Jamey's blog

California International Marathon - Part 1 - The Race

2011-12-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

If you had talked to me recently (or read my blog update), you might have known I was gearing up for my first marathon in 6 years. I often like to write down what I was thinking and how I was feeling before a race, and similarly record my post-race reaction. I want to circle back, and fill in that part, but since I have 26.2 miles to cover, I'll break with my normal practice and jump right into the race.

The background info I'll quickly note is when I signed up for the race my goal was 2:33 - 2:35 (5:50 - 5:55 pace). After running most my "marathon pace" workouts in the low 5:40s, I was more optimistic, but still wanted a conservative race plan - to run the first half marathon in 1:16:00 - 1:17:00 (5:48 - 5:52 pace).

The race morning was much like my last marathon 6 years ago - clear skies, calm winds, but pretty chilly (in the high 30s). Just after daylight broke, I found myself on the starting line with a pair of gloves and arm-warmers. Even though this wasn't a Chicago Marathon type field, I knew there enough elite runners - particularly those gunning for their last chance to make the Olympic Trials next month - that I didn't need to be anywhere close to the front row. I figured spotting some of my eventual competitors 10 seconds early on was easily worth the trade off of not getting sucked into way too fast of an early pace.

As the starting horn went off, and I cross the start line 3 seconds later, it just didn't feel like a race. It felt like a long run with a ton of other people, just a bit faster than my normal everyday running pace. I chatted with other runners I knew as we all settled into our paces. Shortly after the start I saw a large pack of women who I figured were gunning for their Olympic trials standard of 2:46 (and sure enough quite of few of them nailed it). As the first few miles are mostly downhill I eased into a smooth comfortable pace, and slowly moved forward in the large pack. The first mile was 5:48. I was almost relieved - I was going fast enough but not too fast! The second split was 5:52. I quickly questioned - was that too slow? was that too much effort? But just as quick, I shut the mental rambling off - I had well over 2 overs left to run, and I was still getting warmed up, and there would surely be a lot of ups and downs.

In the 3rd mile I definitely started to feel good. I figured out pretty early in the race that I was going to run my own race, rather than try to key off other runners. Mile 3 was 5:38 - faster than I should be running this early, but didn't concern me as we're still going downhill. Now I'm reeling in a large pack that includes the 3 female leaders, plus a couple West Valley teammates who are shooting to run sub 2:30. The 4th mile was 5:33. WHOA BUDDY - CHILL OUT! At this point I pretty much slam on the breaks. The last mile felt totally relaxed, but I knew there was probably no better way to torpedo a good marathon opportunity than to run way too fast in the first quarter of the race.

From the 5th mile through the half way point, I established a really smooth consistent rhythm. Through that stretch - every mile split was 5:42-5:44 (other than one 5:40). I was doing exactly what I told myself not to do - running faster than the 1:16 pace I set as a speed limit, but it just felt too easy not to put myself in a position to possibly break 2:30. The short uphills would strain my breathing ever so slightly, but it would quickly return to normal on the flat & downhill sections. At some point - probably around 6 miles - I felt the first hint of lactic acid in my legs, but nothing to fear, it had to happen at some point. I just focused on keeping a smooth relaxed stride.

The pack of runners who I almost caught in the 4th mile, remained 50 or meters ahead. Right around the 9th mile I finally caught up to them, announcing my presence to teammates Jonah B. and Jason "The Rookie". The Rookie let out an excited "Hey Gifford!" while Jonah said much more calmly "Jamey's going for it." I really thought I would relax and just run with this pack for a while. However, the pace I had settled into slowly eased me ahead of the group. Just ahead, I caught the three lead woman - one American and two Africans. There were a handful of bicycles riding along side along with a motorcycle cop. It was unclear if they were on course support for the leaders or just interested spectators. One of the bikes was almost blocking my path to a water station; I knew getting worked up would only take away energy I needed to run, so I just eased off for a couple strides and cut over. Just before 11 miles I pulled ahead of the women, but didn't realize I was serving as their temporary rabbit until I heard some words in Swahili (I assumed) right behind me. That was a new experience for me!

I hit the half marathon split - now just clear of the lead women - in 1:14:53. So much for my planned pacing. While I wouldn't call the effort really hard at this point, it definitely wasn't easy. Mentally the first half of the race went by very quickly. I knew the second half would be a lot harder. Different parts of my legs and feet would ache, then go away. I could deal with discomfort, I just didn't want to see anything turn into a muscle cramp. The 15th and 16th miles were tough. The mile 15 split was 5:52 - my first mile slower than 5:45 since the 2nd mile. I'd lie if there wasn't a little concern that my early pace might be catching up with me. Shortly after that, I hear footsteps behind - and it's The Rookie and Gus Gibbs (who had taken a pee stop) blowing past me as their running ~5:30 splits. They invite me to jump on the train, but I'm not feeling it; I just need to keep my own race on track.

After a rough couple miles, I hit the mile 16 with a 5:43 split. I was back on pace. I felt a big confidence boost. Only 10 miles to go. This might be the toughest 10 miles I'll run all year, but how many times have I run 10 miles the past 4 months (that was rhetorical)?

From mile 16 - 20 it was back to focusing on a smooth stride. My legs were hurting pretty consistently now, but I could deal with it. I would see runners well ahead and slowly reel them in. Mile 19 was my second fastest of the race in 5:37. I started having visions of throwing the hammer down in the last 6 miles to put myself well under 2:30.

The 20 mile mark was announced with a couple fake walls that you run between & a couple women dressed in grim reaper costumes. I grabbed my last Gu gel, which just about made me barf. After taking as much sports drink as I could, I figured I wouldn't need much more water. Mile 21 was 5:43, but the legs were feeling really beat up. The last hill of the course was the ramp to a bridge over the American River just before the 22 mark. It's not a steep hill, but it HURTS at this point. I tried to hold my pace up the ramp, but it hurt, and my legs never came back to me after that.

The last four miles were rough. I knew I was slowing down a little, but it was time to just grit it out. Somehow I was still mostly passing people. Miles 23 and 24 were both 5:53. I'm slowing down, but the wheels aren't falling off. With two miles to go a couple runners catch me, and I just try to latch on. I'm even thinking I can find a gear and manage to run a couple fairly fast last miles. But where the brain was willing the legs weren't. Mile 25 was still a respectable 5:48, but then I just hit a level of pain I hadn't felt all race. The 26th mile is a long straight shot down L street by the state capitol in Sacramento. I keep looking ahead toward the first of two left turns before finishing right in front of the capitol. As I look ahead it just doesn't seem to get closer. Spectators cheer my effort, but as I grit I had to yell "let's go Gifford". Somehow I thought I was thinking my finishing time might be 2:32, but that was clearly a lack of mental capacity late in the race.

I hit the 26 split - 5:55 - my slowest of the race, but was elated I made the first left turn too see a race clock just over 2:30. There was a huge crowd, and I made the final turn to the finish line with a huge smile on my face.

The final time was 2:30:29!

I'll say more in part 2, but have to say a quick thanks to my wife Dana - of course for supporting my training, but for getting out on the course to cheer and support me. Also to our coach Jack, for preparing us, and for great race day support as well.

Being the excel dork I am, here are a couple charts - the first with each mile split, and the second my projected finishing pace at each mile mark:

Finally - it was great to see little Jack at the finish line :)

PA Cross Country Championships

2011-12-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

My life hasn't been all marathon training. On November 20th, I laced up my spikes for one of my favorite annual races - the PA Cross Country Championships. The race - 3 times around a hilly 2 mile loop in SF's Golden Gate Park. It's a nice challenging race to cap off the cross country season, and fun to get all the club teams together in the same race.

With rain falling for much of the week leading up, I knew it would be muddy one! Here's a quick recap.

I have to say in all my years of cross country, that this was probably the sloppiest course that I have ever run on! It was muddy last year, but my footing was firm enough with spikes on. This year I was sliding all over the place even with my spikes on. After watching the men's master's race, I noticed there was a tight lead pack of 5-6 runners but after that the field spread out quickly. In past PA Champs I liked to go out pretty conservatively on the first loop, then work my way up, but this year I was thinking "track position" (to use a NASCAR term) seemed pretty important. I had confidence from my increased mileage and the longer tempo work from marathon training that I could hold on after a quicker early pace. It was a weird experience to be within 5 seconds of teammate Neville Davey (who has won several PA races recently) & others at the mile mark, but a quick internal systems check told me the pace was ok. I gave up a few positions at the end of the first loop as I let myself regroup, then started moving forward again at the bottom of the hill on the second loop. Close to halfway the race seemed to be going by fast. 3 miles in I felt confident I could keep pressing hard without blowing up, so I made an effort to surge by any runners who appeared to be falling back. On the 3rd and final loop I was battling with a strawberry canyon runner. He opened a 5 second gap on the flat section by the polo field. Up the last hill and down into the meadow I was reeling him in, but just ran out of room near the finish as he crossed 1 second in front. While this wasn't my best time ever on the course (I ran about a minute faster under dry conditions), I feel pretty good that this was my best effort of the 5 PA champs I've run. Final results - 32nd place in 33:34 (6.1 miles)

It's now the day before CIM. We're about to load up the car for Sacramento. I'll check back in after the race!

Feeling the Marathon Groove

2011-11-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

For most of my life, most of the people who have known me, know that I'm a runner. And man, if I had a dollar for every time I heard:

How many marathons have you run?
Oh you so run a lot of marathons?
What's your fastest marathon?

I always kept a few snarky responses in my repitoir like "I like to run fast, not far" or "Oprah ran a marathon, real men run fast." Usually I would be far more gracious and briefly explain how I like traing to get faster at shorter distances (as if running 5K's and 10K's makes me a sprinter).

In 2005 - when I was 3 years out of college, I felt like I needed a project outside of work. It's not terribly far from the truth to say that I finally realized it would be less work to just go run a marathon rather than keep explaining why I've never run one. I turned my 3 - 4 days a week of afternoon 4 or 5 mile runs into the same distance 5 days a week plus a weekend long run. I showed up at the California International Marathon, and dispite some digestive complications ran a solid 2:43. That 20 mile bonk never happened, in fact I didn't slow at all in the later miles, it just started to hurt worse and worse!

After that 2005 CIM I was excited to run another, but as other interests crept into my life, I was running less and less... A few years later, I joined the West Valley Track Club & started training again, but I was having so much fun working on getting my speed back, that I never looked toward the 26.2 distance, at least not in the near term.

Heading into this fall's cross country season, I knew I needed more overall endurance. The couple years I have been comfortable rolling on fast intervals on the track, but couldn't hold paces anywhere close during races of 5K and longer. I always like hearing what elite runners have to about their races, and something that my college teammate Lauren Fleshman said really struck me. Lauren finished a very impressive 7th at the World Championships 5,000 meter race, staying in contact with the leaders until 2 laps to go! Afterward she was asked if she would work on her speed so that she could run a 60 second last lap like the best in the world could do. Her response (paraphrased) - I've run 60 seconds at the end of a 5K before, but off a slower pace. I don't need more speed, I need more strength so I can tap into my speed at the end of a fast pace like this.

I had been realizing the same thing about my running. All the track speed in the world won't help me run a 5K or 10K if the wheels are going to fall off after 10 minutes of hard running. I also looked back at prior seasons and just saw myself taking way too many short cuts. I needed that true pyramid style training program. First build the volume, then the endurance, then after the foundation was in place start working on the higher quality work.

Over the summer I looked to build my mileage to consistently be at 60-70 miles per week, with frequent tempo and progression runs, and finally long runs around 2 hours (~17 miles). Other than occasional strides, I wasn't worried about tapping into speed and fast interval work until well after the cross country races started in late August. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had the thought - if everything goes well, let's look toward finally returning to the Cal International Marathon, 6 years later.

Building endurance (or as runners call it "strength") over sharpness worked well. Out of the 6 PA cross country races I ran, I hit my fastest times ever on 4 of those courses. In late September & early October, when it came time to add more race specific fitness, the workout paces felt fast, but I found myself just not getting as tired toward the end of workouts as I used to.

Encouraged by my mileage, and the consistency of my longer workouts, I decided to pull the trigger and enter this year's CIM. Still I felt the need to cap my training cycle with a good 3 weeks of high volume, and marathon specific workouts. Over the previous three weeks, I hit weekly mileage over 70, and long runs of 20, 20, 23, 21 miles. Toward the end of last week, the training was taking it's toll. I was tired most the time, and ALWAYS sore. I told my wife that I was loving the feeling of being fit, but really looking forward to starting my taper.

Finally last Sunday, the last day of that three week (plus one day counting the previous week's long run) stretch, was the day to do my toughest marathon workout. The idea was to run 8 miles, starting slow then progressing the pace, then finishing with 12 miles at marathon pace - targeting 5:50 to 5:55 per mile. I woke up super early to eat so that I could start the workout at 7am - the time the race would be starting. Sawyer Camp in San Mateo is a favorite place to work out with it's half mile distance markers and scenic views. The first 8 miles went smoothly, I started at 7 min per mile and ended just over 6 min pace, averaging 6:25 / mile. Back at the car I quickly changed to some lighter shoes, ate a gel, and headed out for the fun part. The excitement got to me quickly as I rolled through the first mile in 5:35. That was lesson 1 of what not to do in the race. I settled down and then ran between 5:45 - 5:50 for the next 3 miles. I was going faster than I intended but felt comfortable enough. Miles 5 and 6 were uphill, so I wasn't worred the pace was slower than 6:00. At the turn around, I let gravity do the work running 5:25 and 5:30 for 7 & 8. I knew the last 4 miles would be tough as I'd be tired and going from downhill to flat running again. Regardless the pace never wavered as I hit splits of 5:34 - 5:38 for the last 4. My average pace for the 12 miles was 5:43 pace - exactly 2:30 marathon pace!

It's great when you have that one workout that gives you a huge confidence boost heding into a big race. I was feeling the marathon groove. The race is 15 days away, I'm ready to go!

What's new?

2011-11-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

This little guy!

Jack Gifford was born on September 6th, and Dana & I have really been enjoying being a family now.

So, I think I can be forgiven for not updating my blog in a while. Right? I've mostly used my blog as a platform to write about my training, racing, and recovering. Before we had our baby, I talked to Dana about wanting to keep training. I've found that I have to be much more efficient with my time (stretching, huh?) but after taking a consistent & balanced approach, I'm healthy and in as good of shape as I've been at any point since college.

As if parenthood isn't enough of a challenge - and believe me it is - I've signed up for the California International Marathon on December 6th.

I'm sure Jack will make occasional appearances here, but in the coming weeks (hopefully) Dana and I will set up a baby blog. I love when people I don't know stumble across this blog, and take it as a very nice compliment to receive comments. But in a crazy occupy this occupy that world, I think it's best to have a private blog if we're going to give info about the comings and goings of our family. So, if you're a friend or family I'll be happy to give access once we set it up (you can email trackgiff@yahoo.com).

Finally - let's go Stanford & beat those Ducks!

NASCAR Chase to the Championship odds

2011-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, when I started this blog, I threatened to write about NASCAR from time to time. Since it's been 2 years, I think it's time!

The NASCAR season is two races into its ten race Chase to the Championship playoff format. I've really enjoyed the season so far, with its multiple first time winners - starting with 20 year old Trevor Bayne's shocker at Daytona - and excellent feuds like Jimmie Johnson vs Kurt Busch.

So just before the green flag drops at race #3 Dover, here is how I see each of the 12 eligible drivers chances. (Drivers are listed in order of their current rank with # of points behind the leader. At each race 1 point is awarded for 43rd place, increasing 1 point per place up to 42 points for 2nd, and 47 points for the win).

Driver (Points back) Odds to win the Chase

#1 Tony Stewart (0) 12-1 odds
Stewart barely qualified for the Chase after struggling throughout the summer. Then he comes in and wins the first two races of the playoff to take the points lead and place himself well ahead of pre-chase favorites like Jimmie Johnson & Kyle Busch. I'm not convinced yet. Tony was very impressive the last two weeks, but on the whole it has still been a slightly better than mediocre year.

#2 Kevin Harvick (-7) 8-1 odds
I think Harvick will end up being a lot more dangerous in this Chase than Tony Stewart. Over the past few years Harvick has proven himself good at winning races he shouldn't have won. If he can win 2 or 3 races he'll be in a great spot. His weakness was his lack of consistency throughout the season. It only takes a couple mid pack finishes to put your championship dreams in jeopardy.

#3 Brad Keselowski (-11) 5-1 odds
In early July I wouldn't have even taken 5-1 odds on BK making the Chase. Then after improving throughout July, he won at Pocono, followed by a 2nd, then a 3rd, then another win at Bristol. In the last 8 races, his worst finish was 12th, and second worst finish was 6th. History would suggest his current streak has to cool off at some point. If he runs the next 8 races anywhere close to as well as the last 8, then he'll be hoisting the Sprint Cup trophy after the Homestead race, and there won't be anyone close to him.

#4 Carl Edwards (-14) 7-2 odds
Edwards is officially my favorite to win the Cup this year. He is tied for the most top 5's (13) and has more top 10's (19) than any other driver. Edwards will look forward to 4 more mile and a half tracks where he runs better than any other driver. His weakness is that he only has one win on the season. I'll say this - he won't win the championhip without winning at least one race - most likely at Kansas, Charlotte, or Texas.

#5 Jeff Gordon (-23) 8-1 odds
Gordon is the first of several contenders who dug himself into an early hole with a 24th place finish at Chicago. The 40 year old is far from out of it. He was run well, and he's been there before - it's just been been a while!

#6 Kyle Busch (-26) 10-1 odds
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Kyle Busch is the most talented driver in NASCAR. He's still only 26 years old with 23 wins at the Cup level (not to mention a gazillion in the lower series). Kyle is tied for the most wins (4) and top 5's (13) this season. If Kyle does what he is best at - winning races - he will be the champion. His past weakness was a lack of maturity. He has to find a way to run well on those days when things aren't going right. He's gotten much better this year, and when he finally gets a full handle on his emotions, he'll be a multiple time Cup champion

#7 Matt Kenseth (-26) 20-1 odds
Kenseth is a past champion, but it was before NASCAR introduced the playoff format. He has had a solid year and will have a solid Chase, but unless several other drivers have a lot of bad luck, Kenseth won't be a real factor.

#8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-26) 100-1 odds
Dale Jr is that guy who almost everyone is pulling for. Early career success suggested he had the talent his dad did. Unfortunatley I think he's more like the next Kyle Petty. Making the Chase was a big improvement over prior years. The best they can hope for is to visit victory lane once this year.

#9 Kurt Busch (-28) 22-1 odds
Kurt (Kyle's older brother) is one of five past champions in the Chase. Earlier in the season he looked like a real contender, but has put himself in a tough spot after two races into the Chase. His only chance of getting back in this is to figure out what his teammate Brad Keselowski has done to run so well lately.

#10 Jimmie Johnson (-29) 7-1 odds
I can't believe JJ is sitting where he is. Two years ago I predicted he would win his 4th straight championship, and he did. Last year I said his run was over, and I was wrong! This year, I really think his reign is over, but his odds are still decent, because no other team can overcome adversity like the 48.

#11 Ryan Newman (-34) 200-1 odds
Newman's season was a big improvement over prior years, but he was never championship material even before falling way behind. I expect him to just fall further back over the coming weeks.

#12 Denny Hamlin (-66) 125-1 odds
Last year Denny almost won the championship. This year they have been terrible. Well, maybe not terrible, but he was the last driver to make the chase, and after two bad runs has dug himself into a deeper hole. If he wins at Taladega while the other 11 drivers crash, then he'll have a chance, but still not a good one.

We'll check back in late November and see how I did!

Dana's photo project

2011-09-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last year I got Dana a cool camera for her birthday, then this Spring she was taking a series of photography classes. Since opportunities to be a running model don't knock on my door very often (ok never), I was excited when she chose a pair of my running shoes for a class project (the Brooks T5 racers which I set my half marathon and 30K PRs if you have to know). There were even a few picture of these shoes on my feet.

2011 Dipsea

2011-08-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

When I ran my first Dipsea Race in 2009, it quickly became my favorite race. It wouldn’t be terribly inaccurate to say the Dipsea was my favorite race even first I toed the line that first year. For a detailed description of the race & course, it's here recap from 2009 or 2010, but to summarize it:

is the 2^nd oldest foot race in the US behind the Boston Marathon

covers 7.5 miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, CA climbing and descending over 2000 of elevation, up hundreds of steps, down hundreds of steps, long brutal climbs, steep dangerous descents, and even gives knowledgeable participants opportunities to take shortcuts

assigns each participant into 1 of 25 starting groups based on their age and gender, so that in theory the overall winner could be any age – a 33 year old runner such as myself starts 1 minute before the “scratch” group of 19-30 year old males, and 24 minutes after the first group to starts (consisting of the youngest and oldest runners)

instead of awarding age group prizes, hands out 35 black numbered t-shirts to the first 35 runners (out of 1500) to cross the finish line (each having received their assigned handicap at the start) – I won my first black shirt last year by finishing 19^th

From my past two races, I had always wondered what it would be like to finish 36^th place – to miss the black t-shirts and participating in the award ceremony by one spot. Sure it wouldn’t be anything like the anguish of finishing 4^th in the Olympic Trials, or being the last person to not qualify for the NCAA championships in a track race, but has to be disappointing nonetheless. Hmmm… Glad I didn’t think about it too much…

Heading into the race, I was coming off a great season of training, but whether for reasons of over-training, or just peaking too early, I had just seemed to lose the snap in my stride for the month leading up to the race, and was struggling to recover between hard workouts. But to make matters worse, I came down with a cold exactly a week before the race. Lots of sleep, hydration, echinacea , and vitamin C just couldn’t shake it.

Despite the setback, I drove to Mill Valley the morning of the race with a good attitude. My prior goal of finishing in the top 10 would likely be out of reach, but I was extremely confident I could and would finish in the top 35 and win a black shirt. Last year it took a time of approximately 54:30 (from my +1 minute starting group) to crack the shirts – and 54 flat would have won a shirt in each of the past 15 years. Considering I ran 52:40 last year, and all my training indicated better fitness this year, I envisioned taking the race by feel, and if the cold was holding me back, just run a conservative race and shoot for 54 flat. I could do this by running 30 seconds slower up and over the first climb to Muir Woods, 30 seconds slower up the big Cardiac Hill climb, then finally 20 seconds slower on the long decent (mostly) to the finish.

As the gun went off, my legs were feeling heavy before we even hit the steps. This is never a welcoming sign, but from my many many years of racing, I’ve learned that the way my legs feel – good or bad – can be very deceiving early in a race. More important is how I’m breathing, and my lungs told me every was ok so far. Up the first of 671 steps, I let 3 runners in my starting group charge ahead as I just searched for a rhythm that I could survive. At the top of the stairs, when the course continued to climb up, I felt comfortable for the first time. Before we crested, I had moved past quite a few runners who started before me, and caught one of the three guys who were ahead from my starting group. On the first decent, I again just found a rhythm and tried to use my much improved downhill running skills to pass as many runners as I could. “Suicide” – the steepest downhill on the course, was very congested, but I just kept yelling ON YOUR LEFT ON YOUR LEFT COMING THROUGH as loud as I could. A couple of middle aged men really didn’t appreciate my aggressiveness, but since they had the option of taking the safer (and slightly longer) route, I really didn’t care. Although if I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn’t have shouted back at one of the guys – that didn’t help keep me in my mental rhythm.

At the bottom of suicide a weird thing happened. Somehow I had expended too much energy on the downhill as I was suddenly taking fast, deep breaths. This was NOT GOOD considering I had 20 minutes of climbing about to start. I just tried to relax, and again get ready to find a rhythm as I cross through Miur Woods and up the hill.

The base of the Cardiac Hill climb – a footbridge across a creek in Miur Woods – is always my first check point. I clicked my watch in 15:30 which was nearly identical to last year – a big surprise to me – and 30 seconds faster than what was necessary to be guaranteed a black shirt.

As I started up the climb, I knew I needed to run the first - a very steep – section conservatively so that I could be rolling during the less steep latter half. Just as we start climbing my buddies and Pelican Inn teammates, Alex & Gus blow past me from the scratch group en route to them running the two fastest actual times of the day. As I kept pressing up the hill, I knew I wasn’t running fast, but just couldn’t do anything about it. On flatter sections when I tried to pick up the pace at all, I just felt myself red-lining quickly. Two more runners from the scratch group went past me, but I was able to keep one slightly in sight.

The section just before the top of Cardiac Hill is the steepest of the race. I was so tired at this point, it took a serious effort just to keep my legs moving in a running motion. My split for the climb was a very unimpressive 21:40. In my mind I thought at 37 minutes I was still on my black shirt pace, but was really 10 seconds off pace now. To put that split in perspective, I had run the double dipsea course in training a couple of months earlier, running that same climb in less than 21 minutes with Gus while chatting the whole way.

On the gradual downhill that leads to the steep downhill, I was in thicker traffic than last year simply because I was further back in the field. At this point I’m feeling achy & my head was swimming. I kept pressing because I knew there would be some relief ahead as I started downhill, but it was tough to get myself rolling past runners. One guy from the Pelican Inn crew who I passed here later told me that I just didn’t look right considering how slowly I pulled away from him after I passed.

At the top of the swoop – the second of two steep downhills – an observer yelled out “70th!” Oh man, that’s not good, I still have to pass 35 runners! As I caught the first two runners in the swoop I had a hard time getting past – but then I realized I had no time to waste. I started yelling loud as I approached people – LEFT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT – and pretty much dove for whichever side of the trail they were leaning away from. I passed a buddy , Chris Knorzer, there who later posted on my facebook page “When you passed me there I thought you were about to get planted in the bushes, but I got swooped, nice job.” I got back in a rhythm finally passing runners quickly down the swoop, then the steps of steep ravine. I passed last year’s winner, now 9 year old, Reilly Johnson who must have found even worse struggles than me on the course, and offered a quick LET’S GO REILLY. At the bottom of Insult Hill a course worker yelled out 45^TH! Ok, 10 runners to pass with just over a mile to go, I can do this. I caught two runners as we pushed up insult – 44^th, 43^rd. Again the dead legs hit me going up the last hill, but I was going to collapse before I gave up. By the top of the hill I was up to 41^st. We hit a short section of Panoramic Highway, passed one runner heading down the road – 40^th – and a second just before plunging back on a narrow single track trail – 39^th. I squeezed past two more runners, the second was 72 year old Russ Kieran who’s amazing record streak of 15 straight black t-shirts would end this year – 37^th. Now feeling much better about sneaking into the stop 35, I’m looking up ahead for the next runner, and no one is there. Finally after what seemed like minutes, I blow past another runner - 36^th. Just before we leave the trail for the last time some yells “36^th, 35^th IS 20 SECONDS AHEAD.” With 1/3 of a mile to go, this was very bad news, but I had no idea who this runner was. If it was someone from the 2 minute headstart group, I had almost no chance of catching him, but if it was someone from the 25 minute headstart group, I would almost certainly catch him/her. Also, they could have grossly misestimated. But no time to think about any of this… only time to kick!

