

As I discussed in a previous blog, cotton is the worst material you can run in. Moisture + cotton = friction. Friction + skin = chafing! Not a fun equation, and bloody nipples do not make for a great finish line picture! Bloody nipples are a real issue in the running world, but it is avoidable.

There are several ways to help prevent the dreaded bloody nipples. High tech & low tech methods are out there, and hopefully I can shed some light on these for you, but first, a personal story.

Hello, my name is Chris, and I suffered from chronicly chafed nipples. Not just as a runner, but even before. My wife used to joke around and say she was going to buy me some "pasties." These are basically stickers that are made for women when they wear evening wear when they cannot wear bras. They are supposed to prevent accidental exposure by keeping those areas covered.

I'm sure these would help, but they are about 2" across. WAY more than I need to cover. LOL! So, when I started running heavily in Korea, I had to find something as I would come in from the gym and have the dreaded blood spots on my shirts. I asked a few friends what I should do... some of them ran track and stuff in high school, so hopefully they would have something for me. The most I got was to try wrapping an ACE bandage around my chest before I ran every day. Not really as easy as I'd like. Yes, I'm lazy!

So, I went to the BX on base to try to figure out what I could do. I was looking for pasties to be honest, but they didn't have any, but I did find some waterproof tape that I figured I'd try out. So, basically, what I do everyday before I go on my run is cover each nipple with a small piece of waterproof tape, and it prevents the rubbing by my sweat soaked shirt. This is probably the lowest tech method you could try. This works surprisingly well. What I did learn though, don't just pull the tape off as soon as you get finished! OUCH! Wait until you are in the shower & use the heat & from the water to help ease the removal!

Obviously, one of the higher tech methods is the use of Technical Shirts. These shirts, like Under Armour, are made of moisture wicking material that transports the sweat from your skin, to the exterior of the shirt for rapid evaporation. In fact, I use the Under Armour Technical Shirt, I prefer the compression gear, and the tape methods together. I have yet to get bloody nipples after I started this practice. Under Armour, while not the cheapest, is one of the better brands that I have seen talked about in the forums. Several companies make "hydrophobic" Technical Shirts, even some that are really cheap & considered generic. It's all about what works for you as a runner.

The last method I will cover is what I would call a medium tech method. It's called Body Glide. Body Glide is a deodorant stick type balm material. You can put this on your skin before runs and it helps prevent chafing & blisters. Now, I'm not exactly sure what this stuff is made of, but according to their website, this deodorant type stick is rubbed on before you begin your exercise and it penetrates the skin and and creates an invisible, comfortable barrier against friction and moisture - without clogging pores or trapping perspiration; feels ‘dry’ to the touch. Check out their website HERE. I bought a 2 pack as they were on sale on Amazon.com a month or so ago. I have tried it on a spot on my heel and it prevented a blister from getting any worse. It was dry to the touch, so I can say that that part is a true statement. I haven't gotten much past 6 miles on my runs, and I think this is probably what it is designed for, so I will follow-up after I try it.

I equate this to seeing a movie about Steve Prefontaine, one of the greatest runners in history, where before a run he used a stick of deodorant under his arms, then used the same deodorant stick on his inner thighs. It was kind of gross when you think about it, but using deodorant is not all that uncommon. According to Madetorun.com, using deodorant when you are out of whatever type of runner's glide product you are using, is not only acceptable, but encouraged by their staff. As they put it,

Personally I’d rather my nipples be fresh and non-odorous than chafed and bleeding!

I tend to agree... no matter if it's your first or 100th marathon finish, bloody nipples are no way to celebrate! By the way, Steve Prefontaine has the most pimp-tastic mustache & sideburns I have EVER seen!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 22nd Run (Week 25, Day 23)

2009-10-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 22nd Run (Week 25, Day 23)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Pretty okay run... a little faster than yesterday, but still off my goal pace... by 3 seconds, so I can't really complain about that! LOL!

If anyone knows someone in Paris, or near the Paris area, I'd like to speak with them. Please let me know!

John Bingham is My Hommie!

2009-10-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

You're probably not familiar with John Bingham. I just met him tonight... well, met is probably the wrong word. He writes for Runners World magazine, and I just read the best little article I think I have read in a long time! I had to jump on here & share it! By the way, meet Mr. Bingham! --------------->

All of the following is from his article, and I claim NO credit for it's awesomness!

Rising to the Challenge
A Marathon is a test of strength that can take you to new heights

By John Bingham

John Bryant's riveting book "The Marathon Makers" recounts the story of the 1908 London Olympics - the first time the marathon was officially 26 miles, 385 yards - when the race leader, Dorando Pietri, stumbled five times in the stadium and was carried across the finish line. When I met Bryant last year - where else? - a marathon expo, I asked him why, 100 years after the first 26.2-mile marathon, the distance is so popular with runners of all speeds.

"It has become the great urban Everest," Bryant said. Like Everest, the marathon stands as a challenge to all who confront it. The difference, as Bryant points out, is that completing a marathon is both "conceivable & achievable" for all runners.

Conceivable & achievable. At some point in most of our lives we develop a long list of goals & dreams we'd like to accomplish. Eventually, those of us with modest talent end up dismissing the vast majority of these aspirations because we realize how improbable they really are.

I've watched hundreds of hours of film about climbing Everest and yet I still can't conceive of doing it myself. Not that I lack ambition or suffer from a terminal case of low self-esteem. It's just that I know that my physical & emotional limits would keep me from trying.

But the marathon was different. Years ago, when I was just starting to run, I met someone who had just finished a marathon. What surprised me was that they he didn't seem all that different from me. I though, Well, if he can do it, so can I.

And thanks to all the training programs & running clubs & coaches out there today, plenty of resources can help aspiring marathoners achieve their own goals. Every year hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, shapes, speeds, and backgrounds make their way over 26.2 miles in races large & small.

The marathon wasn't always such a welcoming event. In 1908, the myth of Pheidippides, who ran the first marathon in ancient Greece and then promptly dropped dead, still kept men from competing in the race. Just a generation ago the ignorance of men who organized marathons kept women away. But then our culture started to gradually change - and running evolved with it. People of strength & character started breaking down doors of discrimination. People like Katherine Switzer, who in 1967 became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon with a bib number, made the marathon both a conceivable & achievable goal for runners everywhere.

And so the marathon has become the great urban Everest that Bryant describes. It's a challenge that's open to everyone. Young or old, fast or slow, all you need is the desire to test yourself, to push your limits. Succeeding ath this challenge - wether it's your first or 50th marathon - can be one of the highest points in your life, a place from which you can look down on all that you've accomplished.

That pont may be at sea level instead of 29,000 feet, but it is a view that cannot be matched.

Waddle on, friends.

I couldn't have said it better myself! John Bingham just bled awesomness from his pen... or keyboard! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 21st Run (Week 25, Day 22)

2009-10-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 21st Run (Week 25, Day 22)

Click the above link for my run from this morning.

DISAPPONTMENT! That's what sums up today! I woke up when the alarm went off, but didn't get out of bed. Instead of snoozing, I shut it off! Grrr! I woke up when I realized I had been in bed for a long time since the alarm went off, and it was 6:51... the time I am usually starting to run. So, needless to say I got a late start.

I decided to fallback on my running a little this morning, which is something I should be doing every 2-3 weeks to let my body recover & build up. Yeah, disappontment here too, as I was well off my 10:00/mile pace.

