Take Three: Marathon recap, no sleep and a couple race beers.

   Sometimes I am really ON, concerning this blog post, and by sometimes I mean rarely. It just seems like there is not enough time in the day to catch up on this blog, not that it really is a pressing matter so that two whole people can ultimately read half of my blog and give me a thumbs up. Ok, let's get to the main point, The 2013 Philadelphia Marathon and my incredible experience on my first visit to the area since I was in middle school, before smart phones, before ipods, and before Western Australia had color TV (knock).

  After a slight dilemma with my clothing of choice, I made it a quick choice and it proved very effective. Karin and I went to bed fairly early the night before the race and our 4:00am went off. Tossing and turning, I rolled over so many times to look at the clock that I honestly and not sure I slept more than 30minutes. 11:15, 11:47. 12:23, 12:52, 1:32, 1:59, 2:20, 2:58, these are all of the times I vividly remember looking at the clock before I decided to go into the opposite room of our suite to try a new sleeping area. This is the only point that it appeared I slept, and it was 30-35minute nap effectively. Our alarms went off and I was just standing up in the living watching the news on closed caption so I would not wake Karin. This was perhaps the worst night of sleep I have ever had in preparation for a race. We suited up with our throw away sweats and hit the streets nice and early as other runners were scurrying to the start line.

  The temps were actually pretty comfy in the upper 40's but I knew that the humidity was well over 90% so I made it a point to drink h2o when I could. Karin had to take a bathroom break because Jonah (our baby) made her stop frequently to do so. She was freaking out because the lines were incredibly long and I had to part ways with a hug and a kiss because it was less than 10minutes till the start and I was outside in the grassy area. I hopped over a few gates and made my way up towards the front of the race as I saw the elites jump in just a minute before the gun fired. My hamstring wasn't aching too much though I could feel it and had some worries pre-race of course. Thankfully between the KT tape, my pair of EC3D compression shorts and my 2xu compression shorts the pain was contained. Bang! the guns goes off and runners were everywhere, I quickly realized that I should have started up a little closer to the front because over that first mile I passed people who looked like they were already bonking. I just do not understand people who go out so hard in long distance events, I mean, you know what is going to happen, will it change this time? NO. Anyways, I started to get a bit warm with my arm warmers so I stripped these off after 2 miles with the hope that I could find Karin's family and toss them their way, but that did not happen.

  The first few miles just flew by faster than any other marathon that I have ever run in. It was great to see the river, all of the little sections of town with people cheering and with signs. What an experience, I really would recommend the half marathon at least for anyone looking to enjoy their first major race that is not Boston, Chicago or New York. Things were going pretty smoothly as I found a nice group to settle in with in the 5:50's. Though I kept the pace consistent I could tell that I was certainly going out a little ahead of myself but I figured why not, I had no pressure, my original goals were not going to happen so just go for it and have fun. One guy I was running with in the group was really starting to piss me off as he would pass me and keep peeking back, then he would drop his pace by 5 seconds and I would pass him. It was very irritating after several miles in the race, so after we crested a hill around the zoo I just dropped a hard surge down the hill and thought, "why not make this A-hole" work to beat me? It was a game at that point, one that would come back to bite me but it kept it spiced up for 26miles at least. As we passed the 13 mile mark that guy came charging hard past me and he split off to the finish, he was only doing the half, of course!

  Continuing on the marathon course with serious thoughts about dropping out at the half I was surprised at how many people were still around. At 10 miles I pretty much could feel how dead my legs were but I just kept trying to lift. When I saw that 13 miles mark I just thought to myself those days when I had to get up really early to run in the cold to get long miles in before work. After thinking about those days I just decided I came to do the marathon so that is what I was going to do, no matter how slow I may finish. Around 15 miles we had a turn around section and I got to see where people were and I saw a group of 4 charging really hard with each eventually passing me by 16 miles. Anytime I was around people in the later stages of the race I always made it a point to say good job or "go get em buddy". The 2nd female drifted back to me at about 17 miles and I told her to tuck behind me, if she needed any fluids to let me know. After about 1/2 mile I realized that she drifted further behind me, so I kept pressing onwards. From miles 17-20, I had a couple additional runners pass me as we hit the turnaround point in a small town and it was AWESOME! They had a band out there, people with signs, cheering us on, I gave the hand to the ear signal and said "come on, wake up, you can do better than that", gave a bunch of high fives.

  I was all smiles, I was on cloud 9, my pace was getting slower but I couldn't help but think how fortunate I was just to be running. As I hit 21 mile I noticed a table with women standing by it holding big signs that said "BEER STOP, I was so excited, I stopped to grab a cup and told them "this is exactly what I really needed". I chugged the beer back and pushed onward, that beer literally tasted like heaven, I had an even bigger smile on my face. One thing really disappointed me in the late stages of the race, as we were passing all of the slower runners on the opposite side of the road I yelled out "great job", "you got this 3:30 group!" or " keep it up, you all look so fresh!" and no one, NO ONE said anything back, I just couldn't believe it! Oh well, as the miles moved along, I decided to pick it up to a light pole or a mail box just to pass the time and as I was doing this O noticed that I was actually catching people. 1-2-3 I was cruising past all of these people who had passed me earlier, glad I drank plenty of h2o on this humid day, it really hit some of the runners hard. at 23.5 miles I saw another "Beer Stop" so I indulged again to the cheers of the group who said I was the first person to even look their way really. Once 25 miles came, I kept telling myself to push hard and catch another person, then another person. Soon I realized that I could see the lead woman, she was so far ahead of me, but I was actually catching her.

  Over the last 3/4 of a mile I passed a shirtless runner who I kept yelling at to "not give up" and to "keep pressing, we are almost done". We passed each other back and forth, each time I gave him a shout of motivation, this was a brotherhood, we were out there to better ourselves. Regardless if he beat me, I wanted him to know that we pushed each other the entire way. As we raced each other down the last meters of the race we passed another runner, then slid past the women's winner, we were ALL OUT. I never would have thought that I would be in a dead sprint over the last 400m of a marathon but here I was just pressing as hard as I possibly could. This guy would not give me an inch, we took it all the way to the line and I just didn't have it in me and he crossed just a foot before I did, what a race! We gave each other a fist pound and a hug then he thanked me for pushing him that last mile. It was great to hear those kind words and then he told me he set a 1minute PR and he wasn't sure that he could have done it if I wasn't pushing him to his limit over that last mile.

