(Ed. note -- promoted to the front page)
Hello, runners. Long-time lurker here, first time poster. Let me start by saying how happy I am that we have a running-specific site on the network. It's great to have a place like this to discuss the sport on the wonderful SB Nation platform.
(Ed. note: bumped from the FanPosts)
I'm running the Music City Half-marathon on April 28th. I have no real idea why, but I suspect it's because after more than a year and a half of doing nothing but lifting weights and lifting heavy, I realized I was missing something essential from my life: doing something I'm really terrible at, and doing it in public. (No comments about sports blogging. I have been paid for that, bad or not. No one's ever paying me to run.)
Running is that thing. My first distinct memory of organized education is a field day in kindergarten. I was running in some kind of sprint, and off the line I closed my eyes and ran with the kind of abandon only a five year old can muster. I imagined being Rene Fromage, the goat from Animalympics. If you watched this on prehistoric cable, the mere memory of Rene will ignite some heavy emotional tinder in your brain, so don't watch the clip below. It will make you weep.
I was not Rene. I opened my eyes halfway through the race, and saw everyone pulling away from me. Most people realize their dearth of athletic talent later in life. Most high-schoolers secretly believe they could walk on to any team with a month or two of spotty but intense gym time. (Montage!) More adults than you think still believe this.
I'll apologize ahead of time that the embedded videos all require Microsoft Silverlight. Trust me, I hate it more than you do. If you don't have it, I'm sure there's a download link somewhere.
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/
Unfortunately for track fans, NBC has made Silverlight a necessary evil to see any of their replayed events.
Personally, I think it is pretty impressive that Microsoft was able to design something so evil without direct input from Hitler and Satan.
I've not been good about sticking to my planned schedule of writing every week or two. I haven't even been that great at my four-times a week running schedule, but I've always managed to at least get something in the books a couple of times a week on that end. In spite of my best efforts at self-sabotage (including a spot in a suite for the Black Keys with an open liquor cabinet the night before), I got up bright and early last Saturday and headed up to the Courthouse/Clarendon neighborhood to take part in the Four Courts Four Miler.
One of the intimidating things about being a fat guy running is seeing the super athletic looking people all geared up and ready to go. You can't help but feel out of place and wonder what the hell you are doing there. Of course, you're there with the goal of becoming one of those handsome athletic people, but while picking up your packet you feel a bit like Danny DeVito's taller brother. Thankfully, that was never really a problem at the Four Courts - a "fun" run for 95% of the participants who just want to dress like Greenman or drink a green beer afterward.
The end of this course was kind of a sonofabitch for a person like me that has trained almost exclusively on flat surfaces. The first mile was almost all downhill from Courthouse to Rosslyn on Wilson Boulevard in Arlington. It's a pretty steep hill, as those who know the neighborhood can attest to. I am not a fast runner at all. Most of you probably don't consider my movement "running" so much as it is "quick walking". I aim for 10-12 minute miles when I go out and that's what I got on Saturday...for the most part. I felt great for the first two miles, both of which were pretty easy thanks to mile 1 being downhill and mile 2 being flat. I knew of my amazing turtle speed when I started seeing people headed back past me when I was barely beyond a mile myself. My two mile split was 25:29. Not terribly off my preferred 12 minute pace and okay for a guy who had a fair amount of clear liquor the night before. I also walked off about two minutes of those first two miles when I felt a little tightening above my knee for a moment and opted to take a little time to stretch it out.
The third mile and the fourth mile were my asskickers. The third mile was just a retracing of mile 2 in the other direction - still quite flat, but I was starting to wear a bit. I gave myself a couple of little 30 second breathers to walk quickly with a promise to myself that I'd then run to a certain point in my eyeline as a little motivator. It worked. I hit the 3 mile mark at about 38/39 minutes in according to my watch. A slightly declining pace, but still well on track to finish under an hour - a very very modest goal for myself. But, alas, there was mile four staring me down. The steep decline of the first mile was now a steep incline. I did not conquer Everest that day, my friends. My girlfriend met me at the bottom of the hill where the last mile started to cheer me on. We walked most of the incline parts together. I saw no reason to make myself miserable the rest of the day when I just wanted to finish and feel good afterward. I essentially walked 90 seconds for every 60 seconds I ran on that last mile, and eventually kicked it in for the last 400 yards or so and finished up "strong" by running. My final time was 54:37. Distance-wise it's not the longest I've ever gone by a good bit, but it is OFFICIALLY the longest I've ever run in an event. And it felt good.