I guess the good thing is, I still have 25 weeks to get over it!

Hydrate or Die

2009-10-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

Oh glorious combination of 1 part hydrogen & 2 parts oxygen! What is it about this special combination that we cannot live without?

One of the most important aspects of marathon training is hydration. I mean, our bodies are roughly 70% water. We must constantly replinish this amount. We get small amounts through the food we eat, but the majority comes from a tap/bottle. Literally, we must replinish this supply of water in our bodies or we will die.

Dehydration is the result of the bodies loss of water. The effects of dehydration are noticable with as little as 2% water loss. a loss of 15% of water is fatal. When you are running distances, it's extremely important to replinish the water that is lost throughout your run, not just when you are finished.

What complicates this issue is the fact that you can drink too little, or too much during your distance runs. Hyponatremia ( low blood salt level due to abnormal fluid retention from overdrinking) and dehydration (due to net fluid losses from under drinking) are conditions easily adverted by understanding your individual body needs. I found a little chart today that kind of sums up what one needs to do during their runs, here's what I need:

I am running about 9-10 minutes/mile

So I need to intake approximately 24 oz / hour

Okay, so I know how much I need to take in now. The big thing is that during my marathon, there will be water/aid stations every 5km... that's 3ish miles for us Americans! That, I can manage. The problem comes when I am running the roads during my training. What I found, was a nice little piece of gear from a company called Nathan Hydration. This belt holds 40oz of water, or sports drink, and it is equally distributed around your waist. It also has 2 poskets. A large pocket for energy gels and a smaller one for money or keys or whatever. The bottles are a strong, but flimsy plastic that allows for a good squeeze to get the water you need, as fast or as slow as you'd like.

One of the biggest things I am worrying about is taking water on the move during my marathon. Many of the articles that I have read about drinking while running state that it's not adviseable for beginners. Mostly due to it being a choking hazard. What many experts advise is that youwalk through the aid stations while you drink your water. This will allow you to get all of your hydration, while at the same time, catching your breath. There is also a safety issue to consider.

In the Rock & Roll San Diego Marathon, there are just over 16,000 runners. Now, the Paris on the other hand, has around 40,000 places. This is the view of one of the water stations during the San Diego. As you can see, the cups are littering the ground. Wet cups on hard surfaces create pretty treacherous footing. With a larger portion of the Paris being on cobblestoned streets, I need to make sure I don't turn an ankle, or worse.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 20th Run (Week 25, Day 21)

2009-10-19T22:20:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 20th Run (Week 25, Day 21)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Yep, another cold one, & more capillary response, this time on my stomach... still itching too! Wow!

Run was average today, still in the new moon phase, so several parts of my run, maily the parts through the trees, were very dark, but the open stretches were pretty beautiful with all the stars again. It really helps keep me motivated to see things like this.

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Pictures

2009-10-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that I uploaded a few pictures of my father, John Solomon, who is one of the people I am running in memory of. Thanks to my Aunt Willie, I now have 2 pictures of my father that I, nor my brother, had ever seen before, inicluding one of his Purple Heart Ceremony! The red hued one we had seen, but I have no idea where my tattered copy of it is at... surely in a box of pictures still packed up downstairs!

If you'd like to see the pictures, it's the post titled "In Memory Part 1". It's also tagged "Memory". Or, you can just click HERE!

Data Points

2009-10-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

For all you Data-heads out there... if you're like me, you eat this stuff up... here is what my Forerunner says I have done since September 13th, which was zero day of my marathon training:

Sep 13, 2009 - Oct 17, 2009

Count: 21 Activities

Distance: 87.58 mi

Avg Distance: 4.17 mi

Time: 14:20:44 h:m:s

Avg Time: 00:40:59 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 16,369 ft

Avg Speed: 6.1 mph

Avg HR: 161 bpm

Calories: 17,223 C

Median Distance: 4.26 mi

Max Distance: 6.08 mi

Median Time: 00:41:54 h:m:s

Max Time: 01:00:20 h:m:s

Avg Elevation Gain: 779 ft

Median Elevation Gain: 747 ft

Max Elevation Gain: 1,873 ft

Elevation Loss: 17,489 ft

Avg Elevation Loss: 833 ft

Median Elevation Loss: 790 ft

Max Elevation Loss: 1,881 ft

Max Avg Speed: 6.3 mph

Max Speed: 53.5 mph

Max Avg HR: 168 bpm

Max HR: 182 bpm

Pretty awesome stuff that a fat man is able to do this! The stat that got me was 17,233 calories burned... okay, yeah, 87.58 miles in 21 run sessions is pretty impressive to me too! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 17th Run (Week 26, Day 20)

2009-10-17T01:30:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 17th Run (Week 26, Day 20)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

This was my LRD of the week. I never knew 6 miles was so far! LOL! I hit just under my goal pace of 10:00 per mile. I got 9:55 per mile... as long as I hit my goals! LOL!

The fair is set up in Queidersbach today... was still too early for folks to be out & about when I set out on my run this morning, so no funny looks. I did notice that I pass this man on my Saturday runs. He looks a little like an older version of Luigi from Super Mario Brothers! He always looks at me like he is wondering what I am doing... maybe he's just in shock cause he's never heard 1 person sound like a herd of stampeding buffalo when they run!

Anyway, decent run this morning. Wasn't too cold. My gear kept me comfortable since I got some runners thermal underwear to run in until I can get me some tights!

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Exercise Allergy?!?!

2009-10-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my first real run where it was cold. Man, why did I choose Germany to begin preparing for a marathon, much less Germany across the winter? Along with the cold weather comes some extra preparation, clothing and such, but also, a whole other bag of issues that I have to watch out for.

Frost bite/Frost Nip are my primary concern during this portion of my training. I will, hopefully, be getting some gear soon to help alleviate some of this issue, but I am still concerned about it. The best defense against these enemies, when you know you have to be out in the weather, is to layer & cover.

You must layer to perserve warmth, but you must choose your layers wisely, as with running in layers, you are prone to overheating. Overheating could be just as bad, if not worse than frost bite/frost nip. Overheating & having a heat stroke while miles away from home on a cold, deserted trail at 4am is probably not a recipe for a succcessful life, much less a successful marathon! I have been reading a lot about layering over the past couple weeks. Under Armour has a layering system that I have been looking at that will do just fine!

Slips & falls on the ice are my next concern. I am doing everything I can, even giving up on playing intramural football for my squadron this year, to avoid injuries. If you know me, you know I love playing football, so this is an amazing thing in itself. This area of Germany, historically, gets about 15-21 days of snowfall each year. I'm sure though, after talking to lots of people I work with, we get tons of ice. Running outside, I am sure I will run into ice patches. This is going to be new to me. I'm not real sure how I will handle the ice issue, other than I will just have to see how it goes. I will definately need to get a headlight for running during the winter, as it will get dark very early here. From what I have heard, I can expect it to be dark at 5pm during the middle of the winter. Without a light, I won't be able to see the ice to try to avoid it.

I'm sure by now ya'll are asking yourselves, "Chris, what does this have to do with the title of your blog?" Here we go. Tuesday, as I said, was my first real cold weather run. I got back and got into a luke warm shower, as I normally do. I knew I was cold, since by the time the water ran from my head, down to my legs, the water was icy on my calves. I thought it was just that my legs were cold, but I knew my hands were no longer cold, as I was feeling warm on them from the shower head. I reached down & felt the water that was on the floor of the shower, and it was ice cold too. That's when I noticed something that kind of startled me.

