Ironman Ivins Fitness Festival 10k and Volunteering for the Ironman

This was a race that many more experienced runners probably could have a I told you so moment. I had waited to sign up for this race to see how I felt after my half marathon the weekend before and found out they had actually closed registration on the Thursday before. Still determined to get in and not wanting to give up I emailed the race director and begged to get in and was allowed a late entry. So I signed up Tuesday morning and went for my normal five mile run afterwords and came up a little sore in my left knee afterwords. Tried to run on Wednesday and was only able to get two and half miles in before realizing I had a case of ITBS in my left knee. I went to the running store on Thursday and bought a foam roller and took the day off. I then just went for a walk on Friday with some mild running and each time I tried to run my knee hurt a little. I decided to do the race anyways because I had begged to get in and was hoping with the extra rest I would be ok. I figured I could drop out and DNF if it got too bad and then take the next week off from running. The short of the story is that I did pr by over a minute despite my knee and the single worst course known to man (I got to stop running courses designed by sadomasochists), final time 58:46 good for 2nd overall men as it was a small event of a 100 runners.

I felt great Saturday morning, zero pain, zero discomfort so I decided to go ahead with the 10k. I decided to see if it was my new shoes that was causing the pain as it is one of the few things I have changed in the last couple of weeks. So I switched back to my old shoes that had 760 miles on them and had done me so well. Once again I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off despite it being a 5am alarm, typical race morning anxiety. I had trouble using the restroom and it sucks to have to go the bathroom mid-race so I waited around tell I could actually go which had me running late. I rushed out of the house knowing packet pickup was at 5:45 and not really sure where I was going. I got there around 5:55 and didn't really need to worry about being late as it was a small event and was easy to get my packet.

It was about this time that I realized in my rush to get out of the house I forgot my ipod. I was like oh well this a great race to not have my ipod so I can listen to my body and my knee plus it might be fun to try and run without one for once and feel like an elite. I heard a funny conversation waiting for the race start as a lady was telling one of the volunteers she was running the Saint George marathon this year. I mentioned I was running it too and was a little flabbergasted by how lightly she was taking it when we got to talking about training. I told her it was not a good idea to run a marathon so soon into your running life and her answer was "oh I have been running since January and am doing a race a month until then." I didn't want to get more into it with her because obviously she is set on doing it and good for her I hope she doesn't crash and burn she did mention she is going a Galloway plan.

It was also pre-race when I had my first groan as the announcer mentioned mile 4 for the 10kers was on a dirt road. Funny thing is I was bib #1 (not sure if it is because I begged to get in but I got a lot of hey #1's during and after the race). We start off and I am feeling great, I had no pain the first two miles or so. For the first half mile I am running behind Sam and Adam from the Biggest Loser but I think they went out too fast for themselves as they seemed to blow up and slow down around half a mile in and I passed them and never saw them again in the race. I actually thought they ended up doing the 5k as the 5kers ran with us for a mile and a half before turning off for their finish. But then I saw Sam come in after me at the finish line as he was the 3rd overall male and Adam came in several minutes after that.

This course was beyond horrible, I think there was a quarter mile downhill and maybe a half mile straight stretch near the finish and after that the rest of the course was completely uphill. The first two miles were on a steady uphill that never seemed to end. At mile 3 we hit a really large uphill and this is where my knee first started to hurt. It was also where I got passed the only time in the race, I actually did catch the lady a little further on and we talked for like a half mile about knees as hers was hurting too but then she passed me at mile 4 on the next horrible hill. I had thought about DNFing if I hurt but since it was such a small race there actually was nowhere to drop out so I just kept plugging along.

Mile 4 we hit the dirt road and that road was the thing of nightmares and what ended up making my knee hurt more than anything else in the world. It was also at mile 4 that we had the worst uphill in the entire race, not as bad as last weeks half hill but pretty darn close (it was just shorter is all same elevation change but only a half mile instead of full mile last week), I had to walk potions of that hill and the lady once again passed me. Around mile 5 we got back on paved roads and I have never been happier in my life to see a paved road. By this time my knee was in agony but I knew I was close to the finish line and I didn't want to get passed again.

The funny thing is without an ipod I could hear everyone behind me and it helped me from getting passed and kept me motivated to keep running. The people I heard at mile 5 were actually rabbits for the race and funny thing is I held them off not knowing they were rabbits tell the finish line. Around mile 5 we actually caught back up with the 5kers the hour long ones at least. I swear I saw 3-4 camelbaks on those 5kers and just had to chuckle. I tried to encourage them to run to the finish line but none did. I did congratulate them as I ran past them though. My knee was hurting but I finished strong and it wasn't tell afterwords when I realized how much it actually was hurting when I was limping severely afterwords. Finish time was 58:46.

I cheered some of the runners in and that is when I realized wow Sam and Adam were a couple minutes behind me the entire way. I kidded with Adam that they didn't train the Biggest Loser people well enough that if a gimpy person like me outran them, and I was truly gimpy by this point.



