Got a new face

As you can see, I tinkered around with some of the new template capabilities in Blogger in Draft.  It's been almost three years since I've done anything to the aesthetics of this site, so I figured I should give the thing a facelift especially with my blogoversary coming up next month.  I'm also hoping that this helps get me back in the writing mood since I've been sucking at that for past three months. 

It's kinda like I'm saying: "here you go honey: daddy bought you a new face to buy your love."

Well.  Maybe not exactly like that, but close.

The free money made me do it

I used to have word verification on this blog. Then I got rid of it because I hate filling it out on other people's sites and you can't criticize what you yourself do, right?

The drawback has been that every month or so I get a comment from some comment machine saying how I have a wonderful blog and that I might be interested his in money investing site. Or I might be interested in his HAWT AZIANS. Or I might be interested in his extensive collection of vaginal birth videos.

However, in recent weeks the comments have become much more frequent. It's actually to the point where every day I get a little notification that all of a sudden some one decided to comment on one of my posts from forever ago and just so happened to leave a link to a porn site.

Frankly, I'm tired of it. So I've turned on word verification to mostly save myself from having to play comment cop, but also to save your poor unsuspecting eyes from vaginal birth videos. You're welcome.

Post #CC

This is post number 200!

Last time I had a centennial I pulled out all the stops and ended up writing one of my longest posts ever. Seeing that life will not quit these days and that I'm having a hard enough time just working, running, and sleeping, I'm going to have to have to attack this one differently--were you really expecting a 200 line post, just 100 took foooorrrreeeevvvveeeeerrrrrrrrrr!

I actually don't have much to say. After 200 posts, I'm a little bit faster and have an easier time waking up at 5:30 in the morning--but I still have yet to successfully complete a 20 mile run. Even last weekend, I started out with a beautiful 13 miles, I stopped for a bathroom break and then all the stitches suddenly appeared. I finished only 18.5 miles because it just wasn't happening.

So really, not much to celebrate--except that I got to 200 posts one month faster than I got to 100 posts. Actually, lately, when it comes to running I finding myself just thinking about tapering for The Pig, planning the trip, and getting my mind in the right place for the race. I'm second guessing my goal of 3:40 everyday, but it wouldn't be a goal if I didn't second-guess it, right?

It's Wednesday already?

How did that happen? Oh yeah, 13 hour workdays and then a weekend full of driving (did you know that New Hampshire is FIVE hours away from New York City?).

So I missed my two year blogoversary--it was April 4, please send all gifts (monetary preferred) to my attention. Also, I haven't been able to share the great news form this weekend: my race!

To recap: my Half-marathon PR is 1:53:41 and I've been clocking times in this range for about two years. My ambitious goal was 1:50:00. However, this being New England there were lots of hills and 40 mph wind gusts.

But if the Newport Marathon was any indication, the harder the race, the better my PR. Yes folks, I didn't just make my goal of 1:50:00, I crossed the finish line in 1:48:40--that is a whole FIVE MINUTES OFF my Half-Marathon PR!!!

Full race report to follow...probably this weekend.

When I can't do this anymore

You know when you're running in a group or in a pack during a race and you're halfway through the distance? There is that point where the excitement has worn off and the conversation has faded. You're stopped taking in the scenery and already discussed the immediate topics (race calendars, training plans, etc.). Your thoughts and efforts turn inward as your running demons slowly rumble from their sleep.

Suddenly, everyone in the group in the same place. Not just physically on the same road heading to the same finish line, but mentally combating whatever dull pain or nagging thought is telling you to stop. At this point, you feel closer to the other runners because you are bonded over your shared struggle. You are all fighting the fight together and you are all going win the fight together. You forget the world around you because you have a group to go through it with.

Then, someone breaks off from the group either to tie their shoe or get water or speed off. You're jolted out of sync and feel a bit alien, as if you had just been dropped back onto planet Earth.

That is how I feel today. While in the middle of this blogging run (coming up on two years now), two of my favorite blogs have separated from the pack for a walking break and I'm not sure if they'll be rejoining the group. I'm about a week or two behind on my posts, but I just read that Feet Meet Street is going dark for a while and that the injuries at Notes of a Non-Runner have taken a turn for the worst.

Reading a (potentially) last post on a blog is depressing. It's like talking to someone with stage four cancer: you're holding out for them, but still make sure to hug them goodbye.