I came onto the road for the last time, and finally saw 35^th place WAY up ahead. It seemed impossible, but with a mostly downhill last third of a mile, I just started kicking. The runner disappeared around a bend, then when he came back in sight it still seemed impossible, so I did the only thing I could do – kept kicking. I kept digging deeper and deeper trying to claim every drop out of the well. The runner was now getting within reach, but the finish line was flying toward me even faster. I never gave up until I saw his body cross the finish line, and at that point my momentum took me across the line only 1 second behind him in 36th place. My time was 54:15 - which was 15 seconds off the time I thought would guarantee a black shirt.

When I crossed the line, I heard someone say my name, but I never took my eyes off my adversary – who I learned was 46 year old Thomas Iseler. I extended my hand, told him great job, and that I had given it my all in trying to catch him. Thomas told me it was his first black shirt in several tries, so surely we was experiencing the same thrill I did last year. As he patted my shoulder, I saw a photographer run up and snap a couple shots. Leaving the shoot a reporter from the local Marin IJ newspaper came up to me for some quotes – I guess we weren’t the only two who were aware of the finishing battle.

The paper covers the race extensively and even ran a short column on our battle for the final black t-shirt:

Dipsea: Isener earns final black shirt by holding off storming Gifford

Later this video was posted on youtube. You see Iseler hit the road for the final time 6 minutes into the video. I was 25 seconds back with a third of a mile to go. I made up 24 seconds – tough luck!

The day wasn’t a total bummer by any stretch. Our team for the Dipsea – the Pelican Inn Track Club – which is the fantastic group of both young and old runners that I have trained with the past three years, became the first team to beat the Tamalpa Runners for the team title in 35 years. While I wasn’t one of the top five runners to score, I felt very much a part of it. For many years Tamalpa’s team title was a formality, until the PITC entered as a team last year. In 2010, I was the 5^th scoring runner for the squad, but we just missed winning. When they announced us as the winners it sounded like a funeral, except for our cheer, but we enjoyed the celebratory beers!

While last year’s winner was 8 year old Reilly Johnson, this year’s winner came from a Dipsea veteran. 60 year old Jamie Rivers was a prior champion – winning in 2007, and she is married to 2008 winner Roy Rivers. I’ve learned many things about the race, and received great encouragement from both runners. I was very happy to see Jamie win the race this year. Last year she suffered a hamstring injury during the race, but still cheered on other runners as she hobbled to the finish. Jamie’s training had gone flawlessly this Spring, and on raceday no one would catch her.

When I drove home I felt pretty bummed out about finishing one spot out of the awards – how could I not? At one point I started thinking about spots in the race where maybe I could have made up tiny bits of time to put me one place forward. But I quickly stopped myself. I was dealt a crummy hand, and I truly believe I made the most of it. I ran myself into the ground at the finish, and almost came out with something special. Looking back at the first half of 2011, would I do anything that differently? Probably not… Running is a tough sport sometimes. You have days you feel great, and days you don’t. The same extends to weeks, months, even seasons. Finishing 36^th really put in perspective how amazing Russ Kiernan’s 30 black t-shirts are. Next year I’ll be back for my 2^nd!

*That's how close I was!

Ready or Not - It's Go-Time!

2011-06-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

My favorite race of the year is here. It's time for the 101st Dipsea Race tomorrow. Heading in last year, I was just recovering from an injury, but managed to train very hard for a month, then put together a solid performance for my first black t-shirt in 19th place. My training throughout 2011 has been great. I've run more mileage and had stronger workouts leading up to the race than the prior two years, and even more importantly I've gone 9 whole months without any sort of injury. Still, my running confidence has struggled the past couple months. In April, a pesky cold slowed my training down for a couple weeks. When finally recovered, I had a great string of workouts, only to push myself too hard, and suffer from the effects of overtraining throughout much of May. Finally the past few weeks I've managed to feel strong at times by drastically cutting my mileage, and running much easier on days between workouts. Then after a decent road mile race - running a somewhat hilly 4:35 - I came down with another cold. So this week has seen a lot of vitamin C, sleep, and mostly easy running, but still not feeling 100%. Tomorrow morning I'll head to the starting line knowing I have a great fitness base with a balance of speed, strength running, and anaerobic work (very key for that painful 20 min climb up Cardiac Hill). I'll be well rested, so the key is to listen to my body early on, and just stay tough until I cross the finish line.

Local newspapers have posted quite a few interesting profiles on runners leading up to the race. There are several people running in honor of family members and a former inmate whose running is a key part of his rehabilitation. My buddy Alex Varner talks about what it would take for a "scratch" runner (the male 19-30 age group that gets zero head start) to win. I'll note Alex is an overwhelming favorite to win his 3rd straight fastest time trophy; it's just a matter of how much time he can make up on the older and younger runners who start well ahead of him. Finally, 9 year old Reilly Johnson - the youngest ever defending champion - has been in the spotlight leading up to the race. Last year's maximum 25 minute start is reduced to 19 minutes - 5 minutes for her age plus a 1 minute "winners penalty". I saw her out on the course a few weeks looking pretty darn strong. My prediction is that she'll make up 4 or those minutes, but she surprised everyone last year, so who's to say she can't do it again! Maybe I'll pull off a miracle and catch her on the course, but I'll confess - I'm pretty intimidated by a 9 year old girl :)

The 100th Bay to Breakers

2011-05-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

I realized that I've never written about one of my favorite races - Bay to Breakers, plus I've yet to write a race recap within a week of the actual race, so why not do both!

To call Bay to Breakers a race, is a huge understatement. It's a spectacle - from the first man or woman to cross the finish line, to the last drunken yuppie to stagger home. The race was first held as the Cross City Race in 1912 as the city was still rebuilding after the Great 1906 Earthquake. A local college student ran the 7+ mile course from downtown (near the Bay) to Ocean Beach in 44:10. What started as a morale booster for the city never stopped, and the race now known as Bay to Breakers was set for its 100th running this past Sunday.

Why is it a spectacle? Let's start at the front and work back. The race attracts some of the very top road racers in the world. The elite woman get a 4 minute headstart on the elite men and the rest of the field, then the first person to cross the finish line - be it the winning male or female - pockets $25,000. There is also a $5,000 bonus for the first runner to crest the long & steep Hayes St. Hill in the 3rd mile of the 12K. Behind the elites is a very unique competition - the centipede. Numerous teams will enter 'pedes which consist of 13 runners tethered together with some sort of bungee chords. Sound crazy? Well over the years, the centipede race has turned into a heated rivalry between two Bay Area clubs - the Aggies and Transports (the latter now sponsored by Linked-In & featuring some serious ringers). This year the Linked-In centipede covered the 12K course in 37:00 which averages under 5 minutes per mile! That's a good performance on a hilly course for one person, but imagine doing that while being tied to 12 other people. I could tell some stories of past centipedes blowing up in spectacular fashion (as certain runners are dragged - one time literally - out out too fast), but I'll save it for another time. After all the elites, the 'pedes, and guys like me, there's 50,000 total registered runners and walkers. THEN, the real fun begins, with what seems like the rest of the city turning Bay to Breakers into the largest outdoor drinking and costume party of the year.

I was lining up for my first race in three weeks - after running my 4th and final crappy 5K of the season. Even though I spent much time on the track throughout the spring, I figured my mileage should have me prepared for a longer race like this. The only catch is my legs had been super tired for the past week and a half after a super intense week of training leading up to that (including a nearly 2 hour long run on snowy cross country ski trails at 8000 feet). After taking a really easy week, I was finally feeling ok for race day.

My plan was to run well under control for the first two miles, run steady but not too hard up and down the Hayes Street hill, then really start pushing the 4th and 5th miles which are slightly uphill, and just get ready to hammer the 2 mile downhill to the finish. In the first mile I ran a little faster than I wanted - 5:18, but backing off a bit in the second mile (5:32) kept it under control. I eased into the hill, keeping a smooth stride without losing too much ground as I ran up and back down. I turned onto the Pan-Handle hitting 3 miles in 17:08. That 3rd mile is always slow, but I ran a little slower than I intended, but no big deal, I was feeling good and it's time to really start racing. Last year, I held my position from the 3 mile mark to the finishing stretch, but this time I was focused on moving up. I immediately caught two runners and passed them, then focused ahead. Whenever I could, I wouldn't focus on the runner ahead, rather two spots ahead - which helps from getting lulled into the pace of a racer who could be falling off the pace himself. In the 4th mile (5:38 for a gradual uphill) and the 5th (rolling - 5:31), I picked up at least a half dozen positions. Then just as I'm getting toward the 5 mile mark, my calves and lower legs start to really cramp up. I pressed my pace to the top of the downhill, but just didn't feel like a good idea to hammer the downhill and risk injury. I gave back a few places as I passed through 6 & 7 miles (5:19 and 5:25 pace), then held my position to the finish along the great highway at Ocean Beach to finish 58th overall in 41:30, and 5th place in the male 30-39 age group (which to be fair does NOT include elites).

I wasn't thrilled with my overall time, but I think there were some very positive takeaways. First of all, I ran confidently, was tough when I needed to me, and stayed focused throughout. I had lacked all of those in recent races. The time easily could have been 30-45 seconds faster if I had been able to roll on the downhill 6th and 7th miles. Despite my disappointment with the pace, it's still my fastest time in three races there. Finally, in celebration of the 100th running, the race promoters announced that anybody who beat the winning time of 44:10 from the 1st Bay to Breakers would have their race number retired. So go ahead and hang #312 from the rafters because no one will wear it again at Bay to Breakers! Supposebly.

After I cooled down, got back to my car near the start, drove around town, and had brunch at a buddy's house, I walked down to the Pan-Handle to take in the festivities. Despite claims that alcohol and unregistered walkers wouldn't be allowed on the course, the party was going strong. It was just slightly more respectful of the neighbors than prior years.

If you want to see some good pics, there is a great slideshow that the SF Chronicle put together. Two of my friends made the reel - one who ran 5:30 pace dressed as Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, and another dress as well some sort of cop.

Here's the link to the full slideshow:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/05/15/MNJS1JGGTS.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2011%2F05%2F15%2Fba-baytobreakers_0503470795.jpg

The Nemesis

2011-04-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

My nemesis hasn't been a person (but wouldn't that be fun), or a certain race course, or a workout. My nemesis is the 5K. A couple months after I first started showing up at West Valley TC workouts and slowly fighting my way back into shape, I ran my first race - a 5K in 16:29. A year later, at the end of my first full season of consistent training in several years, I ran the second 5K of my age 30+ competitive career - finishing in 16:07.

In two and a half years since that race, I've knocked 4 minutes off my best half marathon, run over a minute faster on a several cross country courses, plus trained faster, longer, and more consistently. Yet despite all that, I can't seem to clock a good 5K.

My best was a 15:49 on the track in the Spring of 2010, but other than that it's just been a long string of blowups in the low to mid 16's.

Heading into 2011, my goal was to focus my training around running a good 5K. Being just fast enough to jump in college open meets, there are several opportunities to race the distance. Surely just more time on the track would lead me to a sub 15:30 (that magical 5-flat per mile pace). Throughout the winter I worked my mileage up to a an average of 60 miles per week - which I've held all year. Our Tuesday workouts first featured longer intervals at hard tempo pace - which I'd often run 5:15 pace, then transitioned to faster somewhat shorter interval workouts. Week after week I would run 3 - 4 miles of repeats, all between 71 - 75 second per laps. One workout in particular, I ran 5 times 1000 meters averaging 3:02 - 15:10 5K pace. I didn't think I'd hold that pace running each kilometer back to back, but surely everything pointed toward me running 15:30!

My first shot was the Hornet Invite - an open college meet at Sacramento State (the track where I ran my lifetime 1500 PR back in 2000). Throughout the week, the forecast got worse and worse, and sure enough the morning of the race had a steady rain and 25-30 mph winds blowing right through the stadium. I hit the split right around 5 flat with the leader, but as soon as it strung out, it got ugly. In the second half I was red-lining pretty much every lap by the end of the front stretch, only to recover on the back stretch just in time to hit the wind again. My splits got slower and slower, and I finished with an ugly 16:32.

The next 5K, which was the one I really had circled on the calendar, was the SF State Distance Carnival. It's a meet with deep, fast fields, at a great venue - I bet this is the least windy track in the Bay Area. For some reason on race-day my mind was in the wrong place. I knew my training was going great, so I had no reason not to have confidence. Instead, I kept thinking of every way I could have a bad race. I wasn't thinking about crushing the race, I was thinking about not having a bad race. It was like I was battling all demons that plagued my performances for much my college career. I raced the slowest of 3 heats, but with a group that would be running in the mid 15 minute range. The pace was perfect - we were clicking off 74-75 second laps, hitting the mile just under 5 minutes. I hit half way thinking this is going well, but a lap later the pain really hit & I just wanted to quit. I hit 2 miles in 10:07, then 3 miles in 15:28, finishing in 16:04. This was the first race in a long time where I was really beating myself up for a while afterward - just felt like a wasted opportunity.

The 3rd race was the Carlsbad 5000 (near San Diego) with my West Valley teammates where I would run in an age group 30-39 race (no young guns!). It was a fun trip, even though Southwest canceled our flight getting us in pretty late. I went out conservatively, but still found myself right in the thick of a chase pack that let lead 3 runners go. I moved myself toward the front, again hitting the mile right around 5 flat. I felt great for the first part of the second mile, thinking this was my day. I led the chase pack shortly after the mile. Then for the third week in a row, things went south quickly. A couple guys passed me, then 3 more went by. I went from leading the chase pack to trying to hang on. I hit the 2 mile mark in 10:15 - REALLY I just slowed down that much?? I don't think I totally gave up in the last mile, but surely wasn't digging deep as I ran the last mile in a pathetic 5:30 for a finishing time of 16:18. On a positive note, watching the elite race was AWESOME as former 5K world champ Eliud Kipchoge got kicked down at the finish (13:10 was the winning time).

So there you have it. My big goal for the season has been an epic failure so far. Training has been an ongoing success. So what gives? I wish I had an easy answer... I think mentally I've gotten so used to underperforming at this distance that it's turned into a self fulfilling prophecy. For most of my good races I was there with my buddies, having a good time, and feeling loose before the race. Lately I'm analysing my race before it even starts. Physically, it's a tough distance. It always starts hurting pretty bad about half way, when you still have 7 minutes of hard painful running to go. When building up my speed and fitness, I need to run my workouts under control in order to benefit from consistency. But I think I really need to push the envelope every few workouts, otherwise I won't know how to dig deep into the well on race day. Finally, the workout that's been missing is the fast tempo (as opposed to the longer half marathon pace runs).

So how does this end? I really don't know. I just know I'm not ready to say "I'm too old for the 5K" and throw in the towel in favor of longer distances!

Another Interview: Tennesse Running

2011-04-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

In the San Francisco Bay Area I'm just another sorta fast guy trying to stay within sight of some real elites. But I was fortunate enough to have a successful high school career in Tennessee where I was also competitive on the national scene. That fact that I got to do a couple of interviews on the internet this past year, is certainly not the result of anything I've accomplished recently (as in the past decade).

Dave Milner - who is a buddy of my high school teammate Jeff Edmonds - edits tnrunning.com, a website reporting on runners who live in Tennessee or originally hail from there. I'm a little embarrassed to see my name up there with Phoebe Write and Andrew Bumbalough, who are both developing into full blown world class runners. That said, I appreciate Dave sending me some questions, and reporting on what this has-been has been up to!

http://www.tnrunning.com/interviews/where_are_they_now/Gifford-Feb11.html

Interview on The Logic of Long Distance

2011-04-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

I meant to write this post two months ago... after I knocked off one or two items on my blogging to-do list. But since my recent thoughts have been making their way onto the web 2.0, I realized it's time to post this.

I met Jeff Edmonds when I showed up for the first cross country practice as a 7th grader at Baylor (high school). At the time he was the captain and lead runner of our Jr High squad, and I was the newbie. Over the next four years, we were teammates, friends, and at times rivals. Jeff was the guy I chased in practice as I was getting faster and learning how to be a runner. When I was fast enough to actually train with him our workouts, and even our normal runs could get intense, because neither of us liked to ever back down!

Jeff graduated two years ahead of me, but we both experienced high school success, followed by the ups and downs of college running. After college we found ourselves focusing on our career, and in his case, educational goals (Jeff earned PhD in philosophy two years ago). Right around the time we each turned 30, we started lacing our shoes up more often, and both found ourselves cranking out the miles and racing again. I don't get to see Jeff very often - living on opposite sides of the country - but we've really enjoyed sharing our experiences and refound passion for distance running over the past few years.

Jeff has a very cool blog - The Logic of Long Distance. He combines two of his passions - running and philosophy - into a single forum. Often he'll discribe the triumphs and frustrations of his own running through the thoughts & writings of other philosophers.

Another feature of his blog is to interview runners non-professional runners who are still out there training hard trying to run fast. Jeff acted like I was doing him a favor by answering his questions, but he was the one doing me a favor. I had a lot of fun thinking back over my high school, college, and current careers, and putting my thoughts in worlds. I think in times when I get stuck in a rut with my training or racing, it's good to go back and see what I was doing and what mindset helped me run fast in the past.

I'm not posting the intereview here, because I'd encourage you to check out The Logic of Long Distance if you've never done so before.

http://thelogicoflongdistance.blogspot.com/2011/01/interview-jamey-gifford.html

Winter Training and the Redding 10 Miler

2011-03-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

Winter time is the perfect season for building a mileage base. After a break from the fall cross country and road racing season, it's time to re-charge and start building that endurance up with long runs, workouts, and overall mileage. However the season comes with challenges like shorter days and bad weather (of course if rarely gets worse than rain and 50 degrees in the Bay Area). In my case, I also have to balance training with my skiing habit as we head up to Kirkwood to hit the slopes most weekends this time of year. I do have access to a treadmill up there, and if it's not dumping snow (which it often is) I can get out on the roads for a run, but that's assuming I'm not completely trashed from a long day of skiing. This winter, instead of trying to force myself to log decent mileage before heading out to ski, or worse after skiing, I decided to shift from being a weekend warrior to a week day warrior!

Without having the weekends to log long runs and workouts, I had to be disciplined about scheduling a primary workout, long run, and secondary workout on the week days. This usually meant Tuesday workout, Wednesday long run, then Friday secondary workout. Once I got in the routine, my training really built on itself and everything fell into place. I ran my first 60 mile week in almost a year in mid January, then proceeded to run at least 60 for six out of seven weeks through the end of February (60, 65, 61, 71, 70, 50, 66). My workouts - which were mostly on the track - included a mix of longer, steady pace type intervals, 5k pace work, and even some speed. My legs didn't feel fresh for a lot of the workouts, but I almost always felt strong. There were a couple workouts where I felt really tired early on, but I could drop shoulders, relax my stride, and still make a quality session out of it.

I decided my focus for the upcoming season would be the 5k distance. That didn't mean I wouldn't race longer distances, but last year lacked a big picture as I tried to cater toward too many individual races and distances. Does running higher mileage to focus on a shorter distance seem contradictory? Not necessarily... My view is running better mileage (which still isn't "high mileage" in the grand scheme of things), will get me through longer workouts at a quality pace, which will ultimately allow me to handle faster paces into the 3rd mile of the 5k.

Before the 5k races cranked up, I headed up to Redding to run the first PA race of the season - the NorCal 10 miler. Normally I'd approach a 10 mile race much like a half marathon - good overall mileage (check), consistent long runs (check), and long tempo runs (somewhat missing in favor of more time on the track). Even if training wasn't focused on this distance, I felt confident that my strength could translate into a solid race. I allowed myself an easier week - even without the race, it's not a terrible idea to get my legs back under me every so often.

The plan for the 10 mile race was to hang back and run comfortably for 4 miles, then try to start moving my way up after that. I also decided that I wasn't going to look at my splits until at least half way through the race. I figured at this point knowing my splits would either psych me out if I was too fast, or psych me out if I was too slow.

As the race got underway there was a lead pack, then a few stragglers (including a couple teammates), then I was in the first chase pack. I fought the urge to jostle or surge by telling myself to relax. The first 3 miles were pretty uneventful. Looking at splits wasn't even an issue because the first mile marker we saw was the 5th. Somewhere around mile 3 I was pulling away from most the guys in my initial pack as I caught up with teammate Jonah, and close to teammate Matt. In the 5th mile as we left the bike trail to loop through a neighborhood, I tried to reel in Mike from the River City Rebels and two guys he was running with less than 5 seconds ahead. A slight attempt at a surge sent me from feeling pretty good, to feeling tired for the first time. Shortly after that, they started to slip away, and Jonah caught back up with me. At the 5 mile mark, I decided not to look at my watch - since I was starting to hurt but had someone to run w/, although did click the split button to look at after the race (27:16 at 5 miles). The 6th mile included the roller coaster hills that we hit on the way out. I stayed with Jonah, though a couple times using the downhills to surge and catch up. The hills ended just before the 7 mile mark, but I was pretty stretched at that point and Jonah started to pull away. In the 8th mile I just tried to keep Jonah from pulling further away. At the 8 mile mark, I finally looked at my watch for the first time - 44:15. I was a little disappointed to be just over 5:30 pace, but knew I needed to push harder to maintain that average pace. It was really hurting now, and I hit 9 miles at 49:52 - 5:37 for that mile. As the bridge we would cross to the finish got closer, Jonah had slipped too far away to have a shot. Then just before the bridge, I heard the one thing I didn't want to hear - footsteps. I was hurting, and had faith in my ability to kick, but didn't want it to come to that. I surged up the very slight slope onto the bridge. I was fully expecting to die toward the end of the bridge, but at that point there would be less than 200 meters to go, including an 180 degree turn, followed by a 90 degree turn. My pursuer had friends cheering for him, but I used it as motivation. Sure enough I was out of gas coming off the bridge, but got ready for one last kick just in case. I never needed it, as my move over the bridge opened the gap back up. I crossed the line in 55:16 for 13th place. My last mile was 5:23 - nothing amazing, but happy I was tough to suck it up when I was really hurting.

Splits were 27:16 for the first 5, then 5:42 (hilly), 5:33, 5:42, 5:37, 5:23.

Heading in I had hoped to run around 54 minutes, which was my split during my half marathon PR. Even falling short of my pre-race goal, it was a solid race on a tough course. I think I had several chances to pack it in during the 2nd half, but kept pressing. Even though I've had a faster 10 mile split, it's a PR for an actual 10 mile race, so have to be happy with that. Plus it's nice to run a race for the 3rd year in a road and clock my fastest time.

Next race will be a track 5K - possibly in 2 weeks, and definitely one in 3 weeks. Back to the track to work on that speed!

Training and Racing - Thoughts from 2010

2011-02-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve set a new pr for a belated blog post – reviewing last year 44 days into the new year. I think handful of short paragraphs would be more appropriate than a long essay.

In 2010 I ran less, ran fewer miles, raced less, and was overall slower than 2009. While none of that is positive, I did have some good moments, learned some valuable lessons, and finished the year on the right track.

Looking back at most of 2010, my training was hot & cold. At times I was pushing my training too hard, and other times cutting corners when what I really needed was consistency.

My first mistake was trying to jump right into a serious racing schedule after a long & busy season over the 2nd half of 2009. I only took one week off, and was right back into race specific workouts to run the New Year Eve race in Chattanooga. After that, I tried (unsuccessfully) to PR at the Kaiser Half Marathon in February, then the plan was to be ready for a 12k and 10miler in march, then in 5k shape for the April races, and then of course be a mountain running machine for the Dipsea Race in June.

It’s great to have big goals, but I really lacked a big picture. After a disappointing race at Kaiser, I let my training slack off a bit through February. Then after regrouping toward the end of March, a sprained ankle knocked me out for a month. A crash course training schedule got me ready for the Dipsea on 5 weeks of training. After that, an inconsistent summer ended with a calf injury. Finally in September, I focused on getting myself healthy, and slowly building my weekly mileage starting from an easy 30, up to 55 by the end of the fall.

There were a few bright spots. I was very happy with the Across the Bay 12K in March running a PR of 39:42, and finishing 16th in a competitive PA race. Then just 5 days later I ran my best 5K since college in 15:49 at a track meet. The Dipsea was a very solid and exiting race despite very limited preparation. Finally I capped off a limited cross country season with a good race at the PA Championships.

2010 vs 2009 comparisons
2028 total miles run (2272 in 2009)
273 days run (295 in 2009)
Averaged 5.6 miles / day (6.2 in 2009)
Averaged 7.4 miles per day that I ran (7.7 in 2009)
4 PRs (12K, 5K, mile, Dipsea) vs. PRs in just about every distance except the 5k for 2009
Best finish in a PA race – 16th: twice – Redding 10 miler, and Across the Bay 12K vs 3 different 6th place finishes in 2009)
Times I lost to a girl: once in 2010 (to Kate O’Neil at the Marin 10K) vs once in 2009 (to Kate O’Neil at the Kaiser Half Marathon)

Looking ahead: While I plan to race at a range of distances in the first half of 2011, my training is geared toward a single focus – improving my 5K performances. I’m well on my way to toward building a good mileage base, and this time around emphasizing track workouts over tempo runs (although still getting a couple tempos in each month). I’m also spending more time working on my speed. If I can improve this part of my running repertoire, I think it will pay dividends across the board.

PA Championships

2011-01-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

I think a race recap a month and a half after the actual race must be a new PR! Life has been busy lately - which certainly isn't a bad thing - but I wanted to get a few thoughts down before they completely fade from my memory.

The Pacific Association Cross Country Championships is a highly competitive race that caps off our local XC season in late November. The race typically draws a handful of elite runners, and a large number of sub-elites who train in northern California. I first ran the race (poorly) way back in my freshman year of college, and have run the past three years.