Limped over to the awards ceremony where I was surprised that I took 2nd overall for men and since the first place winner actually donated the prizes he deferred and I got the first place prize pack. I got a biggest loser cookbook, a BL workout video, a workout bag, a camelbak waterbottle, a bl t-shirt, a bandanna, a biggest loser resort shirt, bodyglide, chap stix, those nice fancy socks everyone talks about and I even got the race shirt as they included it in my packet even though they said I wouldn't get one since I signed up so late. Sam took 3rd overall for the men which would have been my prize if the winner hadn't differed and its funny as I think I saw a shirt and a workout video from the biggest loser resort and he works for the resort.

I ended up talking with the same lady who has been running since January for the marathon. And she mentions the expected time you have to write on your application form of when you expect to finish and she said 5 and half hours, I think she was like an hour 30-45 minute finisher at the 10k today, that makes a time time goal for me of three hours seem optimistic (this is a joke goal me and someone had on facebook as it is my BQ time). I also talked to Adam who ran the Boston marathon for a charity last month in six hours, I love hearing Boston stories. Got to see Sionne again but he didn't run as he said he surgery last week (he didn't say what kind of surgery), and Sarah and Sam's fiance was there too.

I honestly don't regret running it because my knee felt fine tell mile 3 so there was no way I could have known the terror those hills and that stupid dirt road would do to me. I could have likely done the 5k pain free as that didn't seem anywhere as nearly hilly as our course. Plus how often am I going to get to finish 2nd overall and outrun Biggest Loser contestants for a second race (I smoked them all in the 5k last month too) and win a huge pack of prizes for $10. Plan is now to take a week off and just walk, foam roll the heck out of my IT band and try and get back healthy before marathon training begins at the end of the month. I will reassess next week to see if I need another week off.

Watched the ironman for a bit too those bikers are super speedy holy crap. Worst part is I drove out before they closed the roads to race this morning and on the way back it was a nightmare trying to get home because I ended up behind enemy lines and had to get past all the closed roads.



I also volunteered for the 11pm-midnight shift for the Ironman so I could see the last people coming in and cheer them on. I picked the last shift because I wanted to cheer the people coming in trying to make it in before the cutoff and I thought they needed it the most. As we were cleaning up they told us volunteers to take whatever extra supplies we wanted. This I did not expect at all I just wanted to volunteer and cheer those ironman on. I ended up with two boxes of gels (48 total thats like $50 at the running store), two boxes of powerbars, half a dozen Ironman performance drinks (wish I had grabbed more I wasn't sure what they were), a bag of chips, a dozen oranges, half a dozen bananas and a huge box of pretzels. I totally didn't expect that and I ended up making off like a bandit with like $70-80 worth of training stuff or more. If I ever get healthy I am totally set for marathon training.

It was a blast to watch them come in and I learned some things I didn't know. Like most of the ironman at the end preferred soda instead of gatorade as they were coming in (I am guessing for the calories and sugar and carbs) I had never seen soda at an aid station before. I just wish I knew if that guy who came through at 11:41pm booking to make the cutoff (he had 19 minutes and just less than 2 miles to go and he seemed to be running a 9-10mm) made it. Most of them were walking but it was fun to see them booking it too. Had one guy I offered water to tell me no eyes on the prize made me crack up. I tried to stay way from the cliche "almost there" and instead would say two miles to go. I felt really bad for the three people who got swept at the end. At 11:55 they told us there was four people on the course still about three miles from the finish and they were debating on whether to let them finish or not. They let one guy finish because he was running and he came through at 12:05 after the cutoff so he won't get an official finish but they swept the other three of the course who were walking. I can't imagine how heart breaking that would be 17 hours in and three miles from the finish after finishing 137.6 of the 140.6 miles and getting swept off the course and not being allowed to finish.

All in all in was an amazing weekend and I came away with like $150 worth of stuff for a $10 entry fee and volunteering, WOW.

Hurricane Half Marathon

This weekend I ran my third half marathon, I am loving half marathon's more than any other distance I have run and can't wait to my next. I picked the Hurricane half marathon as my third and have been looking forward to it for several weeks now not knowing what was in store for me. Follow my logic here someone was drunk one night and was like man let's invent the craziest half marathon ever. Lets put a mountain (I am not calling that darn thing a hill) around mile 5 oooooh and lets do it out at Hurricane (I get the name now geebezus above and below who the freak turned the wind on) and make sure it's a headwind or crosswind the entire way and crank it up to like 20-30 MPH. Ok maybe they couldn't have planned that last part but dear lord I never want to run in the wind again as long as I live.

Oh and I kicked the trash out of that course, I set a 7:05 second pr despite the wind, despite that freaking mountain (not gonna call it a hill), and despite I think a road called pothole central that or you might as well be running on a trail this road sucks. Final time 2:13:15 and I cannot imagine running a better race on a worst course than today.

Now the down and dirty and long winded details. I have become a hypochondriac the last week or so freaking out about this race. I like desterilized my desk when I found out the other IT guy was sick and was freaking out about a little tightness in my calf and thigh this morning. If you sneezed around me I probably rushed to the bathroom to wash my hands the moment after. I don't think i would have worried so much had I known how horrible this course was or how bad the conditions were going to be this morning.

