2hr 13min 22sec

We were up early and had breakfast while it was still raining outside but it stopped by the time we were loading into the car to drive over to Pasadena. Kerrianne was hoping we'd get a parking spot in the parking structure so she could stretch out where it was dry but no such luck so while she went to find a dry spot I walked around a bit to loosen/warm up. I found a few folks from work were starting to arrive as well. It was nice to feel like I knew a few people.

Kerrianne and I walked over to the start area and checked things out. I was pretty good with just walking around and keeping loose, my beautiful wife on the other hand is pretty serious about things and checked her bag and headed to starting chute. With a kiss I said, "See you at the end." I hung out and chatted with the folks from work, next thing I knew there was an announcement to line up so they all headed over and I still had to check my bag with sweats so I'd have something dry after the race.

By the time I got into place I was quite a ways back from the start line.


Looking pretty good and feeling relaxed before the start.


As I waited for the start I did get a few comments on the floves. Ranging from, "Really? You're going to run in those?" to "Are those comfortable? I've been wanting to check those out." My response was always, "I had knee pain then I started running in them and it's gone away, of course there was some soreness in using different muscles but I was able to work through that. I'm good as long as there is no knee pain."

Flove with the timing chip.


At the start I did wonder what I had gotten myself into. My left Achilles was sore and I was favoring it for the first few miles but I was able to get a rhythm and felt good. Kerrianne had warned me that she tends to go out too fast so I made a conscious effort to make sure I didn't do that and just kept it steady and still found myself passing a lot of people. About mile 4 my Achilles loosened up and I felt no pain from it for the rest of the run.

My feet felt good until about mile 8 when the balls of my feet started to get sore. I experimented and adjusted my stride and was able to work around it. Really things felt the best when I just forgot about my feet and legs and focused on breathing and enjoying the idea that, "I'm running a 1/2 marathon!" I found that uphill was easier on the feet than down, fortunately none of the hills were real steep and my steady comfortable pace worked well and I was able to remain consistent. On the first few downhills I think I actually slowed down because that's where I really felt the impact on my feet.

Mile 11 was the start of the final downhill. You can really say "It's all downhill from here." Fortunately not too steep and I focused on trying to find the stride that was comfortable yet maintain speed and I think I was able to pick up my pace a little at this point.


Finally the last 3/4 mile I knew where the end was and I pushed to pick up the pace and was actually able to sprint for the last 1/2 through the finish. It felt good. I saw Wade, Tanja, Rog and KC waiting and cheering me on. That felt good too.

Well Kerrianne finished about 30 minutes before I did, and I finished more than 15 minutes earlier than I was hoping for. We both had a good day.


KC, Jen, Brenda, Me.

We all had a good run.

My time was: 2hr 13min 22sec. Which put me right in the middle of the men finishers which is pretty good.


Kerrianne finished in 1hr 44min 29sec which put her at 31st out of 1636 women and more than 8 minutes faster than last year. She's pretty amazing!

Race weekend is here

Watching the Olympics tonight and it's sinking in that Sunday morning I will be running 13.1 miles.... let's reiterate, the farthest I've run in my life. Today Kerrianne and I went and picked up our race packets which consisted of the number bib, a cool shirt and a bunch of marketing propaganda for other races and products. There was an expo with vendors showing stuff off as well that was fun to walk through.

My training this week has consisted of the 10 mile run on Monday, 2.5 mile run on Tuesday and again 2.5 miles on Thursday and a few hapkido classes with plenty of kicking thrown in. I did pass on sparring this week thinking that would be a prime opportunity to get some type of injury. In class on Thursday night I was doing some kicks and managed to kick a guys arm with my shin. It's still a bit sensitive to the touch but I think it will be OK. During the run on Thursday my left achilles was a little sore at times.

Today was the kick off meeting for the Triathlon team at work. Information and planning for the season. The big event is the Malibu Nautica Triathlon in September. Unfortunately I won't be participating in it this year as it's the same weekend as scout camp that I'll be going to with Ethan. I did find out that there are about 10 people from work that will be running the race on Sunday so I'll be wearing something NBCU for that.

Longest run of my life

So, Monday was a holiday here so after hanging with the kids for the morning I figured it was the day to get a long run in before the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon next weekend. So far the knee has been recovering well and I've been adapting to the feel as I run which feels good. The feel and motion with interaction with the ground from the VFF floves is pretty amazing, there's a feedback from the ground that's hard to describe.

Back to yesterday's run. I set out from the house and headed down the hill not sure really how far I was going to go. I headed out to the bike path and was able to run on the dirt path along the side. I ened up going five miles out which was downhill or flat most of the way which meant flat or uphill for the run home. Five miles put me at the San Gabriel River where I turned around. The five miles home wasn't bad, my goal was to remain consistent. I'm not a fast runner but my endurance seems to be coming along and my time back was equal to my time out. I kept a consistent 10 minute mile and returned in exactly 100 minutes.

