Larry gets lost in Seattle... or Westward, NO!

Plans change. That's the kind of thing that often bothers me, but if I'm not committed to the plan then I can roll with it. Like my training: I'm committed to running a certain number of days and miles per week and I'm likely to get annoyed if I can't do that, but as to where these runs take place... eh, I'm easy. So I didn't make it over to West Seattle this weekend. There were no Sam and Jonah flying a kite sightings and I did not have the pleasure of a run at the water's edge. I'm not bothered by it; I've seen water before.

Instead of heading west, I went east toward Capitol Hill. I was feeling lazy - I'd love to say that's the last time that will happen, but let's be real, mkay - so I didn't plan the route out myself ahead of time. I went onto one of the many running, biking, walking, flying, whatevering mapping sites and found one that I thought would fit my needs. I needed something nine miles long, and I found a route starting about a mile away that went eight miles. It was a little longer than I wanted, but I was okay with that.

I knew that I was going to have to cross a hill. Hell, the word "hill" is in the neighborhood's name, so it would be damn near impossible to miss that. I didn't remember that the hill was so steep or so long, and I completely forgot in planning that I was going to run OVER the hill, meaning down the other side. All the way up I kept repeating "what goes up must come down." Then I started down the other side of the hill and another thought hit me: "I'm going to have to go back up this damn thing on the way back!" I am never going to get away from hills, am I? At least I'll be properly hill trained for the marathon.

I just started looking at a neighborhood map, and I might not have gotten as much into Capitol Hill as I thought. In fact, I missed the vast majority of Capitol Hill and was actually running through three or four other neighborhoods. Who knew?!

The whole run was a new route for me. I took Olive up to Broadway, which covered my first mile. Aside from running the whole thing uphill, there wasn't a whole lot special to it. It wasn't a particularly nasty hill, although it also wasn't a gentle little incline either. I really just didn't see a whole lot to comment on, to tell the truth. There were some artfully shabby buildings and a couple of coffee shops that were doing some brisk business. Still, I'll come this way again if for no other reason than to get to the other side. That's where the magic is.

Once I got to Broadway I headed over to Madison, which runs from Lake Washington all the way to Elliot Bay. It's a nice, long road that goes through lots of interesting places. At the part where I got on it, it was going up... again. Surely there's a top of this hill somewhere around here! I kept thinking I was almost there, but my hopes were continually dashed. Eventually I got to the top and started back down. This was where I started to really recognize that after I'd gone through all of my energy and I had nothing left in the tank I was going to have to come back up that hill. Wunderbar!

The route that I'd selected and that I was so far following (mostly) had me going east on Madison until I got to Lake Washington Blvd then following that north. At this point and even to the point where I got on Lake WA Blvd I was still following the route, but once I got on LW Blvd I made a decision that effectively ended up with me lost in some neighborhood on the wrong side of the hill with no idea how far I was going to have to run to get home. See, after I turned on LW Blvd I was in the Arboretum, or at least the road open to cars that goes through it. But I saw this other road that was open to bikes and pedestrians that went through less crowded parts of the arboretum and after a moment of debate, I abandoned my route and took the unknown road. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! Obviously I do crave these things to some extent.

I thought I'd be able to find my way back to my route after going through the arboretum, but I forgot that I was dealing with my pathetic memory. I didn't write anything down, so of course I didn't remember where I was supposed to go. I knew one of the things I needed to pass was University Bridge, so I flagged down another runner and asked him if he knew how to get there. He gave me some directions: "go that way until the road ends and turn left." It was helpful. I found the bridge at least, and I could see the stadium on the other side of the highway. Conceptually, I knew where I was now.

