Mountains 2 Beach Marathon

This weekend, my friend Neil and I went to Ventura to run the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon and 1/2. It was going to be my first full marathon and Neil's first half. We decided to get a hotel room in Ventura within walking distance(.5 miles) to the shuttle pickup. We bought our entries late so we were relegated  to a 4am pickup.
When we got to the Clocktower Inn,  it conjured thoughts of an old British show Neil recommended called Fawlty Towers where John Cleese plays a crazy inn keeper that makes too many rules and never seems to say the right thing. The manager told me,in a very heavy middle eastern accent, we had a room with one bed and I said I had made the reservation for two beds but instead of admitting he made a mistake he said shortly, "That's what I said: Two beds for one night." I couldn't help giggle while thinking of scenes from the TV show. When we got to our room, the key didn't work so we went back down and their solution was that they would just let us in with the master key whenever we wanted...um no. The manager insisted our room was safe but I asked for another room instead. Turned out to be better because we got our room on the first floor (no stairs).

Souvenirs!

After getting settled, we went to get our bibs at the local high school. We also bought some souvenirs. Then we went to the beach to just hang out on the sand for a little while. As we parked the car near the beach, we realized there were two Italian restaurants next to the beach. We needed to carb load so we chose one and proceeded to gorge on pasta, bread, and beer. We will be set for tomorrow!
Got back to the hotel and Neil picks up the guide for the guests and sees that there is free wine and cheese in the bar until 7. We have 5 minutes. We went to the bar and lo and behold Neil finds a fellow Brit who has lived in Ventura for 25 years. We have some free wine then go exploring the hotel. On the map it says there is a museum in the hotel but we only found a storage closet in the spot it was supposed to be. Maybe they wanted to keep people out so they labeled it "museum." Spent a little bit in the spa then bed.
A little background on my training for this race:
I had about 9 weeks of good training time to get myself into marathon shape. I worked very hard to keep on schedule even with work getting in the way. In the last two hard weeks before the tapper, I started feeling pain in my Achilles on my left foot. I went to a chiropractor who specializes in athletes and he worked wonders but I still had to take it easy. Then about a week before my race, the same pain but in the right side. Again, I got fixed up by the chiropractor and only had a slight amount of pain on my right calf. I missed the last two long runs because I wanted to be healthy for the race. The longest I had run is 18 miles but I really wanted at least one 20 mile run.

It's COLD!

Unfortunately, I neglected a very important part of training: Diet. I'm not talking about trying to lose weight but I definitely was not eating healthy. I ate fast food almost 2 meals a day at work every day and sometimes I ate like that at home. That was a very poor decision. The other part of diet is hydration. I was not drinking enough water, especially the two days before the race. It will show later.
4am rolls around and we quietly get our bags together and head out the door only to find buses parked right outside our hotel. I guess the plans changed as to where the shuttles would pick us up. I was hoping to get a little sleep on the bus or waiting for the race to start at 6 but I was way to nervous. I kept telling myself to stop being nervous because its just another run. I had no time goal going in because I didn't know how my body would handle the mileage. I only wanted to finish. At this point I was alone because Neil went to a different start point but his finish line was the same as mine. Then I saw Kyle from runners lane. Kyle is in my age group and he is fast. I had to send my wife this text: "Kyle is here...I won't win my age group." Just that thought made my mind at ease. Not that I was actually planning on placing but it made me feel like this was another one of our home town races. No pressure.

Race map

The race started off great, no pain after about a mile. I kept telling myself to just slow down and have a good easy run but I was finding myself running 9:30 miles. The first 8 miles is a loop around an Ojai neighborhood that is fairly flat. Once I got to mile 8 everything was downhill. They described it as downhill enough to give you a good time but not too much to hurt your knees. But this was pretty steep for about 5-6 miles. I looked at my time at the halfway point and saw that I ran it in 2:24. I didn't even feel like I ran a half marathon. I was feeling great. Then I said, "Let's push it and see if I can run the second half in 2 hours flat." About mile 15 I realized I was dehydrated. My pulse was elevated, muscles fatigued and I started to get cramps in my diaphragm. So I took two waters at each station but if anyone knows about dehydration they would tell me I need to stop running if I want to catch up with it. No amount of water will get me back to the right level at this pace. I wasn't going to stop. I would take more walk breaks though. The first half I was taking 30 seconds every mile. I upped that to 40 seconds and added some more walking in later on.
I got a text from my wife that they were at mile 22 with snacks. I told her what was happening and she gave me some encouragement. By the time I got to mile 18 I felt very alone. There were 1250 competitors and could only see one or two in front and back of me. Most of the time I was not running near anyone.
I got to the Team Ditto aid station manned by Heather, Heather, and Neil(who finished his half in 2:40!). Before I got to them, my mind was completely screaming profanities at me but when I saw them I was so excited. They had oranges, pretzels, and water which I needed very much. I spent only a couple of minutes with them, I wish I had stayed longer and eaten more. I said to my wife that if I go I can beat 5 hours. She asked me if I wanted her to run the rest of the race with me. I told her no but it would have definitely helped.
Once I left them, the race was very hard to manage. I had about 4 miles to go but it was set up at 2 miles down and back. I was running next to people running toward the finish line. That 2 miles before the turnaround were brutal. At one point I even threw my arms up and said, "Where is the damn turnaround?" When I saw it I looked at my watch and saw that since I walked most of that 2 miles I was going to be over 5 hours. I started to pick up the pace and I saw the finish line.