My thighs had turned bright red and were itching like crazy. I didn't know what was going on, I just knew it was itching badly. I thought that maybe I had brushed up against something on the running trail with my hands and was having some sort of allergic reaction. Then, as abrubtly as the itching came on, it stopped. The redness was still there though. I asked a fellow runner I work with, but he had never experienced anything like this. So, as I always do, off to the net I surfed.

I was searching the Runner's World forums and found this explanation, which I am sure my medical background folks have already figured out:

"The itching is not on the skin, it's inside the actual limbs. There are millions of tiny capillaries and arteries inside our muscles which expand rapidly due to the demand for more blood that is brought on by exercise. When warm, these capillaries remain open allowing maximum blood passage, but when cold they tend to collapse, allowing only minimal blood passage. The rapid expansion of these vessels from warm water or rapid warming causes adjacent nerves to send impulses back to the brain which are interpreted as an itch. The body actually confuses the brain during cold weather activity as the extremely cold on the skin tricks the brain into thinking the muscles are cold, therefore shrinking the capillary ends to preserve blood warmth. So, even though the muscles are warm, the skin being cold keeps the capillaries closed"

So, that explained my issue, which, if I remember correctly, was referred to as "capillary response" in the forums. I did run across a rather interesting bit of information though, and yes, I verified it through medical websites too!

One poster was describing that while going through a class of Epi Pens, a pen type device that delivers medicine to people in anaphylactic shock due to food allergies, bee stings, and various other issues, the instructor brought up the fact that some people can go into anaphylaxis during exercise. WHAT!?!?! You can actually be allergic to exercise! I couldn't believe it! I'm sure the military would NEVER accept this as an excuse... LOL! I would usually never add a link to an About.com website, but this just puts it in such layman's terms. I was able to understand this alot better than the actual medical sites that love to use medical jargon. Click HERE to read about Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 15th Run (Week 26, Day 19)

2009-10-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 15th Run (Week 26, Day 19)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

Not much to say about this morning, other than it was a new moon, so it was VERY dark this morning.

Additionally, it was 23 degrees when I started my run... even though I am in Europe, I mean it was 23 degrees Farenheit, not Celcius! Yes, it was cold. I think the sweat on the bill of my cap had ice chunks on it!

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Getting Armoured Up to Run

2009-10-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've been talking a lot lately about how the Base Exchange(BX) (our version of a department store that is located on most military installations, also called AAFES) hasn't had what I have needed for my running gear since they opened this new, multi-million dollar store. When they had 2 stores, they always seemed to have what I needed. Now that they are down to one store, they have yet to have some gear that I need for my cold weather runs. So, I guess I will cover a little bit of my gear.

I am an Under Armour kind of guy. A lot of runners give Under Armour mixed reviews.

I think it's some of the best stuff ever made, but then again, my experience as a runner is limited here. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past several years, Under Armour is a brand name for a form fitting, moisture wicking, apparel company. Their gear was originally designed to be worn under football shoulder pads to help regulate the players body temperature, as shoulder pad don't breathe very well. The material carries moisture, sweat, from the body, to the outer surface of the garment, allowing for speedy evaporation & body cooling.

Under Armour comes in 3 varieties, Heat Gear, All Season, & Cold Gear. Pretty simple, Heat Gear for when it's hot, Cold Gear for when it's cold & All Season for the in between times. You can also choose Compression or Loose. Compression is designed to be very form fitting. By very form fitting, I mean you can count someone stretch marks through the stuff if they don't have anything on top of the compression item. Compression has some extra benefits too. It helps hold heat to the body to keep the muscles warm, which reduces the chances of muscle pulls & strains. Additionally, it adds a slight bit of extra support, though not much, to the muscles.

I like Under Armour because they cater to the military. They have a dedicated line called Under Armour Tactical, that was designed to meet military specs, so we can wear it with our uniforms, even while in the desert war zones.

Currently, I run in Heat Gear Compression shorts & short sleeve shirt. These work great as a base layer as they can be hand washed and dry over night hanging in my shower... really helps keep the stink down, which I'm sure my wife appreciates!

Over this I wear a pair of Heat Gear Loose Shorts & an All Season Transit 1/4 Zip in Yellow. It's a nice bright color so cars can see me & it was the only long sleeve they had at the BX!

Finally, I top it all off with the Escape Runners Hat to reduce the heat lost through my scalp & to catch my head sweat!

I will be adding to my kit shortly, with some Cold Gear tights, Cold Gear Compression Mock Turtle Neck & Cold Gear Gloves... maybe even a Cold Gear hat of some sort. I think I am going to need is since the tempeartures are plummeting over here!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 14th Run (Week 26, Day 18)

2009-10-13T21:20:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 14th Run (Week 26, Day 18)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

It's amazing that even though God knows all the things I have done in the past, he still chooses to amaze & bless me!

Thanks to Maria, I realized I had to work a different shift today. So, I had to get up at 0400 to go run. I did not want to get up or go run this morning. It was around 31 degrees out when I went out to stretch. I was dreading this.

Out of Queidersbach I ran. Making pretty good time too for a mid week run, which seem to be my slower runs of the week. I get out on to the running trail that goes through the woods. It's dark and COLD! Then I look up.

Star dust! I can't tell you how long it's been since I have seen star dust. For those city folk who don't have any idea what I am refering to, it's when it's so dark that your eyes get the light from so many stars that it looks like the dark areas of the sky between the brighter stars are filed with a powdery white dust... hence, star dust! It's an amazing creation by God!

My run wasn't too bad either, though I was on the ragged edge of cold the entire time... I sure hope the BX gets some Under Armour Cold Gear soon!

Get out there & take the time to see the wonderous creation God has made! You may even see the one thing he put out there today, just for you, like I did this morning!

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Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 13th Run (Week 26, Day 17)

2009-10-13T00:13:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 13th Run (Week 26, Day 17)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

So, usually, after making my round through Linden, my route back in to Queidersbach mirrors the route I took out. This morning, I decided to continue on the running trial through the backside of Queidersbach.

I knew it was going to be longer than I had planned on running, but I felt pretty good on my run this morning, besides having to stop because I thought I was going to vomit from not being able to clear my throat... yes, snot tried to go down the wrong pipe & almost choked me out! I have to figure out how I did this as a kid!

Pretty uneventful run today, other than being cold most of the time... I wish our brand new, state o the art, multi million dollar Base Exchange would ralize that thier primary customers are male (sorry ladies... it's still a man dominated military) and carry more Under Armour. They had, literally, tons of the stuff when they were split into 2 BX's. Now that they are 1, it's all short sleeved stuff, but the ladies Under Armour section grew 3 fold! Crazy!