  Karin rolled up and gave me a hug, she was proud of me and thats all I cared about. She finished safe and sound, she was happy with her result, I was thrilled to run a 2:38 and change, my 2nd fastest time ever. We walked back to the hotel, got showered up and had a huge phillycheese steak. We checked into our new hotel a couple blocks away, the Double Tree and I enjoyed my views, sent out a few messages with my results to family and friends. I was pretty tired and wanted to just sit back and relax, I was having some issues walking but that was nothing new. All in all I was extremely pleased with everything that Philly had to offer, it was very well organized, the crowds were a ton of fun and made the race that much more exciting.

  Down the road I would like to make one more trip to Philly for the race festivities, perhaps the half marathon just so I can walk normal after the run haha. Each day I try my best to remember that I am so incredibly gifted that I can travel to Philadelphia on my own free will, I am able to run 26 miles, and then enjoy a meal afterwards. We take so much for granted each second of our life, if you are reading this, you are leading a good life, I know I am and I don't intend to ever forget that. 

  On a side note, I have decided to avoid any form of road racing for at least 6 more months, but I will be participating in several trail races throughout the year, they just allow me to be free and to really enjoy the running experience again. If you want to hit the trails, let me know when and where, hopefully I can meet up! Thanks for reading!!!!

High Goals and Low Mileage = impossible

  After a debacle at the recent Spartan race in March, I decided that it was time to start looking towards a new running goal in the near future, so I settled on two goals; The Brighton 4th of July 5k (Rochester, NY) and the "Scream" Half marathon in the foothills of NC. Thankfully I started off with a bang of success immediately with winning a small local 5k and then following that up with an amazing performance at the Skyline 5k which was a last minute "kick in the butt" race or so I thought. Having the entire last mile downhill really helped trim my pace down and let me come through in 2nd overall with a 16:18 behind the quick feet of John Compton.

   Maybe the Skyline performance gave me a false sense of fitness, but for whatever reason I just could not find any motivation to actually train in a structured manner in preparation for the 5k or the Half Marathon. The days flew by and I kept telling myself, "oh you have time before you need to buckle down, no worries". Just two weeks ago I had an opportunity to gauge my proposed pace at the summer series 5000m for the upcoming Brighton 5k. Since I never actually did a proper "race pace" workout as I should have, I thought this would be the best gauge. Luckily I was fortunate enough to have a "training camp" weekend away with a few buddies and put in a solid amount of work, on the bike as well as running which lead up to the 5000m race on the track. Over our training camp, we demolished our legs which some brutal climbs, attacks and surges on two feet and two wheels. I knew going into the track race I would be dead legged but what the hell, why not just give it an old college try. 15:58 was the outcome, for another 2nd overall placing.


Most of my Training Camp compatriots

   In the past I have always focused on an attempt to run well at the track series but most importantly win the Championship mile. I believe that I am a 3-time possibly a 4-time winner of this race who apparently is out of his prime. Last year I pushed Bert to an amazing 4:17 mile while I was on the cusp of a sub 4:20 at 30 years old, a feat that blew my mind. Weeks out from this race, I was extremely motivated to beat Bert as well as to finally take the crown of the "Ultimate Runner". This year, let's just say winning the Brighton 5k never seemed to really motivate me to get out the door. I am in an odd slump at this point in my life and it's not something I am worried about. Karin and I bought a very nice home in the community that we could only hope we could raise a child in. Much of my time has been focused on preparing our home to be a place where we could live for a very long time.

Loving Life with Karin

   Accompanying this hard work at home often brings many select beverages and occasional nights out dining. At the end of the day, I have to realize running is just my hobby and but my home life is what matters the most. This is something I have come to terms with even though it has been a struggle at times, watching my paces get just a bit slower than I would appreciate. When I began my "running" cycle in April, I had a couple goals that I thought could possibly be attainable given some very focused and dedicated work. 15:45 for the Brighton 5k and sub 1:12 for the Scream Half marathon. The time has come and gone, along with my hamstring but I still have one more race remaining. On July 4th, Karin and I toed the line, both being very skeptical of our fitness levels and quite honestly had no clue what type of pace either of us could run. She had been having issues with her Achilles and calf while I have endless issues with my hamstring it seems like.

$75 for 2nd Overall

   Bang, the gun goes off and the race starts, 16minutes and 6 seconds later I have crossed the finish line for a solo 2nd overall. The first guy hit the mile in 4:46 and looked smooth and relaxed, while a few guys were trying to hang onto me, I knew I had enough to push ahead by myself. Being absent minded I did not bring a watch for the race so I had no clue what pace I was holding, so this totally would be up in the air. 5:11 at the mile, time to push away, 5:07 over the next mile, and then crossing in 16:06. I was so close to breaking 16, but I had nothing else left. I finished while hunched over trying to see through the foggy, humid air, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, but I had a smile inside. 16:06 wasn't so bad for what I have been doing, I'll take that any day of the week! So much for 15:45, I knew this would be out of the question as my running has been a chore over these last few weeks especially with my IT and Hamstring issues, some days I feel like I am falling apart!

   On July 20th I plan to be at the starting line of the "The Scream" half marathon with no overly anxious goals. While nursing my hamstring I have been very easy on my legs over these past two weeks just so I can make it to the start line. Having heard stories of Ben Hovis and his excruciating circumstances with his Achilles, I just pray that my Hamstring will hold up on some of the quick descents. This is an excerpt from a partial description on the race website;
" The course features over 2,400 feet of descent over the 13.1 mile course, roughly 150+ feet per mile. You will be sore. There are two noticeable climbs between the start & finish, neither of which could really be characterized as challenging hills. Although the significant descent will give you a big boost in terms of speed, if does not automatically guarantee a PR half marathon time. You have to do your part and put in the training necessary to shepard you to your goal. Relying upon gravity to make up for a lack of proper training will be a big mistake; please take us at our word for this."