My cross country training got off to a slow part thanks to a minor injury at the end of the summer. I spent most the fall just trying to gradually build my mileage back into 50 mpw range, rather than hammering some interval workouts. I jumped into three XC races in October and November to race my way into shape. The results weren't spectacular, but respectable for my fitness level.

The one race where I really wanted to run well and help out my West Valley TC team, was the PA Championships. In the couple weeks leading up to the race, I finally got a couple workouts in where I felt fast again, and I was feeling snappy on my runs.

The morning of the race, I felt nervous for the first time in a while. I was confident, but felt good to be jumping into a race where I thought I'd be ready to run. The weather was cloudy & cool, but steady rains the prior week left the course extremely muddy. Warming up, I realized that the thing I love about the Golden Gate Park course is that everyone else hates it. If you jogged the course you might not realize how challenging it is considering there's no major hills. It's just the type of course that's constantly changing - hard dirt, soft dirt, uneven grass, long gradual hills, short steep hills - so it's really tough to get in a rhythm over the 6 mile race.

When the gun went off, I tried to settle into a good but comfortable pace on the first of 3 loops. The field seemed larger than the last couple years, but I was feeling alright, and saw four of my teammates 5-10 seconds ahead who I know would be good people to key off of. About a mile into the race, I was feeling pretty good, but knew it was too early to charge forward and catch them. At the end of the first loop, I had caught two of my four teammates, and would work with them for the rest of the race. The mud was proving to be a big factor, and I was really glad I wore spikes. You could tell the guys who were wearing flats, because it seemed like they just stopped moving in certain spots.

As the race went on, I did a good job of avoiding mid-race analysis. I just tried to stay with my teammates, and keep rolling whenever I felt the pain creeping in. By the last lap, I was right behind veteran Todd Rose, and quickly improving newcomer Matt Kane. There were three other runners (who I didn't know) from other teams that were battling right with us. With just over a mile to go, Matt threw a surge to move ahead of us, and Todd was just behind them. As they started to pull away from the other three competitors, I knew I was in the number 5 spot for West Valley, so I needed to take every spot I could. At one point with about a mile to go, the pain really hit, but I told myself to just keep pushing and don't think too far ahead. As we charged up the last hill, there was only one runner left between Todd and me, but he was 15 yards ahead.

One advantage of running on this course so much - both in workouts and as part of normal runs, is knowing where you can attack, and particularly how long you can hold that final kick. Cresting the last hill, I kept my eyes on this guy's back & kept saying to myself I'm gonna get him, I'm gonna get him. As I headed down, and made a sharp left turn, I kept winding my kick up and moving faster, slowly cutting into the lead. With about 100 meters to go, we dropped into the meadow which was very muddy. At this point I'm digging for that last gear & closing the last bit of the gap. Just when I think I had him, he speeds up. For a split second I thought I'd run out of time, but then I found that last gear and passed him a couple strides before the line.

My final time was 33:30 (for ~ 6.1 miles) and 51st place. Most people ran around a minute slower than last year due to the conditions, so after only losing 45 seconds over last year was very encouraging. I also finished right with guys who had beaten me by huge margins only a couple weeks ago. It felt great to end a short training season with a satisfying performance.

Consistency

2010-11-16T17:33:00.000-08:00

To say that consistency was my primary running goal the past couple months would sound like I've been reading Runners World just a bit too much. Don't get me wrong, RW is a great magazine, but it's just not exactly the guide book for competitive runners (Running Times is a better read along those lines). Since last spring, my running has been anything but consistent. From the end of March through August, there was a sprained ankle, recovery, a furious 4 weeks of training for the Dipsea, a week of down-time, a 1200 dash off no speedwork, unsuccessful mileage build-up, alternating weeks of 60 miles then being too run down to train well for a week or two, then finally a strained calf muscle. Whew - I'm out of breath. The lesson was that I kept wanting to jump straight into heavy training, but by skipping little steps I was falling more and more out of shape.

This blog has been quiet lately because there really hasn't been much to talk about. At the end of the summer, when I was frustrated & on the DL, I chatted with Jack - our West Valley coach - while he timed a workout for the rest of the team. Todd Rose, who was also nursing an injury, showed up with three Lagunitas IPA's (a very good Bay Area brewed beer if you've never tried it), and we had a nice training discussion. It because obvious to me that I had to be patient, not focus on speed, but methodically build my mileage back up, and yes... be consistent!

I was back jogging in early September, threw in a weekly workout in October, then was running a few XC races, and running up to 55 miles a week by early November. Nothing exciting, but I'm feeling like a runner again. My races results have been ok for someone racing their way back into shape, but not where I want to be (and certainly behind a year ago). My last race of the fall will be Sunday at the highly competitive PA Cross Country Championships. Sure I wish I was heading in off of a longer base buildup, more tempo runs, more speed, and faster race results, but it's coming around just at the right time, and I'm ready to give a good shot!

After the race - and a little bit of down time - I'm really excited about training hard, training smart, and being ready for some fast results in the Spring. I can’t wait to replace focus on consistency with a focus on intensity.

Here's a pic from my most recent race in Sacramento. Racing your way into shape is a little more painful!

Dana's Marathon

2010-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Over the summer & into the fall there was a Gifford training hard for a big race, and no it was not me. Dana – my lovely wife in case you don’t know her – just completed her first full marathon at the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. This had been a big goal for Dana for a few years. Two years ago she was fit and ready to go, but an injury set her back less than three weeks from the Chicago Marathon. As she built up her fitness for this year’s Nike Marathon, there were a few aches and pains, but she was patient yet tenacious to get herself to the starting line fit and healthy.

Dana has supported and encouraged me while I’ve trained and raced the past three years, so I really enjoyed riding my bike around the city, cheering her on, and handing off GU & gatorade. She was smooth and comfortable early on, then really determined over the last few miles as a light rain started falling.

Dana wrote this recap of the race that I wanted to share. I’m proud of you Dana!

Nike Women’s Marathon Recap

I always knew that I wanted to run a marathon at some point in my life and today I am proud to say that I accomplished that longtime goal. It’s important to have goals and aspirations in life; it keeps us motivated, it lets us really live and experience life, and makes us more interesting individuals.

I really enjoyed my marathon training. It was fun exploring new running routes in SF and feeling the joy of pushing my body just a bit further each week. Jamey gave me tips along the way and boosted my confidence when pain crept into my body and doubt crept into my mind. Injury had prevented me from running previous marathons, but this time I had made it to the starting line in good health.

Here’s a breakdown of the day.

5:15 AM – Wake up, make some coffee, and try to eat an English muffin with peanut butter.

6:15 AM – Nervous gitters and I still haven’t used the bathroom (sorry to be graphic) but this is a red flag which means I will most likely have to stop somewhere on the course.

6:30 AM – Jamey drops me off at the start of the race. I gather with 20,000 runners (mostly women) at Union Square. As I stand in my corral, my heart is racing and I get teary eyed just thinking about all the strong women I’m surrounded by and that this is the moment where I begin to test myself and pursue my goal.

7:00 AM – Gun goes off and we start running. It is before sunrise so we’re running in the dark to the city lights of San Francisco. I like this moment and the next 4 miles will probably be the easiest of the course. We run to the Embarcadero and then through Fishermen’s Wharf. As we run by the SF Sourdough Company, the smell of fresh baked bread at 7:15 AM is overwhelming.

Mile 3 – I can’t settle into pace…heart is still racing with excitement as I try to figure out a conservative pace and realize that I’m probably running too hard at an 8:40 pace. Everyone has told me to go out slowly but I struggle to calm myself down and find my rhythm. I think of Jamey and how he always tells himself to “relax” when he’s in a race and feels anxious.

Mile 4 – I make the decision to take a pit stop now to avoid potential stomach disaster later. I lose 1 full minute! – it’s not easy to use a porta potty quickly! Then I climb the first hill of the race. I know this hill well due to all the sprints I’ve done up it in my boot camp class. I get to the top with ease.

Mile 5 – I see Jamey cheering me on for the first time. He was on his bike and biked around the course all day meeting me and cheering me on at various points. The sun has started to rise and I run towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Chrissy fields is my favorite place to run in San Francisco and is a regular part of my morning runs.

Mile 5-7 – The first big long climb up to GG Bridge and around the headland. I feel good, strong, and am settling into my pace. I see Jamey for the second time.

Mile 8 – Mostly steep downhill and I make up some time. My left hamstring and glut (which has been aggravating me) starts hurting. I remind myself that I’m doing it and pursuing my goal and that I’ve made it through the biggest climb of the course. Then I smile.

Mile 9 – Another steep climb but I know there’s another steep decline at the top. I look for the Ocean on the horizon and keep chugging through. Once I’ve finished this climb, I will have completed the 4 biggest climbs of the race.

Mile 10 – Turning into Golden Gate Park. I don’t like this section because it is 3 miles of gradual climbing. Mentally it’s hard to get through because you feel slower but visually it doesn’t look like you’re climbing. The good news is that there’s lots of race support and spectators on the course for the next 3 miles. Along the way I see the Nike Campaign signs that read “I Run to be…(fill in the blank)”. It motivated me to see all the different ways that sentence was completed. As a race participant, we had to complete that sentence in our race application.

Mile 13 - I see Jamey again and he gives me a Gatorade to drink. At this point the ½ marathoners had already split from us and we become a much smaller running group of about less than 5000. Most people are just doing the ½ marathon.

Miles 14-16 –We loop back and now run back down through GGP once again heading towards the water. I’m feeling okay and know that two major sections of the race are almost finished. The bad news is that I’m no longer running very close to any other runners. It has really thinned out and it looks like I’m going to be on my own going forward. I see a few runners up ahead about 40 yards.

Mile 16-18 – Great Highway. It starts to drizzle rain. I look at Ocean beach and see big waves crashing into shore. The ocean looks wild and somewhat stormy. I know I have the hardest part ahead of me.

Mile 18 – I see Jamey again and grab more snacks. After this, I see Jamey frequently through out the rest of the race. But my mind gets kind of fuzzy since I’m focusing on the run. I know I’m running low on energy and need to eat. But, I take one bite of a Luna bar and my body wants none of it. I almost spit the bite out but force it down. The smell of food is repulsive even though I know I need it. I force down a few sport beans hoping they’ll carry me through the last 8 miles. Every marathon runner talks about hitting the wall in the last 6 miles of the race. For me, I start to feel The Wall begin to build itself. I’m hoping to finish before fully hitting it head on.

Mile 20 – The rain increases. I don’t mind but my shoes and socks start to get pretty wet and heavy. I’m tired, my legs hurt, but I know this is the part of the race that I’ve been training for. I knew this was going to be hard and that it was coming. They offer Ghirardelli chocolate and I laugh at the idea. Chocolate after the race, yes, chocolate in my final push just didn’t seem right (even though looking back I probably would have benefited from it). Prior to the race, my aunt Gail taught me a mental trick. She said to dedicate the last 6 miles to people you know would never give up on you in life and to just focus on that person. So mile 21 went to my good friend Joelle. Miles 22-23 went to Erin and Wendy. Miles 24-25 went to my mom and dad, and Mile 26 was for Jamey.

Mile 22 – I really start to feel the pain. My legs are burning. The rain is coming down. I’m getting chafed from the rain and I feel a big blister on my right foot. I just keep thinking 2 more miles around this lake and then 2 miles back through Great Hwy to the finish. I see Jamey and he yells “stay strong, only 4 more miles” and I keep repeating that to myself “stay strong, stay strong”.

Mile 25-26 – I crest the final hill but I’m sputtering, completely out of gas. That Wall that had been building was finally complete and I hit it straight on. I was bonking, I was hitting the wall. My legs are screaming at me, I have completely depleted my energy, its pure will power at this point. I see the 4 hour pace group go by and I make an effort to pick it up and join them. The effort lasts about 40 yards and I just can’t get my legs moving any faster. As I watch plan A go by (finish within 4 hours) I just let it go and focus on Plan B (don’t stop running). I feel like I’m at a shuffle and I must look horrible because at this time the spectators really start to cheer for me and motivate me on. I listen to the battle going on between my legs and my brain.

Legs: “Let’s just stop and walk a bit. I promise it will feel REALLY GOOD. Come on, just a few steps, it would be soo easy to walk right now.”

Brain: “Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You’ve come all this way and you’re not going to walk in the last two miles.”

Legs “But look at all those other runners around you, some of them are walking.”

Brain “Walking is contagious, be strong and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I know we’re going to miss your goal of a sub 4 marathon, but just keep moving, don’t stop, and let’s finish this thing.

Legs: “Pretty please let me stop.”

Brain: “Legs, you knew this was coming, this is what we trained for. This is it, so let’s do this. I promise I’ll give you a rest in 2 miles.”

Legs: “Okay, I’m giving you what I got but I’m not happy about this and I’m not going to move very fast.”

Brain: “Let’s just do what we can. We can see the finish now. Let’s finish this.”

Mile 26 – I cross the finish line with my arms in the air. I’ve done it. I smile and receive my Tiffany necklace from the handsome fireman in the tux. Then I make my way through the shoot grabbing snacks, water, my shirt, and I look for Jamey.

Although I would have liked to stay and enjoy the moment, the rain was coming down hard and I was beginning to shake with cold. Jamey and I find each other (it’s so good to see him again) and all I want to do is get home to a hot bath. I receive lots of phone calls and text messages from friends and family congratulating me and cheering me on. It was great.

Everyone always asks “would you do another one?” My answer to that is yes. I really did enjoy the training and the feeling of pushing my body to its limits. Next time, I’d like to run a flatter course that would give me the chance to really find my rhythm and let me settle into a pace. Nike was a beautiful course and it was in my backyard but each mile was completely different and I didn’t have two consistent splits throughout the entire 26.2 miles. My pace ranged from 8 minute miles to 10 minute miles so I really struggled to settle into my strides.

For now, I think I might go back to working on improving my time on the ½ marathon.

Thanks to all for your support and guidance along the way.

Dana

I'm running for mayor of Gimpville

2010-09-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'm back on the DL.

In my last blog post I talked about an inconsistent summer of training. In 3rd week of August, I went on vacation for a week at the Beach in Connecticut with Dana's family. I had plenty of time to stretch, exercise the weak area of my legs, and go for some good runs. By the end of the week I was running pain free, and logged nearly 60 miles. The following week back in San Francisco, I was feeling tired from the training, but just tried to keep the volume up with mostly easy running.

Last Thursday, I did my first hill sprint workout of the summer. Hill sprints are a good way to maintain speed & power during the base phase of training. The workout was simple - a 6 mile easy run, then 10 x 10 uphill sprints in the Presidio (walking back down the hill in between). I felt good lifting my knees up, and didn't have any soreness the rest of the evening.

I woke up in the middle of the night, and felt a throbbing pain in my leg. I managed to fall back asleep, but when I got up in the morning, my calf hurt so bad I could barely walk. The whole thing was swollen and it felt like it was on fire. I felt pretty miserable through the weekend, and an appointment with a sports doctor Monday confirmed a strained calf. There's no real way to treat it, other than letting it rest and heal.

The West Valley Track Club ran it's first cross country race of the PA season this past weekend with a great showing by the team (including Jonathan Charlesworth winning his first PA open race, and Chris Knorzer winning his first master's race). I'm bummed that I won't be able to contribute until maybe toward the end of the season.

For now I'm letting things rest. Right now I still have a bit of a limp, but finally walking fairly normally. I'll be doing some cycling, and really try to focus on straingthening my legs, feet, and core. Last time I was hurt, I really rushed to get back in shape for the Dipsea. This time, while I might do some races early in the cycle, my plan is to comeback with a slow, steady, patient build up.

Summer downtime

2010-08-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't talked about my running here since the Dipsea, because there really hasn't been much to talk about. My grand intentions to log some substantial mileage this summer has fallen pretty flat. Since I was injured for several weeks in April, I figured I'd keep training hard after the Dipsea, and gear up for some summer races. Following that race, I was both physically and mentally tired, so a week later I decided to back the training off and start building some base mileage. I backed off, but just haven't gotten back on track yet. There hasn't been a big reason for my inconsistency, just a lot of little reasons. I had a minor reaggrivation of my sprained ankle, a busy weekday schedule, felt a little sick for a few days, went on the Mt Whitney trip (which certainly doesn't count as slacking off). I've been running most days, but just don't feel like I've been training. With the exception of one week where I managed 59 miles, most weeks haven't been less than 40.

Looking at the big picture, I'd rather be enjoying the sport and running well when I'm 40 than have a couple big years of racing, then be too injured or burned out to keep running.

I did run 2 races this summer off my limited training. West Valley decided to enter a distance medly relay (DMR) at a meet in San Francisco. The DMR consists of a 1200, 400, 800, then 1600 meter leg. I was asked to show up at practice the Tuesday before to "try-out" for the race, even though I was supposed to be resting. Still I agreed - it sounded fun - and ran a 600 meter time trial with Alex Mason (a very fast 800 meter runner, but who was coming back from a long injury break). I basically sprinted all out & ran 1:29, 1 second behind Alex. Our teammates were thoroughly entertained/amused/impressed with the effort, that they decided Alex & I would both run. So I ran the 1200 meters to lead us off & managed a 3:15 split - not bad off no speedwork!

The next race was the JP Morgan Corporate Challege - a 3.5 mile race organized by company teams. I represented the Wells Fargo team for the 4th year in a row & had my best finish yet for this race finishing in 8th place running 18:32 for 3.5 miles. I was happy given my current fitness, but still waiting for the year when everything comes together in this race.

I'm spending this week with Dana's family at the beach in New London. Hopefully all these little aches and pains will go away, and I can get down to some good running!

Mt Whitney

2010-08-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago a buddy who I've worked with at Wells Fargo with for several years emailed me out of the blue and said "hey, I have a permit to hike Mt Whitney, want to join?" Well hell yeah! The highest peak in the continental US, could you come up with a better summer activity?

On a Thursday in July, 4 of us headed to Kirkwood for a day, first to acclimate to altitude at 7800 feet. The next morning we drove south to Lone Pine, CA - back down to 3000 feet and 100+ degree temps - to spend the night and get ready for the big hike.

Because summer thunderstorms can be treacherous in the Sierra Nevada’s we got a very early start. We left the hotel at 2am, and on the trail at 2:45! The hike starts at 8300 feet, and it was pitch black dark, except for our headlamps. There were definitely people who started earlier because the only thing we could make out in the distance were headlamps on the trail above us.

Around 4:30 I could make out my first traces of the mountains above, and shortly after 5am I was the first one in our group to turn my headlamp off. At 5:50 we were watching the sunrise from 11,000 feet. Just after 6am, we arrived at the 12,000 foot trailside camp, where many hikers were just waking up to start a shorter summit hike.

I was feeling pretty good up to 12,000 feet. I could certainly tell the air was thinner, but wasn’t huffing & puffing and the legs still felt pretty good. The next leg was where it started to get harder. We climbed up a long section of trail to 13,700 feet which included 96 switchbacks. I was happy to have the trail flatten out for a bit as we caught our first views toward the west of Whitney into Sequoia national park.

Next was a brief downhill, then the last push up to the 14,494 foot summit. The trail was beautiful, but we just seemed to slow down as we were stepping on and over lots of granite rocks and as the air was so thin. From 14,000 feet to the summit it didn’t take more than a few steps to get my heart beating out of my chest.
At 9:50, we were standing at the summit! I was pretty exhausted at this point, and it took a few minutes of recovery to fully enjoy it. Mt. Whitney itself just looks like a big pile of broken granite rocks. It’s actually much less impressive looking than some of the jagged peaks nearby.. but, Whitney is the tallest!

The way down was much easier on the lungs, but was brutal on the legs. In the last couple hours, my feet were just killing me every time I took a step. It was a great sense of accomplishment to get back to the car around 3:30, know we’d hiked 22 miles & 6000+ feet up & down in a single day!

Back at the hotel in Lone Pine it was 106 degrees! It felt like an oven just standing in the parking lot, but boy that pool felt good. A couple hours later we rewarded ourselves with burgers, ice cream, a couple beers, then bedtime.

The 100th Dipsea Race

2010-06-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

The long anticipated day finally arrived, the 100th running of the Dipsea Race. The Dipsea - first run in 1905 (with a few years missed during the great depression and World War II) - celebrated it's centennial as the 2nd oldest footrace in America behind the Boston Marathon. The race is rich in history, and has a cult following of Northern California runners who have competed for decades. I ran my first Dipsea last year largely out of curiosity, but have been dreaming about the 100th running since I crossed the finish line at the 99th!

I'd say there's two main aspects of the Dipsea that makes it so unique. First, it's the most beautiful and toughest cross country race in America. The 7.5 mile distance isn't so intimidating, but add to that 2000+ feet of climbing and descending, hundreds of stairs to climb up and fly down, narrow trails, uneven footing, and a lot of poison oak. Over the course of the race, you look up at beautiful Mt. Tamalpais, run under giant redwoods at Muir Woods, and stare down at the Pacific, that is of course if you're able to take your eyes off of the trail right in front of you. Second, the Dipsea is a handicap race. Each age & gender group has an assigned starting time with the youngest and oldest runners starting first at 8:30 am, 19-30 year old men starting last at 8:55 am, and a different group starting every minute in between. At 32 years old, I started at 8:54 - a 1 minute head start over the "scratch" group. Then whoever gets to the finish line first is crowned the overall winner. There are no age group awards, just coveted black numbered t-shirts that are awarded to the first 35 to finish. Based on the format, runners of ANY age have a shot at winning. If you don't believe me, read on!

My preparation for the Dipsea started with a long build up of base mileage throughout the winter with increasing workout intensity in the early spring. But my training hit a snag when I sprained my right ankle and had to miss most of April. My initial emotions told me that I had lost any shot of running well and winning a black shirt. Even if I managed to maintain/regain my fitness in time, I was worried that my ankle would never be strong enough to handle a tough run over the extreme course. I went to physical therapy to strengthen the ankle, and when I started running again, I had 7 weeks to get ready. I figured 1 week to jog, 1 to run, 4 to really train, then 1 to taper. With just over two weeks to go, I felt my fitness was finally coming around and my confidence boosting. I was going to be ready!

The race starts gently enough as you run on a flat section from downtown Mill Valley, but that's over quickly as you hit the first of the 688 stairs a quarter mile into the race. After the stairs, you continue uphill & crest Panoramic Highway. Then it's the first downhill section as you descend on a single track trail, then a road, then a steep narrow trailed called Suicide. After that you enter Muir Woods, almost back down to sea level. That's where the real fun begins. You cross a creep on a narrow foot bridge, then it's 2+ miles uphill gaining over 1300 feet, ending with Cardiac Hill. After Cardiac you wind along a gradual downhill trail for about a mile, before the technical downhill sections of The Swoop & Steep Ravine. Then there's one last short, but typically painful uphill know as Insult Hill. Finally in the last mile runners take their favorite routes back to Highway 1 before finishing in the Stinson Beach parking lot.

Even though the course is constantly changing, I like to break the race down into three sections: The start to Muir Woods, Muir Woods to Cardiac Hill, and Cardiac to the finish. The first part is about finding a rhythm - running fast without burning too much energy, the middle section requires the most fitness and toughness, and the finish is about managing very technical descents when you're very tired.

On to the race...

I was relieved to shake off the nerves and sleep well the night before. I warmed up with some buddies, and felt ready to go. Since this was my first year in the invitational section (I was in the dipsea runners section last year which starts behind all of the invitational section), I didn't know what to expect in terms of the congestion from passing runners out on the course. Mark McManus, who won 3 fastest time trophies from 2006-2008 and was second overall last year, was starting in my group, so the game plan was to follow as closely to him as practicable for the first sections of the race. He would know better than anyone how to navigate and pace his way through the crowds.

The nerves really started to hit as we lined up for our 8:54 starting group, but I knew I was ready for today, and that I had a long race ahead that wouldn't get all that difficult until it got really hard heading up to Cardiac Hill. As the whistle blew, I tucked in right behind Mark & Stephen Donahue (who finished 9th overall last year) as we headed up the steps. I found the congestion on the stairs manageable in the invitational section, unlike last year in the Dipsea Runner's section last year it was almost impossible just to keep running. As we ran up the 3 groups of steps, then continued uphill to Panoramic Highway, I was feeling well under control. This wasn't easy, but it wasn't all that painful yet. I let Mark & Stephen go a few seconds ahead of me, but they were still in contact.

As we crested the first climb and headed downhill on the first real section of single track trail, I found myself held up by some slower runners. I seemed to lack the rhythm to find a spot to pass on the side while keeping a steady pace on the uneven downhill terrain. Like I often do in races, told myself to relax, and got myself around some of these runners - to the right, to the left, or wherever I could. As I looked up, Stephen was getting closer to me again. That gave me confidence that I was moving well down the hill.

After that we hit a downhill section of road. Downhill running has been a real weakness of mine in terms of cross country races over the past year. I never seem to keep pace with comparable runners when we hit long and/or steep downhill sections of races. I had tried all sorts of variations to my stride, but finally in the weeks leading up to the Dipsea I found that a short quick turnover was the ticket to moving fast while conserving energy. On this section of the race, I just looked up for the best lines to pass between people, and kept those legs moving. As we neared the next trailhead, I realized I was actually catching back up to Mark... on the downhill!

Next up was suicide, the first really technical part of the course. I couldn't keep up with Mark's technical downhill skills, in fact after this point, I never saw him again, but I managed to find a way to pass slower runners as I bombed down, and caught right up with Stephen by the end.

As we hit the footbridge at Muir Woods, my split was 15:25. I'd run over a minute faster to this point than last year! Part of the reason was less congestion in the invitational section compared to the dipsea runner's section, but still a good sign. Now onto the fun part, the 1300 foot elevation gain up to Cardiac Hill. From my training, I found it never worked out to hammer the first steep section out of Muir Woods (known as dynamite). It just took too much energy when there would still be so long to go. So I settled into what felt like a painfully slow pace, but still kept me passing runners quickly. As we climbed out of Muir Woods, Stephen started to pull away slowly, but I needed to run my race so I let him go. As we transitioned into the middle section of the climb, I starting hitting what I considered an annoying amount of congestion for the first time. I'm not sure the congestion was actually worse, but I think I'm catching more competitive runners, and it's at a point when I'm having to work really hard to run a slower pace (because of the uphill). The half way rock marks the spot where you're roughly half way up the climb, and half way through the race time wise. This had been my mark to pick up the tempo and start to push harder up the climb. If you're really awake, you can take advantage of some rolling sections to run fast, while other runners might be take a breather. My most disappointing part of the race is that I "fell asleep" here when I should have been running aggressively. Several people have told me not to waste too much energy being overaggressive trying to push people out of your way. I took it too far the other way by not doing what I needed to do when I got caught up by people blocking the trail. So bottom line is I wasn't moving fast on the sections I should have been flying on.