You can find me in the results if you like. I was bib number 1419. I'm right there in front of three other males aged 30-39. A few more minutes of running and I might have beaten upwards of six other 30-39 year old guys. I've got a long way to go before Tough Mudder in September, but I'm on the right track. It feels great to finish a race and I'm on to the next one.
Ed: bumped for usefulness/general awesome.
Howdy!
I noticed no one else had done this so, why the hell not me?
I'm shooting for a pretty broad audience here, so don't expect any kind of in depth analysis here, just trying to hit a few highlights of what's worth watching for the next few days.
I'm just going to do a few events for now. If you guys are interested, lemme know and I'll do some more.
Ed. note -- bumped from FanPosts
It is that time of year that Austinites both love and, with each passing year, increasingly dread: SXSW. If you are one of the few looking to get a good run between 20-min live sets, free beer, and pretending that you knew twitter was going to be huge in 2006, know that Austin is brilliant place to get some miles in. Below I've highlighted 3 areas that connect through the downtown area. There are many more in and around the city but if you are visiting for SXSW, it is likely you'll be in the downtown core.
1. Town Lake hike & bike trail.
This is the crown jewel of trails for the road runner set. The full loop is 10 miles but there are points to create 3, 5, 7 mile loop variations. Water is stocked in several spots on the trail by local running stores and there are water faucets throughout. Similar to the path around the Charles River in Boston but nicer path surfaces, more isolated from cars / roads, and with better people watching. There is only a few short sections along a road or concrete and only 1 section where you have to cross an intersection with a light. The path averages 15,000 people per day and twice that on the weekends, so it can be crowded, especially the sections located right downtown. It thins out quite a bit once you get east of Congress Bridge. If it has been dry, some sections gets dusty from all the people running.
Map with distance loop points.
The trail has many access points which is handy because driving anywhere downtown during SXSW is pretty much a non-starter.
2. Barton Creek Greenbelt.
Linked with the Town lake trail via Zilker Park is the Barton Creen Greenbelt with over 40 miles of trails. It is an fantastic park that starts in the heart of the city and works it way south. The main 'super highway' trail follows the creek and is 7.5 miles end-to-end. It is well marked, includes mileage markers, and not super technical (it can't be if mountain bikers ride it).
Barton Creek map with access points.
There are 3 main sections to the park. Lower, Wilderness, and Travis Country. Lower starts at Zilker Park downtown and covers about about the first 4 miles of the trail along the creek. In this section there are limited opportunities to find trails off the main trail, it is hard to get that lost. There are likely to be more people and you'll find rock climbers sprinkled throughout. Pop off the trail at the Spyglass access point and grab some running fuel at Tacodeli.
Upper starts at the Gaines / 360 entrances and follows the trails up to the end. The volume of people thin out a bit on the trails here though if it is warm out you'll find packs of people at the swimming holes located by any of the falls. It is straight up 1979 action at the swimming holes during the summer: little clothing, cheap beer, guitar, and ill-conceived facial hair. Trail is nice and easy along the creek. If there is water in the creek (and there is currently), you'll have to ford the creek to get all the way up to the end. There are few spurs and sections off the main trail that offer more a more rugged experience.
Travis Country isn't on the map linked above and the parks department doesn't maintain an official map. It is also where all the really fun trails are located. On the map linked above those blue lines snaking to the south up by the Spring and Sculpture Falls lead up in to Travis Country. The trails vary from well worn and in moderate use to a trickle along the rocks that get only a few uses per week depending the weather. I do not recommend this section unless you are with a guide or you are used to exploring new trails. The trails twist around a lot and double back so it is easy to get turned around. There are times when I've run out there for 4+ hours and not seen a single person. It is wonderful how remote feeling it is even though it is still in the heart of Austin.
3. Shoal Creek. Hike / bike path going from Town Lake north up to central Austin. Nice enough but no reason to go run this by itself. It is handy to know that you can park a bit north of downtown and then run down to Town Lake. Saves the hassle of traffic and parking down near the lake. Map here. Can be popular with college kids as it runs along the west campus housing of UT. Sections used to be a frisbee golf course but they closed it for causing too much damage to the park.
I made an offhand remark to a friend the other night that I thought later was both dishonest and unintentionally very insulting to many runners, including myself. He knows that I'm coming back from an injury, so he asked me how my run last Saturday went. I replied:
"Oh, it went ok. I'm trying for 5 miles this weekend. Then I'll feel like a real runner again."
