I went for a trial run on the Appalachian Trail this morning with a few MCRRC members. I had no idea what I was in for so I rested and slept early Friday night to prepare myself for this run. Let me just say that this was the HARDEST run I had ever did ever since I started running. That’s right I had to bold and underline that so you can see how serious I am.

Trailrunning is NOTHING like road running.  There are rocks, branches, roots, leaves,  and everything else that are around to make your run as memorable as possible. One misstep and you’re in for a hurting, your race might even be over.  I tend to zone out in most of my races but today I was completely focused on the trail. Even so I must’ve twisted my ankles at least 6 times.  It is extremely hard to run with all the rocks and leaves on the trails, especially when you have to run downhill. The leaves make it very slippery to traverse the trail. We went out for 13 miles and 3 hours 17 minutes later we made it out of the trail.

I am glad that I made it out for this practice run, at least now I know what to expect on November 21st. There were 2 very big hills that would’ve broken me  if it was my first time seeing it. I think I am now better prepared, come race day I will walk it up those hills and take it relatively easy on the trail, run what I can and walk the treacherous part. There are still 35 more miles to go after we get off the trail. What the heck have I gotten myself into ?

As with most challenges in life, the only real obstacle in your way is yourself.  Get over it and you’ll be amaze at the possibilities.

Here’s a little inspiration to help put it all into perspectives.

Lately it had come to my attention that I’ve taken this running thing a little too seriously. I was no longer enjoying it, and it became another source of stress.

I used to be very lively during races,  I’d strike up conversation with other runners and listen as they share their stories of how they got involve in running.  Each and every individual story’s was unique.  Their reason for running may vary from runner to runner but everyone find it a welcomed change of pace and would like to keep at it.

Of course qualifying for Boston is on every serious runner’s mind. But its also important not to let it take over your whole reason for running, be realistic, set goals to get there. Don’t let it seem like a chore, have a little fun, talk to other runners, it will make the experience much more enriching.

With that being said I will run my next race with a different mindset. I will not run it for time but for the stories and enriching experience. 50 mile is a LONG way to go without talking to anyone.

Being the competitive douche that I am, I came to the starting line with 2 plans in mind. Plan A was to run the best race I could and try to break 4 hours. If that fail, plan B was to trip Amanda with about 100 meters left at the finish line and take the WIN.

The first 3 miles were an incline of roughly 365 feet. Normally my instinct would be to charge it and deal with the consequences later. But today, I went against my instinct and decided to listen to Sunny, our supercoach. We shuffled through the first 3 miles at a 9:53 pace. Mile 4 through 16 is downhill and flat so we picked up our pace to around 9:05 and 9:07

We got through the half way point at 1:59:53, that gave us enough motivation to realize that maybe we could do this. But alas, mile 20 came and all that motivations were gone, I felt like crying at 21 and seriously doubt that I could finish within 4 hours. It was at this very moment that I looked within myself to find something that would help me pull through. The first thing that came to mind was “omg just trip her now and get it over with” That didn’t seem right so I had to dig deeper and finally it came to me. “What would Sunny do ?”

First she would probably tell me to quit whining like a little girl and follow it up with a swift smack to the head telling me to man up and just DO IT. (btw. Sunny isn’t violent, but I needed to make it dramatic to help me pull through) The hills kept coming and I swore that if I see another hill I would curse the next person that pass me. Of course Amanda then decided to breeze by right beside me and goes “What hills ?” I raised my eyebrows and gave her the dirtiest look I could muster. She got the hint that I was tired, grumpy and am in no mood for friendly banter. (I am sowwie Amanda, forgive me ?)

My aggression was caused in part by the half marathoners that joined us half way. They were making it so hard for us to keep our pace, our only choice was to weave through them one by one. At mile 23 there was this lady that decided to give us her rendition of “freefalling” over and over again. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her singing wasn’t helping anybody at all and maybe it would help if she knew more of the lyrics, you can only take so much freefalling. That was enough motivation for me to run away from her to keep my eardrum from bursting.

At mile 25 I was in so much pain that the only way to make it stop and make my time was to sprint like I had to pee and make my way to the finish line asap. I made the final surged and crossed the finish line with the clock showing 4:00:10 I smiled and realize that I had broken 4 hours and didn’t need to trip Amanda after all.

2009 Baltimore Marathon

Some of the mile splits didn’t record time because I screwed up my D-tag like an idiot

Our GB Support Team

This was us after the race and meeting up with our GB suppor team

Official results available at http://www.charmcityrun.com/eventResults.cfm?eventid=881

The pace is completely off. I used the pace calculator provided by CoolRunning.com @ http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml

I signed up for this race with the hope of breaking 22 minutes, putting me at a 7:05 pace, which is ultimately the pace I need to qualify for the Boston marathon. Its nice to have goals

I’ve been putting in 2 weeks of hills workout to help improve my time and as a way to prepare for the Baltimore marathon. I was confident that I can make this happen and 22 minutes was within grasp. This false sense of confidence was made under the assumption that the 5k course is flat. I was WRONG!

