Serious runner's high from today's run. The kind of run where you just shake your head, smile at everything and nothing in particular and count your blessings to be where you are at that given moment.
Today, the Trail Runners Club had a route that I had not done yet (surprise!) - a looping, clockwise 14+ mile route that takes you up from Temescal Park past flowing streams and rocky ascents, to the lush and muddy downhill on the Backbone Trail in Will Rogers Park.
I was very apprehensive going into it as my foot is still not feeling a 100% and 14+ miles would be the most I've done since my injury. But I told myself I could just turn back around if I felt the foot acting up. Thankfully, it didn't.
With Josh near the start (thanks for the photos!)
It had rained most of the day yesterday so today, we were greeted to clear skies, crisp and clean air, and plenty of mud. My kinda day. Once the club had assembled and was about to begin, we saw a smallish Coyote wandering up the trail ahead of us. Shortly after we began, we saw another Coyote in Jimmy Dean and his friend. I ran with them and Josh for a little bit, before letting them proceed. The first couple of miles were a bit rough as I felt heavy, slow and out of shape. Then I eased into the run and the miles clicked away effortlessly. As I mentioned, the scenery and beauty of the day definitely helped.
Will Rogers State Park
Save for the initial mile or so, I ran solo the rest of the day. I had random hares, a trio of deers and the rest of the wildlife of the park as my running compadres. When I got closer to the more heavily populated and visited Will Rogers Park, I greeted each and every person I passed with a friendly hello and even a couple of ahnnyunghaseo's for a few Korean hikers I ran past. We had one last ascent near the end climbing out of Rivas Canyon up a series of switchbacks before running back into Temescal to rendezvous with the rest of the crew.
It was also a fairwell gathering of sorts as fellow club member Kai was leaving for New York in the upcoming weeks. So we surprised him with some cake, food and all kinds of other goodies at the finish. Best of luck buddy.
Legs were definitely sore but the foot held up fairly well. Very happy with how the day turned out.
Had my visit with sports doc this past Thursday. The stress fracture area was bothering me in the days following Surf City Half, in spite of not going all out. It got to the point that I even donned my old walking boot for a few days! Anyway, the day before and of my appointment, I intentionally laced up and ran to "irritate" that area. Miraculously, the pain was mostly gone.
When I met with my doctor, she was encouraged that it wasn't another stress reaction, but I am getting an MRI just to be sure the bone isn't damaged, If it's clear, she will give me the go-ahead to run the LA Marathon (yes, it's still in doubt).
I also put in my longest run to date since the 1/2 marathon when I put in 11+ miles with the trail club yesterday. Yeah, it's a little frustrating that I can't go longer right now, but I have to be super conservative with my left foot. I did thoroughly enjoy that run even though I felt heavy and out of shape.
If given the green light, I will be running the marathon on a few 30+ mile weeks and a long run that probably won't exceed 14-15 miles. Please look to this as something you should NOT do to train for a marathon.
Before I sign off, a few shout outs are in order...
1) my friend and trail companion Rachel just ran and finished 1st overall female in the Orange Curtain 100K on Saturday! Please be sure to follow her in the future as she gets ready to tackle her first 100-miler in June (in which I will be pacing).
2) to all friends/acquaintances that got accepted into Badwater...congrats! I am also officially throwing my hat in the ring if any of you need crew/pacing. I need to experience this race (vicariously) at some point!
3) another great video my Matt Hart...this guy encompasses our love for running trails/ultras in 5 minutes or less better than anyone!:
Wow. Quite possibly the earliest I've gotten up and furthest I've driven to NOT race (70+ miles). Not to mention the night before, when I drove across town to attend a pre-race volunteer pasta dinner while fighting Los Angeles Friday night rush hour traffic (40+ miles). My volunteer partner, Lori and I also managed to get lost driving up to our water station causing us to show up a little later than planned. Good times.
In the end, it was all worth it. The day for Twin Peaks 50/50 ultramarathon turned out beautiful with nary a cloud in the sky and our station at 4,100' ft offered up some nice scenery (save for a random massive tractor parked next to us). We also blasted some tunes from my boombox all day. All of which made our 9 hours or so of volunteering a breeze.
Thanks to RD Jessica Deline, the other helpful volunteers/sweepers and of course, to all the runners for making it a fun day. The runners especially were troopers while battling fatigue, heat, nausea and some even going off course a bit (hey, I can relate) while running a tough, tough course (50K - 11,000' ft of gain, 50 Mi - 17,000' of gain). Most still never managed to lose their smile and/or sense of humor. It definitely made me look forward to lacing up and getting out there to suffer and slog through another ultra.