Later on, I felt bad about this. I realized that this was bullcrap and that I was being an elitist jerk. I remember how, when I was doing Couch to 5K, how awesome it felt to run for 5-minutes without a walk break or feeling like I was going to die, and then one mile, etc. During my first two years of running, I ran 3-4 times a week, but never attempted any distance over a 5K. Still, I definitely thought of myself as a runner during those years. I think the joy and pride I felt finishing my first 5K was approximately equal to that I felt finishing my first marathon. (Quite a bit more relief at the marathon finish, though, since I was in quite a bit of discomfort.)
I do remember the first time I ran 5 miles. Even though it's not a common racing distance for me (I've only ran one 8K and one 5-miler, both long after I was running longer distances), it still seemed like a milestone at the time, but was completely arbitrary to throw out in this conversation.
So I'm just curious about what people here would say about your experiences. How long or how much did you have to run before you thought of yourself as a runner? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this.
I had always been a runner, but it wasn't until 2007 that I became an avid distance runner. Since that time, I've enjoyed everything from the 5K to the marathon (the half-marathon being my favorite distance). As many of you have done, I've come up against an assortment of obstacles: IT band injuries, shin splints, migraines, back problems, etc. But it wasn't until 5 months ago, I ran into the most devastatinghurdle of all time. A baby.
Understandably, most articles and posts dealing with post-baby running deal with the effects women experience after giving birth and how they can best get back into running shape. I'm not pretending for a second to compare what men go through to what women go through. However, I have been surprised at how being a new father has negatively effected (and for a while killed) myrunning. In addition to sleep deprivation, going to doctor's appointments, cleaning bottles and pumps, feeding, trying to eat, consoling others, etc., going out for a run is nearly impossible. Then, just when some sort of routine is developing, the little angel goes to day care and brings home every imaginable germ. The ensuing biological warfare results in congestion, coughing, Ebola virus... constant illness -- enter stage left.
I'm just now getting to the point where I might be able to run 2-3 times a week and never more than 3-4 miles. It's my goal to be in half-marathon shape by the summer and 1:50 half-marathon shape by the fall, but there is certainly a new variable involved more complex than tendinitis.
Don't get me wrong... seeing my little girl smile at me is 1,000 times better than setting a PR, but wow...
The postpartum running experience isn't just for women. Please feel free to share your war stories and/or stories of overcoming and adapting!
I am a pretty new runner. So new that I am still trying to figure out the idiosyncracies to running properly and making my life easier. Non-shoe apparel: both cold and hot weather clothes; safety (vests vs lights), etc. Proper running techniques, how to recognize when my body needs a rest, diet, and all that good stuff.
One thing that I have finally grown an appreciation is properly breaking in my new running shoes before going on one of my full runs (I only run four times a week, four is the minimum, six is my intermediate, and eight is my long).
Last spring I update my running shoe. I went from a New Balance to a Brooks Adrenaline 11. During the first three weeks, my knees ached, as well as my feet. And I battled with migraine headaches. I blamed the aching knees and feet on the shoes. But inexplicably couldn't figure out the cause of my headaches. Just figured I had a rash of bad luck.
Then mid-February, I bought a new pair of shoes, the Adrenaline 12. I ran a four mile stretch without any sort of pre-wear on the shoes. Two days later, midway through the day, wouldn't you know it, I had a crazy bad migraine again.
My wife mentioned the prossibility of my shoe being the problem. I believe her to be correct. I've heard of horror stories of people wearing shoes that do not feel comfortable causing back pain and other physical problems. I've also heard of people needing chiropractic care in order to alleviate headaches as well. So, in my personal opinion, based on experience, this all sounds too plausible.
Has anyone else run (ha, no pun intended) into this problem? Any tips on effectively breaking in a shoe to avoid headaches (in the very literal sense)? I've taken to taking walks in my new shoes while still running in the old. I'm planning on taking a three week transition. I don't think it will actually take that long, but right now I am incredibly gun shy. I do not want/need another migraine to sideline me any more time.
Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps we can help each other figure out ways to make our running experiences a little less painful!!
I've got a busy spring planned, with the Disney Princess half marathon this coming weekend (with my mother-in-law, who will likely leave me in the dust), the Publix Georgia half marathon next month, the Atlanta Women's 5k the next weekend, and then (probably) the Country Music half marathon in Nashville at the end of April. Anybody else running any of these races? Got any exciting events lined up yourselves? I'm always interested to hear what other people are doing.
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