As I reached the top, I was feeling better than last year, but not as well as I did in some of my training runs. I downed one cup of water, dumped another on my head, and hit the split on my watch. My time of Cardiac was a disappointing 20:39 - over 30 seconds slower than last year, but the total split of 36:04 was still 37 seconds faster than last year.

From here the trail starts gradually downhill for the next mile. Finally the crowds had thinned out, but I could see several runners up ahead. Then something unwelcomed happened. As I wound up my pace on the downhill, I felt a piercing side cramp. I couldn't even exhale without a loud grunt. It was so loud that a runner just ahead turned around to see what horrible animal might possibly be hunting him down. I tried pressing my rib cage - no relief. Then for some reason tried a deep cough... momentary relief! I few breaths later I tried again, then a few breaths later it was gone! Finally! Time to roll!

Now I'm just looking ahead for the next runners to lock onto. There was a pack about 200 meters ahead that I'd catch a glimpse of on straight sections of the path, and I was reeling then in quickly. Right around the 5 mile mark, a volunteer said "you're in 38th, the black t-shirts are just ahead." This was a shot of excitement. I quickly caught the next three runners, and told myself "you're wearing a black t-shirt!" I just wanted to make that number on the shirt as low as possible. Each time I passed a runner, I counted down my place – one tiny bit of motivation at a time to propel me toward the next person.

Unfortunately one of the next runners I passed was the 2007 Dipsea champ, Jamie Rivers (at the time Jamie Berns). Last year Jamie married one of my occasional training partners – the 2008 Dipsea champ Roy Rivers. Both Jamie (59) & Roy (53) are part of the Tuesday night Pelican Inn running group. A few of the older runners in the group have been gathering for Tuesday runs since 1985! The past two years, I’ve met with the group for the grueling Cardiac Hill time trials in the weeks leading up to the race. This year, the group formed the Pelican Inn Track Club to take a shot at winning the team title for the 100th Dipsea. While I’m very loyal to my West Valley Track Club, my normal team doesn’t compete at the Dipsea, so I was happy to team up with this other fantastic group to run my favorite race.

Both Jamie & Roy have given me lots of advice about running the race (except for maybe their favorite short cuts – I may never know). When I went out to practice the downhill steps of steep ravine the Thursday before the race, I saw them both of them out on the same section of the course, inspecting the conditions and surveying the course one last time before the race. As I was struggling to find a rhythm down the stairs, Jamie gave me some great advice to just visualize keeping my chest forward out over my feet. It was a slight adjustment, but it made a huge difference, allowing me to take up to 3 steps at a time. Both of them have been had given me so much encouragement as I fought back into fitness the month leading up to the race.

When I passed Jamie on the course, she was walking with a noticeable limp. But even with what must have been considerable disappointment to fall out of contention, she was cheering on every runner who passed her. I just thought it was a great demonstration of what a true Dipsea champ is all about. It turns out that Jamie was trying for her 14th black t-shirt which would have broken a tie for the most ever won by a female. At our Pelican Inn dinner two nights after the race, it was my turn to encourage her – I have no doubt she’ll be high on the podium last year.

* running toward the swoop

After I passed Jamie, I started recognizing some of the Pacific Association master’s men and open woman as I passed them and continued to count down. As we hit the swoop - a steep section similar to suicide - I was briefly held up by a PA runner who I recognized, but then returned to aggressive tactics yelling "LEFT LEFT LEFT" which pretty much scared him into giving me the little bit of room I need to let gravity do its magic. I made easy work of the next couple runners as I counted my position 29th, 28th.

Then onto steep ravine, which is the most technical downhill section with steep uneven steps. The steps were still a bit wet and slippery just 10 days ago, but after a very warm week they were finally dry. I slipped twice here last year, just avoiding a real fall both times. But this year, I was finally dialed in taking 2-3 stairs with each step. 27th, 26th... Then I saw something unexpected. As I'm flying down the stairs, I see an older man clawing his way out of the ravine back on the trail! Good news is he was ok, but just a reminder of how treacherous that course can be!

As I cross the foot bridge and head toward insult hill, someone yells out "Let's go Gus." Oh man! My buddy Gus Gibbs has made up the 1 minute headstart I had over him. I pushed the pace up insult hill. His footsteps briefly faded, but as we crest the hill and get our first view of Stinson Beach, he's right back on me. Man he must be flying on the downhills! I stay in front of him on the first of two very narrow short single track sections off the highway, but before the final single track, he passes me and quickly pulls away. As we rejoin the highway heading into the sprint to Stinson Beach, I'm in 20th place. I see Gus and Stephen Donahue way up ahead, but too far to have any chance. Then I catch a glimpse of a runner in his 60s (who turns out to be Jerry Edelbrock who owns a pile of black T-shirts). But he's so far away! My rational psyche tells me not to even bother launching a hard kick, but I keep telling myself that he's much older and isn't running nearly as fast as I am. We make the last turn and I really dig in and see him coming back to me quickly. With about 50 meters to go, I finally know I have him so I try to savor the last few seconds of the race as I hear the announcer say "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PASS... IT'S JAMEY GIFFORD."

* one last runner to chase down

* driving toward the finish

19th Place in 52:40 (a clock time of 51:40 w/ my 1 minute head start). 49 seconds faster than last year!

The elation sunk in immediately. I remember thinking "I want my black shirt now!" but of course would have to wait a couple of hours until the awards ceremony. So I rubbed down with tecnu (to wash off the poison oak) - I got it bad the next week anyway. Then I went for a painful cool down jog - oh yeah... I had run hard today! And finally enjoyed a couple beers with my Pelican Inn teammates.

* post race treats!

* the Pelican Inn Track Club

* Dana & I enjoying the post-race

At the awards ceremony, they count down the black shirt winners starting with 35th placeDipsea winner, 72 year old Russ Kiernan finished right in front of me, and I had a great time chatting with him throughout the ceremony. My training buddies Mark McManus finished 6th, Alex Varner 4th (along with the fastest time trophy), and Roy Rivers 3rd. Standing in front of the stage as they handed out the awards was so special for me, and clearly was for everybody else up there.

* the black shirt winners

* Russ Kiernan

The winner was quite a shock to many. Last year 7 year old Reilly Johnson took covered the course in 1:27 along with the maximum 25 minute head start to finish 199th. This year, 8 year old Reilly would get the same 25 minute head start for the final time - or I should say the final time until the year 2068 when she turns 66. Reilly, who had done her 3rd grade history report on the Dipsea Race, was inspired to train for a black shirt. As the tiny runner she practiced and trained, her parents came to a shocking conclusion. She could win this race! Reilly started the race in the first head start group with former champion Melody-Ann Schultz. The two would push each other for the entire race. Running down the swoop, Reilly stumbled. Melody-Ann was right behind with no where to go, so she scoops her up and "C'mon darling, get up!" Reilly passed Melody-Ann again on insult hill, and held her off by 8 seconds to win the 100th Dipsea Race.

* the two leaders

* Reilly Johnson sprinting toward victory

The final award was so touching. Sal Vasquez holds the distinction of being the greatest Dipsea champion, hands down. Sal won 4 years in a row from 1982-1985, after which they added a winner's penalty (head start minutes reduced following a Dipsea championship). He followed it up with wins in 1990, 1994, and 1997. But after 1997 Sal never returned. Finally this year Sal, although unable to race due to injuries, traveled to the Bay Area to be part of the 100th Dipsea celebration. Just before announcing Reilly Johnson as the champion of the 100th Dipsea, the announcer called Sal Vasquez on stage to present the award. Sal, lifted up the tiny girl to the microphone so that she could thank her family. Reilly had an ear to ear grin, but tears in her eyes. I think every grown man who cared about this race was a little chocked up. Reilly's black t-shirt fell below her knees. When they took pictures on stage, Melody-Ann Shultz and Roy Rivers had to help her hold the up the trophy. Her actually time on the course was 1:12:30. Just a phenomenal performance for someone that age. I'm pretty sure her actual time was faster than most of the men in their 20s were able to run the course.

* Sal Vasquez holding Reilly Johnson

* the top 3

I was extremely satisfied with my race. I had steadily improved as a runner from the prior fall through early Spring, but after my injury a good Dipsea race was seriously in doubt. Even though my race wasn't perfect by any stretch (although I don't know of any runner who's ever said they ran a perfect race), I definitely think I made the most of the amount of time I had to prepare for the race and the fitness I had on raceday. I was also happy for Dana. It was great to have her share what's become a huge part of my running. In her first race, she ran a very solid 1:22 and looks forward to racing next year!

348 days until the 101st Dipsea...

* Back home & very tired. I wore my black shirt the entire day.

It's been 100 years, now there's 1 day to go

2010-06-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

The wait is almost over for the 100th Dipsea Race. Friday night, Dana & I picked up our bibs. It was so cool to see it say "100th Running of the Dipsea Race" at the top. What started as a bet over beers at the beach in the early 1900s quickly turned into the toughest and most storied cross country race in the U.S.

My participation seems like a bit of a coincidence. In early '09 I was running with a buddy who he was entering that year's race to guarantee a spot for the 100th race. I thought, hmmm... sounds fun, maybe I'll do the same. I got a spot in the 99th running through the lottery system, and a good race easily qualified me for this year. Sometime between receiving my entry confirmation in '09 and toeing the starting line last year, I fell in love with the race. I was introduced to the Pelican Inn runnres (a group of guys that first started meeting for runs back in 1985). The original - now silver haired - crew has been joined by younger runners over the years. I also read about the past and recent history of the race, and have been dying to be part of it ever sense. I've been dreaming out the 100th race since I cross the finish line of the 99th!

My long build up hit a snag, when I missed most of April with a sprained ankle. Training was frustrating at times in early May, but I kept pressing hard. Finally the last couple weeks, everything has come together. My training runs on the course kept getting faster, while feeling easier. Tomorrow I'll run my second Dipsea, but first time out of the Invitational section.

If you don't know about the Dipsea Race, it's very unique. The time you start the race is based on your age/gender handicap, then you run approximately 7.5 miles with over 2000 feet up & down over treacherous terrain, then finish in Stinson Beach. First person across the line wins. People I normally don't compete against - particularly younger and older runners - become rivals thanks to the handicaps. There's no age group awards, black t-shirts (with numbers) for the top 35 to finish. I can't wait to try mine on!

The Road Mile

2010-06-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I took a slight detour from my Dipsea training to run the San Rafael Road Mile - a new addition to the Pacific Association schedule. I hadn't even committed myself to running this race until the night before, but figured what the heck, it would be fun to race my first mile since college, and it should be a good final sharpening for the Dipsea in a week.

Before the race, I had NO IDEA what to expect. I've become increasingly confident with my fitness over the past two weeks, but that fitness has been focused toward hilly trail running, not fast road racing. I'd only run a small handful of track workouts since resuming my training in late April. My only speed work at all was a set of 6x200 in 29-32 at the end of a workout.

The course was slightly net downhill. You start on a downslope, make two right turns as you pass the finish line at the 1/4 mark. Then it is 3/8 (~600 meteres) on a gradual upslope, the a 180 degree turn and 3/8 of a mile downhill to the finish.

I watched the masters race a half an hour before the open men's race, and noticed that most the runners were not dying at the finish. I tweaked my strategy from "don't go out like a bat out of hell" to "don't go out like a bat out of hell, but don't be afraid to push hard to the top of the hill".

As we started I jumped fast off the line, then told myself to stay composed on the downhill first quarter mile. As we made the 2 right turns and headed back uphill, a few runners passed me - including Gus Gibbs & Alan Jackson of the Rebels. But feeling good around 600 meters, I picked up my knees and tried to keep them in contact, as well as keeping my eyes on Todd Rose just head of them. At the half mile mark, I'm still feeling good and kept pressing and moved around Alan with the turn around 200 meters away. Before the race, I told myself to take that turn hard because it was likely to be a spot where tired runners would lose momentum. As I banked into the 180 degree turn I almost ran right into the back of a Transports runner who sure enough had slowed around the turn. If there was a spot of the race where I cost myself some time it was from the turn around until about 300 meters to go as I wasn't pressing the downhill hard enough. Alan blew by me (triggering a memory of his decisive downhill move at the Humboldt Half Marathon), along with another runner. Finally I told myself to go, and held my spot to the finish line. Final time 4:30.

I don't think my time was a particularly grand performance, but I'm very happy with how I competed. I finished right with a group of guys who beat me by 1-2 minutes at the 10K last weekend. Overall it went surprisingly smoothly considering I hadn't raced the distance in 8 years. Based on what the front runners ran, it seems like somewhat of a slow course will the hill and the turns.

The Dipsea is 1 week away. I'm ready & I'm excited!

Catching up

2010-05-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have to say the 'ole blog has been suffering from some neglect considering it's been 5 weeks. Fortunately it hasn't been a lack of running to report on, but rather a busy and tiring work schedule. Our new business is off to a good start, and I'm very excited about my roll. Of course if you've read the papers you know that the financial markets have been in a bit of turmoul this past month, as fears of a European meltdown have spilled all around the globe. For a trader in my business, market volatility typically creates profitable opportunities. But when you're dealing with potential events such as large as large sovereign debt defaults, the dreaded term contagion sneaks in - meaning fear in one market pours over to most others. At a time like this diversification has little benefit because asset classes tend to become highly correlated, decoupling into risky assets - stocks, corporate bonds, energy & industrial commodities, and in this case even the Euro, and into non-risky assets - in this case US treasury bonds & at times gold. With markets behaving badly, I've had to spend up to 10 hours a week longer at the office than normal evaluating and managing the risks in our portfolio. But enough of the boring stuff, because luckily getting my evening runs and workouts has been a great unwind for me.

On Saturday May 1st I saw one of the greatest distance running thrills of my life at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford. At this same meet in 2001 I was standing on the edge of the track when Meb Keflezhighi broke the American 10K record running 27:13. On this Saturday, former Oregon runner Galen Rupp had his sights set on beating the 9 year old record. Rupp - well more his coach Alberto Salazar - had created some controversy before the race as he wavered between running the Oregon relays the night before (which had a bad weather forcast), Stanford on Saturday (which had a severe polin count), or a last minute race set up just for him on Saturday in Eugene. To the delight of Northern California residents, he chose to race at Stanford, joining one of the deepest 10K fields on US soil in years. In addition to Rupp, collegiate 10K record holder Sam Chelenga, Kenyan Daniel Salel, Chris Solinsky, and behind them a who's who of US 10K studs were all running.

After a conservative first lap, the race developed as expected with Rupp tucking in behind his 2 pace setters clicking off staggering 65 second laps (which was the record pace). The group hit the 5K split in 13:34 - right on pace. It was still the 2 pacesetters followed by Rupp, Chelenga, Salel, and Solinsky still tagging along for the ride. By the 4 mile mark, the 2 pacesetters had dropped off, and Rupp chased after history with 3 runners still in tow. Rupped stayed on pace at first, but as he neared the end of 5 miles, the pace fell a second or two off target. At this point, I was debating with my buddies in the stands whether or not Rupp would get the record. I still had faith thinking that with 4 runners still in contention that the final mile would be fast enough.

With 4 laps to go, the crowd was suddenly buzzing about Chris Solinsky. The 6'2", 160 pound runner (which is very large for an elite 10K runner) was making his debut at the distance and was looking completely comfortable at US record pace with a mile to go. Chris had been a high school & college national champion. He had been an elite post collegian, but not yet a national champion at that level. With 3 laps to go, Solinksy surged past the 2 african runners and tucked in right behind Rupp. Could he possibly be in contention for the win here??? Coming off the turn with 2 laps to go, Solinsky moves out on Rupp's shoulder and after a slight delay surges into the lead. By the backstretch he had opened up 10 meters, with Rupp surging after him. With 2 Americans flying through the night with 600 meters to go, we all knew the record would fall. Solinsky hit the bell lap and the announcer calls out his split of 60.2 seconds - and he looked effortless doing it! The clock read 26:03. Now the real kick began. The last time down the back stretch there was no question that he would win the race and break the record... only a question of what time would he run. As he hit 200 meters to go, there was a new possibility, COULD HE BREAK 27 MINUTES?? In the last straightaway, Solinsky lifted his knees, pumped his arms, finally showed his first signs of fatigue, but never slowed. He crossed the line freezing the clock at 26:59.60!! I doubt there's ever been quite an eruption from the Cobb Track grandstands. Gupp finished 4th in 27:10 - under the old American Record.

In the days following the race, bloggers and message board posters tried to accuse Rupp of bad sportsmanship somehow. Both runners quickly put an end to it. The race video clearly shows Rupp congratulating Solinsky. You can't blame Rupp for not jumping up and down and celebrating, but he showed class afterward. The next day, Solinsky gave Rupp credit for leading through the toughest part of the race, and acknowledged he wouldn't have broken the record otherwise. Then later in the week in an interview Rupp conceded that he was of course disappointed, but happy for his buddy Chris (as they both run for Nike in the Portland area). What a great time for US distance running with Ryan Hall, Meb, Dathan Ritzhenheim, Matt Tegencamp, Galen Rupp, and now Chris Solinsky running at a world class level.

Here's a great video of the race - if you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend watching at least the last mile of the Flotrack video (middle link at 22 minutes). Note you'll have to let it load for a few minutes before jumping ahead.

http://www.letsrun.com/2010/solinskyvideo0502.php

On a slower note, my running is back on track after the sprained ankle. I started jogging the last week of April, and was consistently training by mid may. It was a struggle at first, but the past two weeks I've felt consistently strong. I ran Bay to Breakers as a tempo hoping to still match last year's time (I fell about 20 seconds short running 42:08 for 12K). Then this morning, I ran 33:45 for the Marin 10K. My first thought was great, just ran the same crappy time as last year. I was running good splits early on (10:25 at 2 miles and 15:50 at 3 miles), but slowed badly in the 2nd half. But a few hours later I think that's somewhat encouraging I matched last year's time, since my training has been focused almost entirely on hill stregnth for the Dipsea. Plus the morning was pretty warm by the end of the race.

I'm feeling good about my chances at the Dipsea. I think when I taper back, my crash course fitness plan will be well timed to win my first black t-shirt... and hopefully one with a low number on it :)

Here's a pic I took of the AR 10K race with 500 meters to go...

Cleared

2010-04-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

I saw the doctor on Tuesday & we agreed it was time to start running! I had spent 3 weeks on the sidelines with a sprained ankle. During the time, I got on my road bike 4 - 5 days a week. Some of my rides were really enjoyable, but overall it was tough to motivate. It just take longer to workout, there's a equipment to deal with, and on top of that work has been busy - meaning a lot of 6am to 5pm days.

The ankle is feeling almost 100% now after PT, icing, anti-inflams, etc... I've run 3 times so for this week, and now the problem is getting my butt back in shape in time for the Dipsea. I have a couple races in May, so I'll try the race my way back in shape strategy. Mentally I just need to stay motivated and not let myself get frustrated that I've lost a lot of the fitness I built up year to date.

Setback

2010-03-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

I was heading out for 7-8 miles tonight, and running on a fairly flat section of trail, took a step and felt a POP on my right ankle. I hadn't even taken a bad step but something got injured.

I had a similar injury back in 2006 playing soccer (which was my sport for a while during my multi-year hiatus from competitive running). The bit that concerns me, is that I sprained the exact same spot, and that it happened just taking a fairly normal step. Throughout the past year, I've suspected that my right foot and ankle hadn't been as strong as my right because minor aches and pains kept popping up in different spots about 5 times as frequently on the right side as the left. Also, my right ankle also looked more "puffy" than the left. I figured I should have done some basic strengthening exercises, but blew them off. It's tough trying to balance working 50 hours a week & running 50-60 miles. After all that, I want to be able to spend time with my wife & and then see friends when I can. I love running, but it's not the most important thing in my life anymore. Tonight is a good reminder.

Well, I guess I'll stop there. I think I found the perspective I needed :)

Thanks to the nice lady who stopped her car when she saw be sitting on the ground by the trail 100 feet off the road! I'm not sure what this does to my Spring training & racing. I can't imagine I'll be running in the next week. I just hope it's not several weeks. 75 days till the 100th Dipsea. I'll be there & I'll find a way to be ready!

On The Track

2010-03-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday I ran my first track race since I graduated from college in 2002!

I spent most of last week running easy, trying to shake off my lingering soreness from Sunady's 12K on the road. I went back and forth on whether to race Friday, but my Thursday I said sore or not sore, it will be a fun experience.

The San Francisco State University Distance Carnival started just 3 years ago with 4 events for athletes who did not get into Stanford Invitational later the same day. By last year, this meet had grown to hundreds of athletes and a full day's worth of events. The men's 5000 had 86 runners this year split between 3 heats. It was a really low key event, but one that included very competitive races.

I was in the 2nd of 3 heats, which last year had finishing times from just under 15 minutes through the low 16's. My plan was to shoot for 74 second laps (a 15:25 pace), while avoiding using up too much energy early on. When the gun went off, I dropped toward the back, and found a spot on the rail by the end of the first lap. There wasn't a clock at the start or the finish line, so I had to depend on various coaches yelling splits to runners around me. I know I hit the first lap in 77 but then settled into 73-74 sec laps. My calves were pretty much sore from the get go, as they had never fully recovered from Sunday's race, and I was wearing a pair of track spikes that have been sitting in my attic for years. Other than the calves, I felt fairly comfortable through the first half of the race. Around 2 miles, I started to slip back from the group I was runnign with. I knew I was slowing down, but I just tried to dig in and make the most of it. Those laps 3 laps hurt!! Dana enjoyed the track environment & it was fun having her on the infield cheer for me.

I crossed the line & really had no idea what my time was since I hadn't gotten any good split info the last few laps. But I figured I was in the high 15's, and that was confirmed first off of a friend's watch, then the official results - 15:49.

I'm not as happy about this race as I was with the 12K Sunday, but I took 10 seconds off my post college PR for 5K, and it was my second PR in less than a week. So based on that, I'm certainly not disappointed. I'll have some more opportunities to lower my 5K time in April, so just need to keep it going!

Emerald Nuts and Blue Sky

2010-03-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Emerald Nuts

Yesterday I ran a 12K PR at the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay race from which runs from Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into San Francisco. It felt great to get my racing season back on track after a really rough (i.e. slow and painful) 10 mile race a couple weeks earlier.

After Redding, I was struggling with my running confidence. Some recent runs and workouts felt like a chore to get myself out the door. Tuesday, I tried to fit my workout in between a busy day at work and a work dinner that night. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that when I rushed to log my primary workout of the week that I felt tight and tired. That day I punted on what was to be 2-3 sets of 1000, 600, 300 meter cuts downs after the first 1000 & 600 to give another go the next day. Wednesday I made it home from work, relaxed for an hour, then headed back into the park. As I was driving in, I had a thought - what about a cross country style workout rather than hitting the track again? Last fall I was focusing heavily on XC workouts, and I had some great road race results. Then what would you know, as soon as I get to the park, I see that the track is closed, so I grabbed my flats, jogged down to the Golden Gate Park XC course, and ran 2 loops of the course as a 3 minute on, 2 minute off Fartlek. It felt good to switch gears, running on the different parts of the course. I was able to move fast during the 3 minute intervals without over-stressing my body. I drove home with a smile on my face, all of a sudden enjoying myself again. Although I didn't appreciate that somebody stole my trainers while I was working out in my flat!

Heading into the race, I finally felt confident in the training I've logged so far this year. The course is a weird one as it's net downhill, but fairly challenging. You start the race running downhill, then climb up a long steady hill in the 2nd half of the first mile to the GG Bridge west sidewalk. Then once on the bridge the first half is a gradual climb due to the camber of the bridge, then you go back down. After the bridge as you're approaching the 4M mark you have a downhill section, but with some sharp turns. After that it's a few miles on the flats before one last moderate hill in the last half mile (with a sprinting downhill that leaves you less than 100 meters from the line. My plan was to take it really easy at the beginning and wait until around 3 miles to start racing.

When the gun went off I was behind most of my teammates. The pace felt very easy, but most the field wasn't too terribly far ahead. When we started heading uphill, I told myself to relax. I held my position on the first half, and just focused on a light relaxed stride the whole way up. As we go to the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk, I pulled up to a pack of teammates including Jonah & Chris (who would be first place masters runners). I moved up a few spots with Chris, just gradually reeling in runners up ahead. By halfway across the bridge I caught Alan Jackson of the Rebels, who always runs a smarts race. We worked together reeling in more runners, and eventually pulled close to Todd Rose as we finished the downhill sections of the course. I really didn't have much going through my head early in the race, but dug in and ran fairly aggressively in the 3rd and 4th miles.

Once we got to chrissy field, I threw a small surge as I was eager to catch up to Todd. As I pulled right behind Todd, Alan kept surging and caught up to a group of mostly Aggies team runners just ahead. Having a spent a lot of juice to pass numerous runners, I tucked in right behind, then along side of Todd as Alan pulled away. I was breathing pretty hard, so couldn't say much more than "let's go" & he managed to grunt out "5:20 pace", which since I hadn't seen a mile marker yet, was good news. Shortly after that I see a large road construction sign, which I realize wasn't a road construction sign, but the 5 mile mark. I hit it around 26:30 (5:18 pace) & was pretty stoked to have a great race going both in terms of pace and position wise. At this point Todd had opened a few seconds up, but I just kept my eyes on him and tried to reel him in. While I lost just a second or two on him in the 6th mile (31:57) and 7th (~37:20) focusing on trying to reel him in kept me running a good pace.

Just after the 7th mile mark (with 0.45 miles to go) I hit the hill at Fort Mason. It's steep for the first 50 meters then slowly levels out. 2 runners - JT Service (an Aggie) & Stephen Donohue (who was 9th overall in the Dipsea last year) passed me as I pretty much stumbled up the first part of the hill. I told myself there was less than a half mile to go, and managed to keep Stephen fairly close. I pulled even closer on the downhill then gave it a good hard kick to get around Stephen right after we rounded the last turn with a flat 100 meter finish.

It's funny that I finished 16th place in each of the first 2 PA races. I would have so said no way I'd finish that poorly in Redding, and unlikely I'd run that well at this race! I was definitely happy with both my place, and my time - especially given that it's a hilly course. Last fall, I felt like I could run much faster than my old 12K pr of 41:54. But saying "I just lowered my 12K PR by 2+ minutes" sounds a lot better than saying "I could lower my PR by 2+ minutes!"