How did my feet feel running that far in the floves? Well there were times along the way that the balls of my feet felt a little sore and I was able to modify my stride and landing and the soreness eased up so overall during the run it felt good. That changed a bit once I got home and sat down. My feet were pretty tender when I stood up, a little bit of walking felt better. When I laid down for bed they got sore again and woke me up a couple of times. Walking around during the day today they felt better and I went for a 2 1/2 mile run at lunch just to keep loose. Again a little sore but feeling good this evening.

So, my plan is to get two more 2 1/2 mile runs in this week. I don't want to over do anything before the race on Sunday.

Just over a week away

So, it's just over a week till the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon. I've still not run 13 miles in my life. I've been able to transition from riding my bike at work to running again. My knee feels pretty good and I've found that I can adjust my step/stride pretty well when I start to feel the slightest sensation in the knee. So the feedback from running in the five fingers is good and I'm generally running 4 to 5 miles. Overall I think I'll do OK in the 1/2 marathon, well, I'll finish. It won't be fast but I'll finish.

Looking for a place to swim

Today I went for my ride around the Universal Studios lot which has been my mode of exersize for the past few weeks. Still dealing with a little tenderness on my knee.

I thought I'd look for a place to swim but as you can see the beaches were closed.


I got in about 7 miles total riding today and it felt great. The So. Cal. weather is perfect: not a cloud in the sky, not too hot out. I have found a spot on the lot that is like a park, apparently some folks play softball there, but it's a good uphill ride for 1 1/2 miles to get there. Once there I usually drop the bike and do some push ups, sit ups and such, today I gave it a shot at running and did 3 laps around which I estimate to be about a mile. I've been wearing the floves (VFFs) while riding so it's an easy transition to run. Kinda nice running on the grass though some spots were a bit squishy from all of the rain over the last 2 weeks. Overall the run felt good, just don't want to over do it.

After riding around past the Desperate Housewives, Spartacus Square and the Old West I headed back to the office. When I got there I looked down and discovered that I had caught some grass between my toes while running.

I think I'll be adding in that run as a regular part of the routine.

I came across this article from a study on Barefoot or in minimal footwear.... and interesting read.

A new year

Well it's the new year. It's been a while since I've updated anything. My brother is responding well to his treatments, the numbers are going in the right direction, unfortunately loses his energy for a day or so and at the end of the third week of treatment is pretty wiped out. During the week off seems to feel pretty good as his body restores and gets ready for the next round. More info to come in a couple of weeks when he goes in for some tests.

I've been trying to keep going at exercise some weeks have been inconsistent. I got a couple runs and rides in during the holidays. I've had to lay of of the running for a while because my knee flared up. I've done some research have a pretty good idea that it's a case of IT Band Syndrome. I'm no medical expert but based on numerous sources it seems like I've got all the symptoms. The only real remedy seems to be rest.... but that's hard.

The ideal exercise would be swimming but even here in So. Cal. it's too cold to swim right now and there aren't any pools open at the right time for me to go any way so the next best thing is the bike. I'm still researching but have really gained some insight from a website I found. If you have some time check out Saveyourself.ca and let me know what you think. Paul there explains the source of ITBS and outlines some possible ways to treat it. We'll see how it goes, in the meantime lot's of bike riding.

I'm thinking about the race schedule for this year, my biggest concern is to make sure I give the knee time to heal. Maybe a few races out at Bonelli both on and off-road and I'm registered for the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon (I've never run that far in my life.) I'm not sure I'll be able to do the Malibu Nautica Tri because it again conflicts with Scout Camp and that seems like the more important thing to do. What I like about the Malibu race is using it to raise awareness and money for a cause, in that case Pediatric Cancer Research at Children's Hospital LA so something else I'm thinking about is if I don't do that event is there a way I can use all events as a way to raise awareness for a cause. Two significant things in my life right now are Pancreatic Cancer and a group called Lifewater International so I'm thinking through how to do that.

That's the update for now. Stay healthy.

Malibu Nautica Triathlon

The race is 2 days away and at the last minute I have bowed out and will be spending some time with my son.

Over the last month the idea of cancer research has taken on a new meaning for me when on July 31, 2009 my twin brother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was emotional about the work of CHLA before but wow, how things have changed, there is dramatic new urgency. It has also put a few things into perspective and reality, one of those is the importance of every moment we spend with those we love and I can not pass up the opportunity to build a memory of the first scout camp with my son.

My training this year has gone well and I have been looking forward to doing more than "survive" the swim. I'm planning on participating in another race this year and I'll let you know the results.

The team at NBCUniversal has raised nearly $75k to date, I'm proud to be part of such a group.

We all have things we are passionate about, thank you for joining me in mine.
Fred.

You can't run away

I've been pretty regular about getting some running time in at lunch over the past two weeks. It's kind of been an escape.

