Right before I grabbed some dinner I noticed the sky looked pretty cool. So I grabbed my camera and jumped out on the fire escape...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Mammoth pictures
Over Labor Day we went camping in Mammoth Lakes with our friends Mike and Cindy (also newlyweds). It was a great weekend all around. Good times with our friends, nice weather, and some good hikes. The first afternoon, we did a low key hike to Devil's Postpile (a volcanic formation) and Rainbow Falls. Then the next day, we did a 13 mile round trip hike to Minaret Lake. We all agreed it was one of the best - if not the best - hikes any of us had been on. And the amazing thing, is that there were very few others on the trail. Even though it was a holiday weekend.
Here are the pics...
Here are the pics...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Battle
In my recent post I talked about racing to enjoy the battle versus racing with anxiety. I finally felt like I engaged in the battle last Saturday in the 4 mile Golden Gate Park XC Open. My overall place wasn't spectacular - 22nd in a very competitive field - but I beat some guys I've never beaten before, came very close to others, and put a few of the guys who I was neck and neck throughout the Spring road races 45-90 seconds in my rearview mirror. I also beat one of last year's top Dipsea finishers by over a minute, and was only 20 seconds behind the guy who won the fastest time trophy. Should I be shooting for a single digit black t-shirt in June? Well, don't want to get too far ahead of myself!
What else felt good was in the last mile as we headed up and over the last hill, I passed a group of 4 runners in front of me, holding the final guy off in an all out kick. It was great to win my part of the battle. Here was a pic taken just before the finish (I'm a little off balance thanks to a downhill turn on the finishing stretch).
The third guy in the photo tried to yell "on your left" to me on a single track section in the last mile... Hope he learned his lesson there.
Next up is the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge tomorrow night. It's a flat, but usually windy 3.5 miler. It's a fun race, but competitive. I'll just try to enjoy it, while hopefully running a fast time.
Also, mammoth was amazing two weekends ago. I have some great pics, that I'll hopefully post soon.
What else felt good was in the last mile as we headed up and over the last hill, I passed a group of 4 runners in front of me, holding the final guy off in an all out kick. It was great to win my part of the battle. Here was a pic taken just before the finish (I'm a little off balance thanks to a downhill turn on the finishing stretch).
The third guy in the photo tried to yell "on your left" to me on a single track section in the last mile... Hope he learned his lesson there.
Next up is the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge tomorrow night. It's a flat, but usually windy 3.5 miler. It's a fun race, but competitive. I'll just try to enjoy it, while hopefully running a fast time.
Also, mammoth was amazing two weekends ago. I have some great pics, that I'll hopefully post soon.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Race for the Chase
When I stared this blog, I threatened to write about NASCAR but never did. Well tonight I'm excited to watcth the last race before the 10 race playoff starts. After tonight, the top 12 drivers have a shot at the championship, and everone else is driving in circles.
I haven't been to any races yet this year, and haven't even watched many races, but it has been an interesting season. After 25 races, only 4 drivers have mathematically locked in a spot in the 12 driver playoff (the chase for the championship). The 5th place driver (Carl Edwards) could potentially miss the playoff, and the 15th place driver (David Reutimann) could sneak in. I'm excited to see the race!
Biggest surprise this year: Has to be Tony Stewart. He left his team where we won two Cup titles to become a majority owner/driver of a 2nd tier team. I thought he was throwing his career away for money. Well, he's won 3 races (plus the all star race) and is leading the points.
Biggest choke: Kyle Busch. He won 8 races last year, dominating the regular season. After he choked in last year's chase, he's 14th in the Standings with one race to go before the Chase - despite winning 4 races. WEAK.
Most obvious prediction: Jimmy Johnson will win his 4th championship. This team is just too good, and they use the whole season getting ready to be perfect for the chase. He'll win again. People won't be happy, and poeple won't be mad. And it's bad for NASCAR.
Biggest breakthrough this year / Dark Horse for next year: Marcos Ambrose. The Australian has posted top 5's this year on the road courses, at Talledega, and at Pocono. If he can figure out the shorter tracks, he'll be a force next year.