Neil and I with our medals at Marston's

As I was running the boardwalk, I saw a few people with medals cheering people on. Then four guys with medals ran up as they saw me pass and cheered and gave me high fives. I fought back the tears. No crying, I need the water.
I crossed the finish line in 5:20:56 with my friends cheering me on. I wish we could have stayed for the beer garden but check out was in 15 minutes so we had to leave quickly. We drove home and had breakfast at Marston's as per our usual Sunday runs.  Not a bad memorial day weekend. I am now apart of the less than 1% of Americans who have completed a marathon.

I learned a lot from this experience and I will take it with me on my next marathon. I decided that my next goal will be an ultra marathon. This time I have one year to train. I will be starting a ground up program to basically reinvent myself as a runner. The best part is, my brother-in-law and I will be making a documentary about it. I got some good footage already from this race. Updates coming soon.

#run3rd

Made from recycled steel

Boston

Today marked the end of a very long week filled with tragedy and heartache. The second suspect of the Boston Marathon bombings was captured thanks to the hard work of many police officers, FBI agents and even private citizens.

I feel I have a unique perspective on this because I am both a runner and paramedic. When I heard of the events on Monday I was driving around running errands and the talk show I was listening to made a small comment on an explosion in Boston then went on to other topics. About 10 minutes later they came back to the bombing and said it sounds like it is more serious than they had previously thought. I started texting my wife because we have a friend that was running the marathon. She quickly came back with "Jodi is OK." Wow, that's a relief. Wait, no, more reports are coming in about multiple deaths and dozens of injured people. What is going on?

I got home and starting streaming the news and realized that this was a huge event and it took place right at the finish line of the mecca of amateur distance running. The Boston Marathon is what many distance runners dream of running because it is so elite. The qualifying times are no joke and even if you do make those, you may still not get in. I have yet to complete a full marathon but that doesn't stop me from wanting to one day qualify for Boston.

As I watched the news I realize what is taking place even though it only looks like a hoard of people in vests running around. The Incident Command System is a universal way for Mass Casualty Incidents to be run in the US. I have taken so many classes on how these operate that my brain hurts just from thinking about it. They have to think of everything needed for an event from medical supplies and personnel to food and water. Even traffic control, lights, and radios for communication. And oh by the way, this is a crime scene so be careful. From what I saw, the MCI quickly turned into a well oiled machine. The authorities in Boston did a great job of evacuating all of the patients to area hospitals and minimizing the loss of life.

So why would someone attack an event like this? Is it for political reasons? Just a plain sociopath? I would imagine that we will find out the answer to this soon. What I would like to point out is that the people of our little running community are the worst people to attack. We don't back down from a fight because it may be painful. HA are you kidding? 26.2 miles is pretty painful (so I hear) but people still run marathons all the time. Also, we have a great sense of camaraderie. If you attack one of us you attack us all. We respond immediately with charity runs to raise money for the victims. We run passed the finish line and keep running to the hospital to donate blood. And I think the most inspirational are the ones that ran back to the explosion sites to get people out and to the hospitals.

I am tearing up just thinking about all of the wonderful souls that were there that day to help someone they have never met before just because it was the right thing to do.

Tomorrow as I run my 16 mile training run I will #Run3rd for all of the people involved in the Boston Marathon including the injured and the good samaritans. 