Next up will either be the Zippy 5K, unless I jump into a track meet prior to that.

*This was taken as I'm rounding the final turn of the race.

Blue Sky

Between all the running and skiing, my aviation pursuits had taken a back seat recently. But after the race Sunday, I scheduled time with my instructor just to go for a flight. The dual purpose was just a proficiency check since I hadn't flown in a few months, but we also decided to use it as my "bi-annual flight review", which is required every 2 years to keep your license active. It felt great to get up in the air, and was happy that Bob (my instructor) had very little to comment on. We flew through SF International airspace on the way out, and Oakland on the way back. He had me execute a couple of steep turns - meaning a 360 degree turn to the right at a 45 degree bank, followed by the same thing to the left. It's one of the required maneuvers for the private pilot checkride. The key challenge is to maintain a steady airspeed and altitude. I think I pulled off two of my best steep turns ever! I look forward to flying much more often this Spring and Summer.

I'll save my health care / Pelosi rant for another day...

Bouncing Back

2010-03-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I ran my first Pacific Association race of the year (and 2nd overall) at the NorCal 10 miler in Redding. I'll sum up my performance in 1 word - BLEH!

After a very consistent month of training in January, I had a disappointing day at my first race of the year - the Kaiser Half Marathon. Although I was excited to head to Redding in a month, I felt like I lacked a bit of direction in the week after Kaiser. But still - I had a great tempo run 4 days after that race, and was back to consistent training for the next few weeks. The only hitch to race prep was a ski trip to Big Sky, MT (getting back 3 days before). I wasn't worried. I would train hard before leaving the week before, then get some light turnover on the track the day I got back (which I felt good running 8x300 in 48-49).

The morning of the race, we woke up to surprisingly warm temperatures. I wouldn't say it ever got hot, but temps close to 70 degrees by the end of the race sure felt hot when I'd hadn't run in warmer than 60 degree whether since the fall. The race course runs out on a bike path along the Sacramento River in Redding, makes a loop through a neighborhood midway, then backtracks toward the start, and finally crossing a bridge and finishing on the other side of the river. It is pretty flat except for some rolling hills in the 3rd & 4th miles, which you hit on the way back in the 6th & 7th miles.

When the gun went off, Sergio Reyes (who ran 48-something for 10 miles last year) took off with 2 runners chasing him. I was part of the next chase group, including teammates Todd Rose & Julian Marsh, which hit the first mile in 5:19 & the 2nd in 5:30. The pace was no problem, and I was right on pace to run around 54 minutes. In the 3rd mile, Todd started surging through the series of hills. I backed off a bit, but hit 4 miles in 21:40 - still just over 54 min pace. But at this point, it was really starting to hurt, especially for so early in the race. It was hot, and I just couldn't find a good rhythm. As we headed into the neighborhood in the 5th mile, I just tried to focus my sight on Carlos Siqueiros up ahead of me. At that point 2 runners from the Strawberry Canyon club blew past me, and masters phenom Jim Sorenson caught me. I tried to relax & focus on a smooth stride to stay with Jim. I kept Jim in contact for several minutes, but every time I tried to relax & increase the pace, I quickly red-lined.

By mile 6, the wheels started coming off. Through the hills in the 7th and 8th miles, I hit both splits slower than 6 minutes. I slowed down to get a full drink of water at the last water stop and couldn't believe how thirsty I was. At least I dropped my pace back under 6 minutes for the last 3 miles, but I fell from 8th place at the 4 mile mark, to 16th at the finish. I'm glad I didn't realize that 48 year old Linda Summers-Smith was less than 30 seconds back, enroute to a new American age group record, because I probably would have gotten scared & run slower. Congrats to her for setting yet another age group record, as well as the women's course record. She also holds the course record for the next PA race on the schedule, which she set in 1995! My final result was 16th place in 56:54.

Shortly after the race I started getting the chills, despite the heat. I wasn't the only runner who struggled, as quite a few runners ran 1-2 minutes slower than they normally would (I was almost 4 minutes slower than my 10 mile split at the Humboldt Half Marathon). Among my buddies, Todd ran well, finishing 4th in 53:47, and Rebel's runner Mike Styczynski ran a PR for 5th in 53:52. Dana joined me for the trip, and although her longest recent run was 6 miles, she felt good over 10 miles, running 1:28. She's excited to use this as a kickstart for her running this Spring.

On the drive home, I had plenty of time to think about the race. If I came up with anything wrong I had done in training, I'd be completely nit-picking. I've run consistent mileage (most weeks between 55 and 65 miles), and gotten 2 solid workouts in every week without over doing it. Maybe I hadn't done a lot of race sharpening work, but that doesn't mean I was unprepared. Maybe I was a little run-down from having been at 8000 feet for 5 days the prior week, or maybe I had a low grade illness (I was feeling a bit "off" after work the day before). Or perhaps I was just unlucky that my 2 off days in 2010 happened to be my race days.

The only thing I can say I was doing wrong was to let a bit of anxiety sneak into some of my workouts & the races. I need to get back to my "just run" philosophy that treated me so well last Fall, and to enjoy the ability that God has given me.

I'll sign off by sharing something I read in Running Times which came in the mail today. Greg McMillan, who coaches several elite runners, including 2:10 marathoner Brett Gotcher, listed "The Five Habits of Highly Effective Runners" (with my own comments)

#1: Don't Dwell: The idea is to shake off bad workouts or races move forward. Every runner has a few bad ones every season, and the best runners drop them and move forward. Well... I know I just wrote a blog post about my crappy race, but hopefully the point comes across that my training is there, so I just need to keep it going. But I am the very analytical type, so this is hard for me sometimes.

#2: Fine Your Sweet Spot in Training: When I first read this, I thought it meant to train your strengths, but I was wrong. The idea is to train at a consistency where you advance your fitness, but not so hard that you struggle to get from workout to workout. This is one thing I have done very well recently.

#3: Focus on Consistency: I really think this is an extension of #2. Don't be a hero in one workout, then barely be able to run the rest of the week. Rather train in such a way where you're building momentum throughout the season.

#4: Be tenacious: I've summed this idea up several times by saying "just run". Being tenacious is important on many levels. You have to be tenacious throughout the grind of training, and over the miles of a race. I'm realizing that "just run" is really an abbreviation for "just keep running and stop thinking so damn much".

#5: Build Your Confidence Consistently: Trust your preparation!

Great points from someone who coaches some amazing runners!

The next race for me will be the Across the Bay 12K a week from Sunday.

Not My Day - Kaiser Recap

2010-02-07T14:45:00.001-08:00

This morning I ran 1:13:13 for 9th place in the SF Kaiser Half Marathon. While I ran 3 minutes faster than last year, and had a decent place in a race with 7000 runners, I can't help but be disappointed. Heading into the race, I thought all signs pointed to a PR - good overall mileage, and consistently strong workouts in terms of pace and volume. But early on, as the race started to unfold, it just didn't seem like my day.

The plan was to pace ourselves at 5:20 per mile, with teammates James, Jonathan, Todd (who was just running the first half of the race), and I working together. The first mile in 5:20 didn't feel too bad, but then on a slight downhill we picked up the pace to 5:14. Even before the split it felt a little too fast, so I started to back off. Alone in 6th place now, I tried to keep a steady pace in the 3rd mile, while I watched a group of 4 pull away. I hit my 3rd mile in 5:21 (15:55 total), although I think the mile market was about 5 seconds too far forward. My 4th and 5th miles - still running alone - fell off badly in 5:38 & 5:40. In the 6th we headed downhill toward the ocean, and Todd fell back to run with me. I picked up the pace on the downhill (shocker), and averaged 5:23 for the next 3 miles. I went from struggling to pace myself alone after going out too fast, to feeling some serious tightness on the outside of my lower right leg, which radiated up to my hamstring. The pain wasn't terrible, but it was very distracting and made it that much harder to find a smooth stride and rhythm.

Around mile 7, we left Golden Gate Park, and headed for a roughly 3 miles out & 3 miles back section of the Great Highway along the Pacific Ocean. While it's a beautiful stretch, being able to see so far ahead with almost no scenery change, plus an almost guaranteed headwind one of the 2 directions, makes it a serious mental challenge. Todd dropped off around 7 miles, and said "find your rhythm" as I started down the Great Highway alone. I just tried to keep my sights set on James up ahead. From 7 miles to 9 miles, I barely ever took my eyes off his back. A 20 second deficit shrunk to 12 seconds, then finally to 6 right before we turned around. Miles 9 & 10 were in 11:02 to hit 10 miles in a respectable 54:29 (still under 1:12 pace).

On the run out on the Great Highway, I felt no wind, despite seeing the mile marker flags ripple in the wind. So sure enough at the turnaround just before the 10 mile mark, I felt the fierce wind that I would have to fight for 3 miles. I wish I could say I didn't give up at that point, but the numbers don't lie. My last 3.1 miles were run in 18:40 - slower than 6 minute pace. My legs felt completely dead & it was a struggle to keep a decent pace going. I lost two spots in the last 3 miles, but didn't put up any fight to stay with them.

I should be happy that on a day when nothing really went the right way for me, that I finished with a respectable half marathon time, and 9th place out of 7000 runners. But it was a tough one to swallow. I hadn't had a bad workout in 2010, and my bad day had to come on race day. Maybe I didn't back off enough on my training this past week. But I had trained pretty hard up to the Clarksburg 30K last fall, and that didn't bother me. Perhaps I was nervous leading up to it. But I felt pretty loose on race morning.

I think I have to just chalk it up to an off day. A runner's body is a fickle instrument. You train hard & smart to prepare yourself for race day. But despite your best efforts, every now and then it just doesn't come together. One thing I could control, that I should have done better, was to keep focused and pushing hard even when the day was going great. Being prepared is crucial, but you still have to fight during the race. On a day when you feel great, it's pretty easy, but the rest those days it takes a lot of toughness.

Next up will be the Redding 10 miler on March 6th. Until then, I'll keep the mileage rolling, the workouts strong, oh and make some good ski turns :) I'll be ready to roll in Redding!

The Monkey & The Hay

2010-02-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

The Monkey

Is off my back. It was a small monkey, and I didn't exactly kick it to the ground, but it's off my back. Over the past year+ I've really struggled at the 5K distance. I would run fast in track workouts, then long at strong in race distances from 10 miles to 30K. But despite workouts pointing toward mid 15 minute 5K times, I couldn't seem run under 16 minutes for the life of me. I thought a 16:07 in the fall of 2008 (which was 4 days after a 6 mile XC race and 24 hours after a red-eye flight) would fall quickly in 2009. But sigh... despite improving at every other distance in 2009, I got slower at the 5K.

On Thursday night, I went down to the track on my own to run the workout the rest of the team had done Tuesday. It called for a 5000 meters at "hard tempo" pace (i.e. slightly slower than a 10K race pace), followed by a little bit more work at a faster pace. Based on recent workouts, I figured I'd go for 5:10 - 5:15 on the track for my fast tempo. Before the run I was a bit tired from some birthday celebrating (32 now!) the night before. Then when I got to the track, it was packed with joggers from local running groups. I basically almost talked myself out of the workout twice. But when I got running, 77 second laps felt pretty good. I tried not to focus on the distance and just run. My first two 1600 meter splits were 5:07 & 5:08. At that point I realized I was on pace to run right around 16 flat, so I looked at my watch with a lap to go, then picked it up to a 74 second last lap to run 15:59. I capped the workout off with 800 meters in 2:25 & 300 meters in 46 seconds.

Funny how it was it was a crowded Thursday night where I ran by myself to get that monkey off my back. Maybe 16 minutes had turned into a mental barrier, or maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself. Now hopefully I can knock some serious time off my new post college PR.

The Hay

Is in the barn. I just ran my last workout before the Kaiser Half Marathon. 3 x mile in 5:05, 5:03, 4:56, followed by a 2:20 800. The past month was the most consistent month of training that I've had. 270 miles total, with 2 solid workouts every week, my fastest 5K in 8+ years, and my best long tempo run. It time to taper this week, then see what I can do Sunday!

Next Runner In the Family

2010-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here is my niece Callie along side my sister braving the cold to run a 5K! She ran her first one at age 6, and is now 7. I love the hat & gloves combo. Keep it up!

On Deck: SF Kaiser Half Marathon

2010-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

When I first started showing up for West Valley track workouts in late 2007, I made a few rules about me being a “runner” again. 1) I would only run on days I felt like running. Or perhaps more accurately, I wouldn’t run if I really didn’t feel it. 2) Running wouldn’t get in the way of being social. 3) I would have fun.

At first I enjoyed showing up at the track & developing my speed again. But outside of Tuesday workouts, overall mileage was light, long runs were occasional, and secondary workouts were non-existent.

In 2008 I started racing again on a regular basis. My initial results were uninspiring (not like my recent results are either), but I raced my way back into shape and steadily improved. With each mini breakthrough, I saw the opportunity to improve aspects of my training. I also got a taste of that fire back!

Fast forward to now, and I’ve thrown rules #1 & #2 out the window. Last Sunday night, I drove back from skiing, rather tired, but still got myself out the door for 7.5 miles when I’d have preferred the TV & a beer. The Friday before that, I passed on a happy hour to make sure I got a secondary workout in the books.

The key – and I’ve talked about this frequently, is that I’ve stuck very true to #3. The West Valley crew is exactly the type of team I want to train and race with. We workout hard, but have a fun time doing it. Running doesn’t consume anybody’s life, but something we all love doing, and work hard at. I’ve also enjoyed running with and competing against runners from other teams.

If a runner can’t enjoy the grind of training, he’ll ultimately lose the focus and desire necessary to carry on. Races will become stressful rather than exciting. But if he can enjoy track workouts, tempo runs, hill workouts, regular runs, and long runs, then race day becomes a privilege where all the pieces come together.

While I there are days I won’t feel like running, but I’ll push myself out the door anyway, these days are the exception. Most days I’ve been excited to get out and run. Quite often I’m feeling good out on a run, and extending what would have been a 7-8 mile run into 9-10. Even with weekend ski trips, I’ve only missed 1 day (a well deserved day off) all month. I’ve averaged 59 miles the past 4 weeks. In workouts, I don’t feel a lot of speed right now, but my tempo runs and strength intervals have been very consistent with a lot of volume in the low 5 min / mile pace range. There hasn’t been a single workout that I feel like I’ve just crushed, but every single one has been solid.

My next race is the Kaiser Half Marathon in SF the morning of the Super Bowl (Feb 7th). I’ve been happy with my strength and volume, but just wasn’t sure if I was ready for the race until Monday night. Our top runner – Jonathan Charlesworth – decided to join me for a long tempo run. With Charlesworth tagging along, I knew the pace wouldn’t be slow. We immediately ran faster than the 5:25 pace I had planned, hitting the first 3 miles at 5:15 pace. I slowed down a little toward the end but finished 7.5 miles @ 5:23 pace. A week and a half before my 1:11:08 PR last fall, I ran an 8 mile tempo at 5:28 pace. I’m feeling ready for this race!

Now if I could only manage to run 5-flat pace for a 5K!

2009 mileage stats

2010-01-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

In 2009 I ran:
2272 miles
295 days (with 70 days off) - running 81% of the days

On average:
43.6 miles / week
6.2 miles / day
7.7 miles / days not taken off

There were a few periods of downtime (a January ski trip, a sore foot in March, my wedding and honeymoon in June, then my post season break this year in December). Excluding those 42 days, and any light runs during those times, my stats breakdown:

2233 miles over 323 calendar days and 284 days running (88%) for an average of 6.15 days run / week.

On average:
48.4 miles per week
6.9 miles per day
7.9 miles per days not taken off

I like to emphasize quality over quantity, but mileage still matters. In the summer & fall I improved my consistency over the first half of the year, with a decent number of 60+ mile weeks. For 2010, I need to avoid numerous sub 50 mile weeks, and push into the 70 range when I can. I've always thought downtime is important between seasons, but the 6 weeks total that I took in 2009 was a bit too much. Fitness wise, I'm ready for a heavier load, after completing my first full, uninterrupted calendar year of training since college. The key is to find the balance between marriage, training, work, and other friendships & relationships. Dana has been very supportive and encouraging of my running. It's been fun to see her improve as a runner as well - dropping her half marathon PR from 1:52 down to 1:44 this year!

Karen Lawrence New Year's Eve run

2010-01-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

I've enjoyed bringing Dana back to Lookout Mountain, GA for the past week to spend Christmas and New Years with my family and some old friends. I went for a couple long(ish) runs on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield trails - including a 10 miler with my high school teammate Jeff.

On New Year's Eve, I rekindled an old tradition of running the Karen Lawrence Run for St. Jude's (Children's Research Hospital). The race - which has been run in Chattanooga every year since 1979 - was started by Karen and her family to raise money for St. Judes, which had treated Karen for leukemia over the prior year. Sadly, Karen's condition relapsed, and she passed away in 1980 at the age of 11. Every year since, hundreds of runners have gathered in the evening on New Year's Eve to support the hospital, and to bring in the new year with a fun 4 mile run through downtown Chattanooga. This year Karen Lawrence's niece rang the siren to start the race.

I can't remember for sure, but I'd guess this was my 7th or 8th time running the race - my first year was (I think) in 1993 and the most recent in 2002. I won in 1997, 1998, and 2001 - all during my college years - with a best time of 19:57 over the moderately hilly course in '97. I was hoping to average around 5:10 miles this year. I figured that pace had an outside chance of winning, but most years would be 2nd or 3rd.

Since I took a week off following Kentucky (but jumped right back into to training afterward) - I wanted to go out conservatively, and certainly not lead. At the gun two college runners took off and immediately opened a gap, while I settled back with the chase pack. I didn't get a mile split, but I think I was around 5:20 (net uphill), and the 2 leaders were about 10 seconds ahead. As we started back downhill I picked up my pace to try to catch the leaders. At times it felt like the gap was shrinking, but was we ended the first of 2 loops, Patrick Hall - who was my sister Debby's assistant cross country coach at Covenant College - pulled along side of me. I knew I needed to stay with him, and I momentarily matched his pace. Patrick had no interest in letting it come to a late race kick, so he kept the hammer down, opening a gap heading back up the hill. I kept pressing in the last mile, but all my efforts only kept the gap at a steady 10 seconds.

My final finish was 21:11 for 4th place. It was a weird race, as I never felt like I was hurting that bad, but I just had no zip in my legs. The winner finished in 20:30, with 2nd place in 20:50. I wasn't thrilled with my performance & particularly my time, but it wasn't a terrible effort either.

Debby surprised herself running in the mid 26 minute range (after saying she'd run 28 minutes), and finished as the 2nd woman. Dana finished around 32 minutes, launching a nice kick at the end.

After the race I was really flattered as people still remembered my high school days in Chattanooga. In particular I was touched by the applause I received when I picked up my 30-34 age group award. It was also great to catch up with John Hunt - who had covered local cross country & track for the Chattanooga Free Press while I was in high school.

Fall Recap

2009-12-29T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friends and family who have kept up with my blog. I've found it helpful to offload the approach I've taken to training and racing, in addition to the emotions and techniques that have gotten me through my races. I hope that looking back at my running entries will better prepare me for future races - both physically and mentally. It means a lot to hear from a different people - both runners & non-runners - that they've enjoyed hearing my thoughts. Maybe a few people can learn from my approach, just as I've learned from listening to so many other runners. For those of you who were bored to tears by my long rambling recaps - I'm sorry & thanks for sparing my feelings by not telling me that (although constructive criticism is welcome).

With the decade, year, training cycle, and cross country + road seasons over, it's the perfect time to recap and reflect on this year. I'll save statistics till the end, but wanted to start with a qualitative analysis.

Things that went well:

A more aggressive training approach: Last Spring I was too conservative on easy days. This year I still logged some easy days and days off when I felt run down, but for the most part, I replaced easy days with moderate effort runs.
More consistent workouts: Prior to this season, I would consistently attend the WVTC Tuesday workouts, but struggled to get a second weekly workout in (especially for non-race weeks). It's not surprising that my race results hit a plateau last Spring. This Fall, I had at least 2 hard efforts every week, and occasionally a 3rd speed oriented session.
Tempo runs: Tempos were almost non-existent prior to this season, so it's not a shock that I frequently faded toward the end of the year. Last summer, I made tempo work the cornerstone of my base buildup period. This led to stronger XC efforts - especially toward the end of races, as well as success at the half marathon and 30K distances.
Relaxed racing approach. Sure I was a bit nervous before Club Nats and the PA Championships, but I did a great job of waking up "loose" on race mornings, and showing up to the starting line relaxed.
Confident racing approach. Being confident makes it so much easier to be tough. It also makes it easier to be patient.
I enjoyed it! This might be the most important aspect - seriously... I loved the workouts, the training runs, the long runs, the races, the camaraderie, and the competition. At this point in my life - I'm not running for money or Olympic glory. So if I'm not enjoying this sport and the people I'm running with, then there's no point in doing it.

Things that could go better: Luckily this list is shorter, but there is always room for improvement.

The 5K distance. The 5K is the monkey on my back right now! It's driving me nuts that my post college PR is 16:07, and that my best over the past year has been 16:15. I've run so much better at longer distances, and even shown some speed in Kezar stadium (running a 2:00 for 800 meters the Tuesday after Club Nats). So why can't I run a damn 5K? My one serious attempt this Fall was 4 days after a demanding 6 mile XC race at the PA Champs. I was tired, but that didn't stop other people who ran both races from running well. I think the longer races are easier to plan, because what you do the first couple miles just don't matter as much (as long as you don't go out way too fast). But in the 5K that first 2 miles are 2/3 of the race! My plan is to run a few track races to get some 1500 / mile speed back in my legs, and then perhaps run a 5K on the track, where it's much easier to pace yourself intelligently.
Over-racing. As I found myself learning to race well again, I kept wanting to run as many as I could! Over the cross country & road race season, I only took a pass on 1 event between the two circuits (not counting one XC race I was out of town for). I don't think there were any dire consequences to racing so often, but I do think I would have been better prepared for Club Nats if I'd had more time to recover and train between races.

Now for some stats & race specific comments:

I had a couple goals for the XC season. I accomplished the one I had direct control over and didn't accomplish the one that I did not have as much control over. Goal #1 was knock significant amounts of time off my race times from last year. Ideally up to a minute on some courses. The other goal was to take advantage of less competitive races and score enough points to finish in the top 5 in the series - as the top 5 earns "comp" entry into the next XC season.
Goal #1: drastic time improvements. I ran 6 races in 2009 that I had run in 2008, and improved my time in every race! For the 6 races, My average time improvement was 64 seconds over an average distance of 4.07 miles. If you throw out the Tamalpa race which was moved to a new (and most likely faster course) it is 50 seconds over 4.03 miles. Not counting Tamalpa (2 minutes 10 seconds but on a different course), my best improvement was the Presidio 3.55 miler in 1 minute 22 seconds, and smallest was the Garin 5K in 22 seconds). Mission accomplished.
Goal #2: be in the running for a top 5 series finish... not even close! To mirror the nationwide trend, the level of competition really stepped up this year. There were new runners in the series, as well as existing runners who raced the series more frequently. I think the competition is a great thing because it motivates & inspires all of us to run faster. When the dust settled, despite running so much faster than last year, I dropped from 13th in the series in '08 to 16th in '09!
A consolation to the point above was that last year, my best finish in a single race was 10th at Presidio, while this year, I finished 8th at Presidio and 6th at Willow Hills.

My long road race finishes were a very pleasant surprise

Humboldt Half Marathon: In the early season, I felt like 1:12 was a stretch goal, but after some good workouts, I decided to pace myself for a faster time, which paid off with a 6th place finish in 1:11:08
Clarksburg 30K: I thought this was just going to be a hard long run / long tempo run, then I got out there and ran 1:43:57 (5:35 pace for 18.3 miles) finishing with another 6th place run.

Best & Worst:

Most disappointing race: The obvious answer would be my Turkey Trot 5K, but since that's too obvious I'll say the season opening Santa Cruz XC race. Even though I dropped 47 seconds off the prior year, I should dropped well over a minute considering I hardly slept prior to the '08 race was a bit .. um.. dehydrated. But more so, I ran really tight and nervous, and just didn't have any fight in me late in the race.
Best regular season XC race: Definitely the Presidio. I had a tough week of running leading up, but ran a smart, tough race plan from the gun to the line and dropped 1 minute 22 seconds over 3.55 miles from the prior year.
Biggest surprise: The Clarksburg 30K. I had no idea I could run 5:35 pace for 18+ miles... much less that I'd go out and do it!
Best end of race kick: At the PA Champs, I outkicked several runners, including a teammate who I had never beaten before. Felt like the good old days :)

Looking forward:

My 2010 racing season will start will actually start on 12/31/09 with a low key New Years Even road race in Chattanooga. I won this race in 1998, 1999, and 2001. Hopefully no college kids show up and I'll have a shot in 2009!
My focus for the Spring is the 100th Dipsea race. Last year I ran in the Runner's section (i.e. non-Invitation) finishing 3rd in that group, with the 6th fastest time out of everyone. If we had all started with the invitational section my time would have placed me 25th, earning one of the 35 coveted black t-shirts. Single digits for the 100th race?
I feel like I'm capable of a low 15 minute 5K, but let's start with a mid 15s. This will finally happen!
As for PA races, I want to build on my success with the long road race series, and notch a good finish in the Redding 10 mile.
I can't expect to run like I did when I was 21 years old overnight, but I want to keep focusing on knocking down my post college PRs. I feel like every time I step on the road or the track that I'll threaten a PR.

Finally thanks to all the West Valley Kezar crew who I've run with over the past year. T-Rose, Little Mike, Charlesworth, Jonah, Julian, Big Mike, Joe, TK, Mason, Dewey, Sparkle, Big John, Eric, Matty D, Matt, James, as well as out of towners Duke, Ben, Lars, Jann, Marzoff (and sorry if I've I missed some people - I'm sure I have). And of course coach Dr. Jack for all the workouts and coaching... no one can accuse you of being in this for the money!

Happy New Year!!

USATF National Club XC Championships

2009-12-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

All good things come to an end! That's certainly how I feel about this past cross country season. I ran quite a few races since late August - 12 in total between cross country, 2 long road races, and the Corp Challenge. Quite a few were good, a couple were bad, and one was ugly, but regardless I improved as a runner, and had just a great time doing it. While the PA season was over, our club had one last piece of business to take care of - the USATF National Club XC Championships. Club 'Nats is team focused race (with individual bragging rights of course) that features many of the best semi-pro and amateur runners & clubs from across the country.