Last year's dark horse who choked this year: David Regan. He drives for UPS and I don't think I've heard his name all year. TERRIBLE.
GREEN FLAG!!!
I haven't been to any races yet this year, and haven't even watched many races, but it has been an interesting season. After 25 races, only 4 drivers have mathematically locked in a spot in the 12 driver playoff (the chase for the championship). The 5th place driver (Carl Edwards) could potentially miss the playoff, and the 15th place driver (David Reutimann) could sneak in. I'm excited to see the race!
Biggest surprise this year: Has to be Tony Stewart. He left his team where we won two Cup titles to become a majority owner/driver of a 2nd tier team. I thought he was throwing his career away for money. Well, he's won 3 races (plus the all star race) and is leading the points.
Biggest choke: Kyle Busch. He won 8 races last year, dominating the regular season. After he choked in last year's chase, he's 14th in the Standings with one race to go before the Chase - despite winning 4 races. WEAK.
Most obvious prediction: Jimmy Johnson will win his 4th championship. This team is just too good, and they use the whole season getting ready to be perfect for the chase. He'll win again. People won't be happy, and poeple won't be mad. And it's bad for NASCAR.
Biggest breakthrough this year / Dark Horse for next year: Marcos Ambrose. The Australian has posted top 5's this year on the road courses, at Talledega, and at Pocono. If he can figure out the shorter tracks, he'll be a force next year.
Last year's dark horse who choked this year: David Regan. He drives for UPS and I don't think I've heard his name all year. TERRIBLE.
GREEN FLAG!!!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Races, Long Runs, Workouts, and Days Missed
Jeff Edmonds has a fascinating blog. In his most recent post he talks about the extremes of philosphy in its purest form & racing in its purest form. While Jeff finished his PH.D in philosophy this past spring, I know very little on the matter. But I'll take a quote from his blog (hopefully not out of context): "philosophy in its purest form, like all living things, can never be completed."
As a runner, training can never be completed. Steve Prefontaine said "If you are a runner your never completely satisfied unless you get a World's Record." I dare say that Steve Prefontaine would not have been completely satisfied even if he did break a world record. This is the man who held the American record at 2000 meters, 3000 meters, 2 miles, 3 miles, 5000 meters, 6 miles, and 10000 meters the night he died.
So why did I fall in love with a sport in high school, come to loath it by the end of college, and rediscover a passion for it in my 30's? A sport where you can never be completely satisfied? Well... what do I look like? A man with all the answers?
I think the answer is that I enjoy the challenge of training again. I'm excited for my track workouts, and not anxious. As a runner if you don't enjoy that grind, then you'll be way too impatient if you don't see the race results immediately. A recent Wall Street Journal article featuring Kara Goucher discussed the approaches that African runners take compared to Americans runners. "Africans 'enjoy the battle' in endurance running while most Westerners 'race with anxiety.'" I still have some anxiety in races, which must be part of why my races haven't reflected my training.
Moving on.. I had my first race of the year 2 weeks ago finishing 19th in the Santa Cruz XC race in 22:11 (compared to 21st place in 22:57 last year). I'd rate the performance as not bad, but not great. My place didn't improve much from last year, but that was due to a much more competitive turnout. The race climbs steadily for the 1st mile, mostly uphill (but rolling) for the 2nd mile, then turns around and runs back down. Somehow I managed to die in the last mile going downhill. But had I held my position it would have been a good race. One thing I promised myself this year was to not get too disappointed anytime I significantly improved a performance from last year. So I'll stick to that.
Next up is a 4 mile race in Golden Gate park. This is a course I've raced several times, but usually on the 6 mile course (which is just one additional 2 mile loop). I ran the 6m course - the league championship - at 5:31 pace last year. My last race on the 4 mile course was my 5th year of college coming back from injuries. I ran that race in 21:15. If I can get anywhere close to that time I'll be really happy.