Maybe stupid stuff like this is what hurts my hamstring?
"Look I can leap into the lake, woooo, ouch"

Sub 1:12, yes, at some point through the race but unfortunately not at the finish line. My goal is to start out conservatively and then to hopefully push some of the later miles to finish strong. I am not sure who will be racing on the 20th but given last years winning time there is a chance that I could be out front fairly quickly, but I know that there will always be a few people who push early on before their lack of proper training hits them and they are walking, hopefully I am not that guy. After I complete this race, I will not have another planned race until the first weekend in November as I need some downtime to get some things together.

YOLO

    All in all, Life is grand and I could not envision a better life for myself, I am very fortunate and there is not one day that I do not forget that. Running is a mirror to life, sometimes you are just cruising through life with a smile thinking how great you feel then the next moment your ankle rolls over the edge of the sidewalk and you are on your face wondering what to do. Each and everyday is a new day to learn more, whether its about yourself, someone else or something, just embrace it.

I am NOT a Spartan: Carolina's Spartan Race

  Like so many of us ingrained in this media culture, I get daily emails from Groupon, Livingsocial and Homerun showing me the latest and greatest deals available in m local area. One day I noticed that there was a Groupon advertising the "Spartan Race" over 8 months away and I figure why the heck not? The marketing guru's behind this event must be making some serious dough as this seems to be the #1 trending sport in our nation. After signing up I have had other goals along the way, nearly forgetting that I actually was registered for this race up until about 2 months ago.

  In order to get somewhat motivated for this race, I began taking some classes at "Fight Gone Mad" and started to institute my own strength regimen 4-5x per week at the YMCA. As a runner I typically would avoid all of this "Strength" work, but over this past year I have had a change of heart I would call it and have decided to spice up things more. While instituting some minimal running to retain aerobic conditioning I hit the weights more and more. From the video's I had seen online, this Spartan race could pretty legit and I did not want to take it for granted in any way. I began to institute stabilization training into my routine with each session making it more and more difficult with heavier weights and uneven surfaces. One of the key workouts that I found really worked a hard burn was my 1 - 10 workout, which consisted of 1 hard mile on the treadmill then immediately hoping off and doing 10minutes of strength with a max out of pull-ups while I was about 20 steps away from the treadmill.

  As the days approached I felt very confident in my overall fitness level, no I was not in tip top running form but in decent enough form to slug through 4 miles I believed.  2 weeks out from the race I decided to really push my anaerobic/aerobic thresholds at the McMullen Greenway with the goal of running under 40minutes for 6 miles. The catch was that the 6 miles had a variety of taxing exercises along the way including (in order); 15 explosive parallel bar dips, 10 pull-ups, 3 miles, 30 push-ups, 25 dips on bench, 15 lunges, 1 mile at 90%, 12 pull-ups, 2 miles to finish in 39:24. After this workout I used the bars to do some additional work and thought to myself that I am in the best overall shape that I have ever been in my life. LET'S DO THIS SPARTAN WARRIOR!

  The forecast worried me on race day, 39 degrees and raining, what would this mean? Those of you who know me, know I have the WORST circulation in my hands and have been known to use gloves in 50 or even 60 degree weather, how could I pull myself up ropes and across bars? Oh well, no time to worry about that! As I pulled up to the US National White Water Center I remembered how much I really liked this place and also that this was a legit event that I was about to partake in. I would guess that nearly 1,000 people were already at the race at 7am and running around with camelbaks, crossfit shirts and compression garments. I had a little time to check in and do a few drills before I had to rush down to the start area. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't really get on the front of the line as there would always be a new guys or two showing up to hop up front. As I looked around, I felt as if I was the only non-military guy up at the front as each were chatting about their drive from this base and that base. The race started with some guy screaming lines from the movie "300" that I vaguely remembered and then all of a sudden everyone took off.


Starting Line - you can see me to the left in Red

  Where was the starting gun? This was something new to me, I missed my chance to make my way up front and push the pace early on. Instead I had about 60 people in front of me on thick gravel while I had to hurdle several guys who were trying to make their bid to be champions. We hit a bridge crossing about 200m into the run and a few more guys face planted on the slippery wooden planks, all the while I was thinking, " I may not have the mentality for this race, this guys are running for their lives, literally". We get into the single track section of the woods and I am SUPER frustrated, I am coasting behind heaps of guys who are about to blow a lung and I cannot pass anyone no matter how hard I try. At every little opening I quickly realized I had to sprint as hard as I could and pass as many guys as possible. We began hitting our first few obstacles from what I remember as mostly water/mud pits through the Catawba River. The barb wire was pretty high and I thought this would be a cake walk until I was knee deep in mud and swimming through it the best I could.

Rock Pull up the Power Line Hill

  The next section of the Catawba river was the most miserable as it took me several minutes to slog through this freezing water where I was neck deep. After I hit land and caught my breath I kept moving my way through the field confidence increasing. The next major obstacle was pretty interesting in my eyes, we had to scale two 7 foot walls and then finish it off with an 8ft wall. This does not sound very difficult until you are tired, dripping wet and numb. After conquering this challenge our next battle was 50 yards away. We had to drag concrete blocks up this mega hill with Metal chains attached. This was the only time I could actually see where I was place wise in the Elite race. I counted a total of 10 guys in front of me finishing this obstacle as I was beginning. After this was complete, I surged over this next running portion as hard as I could passing several more people and making my way towards the front. As I passed the 3 mile mark I was thinking, "Almost there, you can get this top 10 Chris, Come on!!!". At this point I was completely solo and hit the 40yard barbwire mud crawl, wow, 40 yards! This was so much incredibly harder than I anticipated; it was up and down, mud pit, rocks, so many variables. The worst variable was getting my shoe laces caught in the barbwire and failing to detach. I was waddling around in a freezing pit of mud while my foot is dangling on a metal wire and I look like an idiot waving my leg around the best I can to release and continue.

Sandbag Carry, down the hill
into the woods and back.