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Be Seen or Be Dead

2009-10-10T23:49:00.000-07:00

Inherantly, when you are running the distances that are required for marathon training, you will be running in the dark. Not to mention, running laps around a 1/4 mile track is not my idea of fun. I get sick on rides that go around in tight circles! So, I am looking at the challenge of running in both daylight & darkness, on roads and sidewalks. These are not my areas. Well, at least the road is not my area. That belongs to the cars; therefore, I leave it to them as much as I possibly can. I have come up with a few simple rules... no, I didn't come up with them all on my own, but if you are going to be street running, you might want to consider these:

- Always run against the flow traffic... you want to see what is coming at you so you can jump out of the way if needed

- Just cause you are on the sidewalk, doesn't mean you're safe... keep your head on a swivel

- Face planting into the mud diving out of the way of a car is better than death... it's bigger than you, so the law of gross tonage applies

- If you wear an iPod, and must wear it while on the road, the traffic side ear bud must come out... you can't avoid what you cannot hear (Just read an article about hybrid cars being the runners silent killer)

- Be seen... if you can do anything to be seen, do it! This includes waving, wearing bright colors, reflective clothing

- Always tell someone where you are running... leave a note or something describing the route & time expected to return, that way, in case the horrible happens, people know where to find you

- Wear your allergies, name & contact number... the emergency service folks don't know what you do if you are unconscious. Help them, help you!

That was painless, hopefully. I want to expound on a couple of these though.

Clothing choice is pivitol when running, not only for body temperature regulation, but for safety. Here is how I look when I run during the day. I choose colors that drivers can't help but see. This is an Under Armour Steeltown Gold long sleeve (sleeves are pulled up right now) shirt. You can almost HEAR me coming when I wear this thing!

I will still wave at vehicles, bicycleists, etc when they are coming toward me while I am running. I want to make sure they see me & avoid me. It's not the runner who should have to be avoiding a vehicle, it SHOULD be the vehicle avoiding the runner in my opinion. I do my best about not running on the road, unless I encounter one of the elderly folks walking around our village on the sidewalk. I will immediately get out of their way... it's not only respectful, it's also for their safety. I don't want them to try to move out of my way and slip & fall. I would feel horrible if I caused an elderly person to break a hip or something!

This is how I want to look when I run before daylight. Yeah, I know, it's not a runner, but I want to look just like this when I run! My typical kit when I run at night is not much different than what I wear during the day right now. My hat has reflective material on it. My shirt & shorts have reflective material on them. My shoes have reflective material on them. The biggest change right now, is I wear a 3M reflective safety belt. This is basically just a reflective strip of plastic that wraps around my waist & velcros. I really need to order a runners headlight. I also have seen a flashing red safety light that clips to your back or fastens to your hat band in the back so vehicles approaching from behind see you. One of the tools I use right now is my iPod.

I have the iPod touch that I run with. I downloaded an application for it called iFlashlight. It was free and just displays a white screen on the iPod. If I am being approached by a car, I will unlock my iPod and shine the "flashlight" at them. It seems to get their attention, but it doesn't do much for me by helping me see the uneven German roads! LOL!

The last one I want to touch on is the identification. There are several ideas for making sure EMS workers have vital information about you. I am allergic to penecillin, which is one of the most common antibiotics. To avoid them giving me this antibiotic, I had a set of dogtags made. I laced one into my shoe and the other I carry in my iPod armband. It shows the EMS my name, emergency contact phone number, and allergies. I found a company in the last copy of Runners World magazine called Road ID. Click HERE for their website. This is a nice form factor for an ID band. They also have one that has a code on it that the EMS workers can access via the Road ID website and get even more info about you. I think my dogtags work fine though and were only $5.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 10th Run (Week 27, Day 16)

2009-10-10T01:52:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 10th Run (Week 27, Day 16)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

I awoke to the rain pounding on the beroom window. I guess these will probably be some of my harder runs. I literally had to make myself go out the door. I am glad I did though, as it was a beautiful run, even got to see some deer feeding in an area along my route that I call the Deep Field. It's was cool as I was running, seeing the deer, listening to some Casting Crowns & feeling the rain on my face.

Note to self, running through mud puddles is not as fun as it was when I was a kid though!

I ran out of running road (aka sidewalk or bike trail) on the way toward Krickenbach, so looks like I won't be turning there anymore. Will be traveling straight through Linden now. I may run toward Krikenbach when I want to do some hill training, cause it's a steady uphill jaunt of about 1/4 mile!

Maria took a few shots of me as I was running out & again running back into Queidersbach this morning & I will post those in an upcoming blog.

This was my LRD of the week. For all you data hounds out there, here is the stats thus far in my training:

Scheduled for Week 4 - 10.5 miles
Actual for Week 4 - 18.28 miles @ 3:01:20 for time.

Overall Through 4 Weeks
Scheduled - 38 miles
Actual - 65.91 miles @ 10:47:34 for time.

AWESOME!

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Of Gu, Glycogen & You

2009-10-10T00:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, weird title. I will clarify if you just keep reading, and it may actually benefit some of you one day.

I’m a science freak. I loved it all throughout school, and if you put science into a subject that I think is useless & boring, I will get totally into it! I guess that’s why I love the show Good Eats with Alton Brown. The way he mixes science into cooking keeps me intrigued, even if Maria can’t stand it! I think she’d like the show if Alton Brown wasn’t the star of it, but that’s another story.

Good Eats, for those who have not had the opportunity, nay the honor, of seeing it, not only teaches you how to cook certain foods or dishes, but it mixes in some history of the item, some science about why you should use one pan or the other, or why you should use egg whites as opposed to whole eggs, etc. It’s not just TV shows that draw me in with science though… have you not been following my blog thus far?

This marathon training has really got me looking into the science of the human body. More so than ever before, science is playing a huge role in distance running. Take a look at how shoes have changed. We’ve seen air filled shoes, shoes with pumps, bungee cord strings, round strings, flat strings, gel inserts, lighter shoes, mesh, “hydrophobic” materials, and the list goes on & on. I mean, did you read my blog about a $50 pair of socks! And the technological advancements with GPS’s, heart rate monitors, winter training gear, it’s easy to see that great strides are being made in the sport. Even strides aimed at the insides of our bodies are being made.

Glycogen is a molecule that is made by the liver & muscles from the carbohydrates we take in. It is the fuel for our muscles. The glycogen is stored in the muscles & in the liver, though the glycogen in the muscles is what we are going to be focusing on.

Glycogen is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It burns very rapidly, but pretty efficiently. It’s right there at the muscles, so the muscles use these stores first. Fat, on the other hand, is like throwing wet wood on a fire. The fire will eventually dry the wood, and it will burn, but it takes awhile for it to really get going. For runners, and other active sports, the body will burn the glycogen, then revert to trying to burn fat.

A runner can store about 2000 calories worth of glycogen in their bodies. Depending on the rate of burn, the glycogen stores of said runner will be depleted around 18-20 miles. If you’ve read anything about marathon running before, 18-20 miles is what is known as the wall. This is the point that the runner reaches where it feels like their muscles just cannot go on. This is the body running out of glycogen & reverting to burning fat for energy. For this reason, marathons have used oranges, bananas, candy, sugar cubes, and tons of other items stationed throughout the course, to help the runner replenish glycogen during their run to avoid, or at least minimize, the effects created by a lack of glycogen. Here comes science to the runners rescue!

Several companies over the past few years have introduced energy gels to the market. Two of the more well known are Gu & Powerbar. These energy gels provide complex carbohydrates that the body can quickly process into more glycogen. They may also contain caffeine, amino acids, electrolytes, or some other bonus supplement. Their proper use is essential during a marathon. With the gels, it’s advised that you take one about an hour before the marathon, and then every 45 minutes during the run. You wash it down with 4-5 ounces of WATER… no sports drinks. Sports drinks can cause delayed gel absorption & stomach upset, which are not good for a marathon. If your muscles don’t get the glycogen they need, the wall will get you. If your stomach is upset… 26.2 miles is a long way to run, but even longer when the porta-potties are spaced 3 miles apart! It’s recommended that you use moderation when mixing sports drinks & energy gels during a workout, long run or marathon. Adequate water intake is also key to help in the transport of the gel through the small intestines where it is absorbed.

