Poulsbo Viking Fest Road Race

This morning, my wife and I ran the 5 mile Road Race in Poulsbo, WA (where we live). This is our third time running this local race. It's cheap and fun...just like me. We didn't run it last year because we were in Portland running the Rock N Roll Portland Half Marathon. It's always nice to do a race so close to home because your back home for breakfast and we always seem to bump into folks that we haven't seen in a while.

The 5 mile race is part of a local festival called Viking Fest...and yes you may see a few Vikings and their wenches.

"I was able to beat my last time here by a couple of minutes and finished in 42 min 16 seconds" 

Lack of posts
It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I've been so busy with other things. Check out the Twitter feed on the right to get more frequent updates. If you want to know about my running schedule, check me out on Dailymile. I have a pretty regular schedule of long runs each weekend and try to get in at least 20 miles overall each week.

I'll probably do a practice half marathon tomorrow morning in preparation for the North Olympic Discovery Half Marathon coming up in a couple of weeks.

Long Run With No Mojo

Drive and determination battled my body today and won!

A beautiful day. Why did I have to be so tired. This was taken at around 8 miles in.

This morning I was really tired and my motivation meter was reading about a 3 on a scale of 10. Struggling to get my ass out of bed, I thought "I know it's long run Saturday, but why do I have to go? Maybe I'll skip today." Then I pulled it together, moped around, got ready, crawled into my car and headed out.

The weather was perfect. It was a cool 45 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. I should have been pumped to be out enjoying a run on such an awesome day. But today it just wasn't in me.

Within the first 3 miles I was feeling so lethargic. I just had zero energy. I've been having trouble sleeping which may have something to do with it. I though that maybe I would quit after 4-5 miles and call it a day. After all, I'm not training for anything so no harm right? Then I kept thinking "I can't give in to this and quit." So what if I have no energy. My legs are fine. I must keep going. Challenge accepted.

My chosen route was a very familiar 11 mile loop around town with some elevation. At around 4, 5 and 6 miles there were opportunities to cut it short and head back. After the 6 mile mark though, I would have to commit and complete the 11 mile loop.

After passing through the first shortcut at 4 miles, I decided to take it one mile at a time. I passed the other two shortcuts and kept powering through it to the end.

Whew! No runners high today, but I'm claiming this run as a victory.

Rock N Roll Race Heavy Medals

Over the last three years I've collected my share of medals. Each medal conjures up a specific memory of a marathon or half marathon that I've completed.

This week I received this bonus medal in the mail from the Rock-N-Roll Marathon Series. Why you ask?

If you participate in more than one Rock-N-Roll half or full marathon in a single year, then you get one of these Heavy Medals. In 2012 I had done three Rock-N-Roll events; one  in Portland, one in Seattle and one in Las Vegas.

For this I was awarded the (...drum roll...) Triple Crown medal. "Ta-Da!!"

I'm really not sure what to do with this. First of all, it's so ugly. Second, this pink sparkly "Bling Bling" looking thing looks as if it was designed for someone else; not me. It's not the first time. So what should I do with it? I'm supposed to hang it up I guess. I've actually given one away.

"Gimme yo bling bitch!!"

I'm thinking of sending this one to Flava Flav. I'm sure he'll find a use for it.

Have you received any of these?

If so, what do you do with them?

2012 Seattle Color Run Video

Have you heard of the Color Run? Last year, when we heard that the Color Run was coming to Seattle, we signed up as soon as registration opened. Good thing too because this "just for fun" 5K sold out almost immediately. Crazy huh? We even knew folks who wanted to do it but waited a few days to commit. Guess what? Too bad so sad for them.

It's Just For Fun
Remember this race is just for fun so take the whole family. We took our 16 year old son (it was his first ever 5K). For you "serious" runners out there, here's what you do. Leave your Garmin at home, put on some old shoes and go have some fun. Don't expect to be timed or even run the whole thing. You can walk or jog it. The only requirement is that you take a few moments to get colored along the way.

Do you want to see what you're in for? 
It has taken me seven months, but I finally put together this video of our experience at the 2012 Seattle Color Run. Enjoy!