St. Paddy's Weekend

I was planning on writing a post about just the 5k I ran on Saturday but decided that I should write about the whole weekend since I had such a great time. So here is a recap of all the events of St. Paddy's day:
The Jaycees had a Party on Friday night for which I was a designated driver that I ended up staying out pretty late. Well let's be fair, it was 1 o'clock when I got home but I felt like it was later. My friend, Neil, and I were planning on running the Knights of Columbus St. Patrick's day 5k in Santa Clarita the next morning so we called it an early night...kind of. When I got home, I sent him a text that the race started at 9am so we could sleep in more than I had anticipated at first. Good news. The only problem was my alarm went off for work that next morning and I couldn't fall back to sleep.
So after 5 solid hours of sleep I got ready to run. I went through my running clothes only to find my dog, Gadget, had found my favorite pair of shorts and chewed them up. How is it that I missed that? I washed them and put them away without seeing the holes. OK, great! I don't like my days to start like this because it usually throws me off. Just push through, I think to myself.
After eating a peanut butter sandwich I head over to the race. I had a crate of bananas that needed to be delivered and I had to register for the race still so I got there about a half hour early. I was very glad to see the skies were clear at the park. Last year it was pouring rain and it turned into a crazy mud run that wasn't marked in certain areas so some people ended up running 4 maybe 5 miles.
After registering and delivering my goods it was already time to start. No time to get nervous. I looked around and didn't see many people my age so of course the first thought is, I could place in this thing. Not a great thing to think right before you start but it worked to my advantage. I started running and I figured my goal was to keep Kyle, from Runner's Lane, in my sights. Not to pace him but to just gauge my own progress. I wasn't wearing a watch or music.
The course started out as a flat dirt path through the park for the first mile. I ran that one in 7:19. Cool, I'm flying. Then the hills came. Now, I heard there would be hills but I wasn't expecting what we were given. The second mile was very up and down but nothing I couldn't handle. At about 1.75miles was this killer hill that was about a 35-45 degree incline. I never really run hills. Not because I don't want to but because most of the places I run are bike paths and streets. I had to walk this hill. It was long too. I think it is about .5 miles of horrible pain. When I got to the top I was exhausted.  The course then makes a big U turn and goes back down that same hill. This is the type of running I love. I just let my legs go and blast down the hill. Controlled fall is an understatement. I was easily running a 6 minute mile pace. When I get to the bottom I see that I don't have much more to go so I push a little harder. I passed 2 people and hit the finish line in 29:35. I was super excited about that time because that was easily the hardest 5k course I have run. What happened to Kyle? Yeah, he was finished by the time I hit the top of the hill. I think his time was about 18 something.
At the finish line chute they gave me a card which showed the place and I was to fill it out and drop it in my age group box. I did and realized that there was only one card in the box. Yes, it was Kyle's. I got second in my age group which came with a cool beer mug. I actually placed in a running competition. Ok, so Kyle and I were the only people in our age group but I'm still proud of it.

After the race I went home to say goodbye to my wife who was off to LA with Ditto and Sue for the LA Marathon. I was so tired that after she left I fell asleep on the couch for 4 hours. Neil texted me to see if I wanted to hang out that night but after a long string of texts we decide that neither one of us wants to go out. We also decide that we are old. I'm not proud of the next part of my night. I ordered a pizza with the intention of eating some of it and saving the rest. No, I ate it all. OK, time to start running more. Not tonight obviously but soon.

So the next chapter is about the LA Marathon.
I woke up at 5am and got over to pick up Neil to drive down to LA to get a good spot to see the ladies run. I had made T-shirts that say Team Ditto on the front and Support Crew on the back. I filled an ice chest with beer, oranges, pretzels and peanuts. I planned our attack a few days prior just so we wouldn't be scrambling and miss the girls pass us.
I decided the best place to find a spot was from the VA parking lot around mile 20 since I spent a lot of time there in the first year of my career and I knew the area. Sure enough, they let us park there and even set up our stuff right next to the course. From our spot, we could see the runners for a long way so we were confident that we would see them as they ran by.
When the lead runners passed us, it was pretty cool. They were running faster than I want to run for 1 mile but they had already run 20. It was also inspiring to see all the people in wheel chairs and hand crank bikes pass us.