My best workout of the summer were 5 times a ~1400 meter (7/8 mile) loop where we ran 800 meters around the base of a big hill, then 600 meters charging up the hill. I managed to stay relaxed on the flat part, then be able to really attack the top of the hill. It's been the only time I've ever managed to push our top runner all the way through a workout. On the last interval he was 10 meters in front, when I caught him looking back. That was all I needed to quickly catch him, then sprint along side to the top. After the Santa Cruz race (where he finished in 2nd place roughly 2 minutes ahead of me), he joked how when he was tired at one point of the race he told himself "this is nothing compared to running the hills with Gifford". Well... glad I could help him with that one aspect of his training. Now I just need to work on running flats and downills!
Other than that, I've gotten a lot of good mileage & long runs. Last week was frustrating because I had hoped for a good week of mileage, but missed running all together on Friday when we headed to Washington, DC, and I only managed a very short run Sunday. But Dana & I had a great time at Tyson's wedding, then kicked around the Mall and the Air & Space Museum Sunday. So it was a great weekend. And I'm sure I won't have any problem making up for the runs missed.
This weekend we're heading up to Mammoth Lakes for some camping and hiking.
As a runner, training can never be completed. Steve Prefontaine said "If you are a runner your never completely satisfied unless you get a World's Record." I dare say that Steve Prefontaine would not have been completely satisfied even if he did break a world record. This is the man who held the American record at 2000 meters, 3000 meters, 2 miles, 3 miles, 5000 meters, 6 miles, and 10000 meters the night he died.
So why did I fall in love with a sport in high school, come to loath it by the end of college, and rediscover a passion for it in my 30's? A sport where you can never be completely satisfied? Well... what do I look like? A man with all the answers?
I think the answer is that I enjoy the challenge of training again. I'm excited for my track workouts, and not anxious. As a runner if you don't enjoy that grind, then you'll be way too impatient if you don't see the race results immediately. A recent Wall Street Journal article featuring Kara Goucher discussed the approaches that African runners take compared to Americans runners. "Africans 'enjoy the battle' in endurance running while most Westerners 'race with anxiety.'" I still have some anxiety in races, which must be part of why my races haven't reflected my training.
Moving on.. I had my first race of the year 2 weeks ago finishing 19th in the Santa Cruz XC race in 22:11 (compared to 21st place in 22:57 last year). I'd rate the performance as not bad, but not great. My place didn't improve much from last year, but that was due to a much more competitive turnout. The race climbs steadily for the 1st mile, mostly uphill (but rolling) for the 2nd mile, then turns around and runs back down. Somehow I managed to die in the last mile going downhill. But had I held my position it would have been a good race. One thing I promised myself this year was to not get too disappointed anytime I significantly improved a performance from last year. So I'll stick to that.
Next up is a 4 mile race in Golden Gate park. This is a course I've raced several times, but usually on the 6 mile course (which is just one additional 2 mile loop). I ran the 6m course - the league championship - at 5:31 pace last year. My last race on the 4 mile course was my 5th year of college coming back from injuries. I ran that race in 21:15. If I can get anywhere close to that time I'll be really happy.
My best workout of the summer were 5 times a ~1400 meter (7/8 mile) loop where we ran 800 meters around the base of a big hill, then 600 meters charging up the hill. I managed to stay relaxed on the flat part, then be able to really attack the top of the hill. It's been the only time I've ever managed to push our top runner all the way through a workout. On the last interval he was 10 meters in front, when I caught him looking back. That was all I needed to quickly catch him, then sprint along side to the top. After the Santa Cruz race (where he finished in 2nd place roughly 2 minutes ahead of me), he joked how when he was tired at one point of the race he told himself "this is nothing compared to running the hills with Gifford". Well... glad I could help him with that one aspect of his training. Now I just need to work on running flats and downills!
Other than that, I've gotten a lot of good mileage & long runs. Last week was frustrating because I had hoped for a good week of mileage, but missed running all together on Friday when we headed to Washington, DC, and I only managed a very short run Sunday. But Dana & I had a great time at Tyson's wedding, then kicked around the Mall and the Air & Space Museum Sunday. So it was a great weekend. And I'm sure I won't have any problem making up for the runs missed.
This weekend we're heading up to Mammoth Lakes for some camping and hiking.
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