Idea: The Shivery 30 Blanket Run

I visited National Cathedral today with Daniel. If you haven't had the guided tour, you really should do this. We learned a lot of great things. Daniel was terrific, really curious about everything; he asked great questions of the docent.

After a trip up to the observation deck, we made the obligatory visit to the Gift Shop. We got a couple things, and when we rang up, the sales person asked if we wanted to donate $15 to buy a blanket for a needy DC family. Since I'm not a heartless ogre, I went ahead and ponied up.

Then I started thinking: $15 for a blanket. Every time I run, I see homeless guys out there freezing in sweatshirts. And I'd already been playing with the idea of doing another ultramarathon and having people donate blankets. But here is a ready-made mechanism for getting blankets into peoples' hands... just waiting for a knucklehead like me to drive people to it.

I'm not thinking of doing another 46 miler for this... first off, Sònia wouldn't have it. And second off, Sònia wouldn't have it! But I already do 30 mile training runs pretty regularly. I could just do a 30 mile run, get people to sign up and send money to the Cathedral, and voila: cold homeless people get warm! A dollar a mile pledge would equal two blankets per donation. And the block around National Cathedral is just at one mile and a bit... I could actually run the thing around the Cathedral! So I'm giving some actual thought to this. I'm not saying it's a done deal... I'm just saying it sounds do-able. Really. Hmmm.

$1075 raised by Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler!

The Oyster-Adams Community Counsel folks have added up the donations made for the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler, and so far we have raised at least $1075 for Oyster-Adams Bilingual School. You can still donate! Click here to make a donation. Thanks to all who have donated so far.

IMPORTANT: If you make a donation, please put "Daddy's Crazy 46" in the description. If not, the school won't know the DC46 was where the funds came from.

I ran 46 miles! Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler

Yesterday morning at 3am, I started running. Eight hours and 42 minutes later, I finished-- and I had covered 46 miles. We did it! And when I say "we", I really mean it. No way I would have completed this without a great deal of help from some very good friends.

Friendship can be defined in a lot of different ways. One of the most beautiful examples I can think of was Sancho Panza's friendship for Don Quijote. Sancho didn't ignore that his friend was crazy-- Sancho knew that Don Quijote was crazy. Sancho supported him anyway:

"God's will be done," said Sancho. "I'll believe all your worship says, but straighten yourself a bit in the saddle...."

No one tried to talk me out of tilting this windmill. On the other hand, plenty of people helped me stay straight in the saddle! Maybe I should call you all my "enablers" instead of my "supporters"!

Thanks to all of you. Andrew, Pedro, and Fabricio who met me at mile 31 and paced me for the next 15 miles. Claire and Marcia ran with me on Adams track, and way back in August did not ask me whether I was going to do this-- they just asked me "when?" And Phoebe, who helped me steer through the details of permissions, and who got me through the OCC board last year. Jerome, Dana, Joy, and Gina, who don't even have children in the school came and cheered me on. Ibis and Karen and Maria who cleared me to use the track for the last ten miles of the run-- and thank you, Ibis for opening up and cheering me on as well. Donna, David, Maricarmen, Paco, Susana, Scott, Elisa, Diego and Marta came and ran a few laps and helped out Sonia-- you guys are our constant friends and we're always grateful for you. And thank you to everyone who contributed to the OCC-- Oyster-Adams is a better school because of you. If you're still thinking about donating, you can click here to do so.

And of course, thank you to Sonia and Daniel. What kept me going was knowing you'd be at the finish line.

It went so much better this year than last. It mostly was just better training-- I came a lot better prepared this time, having done more and longer long runs, having tested all of my equipment better, and having been much more consistent in my training. Also, just having the experience of completing the distance last year was a big psychological help. But, whereas last year I had to walk a lot after the 30 mile point, this year I was able to run the entire 46 miles. I even was able to run the last three miles at a pace near 9 minutes per mile.

Now I get to think about what to do next. Sonia has already started talking about next year-- so I guess I have the most important permission already! Now that I've done two of these, I know that it's not just a fluke. If I do a third one, I suppose I can consider it a habit. With it going so well this time, I'm wondering if I shouldn't try to get in at least one official ultramarathon a year besides this one. Hmmm.

But for now, I guess I should concentrate on recovering to the point that I can go downstairs without gritting my teeth!