I tried to get into bed at 9pm the night before with my alarm set for 4am. I know I wasn't asleep tell well past 10 though, I even watched a little tv at 9:30 hoping it would put me to sleep. I never sleep good before a race and despite a 4am alarm I still woke up at 3:55 and just waited for my alarm to go off like permission to get out of bed or something. I got a new morning ritual for long runs or races and I knew we were being shuttled to the start line so I just made breakfast and planned on eating it at the packet pick up or on the shuttle. I made it out of the house by 4:35 all ready to go and packed up and go to the shuttle area (also the finish line) just a little after 5am. I really like their race shirt its the first race shirt I have ever seen with zero advertisements on it and its a nice black tech tee.

I had time to kill before the shuttle so I ate my breakfast there (my new routine a PB&J sandwich, a banana, packet of peanuts and a gatorade). It was nice to stay inside as it was bloody cold outside. Around 5:30 we loaded the buses to get taken to the start line. After getting off the bus I was like dear lord I should have stayed on the bus it's too fraking cold and windy for anyone in their right mind to want to stand out here in this but the buses left to shuttle the 5kers so it was like crap I guess we stand out in the wind. I was standing around and I realized everyone was lined up for the porta-potties and I was like sweet I stood between two lines and let the lines half shelter to me from the freezing wind. It was a 20-30 MPH freezing cold wind and the sun wasn't up yet.

Best thing happened right around 6:30 we were told we could finally run and hopefully warm up although there was no escaping that wind. The first half mile was a cruel joke it was the only time in the entire race we were running in a tailwind after that it was nothing but headwinds and crosswinds. I had decided to take the first few miles pretty easy like suggested by some more veteran runners knowing I had what at this point I was thinking was a hill at mile 5. It was cold and the wind was blowing hard so I think for the first 3 miles I looked at nothing but my feet trying to stay out of the wind. It's pretty bad when you see people wearing trash bags in a race. I think around 25 minutes in I looked over and was like hey we are running next to a lake didn't even see that (Sand Hollow reservoir) where did that lake come from.


I didn't see any mile markers tell mile 3 and looked down at my watch and was like good 28:30 we are right where we want to be. At mile 4 I made the mistake of looking up and was like wait where the heck did that mountain come from. The first 4 miles were on a pretty steady incline and I was thinking the hill would be similar, nope that thing was gargantuan.



I walked through the aid station and grabbed a gatorade at mile 4, I skipped the aid station at mile 2 as it was too early and was crowded. I made sure I got a gatorade at every aid station during the race after that too. I decided when I hit the bottom of the mountain it was a good time for my GU so I took a small walk break there too. I tried to run that mountain but it was short bursts of running then walking and I don't even feel bad, I would look around when I was running and I was the only person running that monster everyone else was walking and was like screw this thing.

I hit mile 6 around 1:02xx and knew that any shot of a sub 2 or even a 2:10 might be impossible in the conditions but I decided I still wanted to pr and run the best race possible. The first downhill we got to enjoy just after mile 6 was ruined by the nastiest crosswind of the entire race like the gods were laughing at us stupid runners.

I think around mile 9 I was like dear lord I don't even want a downhill or a flat stretch just for the love of all that's good and right can we just run away from the wind instead of into it. That's all I want stupid freaking wind go away, I even cursed during some of the worst gusts like come on leave me the frak alone. Miles 8-10 were on pothole central, that road was horrible it was like some backwoods bumpkins joke of a road, hey its paved but haha its paved like a drunk person.

Mile 10 was all nice and newly paved and awesome but the wind still mocked us. At this point some runners I know would have come up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss because I realized despite wanting to take walk breaks there was no way I was going to pr in the wind if I took any so I said screw the walk breaks and just kept on running. I was finding it hard to maintain a 10 minute pace at this time as the wind had me thoroughly exhausted. Mile 7 was 1:12, mile 8 1:22, mile 9 1:33, mile 10 1:44 and mile 11 1:55. So I was bleeding a little time even without walking.

At mile 11 I went to the pain cave and was like screw it I am finishing strong wind be darned. I ran the last 2.1 miles in 18 minutes by best miles since miles 1-4. I don't think I have ever been as exhausted as I was at mile 12 as I was here but despite being so tired I could just lay down I never got a single muscle spasm and cramp. So for those who say it was an exhaustion thing and not an electrolyte imbalance can kiss the whitest part of my arse. I took gatorade at every station, had one pre-race and despite being exhausted ran my best half ever without a single cramp. It was strange as I have suffered some severe cramps and spasms in my two previous halves and to be at mile 12 completely exhausted and hammered and to not be cramping was surreal.

I could not believe the finish clock when I rounded the corner as it was showing 2:13, I hadn't even looked at my watch since like mile 11 as I was deep in the pain cave at this point. I took off at a sprint for the finish line and came across in 2:13:15. That is a 7:05 pr in 3 months on the toughest course I have ever ran in my life. I think I need to pick an easy course so I can run a sub 2, if I was doing the Snow Canyon half today and running that course again (minus the wind of course) with today's effort and race I would have easily done a sub 2.