I ran my first Club Nationals last year in Spokane & let's just say the race wasn't a great experience. Last year's race features single digit temperatures + howling winds, which combined with an unimpressive fitness level placed me toward the back of the field. I was also super nervous the whole day before the race... bleh. (although it was GREAT to catch up with a couple college teammates the evening after the race).

Anyway, I waffled throughout the fall between continuing my momentum from the half marathon and 30K by running the California International Marathon or traveling to Kentucky for Club Nats. A couple factors tipped me toward Kentucky. One was not wanting to tack a marathon on top of such a busy racing season, and then the deciding factor was getting to see my parents who drove up from Lookout Mountain and my sister Alysia her family who drove from Louisville (sister Debby was going to drive up as well, but got knocked on her back with the flu).

After the PA Champs & Turkey Trot (the latter being the one ugly race) I had a great couple weeks of training. So I headed off to Kentucky exited to finish off the season on a good note. When I headed to the course the day of the race, I was so much more relaxed then last year. I had a race plan, and the confidence to execute it. The 40 degree race day temp felt tropical compared to last year.

The race was 10K total, which consisted of 3 times a 3 kilometer loop (just shy of 2 mile), then 1K mostly uphill to the finish line. The course was challenging with 2 long gradual hills on each loop, but fair & well suitable for a championship race. The grass course was in decent shape, but there were some sloppy sections leftover from a recent snow storm that had melted. A bonus feature was a digital clock at every mile mark.

I witnessed first hand the funniest thing I'd ever seen at the start of the race. Todd Rose, Jonathan Charlesworth, and I took the front row of our assigned starting box. The starter called "runners take your mark" then we waited what seemed like forever for the gun to fire. But how it really went was "runners take your mark" FART!!! Jonathan mistook Todd's flatulence for the starting gun, and almost took off before getting reset behind the line. Finally the gun fired and we took off with Todd & I laughing almost hysterically.

My plan was simply to run a conservative first mile+ then start moving forward - very similar to what I did at the PA Champs. I almost felt like I was running too easily in the first mile, which hit both of the long hills. I stayed relaxed, resisted the urge to shuffle positions, and dropped 10 - 15 meters back from Todd. I hit the split in 5:10 which was a decent pace for a net uphill mile. We headed downhill to the one flat part of the course, where I finally let myself pass a few runners. Throughout the 2nd mile, I started to move up considerably. I hit that split in 5:08. I kept moving through the 3rd mile - now having picked up quite a few spots - and hit the split in 15:28 (a 5:10 split). The 5K distance had been a monkey on back over the past year, and I had just ran my fastest 5K since college - at the half way split of a muddy, hilly, cross country course. I had a great race going, so time to keep rolling.

I passed a few people the 4th mile but slowed down a good bit, hitting the split in 20:58 (a 5:30 mile). I was pretty tired heading into the 5th mile, but just tried to focus and relax. I saw my niece Callie & nephew Conner jumping and cheering, which brought out a smile at a tough part of the race.

As the last loop started, I gave back a few of the many spots I had picked up. That net downhill mile was a more respectable 5:22 (26:20 total). With a mile left to go, I tried to take a deep breath and make a move toward the finish. Unfortunately, that move was short lived, and I just died, or the wheels fell off, or pick your cliche... it was ugly and painful. In the last half mile, I lost many if not most of the positions I had gained. The 6 mile mark was 32:00 (5:40) and a finishing time of 33:13 for 171st of 319 runners. West Valley finished a solid 27th out of 41 teams, beating our PA rivals, the River City Rebels, by just 2 team spots. Jonathan Charlesworth finished 92nd, and Todd finished 110th (exactly a minute in front of me).

My thoughts on the race echoed those of several people I talked to afterward, not great, but not terrible. If I hadn't fallen apart in the last mile, I think it would have been pretty good. But still, I ran my fastest post college times from 5K thru 10K. West Valley only brought 5 guys to the race (the minimum required to score a team) & everyone ran well. I thought Todd's race was particularly impressive. Also, congrats to the Aggies and Transports who put numerous runners in the top 50 to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the team competition.

Before the race I had hoped to be close to 100th place, but that might have been a little ambitious given how competitive the nationwide running scene has been. I'm happy with my improvement over last year, moving from the back of the pack to the middle. Just as long as I further improve on it next year!

The official post race party was a dud, but we met up with the Rebels team later in the evening, and had a great time celebrating the end of the season, and a closely contested year long rivalry.

Sunday morning I drove up to Louisville & enjoyed hanging out with Alysia & the family.

Moving up in the 2nd loop

Starting to hurt

Recovering and recapping with the Rebels

A post race treat (left to right: Jonathan Charlesworth, Mike Brandell, Duke Bristow, me, and Nicole Campbell)

PA XC Championships

2009-12-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest events of the year in the Bay Area running community are the PA Cross Country Championsips in Golden Gate Park. It's not the biggest in terms of people running - very far from it - but definitely one of the best in terms of competition and excitement. Held the Sunday before Thanksgiving each year, the PA Champs wraps up our fall cross country circuit, as well as attracting some out of town runners. Also, my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, so the saw me race for the first time in a while.

Heading into the meet, I had a very heavy race load through the Fall between running most of the XC races, as well as a couple longer road races. I took a chance by racing hard at the Clarksburg 30K just two weeks prior. My rough rule of thumb for race recovery, (i.e. the number of days until I'm ready for another hard effort) is to take the distance (of the race i just ran) and multiply it by 2 / 3. That's a rough rule, so it's plus or minus a day or two.

I was pretty beat up after the 30K. It's not so much that my legs were tired, but my body was tired. Anytime I tried to push myself - or even ran up a big hill I just found my heartrate picking up and my lungs working more than usual.

But what do you know, on the Thursday before the race, I felt like I had my legs fully under me. I was ready to go! My rule of thumb predicted 12 days to recover, and I made it in 11 (with three days to spare).

The course is a deceptively tough 2 mile loop, which you run 3 times. It starts in a meadow, heads downhill on a dirt path, flattens onto a windy almost single track trail, opens into another meadow, jumps over a log, heads uphill on another single track, opens on a flat & wider dirt hill that ultimately heads back uphill, then a sharp left back to the original downhill dirt path, then the loop ends with a detour into the meadow where you start & finish. And thanks to rain throughout the weekend, the course was very sloppy.

You run loop 3 times, and there's no spot to settle in or get into a rhythm like you would on the road or track. Constantly turning, changing surfaces, shifting gears, etc. Some runners hate that... I love it!

When the gun went off I jumped off the line dashing through the meadow. Todd yelled "JAMEY RELAX." It was good advice. I tucked in a few spots behind him and let quite a few other runners go out too fast in front of me. I stayed pretty far back in the pack, but relaxed, through the first mile. As we hit the first single track train and the meadow around the mile mark, I'm thinking this was the point that I started picking people off & moving up in the 4 mile fall race. But this time I just wasn't feeling it. In fact my legs were feeling pretty heavy. As I ran back uphill I just wasn't happy with how I felt this early. But remember the lesson from earlier in the season - just run!

I finished up the first of three loops without changing my position very much. But the legs were just so heavy I wasn't sure how I could move up. Todd & the pack he was with had slipped away by 30 or 40 meters. But as I left the meadow to start the 2nd loop, I realized that even though my legs felt flat, I wasn't breathing hard at all. Maybe I wasn't going to blow up afterall. So as we head back downhill I look up for the next runner ahead of me. It was Gus Gibbs of the Rebels. It took me more than half a mile to catch him, but I finally caught up. Gus said "what's up" and we ran together for a bit. Then I looked up at the next runner ahead & caught him pretty quickly. Each time I caught somebody, I was already looking at the next runner. Pretty soon I was moving through the field.

The PA Championship field is a lot deeper than our normal weekly races, so I don't know a lot of the runners around me, but green jersey, white jersey, red jersey, I just keep digging to catch and pass the other runners. From the 2 mile mark to the 5 mile, I probably moved up 15 spots. Just before the 5 mile mark, I see the 3rd man on the Rebels. As I'm currently 4th for West Valley, this was an important guy to catch for our team standings. I catch the rebel, then I look up and see teammate Todd Rose right in front of me.

I've always liked intra-team competition. It's a friendly competition, and one that can make us all better runners. You train together, race together, hangout together. But you still want to beat each other. Todd had been my best training partner over the past year. Our workouts are pretty similar, but he's such a good racer, and despite being close a few times, I'd never beaten him. Could I really catch him, pass, and keep going?

Just past the 5 mile mark, I pull up to Todd. And I don't know if there was a mental block of catching a guy who'd I'd never been able to beat, if Todd was responding to runners right in front of him, or if I finally hit some fatigue from my mid-race pace. But as soon as I catch him, I feel myself slow down a bit. As we start heading uphill in the last loop, and I'm just trying to maintain contact. Todd is there, as well two others including our top runner - Jonathan Charlesworth - who is not at his best having recently been sick.

When we head up the last hill, I lean in to give it one last shot to get myself past these three guys. All three are in contact, but Todd leads the group with a hard surge over the crest of the hill. My plan was to make that same move when I crested, but since Todd got there 10 or meters ahead of me, he opened up a gap & was pulling away. So I set my sight on Jonathan and passed him as we made the sharp left.

With about a quarter of a mile to go I completely open my stride up and sprint down the hill. I wasn't sure if I could catch anybody, but I had to try, plus there could always be someone coming from behind. When we hit the last meadow I'd made up some ground on Todd. I find another gear, then another, and then somehow another! I'm reeling Todd in quickly, but the finish line is flying toward us. With one last surge I catch him about 2 stride lengths from the line, and beat him by about a foot. I hadn't been able to kick like that since sometime in college! A funny moment was when my Dad was at the finish yelling GO JAMEY, GO JAMEY, YOU CAN CATCH HIM!" I had to ask him not to alert my competition next time I'm trying to catch them at the finish :)

Final result was 29th place in 32:45 (5:22 pace since the race was slightly more than 6 miles). I was almost a minute faster than last year despite the very sloppy conditions. West Valley finished 3rd in the meet to wrap up 3rd overall for the season (just ahead of the Rebels in both the meet and the final standings) What a great way to cap off what had been a very satisfying cross country season.

After the race I hung out in the park with the other West Valley runners, as well as a large group from the Rebels. It was a great feeling to be celebrating with both my teammates, plus friends I had made from other teams. As I've said before, running has really become fun again!

I wasn't sure how it would go, but I tried a quick turn around to race a super competitive 5K road race 4 days later on Thanksgiving morning. The 5K distance has been a bit of a monkey on my back as I feel certain I'm ready to run in the mid 15 minute range or faster, but have been stuck in the low 16s. Thanksgiving wasn't meant to be my day. I felt really tired running after the XC race. I ran the opening mile of the 5K in 4:50. Even though I was well off the pace of most the field, that split still buried me. I tried to keep it up, but I kept going slower and slower, sputtering across the line in 16:15. I wasn't happy, but I know that's no indication of my fitness. I'll have my day at that distance. I guess this time the 2 / 3 rule of thumb was off by a day.

After the 5K, I was able to really focus on training for the first time in a while as I got a week and a half of solid runs and workouts. One highlight was pacing a friend through the first lap of an 800 meter in 56 seconds! I had no idea I could still run that fast!

Now I'm on my way to Kentucky for the USATF Club XC Nationals with West Valley. My parents and both sisters are meeting me in Lexington.

Brain vs. Body

2009-11-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

My brain just had a conversation with my body...

Jamey’s Brain: Hey Body, what was the deal with Sunday?

Jamey’s Body: Hey Brain! Wait what? What are you talking about?

Brain: We went out for an easy 13 mile long run and you were sore and sluggish the whole way. We’ve been running 50-60 miles for the last 4+ months & usually going for much longer – and faster - runs every weekend. Why would an easy 13 be a such a big deal.

Body: Um, hello! You’re supposed to be the smart one! I just take oxygen in through the lungs, stick it in the blood stream, use my heart to pump that blood all over the place, mix the oxygen with glucose, which I burn in order to stuff energy into ATP molecules, which I then convert to ADP molecules, which releases bursts of energy, which finally causes those precious muscle fibers to twitch, propelling you forward for whatever reason you find that so darn important!

Brain: That sounded pretty smart.

Body: I have no idea what that means – I just stole that from your 1993 memory archives. What is this: Mr. Tatum’s biology class?

Brain: Anyway, back to the point. What’s the deal, yo?

Body: Hello?! What was the deal with making me run that 30K. We had an agreement. You were going to run hard for part of the race, but you push me for 18.64 stinkin’ miles! That’s digging pretty deep in the well. I can’t refill it overnight bro!

Brain: C’mon! You’re still whining about that? That was a week ago!

Body: Then what about Saturday. I had to run a hard workout – first downhill, then uphill, dirt, then grass – 24 minutes total of HARD running!

Brain: Well look, I let you take that whole week pretty easy. At some point we have to tune up for next Sunday’s cross country race – this one’s a big one!

Body: Sigh... always something coming up. If last week was so easy then what was Thursday all about.

Brain: Oh that... 5 x 400 meters? That’s about the shortest workout I’ve ever done! The intervals were short, and I only ran the 2nd half of them all that hard. And as soon as the legs started aching, I quit the workout. The whole point of some short turnover was to make you feel better without adding too much stress.

Body: Nice work genius – that sure did the trick! It’s bad enough I have to allocate so much blood, sugar, and oxygen to your precious thinking functions. Not to mention, you just happen to stick yourself at the highest point of the body.

Brain: Look, that’s how God created us, it seems to work pretty well.

Body: Ok, fine, I’ll let that part go. So we’ll just have to agree to disagree about how we felt Sunday.

Brain: Ok, fair enough... can we talk about next week.

Body: I figured it would be something. So now what.

Brain: The Pacific Association Cross Country race is on Sunday. It’s the longest and most competitive cross country race we’ll run all season. This is one of the main races I’ve been gearing up for all fall. I’m sorry I put you through so much stress in the 30K last Sunday, but can we be ready for this coming Sunday?

Body: Ok, that’s fair. I think we can arrange that. You aren’t going to bury me in any workouts this week, are you?

Brain: No, definitely won’t. Tuesday we’re to run one of our favorites – alternating 800s & 300s. The 800s will be a bit faster than cross country race pace, and the 300s will be pretty fast.

Body: Ahhh... I usually feel pretty sharp after something like that. Running those 300s immediately after a longer interval gets me ready for one of those finish line sprints. Just don’t do too many of them.

Brain: Nah, don’t worry, only 4 sets – 4400 meters of hard running – less than 3 miles.

Body: Sounds good – and the rest of the week?

Brain: Some shorter runs, then some long strides on Thursday.

Body: A mini-taper? Sounds good. We’ll be ready to go Sunday! Well.... as long as you don’t do something crazy like make me run another race a few days later.

Brain: DEAL!

Body: Cool. WAIT! WHAT! Your... I mean my... fingers are crossed!

Brain: Oh yeah, I guess I wasn’t going to sneak that one by you.

Body: So what’s this other important race?

Brain: A fast competitive 5K road race. Our post college PR is a little embarrassing. I’m not expecting a world record, but can we at least knock 30 seconds off that time?

Body: I guess I don’t have any choice.

Brain: What do you mean? Sure you have a say...

Body: I do have a say, but you’ve gotten much much better at ignoring my pleas to slow down and stop running. Searing lungs, and burning muslces just don’t get your attention as much.

Brain: Yeah, I’ve been working on that... But seriously, I appreciate you being a good sport.

Body: It’s a thankless job. But at least I enjoy being in good shape.

Brain: Just a few weeks left until you get a rest. That I can promise.

Body: Thanks. I look forward to it.

Clarksburg 30K

2009-11-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday I rode up to Clarksburg - a rural area outside of Sacramento for the annual Clarksburg 30K.

The Pacific Association race schedule is broken up into the cross country series (which I've mainly focused on this fall), long road races (12K and up), and short road races (10K and shorter). Each has its own cumulative point standings. The top 15 in each of the road series, and top 5 in XC are rewarded comp (i.e. free) entry to all the races in that series for the next year.

After my half marathon, I stood 9th in the long road series. Even though I'm opting out of the California International Marathon (the final race in the long road series), a good showing at Clarksburg (the penultimate long road race) would almost certainly lock in my spot in the top 15 on the season.

Enough explaining our points system... I sound like I'm talking about NASCAR talking about "points racing," but that was the idea Sunday.

Heading up to the race, I really had no intention of turning this into a full race effort. I trained hard throughout the week, then made sure I enjoyed myself the first half of the weekend. The day before I was drinking cold beverages and sitting in the sun screaming my head off as Stanford football took down Oregon! Also, I didn't want to risk not recovering in time for the PA Cross Country Championships in 2 weeks.

My race plan was to start off at an easy pace for a few miles (most likely 6 flat miles) then work into a quicker pace toward the end (maybe 5:40 miles). I barely warmed up at all, and got ready to start my easy jog. The gun fired & the jogging began. There were some slower & older runners in front of me, but I just kept my jog. A runner from the Aggies (Larry) who I had just met actually checks up for a few strides & waits for me as he likes my plan. Larry & I chat as we pass some of the early runners who realize they've started way too fast for an 18.6 mile race. I see my teammates Mike & Jonah up ahead who planned on running 5:40s the whole way (and who I planned to let go). As I jog through the mile mark I look at my watch... WHOA! 5:45! We have 17 miles to go!. But it feels so easy. Larry & I keep passing guys until we tuck in right behind Mike & Jonah. I say what's up guys so they'll know I'm with them. They're a little surprised to see me, but not really.

I still haven't decided what to do, but as long as the pace feels this easy, I'm going to roll with Mike, Jonah, Larry, plus a few others with the group. We're all talking to each other, even joking about how far we have left to run & ways to make it feel shorter. 2 miles in 11:27, 3 miles in 17:02 (a 5:35 meaning we'd picked up the pace a bit), 4 in 22:41. The 5th mile was 28:16 - another 5:35. Jonah and Larry make a conscious decision to back off a bit, while Mike, a Sacramento runner, and I keep going. Through the 6th mile we keep chatting. We hit 7 miles in 39:24 (11:07 for the last 2 - so the pace has continued to quicken). Now for the first time we see a runner from the lead pack of 6 who went out WAY ahead of us. In mile 8, I take the lead in my group for the first time as I can't help myself but to try to reel in the runner who I finally recognize as Andrew Timmons from the Rebels - who had beaten me at the end of the Humboldt Half Marathon. I run the 8th mile in 5:26 (44:50). At this point Mike & the other runner back off. I'm committed to this race now, but realize trying to run the next 10 miles by myself and/or running too fast in the middle is a terrible idea. I relax a bit, and the others catch back up with me. Mike even tells me he backed off intentionally from my little surge. Right at 9 miles we catch Timmons. Even though I relaxed, that split was 5:27 (50:18). Andrew tucks in and we keep rolling. Running a pace that's only about 10 seconds per mile slower than my half marathon I'm feeling way better right now than I did at the half way point of that race - not to mention what I felt like at the 9 mile mark of that race.

In the 10th mile I lead our group up the one hill of the course for a 5:31 (55:49 total for 10 miles). 5:34 11th mile, then a 5:28 12th. For the first time I'm getting a bit tired. So I tuck in behind Timmons, but quickly pull around him and back behind Mike. The couple minutes of not pressing the pace makes me feel really fresh again. At this point a weird thing happened. I wanted to keep working with Mike, but didn't want to lose to Timmons (I didn't mention that West Valley is 2nd in the team road racing standings just behind the Rebels). As I see the one downhill ahead I sense Timmons slightly struggling, so I throw a surge. Then on the downhill I lean in and let gravity carry me down. I've opened a very small gap.

Now that I'm running (barely) alone in 6th place I think I see a runner way head. So I try to use him as my motivation rather than staying ahead of the runners right behind me. I turn onto a long stretch of road & quickly learn I'll be running into the breeze for most of the remainder of the race. It's a very light breeze, but when you're getting tired it's very unwelcome.

I run a 5:27 13th mile (1:12:16) & hit the half marathon split in 1:12:50 - easily my 2nd fastest half ever. 14th mile was 5:35 (1:17:53). Now it's getting hard. Every few minutes I'm telling myself to relax but keep the stride rolling. I'm now breaking the distance into very small segments. It makes the miles go by less quickly, but keeps my head in the race. The 15th mile was the first one that I really slowed down on - 5:43. This is getting tough. I want to pack it in and jog to the finish, but I can't make a move in the 12th mile & give up before they catch me, so I try to hold my small gap. I haven't looked back yet, but I can judge from the joggers still running outward on the course and cheering for us, that Mike and Andrew can't be more than 5 seconds back.

In the 16th mile we turned out of the wind and I definitely see a runner coming back. He's going to really need to die for me to catch him, but the faster I run, the better chance I have. The 16th split is 5:30 (1:29:07). Then we turn back into the wind and life gets tough again. I sneak a look back and I have less than 10 seconds on the runners behind me. The 17th mile is another (painful) 5:43. I keep my eyes on the runner ahead (almost a minute ahead still). He's coming back to me, but too slowly. I hit the mile to go sign thinking 6th place is locked up.

Then the moment of panic hits. I hear Mike's voice behind me, meaning he must be talking to Timmons. I make the last turn with roughly 3/4 of a mile to go & glance back. They're not far behind me (maybe 10 or 15 seconds) & I swear I see 4 runners!! Are the other runners part of the half marathon which share the same course but started later? Am I at risk of dropping from 6th to 10th? I don't know how I'm going to hold them off, but I have to try.

There was nothing fun about that last mile until I hit 100 meters to go. I just attacked it one small segment at a time. Get to that road sign, get to that spectator. Finally get to the 400 meters to go sign. After running 18.4 miles, I tried to picture myself starting the last lap of a track race. Nobody is going to pass me on the last lap. I hit the 200 meters to go sign, quickly glanced back, & knew I finally had it. I let myself enjoy the last 100 meters as the announcer says "let's see who this is coming in quickly... Jamey Gifford of San Francisco." It felt great and I gave a little fist pump across the line.

My final time was 1:43:57 for 6th place and a 5:35 average pace for 18.6 miles. Mike Little finished 8th (just behind Andrew Timmons) in 1:44:27, and Jonah had his best race in quite some time in 9th @ 1:45:31. Of the 4 runners I saw chasing me, one of them was in fact from the half marathon race, and the other was a figment of my imagination.

There were a few things particularly satisfying about this race. First it was how unexpected my performance was. And it felt good to be the first finisher in our chase pack. It's great to run a fast pace and feel comfortable for so long - a true sign of fitness. Finally, comparing this to Bay to Breakers in the May, I just ran a faster pace for 30K than I had for 12K! I hate to say it, but it looks like as a 30s age group runner, I've lost my speedster status, and I'm turning into a long distance runner. Well... hopefully I'll prove myself in some shorter races soon. Also, hopefully I can recover before the XC championships in 2 weeks.

This race puts me (temporarily) in a tie for 2nd in the long road race standings. I'll fall back at least a few spots by not running the marathon, but it should still be a solid final standing. I'm a little bummed I'm not signed up for the marathon, but I'll enjoy my last 2 cross country races (plus a road 5K).

Flying through the night

2009-11-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

There's so many things I like about our cross country season. The team camaraderie, the frequent races, and the hills, trails, and dirt. Another thing I like so much is moving our Tuesday evening workouts off the track to the trails around Golden Gate Park & the Presidio. I feel like running hard on a great trail is just mentally so much easier than running hard around the track. So as the road race season takes a break at the end of June, we'll move those Tuesday workouts off the track until Daylight Savings ends. The hills, the turns, and the variable footing has always been my type of running. It builds strength & it builds character.

But at some point toward the end of the season, it comes time to sharpen everything up. Running on the trails, and logging your tempo runs will make you a really strong runner. But for me there's only one way I'll be able to launch that devastating surge or kick during a race - the key are track intervals. It just so happens the shorter days creates the perfect transition to moving our workouts onto the track. I've never like to depend on running workouts at race pace. I like running intervals quite a bit faster. I want that race pace to feel easy for the first half of the race. I ran a cross race last Saturday. It was a solid, but not great race. My one problem, is I just couldn't shift gears.

My tempo and strength work has done wonders for me this season. But no doubt, it's time to hit the track!

Tuesday night we had our West Valley workout under the dim lights on the track - 8 x 600s. The 600 isn't a strength interval, it's about speed. It doesn't have that near sprint feel of a 200 or 400, but it's short enough where you can roll & recover. The idea for this workout was to run the odd intervals at 5k pace, and the even ones at 3k pace (or maybe my 21 year old 3k pace). Between intervals, we'd jog for 200 meters (which including time for the pack to regroup, took about 90 seconds). I ran my first "5k pace" in 1:51 (15:25 pace), then the rest in 1:49 (15:10 pace). I felt well recovered after these. Then the "3k pace" intervals I ran progressively faster - 1:42, 1:42, 1:40, 1:37. I wasn't fully recovered after these, but that's the nature of the workout. I felt great running fast on the track, but left wanting a chance to run a fast pace for at least 800 meters (a half mile).

So despite running a hard workout Tuesday, and having a 30k race (which I planned to run as a long workout), I went back to the track Thursday night on my own to log a shorter version of an interval workout - 4 x 800s. The idea was to run the first at current 5k and knock the pace down on each one. After a long warmup, I started off. The pace felt comfortable - almost slow on the first one. After dodging runners from other clubs who meet at the track, I finished and looked at my watch - 2:27. Really? That felt way slower, but that's good. My next interval I let myself pick up the pace, but kept the pace under control - 2:21. Wow- that was almost too easy. Now for the 3rd, I open it up & run 2:16. I ran that pace in a workout in the Spring, but it felt like a sprint. I was pushing hard on this one, but it actually wasn't that hard! Finally on my last one it was time to really push the pace. I hit the first lap in 67. I almost felt like I fell asleep by not running faster. So i dug in on the 2nd lap. As I came off the last turn, I saw a wall of joggers ahead, but after I desperately yelled TRACK! they scattered out of the way. I hit the line in 2:12 - my fastest 800 interval since college. I bent over to catch my breath, but felt great as I recovered.

Last week was about flying through the night. Next time I need to find the next gear in a race, I should be ready.

Grinning like a jerk

2009-11-04T20:40:00.001-08:00

It's starting to get a little embarrassing that people keep snapping photos at the starts of my races, and there I am with a goofy grin! Usually it's because somebody is making a crack right as we start running.