My checklist for the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler

So much to remember. Here is my checklist of essentials for tomorrow's 46 mile run:

Fannypack:
IBUPROFEN
Lactic acid pills
Gels
Powerbars
Washcloth
Money
Keys
Lip balm
Batteries
Camera
Toilet paper
Whistle
Credit card, metro, license
Chalk or 16 spoons, whiteboard

Clothing:
Sweatshirt
Vamos T-shirt
Arm sleeves
Knee band
Camelback (Put Electrolyte in H2O)
Headlamp, tail-lamp
RoadID
Socks
Pants
Skivvies

Finish bag:
Water
Warm clothes for finish
Towel for finish
Potato chips
Something sweet

Tasks:
Plug in HRM tonight
HYDRATE tonight!
Breakfast morning
Take ibuprofen morning

Stock house for recovery:
Sonia, Daniel, Sparky
Ice cream, chili, pyjamas

Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler: One week to go!

I'm down to seven days until the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler. I feel like I'm ready: my training has gone well, I have my route well thought out, I know what my strategy is for the run. I even got interviewed by the Washington Post Express-- it should be on the newstands next Tuesday, I think. And yet it doesn't feel very real for me yet. When I did this a year and a half ago... it just feels like my life has changed so much since that time. We bought a house and moved from Woodley Park to Glover Park. Sonia started working at the State Department and I started walking Daniel to school in the mornings. The big snow came. I got a big promotion at FEMA. We adopted Sparky.

My dad died.

I suppose life was just different. And last time, I really wasn't certain it was possible for me to finish the run. This time, I know it's likely I'll finish it. And I'm pretty sure I'll get through it in a lot better shape this time.

One thing that keeps running through my mind is the question Vicky Hallett asked me last week in the interview: "Why are you doing this?" I don't remember my exact answer, but it was something like, "because I have to... I can't imagine not doing this." Even when I told Vicky this, I knew I wasn't fully satisfied with the answer. I wish I had said that I love the feeling of running for hours in the dark by myself. Or that the way I lived my life sixteen years ago, I used to dream about doing things like this but never could have. Or that running a long way, for me, is kind of a celebration of the fact that I'm free to do this kind of thing now.

I did explain that my head clears when I'm out there running. That running is like meditating for me, and that when I'm having a good day, the monkeys in my head stop chattering for a while. I didn't tell her that it's like a long prayer for me; it is. I wish I could explain that better. But it certainly is true, and it's a big reason for my running.

Anyway, seven days to go. And really, I can't wait to get out there and start running.

Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler: One month to go!

I'm down to one month to the day until I run the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler. I think I'm a lot better trained this year than I was for last year's 45. I've done a lot more long runs, and my longest training run was 35 miles. I found my biggest trouble happened last year after I got over my longest training run distance.

I've had some patellar tendinitis problems in my left knee, probably due to some of my poor technique in parkour. I've been using The Stick, and that seems to be helping, and I just got a foam roller today. I tried it out on my IT Band-- man, did it hurt! Apparently, that pain is a sign that I really needed it.

I will have a flyer out tomorrow with details of the run and how to donate to Oyster-Adams Community Council in support. And tomorrow I'll be taking advantage of my day off from work to run 26 miles-- just two long runs to go before I do the 46!

Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler: Date set - 6 November 2010

I just got off the phone with the coach from Oyster-Adam's school: we agreed I would run the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler the first Saturday of November, 6 November 2010. I'm really excited! And now I have to figure out some logistics: how I'm going to train between now and then (I'm thinking 18 miles Friday, 26 the next Saturday, 25 again the following, then two weeks with no long run, then run it!). I have to pick the route (easy enough: 35 miles out and back on Connecticut and Georgia Avenues, then 15 miles around the Adams track). I have to put together a flyer directing people to the donation site.

Wow, that was easy. Now all I have to do is run the thing!

First Annual Daddy's Crazy 45 Miler

This was not the craziest idea I ever had, but it came pretty close.

A few months back I ran my first ultramarathon, the HAT 50K. It was fun and a culmination of a careful, scientific training program. In other words, I just pretty much started running really long runs on Sundays with no regards for building up, injuries, or anything. Essentially, I just simply brute forced my way to my first ultra and got away with it.

So, now fueled by unearned success, I decided that that was all and I was done with ultramarathoning. Except... I realized that my normal training run was 22.5 miles. And I was turning 45 this June 30. And that if you run my 22.5 mile run twice, that's 45 miles! That's all it took. I was committed to running 45 miles for my birthday. Honestly, that was my thought process.