I have decided that I am going to do the Parowan half as my next half in August. For one after making my subsequent halves noticeably harder each time it might be nice to do a much easier half for once. Secondly because it will be a nice precursor and warmup for the Saint George marathon (my first marathon) in October as the course drops 2300 feet. This should be a nice half to get used to the second half of the marathon that drops a similar distance in a similar amount of miles. Thirdly because it should be a lot cooler than Saint George which will be in the middle of full blow summer by then and most races dry up come summer time here in the desert. And lastly because I really want a sub 2 half this year and I will get it here or at Snow Canyon in November come hell or high water.

So wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee a new shiney pr on a mean and brutal course.

I will beat you long run if it's the last thing I ever do

Me and runs longer than 12miles don't get along. We are like two cats in a box and trying to claw each others eyes out too stubborn to concede victory to the other. Last week ended up being my first 40 mile week running week ever, something I attempted last month but failed miserably at but it seems I am making progress either with my stubbornness to not give up or actually becoming a better runner. I have been following a suggestion given to me on Runners World to increase one of my midweek runs so that my long run is not double or triple the rest of my weekly runs. This means I am still getting my 5milers in on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday but I have increased my Wednesday run to 8miles. That meant this week to get my first 40mile week all I needed was a 12miler for my long run instead of the dreaded 15miler.

This 12 miler would also become my very first run at the butt crack of dawn to prepare for doing the same during the summer. This will likely be a fairly common thing come summer when it's still 100 degrees until after 10pm at night and the only way to get a long run in without roasting is to do it at the butt crack of dawn. Up until now all my long runs have taken place at no earlier than 10am and normally more in the afternoon around 1pm or 2pm.

But my wife worked Sunday at 10am and it was just me and the kid all day tell after 7pm so that means for my 12miler I set an alarm for 6:30am to get the run in before she went to work. I had hoped to do it Saturday instead and have the grandparents watch the kid but by the time they showed up all I had time was for my normal 5miler. They had cousins down for a tennis match and it kept getting rained out and they didn't want to take Oliver out in the rain and the cold.

The worst part was for some reason it decided to get cold Friday and rain all weekend. My run on Friday was 38 degrees and a slight drizzle rain the entire way. My run Saturday was 42 degrees but with a biting cold wind that made it feel 10 times colder than Friday and both of these runs were done in the afternoon which makes me go oh dear lord how cold is going to be at 7am.

It ended up being one of most single miserable runs I have had to date. It was 30 degrees yesterday morning when I started and the sun wasn't up yet, although it was up within 15 minutes of me running. I think it got to around 35-40 degrees by the end of my run near 9am. I also think I am getting old, not because of the run but because my body is getting one of those old men kind of schedules when it comes to using the bathroom in the morning. Race mornings I normally have to do two rounds because my body is like uh huh mister it's to early you need to wait but we will give you half a round and then see you in a hour or so. So do one when you get up and then round 2 when you hit wherever your racing but that doesn't work just for a training run. I got 3 miles in and was like oh dear lord someone kill me now, luckily I was only about a quarter mile from my house at this point as my loop takes me near my house at that point. I did have to walk that quarter of a mile or risk crapping my pants (too visual oh well sue me). So with a detour to the house and luckily being close enough I didn't have to resort to missing a sock somewhere on my run like some have mentioned (use your imagination where that sock disappears too).

At some point I realized I wore my beanie too long as I am not used to having a hat on my head and was getting very hot and light headed from it once I started to warm up. I finally pocked the beanie around mile 7 or so and that made me feel better. Mile 7 takes me past my house once more and even though I had a gatorade stashed in the bushes I was like I am not touching that nasty stuff right now as my stomach never really healed from the 3 miles of trying to get home to use the restroom. But I think I like my new idea of having a gatorade with my breakfast as it seemed to help no cramps even though I did 12.5 miles, I guess getting some electrolytes in prerun or race will help I am going to have to try that on my half on the 30th. I think it was somewhere around mile 8 that I got jelly like legs and was like how the heck is it so freaking humid when its not even 40 degrees (it did rain non stop the last two days, although the sky was clear and the sun was out Sunday morning) I didn't even think it was possible to get humid when it's that bloody cold.

Mile 9 resulted in me very grumpily at this point swearing at a car. For some reason people around here attack every stop sign with the intention of running them and only slowing down or stopping if absolutely forced to. Then they act all shocked and surprised when crap now I got to jam on my break because I just about hit someone running or biking. Well I was very grumpy by this point and I yelled very loudly STOP SIGN YOU %$&$& $*%&$*( emphasized with me pointing to where the stop sign was. Some days I swear I feel like I am playing a live action version of frogger and it's just a matter of time when these frakers who rush every stop sign actually hits me, oh wait that already happened last summer. That actually made me feel a little better and I know they heard me because I was very loud yelling and standing in front of their car from where they almost hit me, I was already in the intersection when they came rushing the stop sign had they bothered to slow for it they would have easily have seen me.