   The pit was brutal for me, but I finally got out after what seemed like an eternity. After about 400yards of running I saw my demise in front of me as I approached. This past summer I was 3rd overall in the Davidson Mud Run due to the fact that I slipped on the monkey bars and had 10 push-ups while I lost m 2nd place. When I approached the bars, I wiped my hands off the best I could and tried to gain some composure. I knew that if I did not make this all the way across I had 30 burpees ahead of me and that would wreck my chances of finishing well. I grabbed the first bar with my numb hands and fingers, it felt so weird, I saw my hands grasping the bars but just did not feel anything. Moving across the bars slowly I was making my way towards the end thinking " wow, you really can do this". Reaching to the 2nd to last bar I knew I had no grip but nowhere to go but to the ground. "Great! freaking monkey bars". 30 burpees at the gym isn't so bad but after all of this it was like death! Thankfully I breezed through the next 4 obstacles but that was all she wrote. The weighted rope pull, tunnel crawl, net climb and sandbag carry helped me gain back a few more places, but when I approached this black standing wall, I thought "this must be a freaking joke". They expected me to climb across this board of dripping wet 1x4 and 2x4 tiny slices of wood, spaced far apart without falling off! NOT - 30 more burpees for this guy!

30 Burpees Please (this was from the course, see the ropes in the background)

   The next challenge was the spear throw, something I of course practice on a daily basis (sarcasm). My toss was solid as it hit the hay bail and of course promptly bounced off and onto the ground. Guess who had 30 more burpees lined up? That's right ME! At this point I had given up all hope on being in a competitive battle. After my torture I jogged on to the next obstacle, a rope climb that starts in the middle of a deep pit of muddy water. AWESOME! I knew my arms and hands were really fatigued, this would be a true challenge for me to say the least. Taking my time while people were flying up and down these ropes somehow, I was slowly climbing to the top. Here I was about 1.5-2ft away from ringing the bell at the top and I honestly thought I just have no more strength to hold myself up from falling straight down into the pit. As people were cheering me on, I knew it was about to happen and then I just let it happen, splash! Climbing up the muddy hill a nice woman greeted me with "30 Burpees over there, 30 burpees!" Dammit, this really sucks! After my 30 burpees, I have to pick up this MASSIVE tire two times forward and two backwards, this was much more difficult than it would seem but I got through it thankfully.

Our ropes went higher but this
is the basic premise

   Broken mind and broken body, I literally walked to the next obstacle, looking back this was a bad idea, I should have continued to press on, but I just was over failing and doing burpees. One more water pit and a rope climb over a wall and I was done finally. Trembling, shaking and just pissed off, I typed my # into the results and it showed that I finished in 57:04 and was 55th overall in the Elite race. Honestly I don't know the last time I was not top 50 in a race, the only race that comes to mind would be the Boston Marathon in 2007 when I was top 400. I am not sure how to react after this race, where did I lose myself and how could I let myself perform at such a bad level? Should I have picked up a pair of XC spikes after all, should I have taken the gamble and pressed through the crowd at the start to get ahead of everyone and use my strength on the run? Given the day, things just did not work out for me, I even lost my free beer ticket and then was told to leave the locker room because I could not use the showers. As any competitive person would feel after a performance like this, part of you wants to really conquer this challenge in the future while the other part of me wouldn't mind avoiding all of the cuts and bruises all over my body and just calling it a day.

Feel the Pain!

   One of the final points of this rare post, relates back to a article that on facebook bashed, which referenced the Spartan Race and it's test of true fitness. To be honest I was a big skeptic as well but after this race I can truly say that this was the hardest race that I have ever done despite the burpees (I think). Just minutes after the race I was so incredibly sore and today (sundayy evening) I am even more stiff. My Overall result was 55th overall and 15th in my AG! What a bonk! The Spartan race is LEGIT, no doubt about that, I challenge anyone to give it a shot, especially runners as we are often afraid of injury, don't knock it until you try it!!

FYI: I am supposed to get m personal pictures from the Spartan race at the end of the week, can't wait to see the pain and agony! Also, a Shout out to David Bolger for managing to complete the race, even though he opened a gash in his leg that required 9 stitches, after the race. Wendy Norvell who killed the course and finished as the 5th overall woman, while managing to better my time as well! John Chambers who also slayed the course and came out of it with a smile, ready to do another, I have some hardcore peers, great work and thanks for keeping me motivated!

Recap: Savannah a city of running and funning

Cell Phone shot from Wayne Lamperski's Cell phone at 19.5 miles. LIFT OFF!

 Here is a recap of the weekends events in Savannah, Ga along with 24,000 of my other running buddies.

   I arrived into town on Thursday afternoon just in time to pick up my race packet and to meet my good friend Logan at the expo. Kent was still in limbo about actually attempting the race but after a 2.5 mile run that night it was pretty much decided there was no way he could do 13.1 miles unfortunately. After the disappointment of his run we hit town for dinner and then to some bars. Yea, I would say most of my runner crazy friends wouldn't go out 2 days before there marathon to have a couple tall boys.

   On Friday I had to wake up and deal with a few hours of work from the hotel room which began to stress me a bit, I was ready to race and get away from all of it. At lunch time I set out to get a fresh cut from the barbershop for race day and then Kent I found some hole in the wall Mexican joint. While sitting at the bar, I ordered a Margarita and it was awesome! The owner talked to us about how the race course would screw over Savannah and tourism because they ran it through the ghetto and we needed to pack heat while on the course, sweet!  Back to the hotel to wait for Karin and to enjoy the free wine in the lobby of kent's hotel, good for the heart!

  Race morning Karin and I woke up at 4:30am before heading to the shuttles which took us about 35 minutes to ride into town. We were worried to say the least after we were about 4 miles from town and we saw a sign on the interstate that said "6 Savannah". Made our way to Kent's hotel to drop off a few things and prepare for the race. Off to the start, I grabbed a 5hr energy and popped it back for some reason, not the best choice on race morning since I never use them ha.

   Spotted Joe Lanser quickly in the 1st corral and  then it was "oh was that the start gun?" and we are off. Joe and I kept the pace kind of all over the place for the 1st few miles for some reason, the 1st mile was slow but I could care less, we had 25 miles to make up for it! Joe kept picking up the pace and I had to remind him of the 6:05 pace we agreed upon and after 7 miles miles I think that Joe really was getting to antsy to stay back with me especially after finding out we were in the top 12 or so for the marathon.  He took off at 8 miles with some foreigner and he sailed away from me while I settled back into the prescribed pace. I tried chatting with other runners on the course but I could never get anything out of them, except fleet feet Savannah's Chris Ramsey. As the half marathon split off I was pretty much running solo minus one guy in front of me. The whole race I knew my stomach didn't feel great and after an attempt at taking a gel at 12 miles my stomach really bothered me and as I approached the 13 mile mark I started eyeing any porta potty I could find. Just after 13 miles I found one, hopped off of the course into a parking lot and took care of business then hit the streets again.