If I had stuck to the route it would have taken me by or through three or four different parks, including the Arboretum. I went solidly through one of them, but I think I only touched on the very edge of the others. Once I found University Bridge I didn't know how to get to Interlaken Park, so I had to start asking directions again. One helpful older couple said follow this road to Boyer then go left. Boyer and that road apparently don't intersect. The woman with the Rock 'n Roll Marathon shirt was no help. Neither was the follow-up guy I talked to a block or so after. After that, I just stopped asking directions. I figured if I got completely lost I would be able to borrow someone's cell phone to ask Lisa to find me and pick me up. I told her to give me about 2.5 hours for my run and I didn't want her to start worrying if I didn't show up in that span. I thought I finally did find Interlaken, but by that point I was so turned around that I didn't know which direction was which. I wasn't a boy scout, so I never had to figure out how to find my way around by using the sun or moss on trees or anything. I turned left when I should have turned right and blithely continued down the road. Anyway, it wasn't actually Interlaken Park, I just thought it was. I wondered why the "park" was so... lame. It's because I wasn't in it.

At some point I looked up and discovered that I was on Lake Washington Blvd again. Then I noticed that there were some familiar looking landmarks, and... wait... Isn't that where I went into the Arboretum? Yep. I had gone full circle. I was six miles in by now, so it wasn't a good time to start trying to find other stuff.

I had less than a 5k before I got home, so I figured I would just head back down Madison until I got downtown then head over to Westlake Center to get my after-run smoothie. I run so that I can drink smoothies. I made a few spur of the moment choices along the way that couldn't have worked out better for me. By time I got to Westlake Center I'd gone 9.25 miles.

I confess that I cheated a little bit. I couldn't run all the way back up the hill. I just didn't have the energy left for it. So I probably walked a quarter to a third of mile 7. I thought about stopping at several of the convenience stores or Trader Joe's to get a G2 or some snack to give me a little more fuel, but I decided to tough it out until I got to my smoothie. I won't make that mistake again. I now know what it feels like to use up all of my energy before the run ends. In fact, five minutes after I started drinking my smoothie I had a rush of energy that should be considered obscene for someone that just finished off a nine mile run. I'll need to grab some gels or something soon. I'll be able to complete a 12 mile run (week after next) without it, but it won't be pretty.

I also went very, very slow. My average pace for the whole run was an 11:21 minute mile. And that's really probably where it should be for a long run. It's ridiculous. I should be happy that I went the distance, but can't help also feeling a little disappointed by how slow I went. Focus, Larry! We're looking for distance, not speed. Speed is a bonus. Still, I'd love to be able to run flat out for miles and miles. That's something I'd have to work harder and smarter about. Once I get the distance thing licked, I'll work on speed.

Annnnd, I did something that could have been disastrous but turned out okay. I bought some new shoes on Friday. I probably should have given them a couple of three mile runs as a break in before I tried them out on a nine miler, but I didn't. You can really jack up your feet doing that sort of thing. Still, it didn't turn out bad at all, and I'm happy to report that my new ride (rides?) performed beautifully in the field. No blisters, no foot pain, no shin splints. Beautiful.

I'm taking this week easy. I'll just do three mile runs for the rest of the week and nothing on Saturday or Sunday except for some carbo loading. Next Monday, on the other hand, I'm doing the super sock 'n jill half marathon in Woodinville. It should be a nice challenge. I'll be going from 9 miles up to 13.1. My training is going to be all sorts of discombobulated for the next two or three weeks. First the 1/2, then no weekday runs followed by a 12 miler the week/weekend of 9/11, then weekday runs but no weekend run the week of 9/18. If I haven't completely screwed myself up by 9/26 I'll get right back on track with my eye on 26.2 miles in November.

The center of the universe

Anywhere outside of a one mile radius from my apartment might as well be a foreign country. There are a couple of areas that I am somewhat familiar with around here, but if I'm not in the retail area of downtown it's pretty much all new territory to me. On Saturday, we went to a benefit for the Seattle Humane Society in Fremont. It's 2.5 miles from my apartment, so... it might as well be China. They speak a strange language over there and eat different food (actually, there are a lot of Thai restaurants over there, so maybe it's really Thailand). Fremont could be on another planet. I saw something when we were driving around looking for a parking spot that made me want to do a little exploring in that neighborhood, so I headed off in that direction for my 6 miler on Wednesday.

According to the reliable editors at Wikipedia, sometime in the 1970s some residents began calling their little corner of the world the center of the universe. It has a few other flattering and unflattering names that probably do just as good a job of reflecting the neighborhood's culture too.