I don't know if getting to yell at a car made me feel better but the last 3 miles went by with ease. I actually ended up doing 12.5 miles with the half mile detour for the bathroom. So early morning run one down, sucky and miserable but still a success. Got home took a shower, fed the baby, played with him and once he was napping I also took a nap.

I am still daunted by the marathon and anything longer than 12 miles but I will beat this darn road block if it kills me. This week I have 43 miles planned M,T,F,SAT 5milers, WED 8miler and Sunday the dreaded 15miler once more, going to kick it's arse once and for all.

Sand Hollow Aquatic Center Sprint Triathlon, I'M A TRIATHLETE

I love that some days that I am still so new to this running and racing thing that I am a total goober at times. I did my packet pickup Friday night for my sprint triathlon and it was 3 lines, the first line you got your goodie bag and tech shirt, the second line you got your bibs and the third line you got your tracking chip.

I had my 18 month old son with me at first he was really good as he was in awe of all the new people around us but after awhile he just wanted down to go run around. So I am half listening to the advice and trying to keep an eye on him. There is two distances a sprint and a beginner (half the distances of all the sprint legs) distance. I hear the lady tell the guy in front of me black bibs are for the beginner distance and the red bibs are for the sprint distance. Well the lady gives me one of each a black and red bib and I am like huh. And I am looking at the back of the black bib and it's got tape on it and has the my number twice and i am like that is the weirdest bib I have ever seen.

I tell her I am not going to switch clothes for the bike and run portions and I don't need two bibs and I am supposed to have the red bib. I am such a goober the black bib is to go on your bike and the red bib to run in. Took me a minute to get that ohhhhhhhh moment.

So then I get in the next line and I am like why are they giving out finisher medals before the race even begins. I nearly abandon the line and just go home thinking I can just grab a finisher medal after the race because my son is running all over the place and I am having to chase him down constantly. I toss my "finishers medal" in my bag and scoop up the rambunctious rapscallion and head home. I get home and go to look at my "finishers medal" and realize it's actually my timing chip. It is a little Velcro band that goes around your ankle and only half paying attention it looked like the ribbon for a medal. And I nearly left without it.


The mistakes would continue from there as I had planned to be in bed my 10pm with a 5:30 alarm already set. Well vegging on the couch and enjoying some Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga on the Wii had me missing my planned bedtime by 30 minutes. Which I didn't worry about too much because I never sleep that good before a race anyways with the butterflies and jitters doing numbers on me.

Woke up around 5:20 before my alarm went off, like I said I never sleep that good race night and everything was going good, got a quick shower, got all my stuff together, made myself a breakfast to eat at the event center (PB&J sandwich and a banana my normal pre-race breakfast of late). Loaded the bike in the car and headed over to the Aquatic center with the wife. Got all my stuff set in the transition area and went over to the picnic tables to chill pre-race and eat my breakfast. Since it is a pool triathlon they had set the heats to be in four different times and I got the last time 8:15am. So I had plenty of time to eat breakfast but that is when I realize I forgot my swim goggles (I keep them in a little black bag with all the rest of my swim stuff in the car hence it not being with my race stuff).

I make the trek back to the car, grab my goggles and head to stand in a line for the restroom. I swear this event was nothing but endless lines at time, from packet pickup, to the restrooms to waiting for your turn at a lap lane in the pool. The wife is a little grumpy and tired and I figure I would go get in line early for my swim so she didn't have to wait around as long. It didn't make that much of a difference as even though I lined up at 7:25 for my turn at a lap lane it wasn't until after 8:30 that I actually got in the pool and I was still nearly one of the last 50 or so swimmers in a race of 700.

I didn't train for the swim as much because I always knew it was my strongest discipline (plus right now the chlorine does hell on my allergies) but that didn't squash the fear of me being the weakest swimmer there. That was of course tell I watched some of the swimmers during the hour I waited for my turn, from back strokes to one kid that was in the way shallow end of the lap lanes and seemed to walk a good portion of the swim. There was tons of weak swimmers there and probably the reason it took so long to get a lane. I felt bad for the one kid because he obviously shouldn't have been in the sprint distance and someone should have just signed him up for the beginner, and I kept thinking what if he had been in the 12 foot water like I ended up being in he might have drowned, poor kid. I actually saw that I was easily in the top %5-10 as far as the swim went and even without a lot of training cranked the swim out in a fairly good time.

While waiting for my turn in the swim the Race director for the Saint George marathon who I have been talking on facebook with gave me several shout outs as she knew this was my first triathlon and was there last night at the packet pickup. This resulted in a lot of people congratulating me and knowing my name during the race and after the race. That was kind of cool, I almost felt like a celebrity and had at least three people come up to me and tell me about there weight loss and also gave advice to someone while I was there too. She also mentioned that I signed up for the marathon yesterday, gotta love shout outs.