Aside from sending my best wishes to Nancy and hoping that Nitmos's boss institutes a daily blog break, I started thinking about how things would go down here if I couldn't run or blog anymore.

Of course, I would want my last post to be a clever, epic, insightful, thought-provoking, tear-producing, monolithic testament to my running labors--you know, just how you want every post to be but you're never able to invest enough time in writing so you just crank out your immediate thoughts and hope no one noticed the typo in paragraph three before you got a chance to fix it. (Don't bother checking, I already fized it.) But if it just made people snicker, sniffle, and shoe-up (yes, I did reach for the third "S") I would be happy.

Fortunately for me--who takes days to formulate and write a post--the second I read Nitmos's and Nancy's posts I knew exactly what my last post would be. Not only that, but I already know the opening sentence, last sentence, and the frame for pretty much everything in between. So what would the post be about? Let's just say it would be very appropriate for me and this blog and that a snicker and a sniffle would probably be produced--most likely at the same time. And that's all I'm saying about it!

And what about the rest of you? Do you all know what you'll say when you can't do this any more? Would it be sad? Uplifting? A hilarious riot? Would it be the greatest story ever told or would it be a humble bow? I think it would be cool to know.


PS - to Nitmos and Nancy, keep on running in your own ways. You'll be in my thoughts when I'm out there trying to bash away my running demons.

Master the short game

After writing my War and Peace length Race report for Newport this past week, I've learned one thing about blogging: I need to master the short post.

Wifey's comment when I told her I wrote a seven page race report was, verbatim: "Oh my God, no one is goign to read that." And she's right. Even I don't want to the whole thing. I took 15 minutes just to spell and grammar check it!

It doesn't help that everything surrounding a Marathon tends to be unusually long as well: long playlists, long training schedule, long long runs, long recovery time, etc.. I guess since I'm used to doing everything else running related in a long format the blog entries follow suit. Problem is that it then takes me forever plus a day to get a race report out the door. A really, I was just tired of waiting for me to finish it.

So I'm keeping this one short and promising more shorter ones in the future. Except for Gym Carnies. Those entires can go on forever and still be read word for word.

PS - It's so weird to not flag this post with "Manchester/Newport Training" label