I saw the update on Facebook that Sean Astin was going to pass us in a few minutes so I starting looking out for him. He passed on a walking interval so I walked with him for a second and asked if he needed anything. I realized after that I didn't introduce myself as a #run3rd follower and felt kind of silly for that. Oh well, sorry if I creeped you out, Sean.
I got the text updates for Sue and my wife but missed one for Ditto and I got worried. Then the next one came in and I felt better. I was really worried that her foot was hurting too much from the last week.
Sue was the first to get to us and her eyes lit up when I waved to her. She stopped and ate an orange, chatted for a minute, and posed for a pic. She also told us that my wife wasn't far behind.
I got a text from my wife about 10 minutes later that said she was passing mile 20. I was glad that she was able to text while running so we would be more informed. When she got to us, I could tell she needed a quick rest break. I gave her some orange and she stood to talk for a minute. I gave her a hug and told her I love her and am proud of her.

So far no one wanted a beer (except us). I got a text from Ditto that said she passed the two landmarks I had given and she didn't see us. I started to worry again but this time that we looked down for too long and missed her. Crap. So I texted back saying to look on the left side of the street when she passes the Cliff Gel station. Then I realized that we were on the right side of the street. Did I mention I was tired? I start typing again but I saw her and ran too her because she was looking the wrong direction. I again gave an orange but she wanted some beer. I think she regretted taking that sip. More pictures and words of encouragement then she was off.
All of the ladies seemed injury free and feeling good. I was very happy we got to see all of them and give them hugs and food. After Ditto left, we drove as fast as we could to Santa Monica. That was 5mph with the traffic. It took us a while to find a parking spot that wasn't $40 but eventually we did. They had all crossed the finish line by the time we parked so we just met them in the crowded finisher chute. This is when Neil revealed his prizes for the girls. Tiaras and scepters with light up shamrocks on them, bead necklaces with green shot glasses, and the red velvet cupcakes (which all three were excited about the most).
I looked at the medal and I was definitely jealous. It has a glass shamrock in it! That is way cool.
We got home and had our post race/Sunday long run tradition of soaking in the jacuzzi. Then, since it was St. Paddy's day and we haven't been in a while as a group, we went to Rose and Crown. It's our local British pub. Best fish and chips I've ever had. We got some Guinness and food but pretty much called it a night.
This weekend was exhausting and I didn't even run a marathon. I am proud of my wife and friends for accomplishing something only .5% of Americans have ever done. This weekend I ran 3rd for Linda's Parents, Jodi's Coworker and wife, and for Sue, Heather, and Heather.


On a side note, I am missing some pics but I will hunt them down and add them later.

Seaside Half Marathon

Yesterday was a new experience for me as a runner. It was my first half marathon without my wife. Well my wives in fact. My wife and I spent a lot of time running with our friend, Heather, that we joke she is one of my sister wives. But this race was different. It was more or less a last minute decision to run. On Facebook last week I was offered a bib from a friend because he was injured. It didn't take me long to accept as I love to run now and any opportunity to race, (If I have a free weekend of course) I will snatch it up. The race was in Ventura so it wasn't a very long drive. Sue and Ryan were also going so we all drove together. It was also Ryan's first race without my wife or Heather...I think there is a trend. Sue is training for the LA full with my wives and she was worried she would be going to this race by herself. She is a very social runner.
The day started great, I woke up about 5:30, walked the dogs with my wife (who was doing an 18 mile training run). Got to Ryan's at 6 and drove from there. I think this was the latest I have ever woken up for a half before. It was nice! The parking was easy, picked up bibs and we actually had time to go to the bathroom twice before the race started. Wow, is that how it is supposed to be? The last couple races I have been to it was so crazy that we ended up in the wrong corral or didn't have time to go to the bathroom. I didn't write a dedication card the night before the race because I decided I would write it on the back of my bib when I got there. I also wrote #run3rd on the front.
The race was well organized even though there were only about 5 people running the show. I only have a small complaint about the bag check being slightly unsecured. But other than that it was very well put on. The race it self had a 5k, 10k, and half marathon. Everything was well marked. I think the best part of the race was that there were 6 water tables but the course was a down and back (meaning you run to about half the distance and then run the same way back) so in total there were 12. So hydrated!
We all started in the back of the pack because all of our goals were about 2:30 and under. I quickly fell into my pace which is very odd for me. I usually go out too fast in the first 3 miles then slow down but I was feeling comfortable where I was and just kept the pace I was at.
We ran along the bike paths of Old Rincon Highway which is on the beach. The view was spectacular. I love the smell of the ocean so I was in a great place mentally for this race. I passed some railroad tracks at about mile 2.5 and thought to myself,"I wonder if these are real railroad tracks?"
Mile 4 disaster struck. I felt a sharp pain in my left knee. I have been having trouble with it since I hurt it at work a year ago. It has been doing better since I have started working out but every so often it feels "wonky." This was bad though. Sharp 10 out of 10 pain. I had been running the same pace the whole time and wanted to push through but knew I had to walk for a minute. I looked down and it looked funny. Not swollen or dislocated, just funny. I did a high step to bend my knee all the way back and felt a horrible pop. The only thing I was thinking was,"Don't put any weight on it!" So I did exactly the opposite and set my foot down. Wait, no pain. None at all. Ok, time to run again. After that I didn't have any trouble with it.
When I got to the turn around I looked at my watch and saw I was at 1:02. Holy moly! If I go negative splits I could break two hours! OK, lets do this. Well my body was feeling tired but not exhausted. I pushed to run a little faster but my body pushed back. I was only able to maintain my pace the rest of the race. I went about 3 miles and realized I may not be able to break 2 hours but I will smash my PR(2:20) if I push it.