  I picked up the pace quickly as I had two sub 5:50 miles while I was trying to make up the time I lost with my pit stop. I could see people ahead of me from a distance and I kept the pace steady from then on. My calves were getting very tight at this point and it scared me a bit so I continued to hold back, even though I felt I had more to give. My stomach continued to bother me the remainder of the race so at 15 miles I took a sip of water and called it a day, Gel at 6 miles , then half a gel at 12 miles and that would be it for the entire day. We hit some mega headwinds for the marathon portion of the race, it was crazy how a back street turned into a corridor of wind and your pace quickly would slow. I tried sprinting 50-60 yards off and on in an effort to keep my pace steady but even running as hard as I could I could only maintain 5:50's on that 50yard stretch into the wind.  Hitting the highway I noticed there was a stream line of competitors ahead of me including Joe, let's go for it! I was fatigued and needing some fuel but I just kept grinding it out. Passing one, then another, I caught Joe just before 24 miles and told him to hang behind me and keep focused. I felt like all of the guys I passed were letting my block the wind but it didn't matter i felt pretty decent, I was determined to keep working to break them all.

    As we hits the last mile on the streets I was getting pretty tired and wanting to see the finish ASAP, I asked a cyclist who was riding behind me how far away the finish was. Usually you get a "man you are almost there, its around this corner" but this guy destroyed me. I passed the 40k mark about 4-5 minutes before I asked him and then he says "uhhh you have about 2 miles yea, bout 2." thanks buddy!! On my way to the end of the race I saw Karin, Jess, Anne Marie and my grandmother cheering me on to break 2:40. I knew it wouldn't happen on the clock but on my watch there was still a chance. As I made my way around the bend I gave it everything I had while looking at my watch 2:39:40,41,42....2:39:52 at the line on my watch, I knew I in fact broke 2:40 with my actual running time, I am happy with that!

- That night we all hit the town to celebrate, good times for sure!

  All in all I was very happy, I was dancing on the course, literally through some water stops, yelling at the people to get "hype" and to "put em up", I was fan favorite for sure amongst the leaders. Looking over my logs, my plan to use local races as speed work really paid off. I never really had any marathon training minus a few long runs and one attempt at MP for 4.5 miles on the green way.  NYC 2012 may have me shooting to chop a few minutes off of my mark and maybe go into the Paul Mainwaring range of 2:35, who knows. Special thanks to Mary Jane, Stan and Wayne Lamperski for coming out and supporting me along the course!

Rock N Roll Savannah by nolimitrunna at Garmin Connect - Splits

BLOODY NEW ZEALAND! Tales from Auckland

You can't see the outer layer of my leg is missing along with my right butt Cheek scared up!!!

Three weeks ago I signed up for a 10k road race in Auckland, New Zealand, just excited at the chance to race in another country. I didn’t know about the course or the people that had previously raced it, but I knew that the winner had run 33:59 in 2010 so I had a chance at winning. As the day would unfold I would be able to add running up a volcano twice, running through rain and mud, and having a session with medical workers to my list of things done while in New Zealand.

                The day prior to the race I decided it would be best to run from my hostel, to the race site so that I knew exactly how to get there the morning of the race. Sun was actually shining, I had just awoken from a nap and I hit the road in route for “western springs park”. After making it about 2.5 miles the roof just opened up from above and the rain just came by the buckets. All in all I ended up running 7.6 miles in order to find this park and run back in the torrential downpour. The night prior to the race I would once again wake up at 4am and fail to fall back asleep. After my flight through the night directly to Auckland from perth, I managed to not even catch 1 minute of sleep and go right into the Auckland morning. I had been lacking sleep critically, as I have been laying down around 11pm and waking up between 3 and 4am every night. The night of the race was no exception, in fact I just decided to go downstairs and have a small breakfast before the udder fatigue just begin to set in.

                Arriving at the race most likely looking aged by 10 years I had a nice warm-up and the “Run Auckland” set up looked pretty legit surrounding the start/finish of the race. I tucked away my track suit behind some tents and made my way to the starting line realizing that I could not remember the last time I had actually put on deodorant because of all of this back and forth traveling haha. The gun blast off and people all fly out in front of me, but I take my time to aim in on the 2 front runners who have distanced themselves from the pack and pursue. We hit our 1^st kilometer in 3:12 which was all gradual uphill, just a bit too fast for me but I was able to tuck in fairly comfortable. We passed 2k in a slower 3:19 distancing ourselves from 4^th place by a good margin. I took the lead and began to push the pace just as we turned a corner to look at the wall that soon we would be running up. The course was on/around a dormant volcano so basically we had to run straight up the back side of this volcano twice for the 10k!!! After managing to get pretty heavily into oxygen debt the top 2 runners hit the 5k mark just in front of me while I was happily surprised to be a 16:53 with that climb.

                Now for the juicy part of the days racing! I had 2^nd place in my sights as the eventual winner just broke both of us. This time we had to run around all of the 5k runners who were released 15 minutes after our race, what a chore! These people blocked the sidewalks completely so it was a zig zag for literally 5k which slowed all of us down and drained any extra energy that we could have had. As I approached the climb once again, my spirit was broken from the fantasy of winning, I could hear some foot steps behind me, then I heard breathing. Breathing from a little boy or a girl, holy crap! I knew that there was a local woman who had been winning some of the races overall in some pretty fast times but I didn’t think it could be her, it was of course. She just flew up the volcano with her short choppy strides while I looked like a freak extending my legs a bit too long and eventually I began a nice walking pace.           Once I got to the top the woman was almost out of sight, I passed the 2^nd place guy who was bent over at the top of the hill and then heard someone quickly approaching. I found a heart somewhere inside and convinced myself to dig a little deeper and begin with some surges. I was making my way through the hundreds of 5k runners or walkers should I say. Jumping in the grass, sinking my feet into the wet muddy grass then back onto the sidewalk for a few brief steps before 2 more women completely blocked the sidewalk we were racing on. “Ok just 2k or so to go lets rock it man, don’t be a P^$$y, MAN UP!”. I am running downhill between all these people, I glance at my watch as the 9^th k clicks and I am going 4:41 mile pace at this point, woooo. Now to just plan my maneuver ahead between the 5 women half walking and running on this slippery wet surface. “I can make it between them before I hit the power pole, Oh Sh*t, I can’t make it”. So I take a sharp cut right as if I was Barry Sanders and then that’s when all hell broke loose for me.