I am in the process of trying some of these. I have three items that I will be trying. Gu, Powerbar Gel, and Jelly Belly Sport Beans. Yeah, I know, it’s not an energy gel, but a friend of mine swears by them. Not to mention, I love me some Jelly Belly’s! I will let you know how the trials go on these items. I have decided to wait until I am running over an hour before I start testing these items to see how they fare on my stomach, which is my major concern. Oh yeah, & Jelly Belly's are Good Eats!

The Underwear of the Feet

2009-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Since I covered the feet in the last gear blog, let's keep in that same general vicinity & talk about socks. I have learned more about socks in the past few weeks than any person ought to know!

All socks are made, somewhat, alike. There may be subtle differences in fabric content, individual toes, colors, size, etc. When most people are told to think of a sock, they think of the plain white tube, 100% cotton or cotton & a small percentage of some other material that helps it keep it's "springyness." That's what I thought of anyway. I mean, how hard could it be to throw on a sock & hit the streets, right? WRONG!

While, yes, you technically can just throw on any sock, one of the fundamental rules of running comes into play... please remember this rule, as you will see it again, SEVERAL times throughout my journey. Cotton is the enemy of all runners... well, more precisely, cotton & moisture are the enemies.

See, cotton rubs the skin. That's all fine & good until you add some moisture. Any moisture will do, sweat, rain, sweat, mud puddle, sweat, spilled water that you were trying to drink while running, sweat... see a trend developing here? Literally, any moisture will cause the cotton fibers to GRAB your skin, creating friction. Friction creates blisters, or in other cases, the dreaded chaffing action that most folks from the South know from trying to enjoy a day out and about during the summer humidity.

To keep my feet from looking like a couple of chewed up pieces of meat, I, once again, headed off to my secret shopping spot, the Internet, and took a stroll down the sock isle. That's when my jaw hit the floor! A quick search of Amazon.com for X-Sock will reveal this beautiful pair of socks. These are Swiss "Engineered" socks. They have every bell & whistle that could be thrown into a sock. At almost $50 PER PAIR, these are the creame de la creame of socks. Everything about this sock was designed with the runner in mind. I may look dumb, but I'm no idiot. There is only so much that can be done to a sock that hasn't been done before & that isn't offered in your everyday pack of Hanes or Fruit of the Loom. With Under Armour & Nike, and every other shoe company jumping into the sock business, I refuse to spend $50 on a pair of socks & decided I needed to do some more homework.

I hit the forums and found a reasonably priced sock that sounded like it was right up my alley... in fact, Amazon.com was offering them at a discount when I ordered them too! Bonus! So, I got the Wright Sock Running II Anti Blister Double Layer Sock. Very nice sock if I must say. As the name implies, these socks have 2 layers. An inner layer that is "hydrophobic" - I didn't know socks had the capability of having a mental status such as phobias, but I digress - and an outer layer that helps to regulate the foot's temperature. Plus, they have some other otions too, but they are a little boring. I won't bore you with a picture of my ordinary white sock! LOL!

I will, however, throw up a shot of another sock I am trying out. So far it is performing okay at my shorter distances. It's the Nike No-Show Anatomically Correct Running Sock. Yes, I said anatomically correct. No, not male/female, but rather left/right. Each sock has a little L or R on it to make sure you are putting the correct sock on the correct foot. They are specially made to support the foot, and only the foot they are intended to support. A Right sock will not line up with the arch of the Left foot to support it. Odd, yes, but they also offer extra cushon where you need it. While not double layered to prevent blisters like the Wright Sock, these aren't made out of cotton. They use Nike's patented Dri-Fit fabric... some type of lycra derivative. The jury is still out on these for anythng much over 4 miles, but they are cheaper than the Wright Socks & available at the BX here on base, which makes them convienient.

See, who knew there were so many options when it comes to socks! This is just a drop in the bucket too! A search of Amazon.com leads to over 4000 results for "running socks" and I am sure 4000 runners will give you 4000 different reasons why the sock they use is better than everyone elses. It all comes down to what feels good on your feet & what keeps your feet healthy enough to run another day!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 8th Run (Week 27, Day 15)

2009-10-07T22:00:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 8th Run (Week 27, Day 15)

Click link above for my run this morning.

Seemed back to where I was before yesterday. Pace was comparable to what I am used to and over all a good run, though, it seems like I am sweating more today than ever before!

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It's All About Management of DeFeet

2009-10-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

I figured I would hit on one of the biggest problems that first time marathoners don't really take in to account, and it's unfortunate too, as it's the piece of equipment that is REQUIRED to run a marathon... YOUR FEET! While shoes are not required, to physically run a marathon without feet (or a prostetic foot of some sort) would be impossible.

When I said I was going to run a marathon, I spread it around at work. My boss, who is a pretty fit guy, said he ran a marathon and he'd never do it again as his toe nails fell out after the race. While 26.2 miles is pretty grueling, and your body takes a lot of punishment, I wanted to find out why this happened to him. Off to the inter-web I went.

As it turns out, he made 2 fatal errors. He didn't adequately prepare, and he didn't have to correct shoe to run a marathon in. So, after talking with another runner I work with who has run several half-marathons & is running his first full marathon in 2 weeks in Venice, he suggested, nay, told me, to go get a gait analysis. I know I hit on this in an earlier blog, but I am going to cover it a bit more in depth now.

He directed me to a running store in downtown Kaiserslautern to get my analysis accomplished. It was in the basement of a running store, and it consisted of me running on a treadmill, barefooted, at a 5 mile per hour pace for about 3 minutes. The guy running the analysis was recording my running to check on some vital items:

- Mechanics - is the correct portion of the foot hitting the ground first, are you dragging your feet off the ground or are they leaving the ground cleanly, are my knees rotating, etc

- Pronation - does the foot roll inward or outward while running, and if so, how badly

- Arches - what type of arch does the runner have, high, normal or flat

I'm sure his trained eye was looking for more than this, but these are the things he pointed out to me. He then asked my shoe size for my everyday shoes. He said that size was too small & I should be wearing a half size larger shoe... who knew!

I want to hit on pronation before I move on. As you can see from the diagram to the left, pronation is how the foot rolls while running, or even walking. Uncorrected, this can lead to several major issues, including bunions, ankle issues from the stress, tendonitis, heel spurs, as well as several other issues that can cause pain for the rest of ones life. The articles I have read on pronation suggest that people should get a gait analysis to get the proper shoe, even for day to day wear to avoid foot & leg problems.

The guy performing my analysis brought out 3 different shoes for me to try on. Each had it's benefits & downfalls. I respect the fact that the first shoe the man offered me to try was not the most expensive, but yet the best shoe for me! I am a big guy and he said that this one had the best cushioning to help absorb the excess shock I'd be placing on my feet & legs.

After trying on all 3 pairs, I settled on the one that felt the best on my foot. He told me, take them for a jog around the downtown market area. Cool! Try before you buy! I ran in the shoes for about 5-10 minutes to see how they felt. They really did feel good, so I decided on those. Unfortunately, in Germany, they use the Euro. It is a bad exchange rate for us here. I didn't buy the shoes form the guy, but found them online, for cheaper, and free shipping! Sorry dude!