Well, my crazy dream happened Saturday. I modified the route to run around my block, because Sònia wanted to give me support. And I modified the date so the run would happen before Sònia and Daniel went on vacation and before the end of school. Because somewhere in there it turned into a fund-raiser for Oyster-Adams School.

I took off at 4 am on Saturday, accompanied by my buddy Jimm. I had gotten a solid 30 minutes of sleep the night before. Just impossible to sleep. I knew that was going to happen. Jimm had committed to seeing me to the end of the run as soon as I announced it. And he did, although he had to drop out for a few miles because his knee started to bug him.

In fact, I was never alone. At around 20 miles we started to pick up pacers. Oyster-Adams parents who came and ran a few miles with us, or eight or nine or ten. First David and Tim R., then Elizabeth and Mike and their dog, then Allison my co-worker and Mike my boss. Then Paco and Andrew and Claire and Mikelle and Diego and Wendy and Elena and Stefan and S'not... I lost count of all my pacers.

Sònia started to bring out a steady stream of peanut butter sandwiches and potato chips and gatorade when we hit the halfway point. Spectators started to show up at around the 30 mile point, when I was really starting to feel the run. Folks I meet for coffee in the mornings, and more parents, and their kids-- and then a group of kids joined the run. My son, Daniel, ran two and a half miles.

By forty miles I had a train of pacers with me. We picked up Mary and Till, some neighbors who didn't even have a kid in the school, who just wanted to see who all of these crazy people were. Jimm was next to me, telling me I could actually run up the hill when I wanted to walk it. And Sònia was yelling with a group of parents at the toughest point of the course. I started to choke up at how much these people were doing just because I had had this crazy idea. Mikelle was running next to me and got concerned about my breathing-- I laughed and said, "no problem, it's just that this is really beautiful".

The last few laps were a blur, and at the same time I felt every step. My hips had begun to hurt in the last 13 miles. Somehow, Jimm got me fired up to run the very last hill, and three turns later we were on the home stretch.

I have never won a race in my life. Not one. No high school track winning memories, not even a weird age-group win in a road race. And this was not a race. But I know what it feels like to win one now. The crowd at the last turn exploded as our group got close. Sònia ran to me and grabbed my hand, and we made the last corner together. When my Garmin beeped off the 45th mile, I yelled out, "¡Cuarente y cinco!" And then we stopped. We didn't have to run anymore.

I thanked Sònia for supporting this crazy dream that I'm sure she didn't understand. And I thanked my pacers and the people who contributed and the people who cheered and set up water stops along the way. I thanked Jimm after forgetting to thank him the first time through. I'm sure I forgot someone along the way.

So that's it. Except... I was thinking that next year I turn 46. And I kind of like the sound of "The Second 1st Annual Daddy's Crazy 46 Miler"...

HAT 50K - 6:59:30: My first ultramarathon

Predictably, I couldn't sleep last night-- I tossed and turned and got about three hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 4. I reviewed my checklist, ate a bowl of oatmeal, and went and waited to get picked up by my new ultramarathoning friend, Jimm.

It was cold this morning. We headed up to Havre de Grace and sat in the parking lot, shivering, waiting for packet pickup to start. I really was pretty unsure as to what to wear. I had brought a lot of stuff to put on. I got lucky today and hit the right combination. Arm sleeves (affectionately known as "arm panties") are key, I found out. I felt pretty silly putting them on, but they were perfect. I was freezing at the starting line, but the temperature fluctuated all during the race. I was glad I could roll my sleeves up and down. I have a very funky tan on my forearms now, though.

I learned a few things out there today. I thought about it as I ran: In a 31 mile race like this, you have to get it all right on several points:

• Logistics - in a 10k, you put your shoes on and run. Marathon and above, your race can end because you wore the wrong socks or made a bad choice of hydration systems. At a minimum, you can be miserable for a long, long time.


• Awareness - this was a trail run, and there were roots to trip on, branches to brain yourself with, and trail markers to miss. I missed the 27 mile marker and almost ran off the course! Thank god someone yelled at me and I ran back, sheepishly. You have to crank up your awareness, even though tiredness makes you want to drift off into la la land.