                I am bracing myself for this mega fall down hill on this rocky pavement, BOOM SKIIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. I am sliding on my right side just ripping into my knee and then I basically collapse into two women from behind almost knocking them over. They are in a panic, screaming, “oh my god are you ok, oh no, oh no!!!”. The only thing I am thinking is, “this is going to hurt later but I am not going to lose my 3^rd place, get up Chris!”. I pop up the best that I can and yell to the concerned women, “I will sort it out later!” and continue my onward drive to the finish. The guy behind me of course passes me on this stretch while I am gathering myself again so I pop in behind him. We hit the last 600m and we are running on wooden planks that can carry at the most 2 people wide and from all of the rain, the volcano surface has turned into mud and washed down onto the planks. We are slipping and sliding, at the verge of a fall at any moment, trying to dice between other 5k runners. We both slip off of the little wooden deck into the swampy mud but catch ourselves for one last blast to the finish 100m away. I know I have a lot more left in the tank so I roll past him to the line and wrap up my 3^rd place.

                After the race I look down and see blood running down my leg and people begin asking if I am ok. The medics luckily were on hand and took me inside the ambulance to begin cleaning my wounds and wrapping them up. The outer skin layer of my anterior tib was pretty much removed completely and my knee has a few nice slices that will be some sweet war wounds to talk about in the future. After waiting around for 90 minutes for awards, they do not give anything out and I may point out that they provide no food at the finish, only one bottle of water! It was a long 3.5 mile walk back to my hostel with my leg all banged up and the on again off again showers. What an experience!!!! Up next is a hiking adventure over some snow capped mountains, hopefully I can stay on my feet!

5 DAYS FROM GLORY

     My race is for the people who doubt me, for those who might have seen a kid years ago who was seemingly brought up on the other side of the tracks and written off as worthless. This will be dedicated for everyone who has dreams in life, I may not attain my direct goals on the day but I would like to think I stand as a role model for hard work and taking that huge step to grab my dreams.

     It is upon all of us, just 5 days away from the race that many of us in Western Australia have been working towards, 70.3 Ironman Busselton. So many of my mates have spent countless mornings waking up while its pitch dark outside heading to the swimming pool for a squad swim or to the roads for a group ride. How many times did we pump up our tires the night before and lay out all of our gear ahead of time, thinking about the long day that would lie ahead. Hammer bars, roctane’s, shotz, endurolytes, shotz, lollies, everyone has had their fare share of nutrition to get them through those 4hr rides followed by a moderate run directly after, then maybe an open water swim in the late arvo.

     This race will show who has been putting in the hard work, as well who is fully prepared, physically, mentally and emotionally. I wish that we all put together our ideal race on the day but there are sure to be a few casualties along the war path. Pushing our bodies to these new heights really brings out the most amazing aspects in each of us. I would find it hard to believe that too many of us thought when we were kids that we would be out riding a bike for hours, then running for hours and also swimming for lengthy periods, but we are all doing it. Goals will be achieved and many will be at the finish line with the biggest ear to ear smiles as their goals were just smashed, meaning it’s time to nap the day away followed by partying the night away.

     For once in my life, I can say, I am not shooting to beat this guy or that guy, but I am aiming to perform to the best of my abilities. Time goals are always in play, but with wave starts, weather, and malfunctions of the wildest kind, sometimes its tossed out of the window. I am racing for myself and my loved ones on the day.

  

         Good luck to everyone who is competing at Busselton this weekend, may we have no swells, the wind to our backs and a light mist during the run. You will see me at the Awards/After Party, make sure you present me with a smile and the realization that each of us are blessed to have the health and option to even participate in such an amazing event.

PS: For those interested in tracking my results, you can go to Ironmanlive.com and there are updates along the way. I will post my race # on facebook once I check in on Friday.



Culture: Coffee Breaks, Cricket, "Set Top Boxes" & a new PR

Life is Great Down Under!

   One profound experience that I have had while living in Perth is the frequent coffee breaks. Yes, COFFEE breaks! Not your standard, dark roast with some hazelnut but some of the tastiest lattes and mocha’s that you have ever had in your life! It’s a rare occasion that you would finish a morning jog without someone saying, “let’s grab a latte or flat white" before preparing for your day. This is my style, my friends back home know what I am talking about as well, when I was unemployed and taking a different path a year ago I often visited the local coffee shops in Dilworth to just relax, soak up the atmosphere and research my new life that I was thinking of beginning.

   I remember about 5 years ago when I on occasion made a Saturday morning run with the likes of Cathy Grable, Lori Hagemen, Sheila Wakeman, Aprille Schaffer, Julie Hardin and Kathy Abernathy, they really only met in the morning to have an excuse to have a 1hr coffee break on a weekend morning. I tried to soak it up, but I just didn’t have much girl talk for them, and most of the time they wanted to hook me up with someone, so I eventually faded away from the gossip scene(sorry ladies, you know I LOVE all of you!).  So coffee here is not percolated or drip, it is all blended with some form of milk in a latte form, it’s so good that I never even add sugar or splenda to my warm milky, caffeinated heaven. Back to the casual environment of the coffee world here, the local café/coffee shops are EVERYWHERE. Literally next to each other in the competing market which is seemingly unheard of in the US. They do have some chains of coffee shops but there are tons of independent chains which I absolutely love and support! The people are like family there, they greet you and ask you how your day is and remember you the next time you come in and recommend certain picks of their own.

   The shops are pretty much half full of people throughout the entire day around here through the weekday until everything closes and then moves to other outskirts of the town. Here is a dialogue of the culture here from many angles interpreted by Christopher Lamperski: “ ohhh mate I had a tough night last night, lets grab a coffee” “sure”;   “Work is pretty slow, let’s grab a latte down the corner shop” “sounds good let’s go”;  “ It’s 1:30pm on Tuesday and 100 degrees outside, let’s grab a mocha?” “Perfect, freakin oath!”  I have yet to hear anyone deny a coffee break at any point in their day, people really love to take breaks and to just discuss anything or nothing, and it’s AWESOME! There is a small coffee shop that used to be a horse stable tucked down an ally way in west perth that I have visited twice now and I love it. There is always one man serving coffee up in this small place, but its done up very well, but thats not the kicker! 