I got the Asics Gel Nimbus 11. My feet have thanked me everyday since I have started wearing them! I also got a set of quick laces, which are basically thin bungee cords with the little plastic cord lock things from backpacks & jackets. This will let my shoe expand as my feet swell on longer runs.

Shoes have a life span, which isn't always dependant on how the shoe looks. One statistic said that around 60% of all people are walking around in "dead shoes." The average shoes cushioning breaks down at about 300-400 miles. shoes developed for marathon running, which you can tell by the price, are usually good for about 500 miles. After that, they may look okay on the outside, but the internal cushioning is gone, offering no protection to the bones & joints, and actually causes more harm than good.

I'm not sure if any of this info will ever be relevant to ya'll but I wanted to share exactly how in depth I am going with this marathon. If you're gonna do it, do it right!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 7th Run (Week 27, Day 14)

2009-10-06T22:44:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 7th Run (Week 27, Day 14)

Click the link above for my run from this morning. It was a beautifully clear morning!

I felt way slower yesterday, but was about 20 seconds off my normal mile pace... weird. I don't like that!

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I Want All the Gorey Details

2009-10-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

I want to know every detail I can about my runs... I want ya'll to know them too! So, I track them with, you guessed it, a GPS gadget! All of my runs are logged with a nifty device called the Garmin Forerunner 305. I have dropped a little picture of the 305 down below. This device tracks everything, and then some. The black strap is a wireless heart monitor, where it gets that data from in the activity details that you see above. It's actually a ridiculously simple device to use, which is why I like it. Being able to compare your runs that you are doing, to runs you completed several months ago, really helps you in honing your training to benefit you. I do have two complaints about it though.

It would be awesome if it had sensors on it to show your body temperature, as well as the temperature outside while you run. I read an article not too long ago in Runners World that talked about a scientific test on this professional runner, where he ran at 50 degrees for a set mileage. The next day, he came into the lab, they had him run at 90 degrees, and he only got the same amount of water. The results were pretty amazing and the scientists were able to calculate how much time you add to your run for every 10 degrees the temperature goes up. With my training being mostly during the colder months, I am wondering how the icy temperatures will affect me. The other compliant I have, is some times, it takes a pretty good bit of time to acquire the satellite signals so I can begin my run. It needs 3 signals, and several times, it has acquired 2 satellites, but took forever to get another useable signal. Other than those two items, this thing is pretty dope! Even with my complaints about it, I couldn't ask for a better tracking device for the cost. You can find these on sale at several online outlets, such as Tigerdirect.com & Newegg.com.

Here is another shot that shows some of its functions. The pace function is pretty neat, giving you a graphical shot to make sure you are on pace to finish your run by your designated time, or either to see if you can beat a previous time across the same course. I standby this device. The integration of the heart rate monitor is a great touch. I used to have to wear a GPS & a Polar heart rate monitor... yeah, pair those two items (both watch style devices) with my iPod strapped around my arm; I really look like a techno weenie! I am, yes, I admit it, and those who really know me know I am a geek. I never claimed not to be. But with a sport like running, you usually want to have as little on you as possible. This device has really helped, though I will NEVER get rid of my iPod while I run! I make too many weird noises when I am plowing down a trail! LOL!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 6th Run (Week 27, Day 13)

2009-10-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 6th Run (Week 27, Day 13)

I felt a little slow today. almost sluggish, which I could understand with all the sinus issues I have had this weekend. I thought I had a cold on Sunday... I felt HORRIBLE!

I woke up this morning with a good bit of drainage, which is now on my shirt, shorts, & running trail! LOL! I ran anyway and am able to breathe completely for the first time since Sunday.

It was a little warmer than I expected this morning, and I wore my long sleeved shirt which wasn't very bright. Oh well, live & learn I guess.

Click the link just under the title of this blog entry to check out my run details.

As My Girl Anne Frank Said, "No One Has Ever Become Poor By Givin'!"

2009-10-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay guys & gals! The moment you have all been waiting for! Here is the link that allows you to donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) to support me in reaching my goal. I set a pretty lofty goal of $5000. I may not make that, but I want to think big!

LAF has made it easy to donate too. You don't send me any money! You can pay online with a credit card! In the words of Kip from Napoleon Dynamite, "Yes, I love technology!" Additionally, if you want to pay by check, you send it directly to LAF.

I would really appreciate your support.

Click the image above & get to givin'!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 3rd Run (Week 28, Day 12)

2009-10-04T09:51:00.001-07:00

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 3rd Run (Week 28, Day 12)

This is another LRD (Long Run Day). If you compare it to my past runs, you can see that I have made the turn toward the village of Krickenbach. I if I continue out this way... hopefully there are either bike trails or sidewalks that connect the villages... it will eventually lead me all the way back around to Queidersbach.

I will probably stay at this distance for awhile. I am running about 17.8 miles a week right now, which according to my training plan, is a week 15 distance. My shins are getting a little sore, so hopefully stopping at this distance for a little while will help my shins heal.

Prepare for the Onslaught!

2009-10-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

That should catch everyone up on my training runs. If anyone has any questions about any of my runs, please ask. I have posted some details on Facebook, but I didn't transfer that over here. From now on, all my runs will look like the next post.

In Memory... Part 1

2009-10-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

I never knew my father. I knew very little about him. I knew he was a Marine during Vietnam. He was a tripod machine gunner, and was shot across the knees, causing him to have to wear tremendous leg braces. I remember my mother telling me a story that most of the neighborhood kids would call him names, like Frankenstein, due to the way the braces made him walk. But he was walking, and that’s what mattered.

My brother & I both wanted to know our father, but we only really got a couple chances to see him growing up, usually at supervised Christmas visitation, when he would come down to Mississippi from Indiana to see his family. I got to see him one time, outside of these early childhood Christmas visits. I was pretty young, and to be honest, I don’t even remember how old I was. To avoid confusion, when I say “my granny” I am referring to my mother’s mother. When I say “my grandmother” I am referring to my father’s mother.

My granny was running the café at an auction house, just on the outskirts of Lumberton, Mississippi. My father’s family was from Baxterville, Mississippi, about 10 minutes on the other side of Lumberton. My mother helped my granny in the auction house café, as did several of my aunts & uncles on rotating basis… pretty much whenever someone either didn’t have anything to do, or need some extra money. It was summer and we were out of school. Mississippi in the summer is pretty killer. During the day, you sweat to death if you don’t have any way to get to the creek to go swimming, and at night, you are eaten alive by the mosquitoes. It was usually pretty miserable, but as a kid, you didn’t care. All you wanted to do was find the next thing to get in to.

We were all at the café one night, when my mom & granny kind of started arguing. I just remember my granny telling her to calm down and for her to let them talk to him… referring to me & my brother. We didn’t realize what was going on, but about an hour later, my father was sitting in a car in the dirt parking lot of the auction house. I kind of feel bad because I don’t even recall what was said, but that was the last time I would see my father coherent.

Many years passed by, and I had graduated high school and joined the Air Force. I was stationed at Mountain Home AFB, in southern Idaho, working on F-15E Strike Eagles. I was proud of what I did, and after much internal struggling, I decided that maybe my military service could be the link to get to know my father. I found a number for him and worked up the nerve to call him. The conversation was general in nature, and really unremarkable other than the fact that his wife, Bonnie, was on another phone in the house while I was talking to him.