 

Don't Wait to Register

If you missed it last year, you can get in on the fun this year. But if you're serious about doing this, sign up as soon as registration opens. By the way, it also benefits Ronald McDonald House Charities. You'll also get a Color Run t-shirt and head band with your entry.

Finally, if you just want to volunteer and throw colors on people, you can do that too. For more information check out the Color Run website.

Cold Sun Saturday Run

The temp dipped into the 20s overnight so I decided to sleep in this morning. Laying in my warm bed this morning seemed much more appealing than heading out for an early cold run. So there I lay, Aaaaah!

After a while, I peered out the window and noticed the skies clearing up. Conditions were pretty calm but still cool. Then there it was...the urge to go run. I got up and got dressed. Good thing. 

I drove down to my normal stomping grounds for an eight mile run. It was so nice. The skies cleared and the sun came out as the temperature crept above freezing. Perfect!

Absorbing some Vitamin D on a cold morning

I parked and the waterfront park, took a swig of Gatorade and hit the road. I felt really good as I headed out. And, yes, I stopped for a sec along the way to take the perfect self pic. Coming off the Yukon Do It Marathon less than two weeks ago, I was feelin great. 

What is it about that first 8 mile run after a marathon that makes it feel soooo good?

I snapped this other picture a little further down the road. I love this route because there are places where you can look back and see areas along the coast that you've run. It's cool to look back and see how far you've gone. 

Earland's point (upper left of pic) is about mile 6 on my 10 mile route

It was definitely a "Run Happy" moment this morning. I'm so glad I decided to decided to get out of bed and go running.

Enjoy the weekend!!

2012 Achievements, New Friends, and the Last Minute Marathon

2012 Goals - Just Keep Running

My goals were modest early in the year...just keep running. I had spent most of 2011 training for my first marathon in Portland and was frankly looking forward to a year of rest and relaxation.

Goal: To be able to 

run a half marathon 

at any time

without having to train

I enjoy running half marathons so to put it simply, my goal was to be able to run a half marathon at any time without having to train. I figured if I kept my miles up to at least 20 miles per week, then this would not be a problem. 

2012 Accomplishments

Santa at the finish of the
2012 Las Vegas
Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon

I was able to to stick to a weekly regiment of 1 to 2 mid-week runs followed by a Saturday morning long run. I would also try and incorporate a 13+ mile in run once a month. I only missed a couple of weeks of running out of the entire year.

If someone would say, "Hey. let's go run half marathon X!" I could say "Sure! Half Marathon X sounds great." without the fear of not being ready.

I participated in 9 races in 2012. This included five half marathons, a 200 mile relay, and a marathon. I even ran a half marathon as Santa. That was awesome!

My strategy (to remain ready for any race) put me in the position to have two of the most challenging, amazing, and unexpected experiences of the year. The following two events turned out to be the highlights of the entire year: 

My Ragnar buds

Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage

In July my wife Melissa was asked to join a Ragnar team. I was pretty excited for her, but soon realized that I wanted to be a part of this Ragnar thing. With less than two weeks before the race, I got on Facebook and found a team looking for one more runner and asked to join. It turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences I've had. Our team "Pain Now, Beer Later" ran a total of 200 miles in 30 hours. I was exhausted after 30 intense hours, but now have some great new friends. 

2012 Yukon Do It Marathon on New Year's Eve

Yukon Do It Marathon (my Holiday Marathon Challenge)

In late November I made a spontaneous decision to refocus my priorities away from work and towards something more meaningful. I decided to train and run a marathon on New Years Eve while raising money for charity in the process. Inspired by my new Ragnar friend Jeff, I decided to create a Holiday Marathon Challenge.

As a kid I remember going door to door selling sausage for my little league baseball team, but I was pretty unsuccessful at it. We ended up with a freezer full of sausage that year. That was my only other experience raising money. So asking my friends, family and co-workers to donate money was, for me, going out on a long limb.