Swim went great and headed over to the transition area. Who knew putting socks on wet feet with nowhere to sit might be one of the toughest things I did all day, it almost makes you want to be a barefoot runner but not sure if there is barefoot bikers.

In the race booklet and on the race website it said the bike was mostly flat with a few rolling hills. I cry liar liar pants on fire for that statement. The bike course was nothing but rolling hills, which is fun on the downhill but sucks every time you have to climb another hill. It was a minute or two of climbing for 30 seconds of wheeeeee like 20 times during the bike portion. On my first lap I had a volunteer that looked to motion me to turn which is what they were doing when turns came up but instead she was motioning for a car to stop so I did detour for a quarter of a block on the bike ride and had my goober moment.

Bike went pretty quick but at this point it seemed that I was almost DFL, it was two laps and you could see who was behind you on the second lap and there wasn't many people behind me (the joy of starting so late you feel DFL all day even though I was nowhere near being DFL in the overall standings). They also only had water stations on the run portion and man does a GU make you fraking thirsty ***note to self by a water bottle thingamajig for bike. I always knew the bike portion would be my weakest link but it was surprising by how much. It was a combination of me not being that great on the bike and not having the best of bikes to race with. You could see the difference people only putting in 3/4 of the effort I was were still passing me on their much better and much more suited bikes. Oh well I got my revenge and ran past them on the run with my more suited and much better legs haha.

Get to transition 2 and this went great, no darn socks to pull on wet feet. Wonderful wife who spent 4 hours probably bored out of her mind was there to hand me my water bottle and ipod for the race (did use the ipod just because I had the wife to hand it to me).

Hit my first aid station and I now have my water bottle so figure I would grab a Gatorade instead. Oh you hated Gatorade you are still my nemesis and enemy. One drink of that Gatorade and my stomach felt like a rock and I had to walk the first little bit of the run. Once my stomach decided to stop acting up I was actually able to get a good run going on (I know I was under 30 minutes for the 5k portion) and got to pass quite a few people a rarity for the day (I did pass two people on the bike portion but only two and I got passed by a lot more). It was all rocky music all the time during the run. Some people must have thought who is this lunatic running a 9mm punching the air like a nutcase (and yes I did punch the air, rocky music does that for me).

Race to the finish line and the wife who was so patient is waiting for me there. Mill around and wait for my results of course to find out they don't have my age group again and I have to update it at the scorers table for my 3rd straight STG race. Finishing time was 1:45:28, not sure on my splits and transition times (first transition time must have been horrible because of those darn socks) yet as I can't find those results online yet. I am extremely happy with the time because 1:45:xx was my stretch goal and my overall goals for the race was to finish in under 2 hours and have fun both of which I did.

I am not completely tanked, I am tired but I don't feel like I couldn't go out and get a run in. My legs felt a little stiff so I took my son on a three mile walk up to the grocery store and around the neighborhood in the stroller. I bought the wife her favorite Easter candy at the store and made her a note and will surprised her with it when she get home, she was amazing and waited for me for hours at the butt crack of dawn. I kidded with her at least for the marathon since we shuttle out you can just sleep in and meet me at the finish line. That is one great thing about a point to point race for sure.

I finally caved in and took some allergy meds around 5pm knowing it was going to knock me out and I was watching the kid but at least he is napping so I could lay down. My allergies did a number on me once more, no swimming until they are gone. Went to bed around 9:30 pm doped up on allergy meds and woke up so stuffed up I can't even blow my nose without having to use both nostrils at the same time. I can't wait for my run because that always clears me up a little, all the sweating and opening my breathing cavities.

it was a great day to become a triathlete.

Biggest Loser 5k

Ahhh the joys of running, doing things stupidly and hopefully learning from one's mistakes. Saturday morning I had my Biggest Loser 5k, something I had been looking forward to for more than a month now for several reasons. The first being the fact I haven't run a 5k race since November and in that time I have gotten vastly faster. And secondly as I would get to meet several of the contestants from the Biggest Loser, people I could relate to and wanted to talk to.

I have to admit the last several months of running since my half haven't gone very well at times and it has taken a lot to just keep plugging at times. I spent a week recovering from the horrible muscle spasms I suffered from that half and the moment I got better enough to do more than a slow miserable recovery run I got the flu which knocked me out for another week. Then another week recovery from the flu and then once I got better of course spring reared it's ugly head and my allergies set in with a force. But despite that I slowly increased my miles and actually have run seven straight weeks of 30+ miles.


But with training not going as good as I hoped and needing a shot in the arm mentally, I planned my last tempo and speed work for my race on Wednesday thinking I had a full two days to recover before my race. Many other runners called me out for this stupidity as I ran a 23:49 5k that day and followed it up by getting my full 5 miles in with another record pace of 41:31. The 5miler also resulted in a pretty good fall and tumble. Tired and about a half mile from my house my foot caught on a rock on the edge of the sidewalk as I was running past some of that rock landscaping. After several steps of trying to catch my balance you know your going down and there is nothing you can do about it. At that point it just trying to fall on the sidewalk rather than the darn rock landscaping. That wasn't to be my luck as I went down on the rocks instead. Bruised up and battered I got up and ran the last half mile home and a nice truck did stop to help and even offered me some water. So even with a minute lying on the ground stunned I still managed my best 5miler ever.