The second picture was posted on the San Jose Examiner website, where a masters runner - Lynn Walker - has been contributing a series of good write-ups of all the PA Cross Country races.

As goofy as these pictures are, I've realized something. It's that I'm really enjoying my running again.

1:11:08

2009-10-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

I love it when a good plan comes together.

Sunday I ran in the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon. This was the mid-season race that I was really gearing up for. On Saturday Dana & I drove 4 hours north into the middle of nowhere. We spent the night in quaint Garberville, then drove the last half hour Sunday morning to the Avenue of the Giants in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park for the race.

My first observation on race day was my lack of nerves. I don't ever help myself by feeling uptight before a race - and I was the exact opposite. I was almost too loose at 19 minutes before the race, when I still had to get back to the car to put on my race jersey, flats, and timing chip, make a pit stop, and do a few strides. With no panic I got all that done and was on the start line 5 minutes before the scheduled start (and 10 minutes before the actual start).

As the race went off, my teammate Todd Rose made his normal wise crack - which means I'll probably have a goofy grin in somebody's photo of the start. The front four runners, including Todd, took off, while I settled into a comfortable pace behind them. Shortly before the mile mark, we established a pack of 5 runners, including my teammate Mike Little and 3 of the rival River City Rebels.

We hit the mile mark in 5:20 - which was 10 seconds faster than my planned 5:30 pace. From training I felt like I could run 5:30s forever, but that 5:20s would wear me down a bit too quickly. I told my teammates & promised myself that I wouldn't run faster than 5:30s for the first few miles. But the pace felt just fine. I figured that over the next hour and five to seven minutes that running a little faster with 4 other people would be a lot easier than running a little slower by myself.

So I committed to this pack and settled in. The pace and the turnover felt pretty quick, but all systems were in the green - legs, stride, lungs, heart. For the next couple of miles I tucked in behind Mike and Rebel Alan Jackson (both over 6 feet tall, so great to draft off of). I felt the first small ache in my legs in the 3rd mile, but nothing big - just keep running. We hit the 2nd mile in 5:24, the 3rd in 5:22 (16:06 total). Rebel Andrew Timmins tells his teammates that he just ran a 5k PR. I took a turn at the lead in the 4th mile (5:20) as we picked up one of the lead 4 runners who fell off. After the 5 mile mark (5:22) I saw Todd Rose not too far ahead. I had told myself not to press anything until after 5 miles. Even though we ran faster than I expected to this point I was feeling good about how the race was unfolding.

At this point I took the lead from Rebel Gus Gibbs, and tried to close the gap on Todd. My little surge put some pressure on the group as Mike dropped slightly off, as did the runner we picked up from the initial lead group. We hit 6 miles in 31:58 (a 5:10 mile), although I think that mile marker was off by 10 to 15 seconds. After 6 miles I had in my mind that there was a mile and a half until the half way turn around. I was a little surprised to see a sign saying "turn around 200 meters". Of course Einstein - 13 divided by 2 is in fact 6.5! Maybe I'm pushing my body a bit harder than I thought... But while the effort wasn't easy anymore, I was still under control and ready for the real race to start after the turn-around.

We turned around & shortly caught Todd. It was now Todd & me, plus 3 Rebels fighting for 3rd through 7th place. I led the group at the 7 mile mark (5:44, but like I said I think the last mile mark was a touch early). After that Todd, Alan Jackson, and Timmons took turns leading. I missed the 8 mile split, but somewhere near there I felt a weird sensation. It was almost a slight dizziness. Or maybe it was the feeling when you waited too long to eat lunch. Regardless, I needed to preserve my energy. I knew it was time to let the rest of the group do the work for a while. At the same time, I decided I just need to keep running with the pack. The group stayed 5 runners strong.

I hate the annoyance of grabbing and slamming down water cups while I'm racing, but the sports drink would help me out. I probably managed 1 sip at each of the last 3 aid stations (the rest on my jersey, the ground, and one accidental splash all over a competitor), but I'm sure that shot of electrolyte and those few calories helped me. I got my split at 9 miles (10:46 for the prior two miles & 48:29 total). The effort was getting really hard at this point, but I told myself just keep running! I could drop back at anytime between now and the finish, but I only had this shot to stay with the group (still 5 strong). There was an aid station around the 10 mile mark, where I lost a few strides on the pack. Gus lost a few additional strides on me. Now it was a real decision to make. It didn't take long as I put my head down and tucked back in behind the 3 runners. Gus' footsteps faded, but 15 seconds later I heard them again. I held my hand back in encouragement. We were 5 runners competing from 2 different track clubs, but after spending the last hour running fast together, it felt like we were one team.

The 10 mile split was 54:04. Man I'm hurting at this point but felt encouraged by knocking well over a minute off my 10 mile PR (I forgot to mention that at every step past 5 miles I was setting a post-college PR for that distance). As tough as it was here, I could start to taste the finish.

After the 10 mile mark, Gus' footsteps disappeared. Then I lost contact - barely. The 3 runners weren't far in front of me, but I wasn't part of the group anymore. I didn't give up, and a few times I even closed some of the gap. 5:36 for the 11th mile. I had slowed down, but not egregiously. The 3 runners weren't far ahead. Surge this slight uphill. Surge this slight downhill. They didn't get away but they didn't get any closer. Now inside of 2 miles, I'm throwing any and all caution out of the window. It was going to hurt, but I was going to finish, and finish with a really fast time. The 3 runners weren't getting any further away, and 2nd place came into the view for the first time since maybe 4 miles into the race.

Somehow, my 12th mile was one of the fastest of the race in 5:19. At 1:05:01 & my brain seeming capable of simple math again, I figured out I needed to run a few seconds faster than 5:30 pace for the last 1.1 miles to crack under 71 minutes. To do that, I had to contend with the toughest feature of the course. The Highway 101 overpass was a very short, but deceptively steep hill just past the 12 mile mark. As the 3 man pack hit the slope they suddenly seemed in reach again.

I leaned into the hill and gave it everything I had. The gap was closing down to 10 meters. Then as they crested, Alan Jackson made his decisive move. Those few strides that he sprinted downhill while I was grinding out my last uphill strides were all it took. He was gone. Rebel Andrew Timmons responded, and Todd was just behind him. The gap grew to 20 meters, then 30, and it only got worse. I leaned into the downhill, but just had nothing left.

With a half mile to go, my 6th place finish was set in stone. I was running against the clock. True to Humboldt county's reputation, someone was smoking dope on the side of the road. While one to two breaths tasted terrible, I cracked a smile, and tried to use that to push harder. As I neared the finish I was tying up & my stride started to fall apart. My last mile was 5:34 (+33 sec for the final 0.1) for a finishing time of 1:11:08. It was a 5:26 average pace.

Todd Rose finished 5th in 1:10:51, right behind Alan Jackson & Andrew Timmins in 1:10:45 and 1:10:48. Gus Gibbs, who had been battling the flu for 3 weeks, had a solid half marathon debut in 1:12:08 for 8th, and my teammate Mike Little was 9th in 1:12:31.

While I lost the race for 3rd place, I have no regrets. I ran an aggressive, mostly intelligent race, and I ran tough as hell. I felt like after the race I had given it my all. My training over the past 4 months has paid off enormously. I've had some strong cross country races, but there's nothing quite as satisfying as running a huge PR. I could update pretty much all of my PRs on my blog page to the right, but I'll save those till I run those official distances.

Sorry this was longer than usual. It was a memorable race for me (and fun) so I wanted to get my thoughts down. So if you got this far thanks for reading. And if you scrolled ahead to see how it ended, thanks as well for reading.

Rest & Recovery

2009-10-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's tough to back way off when you've gotten used to training hard, but it's time to rest for the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon is Sunday. I had a good performance in my last XC race - 6th place was my best finish ever in a Pacific Association race, and the time of 16:19 was actually pretty good given the course (apparently high school kids routinely run 50 seconds faster on their state meet course). After that it was 13 miles Sunday, and then the taper started.

Tuesday's workout could have gotten me a little discouraged. I ran 2 x 2400 meters (roughly 1.5 miles) on the track just a little faster than the half marathon race pace. I felt fine on the first interval, but quickly got tired on the 2nd one. I took a short cool down, ate a burrito, then went to bed early. Wednesday I ran 7 miles at an easy pace & still felt tired. Then yesterday I finally got my legs back under me. I ran 5 miles easy in Golden Gate Park, then 8x200 in 32 seconds on the track (a quick pace, but short enough to knock the rust out of your legs without making you tired). After yesterday's run, I got home really excited about my chances to run well this weekend. I'll run short easy runs the next two days, and be ready to kill it on Sunday!

In a lot of ways it doesn't feel right to have such a light week of training. But I've been busting my ass since mid summer, and I think it's the perfect time to give my body a little break. After all the work I've done, I certainly won't lose any fitness - especially given the race I'm about to run. Then hopefully a week after the half marathon I'll be ready to gear up for the final phase of training for the season where we shorten the workouts but increase the intensity.

Dana is also running the race on Sunday. Would cool if the Giffords combined for a sub 3 hour total time :)

Monster Workout

2009-10-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

Every runner has natural strengths and weaknesses. Some are speedy fast-twitch runners, while others are long distance slow-twitch grinders. Although I was always happy with my balance of both speed and endurance, I have my own natural strengths and weaknesses. My strength is the ability to push hard right on the edge of the anaerobic zone. For this reason, I’ll be able to run impressive interval workouts in front of runners who consistently beat me in actual races. My weakness has always been running in a rhythm. By rhythm, I mean running at a fast, steady, and sustained pace, but one that is below the anaerobic threshold. That is why I could run competitive 10k cross country races, but not as well in 10k track or road races.

This season I have focused on training my weakness. I have increased my mileage & run high volume trail workouts, but the key has been the tempo run. A tempo run is one of the most boring workouts. It is a long, steady, sustained effort. It is fast, but not as fast your interval workouts. If you run a 5 mile tempo, you might be running 20 seconds per mile slower pace than your 5 mile race. You also run tempo runs in the midst of your training cycle - there's no taper. I am great at running hard on the track or the trails for an interval (for example 1000 meters), then briefly resting, then going at it again. But if your body is used to taking brief, but frequent rests, you can see the problem with translating interval prowess to race day - when there is no rest between the starting gun and the finish line. The tempo runs complete the puzzle.

My next big race is the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon on October 18th. My goal since the summer has been to drop my PR from 1:15 to 1:12 (a 5:30 mile pace).

Tuesday I tackled my last key workout before the race – an 8 mile tempo. A typical tempo run for me would be 4-6 miles. A long tempo is both mentally challenging and physically grueling. But I had a great training partner – Todd Rose the tempo king. Todd is my West Valley teammate who I have been training with frequently, and who I like to key off of in races (I’ve been close to him, but never beaten him). We started the run with the 2 mile “Strawberry Hill loop” in Golden Gate Park. This loop includes a 650 meter long hill that you run up and back down. That 2-mile loop was 11:15 (which was the fastest I’d ever run that particular loop). I felt a hint of anxiety early on when I thought about how long & fast we’d be running for the next 45 minutes. But I quickly knocked those thoughts out of my head & said “JUST RUN!” I let Todd and another teammate set the pace for the first 2 miles, and just run about 2 stride lengths behind them. At the end of the 2 mile loop we ran a lightly rolling circuit on the roads, which thanks to GMAP Pedometer, I figured out was 2.34 miles. We hit leg in 12:34 (5:24 pace). As we neared the track I wanted to back off; I wanted to let Todd go. But I knew it would be so much harder to run this on my own. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. JUST RUN. We hit the track, and started the first of our 16 laps on the track (just short of 4 miles). As soon as we hit the track, I felt great. Don’t think about the distance, just hit your pace. Todd and I switched the lead every two laps. Mile 1 in 5:27, mile 2 in 5:27. After that, we executed our plan of picking up the pace for the last two miles. As the light faded, we ran the next mile in 5:23. At this point it was really starting to get hard, but we were on the track, and I knew I could keep grinding. In the last mile, as we lost our daylight, Todd finally slipped away from me, but I kept increasing my own pace and run a 5:17 final mile.

All told we ran 8.32 miles in 45:27 – a 5:28 average pace, and a remarkably consistent pace throughout.

I’m ready for Humboldt. Perhaps even more than I realized!

Confidence

2009-10-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last week I felt aweful running. Just terrible. That's what happens when you push the envelope repeatedly.

Two Saturdays ago I ran in the Garin Park XC race, which my club hosts. The race is a 5k with a fairly flat first and last kilometer, and a roller coaster middle 3k. I have felt great about my hill training as every week I've felt stronger and stronger running on hills - in part to the team hill workouts & in part to living in a hilly section of San Fran. When the race started, I ran the flat part within myself then charged hard up the first hill. About a mile into the race, I'm looking up seeing myself just a few seconds behind some of the best runners in the Bay Area. Well this quickly proved to be a mistake as I felt no recovery between where the first hill finally leveled off and the 2nd steep hill began. Long story short is I spent the second half of the race hanging on for dear life. I dropped from 10th to 13th in the second mile, but held my spot in the last mile, even holding off a challenge from a rival Transports runner. Although I ran a poorly timed race, I walked away happy knowing how tough I had run - especially how bad I wanted to throw in the towel midway. In the finishing chute my teammate's wife was nice enough to laugh as I tried to look forward through my slits of eyelids. Just after the chute when I went to my hands and knees, one of my teammates was nice enough to say "unless you're going to puke get your ass up." You get the idea... I was completely red-lined at the end.

The next day, I started my run slowly, but found myself feeling surprisingly fresh. I ran to where my teammates were meeting, then across the golden gate bridge, through the headlands and back home. All told I ran for 2 hours 15 minutes, which I logged at 19.5 miles (don't ask how I came up with that number). The idea is if I want to have the option of a late year marathon, I'll need that mileage. I spent the rest of the day not wanting to move off the couch.

Well... it was a big weekend, capping off a strong week of training, and my body cried UNCLE! I took Monday off, then it was mile repeats with the team Tuesday (alternating uphill and downhill miles). First downhill in 5:09. Felt flat but no big deal. Then uphill in 5:14.. OUCH that hurt. Then downhill in 4:52. I picked up my stride, but it was downhill, shouldn't be a big deal. Then back uphill in 5:15 and I was falling off the group. My heart rate was through the roof and my head spinning. 2/3 of the way through the workout and I was done. The next day I'm going to run a very easy 8 miles (which has become as routine and brushing my teeth), but 15 minutes into the run my slow jog felt like a race so I turned around and slowly jogged home.

I had a few things going through my head. Back in August, I talked about a more aggressive approach. This meant not making excuses & taking chances with my training. But I also knew pushing through this type of fatigue is a quick way to send your season down the toilet. Then I finally remembered back to my sophomore college XC season. I had returned from summer break in fantastic shape, rebounding from a bumpy freshman year. Half way through the season, my 85 mile weeks caught up with me, and I had a bad race followed by a rough week of training. I was hanging my heading thinking everything I had worked for was slipping away. So my coach pulls me aside before practice one day and says "I see you with a big question mark over your head. I don't have any question about you. I want to see an exclamation point over your head!" I took my tired legs and toughed out that day's workout, and went on to represent our team at NCAA nationals (which was my big goal for the season).

I realized that during any heavy training cycle you'll hit the wall at some point. It's not a big deal. REST. You've earned it.

My fatigue forced me to run easier for the rest of the week heading into the hilly Presidio XC race near my house. This race is 3.5 miles of the hilliest cross country you can imagine. It's up and down and up down, and steep at that. None of the hills are long, but there's 4 main climbs, and every one of them is waiting to eat you up if you take it out too hard. I finally had a race where I positioned myself well, but not too aggressively during the first half. Then over the 2nd half of the race, I pulled away from the runner I was battling with, and nearly reeled in a couple others. I finished 8th, which is my best finish to date in a Pacific Association race, and my time on the course was 1 minute, 22 seconds faster than last year!

I'm confident now. I've trained hard. I've tested the limits. And I've come back even stronger.

Here's a few pics Dana took of my West Valley teammates and I. After the race, we had people over for a fun little BBQ... our first time to host a decent size group in our new apartment.

On Sunday, Dana ran in the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon. She was happy with her training, but worried her recent work travel might affect her. Well, I can't say it did, because she ran an 8 minute PR with her 1:44! The impressive thing is her last 3 miles were the fastest. Nice job!

Some cool pics

2009-09-28T20:27:00.001-07:00

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...

Mammoth pictures

2009-09-28T20:05:00.001-07:00

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...

The Battle

2009-09-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Race for the Chase

2009-09-12T16:59:00.001-07:00

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!!!

Races, Long Runs, Workouts, and Days Missed

2009-09-02T23:14:00.001-07:00

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.

Sorry to alarm

2009-08-17T17:10:00.001-07:00

Two family members were reading my last post and panicked thinking the story was going to end with "I got hit by a car". I promise if something like that were to ever happen to me, I wouldn't first tell you about it in a blog post :)

Dammit Run & 71 mile week

2009-08-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

It hit me right after I ran the Bay to Breakers race in May that I was racing just like I was training. I was running decent races for a washed up 31 year old with a serious job, but I had turned into a Runners World runner; always in that comfort zone. I was doing some hard workouts, but so many days I was overcautious about backing off when I was tired. In addition to not having the conditioning I needed, I found myself unable to gut it out in the middle of a race when the pace started to hurt. I started to change my approach the last month of the season, and it paid off with a very rewarding finish at The Dipsea.

After the Dipsea it was off to the East Coast for the wedding. I was happy to take 3 weeks off (not counting the wedding 5k and a few short runs on the honeymoon) to focus on the big day and the honeymoon.

When I got settled in back home, I was ready to start running hard, but had to balance an aggressive approach with an intelligent build up. I wanted to focus on 2 things over the summer: building mileage into the cross country season, and consistent tempo runs (2x a week). For one of my running routes - the 7.5 mile Immigrant Point to Chrissy Field loop - I made a rule that I had to put the hammer down for 1 mile along Chrissy Field. I've done this run once every week or two and usually hit 5:15 to 5:20.

Two weeks ago I ran a good 61 mile week with solid workouts. One of the workouts was the 5 mile Los Gatos Dammit Run last Saturday. I knew this had been a competitive race in the past, but had no idea how hard the course was going to be. I got to the race really late (only warmed up about a half mile), so took the first mile super easy. I was in about 10th place for the half mile. Then shortly before the mile mark, the course started climbing uphill, and I was finally warmed up. I quickly passed some high schoolers who went out too fast, and was in 2nd place by a mile and a half. At this point we were climbing a steep grade up to the Lexington Dam. I had closed ground on the leader (Kevin Pierpoint - one of the top Bay Area runners). We reached the dam, and I thought that was the high point on the course. I still heard the 2nd place runner's footsteps, so I tried to run smoothly & quickly on the flat while I waited for the inevitable downhill. OOPS! We made a left turn and I realized the steepest hill of the race was straight ahead. Half way up, I felt like I was barely running, but Pierpoint was still in sight, and the footsteps behind me were gone. I never saw Pierpoint again after he crested the hill in front of me, but I kept the hammer all the way down the steep trail back into Los Gatos, and finished the race in 2nd place. I don't have a great benchmark for my performance, but felt like I ran hard & smart and that my fitness is right where it needs to be.

With Saturday's race, a hilly Sunday long run, and consistently high mileage, I felt pretty tired heading into Tuesday's workout. But I had a great workout running 3 x 2 mile "tempo" intervals at last season's race pace on the Golden Gate Park cross country course. As the week went on, I kept the mileage going, including a hilly 12 miler on Thursday. Then Friday, I decided to wake up at 4am and run before work, since I was playing golf right after work (running after beer and hot dogs isn't much fun). I wouldn't do it often, but I thought the morning air was pretty invigorating. Then the mishap occurred. I was running on a road through the Presidio when a car was coming. The road had a wide shoulder, so I drifted more and more to the left. Then SMACK I didn't even see the little ditch on the side. I landed hard on my hands and knees. I saw the car slow down to (presumably to make sure I was ok), but I just jumped up and kept running. As soon as I came to a street light I stopped for a sec. I was bleeding from both my hands and knees and the pain was throbbing, but I toughed it out for the 2.5 miles home. Cleaning it out was painful, and I had to bandage it all up for work. I still played golf, but sat out a number of the holes (I did manage a par on a par 3).

I didn't know how my weekend running would go. I started off Saturday and my knees were sore, but after the first few steps, I was comfortable the bruises wouldn't be any worse from running. I ran 7 Saturday morning, 4 Saturday afternoon with some hill sprints, then 14 Sunday. A 71 mile week! I've averaged 60 miles a week for the last 4 weeks.

I'll be backing it off this week, then next Saturday I have my first race of the Pacific Association cross country season - a hilly 4 miler in Santa Cruz. I'm very happy with how my summer training went, and I think I've taken a better mental approach to my workouts.

Obama's Answer: Drink Beer

2009-07-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Obama, Gates, Crowly get their drink on

To alcohol! The cause of -- and solution to -- all of life's problems!
-Homer J. Simpson

Nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away!
-Lenny (Homer's friend)

Harris Ranch Steakhouse

2009-07-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had the impulsive thought to head down and take a plane up for a quick flight. I didn't get to fly much during the spring because of running and wedding planning. But this Monday, Dana was out of town, and I was going to take the day off running, so an after work flight seemed like the perfect activity. Since work was not busy, I left before 3:00 and headed down. As I left my house I decided to see if Jonathan Stevens (who lives near the airport) wanted to go, and he tagged along. We flew the "Bay Tour" where you fly right next to SFO (assuming the tower will grant you a Bravo airspace clearance) and over the city. Jonathan enjoyed the flight so I suggested another adventure.

This past Friday night, Jonathan, Jenn Stevens, Dana, and I took off from San Carlos and headed South to Coalinga, CA, 120 miles South in the central valley. Coalinga is pretty much just known for the Harris Ranch, which sends beef all over California (and other places I'm sure). Right off Intestate 5 & in the middle of nowhere is the Harris Ranch Steakhouse. The website states that the steakhouse is "Conveniently located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles". Well since these 2 cities are a 6 hour drive apart, I'd say that's only convenient to the cows that live there and haven't realized they're going to be steaks soon. So with this in mind, they stuck a small landing strip parallel to the freeway - The Harris Ranch Airport. The airport consists of a 2800 foot runway that's a mere 30 feet wide with no taxi-ways. It's a crazy landing because it looks like you're aiming toward a pencil when you're on final approach. And if you drift off the centerline you'll probably land it in the gravel. My landing wasn't pretty, but I hit the marks.

We enjoyed some delicious fresh steaks with the Stevenses (unfortunately no wine for me as the pilot). I also picked up a couple vacuum sealed racks of tri tip steak to cook if we get around to having a housewarming party. So after dinner and after nightfall we climbed back in the plane to head back to San Carlos. It was a bit interesting heading back into the Bay Area as a very thin, but low cloud layer had settled over most of the Bay. The approach control warned me that San Francisco International was reporting instrument conditions (which I'm not rated to fly in), and San Jose had a very low ceiling. The San Carlos tower was closed, but there's a frequency that broadcasts the automated weather conditions... Somehow they were reporting clear skies. This was clearly an error since it was only 9 miles south of SFO, which was completely fogged in. But as I got close to the Bay, I slipped under the initial cloud layer, and sure enough when I approached San Carlos, the skies were clear. Weird summer weather in the Bay Area!

We stayed in the city the rest of the weekend. Saturday night went to Tyson Hendrickson's engagement party - praise the Lord that man found a girl! Then I rolled out of bed at 5am Sunday morning to combine a long run with SF Marathon spectating (the race starts at 5:30 so that they can incorporate the Golden Gate Bridge). I ran with a guy I bet at a recent race who I've recruited to run with West Valley, and I got to see a couple friends run well in the race.

Dolphin South End Runners

2009-07-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I decided to give my running an ego-boost and hit the Dolphin South End race (DSE for short). The DSE running club is low-key club that hosts a race almost every weekend of the year for the unbeatable price of $5 per race. There's no t-shirt's, fancy aid stations, etc. Just a race in a different (often scenic) location each week. I say it's an ego boost because you rarely see any of the competitive runners who kick my butt in the Pacific Association series. Not a hint of prize money, nor fancy trophies, just a ribbon for finishing and a ribbon if you win.

My first DSE race was two years ago. I had been running more than I had in a while, feeling good, so I decided to find a race and jump in. I did the 5k that day, while most runners ran the more challenging 6.8 miler. I won the shorter race pretty easily in a very slow 18 minutes. That day was really the start of what I'm calling my 2nd running career (or alternatively my 30+ running career).

So Sunday was my 2nd DSE race. It was the same event, but I went back for the 6.8 miler. The course was a 3.4 mile / 1000 foot climb straight up San Bruno Mountain, then straight back down. I averaged just over 6 min / mile pace to win by about 4 minutes. 2nd place was a rising high school junior is hoping to make his varsity squad for the first time this year. You'd always like to say you dusted some stiff competition, but it was my first win since the last DSE race, so I'll take it.

I didn't get to pick up my ribbon because I rushed back to the city to go to church with Dana.

Here's a picture of San Bruno Mountain

* Interesting fact: In 1998 a United Airlines 747 buzzed San Bruno Mountain by a mere 100 feet. One of the right engines had failed on takeoff, and the inexperienced pilot tried to compensate for the uneven thrust by rolling the wings to the left, instead of the proper procedure of using the left rudder to keep the plane level with the nose still pointed forward. He then had to push the nose down to pick up speed and avoid a stall. Unfortunately they were now headed straight for the mountain. Thank God the plane just cleared the mountain and the 307 people of board were spared. Perhaps if I ever train for a multi-engine certificate I'll post an entry on proper lost engine procedures.

Wedding pics

2009-07-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine I was bit to busy to be snapping photos, so no original material here. But my groomsman Jonathan Stevens put together a shutterfly page where people have posted some good pictures. Here's the link.

http://giffordsgetmarried.shutterfly.com/

Honeymoon!

2009-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Dana & I had a great time spending 5 nights in St Martin (the French side of St Martin), 5 nights in St Lucia, and then one final night back in St Maarten (the dutch side of the St Martin). The first leg of the trip was quiet and relaxing as we stayed on a beautiful beach. I kept thinking it looked like a Corona commercial. We made some new friends in St Martin as a couple cats - which we named Simon & Boogers - hung around all week to eat any leftover food we had. We took a day trip over to St. Barth's where after I narrowly avoided puking on the boat ride over, we rented scooters to ride around the island.