• Efficiency - at this distance, it's not about being the strongest and fastest. A lot of it is about expending the least amount of energy. I found myself shortening up my strides and just grinding up the hills. I remembered how pounded my legs would feel at the end of my 22 mile training runs, and I knew that if I didn't take care of them, it would be a lot worse at the 30 mile point.


• Determination - it just takes pushing through sometimes, the determination to stick to concentrating on good running form, and running when you feel like lying down. This sounds trite, but this was key, especially when I really hit a rough patch around mile 28.

So that's my formula for getting through the 31 miler: LAED. Either get LAED, or you get screwed.

At one point I looked down at my GPS watch just as it clicked over 26.2 miles. I had just run a standard marathon distance and I still had about five miles to go. A few steps later, I realized that I had just run further than I had ever run in my life. In fact, every step I took was the farthest I had ever run. Wow.

Some great people out on the trail helped me. The volunteers in this race were magic. There were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Chips Ahoy cookies at the second rest stop, and I am sure that I have never tasted a better PB&J in my entire life. I really don't understand what motivates race volunteers. Those people froze for eight hours and prepared food for sweaty, sometimes grumpy runners. Maybe it's just my depleted glycogen reserves talking, but I love those people.

And the other runners encouraged me. When they heard it was my first ultra, they gave me advice, salt pills, and encouragement. At mile 28 I started to fade really badly. I knew I would finish, but I had no idea how it was going to happen. I just wanted to lay down. A lady from Annapolis whose name I never learned ran up alongside, and I just whispered, "I'm really having a rough patch." She listened to me for a while, and eventually we started running again. She ran with me for about two miles, until we could hear the crowds cheering at the finish line. By then my adrenaline had kicked in and I really started running again.

My last mile was one of the fastest of the race. As I ran up the field, I could see Jimm waiting at the finish pavilion. He ran out to me and started yelling for me to pick it up. I heard one specific thing: "Tim, there's food". I yelled back, "Jimm, tell me about the food". He told me there were hot dogs and soup and Jambalaya. I yelled back, "Jambalaya?! Let's go!". We ran in as fast as we could. Jimm had finished the race more than half an hour before and still paced me in. I'm sure I could not have sprinted it in without him (okay, I am being very generous with myself saying "sprint").

When we turned the corner and I could see the finisher's clock, I could not believe that it was at 6:59:25. I was going to break seven hours! I put in a final push and crossed the line in 6:59:30. One of the race organizers congratulated me and gave me a hat (of course) and a stadium chair. No medals were awarded-- and I'm not sure I wanted one. I've got my medal right here inside.

Night before the HAT 50K

Tomorrow is the HAT 50K run. It will be my first ultramarathon, and the farthest I have ever run in my life (if I finish!). I'm not nervous... okay, a little. Over the last couple of long runs I've made a list of stuff to carry:

Pre race: Bike Shorts, Blinker, Butt pack, Camelback, GUs, Garmin chest strap, Garmin watch, ID, Credit card, Injinji toe socks (two pairs), Insurance Card, Keys, Lucky Towel, Money, Montrails, Nike Trail Runners, Nike Blue Shirt, Phone Carrier, Reflective vest, Road ID, Support underwear, Toilet paper, Water bottle, Whistle

Post race: Jeans, shirt, new socks, sandals, money, sandwich?, camera?

The HAT is logistically easier because I'll pass back through the starting point several times during the race. Then I can make any equipment changes I may need to make. I'm getting picked up by another runner at 5 am. I'm truly exhausted, but if this goes anything like previous races I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Someday I'll look back at this and laaaaugh.

24 Miles - 4:06

I'm ramping up my long run mileage some to get ready for the HAT 50K in March.  This run was a little different in that I tried out my race strategy after about the first hour of running: I ran a mile and then stopped to walk for 45 seconds.  I'm glad I practiced.  It had some good things about it-- I was able to sustain a 7:50 - 8:30 mile pace much further into the run.  And it was pretty damn hard to start running again after walking in the later miles.

The last two miles were just garbage.  I was just trying to tack two more miles onto my normal 22 mile run.  It was pretty unsatisfying.  I just felt like I was running in circles for the last two miles, just waiting for the mileage meter on my Forerunner 305 to click over.

That said, I was satisfied with the run overall.  When I finished I thought honestly: could I now go on to run another 7.1 miles?  And I think I could have.  It would have been painful!  But I woud be able.  Cool.

