RUNNING THE MARATHON...PLEASE READ!

		Dear friends and family, After more training than I'd care to admit to, I can now say that barring a last minute injury, I'm going to run in this year's NYC marathon. It's always been a dream of mine to accomplish this: my family used to go watch the runners as they came by 86th St. and 1st Avenue and I stood in awe of their resilience. I tried training for a marathon at the age of 21, and my college roommates correctly predicted that I would simply give up rather than go through with the countless hours of pounding the pavement. I tried again at age 24, and got injured. Between the ages 25-27, I don't think I worked out very much at all. And then, thanks in large part to Georgia and her willingness to support me, I got the running bug for real. She encouraged me to sign up for some NYRR races, and I did. By the end of June 2010, I had earned guaranteed entry into the Fall 2011 NYC marathon. Hard to believe, but it's just around the corner. And, again thanks to Georgia, Lily and Felix have not prevented me from getting my miles in. I promise you this: it's not going to be pretty. I'll be lucky to finish in 5:00-- quite frankly, crossing the finish line at all is going to be a victory for me, even if it takes me until nightfall. But I'm in, and I could use your support. In fact, I designed my own running shirt that says "taco daddy" in the hopes that strangers will support me, too. So I'd like to ask two things of you: 1) If you're going to be in New York City on November 6, please come out and cheer. If you intend to watch the race, let me know where you'll be and I'll make sure I swing by. I don't intend to stop and chat-- but I would love high fives or whatever. If you'd like to watch as part of a crowd, let me know. I think Georgia is going to set up shop somewhere and do very little moving. It would be cool to have a crowd yelling "taco daddy" somewhere. 2) I'd like to honor this occasion by raising money for the favorite charity of somebody in my life who has shown enough resilience to put my running efforts in the proper perspective. My aunt Michelle has been fighting colon cancer for over a year, and has not stopped moving, fighting, or loving for even a moment. When I told her about this-- she recommended "Strides for Life," a small colon cancer prevention and early detection non-profit based out of SF. If you would like to support my efforts, I ask that you give here: http://fundly.com/chrisrunsforstridesforlife#/stats Additionally, I'm going to try to update my running blog a bit over the next month to chronicle the last bits until the marathon. You can read that at: www.endorphus.blogspot.com Thanks for reading. Hit me up with where you plan to stand. -Chris

I'm in the marathon officially. My Schedule. My Anxiety. Wanna run with me?

Yesterday, I got an email from NYRR asking for full permission to post and access my facebook page. Huh? Why? Well, they want me to post "I'm in. To finish. NY Marathon, 2011." Well guess what guys! You don't need to access my whole page in order for me to say that! Protect your info peoples!

But seriously, I'm getting excited and nervous. For the last year, I've been on a schedule that has helped me to drop and keep off about 30 pounds, and it's almost time to shift it.  I need to eat better. I worry I'll bulk up again if I run less days and my metabolism slows down. Maybe I'm being silly. Maybe. Here's what I've been doing:

Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: off
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: off or 3 mile run
Sunday: 5-7 miles

Here's the new schedule:
Monday: short run (starts at 3, increases to 5 eventually)
Tuesday: short run (3)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: short run (starts at 3, increases to 5 eventually)
Friday: Off
Saturday: Long Run
Sunday: Off

Finally, the long runs are going to be boring at times. I could use some company. It helps if you run slow-- I purposefully have to take it down a couple notches in order to prevent injury. Wanna run with me? 9:45 to 10:00 minute mile pace on Saturdays.

-Chris

Flashbacks and My Dad

Of all days of the week, the day I most hate to miss a run is Wednesday. The reason is situational: currently, on Thursdays, I'm working in a school from 7:30am - 3:00pm, then have class from 4:00-7:00pm. If I don't run on Wednesday, I have to go 2 days in a row without a run-- which I prefer not to do because of the training.

Yesterday, the weather Gods decided to try to stop me.

The day was ugly from start to finish, and though there were pockets of time without rain, none lasted. I decided to try to venture into the "drizzle" at 5:00pm. From 5:07-6:00pm, it rained the hardest it did all day. Sheets. The kind of rain your mother would say, don't go out or you'll get sick. I wore shorts, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt. I brought Bobo. We went swimming.

Bobo and I went all Lieutenant Dan on the run-- and it reminded me of my 12th birthday party. Laroux (my Dad) took me and a car full of my pock-faced, middle school friends to Six Flags Great Adventure. We got there, and sure enough, it starts raining so hard that they close down the Scream Machine. This is pre-Batman ride, so that meant there weren't that many crazy rides still open-- but we had the park to ourselves. No lines. Just us in our t-shirts and shorts-- form fitting in their wetness, pasted to our prune-skins.

Running yesterday gave me that first person flashback. I remembered being 12. I remembered the "thunder" ride. I remembered thinking I had the BEST DAD EVER for not turning the car around.

Thanks, Laroux.

New Shoes? Again?

Just crunched the numbers. Looks like I've put about 330 miles on my current sneakers. Been a good winter-- brought the shows home on November 11. Kind of surprising, but it has been 20 weeks. Man, time flies.