Friday will be two weeks that my brother got the shocking news that he has cancer. I've been going to work, spent a fair bit of time staring at the walls, a little work and looking forward to getting out to run. The first day out I found myself trying to run away, much the same way I found myself trying to wake myself up but I couldn't. At some point I realized I was awake and it wasn't going to go away. While running I guess I realized I couldn't run away from it either.

This week I've found it an escape to head out and run. It doesn't change anything but it gives me 40 minutes of peace.

Watch out for the waves

Last Saturday I got up early and set out for Zuma to train with the team from work. I arrived around 7:15am and got the bike unloaded and was setting up, everyone was getting their wetsuits on and the yellow lifeguard truck drove up. Turns out the lifeguards performed nearly 100 rescues on Friday and were expecting the surf and riptide to be just as bad for Saturday... they wouldn't let us go in the water. I drove the 1 hour 15 minutes specifically to swim in the ocean so I was a bit disappointed.

We decided we would do an extra long bike ride. Normally we just do the race route of 18 miles but with the additional time we decided to add on some miles and headed north up the coast and doubled that distance. It felt great, I was able to maintain a good pace and finish strong. Then some barefoot running to work on the transition.

the barefoot running overall felt good (as each run has) this was the first time I really felt like I found the rythm and could tell when I was doing it right. As a bonus my calfs felt much better afterwards.

Monday I went for a run at lunch time, again in the VFF's. This time I added a mile and some hills to the route. Maybe not the best idea. I started to feel a little something with my knee right at the end at about 3 miles and about 2 hours later my calfs started to knot up. The knee felt fine when I started walking and has been fine since, but I could harldy walk on Tuesday morning because the calfs were so tight. they loosened up as the day went on and today feel a lot better.

Wednesday I set out for a run again. This time flat and just 2.27 miles. During the second half I stopped to do pushups every couple of hundred yards and got in 120. Again I felt the rhythm and had a good pace for the run. The plan now is to keep it flat and slowly increase the distance.

Swimming at the Duarte pool tonight. My endurance is getting better, and stroke is a little more efficient with better body placement in the water but I really need to work on breathing.

Barefoot Running

Went for a little run around the Lot at lunch today. It's the first time in quite a while since my left knee has been bothering me a bit. As I've been reading about running in the Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) and barefoot running I thought I'd give it a try. I figure since I'm pretty sure it was my shoes that contributed to the sore knee and there seems to be a fairly good argument for running barefoot I would see for my self.

My initial reaction is, WOW! Following advice I kept it to a short run of about 1 mile, then a 1 mile walk back to the front of the Lot. My feet and knees felt great through the whole run but both calfs are pretty tight now. Every one said it would use different muscles and they were right so that's the point of easing into things. Based on my recent knee history it's probably good to ease into things for that too.

It felt good to get out and run again.

So, that's day one. Wednesday I'll give it another go.

Some freaky new shoes

Well, I like going barefoot and have been wearing flip flops to work for the past month or so. It's pretty well known (maybe not accepted) that I will wear sandals to work in the summer time. Keith tends to mock my dry cracked heels. The other day I kicked off the flip flops and was wandering around the office that way (though not to the restroom, that place requires a hazmat suit) and the only comment I got was, "Where are your shoes?" So then I started thinking, why not go barefoot? The big thing I came up with is that it hurts to walk on gravel and asphalt and I'm not a big fan of pain.

I have read a little about the benefits of going barefoot and even a bit about how some people have made the argument that the athletic shoe industry is really just a marketing engine that has created it's own market based on the notion that the human foot needs cushion and support. They make a compelling argument that I'm not sure I fully agree with... yet.

So the same day I was walking around barefoot my friend Stew sends me an e-mail with a link to an article on sneaker free running. I read it and that started me on a trail of articles where I found the Vibram Five Fingers barefoot shoes.

I was intrigued. They look funny but a ton of people say they are extremely comfortable.... with that combination I thought, "I need to give those a try." Well there's plenty of places to order them on the internet but I wanted to see these freaky things and try them on so there began my search. Turns out one of the local Sport Chalet stores carries them (though only in limited quantities and colors). Yesterday I went and tried them out.... people were right they are amazingly comfortable. Like wearing gloves on your feet. I dropped the cash and wore them back to work.

I got the Five Fingers KSO version in black hoping they would just kinda slip by unnoticed.


Not really unnoticed. I noticed one person in the elevator looking at them and trying not to but they never said a word. Another guy said, "do they sell men's shoes at that store too?" Then there was the discussion in one office where I really got the feeling that some were thinking "there goes Fred again."

So, my initial response after wearing them for a day and a half: they are really comfortable. As I said, like wearing gloves on your feet. They breathe well and protect the bottoms of my feet. I can feel the ground. I'm curious if as some research suggests, my posture will improve and my feet will get stronger and less prone to injury but I'm not sure I'm ready to wear them running. For now though, I've got happy feet.