22 Miles/3:22: War of the Worlds

The HAT Run 50K (31.1 Miles) is coming up on 21 March 2009 and I'm signed up for it.  It will be my first (and perhaps last) ultramarathon.  I say it might be my last because Sònia's just made it clear that she doesn't want me to disappear for an entire day while I'm running a race.  Sigh.  I can still run my 22 milers on the weekends, which I love doing.

Except that the last 22 miler I ran was the one I ran right at the beginning of December, a week after the Northern Central Trail Marathon.  So I was due to run another.  I finally made it work-- I got out of bed at 4:30 am this morning after DVD marathoning with Sònia until almost 1 am.  Yipee.

I normally do not like to run with an MP3 player.  It's all part of my drive towards experiencing the moment I'm in, "when running only running" etc.  But for some reason I strapped my MP3 player on my wrist and listened to stuff while I was running.  Most of the run I ended up listening to Jeff Wayne's musical version of "War of the Worlds".  This thing is a classic-- it came out in '82, but I only heard about it when I was in my Junior year at the Academy.  I bought it on cassette tape at Harrod's in London just prior to spending a semester at Edinburgh University.  It brought back memories of that time-- my first time overseas, smoking Dunhills and dating this French girl from Centrón named Gabrielle Jouet-Pastre.  We spent the summer skipping class and knocking the cork into wine bottles with a ballpoint pen.  It never occured to us to buy a corkscrew.  Frankie Goes to Hollywood had just brought out "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome" and we had matching "FRANKIE SAY RELAX" t-shirts.  I read Alasdair Grey's Lanark for the first time and found it to be pretty disturbing.

All of this was swirling through my head when my cell phone rang and Sònia told me I had to be home in an hour.  I was at mile 15 now... I had to make seven miles in an hour and my legs were pretty dang beat by then.  Reality hurts sometimes.  So I tucked my chin in and ran as hard as I could.  And I made it.  It was actually pretty good, I need that ability to find some speed when my legs are really pounded.  But I'm not sure where I found the speed.

Overall I felt good about getting my long run going again.  I'll try and extend it a bit next week, maybe to 24 miles.  I want to have a 26 miler under my belt at least before the HAT run.

5 minutes in the Internet Café

I'm in an Internet Café in Barcelona with 5 minutes on the clock. Sònia, Daniel, and I have been having a blast. We still have over a week left. It's been rainy since the first day, but I love being here. It's hard to belive I lived here for five years... there are a lot of memories in these streets.

I went out for a seven mile run yesterday, which was great. I made it down to Pz Catalunya and Barceloneta, passed Sònia's old house, and back to Pz España. Beautiful.

I saw some old friends in Plaza España tonight as well... always good to catch up.

Christmas Morning in Barcelona - 10K

I got up this morning and went out for 10K on the beach between Premiá del Mar and Masnou. It was such a beautiful run. I haven't run by the Mediterranean Sea since I left here in 2004. The sea was an indescribable blue and the sunlight coming off the sea was so brilliant that it hurt to look at it.

I say all of this to make those of you who a freezing in DC envious. It's a sick little game but it's all I have, really.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family of my Brother in Law, Rafa, and his wife, Monstse. There were 18 people in this tiny apartment, yelling and passing stuff over each other. They were in each other's stuff, people argued and made up continuously, and it was generally a madhouse. I loved it. I miss that about Spain. Everyone was really happy to see us. In the entire evening there was only one political discussion: Rafa asked me if I was happy that Obama won. I said, yeah. That's a nice change from DC, where every discussion is about politics.

In fact, I'm having one of those visits where I'm convinced that I want to live here again, someday. I hate seeing how fast my nieces have grown up and gotten married, when it seems like the last time I saw them all of them were little girls. Of course, there are difficulties here-- the economy here stinks, as it does everywhere else. But Spain, and Barcelona in particular, was running a little close to the edge even before the global economy started going down the toilet.

Sònia and I talked about maybe moving back here when the global economy improves. So maybe Sònia and I will retire here. I can see that happening.

Jingle Bells All The Way 10K: 46:27 (The Horror!)

Man, was it cold this morning. One of the women I work with, Allison, put together a roadracing team called "Disaster Blasters". So we all signed up for the Jingle Bells All The Way 10K.

Last year I ran this race in 51:45, so I'm happy that my time came down. But this race was marked by tragedy for me. You see, the race was going fine. I stretched out and really pushed the last few miles, turning in the first and fifth miles in 7:08-- not my old sub-sevens, but good.