Lessons learned while blogging

1. If you write about your running addiction long enough and you'll get to 100 posts
2. You'll then get a crazy idea to write a list of 100 things to celebrate it
3. I've learned that maintaining a blog is more involved than I originally thought
4. I've also learned that it's more of a social experience than I originally thought
5. I never thought there was a large running blog community
6. I never thought that through blogging I'd become involved in other people's lives
7. I never thought I would make friends just by blogging
8. I never thought I would run anything shorter than a Half-Marathon
9. The Laminator can convince even me to run a 10K two days before the race
10. It turns out I can actually run a 7:57 pace for a 10K on the hilliest course NYC can offer
11. I have also learned 10Ks are an entirely different kind of race than Half-Marathons or Marathon
12. The Laminator has a not-so-secret agenda to make me faster
13. The Laminator's plan seems to be working
14. I would have never met The Laminator if it wasn't for this blog...
15. ...and a free pair of shoes
16. I also wouldn't have met an entire world of runners
17. Including Jess, who can drink and write me under the table
18. And Jon, who can write an intriguing story, but doesn't seem to know how to end it
19. And Nitmos, who has been reading Don Quixote since Cervantes published it back in 1605
20. And Vanilla, who is as close to a running blog celebrity as we have
21. And Marcy, who is as close to a running blog groupie as we have
22. And J, who's house I am increasingly jealous of
23. And Moon, who has a genuinely amazing story
24. And Nancy, who is the world's first virtual race director
25. And Amanda, who had the most memorable wedding--ever
26. And Amy and Tom, who have done so much to build a community of runners
27. And Steve, who could run circles around me, even with a bum Achilles tendon
28. And Ted, who's borrowed my URL format
29. And Dean, who was a kid in a candy shop last month
30. And the dozens of others who have stopped by for a bit
31. Ta da!
32. Wait, I'm only at 32? Jesus Christ, 100 items, what was I thinking?
33. This is turning out to be one marathon of a post
34. Get it, marathon, because I run marathons? Get it??
35. I've learned that I'm much funnier in my head than I am on paper
36. Or in type
37. I derive entirely too much humor from this clip
38. But I can't help watching it again
39. "Look at the good I do." Priceless.
40. I've learn that I can run with glass in my foot for up to three months
41. Actually, I just realized that I never wrote about that: turns out that I stepped on a chard of glass back in November and that's what was causing my foot pain and swelling. Of course I didn't know about the chard of glass until three months after the fact when I pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. I can't believe I was running with a piece of glass lodged in my foot!
42. I've learned that I can run a marathon, even if I didn't run it the way I wanted to
43. I've accepted that it was MY FIRST MARATHON EVER and that I ran it like a Half-Marathon, which was a big mistake
44. I've learned that bees can sting you even when you're running a marathon
45. I've learned that scratching a bee sting will leave a scar
46. And that now that scar is officially referred to as my "marathon scar"
47. And who doesn't want a marathon scar? It just sounds sexy.
48. I've also learned that group runs are greatly beneficial (yeah, like I'm the first one to think that) not only in the social aspect, but also in improving speed
49. And getting free shoes
50. By the way, I'm half-way to getting a free pair of shoes
51. Just like you're half-way through this post
52. Group runs have also taught me that I can run without music
53. Although I still bring Liam along for races and non-group runs
54. And I bought some new music before yesterday's 10K so I was rocking out during the race
55. New Yorkers are stoic runners and are easily freaked out when someone passes them with arms pumping to some kick-ass song and digging deep for that final kick (apologies to the woman I spooked yesterday before the finish line)
56. I've also learned that I'm not your typical NYC runner in that I run in a diverse set of places and I'm not afraid to take the subway to start a run outside of my neighborhood
57. Taking this approach has really enabled me to explore the city, finding amazing places along the way that most runners miss
58. I have also learned that I'm the only person that uses the word "magical" to describe a run. It's not magical in the wizard way, it's magical in the "this feels a little surreal" kind of way.
59. I also appear to be the only person that says running makes them feel superhuman. Once again, it's not superhuman in the way that Superman is superhuman--it's superhuman in that .00001% of humans run for long distances.
60. You know what else makes me feel superhuman? This post. It's pretty long already and I've still got 40 more lines to write. Crikey.
61. I've learned that I can talk about people like Ryan Hall and Paula Radcliffe and people will understand me here
62. I've learned that the same does not hold true during conversations with non-runners
63. I've learned that I'm not a tech-savvy as I ought to be: I just set up Google Reader two months ago--geez I'm slow
64. You know what else is slow? Collecting all 50 states.
65. I've learned that I'm not crazy for wanting to run a Half-Marathon or Marathon in each state
66. And I have learned that there are crazies that have beat me to this goal eight times already
67. I've learned to plan ahead, way ahead (yes, I have my races planned out for the next 12 months) in order to maximize travel
68. But I've also learned that plans are just plans and do change, as with Fairfield and this weekend's 10K
69. I've also learned to stretch
70. Sweet God Almighty have I learned to stretch
71. Just as an update: I have been free of IT Band pain ever since PT, turns out that all I had was a tight muscle that needed some loving
72. I now make it a point to stretch out everything before and after a run
73. Not that I don't get the occasional funny feeling in my knee or shin or calf--but once I do get that funny feeling, I know to stretch out that area really well and not ignore it in hopes of it magically healing on it's own
74. I've also learned to not mix Johnny Walker and running
75. I've learned that most people already know this lesson and that I was a late bloomer in this respect
76. I've learned that my bowels are wimps on training runs
77. I've learned that my bowels are iron-clad on runs
78. I've learned that my experience at Disney was a classic example of how not to prepare for a Half-Marathon
79. I've learned with every subsequent race how to properly train and prepare
80. And I've PR'd at every race since Disney (Marathon and 10K are by default)
81. God is this almost over? Who's idea was this anyway?
82. I believe it was your idea
83. Stupid me for getting ideas
84. Although you're still reading at this point, so why the heck are you still reading?
85. Well, I assumed you were building toward some poetic conclusion that elegantly weaves life and running into a harmonious universal truth about man, you know, providing a unique insight into the human condition, how through running--in the metaphoric sense of an unwavering focus on a distant goal--you can triumph over any obstacle. THAT is what I'm expecting.
86. Well. Then. That's awfully grand of you.
87. Thanks, I like to think about the big picture
88. Well, you're just going to get more rambling for the remaining points
89. WHAT? No big pay out for reading all of these kernals of wisdom?
90. Well, you already did the whole universal truth bit, what's left for me to say? Plus that's just not my style
91. Well, then what is your style?
92. I guess that's another thing I've learned while blogging: I don't have seem to have a writing style
93. I've learned that I'm a fan of writing lists
94. But I've also grown to appreciate the long-format race recap
95. I've also learned that I really like picking off people
96. I've learned that people enjoy picking off me
97. Like that guy who got cut me off at the six mile mark at yesterday's 10K
98. And that old guy that passed me on a long run a few months back
99. I've learn that it's not cool to be chicked
100. Unless it's wifey, in which cases she can always chick me

Where did I put that anniversary?

I completely missed my blogoversary. April 4 marked one full year of blathering about running and sometimes other things. Anniversaries are a time for restrospection, a time for reflecting on the past year's events and mulling accomplishments along with the failures. And while I was going to put together a play-by-play of what has happened in the past year, let's be honest: it is 8pm on a Sunday night and there is a new Simpsons on. I am not going to do this. And really, if you skim this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, you'll basically get all the good stuff.

Enjoy!

Someone explain this one

So I just checked Google Analytics for the traffic for this wonderful blog. Did you know if you search for "see it run hot" my blog comes up? I didn't know that.

The Real Big Four-Oh...and One Mo(nth)

Ok, so it seems that THIS post is my real 40th post. Apparently there was a draft of a post that I hadn't deleted, which is why I thought I had 40.

So, for real this time: this is my 40th post!!! ::insert fanfare here::

For those of you who use a Mac, you know the wonders of the dashboard. At work I have a Mac and when I discovered the dashboard I was fully converted to an Apple junkie. If you don't know what the dashboard is, basically it's like a second desktop on your computer where you have mini-programs (e.g., calculator, stock ticker, gmail reader, weather, etc.) that are always running. Hands down the handiest thing on a Mac. (I swear, this will eventually relate to running.)

On my dashboard I have setup a count down clock to the Baltimore Marathon. My dashboard is pretty cluttered, so I pay attention to the clock about once or twice a week. However, this week, the construction on our floor FINALLY ended and we moved out of conference rooms and over to real desks. ("Real desk" is used loosely: at my agency our desks are actually made of scaffolding...I'm not kidding.) This involved a two day moving process and between that and my regular workload I didn't even notice that the countdown slipped under the one-month mark.

My realization yesterday afternoon: holy crap, I have less than one-month until MY FIRST MARATHON EVER! Over dinner last night I commented to the wife: by this time next month I'll have my first marathon under my belt and be dreading going back to work. Wow, it's so close. Less than one month is really, really close.

Naturally, the wife responds with, "do you think you're ready?" She's not the first to ask this question, and I always have a little trouble with this question. I have five half-marathons up on the wall already, and after the last one I felt great and could have honestly done another 13ish miles. So during my training for Baltimore I haven't really been too concerned about completeing the race: I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to cross the finish line, in some matter...in some amount of time.

Where my concern lies is how I'll cross the finish. Yes, I know this is my first marathon. Yes, I know that the full marathon is a new and different beast. And yes, I know I should take it as easy as possible. But when you get down to it, I'm still a 20-something competitive male that is too stubborn to act better when he knows better.

Unlike Nitmos, I set my goals out early in my training under the philosophy of "reach for the moon because if you miss, you'll still land among the stars." Poetic, I know; naive, you bet. So I started training for MY FIRST MARATHON EVER with the idea of maintaining an 8:30 pace. Mind you, my half-marathon PR is in the 8:40 range. It was doable the first few weeks, but once the intense summer sun hit, I adjusted my expectations a bit. Since then, I've been training with a goal pace of a 9:00 min/mile, but usually running at a faster pace.

Over the course of training, though, I have developed three different goal levels:

Goal #1 "Best Case Scenario" - Anything under 3:55:48. If I can do less than a 9:00 min/mile I'll be so happy I'll wet my pants...although they'll be soaked by the end of the race no matter what, so that's pretty much a moot expression. Given my performance on my good runs, this could be an attainable goal. This is a "nice to have" goal.

Goal #2 "I Can Do This" - Four hours. This is the goal I should be able to attain--pending no disasters on race day.

Goal #3 "If Nothing Else, Do This" - Less than 4:12:00. Yeah, this is an awkward number, but there is rationale behind it. Unfortunately, I can't share the rationale here. Sorry guys.

I realize that these are packed pretty close together and there is a chance I won't make any of them. But like I said before, I'm a stubborn 20-something guy that seems to have something to prove to the world.

That's it for now--hopefully I'll have a post-19-mile run write-up tomorrow.

The Big Four Oh

This is post number 40!! ::insert trumpet quartet flourish::

Ok, maybe not as monunental as posts 100 or 1000 (or 69), but it is a cause for celebration. Lots of topics to cover today, so let's get to it in a big four oh kinda way.

Today's run:
Ugh. Weather.com is now on my shit list. It takes the no. 2 spot right behind the hills in Prospect Park. The hour-by-hour forecast for this morning was partially cloudy, turning into mostly cloudy. Great, I thought, it'll be a little warm (80ish) but the cloud coverage will take off the edge. So I map out my route, put my play list together, gather all my gear and head out at 8am on the dot.

Funny, no clouds. Ok, maybe they aren't here in Astoria, maybe the clouds are just in Manhattan.

I get out of the subway at Central Park. Funny, still no clouds. So nice and warm, humid weather for 18 miles. If I had known that I would headed out earlier!

As I approach my starting line I hit play on Liam and hear "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner. Great song, I always start my races with it. Problem is, it's the same playlist I've had in there all week--and it only has 60 minutes of music on it. So now I have warm weather and the wrong playlist. Fantastic.

Then at about the five mile mark (still in Central Park) I see a flood of pink runners pouring into the park. Oh snap. Today is the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure (for breast cancer). I'm all in support of the race...but if I had known it was happening today I would have not have planned to run three miles AGAINST the runners. Sheesh. If you're keeping track, we've got hot weather (yes, upgraded from warm), the wrong playlist, and 1000s of runners going against me.

At the one-hour mark I start injecting walking breaks. I've given in to walking breaks on hot runs: better to finish slow than not finish at all. These carry me on until mile 13ish comes around, and then it hits me: hunger. I take GU on my runs and have a pack about once an hour. But this wasn't "I'm tired and need energy" hunger this was full on "serve me a steak dinner" hunger--the type of hunger you have when you get home from work. Yeah, that doesn't work well when I have to run another five miles, and there's already heat, tired music, and 1000s of runners going against me.

So lots of things aginst me. But I finished all 17 miles. Woo hoo. I did not let it beat me! I finished in 2:54. Certainly not my goal of 2:42 (9 min pace), but all things considered, I don't think I did too bad.

Feet:
Marcy's challenge is too good to resist. So here are the feet in all their post shower splendor (and before mystery liquid from the trash bag spilled all over them):



My wife agrees that they're pretty--and in a husband's world, that's as good as Gospel.

Food pictures:
Went to the green market a few weeks back and went camera crazy, here are my faves:

Blog frustrations

Finally complied a training plan for Baltimore thanks to the folks at Runner's World. Now I have to figure out how to post it here. Looks like I have to find an FTP provider, set up an account, upload the file, and then link the file here. That may take a while...I hope to have the training plan up before the race.

On a separate note: went for a run this morning. I'm not normally a morning runner, mostly because in the past it hasn't go over well. I struggled through 4 miles, but completed without stopping (although my bowels suggested stops a few times). Overall it went well, which is good. I'll probably start by doing my short runs in the morning, maybe moving other runs to the morning.

Runnerssphere

Way back in the day...meaning April, when I started this blog...I thought there were only a handful of running blogs out there. As is too often the case, I was wrong.

I took this morning to play around with the site layout, add some links, get some site counter action, see about getting my stats on the page. And in this persuit of gadgits, widgets, and gizmos for the blog I stumble across Running Blog Family. This just blows my mind. Ok, maybe more like sends a warm breeze over my mind. Not only is it an organized community of running bloggers, but they have all sorts of resources like training trackers, feeds to other running blogs, etc, etc. I don't have time to digest it all this morning, but this is huge. I'll definitely be adding more bells and whistles.

I also realize, that despite being young and hip and with it, I know nothing about the world of blogging.

...is this thing on?

So got this crazy idea to start a blog because I have yet to find a runner's blog that is maintained and not insanely technical. No offense to my training-focused brethren, but training programs are unique to everyone and--honestly--I'm not going to get anything out of learning that you logged 20 miles last week and did 3 hours of cross training.

Also, I'm curious about blogging and figured now would be as good a time as ever.

-sRod