By in large, our duties consisted of refilling hydration packs/bottles, icing/massaging some down, and tending to whatever miscellaneous needs the runners had.
In the end, a Japanese import managed to cross the line at 9:05 to win the 50-miler, while everyone's favorite Alaskan Evan won the 50K distance at 5:30-something.
Here are some sights from the day:
Pasta dinner before the big day.
Rachel, Lori and I at the start.
The view from our ride up.
Our very bumpy and rocky ride up to our station.
My buddy Dave coming through at mile 10.5
50K winner Evan Hone blazing through our aid station.
The very scenic view from our volunteer station.
Lori and I standing by our sparse water station.
In spite of the sun and warm temps, Lori was always cold.
Hiroki, the eventual 50-mile winner.
Some leisure reading to pass the time.
Lori cleaning the feet of 2nd place 50-mile winner, Trey Hughes.
Dr. Lori walking with our 1st barf victim to make sure he was ok.
Brian Krogmann and other Coyotes leaving mile 34.
A 50-mile runner taking a load off in the shade.
Dynamic Duo: Andy Kumeda and Catra Corbett.
Another Coyote Erin and her pacer still very fresh at mile 34.
1) I am a huge running fan. I love watching the marathon distance in particular. I can watch a full televised race from start to finish. When I got to meet folks like Sell, Meb, Merga, et al last year at Houston, I was in heaven. Now if they would only start televising ultra events..
2) I am a Korean American. My Korean sucks, but I'm working on it. At least I can order food at restaurants which really, is the most important thing.
3) Speaking of food, I hate cucumbers with a passion...but love pickles. Yup, I'm crazy complicated.
4) I was a smoker for 12+ years. I try not to think about how far along I'd be if I'd been running during that time.
5) I'm a native Angeleno, so no - it's not cool when you talk shit about my city. If you don't like it here, go back to your hometown. Transplant.
6) I tend to talk a lot when I'm nervous.
7) Ok, ya got me - I just talk a lot. Period.
8) I think most all politicians are full of shit, concerned only about getting re-elected or advancing their careers.
9) I was hand-selected at the last minute to fill in for an M.I.A. male runway model. Most fish-out-of-water experience of my life.
10) Sauteed brussel sprouts in olive oil with some Lawry's seasoning salt = my new favorite thing.
11) The last fistfight I was involved in was over 10 years ago. With my best friend at the time. We both immediately started laughing when the scuffle ended.
12) Reason #186 why trail running is better than pavement: the world is your bathroom.
13) Reason #1? The people. The COMMUNITY.
14) While I'm trying to eat more healthy, non-processed food as of late, my Achilles Heel will forever be french fries. I consider myself somewhat of a french fry aficionado.
15) From a comedic standpoint, I think Jon Stewart, Adam Carolla and Conan O'Brien are effing brilliant.
16) Mila Kunis over Angelina Jolie. Every. Single. Time.
17) I can be a very impatient person. It's one thing I'd definitely change about myself if I could.
18) I realize motorcycles are dangerous, but if something makes you feel alive - why not do it? Since when did life become about proceeding cautiously from one day to the next?
19) Stop making excuses. It's a very unattractive quality.
20) Running's a lot like religion. Don't impose your beliefs onto others about what YOU think running should be all about. Running really is what you choose to make and take from it. No more, no less.
Honestly, this race was all about hanging out with familiar faces and friends, all the while getting the mileage under me (my longest since the injury). I grew concerned about my foot in the couple of days leading up to it since that area's been aching a little, but I'm happy to report that it held up well.
First thing was first - the dreaded expo. It was exacerbated by the fact that it was pouring rain when I got there, missed out on two parking spots by ONE car each time, and ended up taking a long walk in the rain over there:
Once inside the leaky expo tent, I went in and got out with my bib and shirt ASAP. Blew right by all the familiar gimmicky crap that I was uninterested in and then left early to a charity pasta dinner for Operation Jack, a foundation set up by my friend Sam with proceeds going towards Train4Autism. It's named after his son who was diagnosed with severe autism and to raise money, he is at the start of running 60 (!) marathons in 2010. He ended up pacing the 3:30 group for the 2nd year in a row.
Sam the man
The RW peeps
Anyway, most of my friends on the Runner's World forums were in attendance as well, so it was great to see familiar (and new) faces. After stuffing our faces, shooting the shit and hearing from Sam and his wife about their charity efforts, we bid adieu and I made the long trek back to LA where another family function awaited me. Finally got back home near 10pm so I quickly arranged a couple of things before going to bed.