I approached the finish line and really cranked it up. Then over the loudspeaker I heard one of the most blood-curdling, horrible, nasty things anyone has ever said about me:

"And here comes Tim Allen: One of our Masters racers."

Oh god, it's come to this. In this race I'm considered a masters racer. I half expected one of the volunteers to come bring me my cane as I crossed the finish line. I looked at all of the bright, clean-limbed youth I was finishing with and wondered if they could hear my Depends adult undergarments crinkling under my running pants. I felt about as cool as Elmer Fudd.

Sigh. I guess I'll go soak my bunions and see if I can remember my last name so I can look up my official results.

Long distance running as a meditation practice - 22 miles

I woke up at 4:45 am this morning and decided to go for my normal 22 mile run. I had been debating over taking a week off because I did the marathon last week. But a funny thing has happened: I miss the long run when I can't get to it. So I went running.

This run was cool for a couple of reasons. I got to break in my new $30 Montrails I bought at Rogue Runners in Austin. And I also got to run this loop (Washington, DC: Woodley Park, down Rock Creek Parkway to the Capital Crescent Trailhead, up the Crescent to where it meets the RCP again, back down the RCP to Woodley Park and home) for the first time with my new Garmin 305 GPS unit my mom got for me. Really, running is not about gadgets. But I wanted to map out this route with the GPS partially because I was not sure that my 22 mile loop was 22 miles long. Turns out that it is almost exactly 22 miles. That was nice to have confirmed.

But there was one other thing that made this run great. I think the main reason I miss the long run when I don't do it is that it is the one time of the week when I run for a long enough time to shut off my brain and just be where I am for a few hours.

I have tried sitting meditation quite a few times. I have never gotten very comfortable with it. Part of it is the difficulty I have in just concentrating on the moment without rattling through thoughts-- however, I understand that this is part of the meditation practice. I explained to a friend of mine that if I meditated for a half an hour my mind would wander off the ranch fifty times. I would have to pull it back to my breathing fifty times in that half an hour. My friend said, "what a wonderful practice". And he was right, that practice of recapturing my sense of presence is good.

However, my real problem with sitting practice is that, as the father of a seven year old, I'm just sleep deprived all the time. I expect this situation to improve, oh, shortly before I die. So usually when I sit to meditate, about five minutes in, I'm fighting off sleep. And that's just crazy-making.

But running... I find that the regular rhythm and the proximity to natural sources of noise help me concentrate on where I am. I regularly use noise as my focal point. If I can really fixate on the sound of where I am, I know I am truly present. The reason for this for me is that so much of what goes through my head is sound-- catches of songs I've been thinking about, or bits of conversations, or a little self-criticism. My monkeys are noisy.

So I run and listen to my footsteps, and I breath and listen to my breathing, and I listen to Rock Creek.

This run started in the dark, and I ran for more than an hour before there was appreciable light. And it was cold, right at 37F. So not many people were on the trail. I saw a total of ten souls, and five of them were deer. I saw four deer just crossing Rock Creek Parkway. They're so used to people now that I don't think they get scared. They just watched me run past, then dashed off into the woods.

I did find my speed sagging a lot on this run. I found a good trick to pick up some speed-- I concentrate on my turnover. I tried to concentrate on quick turnover, and not on going fast. I did this, and after 19 miles, I was doing 9:30 miles, which is a good pace for me. I reckon if I can work on a good turnover, my stride will take care of itself and I'll be able to maintain speed.

All in all a very satisfying run.

Northern Central Trail Marathon: 4:28

I got my sneezing, coughing self out of bed this morning and met my friend Etienne at 6:30 am to drive out to Sparks, MD for the Northern Central Trail Marathon.

It was a pretty kickass day all around. I've been nursing a cold/sinusy-pain/yuck thing that's been going around (I share my immune system with my son's 1st grade class), but I managed to get up and go. My mom came through with an early Xmas present of a Garmin Forerunner 305 (THANKS, MOM!) and I got to wear it for the run.

It was a really pretty day-- pretty cold when we arrived, but by the time the gun went off it was 42F. I meant to take off slow, but the crowd was going at 8:30 miles and I felt good, so I went for it and clocked 8:30's and 9:00's the first six miles. I slowed down to mostly 9:00's and 9:30's from 6 to the turnaround point at 13 miles. Then I started doing the math...