  The man most likely in his 50's is always playing JAY-Z, so I know this is one of MY spots for sure, makes me want to open up a replica back home!I wished back home people would take some time to literally sit and enjoy a coffee with a good friend as opposed to working to get ahead of the Joneses new LCD TV , it puts life into perspective. This may be the reason that I haven’t met one person yet who seems slightly depressed or upset about work, their family or their financial woes, because well, they appear to have their priorities most lined up.

   So there has been this huge build up about the “Ashes” match that has now begun down under for weeks. I was waiting for it to finally come to see what all this talk is about and here it is. Australia vs. England, in get this, five-----pause----wait--- 5 day matches, is this not the longest game in history? Well the before they even set foot on the turf, I figured I had better watch some cricket on TV! We did pick up an inflatable kangaroo that says “Go Aussie” in support but really, I am ready for the Basketball season to come through because its more my speed. One of my goals however is to catch a “20/20” match live, which is a faster paced cricket game that is complete in merely a few hours. Also on the agenda is to watch an AFL game in which my friend Nathan Doig is actually an official BIG TIME official.

   Next on the plate, set top boxes! I come from a culture of pop frenzy where nearly everyone has high speed internet, cable, DVR, flat screens and surround sound, which of course all of them I had in North Carolina. I had an EXTRA subwoofer connected to my surround sound to make the movie experience extra intense even. As I sit on the couch to watch TV in Perth, I am looking at a tube TV that has a broken set of rabbit ears on top with a fuzzy signal on nearly every station. We fortunately get one clear station so far called “ten” which is similar to our fox network back home and it has a few shows we watch on it. It’s actually refreshing not having the world of 1000 channels at my finger tips as well as DVR to record anything I can dream of. Most of the people locally appear to have something called a set top box, which boost up to around 15-20 stations at most from what I gather, many of which are cultural channels that may not even use the English language, so let’s say for the sake of argument, 10 channels.  Today Janna and I are setting out on an adventure to possibly purchase a set top box to provide us with a few extra stations with clear picture and sound. The kicker is that once you pay the $70 for the box, all of the stations are free, so it’s really a deal. Back home I was paying about $135 a month for basic stuff mostly but it included DVR and HD stations. While hunting for a cheap set top box, I am going to purchase some blank CD’s to burn some music on for our car rides and for the chance to play at home. My life is a soundtrack, I am always pumping music in some fashion depending on my mood it could be gangsta rap, country, easy listening, jazz or classical, so I need to have access to pumping my music up!

    All in all, I love the culture here and I can see how my good friend Cody loved it so much as well. People are very happy with their possessions and most don’t appear to be in this rat race that America feeds off of. Instead of having a brand new Lexus, people will drive a Ford and save money for the coffee shop or their vacation to the coast of some other country. I hope that I can take this attitude back home, to really soak up life and make the most of everything without putting material possessions as #1 in my life. Before I head back to settle into the “real world” once again, I have several plans to travel as much as I can. Here is a list of places that I would love to hit on my journey back home, so if you have any tips, recommendations, connections for housing, or of course want to meet me and pay for my way I would appreciate it, so that I may truly soak up my journey and place in life.

Exmouth

Bali

Melbourne

Thailand

India

France

Italy

New Zealand

Where are we going  next? Who is taking a step and meeting me?

If only money grew on trees!!!!

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Just before posting this blog, I was convinced to put my hand in the fire at a 3000m track race locally at Challenge Stadium. I ended up in 6th place even though I was seeded 13th on an estimated time of 9:05. After testing my speed, I know that I have a bit more in the tank for sure and in a few weeks I will be able to drop my time down substantially. 1k splits: 3:04, 3:06, 2:59

5k in 2 weeks! Goal to run sub 15:27

Shaving: Time and my face(update at the bottom)

   Leaving America for Australia, I had 2 main goals, one primary and one secondary, both of which were hard to describe at my age. My primary goal in leaving the country was to experience life outside of my little box and to soak up as much culture as possible. The secondary goal in my adventure was to train more effective than I did before with out any distractions that I may have had back home, just to reach my abilities. Over the last 2 weeks of my prep for leaving, many people asked me particular reasons for traveling, "are you going for work?", NO, " are you going to become a professional athlete?", YES! well no not really, that is in the back of all of our dreams whom are competitive by nature, but the simple fact is NO.

To shave or not to?

  Moving away to experience life by job hoping or sleeping on couches, is something that a normal teenager or college kid would do, but here I am nearly 30 years old chasing some kind of a dream. I left some amazing people back home and some good connections with employment to pursue whatever this is. Like anyone who attempts to be rebellious or adventurous, I chose to not shave or cut my hair for the remainder of my stay. As of right now, my semi beard is growing by the day and nagging me even more. I have always had dreams of a full thick beard, to be a manly man, but plain and simple, its really hard to grow a legitimate blond beard! Plus it becomes itchy and tough to sleep with especially now that it has topped 100 degrees (or 38 degrees for the aussies). So at this point in time, its a big decision, whether to trim my facial hair because its nagging me or the realization that I may not be able to get a fairly decent part time job because I look like a bum. What to do what to do?


  As far as shaving time, well that always is the goal isn't it? I mean  do we every feel like we have tapped completely for all of our ability? I know I haven't, I would consider myself lazy in a bit, i have opted for the social scene over the grueling training sessions that have separated the men from the boys so to speak. Maybe its time I buckled down and became one of these men who make that BIG jump? Yesterday and today i was fortunate enough to converse with Ryan Gregson whom is only 20 years old and is already the Australian National Record holder in the 1500m run with a 3:31:06. He was very carefree and easy going, he even knew Nelly was a part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, most people in Charlotte don't even know that! But at his invitational breakfast he spoke about his training and surrounding himself with people to give him confidence and build him up throughout his young career. Now I have found a place where I can train with some very solid runners/triathletes who push each other to the next level. Recently while cycling around town with a couple mates, on different occasions I saw a couple of riders who rode in the Tour De France, back in town just doing some training rides. The talent here is deep and I think can be tapped even more than it already has been.