I did he math after hearing from Jack Rabbit in New York on a special shoe deal they have. I think I'm going to try to get through April on these kicks. Then: back to Orange Inspires. Rotation!

What has two thumbs...

And is embarrassed about not posting on this blog in over 2 months?

This guy.

But come on, I've got my excuses. Namely, the wife and I have twins coming in 12-16 more weeks, I'm finishing year one of school, working practicum 2-3 days a week, and I emptied the dishwasher yesterday! Okay-- I need to be better about writing. It's true.

You know-- when these twins arrive, I think running will become more important than ever. I had a couple readers email me about the time when kids first come home and needing a) to maintain a workout routine to stay healthy, and b) to find some minutes to myself. I think these are both good points. It's a blessing and curse that the official marathon training will start up in June, just before the kids arrive.

We'll see how this one goes.

Brief catch-up: I have kept up my running routine. Made it through a Boston winter without a gym. Avoiding the treadmill, I believe, was key to my avoiding injury this spring. It's been fun to watch the "spring" runners return to the track. I feel like the college student who just stayed up all night writing a paper, and now has a sense of pride about seeing the other students look tired in the dining hall. You don't know tired. I know tired.

Except I feel good! I'm a tiny bit worried that longer runs don't feel easy. I guess that is what training is all about.

Run run run, people. The water's warm, so dive in.

Finding a coach

Anybody in Boston have advice about finding a running coach? I'm not sure I want a team, but I'd love people to motivate me for long runs, help me with the schedule, etc.

Running on Thin Ice

What a news filled couple of weeks it has been.

-I have received my official entry into the 2011 NYC marathon
-I bought and tested a foam roller
-I started school again
-I ran 13 of the last 15 days (including several with my dog...)

I honestly could have written about any of these subjects, and perhaps will revisit them soon. But for now, I'd like to tell you about my first run with YAKTRAX Pro, a rubber contraption that you strap on to...whoa, lemme try some other words-- a coil system that attaches to the bottom of your sneakers and cuts into ice to give you better traction while running.

This is easily the most hardcore running gear I own at the moment-- sadly, from the pure logistics of how many days I will run with them, they are overpriced. At City Sports, they went for 30 dollars with a 1 year store credit warranty in the event that they break. Based on the online reviews I read-- I'm keeping that receipt in a safe place, because odds are high that I will need it.

Let's start with the basics-- Yaktrax do their job. You get traction on ice. Pretty cool. I wasn't really scared that I woudl fall at any moment while running with them, and they are extremely lightweight. If you did not hear the consistent crunching of metal on pavement/ice, you might forget that you're wearing them. But you have to be careful about putting them on-- they can change your pronation and make landing and pushing off feel very slightly different than the feel of running sneakers alone. I don't think they changed my style that much-- but there was a difference and as any runner will tell you, the smallest changes can have the largest impacts. Online reviews claim that the rubber straps break too easily. I'll keep you posted on how mine hold up to the cold season and if I feel any new pains as a result of wearing them.

But a quick word on running during the snowy and icy season-- there are major drawbacks. The hidden slush puddle that soaks your socks and shoes when you're 3 miles from home-- the kid who hits you with a snow ball in the back of your head as you run away (seriously, 2x in the last year), the need to keep your clothes consistently in the washer in and dryer so that you have them at the ready-- it's clearly better when it's warm. But if it's snowing on marathon Sunday, I'll be ready.

Altitude = Bad Attidude...

Some of you know that I was on vacation this past week. Turns out that, in large part, it was a vacation from internet, too. The house I stayed in did have internet, but at at molasses speed-- so I largely gave up.

For the time off, I was largely in Utah. "Largely" because I was eating roughly twice the food as previously, but it's tough not to bulk up on turkey chili and delicious BBQ food that was consistently around. This probably contributed to the story I'm about to tell you-- but I think it was mostly the skiing and altitude.


I was really hopeful that I wouldn't have to interrupt my workout routine for the vacation. The house I was staying in (though it is on a RIDICULOUS hill that is un-run-able) had an old treadmill that met my basic running needs. Day one, I jumped on that bad-boy and shocked myself by not being out of breath at the end of mile 1. During mile two, Caesar was stabbed by Cassius. Then a bunch of other senators. By the time I reached 2.25 miles, Brutus was carving. I lowered the speed and walked. Hadn't done that on my worst hangover days back east-- but I needed to now. At 2.5, I pumped the speed back up and finished mile 3. Then got off. And sat.

How do the Broncos not win the super bowl every year? They MUST be in better shape then the rest of the NFL. They should go 8-0 at home every year. Shocking how bad they are.

I was Utah for 6 days-- and managed to run only 3 of them. The other two runs, I confess I was satisfied with a measly two miles. I convinced myself that skiing moguls was enough to meet my exercise needs-- but I half knew that it wouldn't. The saddest run of all was a forth run that only made it .3 miles before I said no. I think getting dressed burned more calories.

The going gets tough for NYC 2011 training in about 4 months. A solid question is-- how do you maintain focus when external factors disrupt your routine? I need to start finding answers. Avoiding altitude is going to have to be a start, because it was a killer this time.