By the first mile I realized that 22 minutes was not gonna happen. I hit mile 1 at a 7:30 pace. Most of mile 1 was uphill with a max elevation of 559 feet. With 2 more miles to go I resolved to do the best I can and at least beat my last 5k time of 24:44

Mile 2 came and go and the rolling hills took its toll on my legs. The hills from mile 1 to 2 was in the range of 500 feet. I tried my hardest to stay under 8 minute pace.

Mile 2 to 3 was a devastating climb from 308 to 501 feet. I sprinted when I saw the finish line but because of the walkers I had to come to a complete stop, avoid them and start sprinting again. I finish with a net time of 24:04 which is a good 40 seconds off my previous time.

I came in 61st overall, out of 394 runners. I placed 20/61 in my age group. All in all it was a good race. I will have to train harder next time to break 22 minutes. Note to self: sign up for a flat 5k!

My run is also available via Garmin @
http://connect.garmin.com/player/14398408

One thing I must mention about this race is that the premiums are AWESOME, everything from the long sleeve running shirt and hat to the random items in each of the goodies bag. I will definitely consider doing it again next year.

Our Running Crew 6 strong

Flipsyde!

I really dig this song from Flipsyde.
Have a listen

Topless Douche!

That’s me at the 2009 Annapolis 10 miler It took me a while to find it too, turns out it was in the Douche folder aka Lost & Found cause my bib wasn’t visible.  I am sorta glad I found but also a bit surprise that there are countless others topless douche beside me Doucheness ftw!!!

See what had happened was, I was coming off a badly sprained left foot and after a 2 weeks hiatus I decided again’st my better judgement to just run it anyway.

I realized this was yet another bad decision around mile 4 when the pain I had been experiencing on my left foot showed itself.  I went out hard hoping to get it over with before the pain can set in, yet again another bad decision I tried to ignore it as best I could and shuffled to the finish line.

Needless to say I did not beat my time for last year.

not happy

I’ll take it for what it is.

Since not much was going my way I figured I might as well run it comfortably and took off my shirt around mile 5. But did you notice what I did there ? I carefully tied my shirt around my waist to conceal the muffin top that developed when I didn’t do much running and ate myself to happiness.  With the MF carefully tucked away under my shirt I merrily shuffled my way to the finish line looking for the Brightroom camera guys so I can give them my best cheesy running pose.

After that Sunday I a week off and iced my foot everyday. I started running again this week and it seem that the pain is gone.

Next on the schedule is the Baltimore running festival on 10/10/2009 which give me about 30 days to get in as much hills work as I can to prepare for the heartbreaking hills of Charm City.

Will Smith has it right. The keys to life are truly Running and Reading.

According to Will, “When you’re running … there’s a little person that talks to you, and that little person says, “Oh, I’m tired,” or “My lungs are about to pop,” or “I’m so hurt, I’m so tired there is no way I could possibly continue.” And you want to quit. If you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running, you will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life.”

This is the one thing that every runners know well. We constantly fight with this little voice, at times we give in but when we do manage to tell it to SHUT UP miracles can happen. Especially when its only the first mile in a marathon and you’re asking yourself why the little voice came out so early.

As for reading,  Will said that “there have been millions and billions and gazillions of people that have lived before all of us, there is no new problem you could have with your life, parents, school, jobs, bullies that someone hasn’t already solved and wrote about it in a book”

So  get out there and run like you mean it, tell that little voice inside your head to SHUT UP and make it a great run. Once you’re done running, head home and open up a book. Well eat first then open the book. Gotta listen to that little voice that keep telling you to feed it.

I am making a stand here and now. I realize that fist bumps are the cool things to do now but there’s a fine line between coolness and just overdoing it.  Lets just say I have this coworker whose idea of morning greeting is to prance around the office fist bumping whoever he comes in contact with regardless of whatever they might be doing.

NO!

Its bad enough that I have to drag myself to work at 7:00AM The LAST thing I want to do is bump the fist of some dude who get in an HOUR later and then having the nerve to prance around with his coffee mug throwing it in everybody’s face that he got an extra hour of sleep while the rest of us chums had to be here so early.

Maybe I am just overeacting out of spite but I am saying no to morning fist bumps from now on.  The next time he comes to my cubicle expecting a fist bump dude is in for a surprise. NO MUTHER@$@%@$ How about I bump ur face with my fist ? @%)&)*@#%$@#$

Train! They’re back, well sorta. New album “Save me San Francisco” is dropping in October. I really like their new single “Hey Soul Sister”.

Train

I must’ve listened to Drops of Jupiter at least a few hundred times. It was an awkward phase in highschool

Get the songs from the links below

Train – Drops of Jupiter http://www.mediafire.com/?ngjjimyjqzy

Train – Hey Soul Sister http://www.mediafire.com/?oxyzgmmxniy

Enjoy!