I had a few more conversations with him, every time; his wife was on the line with him though, which really struck me as odd. I finally left the ball in his court one afternoon. Here I was as a young Airman, barely making ends meet on my meager salary, yet I am footing all the long distance bills to try to reconnect with my father. I told him to call me next time. I didn’t hear from him again until 2001.

I met my wife, Maria, in 2000, after a military move to Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi. We were getting married and I decided to call my father to invite him to my wedding. It was the lowest point in my life when he told me that he wouldn’t be attending because he was afraid of what people would say. It shouldn’t have hurt as bad as it did, but it destroyed me. Why? I had no connection with this man over all the years, I mean, other than him being my biological father. I didn’t hear from him again until 2004.

I was working at Travis AFB in Fairfield, California when I got the news that my father was losing a battle with cancer. He was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and the treatments were not working. As it turned out, his cancer was caused by Agent Orange exposure during his time in Vietnam. He underwent some type of procedure where they harvested his stem cells & even that was ineffective. I was compelled, even after everything this man put me through, to make sure I got to see him & he got to see me before he passed. I got a ticket & headed toward Indiana.

It was the first time I had been back to Indiana since we boarded an Amtrack heading to Mississippi when I was still a very young child. I was hoping that something I would see would jog some memories… no, not really. By the time I got to the hospital in Bristol from Indianapolis, John had already lost the ability to speak. I spent several days by his bedside, meeting old military buddies, and his new family. I’m not sure if he knew I was there or not, but I did get to see him before he lost his battle and say my piece. It was healing for me in a way. I am glad I went, even if we didn’t really know each other. I pray one day I will get to see him again and speak to him. Even though he made no real effort to get to know me, I would still like to get to know him.

In memory of John R. Solomon, I am running 26.2.

Cleared

2009-10-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

This may not seem like a big deal, but yesterday was a pretty big day for me. I had to go meet with the Flight Surgeon. He is a special kind of doctor who caters to people, like controllers & pilots, who are on flight status. No, I don't fly planes or anything, but the government feels that my job is important enough, that I have to follow the same medical rules as pilots.

I had to get clearance through their office to run the marathon... it's a French thing according to the marathon website & the flight surgeon. It was a pretty intensive test... about 45 minutes worth of listening to my internal organs, bending my legs all around, answering questions about my runs & running program, etc.
He finally signed the paperwork, clearing me to run the marathon in April.

This is huge to me because this time last year, no doctor in their right mind would have signed a paper saying I was in the right shape to run a marathon. It's one more thing that will help keep me motivated I guess!

While I'm At It...

2009-09-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

I am definitely planning on running the Paris Marathon. But am I doing this just for myself? I have already told ya’ll how I lost the weight so my daughter wouldn’t think it’s okay to be unhealthy, but if I’m putting my body through all this trouble, why not do more?

So, I started thinking about what I could do to make my marathon less about me & more about something bigger than myself. Days went by and I had no clue. I then thought about running it for charity. There are a lot of worthwhile organizations out there, but how do you know who deserves your hard earned (or raised) money? Besides, if I am putting my body on the line here, I want to make sure the money is going to be put to good use.

I started reviewing organizations, and boys & girls; you’d be surprised how many of these “charitable” organizations misuse the money they are given. I saw that one, Angel Flight West, that while an AWESOME charity, over 50% of all money donated goes to administrative expenses. If you want to learn more about Angel Flight West, which really is a remarkable charity, you can check them out HERE. I found a cool little, well, huge, website called Charity Navigator that really helped me in finding info on the charities I was considering. You can check out their site HERE.

I finally narrowed my list of charities & their reasons down to 5. They were:

- Lance Armstrong Foundation – Known to most as Livestrong, Maria & I have personal experience losing family members to cancer.

- Air Force Aid Society – I am their major demographic being in the Air Force & all. I also give to them every year through the Air Force Aid Fundraising on base.

- The Fisher House Foundation – They provide a home at most of the larger military installations, to give family members of service men & women, places to eat & sleep if their son/daughter is injured.

- Compassion International – Maria & I have supported a young girl, Erika Silva from Honduras, for several years now through Compassion International.

- Show Hope – Formerly Shaohanna’s Hope, this is a charity was started by Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman to care for worldwide orphans & help families involved in the adoption process.

Please click the names of the organizations above to visit their respective pages. Each & every one of them deserves whatever money you can give!

I finally chose the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). Maria & I both lost our fathers to different forms of cancer. I have several friends who have beaten or are fighting cancer. They are an inspiration to me, so maybe by seeing me overcome a great obstacle in my life; maybe I can be an inspiration to them.

I contacted LAF about running a marathon & raising money for their organization through my run. They have a program where they run in the major marathons around the world, New York, Boston, London, etc, but they don’t have guaranteed entry into the Paris Marathon. So, they said I would have to run it as a “Grassroots Fundraising Campaign” which was fine by me, as long as they would allow me to run under their banner. I registered on their site and they provide a website where people can donate online, instead of me collecting money from the people I know all around the globe! Great! I got my site all set up and posted the link to my Facebook account. I got an email the next day saying that since my marathon is in 2010, I would be raising money under the 2010 Fiscal Year, so they had to remove my website and I can reset it up on October 1st. So, expect a link on here & on Facebook, begging for your money, around October 1st!

In addition to raising money for Livestrong, I hope to provide you some stories from Maria & myself about our personal experience supporting our loved ones who have battled cancer, and hopefully provide you with a story or two from some of my friends who are currently, or have beaten, their cancers.

What's the Deal With 47172?

2009-09-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, some of ya’ll may already know what this means. That is my bib number, or racer number, for the Paris Marathon. I officially entered. I’m ready to rock & roll. I did this on September 15th. I was the 400th –ish person to sign up. I knew if I waited, I was leaving myself opportunity to back out. I cannot & will not back out now!

I don’t know what the deal is with having this bib number, but as I am running, I keep saying it to myself. Am I weird? I guess it’s just another motivator… it does have its drawbacks though.

I keep thinking that just may be the spot I finish the run at! I have not, nor will I ever claim to be, a speed demon when it comes to running. Our land lady told my wife one day, while they were sitting at the park & I was running the streets in our village, “Schnell laufen,” which literally means quick run. I do not agree with that. I am planning on trying to keep an average 10 minute mile pace throughout my training. I think I am averaging about 9:41 per mile right now across 4 miles. I need to get that time down a good bit if I want to average 10 minute miles across 26.2 miles though.

I’m going to try my best, but I signed up in the category for runners that are shooting for 4 hours 30 minutes or more for the course. The worst thing about that… the bibs are pink! Those of you who truly know me, you know that this is a big downer for me! I wouldn’t even consider pink shirts when they were “cool” a couple years ago. For me to voluntarily wear something pink, you know I must be determined. In all reality though, I did convince 2 of my co-workers in the Ramstein Ground Controlled Approach Facility to run the Paris marathon too. SSgt Rebekah Cruz & SrA Tyler Bisenius. Bisenius, although he said he is shooting for the same time range as me, refuses to have a pink bib number. He chose the grey range, which is either 4 hours flat, or 4 hours 15 minutes, I can’t remember which right off hand.