Random Shot of a training session at sunset

   Surrounding myself with these people will make me better for sure, but to what extent, i have no clue. I have always heard I had a great natural ability but what does that mean, and how far can that take me? So far I have done a couple running, cycling and swimming workouts, and so far I have been virtually blown out almost every time. So when do I start shaving this time? Will it come when i shave my face and my head? When I was a collegiate runner at lil Pfeiffer University, I remember having long locks that i had braided up into corn rows and then shocking everyone by having it all shaved off before the end of the season. Well it seemed to really help as I won my one my 1st college race and then I even pushed deeper at the conference meet the following week with a 7th place performance by 15 seconds from a 3rd! Hmm maybe I should shave my legs as well, it seems to work for the triathletes right?

  So all in all, shaving time and shaving my face, true questions in life that we all must face. Will I shave my face? How much time can i shave off of my 5k, 3k, 10k, marathon, half ironman time? Pun intended, Time will tell. As far as my journey here it has been very interesting, now facing the fact that I NEED to be employed in order to rent out my own place or move in somewhere that has a bedroom so I can give my friends some additional privacy. Life will take me where I need to be, it has thus far and the path hasn't been too bumpy. An exciting update is that next week I will be working three 8 hour days at a local cafe washing tables, dishes and pans! Crazy how back home I would have NEVER considered something like this and now I am happy to just be apart of something to earn some $. Apparently some of the certifications I hold in the states do not directly convert over here and in order to be a personal trainer I may have to pay nearly $3k for some courses, if this is ultimately the case, I will have to find a new temporary profession.

Check out my bottle cage, the only way to recover!

  Calling everyone who may read this post, I urge you to yell as loud as you can at me to motivate me to pushing myself and shaving time, to tap my potential. If you hear about me sleeping in or passing on a run, I give you permission to call me a lil girl or whatever term you would like to choose to light the fire under me.

  In other news, Saturday night I am heading to the Perth Velodrome, to watch some serious racing, this will be my first time watching an indoor cycling race so it will be interesting.

http://www.westernaustralia.com/au/Pages/Event.aspx?n=Perth_International_Track_Cycling_Grand_Prix&pid=9010910

In short, isn't everything about shaving? Shaving just a few more pounds off, shaving just a few years off of my retirement off by saving money, shaving certain people out of your life to move on to the next step, shaving a bit from that entertainment fund to buy that house, and finally shaving your face to look "professional".

Stay Tuned for more updates! PS: I decided to skip my 1st race down under, a triathlon in Bunburry simply because I know I am not in shape to compete at the level I would like to race at. No need in forking out a bunch of $ since I haven't been working and barely any fitness to back me!

So I buckled after looking at the hideous growth of fur on my face, I trimmed my beard! I now resemble Craig David but with slightly lighter skin even with a bit of tan. 

Yes, that just happened! 

Busselton 2011: 1st step in a Conquest

Update:  Just received an email about getting an official international entry into the Busselton 70.3 Ironman in May 2011!!! 

http://www.busseltonhalf.com/

Now that I have an official goal to look forward to, the training will begin commencing!

   My conclusion for this new training cycle will be that it will be much easier to produce a fast time over a 5 month training cycle as opposed to the 5 week cycle I used in my 1st attempt at the 70.3 distance. 

Initial Goals to focus on:

1. Ride more 
2. Find the perfect aggressive position that will allow me to run off of the bike
3. Ride more
4. Train for a half marathon race (as opposed to simply relying on some running base as I did before)
5. Ride more
6. Swim long course and build my endurance

Hopefully by focusing on these goals I will be able to drop my 70.3 time substantially unless something unfortunate happens along the way.

Since some local Western Australian Triathletes set the bar high, I have some goals to shoot for next year. Nuttman I am coming for your time Mate!

   After a couple more weeks of settling "Down Under" I plan to jump into some sort of a race, most likely a 3k on the track, my 1st since 2004 at Davidson College. I have not been working on my speed but I have high hopes that I can tuck behind a couple guys and grit my teeth to break my old & weak PR of 9:17. 

Special shout out to Cody and Janna Angell for being amazingly hospitable since my arrival down under. So far everyone I have met in Perth has been amazing, more updates to come!

NO SPRING MARATHON FOR ME

NO SPRING MARATHON

Recently after speaking with several other runner's in the community, I decided to actually form a racing schedule so that I could the focus in appropriate places for my training. At this point in time, I have decided that my "running season" is stopping around April/May, with the hope that I set a new Personal Record at the Duke Twilight 5000m race. During a longer run yesterday it just suddenly hit me that running a spring marathon at this point would clearly set me back for my other personal goals in the spring time, so I decided to opt for only going up the the Half Marathon Distance.

Training is going amazing right now, as I recently set an all time high in weekly mileage with just over 90 for the week. This week I hope to continue the trend but with backing the mileage slightly down a bit, to remain healthy. Just a few weeks ago I decided to focus all of my un-needed stress towards my training and it has worked quite well, if nothing at all I am setting my self up for some more personal records going into 2010. Below I have lined up my racing schedule out to June basically. After May 9th, I plan to turn myself into a triathlete and really get in some solid competitive racing through the summer and fall...

Race Goal
January
30th : Charlie Post 15k/ Winter Flight 8k Sub 51:00

February
6th : Tybee Island Half Marathon Sub 1:12
13th : Cupids Cup 5k 15:45


March
6th: Corporate Cup Half Marathon/relay
19th: 49'er invite 5000m tentative Sub 15:30
21st: Shamrock 8k tentative 25:50:00
27th: Cooper River Bridge 10k 32:45
April

14th: Boston Marathon (pacing logan) 2:55-2:59
21st: Duathlon nationals 90% unlikely
May

9th : Duke Twilight 5k Sub 15:15

June

11th: China Grove 5k 15:40


TRI SEASON HERE I COME


I just want to say what an amazing thing it is to be surrounded by so many people who are supportive in so many ways. Each and every person encounters other people for specific reasons, big or small. I am thankful to be acquainted with some truly amazing people, whether or not they are runners, triathletes, or couch potato's.

-as for the photo I included, I ran across it and thought it was pretty cool. This was a race in college my buddies and I competed in called the "porta potty dash" at the Best of Badin festival. hard to believe this was almost 10 years ago.