I started pacing behind this couple for the last half. I was pacing them before but I hadn't realized until the turn around. No I was purposely staying on their heels. I saw Sue a few minutes after the turnaround and gave her a high five while she called me a speed demon. Ryan a few minutes after that. High fives are not my thing outside of a race but in a race I will take every one I can. For some reason it keeps me connected with everything and motivates me to keep going.
There weren't too many people along the course to give high fives to. Most notably though were these two dressed as ghost busters that seemed to be driving around the course just to cheer. Even when I was coming to the finish line, there the were again.
I forgot to mention this awesome downhill in the early part of the course. If you haven't figured it out yet, that downhill turns in to an awful uphill on the way back. Energy zapped. All hope of breaking two hours was done. Stay steady. Keep running. I envisioned a text conversation I would be having with my wife after the race about my time of 2:05 and how she would think I miss typed it. I kept running steady.
I wanted to sprint the last mile but I had nothing left. I only had enough to push the last tenth of a mile. Someone on the course yelled, "Push all the way passed the finish line!" So I did. I realized I might be able to get 2:05.
I crossed the finish line and forgot to stop my watch until after I got my medal. The coarse clock said 11:38. I was too tired to realize that meant 2:11:38. My watch said 2:05:15. What did I get??? I walked over to the gearcheck grabbed our bags, basically fell on my butt, and tears started streaming down my face. I don't know if it was an adrenaline dump of joy of running such a great race or maybe a combination of the two. I grabbed my phone and texted my wife and sure enough she thought I mistyped it. But she soon figured it out and was astonished.
Sue came in next and she told me that she thinks she PRed but she isn't sure because she got stopped at the train tracks. They took her bib number and timed how long she stopped and were going to take that time off her total. She ended up getting the PR. She also made a friend on the course and by the time they finished they each knew each other's life stories. Ryan did great too. She said it was one of her fastest.

This race was by far my fastest and I'm not sure what it was that prompted me to push that hard. I think it had a lot to do with the #Run3rd dedication. I have never done any dedications when I run but I know that it was in the back of my head the whole time I ran. I think it was an even better feeling than just PRing.

Genesis

I have wanted to start blogging for a long time and I figured this was as good a time as any other. I am writing this on the eve of another half marathon that I am running. This will be my 5th half that I have done since I started running. When I was in high school, if someone had told me that I would be running 13.1 miles straight I would have laughed at them. I swam in high school because I hated running. Yet, after the first half (Disneyland half marathon) I decided that I was addicted and could not get enough.
I am a Paramedic for a private ambulance company in Los Angeles County. I have a wife and two dogs. Both my wife and I love to run. She was the one that got me into it in fact. She is training for her first marathon coming up in a month. I told her she was crazy at first but after a couple months of her training I realized that I am really missing out by not doing the LA marathon with her.
One of our really good friends is also a runner and blogger (strungoutrunner.blogspot.com). About a year ago she started getting involved in a group called #run3rd. The idea behind #run3rd is that I first run for myself, second I run for my family, and third I run for you. The people involve with ask for dedications on twitter for their upcoming runs and they will run with those dedications in their hearts during the run. Learn more about it on run3rd.blogspot.com.
This got me thinking and it made me want to start writing again. I haven't written anything that is not a patient care report since college about 6 years ago. And I was a creative writing major! So I give you my first attempt at something coherent and entertaining in a long time. This blog will be about my career as a paramedic, my training for running/triathlons, and maybe some random life stories along the way.
Tomorrow I will #run3rd for Matt Bransford and his family. Matt is a 14 year old boy that was killed in an auto vs. pedestrian accident a few weeks ago. His father is a colleague of mine and my prayers will be with their family.