After that we went to St Lucia to stay at a fancy pants all inclusive. In addition to some more beach time, we got to wake board, jet ski, hobbie cat, take a boat tour, and snorkel.

The honeymoon was a great time all around. It was nice being on such a long vacation, and after the excitement of the wedding it was nice to spend time with just the two of us.

And thanks to everyone for making the wedding such an amazing day! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend.

Since a picture's worth a thousand words, I won't say too much more. Here are the pics. Enjoy!

The Dipsea

2009-06-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, I ran the 99th Dipsea Race. The Dipsea is the 2nd oldest race in America behind the Boston marathon, and there’s no race like it. You start the race in Mill Valley, almost immediately climb 671 stairs, keep running uphill, then run down a steep narrow chute called Suicide, then climb 1300 feet up to Cardiac Hill, down through the Swoop & Steep Ravine (might as well be Suicide part II with stairs to sprint down), then choose from a couple different options to finish the race in Stinson Beach. All told it’s 7.1, or 7.4, or 7.5 miles – depending on who you ask and which exact route you run.

The rules of the Dipsea race are also a bit complicated. First of all it’s a handicap race, like the Wauhatchie Trail run that we used to do in Chattanooga. So the old and the young start first, and 19-30 year old males starts last (I had a 1 minute headstart). Furthermore, they break the entire field into two sections. The Invitation is limited to returning runners who ran fast enough the prior year. Then everybody else (including me as a first timer) runs in the Dipsea Runners section. The DR section starts after all the invitational runners are on their way. So I knew going in that I couldn’t place highly overall, but I was shooting for a top finish in the DR section, and to secure an automatic entry (I forgot to mention this race is hard to get into) as an Invitational runner next year for the 100th Dipsea.

The race… Luckily I had been out running on the course. I ran up Cardiac Hill a couple times with the 2008 winner – 52 year old Roy Rivers (don’t let the age fool you… he is STRONG). I also ran the course out and back 2 weeks before the race with two guys who would finish in the top 15 overall. It was good to train for the long burn of cardiac, and for the required technical skills to race downhill. I also went to Stinson Beach 2 days before the race to look at the last mile again. I ran into a man in his 60’s who I had met on my training runs. He had run over 20 Dipseas, but was still out there to scout out his favorite short cuts. He gave some last minute advice – including don’t be afraid to use your right arm to move people out of the way if they won’t let you by on the left.

I started in my group with a single minute handicap, and was already catching the group in front of me (with an additional minute headstart) less than two minutes in. By the time I got to the stairs, I hit a wall of people walking. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT! LEFT! It didn’t work very well, and it was too early to start pushing people out of the way, so I wiggled through people, and ran up to the side of the stairs where I could. Perhaps the congestion was helpful in that it kept me from red-lining too early in the race. As I got toward the top of the stairs it cleared up a bit and I could move at my desired pace. I hit the mile-mark in 9 flat… Pretty slow considering I ran my first mile of a recent 10 mile race in 5:15. But I heard that Mark McManus, who won last year’s fastest time trophy (for best non-handicap adjusted time), ran that mile in 8:30, so I knew I couldn’t be far off pace. Shortly after the mile mark, I crested the hill, and started downhill on the first single track trail. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT!!! Hey dude, in front of me, either pass some people or get of the damn way! This is where I had to put my arm out and move a few people out of the way. Then after a short downhill section on the road, I hit Suicide. This was crazy… so steep, so crowded, dust flying everywhere. I wanted to fly, but I just couldn’t get by people. Luckily it was short, and onto Cardiac Hill. My plan was to run as comfortably as possible at the bottom, since I had almost 20 minutes of uphill running. I passed a lot of people on the first few switchbacks, but then the crowds seemed to be thinning out. Now I was catching some women in their 60’s, pre-teen boys, and middle to high school girls. A lot of these runners looked pretty strong. I saw a man in his 40’s toward his top who was running very well. As I caught him, he managed to hold a steady 30 yard interval over me thru the last few minutes and over the crest of Cardiac. I took a cup of water at the top… I hate drinking water during races, and forcing it down felt like a punch in the stomach, but I think it helped. Then I looked ahead and realized… we’re all alone! A minute into the downhill (gradual at first), I caught the guy in front. He yelled back TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO PASS, so I collected my energy & yelled GOING BY NOW. After I sprinted by I passed a race official who said I was 3rd in the Dipsea Runners section (they could tell by the color of our bib numbers). At this point I was flying. My legs were turning over very quickly, and gravity did the work. As I hit the steep downhills, I just tried to keep a fast pace, and had faith that between the time I put my foot out and when it hit the ground, that I would find a place to land. It worked pretty well, except for a couple stairs that I stumped on & actually put a hand on the ground. So I flew and I flew toward the finish. I would pass a runner every minute or so, but they were all stragglers off the back end of the invitational section. When I hit the road with just over a quarter mile to go, I felt the burn again, but just tried to pass every runner I could see.

I never caught the last two Dipsea Runners – a man & a woman both in their mid 50’s, but I finished the race in 53:29, which was the 6th fastest time out of everybody. I was very happy with the time, especially being my first race. Realistically I thought I would run 55ish. I’m already thinking of spots where I can shave time off that for next year – some technical spots like the downhill steps, and some more conditioning to drop 30 to 60 seconds off cardiac. The top 35 runners each receive a coveted plain black t-shirt with their finishing place on it. If I had been in the Invitational, I would have placed in the 20’s. I’m already thinking about a black T-shirt for next year (hopefully with a low number)!

So if you’ve gotten this far, you can tell how much fun this was for me. Congrats to 52 year old Brian Pilcher for winning the overall race – despite a pretty serious running injury about a week ago. I owe a lot to Alex Varner, Gus Gibbs, and Roy Rivers (who all ran very well this year) for helping me train on the course. Can’t wait till next year!

Here are the results. You’ll find me in 593rd place overall (but 3rd in the DR section – 19 seconds behind the winner who had nearly a 10 minute headstart). You can also see my 3 training buddies in the top 20 overall.

http://www.dipsea.org/2009/2009_prelim.html

Oh & finally 1 note on Roy River’s race: Because he was last year’s champion, he received a 4 minute “winner’s penalty” (reduced head start) for last year’s win. It drops to 3 minutes next year, then 2, then 1. Just another unique twist of the Dipsea Race!

Pictures from last month

2009-06-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

It's been busy lately wrapping up wedding planning, moving, etc... But wanted to post some pics from last month. The first ones were from when I went to go run the first 15 miles of the Avenue of the Giants marathon with Jeff & Andy. Then I posted some of my favorite Pics from Jonathan & Jenn Steven's wedding. The day after the wedding, and before we left San Diego, I took Dana over to Coronado Island, and we went into the Hotel Del Coronado. That's the hotel that we stayed at when I ran in the high school cross country nationals. Running that event twice are perhaps my fondest teenage memories.

Guilty!

2009-05-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

I am still going post a good writeup on my experience in court, impressions of the legal system, etc, etc... But with the move & wedding planning & all that I haven't been able to put my thoughts in writing. But now that the trial is over (the jury finished deliberating last week), I finally went online to see if there were any news stories. I found this one on the local CBS sight (view discretion advised):

Doctor Rosas Guilty

I'll have to check back to see how sentencing went.

The Trial of the Century (scratch that) The Trial of the Week is over

2009-05-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

The closing arguments are finished, and the jury is off to deliberate. Because I was just an alternate juror, I don't go into deliberation room, but remain on call. I will wait till the verdicts are delivered before I say anything about the trial (and when I can collect my thoughts in writing, I will have plenty to say). In the meantime, I'm back to working full time for Wells Fargo.

Pacific Heights

2009-05-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dana & I found a place to live!

We had been apartment hunting the last several weeks. We had one place that fell through thanks to the owners. Dana was on a work trip last week and set up an appointment for me to look at a place in Pac Heights. It was a great two bed room spot w/ a lot of great amenities, including a large deck. The only thing is because Dana was out of town she didn't get to see it. But through the pictures & my description she was comfortable sending in the application. So last night we met with the owners (who this time were a very cool couple) and we signed the lease! I'll start moving in two weeks, and Dana will move in right before we leave for the wedding. Dana is getting the tour tonight. I sure hope she likes it :)

I'll send pictures of the apartment, as well as some other recent activities soon.

Busy Weekend (May 1 - 3)

2009-05-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

Note- I wrote most of this a week ago, but never finished, and didn't have a chance to complete it. I'll catch up on the rest of my life shortly :)

----------------------------------------------------------------

There's no rest for the weary as I packed a lot into the weekend. Friday after work Dana & I headed up to Healdburg (a little north of Sonoma) to go wine tasting with Julia (Stamps) Mallon. I think of all the people I still keep in touch with, who aren't from Tennessee or Georgia, I think I've known Julia the longest, considering I met her at the Foot Locker XC race in high school. It's cool to see her now married, with a baby, and still running fast marathons. Dana & I had fun hanging out up there with Julia, her mom, and a another couple that we just met.

Saturday morning, we continued the apartment search. We've seen a lot of good places that have come down in rent this year. I think we're just waiting for that perfect place. We thought we had found it two weeks ago, but it turned out the owners were a weirdo lawyer couple the lived right above, and wanted us to sign a lease that said we'd be personally liable for any mildew, and that we could keep bikes anywhere in the apartment or garage except for in a closet that was too small to fit a bike. NEXT.

After that it was off to a Kentucky Derby party. That was a fun event, where woman were wearing the southern style hats, one guy was dressed as a jockey, and one guy even dressed up as a horse! A friend had given me a pretty good handicapping sheet for the race with good writeups on every horse. Well, every horse except for Mine That Bird where he just said "If this horse wins I'll never bet on another race again, and I'll vote for Jim Doyle for re-election" (I guess he's a Wisconsin Republican). Well... if you watched the race you know that Mine That Bird flew from last to first on the inside of the rail to shock the field. In fact it was the 2nd longest longshot win in the 135 year history of the race. All I can say is maybe there's hope for me to run a 5k PR again.

After that party, I drove North to meet up with Baylor teammates Jeff Edmonds & Andy Anderson as they were running the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. My plan was to run the first half and provide them any assistance if needed, and otherwise just enjoy the workout. I decided not to register for the race just in case I was tempted to go the whole distance. It was a good thing because I was tempted. The course was two out & back legs through the secluded redwood forest. It was a bit lonely at times, but beautiful. The first out and back was a very slight uphill, but it went on for most of the 6.5 miles. All three of us were a bit more strained than we'd hoped, but we kept a solid 6:05-6:10 pace (the plan was for the to average 6:00 for the race - a 2:37). We turned around & were able to pick up the pace, get our legs back, and hit the half marathon just 45 seconds off 6 minute pace. My one contribution to that effort was to play crowd control when the half marathon runners, who started an hour after us, came toward us taking up the whole width of the road. At least they did a great job cheering for us. Between 11 & 13 miles, Jeff started to struggle a bit, so our pace was somewhat inconsistent. We hit the 13 mile mark in 1:18:45 (6:03 pace), then ran a bit slower the next two miles. I finally turned around at the 15 mile mark (1:32) and ran two miles back to the start. About an hour later I see Andy in the back of a park ranger's truck. We was looking and feeling great, but his lack of running caused a hamstring cramp that he couldn't shake out (his fitness came largely from his back country avalanche patrolling). A short time later Jeff emerged - weaving between the 10k joggers - and won the marathon in 2:48. It was over 10 minutes slower than what he had hoped for, but I was impressed at how he hang on given how bad he was hurting that day.

All in all, great to see both of them! For me & my run/workout/mini-race, I felt great when I turned around at 15 miles. I had told myself this past year that 1 marathon was enough (I ran California International in 2005), but now all of a sudden I feel like I'm curious what I could do. My 2:43 was a great effort in 2005, but I'm way more fit now than I was then.

Oh No!!!

2009-04-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well I really blew it. I managed to avoid being picked to be on the jury, but was chosen as an alternate juror... DOH! So I have to go to court Monday through Thursdays for the next 4 weeks or so. I did talk to the judge about my wedding & she promised I won't miss the big day. Anyway, the timing of this is annoying with all the wedding planning. But I'm thankful work-wise that I'm on duty now when the portfolio is stable and not last summer or fall. At least it should be interesting to sit through a criminal trial & see how the system works.

On another note, here's a couple pictures from the wedding...

Quick post

2009-04-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry Mom that I haven't had anything interesting to post this past week, or any time to post it. But I'll fire off as much as I can write in 10 minutes.

I got called to jury duty last week. I was assigned to the jury pool for a pretty bad criminal case, and have jury selection today. I think it would be really cool to serve on a jury sometime, but not for the 4 weeks they're talking about! That's a lot of work to miss.

Friday night I saw one of the worst A's games I've been to in a while. Their rookie pitcher absolutely got shelled, and the offense couldn't get going. They finally got going again and beat the Rays both Saturday and Sunday (of course - the games I DIDN'T go to).

Dana & I were going to try to fly on Saturday. I haven't been since I flew to Redding in March. But there was a 17 knot wind at an 80 degree angle to the runway... conditions my instructor won't even fly in. So that got scrubbed.

So on to Carmel Saturday afternoon for a couple of events. I was entered in the Big Sur 5K, which runs the same day as the Big Sur Marathon. Ironically the 5K doesn't go anywhere near Big Sur (the marathon starts there and finishes in Carmel).. the 5k starts and finishes in Carmel. On Saturday we saw Julia Stamps Mallon (my college friend and teammate). On Sunday she ran 3:04 in the marathon just 3 1/2 months after having a baby! It's mindboggling how talented she is. My 5k went better than last week - I was 15th in 16:25 on a hilly course. But I know I'm good for a much faster time still.

Sunday afternoon we went to a college friend, Mike "T-bone" O'neil's, wedding. It was a beautiful spot in Carmel Valley & I had a great time catching up with college friends. I'm getting excited for my big day. The drive home last night was tough. I'm tired today!

ok... back to the courtroom... not bad for 10 minutes! (sorry for any typos as i don't have time to proof)

A bad race but an amazing bowling game

2009-04-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

In major league baseball, a perfect game is when a pitcher throws a complete nine inning game for a victory, without allowing a single opposing hitting to reach base. No hits, errors, walks, hit batsmen, etc. You face 27 batters and record 27 outs. It has only happened 17 times in major league history - the most famous perfect game was Don Larson in the 1956 World Series.

In bowling a perfect game is far more common, but still the ultimate achievement (except for maybe rolling a bunch of perfect games in a row)... No, I'm not about to say I bowled a perfect game, but I had a darn good one! There was one summer of my life where I bowled pretty consistently, and during that time bowled by best score of 219. Since then I've gone just a few times a year, and rarely getting anywhere close to 200. So Saturday night we went out & I took the first turn. STRIKE. Good start, but didn't think much of it. Frame 2: STRIKE. A good one where the pins just explode. Frame 3: you guessed it... STRIKE. A turkey to start the game. Well now, having no idea how I'm so on my game, I'm actually thinking I might put together a good score. After my 4th strike in a row, Dana asks "How are you doing this?" After my 5th strike in a row, one of my buddies refuses to high 5 me because he didn't do that for the first few frames and doesn't want to break my rhythm. I go to roll my 7th frame with a perfect game still in tact. Now I'm feeling pretty nervous, and there's a birthday party with a bunch of little girls running around on the lane right next to me. I slip a little on the approach, and the ball comes in from a different angle but once again... STRIKE! Finally on my 8th frame, I leave 1 pin standing, but pull it back together for the strikes in the 9th and 10th.

Final score... 255!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
X X X X X X X 9- X X9-

Don't bet money on me ever matching that score again!

The magic couldn't spill over to Sunday morning when I ran my 1st 5k of the year. I went out really fast (for my fitness level) with a 4:55 slightly uphill 1st mile. Then I quickly fell apart & finished in 16:22. I was disappointed because I know my workouts point to a much faster time. But hey... at least I'm still in good shape & giving it a go. I hear Callie ran a 5k too! I think I was in the 3rd grade the first time I ran 3 miles. It looks like we have another runner in the family.

Doh!

2009-04-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

I came back from hanging out at Dana's place yesterday and noticed my car was parked really really crooked. I was trying to figure out how I managed to such a bad parking job, then I saw a note under the windshield wiper. My neighbor's car rolled back while parked and tagged mine. She's already filed the claim, so I'll get my baby fixed in a few days.

Here you can see how far my car got knocked to the side...

9 years since I went to the hardware store

2009-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

May 30, 2000-

There were 2 weeks left in my junior year of college. I was wrapping up a great track season. I was in the best shape of my life & I had run PR's at my 2 key track distances 5000 meters (14:35), and 1500 meters (3:50). I was able to do things on the track I can hardly believe now.

This Tuesday morning was pretty typical. Woke up, ran 3 miles, ate breakfast, went to class, then got ready to head out for another 7 mile run. I rode my bike to the track to chat with my coach before he headed out of town. I was excited about what I had accomplished that season, but knew I had faster times in me. Still, it had been a long season. I failed to qualify for the NCAA meet, and I was ready for my 2 week break before gearing up for cross country. But my coach talked me into extending my season 3 more weeks to run in a competitive open meet being held at Stanford (which was primarily a "last chance" opportunity for runners to qualify for the upcoming Olympic Trials). I was tired - but what the heck - one more chance to blast a fast time. I headed out for my run...

What happened 30 minutes later was hardly believable. I had run competively for 9 years and had never been forced to miss 2 days of running in a row. I headed out to run "oak creek", which I had probably run 50 times before. I was on a flat, well maintained dirt trail when the inside of my left foot landed on a tiny rock that was beside a tiny divot. My entire weight landed on the outside of my left foot and I felt a pop. I just figured I had rolled my ankle, and that I could walk it off like I always did. Nope! I couldn't put any weight on it, so I hopped about a quarter mile on one leg, borrowed a phone, and got a ride to our training room. I didn't believe the trainer who told me that my foot was broken, but the xray didn't lie. My 5th metatarsal was cracked.

The doctors gave me two options. One was to stay on crutches for 10 weeks and hope that it healed. The other was to have surgery, wait 10 weeks, and know that it would heal & not break again. Thanks to the resources of the Stanford athletic department I was able to schedule surgery with a world class orthapedic doctor at the Stanford medical center. He was the also the SF Forty Niner's team surgeon. His normal waiting list was 6 months - I had the operation 2 weeks later.

My foot healed but I never enjoyed the fitness that I had in the spring of 2000.

Fast forward to 2009. I ran frequently after college, but I didn't do the harder workouts, and I didn't race. I just went out for runs & I enjoyed it again. But over the past year, I found a fun group of guys to run with, and found I enjoyed racing again. I'm not running the times I used to but certainly in the best shape I've been in since before I graduated, and close to the best shape since my injury. The last few weeks I was having some aches and pains, but a little pain in the outside of my left foot concerned me. I didn't think it was serious, but since it was exaclty where I broke my foot 9 years ago, I decided to get some x-rays. The good news is I just had some minor tendonitus which cleared up, and my foot has healed perfectly from the surgery 9 years ago.

Looks just like what you see at the hardware store!

Beer Mile splits

2009-03-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I ran the West Valley Track Club beer mile last Saturday. The race format is to drink a beer, run a lap, drink a beer, run a lap, drink a beer, run a lap, drink a beer, run a lap. So 4 beers & 4 laps. Most people are about that and think it's a really drunk event, but it really isn't... it's more a challenge to fit 48 ounces of a foaming liquid into your stomach and run fast at the same time.

My hat's off to my teammate Todd Rose for running (or should I say drinking) a spectacular 5:41. Once ratified, this will be the 5th fastest at-time* beer mile and the 2nd fastest on American soil. It was special to be a part of this.

My performance was NOT epic. I got off to a decent start but "hit the wall" so to speak. I have both photos & video. I am not posting here in case somebody is reading this while eating lunch. Email me & I'll be happy to send both.

Here are the splits:

Beer 1 :20
Lap 1 1:10
Beer 2 :44
Lap 2 1:14
Beer 3 1:13
Lap 3 1:10
Beer 4 2:32
Lap 4 1:17
Penalty Lap: 1:15

Total time: 10:55

* as recorded by http://www.beermile.com/. to be official performances must be video taped and follow the the official rules. there are of course many stellar unofficial performances.

Another one

2009-03-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

First of all CONGRATS to Debby & Jon! I wasn't at the hospital this time, but glad that Dana got to see Cora Elizabeth! Also, let the record state that I was the only person who was predicting a girl. Erin? Wendy? I'll let you know if I'm feeling any hunches :)

I promise I won't make this only about posting South Park clips. This is an investor's guide to the banking sector (no animals harmed in this clip) . Enjoy!

I couldn't get this to post in the wondow so you'll have to click on the link:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/222624/

How a government bailout is structured

2009-03-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

I never knew this is how it worked!

(Warning: This is a South Park clip, so of course it lacks some taste... but definitely funny!)

AIG bonuses

2009-03-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

I apologize that my first post is 1000 words long. Next post will be more "fun".

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

Yesterday the NY Times published this letter of resignation (link above) from Jake Desantis to the executives at AIG. CNBC discussed the letter throughout the day, and I’m told CNN talked about it as well. This letter got me thinking – once again – about politics & government intervention. I used to spend about 20x as much time thinking about the financial markets as I did thinking about politics. But now the two are inseparable.

First I should mention that Jake Desantis is a real person to me. I do not know him, but I have known the name for at least 6 years, and have spoken with him on the phone a few times on the rare occasions my desk traded with AIG. Furthermore, two of my colleagues were fraternity brothers with Jake at MIT.

I think the latter is worth reading in entirety, but let me sum it up in a few sentences. Jake was a derivatives trader at AIG for 10+ years. This past year as AIG blew up, Jake passed up other job opportunities at more stable companies in exchange for a contract where he’d receive a $1 salary and a large cash bonus in March 2009. Now he is resigning based on the claim that the company has offered no support as AIG employees have been vilified by the media, congress, and the attorney generals of NY and CT. Finally, he is donating his entire $740k after tax payment to charities helping people affected by the crisis.

The comments posted on the NY Times website were overwhelmingly negative toward Jake. Honestly, why shouldn’t they be negative? I didn’t lose a wink of sleep last night feeling bad for him losing his enormous bonus. But I appreciate him sharing his thoughts with the world – financial employees have not had a voice through this – and I’m happy to take his side here.

The bonus outrage is understandable. Taxpayers spend billions of dollars saving financial companies that took bad risks then these same companies pay their employees millions of dollars. In the case of AIG, I think the magnitude of the bonuses were inappropriate. But I’d like to compare bailed out financial companies to two other frequently bailed out industries – auto makers & airlines. Both industries require very large expenditures, which become fixed costs. GM has to build factories (well… had to build factories) and they spend millions and millions on steel and component parts to build cars. Airlines have to spend millions and millions on, you guessed it, airplanes. When Delta needs to buy a new 777, no one is outraged that they cut a 250 million dollar check to Boeing, even if that money is borrowed from the government. And in both industries, the labor is unionized. I do understand that the right to form a union is an important to labor in this country. But where’s the outrage when government lends billions to GM, who pays out millions to the both current and past union workers making 3x what their Toyota counterparts make, while having no incentive NOT to a take a long nap from nine to five every Monday through Friday. If auto makers and airlines are bailed out, should they stop buying steel, airplanes, and paying workers? Of course not! The way to save an industry is to repair their business. Every business that produces revenues incurs costs.

Just like airplanes, factories, and steel are necessary costs of business, competitive compensation is a necessary cost of business for financial companies. And competitive is the key word here. CEO compensation is not competitive. They decide their own pay packages & tend to get paid whether they perform or not. Professional athlete compensation is semi-competitive. Teams compete for the best athletes and biggest names, but players unionize, and certain talent is not easily replicable (look at the Pats without Tom Brady). But financial professionals have no unions & no agents. If a trader doesn’t like what he gets paid, then his ultimate bargaining chip is to leave the company (without severance). At that time the company replaces him with the next best available trader. The bottom line is that for a company to function successfully (which is what every taxpayer should want for AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, etc), they must have talented and capable employees. For better or worse, talented and capable employees have a market price, just like airplanes, factories, and steel.

I admire Jake for stepping up and defending himself and his peers. The media has vilified these people. Congress passed a law to punish them with a 90% tax (which if signed into law will cost me money next Spring). The NY & CT attorney generals want to “expose” these employees. Last I checked, attorney generals have the mandate to prosecute individuals accused of a crime. Now they are turning the law into a bad Jerry Springer episode. One AIG employee’s house was shown on the cover of the NY Post. Other employees have reportedly received death threats. All they did was try to protect the government’s investment (which still may yield returns) & receive the market rate of compensation. I am far less confident that the government ever will get their money back if AIG’s management cannot run a proper business.

I think Jake probably did the right thing by giving away the $740,000 after tax dollars he made this year. He has been very fortunate. His hard work took him from a working class family, to MIT, to Wall Street, to affluence. No doubt he had several lucky breaks. But I can only assume he has colleagues who are sending their kids to private schools and are paying hefty Greenwich, Connecticut & East Hamptons mortgage bills, who cannot afford to return that money. I think those people are probably doing the right thing by keeping their bonuses. Congress is not doing the right thing. If they drive the best people away from the financial business, this crisis is only just getting started.

A blog?

2009-03-25T15:37:00.001-07:00

One of these days I might actually sign up for a Facebook page, but let's start with baby steps. I'm not technically challenged whatsoever. The problem is that after sitting in front of a computer at work for 10-11 hours a day, I usually don't want to go home and get back in front of a computer. So why don't I spend a few minutes a day on "Web 2.0" (whatever that means) activities at work? The problem at work is that we sit on a desk that is just a long row of seats with no cubicle like separations, just workstations about 7 feet apart. My boss sits right to my left, and my boss' boss sits over a my right shoulder. Even though no one would really care, you don't want to be "that guy" who is always caught screwing around with his facebook page at work.

Anyway, hopefully I'll post something in here every so often. If that's not too much of a stretch, hopefully somebody will occasionally read it. I have Mom, Dana, & my 2 sisters, so maybe having 5 people reading my blog would be a great goal to shoot for!

What will I put in here? Hopefully nothing that will offend my friends & family too much. Someday I might have some adorable pictures of a baby to put in here, but in the meantime I'll have to come up with some other topics. So fair game is going to be trip/events, rants about financial markets, and NASCAR (or other sports depending on the season). Hopefully somebody can enjoy this!