In just 5 weeks, however, my challenge generated over $1,200 for charity and was a huge success. Then it was time to run the marathon that I had signed up for just 5 weeks prior. 

Early on New Year's Eve morning, after only 5 weeks of marathon training, I ran the Yukon Do It Marathon. Though I didn't set out to do this, I beat my first marathon time by 10 minutes.

It was a very memorable and fulfilling end to a great year. 

"Sometimes the best moments in life

are unplanned"

The Final Tally

Keeping track of our total miles is probably a new phenomenon in running. My dad was a runner in his younger days, but did it old-school. He ran several marathons in his day, including Boston, and wore Nike running shoes (probably the first ones), cotton tee shirts, no iPod and absolutely no GPS watch. I'm sure a running watch capable of tracking your exact global position, elevation and speed in real-time would have been some serious Star Trek shit back then. When I talk to him about running, I get the "well, back in my day" speech...as you would expect.

Nowadays every run is logged so that each year we can impress our friends by stating exactly how many miles we ran. And I mean EXACTLY. So without further delay, here is my tally:

1,004 Miles in 2012

Whew! I just squeaked by the 1000 mark this year and did it on the last day of the year. This is actually less than last year. If you're curious about how far 1000 miles is, I've got some interesting comparisons in last year's 1000 mile blog post. 

It's 2013 What's Next?

I think I'm going to stick with the same plan as 2012. Why mess with a winning formula. I'll keep running to be ready for...well...whatever comes up. 

We are looking for some small-scale half marathons around the Northwest that have a great local feel to them. We may even take a trip to Victoria, BC to run the Royal Victoria Half. I'm hoping my Ragnar team can come together again this year because that was really fun. 

Will I run another marathon this year? Probably not. Then again, that's what I said last year. 

2012 Yukon Do It Marathon

Marathon Day
At 8AM on New Year's Eve I joined 81 other runners for the 2012 Yukon Do It Marathon. This is a local race which started in 2010. It includes a half marathon as well as full marathon. When I first heard about the first New Year's Eve event in 2010, it was very low key and I signed up to run the half marathon. Last year Yukon Do It graduated into an official event and started to attract runners outside of the area.

Last 3 years of Yukon Do It medals

For 2012 I had planned, once again, to run the half marathon. In late November I decided instead to give the  full marathon a go. This time I would raise money for charity. This would be my second full marathon, my first being the 2011 Portland Marathon. Leading up to this marathon, I realized that there would be some elevation to contend with, but I was pretty excited to run this scenic route.

The marathon would start and end at sea level, but it would have many ups and downs along the way.

Yukon Do It Marathon Elevation - total 897 ft Elevation Gain (and loss)

Race Time

Mile 1

All of my last minute marathon training was about to pay off. After a few "good luck" wishes from my wife and running buddies, it was "go time" and I was ready. At 8AM we lined up at the start and were off with a "5-4-3-2-1 Go."

The first few miles seemed to go by pretty quickly. I know I was pacing a little faster than I had planned, but it just felt right.

Mile 1 - 9:20
Mile 2 - 9:32
Mile 3 - 9:29
Mile 4 - 9:25
Mile 5 - 9:34

After the first few miles, we headed inland towards Manchester State Park. Up and down, then up and down, then up and down one more time. I didn't realize it at the time, but I would have to do this again at mile 19. More on that later.

Exiting the park, we headed over to the other side of the point into Manchester. I took a few swallows of my Gatorade and ate half of my LaraBar.

Self Pic from Yukon Bay

Mile 6 - 10:08
Mile 7 - 9:54
Mile 8 - 9:27
Mile 9 - 9:25

After leaving Manchester, we ran up and over another hill before dropping down into Yukon Bay. Despite the clouds, it was a pretty scenic run through there.

Mile 10 - 10:07
Mile 11 - 9:17
Mile 12 - 9:34
Mile 13 - 9:41

Up to this point I was feeling great and I handled the hills pretty well. I had more Gatorade and a few more bites of my LaraBar.

Looking across to Seattle from Yukon Bay

From Manchester and Yukon Bay you can see over to Seattle but with the cloud cover it was hard to see. You have to look closely, but you can see the Seattle skyline.