The next morning (thankfully), we were blessed with nothing but sunny and clear skies! I rendezvoused with Danica at a sweet parking spot she scored (although I had to pay for it later) and we made our way towards the start. We tried to locate her friends Aron and Kristin but to no avail. We did run into our friends Charlie and later Chris and after a quick photo op, hit up the port-a-potties one final time before walking back to the start.
Our ringleader, the speedy Charlie!
By the time we got back, the swell of half marathoners had swelled and we could only manage to squeeze ourselves into Wave 4, or what amounted to 2:00 hour or slower halfers.
Our only goals were to: a) have fun and b) come in at a respectable sub-2 time (for our ability anyway). Only problem was we were way behind her friends from the get go. So Danica and I start off faster and more uncomfortably than we would have liked and really hauled ass for the 2nd mile before finally pulling the reins in a bit. We did finally run into them a little after mile 3 I believe and finally slowed our pace down and ran comfortably for most of the rest of the way.
While the girls were busy getting caught up, my eyes were mostly fixated on the faster runners coming back on the turnarounds since I knew many of my friends were out there. I did manage to catch and cheer on a few of them which was cool. Aron and I also talked about our respective race schedules for the upcoming year (when she'll do her first ultra) and the time and miles seemed to click by.
A little before mile 12, Danica told me she wanted to pick the pace up a bit so we broke from the main group. Then some dude runs up from behind me, sees that I'm picking off runners and says something like, "final mile...let's do this". So for the last mile point one, me and this random guy start flying down towards the finish at like 6+ min/mile (which is way too fast for me right now). I was sucking air big time but also wanted to get in some good BTTW effort, so I match him stride for stride. He ends up out kicking me at the end by about 10 yards. Eh, whatever.
Danica rolls in shortly after, we both got our desired time and had a good time doing it. My foot (other than a hot spot) felt ok. The area of the stress fracture still aches a little bit here and there but didn't really bother me during the run. We short of walked around the finisher's area, met up with a couple of other folks then decided to walk back to our cars.
After seeing Danica off, I went back to the finish area to meet up with my friend Rachel who ran the full, and we ended up grabbing some food and a beer. It was a good, successful day overall and it gives me a little more confidence heading into the LA Marathon next month. Most important thing right now is to get my long runs in between now and then and just hope my foot continues to get better.
Well, January has come and gone and while my mileage remains pathetically low, I'm still experiencing some little aches and pains in both feet. On my left (the spot of the stress fracture), the spot where the injury occurs still acts up here and there. On my right, I've been dealing with some annoying plantar fasciitis-like symptoms. What the hell.
Bottom line though, I'm still just happy to be running. Especially when I look back on the 16+ weeks of being sidelined.
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Speaking of health, I'm going through a bit of a scare right now concerning mine (unrelated to running). I haven't blogged about it yet, but it's one more thing that's putting running (and life) into perspective.
It has been stressing me out for awhile, but I know it was doing more harm than good to do so. Right now, it's all about appreciating every day that I'm able to do what I love and not worry about the unknowns. I'm still going through the tests and whatnot so I'll keep everyone posted if/when there's something to be known.
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This Super Bowl Sunday, I will be running the Surf City Half-Marathon. It is the site of my very first race ever back in 2007 so it holds a special place in my heart. Since then, I've registered for it every year (with one DNS when I got hit with the flu in 2008).
No goals other than to have fun and treat this as a training run, more or less as I target the LA Marathon in the upcoming weeks. Will shoot for a sub-2 at the very least. It will also be my longest run to date since the injury.
I'm not particularly excited about running this race since I've been partial to running on trails lately, but I am stoked to see some familiar faces toe-ing the line with me. It's amazing how many awesome running friends I've acquired during the 3+ years I've taken up distance running. And I look forward to growing that number as I continue.
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On another positive, I was recently selected into the Brooks I.D. program this past week!
I don't know what their criteria was exactly, but to be selected to be among this group of fine runners is an honor. I've grown very partial to my Brooks Adrenalines for road stuff and thanks to membership privileges, finally ordered the Brooks Cascadias for the off-road stuff - a shoe I've long been meaning to try.
Thanks again Brooks. Hope to represent well!
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In closing, I hope to make this year a healthy and successful running year full of firsts and many unknowns. If recent events have taught me anything, it's that nothing - NOTHING is guaranteed for tomorrow.
Treat every day as a gift and as per the Brooks motto: Run Happy.