I had one goal in mind heading over that way. I wanted to see a particular piece of "art," but I wasn't crystal clear on where it was. I was just going to run over there and find it, as long as it didn't take me more than 3-3.5 miles to find it. I wanted to run 6 miles and not much more than that. That was my whole plan. "Go that way. If something gets in your way... turn." Anyone who really knows me or has ever ridden in the passenger seat with the responsibility for navigation knows that I do not like not knowing exactly where I'm going. Unlike some people, I do not feel comfortable just going off in a direction and finding what I'm looking for when I get close. I need an exact route, and I need to know the next turn as soon as I make the first one. And there had better not be any damn detours that aren't covered by the map. My head might explode.

If I learned one thing during the 10K it was that I need to keep my eyes open and really see where I'm going and what's going on around me. I tend to focus too much on the next step or that next milestone in the distance, and I think I sacrifice a lot of enjoyable things from my run by doing that. That was part of my reasoning for going to Fremont. The goal was Lenin, and Lenin was found.

In 1989 Communism went out of fashion in Slovakia, and when it went out of fashion so did the statue of Vladimir Lenin. Some guy that lives in Fremont thought it would make good yard art or something, so he mortgaged his house to have it shipped all the way over here from Eastern Europe. Crazy!

On the way I went over the Fremont bridge again, but this time I looked out rather than down. There are some pretty nice views of the lake from there. I'm pretty lucky to live around so much water. Yeah, some people live around it their whole life and think nothing of it, but I lived in land-locked north Texas for most of my life. This water thing is kind of new to me.

I had an interesting exchange after I crossed the bridge. I heard someone doing one of those "hey you!" honks on their car horn so I looked around. Sure enough, right next to me was a car slowing down with a couple inside laughing. I took of my headphones expecting this guy to ask for directions or something, but instead what I heard was a sarcastic "hey buddy! looking gooooood." Asshole. Ok, so maybe I look a little funny in my running clothes. I wear tight fitting shorts that come down almost to my knee, sort of like bicycle shorts but without the ass padding. They keep the skin of my thighs from rubbing together and irritating me. I tuck my shirt in because when I don't it shifts around a bit and annoys me. I wear a headband, a very unfortunate shade of blue, because I figured out that if I didn't wear one sweat would drip into my eyes. Sweat that has traveled through the moisturizer on my forehead is not a pleasant thing to have in my eyes. It's painful. Add on to that my Spibelt, which, let's be honest here, is little more than a smaller than usual fanny pack. It's not bulky and it's barely noticeable, but it's there. Then there's Grendel on my wrist. Grendel looks, at first glance, like a watch, but it's ridiculously oversized and makes me look like a 7 year old that's put on daddy's watch. If I just got a hat or something other than the bright blue headband for that area, I'll bet I'd improve my running fashion 100%. Screw it. I'm not dressing for prettiness. I'm dressing for comfort. Whatever. I'm obviously annoyed by it still. I could rant on, but I'll try to let it go.

Leaving Asshole and his girlfriend behind I went hunting Lenin. It actually wasn't as hard to find as I thought. I went up to 36th, turned left and ran a block, and there he was. Larger than life. Problem though. I've only gone 2.75 miles, so I need to work in another quarter mile before I can turn around. All right, well what's further down the street? There were some very interesting restaurants down that way. Down one of the cross streets there was an outdoor cinema. I'll confess that I already knew that was there since it's where the benefit was. They showed E.T. last weekend. I wonder what they'll show this weekend.

I knocked out that extra quarter mile and turned around to go home. On the way I spotted the Waiting for the Interurban sculpture. This is a set of six people and a dog waiting under a bus stop. The locals like to put clothes on the statues, I guess for comedic effect. I have to admit, it kind of works.

I was on my way back home treading over the same old ground. I kept my eyes up looking for interesting stuff, but the only thing that caught my eye was the green slope under the Aurora bridge. It just struck me as greener than I expect for the end of summer, especially when we've been lacking rain a bit.

Saturday I should have some more interesting things to see. We're going over to West Seattle for our run. I'll be going 9 miles this time. For my last movie reference of the post, I'll note that my route will take me right past Alki Beach. It's the beach where Tom Hanks and the kid flew the kite in Sleepless in Seattle. Should be fun.