Mile 14 - 10:07

Just past Yukon Bay before the turn around point (Looking at Blake Island)

Around mile 14 I came upon a cone and and U-Turn arrow on the street which indicated that this was the turn around point. It was time to head back.

At the aid station, they had a bowl of Gummy Bears and Nuun. I passed on the Nuun since I was packing Gatorade, but took a handful of Gummy Bears. Yum.

For the next few miles there were lots of ups and downs as we tracked back towards Manchester State Park and Port Orchard.

Mile 15 - 9:53
Mile 16 - 10:16
Mile 17 - 10:05
Mile 18 - 9:43

Going back through the ups and downs of Manchester State Park for the second time was definitely much harder than the first time. As I approached the turn for the park (an uphill climb), I was thinking that the marathon course would bypass the park loop. So I was bummed when I realized I had gotten it wrong. It was basically a repeat of the first part of the race, just in reverse. Ugh! More steep hills.

I was starting to slow down as I worked my way through the ups and downs of the park. I grabbed a few bites of my LaraBar to help get me through the last few miles.

Mile 19 - 10:47

Up and down another hill by this pasture with a camel (yup a camel with humps and all).

Mile 20 - 10:58

Then it was up and down another steep hill. This was starting to hurt going up and coming back down.

Mile 21 - 11:32

Finally, with all of the major hills now out of the way, I was time to focus on the finish. I reached down for my phone and sent a Glympse message to my wife so she could track my position for the last five miles. By that time, she was probably finished with the half marathon and was preparing to wait for me.

The next few miles were tough as always. The miles and hills had taken their toll on my lower body and it was time to push through the pain and think positive thoughts. I tried to picture all of my friends, family, and coworkers who had donated to my fund raiser and imagined them cheering me on. This helped inspire me but also started making me emotional, so I decided to think of something else instead.

I tried to just zone out, not think about my legs, and just take in my surroundings. Slowly the miles started ticking off.

Mile 22 - 10:05
Mile 23 - 10:41
Mile 24 - 10:41
Mile 25 - 10:56

The Last Mile

Sharon's Pic

Just before the mile 25 marker, my friend Sharon appeared on the course. Sharon, who was wrapping up a spectacular running year of her own completing several marathons and half marathons, had just run the half marathon and decided to backtrack and run the last mile with me. How awesome is that? She snapped a quick picture of me and jumped in next to me for that last mile.

I was not very chatty (as you could imagine), but it was great having her running next to me to help push me into the finish. "Sharon, you are awesome!!"

Mile 26 - 10:07

We made the last turn, and I could see the finish line. With about a quarter mile left, I said to Sharon "Let's do this." I summoned some mojo from somewhere deep within and sped into the finish.

Mile 26.2 - 8:36

The Finish Line
When I approached the finish line my wife, kids and friends were all there cheering me in. I don't usually have anyone I know cheering for me at the finish, so this really was a special moment for me. I won't forget it.

Everyone cheering me in and bringing a smile to my face

I crossed the finish and was done.

Crossing the finish line

My finishing time was 4 hours 22 minutes. 10 minutes faster than my first marathon. 

My average pace was 10 minutes per mile and I finished 44th out of 82.

Finish Line Photos
I've got to add these pictures of my awesome support crew.

Nice Finishers Medal

With my my wife Melissa (center), and Sharon (right)

With my Son and daughter who drove out to cheer me in

Brian who surprised us and drove all the way from Renton just to watch me finish

Success!!
This was a last minute decision of mine to train for 5 weeks for this marathon. I wanted to run this marathon, not just for me, but to help raise money for a couple of deserving charities. In just 5 weeks, I've raised over $700 dollars and donated an additional $500 of matching funds for local homeless causes. It was a great success.

Read more about my Holiday Marathon Charity Fund Raiser Challenge...

I will definitely run Yukon Do It next year. It's a great course, it benefits the local food bank, the organizers and volunteers are such great people, and it's close to home. A winning combination if  you ask me.

Now onward to 2013!!