Transitioning to the Trail Run

This is a great piece on road runners who try to transition to trail running, so insightful: link here

The Terminal Cancer Patient Who Won a Marathon

So this is ridiculous and fantastic, story here

World's oldest marathoner is hanging up is running shoes at the wee age of 101, story here. He started running marathons in his early nineties. How's that for some perspective on what you can achieve?

Couple of local races coming up on Jan 12th

Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers 15th Annual Bold in the Cold 5K & 15K is coming up on January 12th is a local favorite.

and right in our own backyard, Highland Village's own Resolution Run 5K. Both events should be a lot of fun and if history serves, very cold!

My First Marathon in Review

In a word "Ouch".

So I ran the 2012 Dallas Marathon yesterday and it was an awesome experience. The new marathon course incorporates several Dallas landmarks like the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Turtle Creek, White Rock Lake, and historic Swiss Avenue. The weather made it a challenging day with humidity and rain before the race making the streets slippery at the start.

I ran a nice race through 20 with an easy 10 minute pace. I enjoyed the crowd and took in as much of the city during those first 20 as I could. It was really special, exhilarating to be out in it. But the high humidity and perhaps a lack of preparation caught up with me, as I started cramping in the right hip flex-or. I wouldn't say I was ill-prepared for the race. I had completed a 16 week preparatory course and had built a solid foundation prior to that prep. And having pushed towards this goal for over two years and several half marathons, I felt I was prepared. But I just wasn't prepared enough for it to be a smooth experience and realize a fast time. So it was a battle to finish the last 6 miles. In the end, my tenacity won out over the stabbing pains. Crossing the finish line, I didn't well up in tears as I'd imagine I might. Elation in self actualization and happy that it was over.

I think my favorite moment in the entire race was seeing my wife and four children at mile 20. Our two and half year old little girl Emma was so excited cheering me on. She gave me a full smack when I stopped to say hi. This is a little girl who is, let's say economical about handing out hugs and smooches. The older ones saw how sweaty I was and decided a hug wasn't interesting at that time. I don't blame them a bit. But that memory will stick with me forever! Emma then offered up the bag of chips and banana I had asked they to bring. I declined the chips as I was already more than a little queasy. Emma asked "well can I have them?" Of course you can Sweety, you can have them all. You can have a blast running and a bag of chips. (sry, couldn't resist).

Thank you to my family and friends for coming out and supporting me in this endeavor. What a great day!

And here's how I feel today, Monday the day after the marathon.

Here's a video of my race finish:

Dallas Marathon this weekend

The Dallas Marathon is this weekend and its my first full marathon, pretty excited and a little anxious. Hopefully it'll be a fun, smooth experience. Cheers to everyone and have a great weekend!

New Tapering Technique

The method is not what you'd expect:
**SPOILER ALERT**
Its Intervals.
It produces a 22% rise in endurance over traditional tapering methodology. story here

Eccentric Strengthening

Negative calf raises helps prevent achilles tendonitis. The story is here

Soda kinda a good marathoner

I've been a big proponent of baking soda as a daily supplement for years, it picks me up when I'm about to get a sniffle, it helps a rumbly stomach settle down as it alkalizes acidic environments. And now its starting to bare weight in scientific studies... story here And for the organic DIYer in all of us, here's a good link for baking soda based shampoo which works very well.

2nd in Age Group | Lessons learned

...so I took second in my age group in a pretty small race this past weekend, the Waterworks 25k.

Here are a few lessons learned from the 25k:
1) TAKE YOUR WATER BELT w/ PICKLE JUICE! Nobody will be handing out salt pills when you start cramping up.
2) A 10 minute pace equals a 4:20 marathon -- slow down at the start, set your mind right. You do want to be walk-jogging at the 13 mile marker bc you didn't manage your ego.
3) Gel and pickle juice every 4 miles, no buts.
4) Shirtless is a good thing, no chaffing or bleeding nips is even better.

on the flip side...

story is here

Motivation is something we all struggle with...

had to post this...



Count your blessings!