Pace Chart
Mile 1 - 9:17
Mile 2 - 9:38
Mile 3 - 10:09
Mile 4 - 9:46
Mile 5 - 10:20
Mile 6 - 10:27

Obviously, I'm not rocking the negative splits.

A day at the lake - Inaugural Lake Union 10K - Race Report

Race: Lake Union 10K (inaugural)
Location: Seattle, Lake Union
Terrain: Mixed sidewalk, road, bridges
Biggest Challenge: bottlenecks
Time: 00:57:19
Pace: 9min 14sec mile
Ranking:
- Overall - 313/689
- Gender - too difficult to bother figuring out
- Male age 35-39 - 44/61
Date: 8/23/09

I have got to pay more attention to my surroundings when I run. First there was the bus incident in which I almost re-enacted a scene from Final Destination, then I missed the "Cell phones are messages from the devil" house during the 10K. I'm going to have to run back around the lake just to find it so that I can see it for myself.

I've been looking forward to the Lake Union 10K since I first heard about it in June. I even put registration day in my calendar so I wouldn't forget. This is the first year for this particular race, and they limited it to 750 racers. They actually didn't fill all the spots, only 689 racers participated.

The packet pick-up was at this little fitness place on 8th over by the lake on Saturday. I have this impression of the area it was in that is probably completely wrong, but I can't shake it. I feel like it was this seedy urban area that is in the process of being reclaimed. I'll bet what's causing the impression is related to the beat up van with a possible vagrant camped inside about a block away from the store and the Holiday Inn with what may or may not have been moaning sounds coming from one of the rooms. Or maybe it was the line of empty parking spaces with broken glass next to each of them. It looked like someone walked down a line of cars and smashed out a window in each. Remember, kids, never leave anything in your car that you don’t want stolen.

Anyway, back from the tangent. Packet pick-up was nice. It was strangely organized in that I effectively had to check in twice, once with a person who just had a list of people who had registered, and once with the person who actually had my bib. Then we got our "goody" bags, which contained a whole lot of nothing: some coupons to the various race sponsors and a brochure about the Seattle Marathon. Lisa got a lanyard from the Holiday Inn in her bag, but I kind of think that was a mistake. We got our t-shirts with a very nice, if effeminate, orange sunburst design on the front. I'm not going to complain about it looking a little girly though; it's a wicking shirt, which means it's going to get a lot of use. Side note: I can tell that it's a newer shirt than any of my other ones because it's still so white. I didn't realize that my other white wicking race shirts had gotten dingey. The one thing, maybe the most important thing, they didn't give us was the timing chip. I've seen some reviews of the race (already!) on Active.com that complained about this a bit, and I think the complaints have some merit. What's the point of early pick-up if I'm still going to have to stand in line tomorrow to get my timing chip? I'm responsible enough to know not to lose it over night, thanks.

Sunday morning came bright and early. We got up at 6am to get ready even though the race didn't start until 7:30. I think we both realized that we needed a little time to fuel up (and wake up) before going. I'm building up the mileage so I think I could handle a 5K on an empty stomach, but I couldn't pull off a 6 miler with nothing but last night's dinner to get me through it. Maybe some day. I'm not going to claim that I had the best breakfast in the world, but looking back I don't think it was all that bad. I had a banana, a single serve box of Frosted Flakes (they're GRRRRRREAT!) and two strips of bacon, because bacon is one of the two perfect complements to any other food (the other one is chocolate).

At 6:45 we decided it was time to get up and go. The timing chips and starting line were about a mile away from our apartment, and even walking briskly it would take us 15-20 minutes to get to there. Then we were expecting to wait in line a bit to get our timing chips, but that part didn't happen. We stood in a line for about 2 minutes before someone asked if we were just waiting for timing chips and directed us to a table where there was no line. So… yay easy stuff! That still left us with 25-30 minutes of waiting before the race started, so we found a place to squat and watch all the people. I don't remember anyone standing out. There were some brightly colored shoes, but no one wore costumes like people have at most of the other races around here. I noticed the people with the strollers though, strollers that were specifically prohibited on the website. Dogs were ok, but strollers weren't. I'm not sure I follow the logic on allowing dogs on leashes but not pushing strollers, but those were the rules and they should be followed (unless I decide they’re stupid and choose to break them of course). I think dogs and their leashes are the more hazardous, but it wasn't my call. I loved it when one of the race organizers was doing a general announcement of stuff and specifically addressed the people who brought strollers and how it said "NO!" on the website. The other interesting event before the start was the truck that had to get out of the parking lot and thus through all of the racers lined up at the starting line. They were very nice about it, but they had places to go and people to see so they were getting out. Plus, as a person on two feet you don't argue with a 1-2 ton truck. You might dodge better, but they're faster and heavier with better endurance. They’ll get you in the end.

At 7:30 (plus or minus a few minutes) the horn blew and we all... got bottlenecked at the timing mat! If there's one thing that I would complain about the race it was the general organization of it. The starting line was on a sidewalk that's maybe twice the width of the regular sidewalk. Let's call it five feet wide. The timing mat was sized to fit that width. There were 689 runners all of whom thought that they were the fastest thing since Speedy Gonzalez trying to get over the mat at the same time. There was a bit of a slow moving crowd to get over the mat. After that there were a few other places along the first half of the route where a little better planning up front would have eliminated some bottlenecks. Still, if that's the only thing to complain about (that and the timing chip thing) then they can definitely consider the race a success. Actually, there is one other thing to complain about, but it was at the end of the race and I will address it in its proper place.

Having been running on the west side of Lake Union for a while now, I knew basically what to expect and where to expect it. If I had been paying attention to them, my milestones wouldn't have been thrown off by much because we started right around where I would have counted my first mile anyway. But there were so many other people around that I didn't need to look at any man-made structures.

The first mile is always a sorting out mile. Everyone is finding their natural place in the running order and equilibrium is being established. Slower or more social runners get left behind, faster runners sprint ahead, and those of us in the middle of the pack try to find our groove. By time we got to the first mile marker (all of the mile markers were obvious, which was a nice change of pace) we had spread out and everyone was able to run their race. It was then that we hit the Fremont bridge, which could have been a disaster but wasn't. They didn't block off the road, so all we had to work with was the pedestrian lane over the bridge. If that had happened nearer to the start it would have gotten ugly quick, but since we'd all spread out a bit I was able to get over the bridge with only a little slowing down. We ran down 34th past the Troll but not close enough to actually see him. Or her. I don't know, the troll could be a girl. It looks decidedly masculine to me though. Anyway, we passed the troll and over to the Burk-Gillman trail. Side note: There’s a statue of Lenin in Fremont somewhere. I think if I had turned left instead of right on 34th I would have found it. I’m going back to look for that thing soon too. I’m collecting quite the list of local attractions to see, aren’t I? I need to carry a camera sometime.

I thought we had some nice police support throughout the race. They did a great job of keeping us from being run over by impatient or unobservant drivers at the various intersections. I had a brief laugh with a couple of them as I was running past because they were trying to get a car to get through the intersection before I got there but the driver wasn't paying any attention. Then, just when I got into the intersection, he decided to go. Too late, dude, I'm already running here. Johhny and Janey Law had my back and kept me from getting squished “just like grape.“

Nothing much happened for another mile or so. There was another potential bottleneck going over another bridge, but we were even more spread out by that point. I didn't even have to slow down. After that we were running in some residential neighborhood. This is the general area where the evil cell phone guy lives, and after seeing pics of his place after the race I don't know how I missed it. It should have been blindingly obvious. There were some nice townhomes over there too, which could have been interesting if I was in the market for a new home.

Just after mile 4 I rounded a corner and actually said "you've got to be freaking kidding me" about the 45 degree incline staring at me. Ugh. How rude. Fortunately, it was short.

After a while I usually discover that I'm running with the same pack of people, although we're not talking or anything, for a long distance. Am I the only one that names them? There was a larger gentleman, about 5'9" but easily 250 pounds, chugging along. I named him Hot Dog; not because he was showing off, but because he had those ripples at the back of his neck that looks like a pack of hot dogs. Then there were the Mean Girls, a trio of young-uns being led by the speedster Daphne. They passed me from out of nowhere and inspired me to try to keep up for a while. And there was Skort, an Asian woman with a skort that passed me then fell behind and passed me again repeatedly. There was another Asian woman that I thought was Skort, but who I eventually named Other. She also passed me and got passed by me a couple of times.

I was back in familiar territory now, running a part of a route that I've been running for a couple of months, so there weren't any surprises. I'll skip ahead to the part where I saw the 6 mile sign. At that point there were only .2 miles left to go, and I wanted to finish strong and fast, so I sped up a lot. I passed many people, including Hot Dog, Skort and Other. The Mean Girls were long gone. There were a couple of other women I passed that didn't like being passed so close to the end, so with less than .1 miles to go when I passed them, they sped up and beat me over the finish by a second. I wasn't trying to compete with them, but it did cause a flash of irritation.

There was a great opportunity for improvement at the finish line. Two feet after the timing mat there was a hard right roped off to get to the chip deposit and the water. I didn't even notice the water. There were some stools there where presumably some of the volunteers were supposed to be to help remove the chips, but none were there. Bending over to take off the timing chip after a six mile run is a nice way to court head injuries from people fainting and landing on their head. I was in the first half of runners to cross (yay me!) but it was already too crowded to bother with trying to hunt down some of the post-race snacks. I will say that although I didn't partake of any, they looked pretty good. There were oranges, bananas and peanut butter and jelly on a slice of bread. That's a bit more than I see at most races. I know there was a granola vendor out there too, so someone was getting some cups of granola and yogurt. I waited for Lisa at the finish line and we just took off back to home. I had a decent breakfast planned out for us that would be better than the free snacks just because I wouldn't have to wait in line for it.

The rest of the day was spent in recovery. We got up early, so there was a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap waiting. I tried not to move any more than I had to, but that's just normal weekend behavior.

Next up, the Super Jock & Jill Half Marathon on Labor Day. I have a friend that keeps telling me I need to run a half before I run a full. I don't know if I agree with her, it's not like the full will be my first organized race, but I want to run a half anyway. This one just happens to be close enough that I don't have to rent a hotel room to enjoy. So I'll drive over to Woodinville, WA and run 13.1 miles. Bonus, it starts and ends at a brewery, so I can carbo-load and get some liquid painkiller all in the same place. Second bonus, one of my 2009 goals was a half marathon. I can mark that one off earlier than I expected.

Pace Chart
Mile 1 – 9:23
Mile 2 – 9:14
Mile 3 – 9:05
Mile 4 – 9:10
Mile 5 – 9:24
Mile 6 – 9:02
Remainder (.2 miles) – 2:05

I actually saw a restaurant called...

Heh, you're going to have to work for that one. I'm going to bury the end of that sentence somewhere further down the post just to make you read it. Hopefully once you find it you'll be interested enough to stick around for the end.

I spent the last couple of nights in beautiful Arcadia, CA. Everything I know about Arcadia I learned from the television series "Joan of Arcadia." I did not have any instances of God talking to me through the homeless guy (actually, I didn't even see one homeless guy), baseball coach, night manager, or barista. All in all that was pretty disappointing, because that could have been an interesting conversation. I did, however, learn a few things:

1. The mountains are close, but you can barely see them thanks to all the crap in the air. It worries me a little when I think about what I might have been breathing (oh, hi Cancer! I didn't see you there!). When I can't see the mountains from somewhere in Seattle, I know it's either night, raining, or just low flying clouds. I'm not saying our air is pristine and perfect, but it was a hell of a lot clearer than what I got in Arcadia.

2. Seabiscuit was here, and he had a lot of other horse friends that hung around town. I went to lunch one day at a place called the Derby. It was right next door to my hotel. I was in there with a 25 year old, a guy that was probably around my age (35), and a guy that was somewhere between 45 and 50. We were still the youngest people in there by several decades. Our waitress looked like she could fondly remember her first encounter with a celebrity, Noah (the guy with the Ark, not the one from ER). The place was devoted to those select, obscenely wealthy people that don't have anything better to lose money on so they buy horses and spend all their time at the track. I hate them because I'm not one of them. I don't want to be their age, just obscenely wealthy with nothing better to lose money on.