Needless to say, I am stuck on 47172 right now. It seems to be all the numbers revolving around the marathon though. I see this sign on the hill above our village all the time that says "Kaiserslautern – 15km." I think to myself, I will be running from that sign, to Kaiserslautern, back to the sign, then BACK to Kaiserslautern again! I even find myself charting distances as I am driving to see if I can use the path as one of my run routes. I have yet to decide to run up the monster hill behind our house, but we will see if I decide to conquer if during my training!

That picture is taken from the cemetery in Bahn, which is opposite of the way I normally run on my training runs. The windmill on top of the hill sits on the hill above our house. Our house sits maybe 3km down a winding, beat to death road, at the base of that hill. It’s 8% grade up for 2 miles with 3 switch-backs; then again back down the beast! I need to get my GPS & figure out exact specs on that hill's elevation. Maybe you’ll just see it on one of my run profiles one of these days… alongside a picture of me laying in a casket cause that thing will probably kill me!

How I Chose My Marathon

2009-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned before, I have asked myself a couple times already, why running, but it always comes back to me wanting to portray a healthy image to my family. If I am a fat slob... as I was... they think it's okay to be a fat slob. If I portray an active lifestyle, my daughter will learn to live a healthy & active life and have few medical problems in the long run... hopefully anyway. Trust me; my wife has never thought it was okay for me to be a fat slob! :)

So, when I lost all the weight, I thought to myself, what could I do to keep from gaining the weight back? I thought back to my, for lack of better terms, "bucket list" of things I wanted to do before I hit the big 4-0. The marathon sat there, hiding in the corner of the yellowed paper, like I didn't really want to do it, I just threw it there because it was almost an obligatory item to be on any list of this type. So, I started looking around.

I found a marathon, before I found a training program, which I'm not sure is the usually way this process happens, but that's how if went down for me. I was surfing the net one night and found a website created by a man named Hal Higdon. Hal is this ancient looking dude who has ran more marathons than I probably ever will. On his page I found what he refers to as the Novice Supreme running plan. This is a 30 Week marathon training program that looked right up my alley. I mean, come on, he couldn't have made the program any easier. I have dubbed it the Couch Potato’s Marathon Plan. Literally, you start the program with a 1.5 mile jaunt. Most people can manage a 1.5 mile run, or at least a 1.5 speed walk, so it's a great launching pad. You can check out this running plan at Hal's site by clicking HERE!

So, with my running plan in hand, I just had to find a marathon. I Googled "European Marathons" and found a website that is basically a repository of all marathons throughout Europe called 42k195... yes, a marathon is 42 kilometers & 195 meters. Click HERE to see this website. It was nice, because this website broke down the marathons by month. So, after I melted a few brain cells, I figured out that I needed a marathon around April of 2010 due to the 30 week training program. There was only 1 run that stood out to me. The Paris Marathon. My wife & I had already been to Paris sightseeing and we loved the city so much, we promised ourselves to go back many times while we are here, though the French can be a touch rude!

I talked to one of my co-workers who runs frequently and has run marathons before and he said that Paris, though a beautiful run, is usually over-crowded and not very well put together. I went back to the internet to see if I could find some pictures of the race. Yeah, looks pretty crowded, but I decided I could manage! I loved the city so much, that I think I can fight the crowd during the run and still make it! Actually, the crowds will probably be so far ahead of me, I won't have to deal with them except for the very start of the run! Ha!

Since I was looking at the Paris Marathon site, which ya'll can view HERE, I decided to take a look at the course. The marathon actually runs by almost all of the most famous landmarks in Paris. The Louvre, the Eiffle Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Arch de Triomph, tons of cool sites. In fact, here's the map of the run route.

So, awesome! I got my marathon training plan, my marathon, and the ambition to get moving! That's when the military almost threw a wrench in my plan. I got informed I was selected to go to the NCO Academy.

The NCO Academy is a school that all NCO's must attend. It's extremely challenging and time consuming. I didn't know if I'd be set back on my training plan. I did the math, and wouldn't you know, God was watching out for me & my plan. The 30 weeks started exactly 1 day after I graduated! Amazing! It must have been meant for me to run this marathon. With all the pieces in place, I was ready to begin my training. By the way, I still got to run a good bit while in the NCO Academy... in fact I got a certificate for being one of the fittest members of my Flight for running 90 miles, 1700 crunches & 1600 push-ups across the 6 weeks of the course!

Why Running?

2009-09-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

You know, I have asked myself that question a few times already. An old friend of mine, Kevin Fedyk, summed it up best on my Facebook account...

"Chris what is up with all the running? That never seemed to be your cup of tea before!!!"

Well, to know why I got to where I am today, you have to see where I got myself to. I know, I just confused a lot of folks, but please, allow me to explain.

See, Kevin knew me when I was a younger guy (21ish) at Mountain Home, Idaho. I was a typical young military member, in to drinking & the party scene. I had no real care about my fitness. That finally caught up with me. I left for Korea in March of 2008. I was tipping the scale at 316 pounds. I knew something had to change, yet I wasn't doing anything about it.

After my month at home and realizing I couldn't keep up with my then 3 year old daughter, I knew I had to take action. I went on a pretty poor diet that consisted of:

Breakfast - 1 Apple or 1 Banana

Lunch - a large (4-5 cup) salad with lite or no dressing at all

Dinner - a Lean Cuisine and a low fat/low calorie canned vegetable

There were occasional treats in there, but for the most part, they were kept to a minimum. In combination with this diet, I was hitting the gym 6 days a week... having the luxury of a 24 hour a day gym was fantastic, as it didn't matter what I had to work, the gym was ALWAYS open.

I started modestly, running on the elliptical for anywhere from 20-30 minutes. I progressed to where by the end of my tour to Korea, I was running 3 miles on the indoor track, a blessing from God as Korean winters are no joke, and finishing up on the elliptical machine to round out an hour & 5 minutes of total run time. I wasn't overly concerned about time on my 3 mile run, just that I was getting it done. Overall, across the course of my year in Korea, I dropped from 316 pounds to 245 pounds. Literally, my clothes were falling off of me.

Here are some photos of my weight loss while I was in Korea. WARNING - These photos are not safe for children who are prone to nightmares, people with conditions that cause frequent vomiting, or those who don't believe in hard work!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Right now, I weigh in at 241 pounds, and I am no longer on the diet I was on while in Korea. I have kick started my metabolism again by eating my 3 basic meals and having small snacks (as healthy as possible) between them.

One of my life goals was to run a marathon before I turned 40. I always doubted I could do it, especially after gaining so much weight. Now, I am motivated to keep the weight off and to help me with that, I am working towards one of my life goals. The goal of running a marathon.

So, Kevin, and I hope the rest of ya'll get it now, that this is why I am running so much. I REFUSE to let myself get back into that condition. My year in Korea, truely was a lifestyle change... one for the better!

My First Blog

2009-09-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is my first post of my marathon progress blog. For those who haven't heard, I'm running the Paris Marathon on April 11, 2010. I am raising money for Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation. I am also running this marathon in memory of my father & father-in-law, as well as in honor of one of my great friends Jerry. Expect to hear more about them over the course of the next few
months. Some other stuff to expect are info about my running gear, some background about what got me running, a cool view of every one of my runs... All 620.2 miles of them across the entire 30 weeks of training.

So, sit back and enjoy the... What! Get off your lazy butts & get running with me!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone