The Blog Less Traveled

Two months from today is the Boston Marathon. I’ve been running twice a week – one short-length run and one medium-length run. Considering the cold weather and snow this winter, it’s been going pretty well. I was going to increase my training to three times a week for the last two months. Unfortunately, I threw out my back big-time on Tuesday. I’ve been taking muscle relaxers and Ibuprofen to deal with the pain and muscle spasms. I went to a chiropractor the last two days to help reduce the pain. Hopefully, if I take it easy the next week or two, I’ll be able to get back into training mode. If it takes much longer than that to recuperate, I think I’ll have to give up my chance of being ready for the marathon. That would be a real bummer.

Although it’s not the same thing, I can totally relate to the current athletes that are competing in the Winter Olympics. Those that were injured just before the games or those that got injured during their practice runs must be utterly disappointed. Some of them have put years and years of training into it. To have come that far and then lose the opportunity to compete must be absolutely heartbreaking. In my case, even though it would only be 4-6 months of training, it would still be a very big disappointment. I am really looking forward to this marathon. Hopefully, I’ll recover quickly enough and get the opportunity to compete.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all had a happy and restful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Our daughter came home for the holiday weekend so that made it even better. We got together with a few of our in-laws and had a nice turkey dinner with all the fixings. There was plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies and pies galore. No one left hungry.

Today, all the crazy folks got up bright and early to hit the stores for all the Black Friday specials. Standing in line and fighting the crowds is not my idea of fun, even if you do save a few bucks along the way. Some people actually look forward to the event – you folks are crazy! Of course, I got up at four this morning (zero dark thirty) to meet a group of fellow runners in downtown Grand Rapids. Today was a free training session to see if we want to join for the long haul (26 sessions). We ran through the covered skywalks that interconnect all the downtown hotels, restaurants and garages and ran up and down the multi-level parking garages and periodically stopped and did pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc. I’m trying to get my body in shape for the hills in the Boston Marathon in April and I thought this might be a good way to get in condition. If the weather gets real lousy, we’re pretty much covered most of the time. The place is pretty deserted so traffic isn’t a problem. There’s a personal trainer running the show and we even have “Marathon Don” working with us. He’s the Grand Rapids Marathon Race Director and he has run over 180 marathons – all 7 continents three times and all 50 states and DC. Now that’s crazy!

Maybe I better rethink calling all of you Black Friday shoppers crazy. I guess we all do things at one time or another that other people think are a little odd. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend – crazies and non-crazies alike!

So much for my first marathon being a bucket list item. When I ran my first marathon a few weeks ago, it was with the idea that it would be a one-time deal. I wanted to push myself to accomplish something that would be tough both physically and mentally. It was a pretty good test. Those last 5-6 miles definitely test your resolve to push yourself to the limit. I guess I must have enjoyed the satisfaction of crossing that finish line too much or I’m just a glutton for punishment. I’ve decided to run at least one more marathon. Last Wednesday I applied for entry into the Boston Marathon. I received my official acceptance postcard in the mail today from the Boston Athletic Association – the graphic above is a portion of that postcard.

For those who don’t know, the Boston Marathon is the oldest running marathon in the world. It began in 1897 and the next one this coming April 19th, 2010, will be the 114th. You can’t run in the Boston Marathon unless you run another marathon within the last 18 months with a fast enough qualifying time for your age. I was fortunate enough to have run my 1st marathon fast enough to qualify. This marathon will be a tougher test for me. There are a series of hills 16-21 miles into the race and the last hill at mile 20-21 is the highest and is called Heartbreak Hill. Hills at any time are no fun, but hitting a big one this late in the race will definitely push you to the limit. That hill will turn your legs into rubber in a hurry. Hopefully, my legs will be in good enough shape to make it past that obstacle.

I’m really looking forward to the challenge. The race course runs through a total of eight towns, starting in the town of Hopkinton and ending at Copley Square in Boston. I hope that I’m able to enjoy and appreciate the history of this event as I run it. Maybe it will help me to take my mind off the toll it will be taking on my body.

Interesting Boston Marathon facts:

• In terms of on-site media coverage, the Boston Marathon ranks behind only the Super Bowl as the largest single day sporting event in the world. More than 1,100 media members, representing more than 250 outlets, receive credentials annually.
• The legendary John A. Kelley started a record 61 Boston Marathons and finished 58. Kelley, who won the race in 1935 and 1945, first competed in the race in 1928, but it was not until 1933, in his third attempt, that he completed the course, placing 37th in 3:03:56. He last completed the course in 1992 at the age of 84. Kelley lived to be 97 (1907-2004).
• Approximately 500,000 spectators line the 26.2-mile course annually.
• Since its inception, the Boston Marathon has been held on the holiday commemorating Patriots’ Day.

Success! I ran the Grand Rapids Marathon yesterday morning. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the outcome. The temperature at race time (8am) was only 29° – a little bit chilly but not too bad since there was no real wind to speak of. I don’t think the temperature got too much above 40° by the end of the race. The fall colors are almost peaking right now and the majority of the race course was along the Grand River and along several local parks. I’m not sure how much time I spent admiring the scenery but it was much better than running the entire course through town. Being my first marathon, I wasn’t quite prepared for the initial portion of the run. I started at the back of the pack and didn’t cross the starting line until over four minutes after the race started. I thought if I started at the back, I would miss all the initial jockeying around trying to get past people. That didn’t work out too well. It took me the better part of 3-4 miles before I got past everyone. I was darting left and right and jumping on and off curbs and medians to avoid and get around people. I’d say I was about six miles into the race before I felt that I had settled into a normal pace. I don’t know if I hit the “wall” during the latter part of the race, but at around 21 miles my leg muscles were starting to tighten up. I was pretty sure that if I stopped at that point, my muscles would start to really cramp up. I think it’s fair to say that the last 5-6 miles of a marathon is more mental than physical – at least for me it was. I went by all of the remaining aid stations without taking anything for those last 6 miles.

I can’t compare this marathon to any others since it was my first, but it seemed to be very well run. The race director, Don Kern, and his entire staff did a fantastic job communicating everything you needed to know. There was plenty of information on the website as well as several informal meetings leading up to the event. There were tons of drinks and goodies all along the route and many enthusiastic well-wishers to keep your spirits up. If you’re going to run a marathon for the first time, I highly recommend this one. The racing shirt and runner’s medal are very good quality and there’s plenty of post-race food and beverages – chili, frozen yogurt, cheese sticks, bagels, Gatorade, beer, etc.

In case you’re wondering, I ran the race in 3 hours, 56 minutes and 46 seconds. Below are a few names and times of fairly well known people who also ran marathons. I actually had a better time than everyone except President Bush. I’m particularly proud that I whipped Al Gore’s butt by over an hour! Plus, he was 10 years younger at the time. I’ll bet I left a smaller environmental footprint than he did, too!

• George W. Bush in 1993 (3:44:52) at age 47
• Sarah Palin in 2005 (3:59:36) at age 41
• Pittsburgh Steelers’ Lynn Swann in 1993 (4:26) at age 41
• Oprah Winfrey in 1994 (4:29:20) at age 40
• Al Gore in 1997 (4:58:25) at age 49

It’s official. I’m going to enter my first marathon ever. Last Saturday I ran in the 20-mile pre-marathon race in Grand Rapids. The weather was great for running. It was in the high 50’s and low 60’s for the entire run. Earlier in the week they had predicted rain, but it never happened. It was overcast with a slight breeze. For me, that’s ideal. I just hope that the weather cooperates for the actual marathon. Running yesterday gave me a good chance to see what the general course would be like on race day. I wasn’t planning on running with anyone, but I ran into my brother-in-law’s neighbor just prior to the start of the race. We started out together and ended up running the entire race together. I’ve never run with anyone before but it seemed to work out pretty well for me. We talked throughout the race and before I knew it, we were done. I’ve never run 20 miles before, but after finishing the race, I felt great. I burned a total of 2800 calories. After I got home and took a shower, my wife, daughter and I went out to eat. We ate at a new Italian restaurant that just opened near our house. I ordered a Calzone, chicken wings and cheese breadsticks. I think I replaced the entire 2800 calories that I had just burned earlier in the day!

In case you’re wondering, the left-hand picture is what my current running shoes look like with a little over 1100 miles on them. They’ve stayed in remarkably good shape for that many miles. The right-hand picture shows one of the old shoes above one of the brand new ones. The soles have held up really well for that much mileage. The Asics brand has been a good shoe for me. I just switched to the new pair about 2 weeks ago and will have about 80-100 miles on them by race time. Hopefully, I can stay injury free for the next three weeks. The marathon is Sunday, October 18th. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Why the strange title for this blog posting? Today I went for my weekly run. Normally I do about 10-13 miles. Today I ran 15.6 miles. For you metric-challenged folks, 25K = 15.53 miles. There is an annual racing event in the Grand Rapids area called the River Bank Run. Old Kent Bank initially sponsored it but when they were bought out it became the Fifth Third River Bank Run. It is held on the second Saturday in May and starts and finishes in downtown Grand Rapids with the course at times running along the Grand River. There are 5K, 10K and 25K races. The 25K run is billed as the largest in the country.

I’ve never run in a competitive race but thought I’d go ahead and do the official distance for the 25K event. Hence the “virtual” title for this posting. I didn’t run the actual route because it takes you through busy sections of town that would normally be cordoned off during the actual race. I have a GPS watch that accurately tracks my mileage so I ran the distance in my local area. Today’s temperature at the start of my run was 16°. Probably a little chilly for most folks, but I enjoy running at any temperature. It was a great run with plenty of sunshine and the wind was pretty light for most of it. According to my GPS watch, I burned 2153 calories. I guess I can pig out today and not feel guilty! For an old man (I turned 59 three days ago), my body seems to tolerate most things pretty well. For most runners, my pre-run routine is probably pretty strange. I eat a bowl of raisin bran about an hour before I run and that’s it. I don’t hydrate before the run and I don’t hydrate at all during the run. My warm-up is about 30 seconds max and consists of squatting at the knees 4-5 times and bending around my waist for about 10 seconds. That’s it. Like I said, pretty strange.

Anyway, it was a great day and the runner’s high from the endorphin release always feels good.

If you’re serious about exercising and you want to track your progress, there are several electronic devices out on the market to help you. I looked at several models myself before settling on the Garmin Forerunner 305.

The Forerunner 305 is a wristwatch GPS. In addition to providing all the standard GPS functions, it also includes a heart rate monitor. The device itself isn’t much bigger than a regular full-size watch. The LCD screen is surprisingly readable for its size and has a backlight you can turn on for low-light conditions. The main functions for starting/stopping the time and starting a new lap are easily done with the two buttons on the face of the unit. Switching between screens and setting up the various options is also pretty straightforward. There are built-in options for setting the device for a run or biking exercise as well as an option for “other” types of exercises you might be trying to track. You can monitor your total time, split times, pace, distance traveled, etc. You can also customize the screens to put the data on them that you want to monitor and switch between three different screens at-a-time. It takes about 1-2 minutes from the time you turn the unit on until it acquires the GPS satellites. The device is very accurate. I do a lot of running on a recreational trail that is about 8-10 feet wide. When you look at the plot on the electronic map after a run, you can clearly see the two tracks where you ran the outgoing and return portions of your run. There are many features on this device that I haven’t even used yet. For example, you can set it up to be a virtual partner so that you can try to run and maintain a predefined pace and distance.

The unit comes with software that will run on either a PC or Mac. It includes a USB cable to connect the device to the computer. The software installation was simple and required no effort at all to perform. The PC version of the program has more features and includes the ability to upload your runs/exercises to Google Earth. Both versions allow you to monitor all aspects of your exercise including time, pace, distance, heart rate, calories burned, altitude, etc. I’ve found the device to be very useful for tracking my overall health and improvements in my running/biking times. I can see over the past year that I’ve used it that my heart rate has decreased for the same level of effort in a particular exercise.

I heartily recommend this device. I’ve had it for over a year now and haven’t had any problems with it. There is also a lower cost model called the Forerunner 205 that is the same as the 305 except that there is no heart rate monitor. A new model just came out called the Forerunner 405 that has a wireless feature to download your data.

After almost 6 months (10/30/07 was my last ride), I finally made my first bike outing of the year. Hooray! I did a 41-mile ride through what was mostly a farming community. I could definitely smell the fertilizer in the air! Spring in Michigan has finally arrived. My time was actually 35 seconds faster than my ride of six months earlier. However, as I write this, I can tell you that my butt is feeling the pain. I probably should have done a little shorter ride or gone at a more leisurely pace. The mind was definitely willing to maintain the pace but the body apparently was not.

I’ve always found bike riding and running to be therapeutic. It gives me a chance to clear my mind and sort things out. Many people are familiar with the bible verse from John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Not to disparage the bible in any way, but for me, the phrase, “If you choose to exercise, exercising will set you free.” is very apropos. There’s something about getting the old juices flowing in your system that gives you a clearer picture on life. I suppose from a medical standpoint, your increased metabolic rate pumps more epinephrine (adrenaline) into your system to give you that “athletic high.” Whatever it is, I always feel better about things after I’m done. I may start off the day in a less than stellar mood, but after that run or bike ride, I’m more settled and in a better frame-of-mind to handle what the rest of the day has in store for me.

Getting started in an exercise routine is always an initial struggle. The first few sessions can be a wake up call for your body and may make you feel pretty sore. Just don’t overdue the initial phase. Take it nice and easy. At first you might not feel like there’s any improvement at all. I think that’s a very natural reaction. Things take time and you will gradually begin to feel better. The best thing you can do is to find a partner so you can help and encourage each other through this phase. Hang in there and eventually your determination will pay off.

Legal disclaimer: Every individual is different so before beginning any type of physical conditioning program, you should consult a competent medical professional. Duh!