Ok on to race day details. I woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off at 6:50 am. Nervous like I always am before a race I only managed a banana and a handful of peanuts before heading out to get there before they closed the parking lot and to be eligible for early bird prizes. It was very cold I think around 28 degrees and I did not dress well for it only wearing a short sleeve tech t-shirt and shorts. Around 8:30 I went out and did a mile warm up run at an easy pace of around 11mm. And my hands were numb after just that one mile run.

Not to fazed about it I lined up at the front with a guy running about a 7mm pace and we kidded and had fun pre-race. Went out and everything went great first mile except I forgot to start my watch (so I had no idea how I finished tell Saturday night more on that later). After the first mile or so it was all uphill and not nice hills either. The gradual %2-4 grades that just wear on you after awhile. There is no mile markers so there is no clue how far you have gone at this point I said screw it lets just throw it to the wind and run what feels comfortable.


Around mile 2 somewhere who knows it was on the 2nd parking lot loop I am really starting to hurt and I decide to take a walk break but the guy next to me is like come on and encourages me and after walking for 3 steps I say screw it and pick back up running. I am cold and wet and miserable by this time but I go to the pain cave thinking I might still be in the range for a pr not knowing how long I have been on the course.

I finish and walk back up the stairs to get some refreshments and as I am getting my refreshments I notice they are calling out names and times and its been a minute or two since I finished and they are calling out high 26's and 27's. Now I know no pr there is no way I am likely somewhere in the 26 minute range and am totally depressed.

So I sit depressed and start to watch the runners finish. All the biggest loser contestants came in after me but I think they started at the back. But eventually watching all these first timers finish gives me a boost and I start cheering them on. It was so much fun to watch these runners finish something I barely found a love for just last August that it gave me the boost I needed. I sat there cheering in the rain and the cold and shivering with my teeth chattering for nearly 25 minutes tell I couldn't take it anymore as I was so freezing. I walked back to my car to get my phone to take some pictures.


And then I waited in each of the constants lines to talk to them and I showed them my before pic I had loaded on my camera pre-race. I waited in all 6 lines to get a pic with all of them and to get them to sign my bib. And since I waited in all the lines everyone else was clearing out because it was so cold and I got to actually talk with them quite a bit. Me and Ada a runner from season 10 I think who is doing marathons talked for a good 20 minutes and so did me and Daris another runner from season 9. It was so much fun to talk to them.

Still feeling depressed about my time I had to wait all day to find out my official time. Saturday night the results are finally posted and while the results are what I expected miserable I get a shocking surprise to see where I placed. My time was 26:37 but I was 22nd out of 572 runners. That was the huge boost I needed, it meant I wasn't the only one to struggled in the rain and the freezing cold and it was the first race I had ever run as a front runner one of the faster people. No awards but still wonderful to place 22nd.


I tell you what despite how miserable the race was and how cold it was and how I didn't even come close to my personal best time it was one of my favorite races I have ever done. to cheer on all those first timers and get to talk to former biggest loser contestants who are runners was amazing.

Milestones, wonderful milestones

This weekend I hit not one but two milestones. On May 19th of last year I found DailyMile and started plugging my mileage in there every day just like any OCD lunatic would. Friday I logged my 1000th mile in daily mile which was pretty exciting for me. It consisted of 883.99 miles running, 109 miles cycling and 7.21 miles swimming. Granted my the end of the day today I will be at 1031 miles as the miles do pile up quickly but it was so exciting to see daily mile say 1000 miles. And sometime by the middle of next month or earlier I should hit 1000 miles running by itself.

I do wish I would have started tracking back in January of 2009 as it would be fun to see what kind of miles I have logged in my 27 months of weight loss and craziness. 2009 was all about consistency and days in a row for me. I did a minimum walk of 1.6 miles 354 days out of 365 and it was always the goal to see how many days I could go without missing a day (longest streak was 169 days). So I know that I must have logged around 600 miles in 2009 as I also would occasionally do longer walks of 1.8 or 3.0 miles and in December of 2009 I started running and my pattern then was 2 miles running. That was also the month I joined the gym (yep didn't join a gym for 11 months and lost 110 pounds without one) and my typical day was 3 miles on the elliptical machines and 2 miles on the treadmill. So if I were to count elliptical miles I am sure I am well over 2000 right now but it was still fun to see my 1000th mile logged.

Sunday was another test run at the dreaded 15miler that has been killing me of late. My plan was good, my execution of plan was good and yet it still ended in disaster. During my 15miles I drank 34 ounces of water, 12 ounces of Gatorade, ate some GU chomps and had a GU Gel and despite all that I bonked severely around mile 14. Cramping badly I limped home once more humbled by a run longer than 12 miles. I am at a loss where to go next with trying to figure out this problem. A lot of solutions have been offered to me and the next test is going to be sodium tablets to see if it's just more than an electrolyte imbalance. After that maybe some hammer anti fatigue caps, and who knows what else. With six months to go tell the marathon the problem of runs longer than 12 miles still humbles me. But at least I know I got plenty of time to figure the problem out and do something about it.