Back in 1990 I ran my first marathon, The Marine Corps, in 3:49:49. I was 26 and foolish, poorly trained and indestructible, and I made it through that race by sheer will. I swore I'd never do a marathon again. This time I was trained, wiser... and 44 years old. But I started thing, hey, if I can just click off 9:30's for the rest of the race, I can beat my PR.

So I tried doing that. And it went just fine until mile 15 when (cue ominous violin swell)... my nose started bleeding! Actually, this very minor inconvenience took on major significance to my race. I tried pinching it off, but no amount of that would work. There must be some weird physiological mechanism that makes your blood not clot when you're running really fast. So I dove into my gear pack to see if I was carrying anything I could jam in my nostril. Nada. I finally flagged down a father and son who were watching the race and asked for a napkin. Fortunately they had one. By the looks on their faces I could tell I was not a pretty sight (yes, that's blood on the picture of my race number). But I rolled up the napkin and jammed it in my nose and kept running.

I kept clicking off 9:30 miles right up until 20 miles. I felt really good, very tired, and my legs were complaining about the work by now, but I felt I could do this. And then at 21 miles, I looked at my watch and saw I had just run an 10:30 mile. It had felt just like the 9:30 mile I had run just before. I thought, wow, I'm going to have to pick it up. I really dug deep and pulled out... (tada!) a 11:30 mile! By now I was down to only 5 miles to go... no time to make it up. Long story short, I just got slower and slower until my last mile, which I ran in 15:22. Moral: sometimes experience can beat youth, but it's not really the way to bet.

Anyway, I rallied for the last half mile or so and really cranked when I got to the end. I passed one spectator on the way in the chute who said, "Hey, looking goo... oh, rough race." I actually almost started laughing. I can't wait to see the picture of me crossing the finish line. My race number was covered with blood and my nose plug was saturated in it.

I loved this race.

Overall, the race was really well run, every volunteer I met was fantastic, friendly, and for some unknown reason willing to stand around in the cold for hours to watch us. And the EMTs who checked me out at the finish line were friendly and courteous. Oh, and the soup at the end was like, the best food I ever ate anywhere. Really.

Final clock time was 4:28, I'll get my chip time when it's posted.

NaNoWriMo: 50,047 words: The Duke of Sunrises

I WON!

Yipee! I had thought I was going to finish off The Duke of Sunrises sometime this weekend. But I began to think about the weekend and realized: I'm running the Northern Central Trail Marathon tomorrow. And Sunday I'll probably be recovering. So I made an effort to pull it together before I came to work today. And then over my lunch hour I made a real push and watched the ticker finally click over 50,000 words.

As I had thought, my protagonist ended up being named Sam Small in honor of a character my father invented for his art classes.

Oddly enough, it's a pretty damn good story. Of course, I'm not so naive as to think it's ready for anyone to read at this point. It probably needs about a year's worth of editing, during which time I'd probably write about another 30,000 words to make it work. There are plenty of places where I've written in "I have to make Sara's back story more believable" or "write the trip across town". What I have is a rough first draft of a manuscript. But it's a damn good rough first draft of a manuscript.

Anyway, I'm glad not to be going into tomorrow's marathon with this hanging over my head! Wish me luck on the run!

NaNoWriMo Day 23: 35,078 words

Okay, I'm definitely on track now. I am really confident that I can hit my 50K word goal by then end of the month. There are a few days I won't be able to write; for example, next Saturday I'm running the Northern Central Trail Marathon . Chances are good I won't write then.

I'm thinking of trying to just go ahead and finish up in the next couple of days. I've figured out that it is not really a huge big deal for me to write three or four thousand words in a day. And I would hate to get to the last day and simply not have the strength to get through the last 5000 words.

But I'm in a little bit of a quandary. I think the one best way that I can squeak another 15,000 words out of this story is to kill one of my favorite characters. The story is certainly heading that way. Death just generates a hell of a lot of drama: I had my protagonist's best friend die last year and it totally got me through the last half of the book. But I like this character. Ah well, that's the blood sport that is sport novelling. Looks like Josie's gonna have to take one for the team.

Signed up from the HAT Run 50K

I signed up for my first ultramarathon today; the HAT Run 50K. It'll be at 9 AM, Saturday March 21, 2009 in Susquehanna State Park, Maryland. I'm pretty psyched!