There could have been a lot of other factors involved yesterday from the fact that it was very warm for the first time this year resulting in me getting quite the sunburn to the fact that I altered my route. Normally on a 15miler I do three loops of my normal 5 mile loop. But growing weary of the same 5 mile loop every day I increased my loop to 6.33 miles doing it twice and then doing a 2.33 mile loop to finish it all off. And the extra 1.33 miles of the loop alas were all uphill on a hill that could give the Veyo hill on the marathon course a run for it's money. It's a two mile hill on grades of %8-12 and just never seems to end. I think the Veyo hill might be more steep but at least it has the courtesy of ending after a mile or so. Adding these two additional factors in to what was already giving me problems probably was not wise. But that led me too milestone number 2.

Pre-run I weighed myself at 217 pounds and post run I weighed myself and I was down to 211 pounds. That means I lost a whopping 6 pounds in 2 hours and 50 minutes beat that biggest loser. It also meant for the first time I had lost more than 200 pounds since I starting losing weight making my grand total 204 pounds. I reweighed myself this morning and I kept 4 pounds of it off only going back up to 213 pounds making it official. I have lost 202 pounds in 27 months or 48.6% of my total body weight. This was my original goal more than two years ago and know I wonder if I can get down to 200 pounds or 190 pounds.

So two milestones in one weekend, sore muscles, cramps, sunburn and looking for a new strategy what more can one ask.

It never gets easier, so suck it up buttercup

Here I am again probably coming down sick once more (kids are germ machines I tell you) and it got me reflecting on how it never seems to get easier. They always tell you when you start running or working out hey it will get easier eventually. That or we try and fool ourselves into thinking that and I am sure it would get easier if we stopped trying to obtain new heights and always pushing ourselves further and further.

So yesterday was supposed to be my first 40 mile running week ever, I had already put the 25 miles in leading up to what was supposed to cap the week off a 15mile long run. Saturday night sitting on the couch chilling my son walks up to my wife who is sitting on the other couch and throws up on her and the couch. So I am already freaking out about getting sick again as I hate being sick and have already been sick twice this winter. Despite being a little tired and feeling a little under the weather I veered out for my long run determined to not let it beat me. The first 5 miles go ok nothing great as I have been fighting lead legs the last few days already. Knowing I want to switch to gatorade half way through the run I decide to run my 2 mile loop in reverse as I have a gatorade stashed in the bushes. This is where the wheels fell off the bus. Seven miles in I feel like I have nothing left in the tank but I refuse to give up but not being able to face the uphill on my three mile loop I also decide to run that in reverse as well.

Big mistake, while the first mile is all uphill going normal it does then turn into a nice two mile downhill run after that. Going in reverse only enjoys me a quarter of mile of downhill before having to face some serious uphills. About a mile in and running all uphill I am done and like a dog with its head between his legs I head back home enjoying the downhill I just ran up. Still determined to not be beaten I attempt my 2 mile loop in reverse again and only get a half mile in before giving up and heading home. All told I managed 10 miles of my planned 15miler which is quite the accomplishment with how bad I felt after the first seven miles.

It's been a very rough month of struggles first recovering from my half marathon and muscle spams then getting sick and having to recover from that to only be hit by allergies as soon as I recover from being sick. Then of course to finding myself getting sick once more. It almost makes you want to give up but then I got to thinking about it never getting easier and realized it has gotten easier I have just made it harder and harder as time went by.

This time last year I ran a 39 minute 5k several times a week with the other days just being two mile runs in about 25 minutes. That 13 minute mile wouldn't even be close to my slow recovery pace as my regular runs are at or just below 10 minute miles and my recovery runs are at 11 minute miles. My race paces are sub 9 minute miles as I have run several tempo runs at a near 8 minute mile pace several times the last month or so in training for my upcoming 5k. Not to mention my normal run is now 5 miles a day and usually under 50 minutes. I am sure if I were to run one of those 39 minute 5k's it would feel vastly easy and almost not even like a workout. So it has gotten easier but I have made it harder.

Last week I was surprised at what had happened to the person I had become. I got home from a bicycle commute from work and went inside put my bike away, kissed the wife hello, grabbed a handful of peanuts to eat and instantly left to go for a 5mile run. Two years ago I could have never imagined being that person who could so easily go from a 5mile bike to a 5mile run and not even need any rest in between. Or the fact that it had become so common place that I didn't even need to think about it anymore.

It does get easier but we always want to improve ourselves so sometimes we lose focus and get frustrated and lament why isn't this any easier. We forget we are no longer that 13 minute mile runner and that because we want to better ourselves we are always striving for new heights and new achievements.

If your doing it right it will likely never get easier, so suck it up buttercup and keep pushing yourselves because you may never know where you might find yourselves.