3. Exploration runs are fun, as long as you're not trying to plan one while you're actually doing the run. A smart person would have consulted walkjogrun.net for a route or consulted with the concierge/locals at the hotel for a good place to go. I didn't do that.

4. I need to get a better control of my food situation and do it faster when I go away from home. I ate so ridiculously that first night that I would not be surprised if my traveling companion was right now telling one of our other coworkers "I can't believe how much CRAP he shoved in his mouth! And it happens the same way every single time. The first day I'm away from home I might as well just have a trough filled with slop in front of me, because I'm a freaking pig.

I arrived in Arcadia around 5:00 on Monday afternoon and took an hour or so to wind down and get settled. Monday is a rest day, so I didn't have a run planned. Instead, I went to a chain restaurant and proceeded to shovel in fried zucchini (the healthiest thing on my plate) a giant chicken fried steak and a massive back-loader full of mashed potatoes. It was so fortuitous for me that I found that place because I've been craving some chicken fried steak for a couple of days. Unfortunately, I found out that there are three of these restaurants here in Western Washington. Not right in Seattle, thankfully, but in easy driving distance. I think any carbs I might have been lacking in my diet were replenished by that meal. I barely stopped myself from getting the deep dish berry pie. I still kind of wish I'd pulled the trigger on that one. After that it was back to the hotel to veg on my two addictions, television and the Internet.

Tuesday I had a planned four mile run. I brought stuff with me so that I could do it, and I'm so proud of myself for actually getting out and running. I wish I'd had this kind of motivation when I was gallivanting all over the world. Due to the nature of the people I was traveling with I probably wouldn't have gotten as many runs in, but the running thing makes me get out of the cave (or hotel room, whatever you want to call it) and it makes me eat. In spite of the ridiculousness that were my eating habits on this trip, my normal inclination when on the road, especially if I'm alone, is to not eat. Not because I'm not hungry, I usually am, but because I'm either too lazy to leave the room or too embarrassed by my laziness to order a pizza. Well, to be somewhat fair, I've been to some places where even ordering a pizza wasn't an option. However, I've always had the option of room service, but I haven't always taken it.

I had no plan other than a distance. I had this rough idea before I got there that I'd just pick a direction and go two miles then turn around and come back. My research on this area was so non-existent that I didn't realize that we'd be in a fairly bustling suburb. I thought we'd be out in the middle of nowhere. So that brought up the complication of stoplights, which I wanted to mostly avoid. So I started out running around the block, which got rid of about 3/4ths of a mile for me. I could tell you all of the twists and turns I took, but it doesn't make for riveting reading if you must know. I wrote it all out and nearly cried because it was so boring, so I'm sparing you pain. Instead, I'll make a few comments about things I saw:

People. When you're running, non-runners stare at you like you're some kind of alien. Nodding does not always get you a reaction. Nor does smiling. Saying "hi" actually looks like it might cause some fear. "Mommy, why is the alien TALKING to me?" Just because I'm actively moving with the express purpose of maintaining some cardiovascular health does not mean I'm from another planet.

Horses. I didn't see any actual horses, but I did see a full service bookkeeper that specializes in all of your horsey needs. She keeps the books for your valuable equine property and does your tax returns too. I wonder if she was a CPA. I vaguely remember from when I was studying for my CPA that there are some special tax rules regarding horses used for racing, so I'm going to assume that she was.

Routes. Pick them wisely. At least pick them before you start running. If I had just done a little research I would have seen the nice park about half a mile down the road. I ended up there anyway, but by time I got there I didn't really need it. There was lots of activity in it too. I think there was a high school team of some sort doing some conditioning by running through the park. I though about sort of joining them, but I decided that having the 35 year old man crash their run would be more than just a little creepy. I wisely refrained. I wonder if I could have run to the Santa Anita horse racing track and run around that. Eh, that's probably what the fine fellows with badges and guns like to call trespassing. No sense in making them work any harder by doing something stupid.

Restaurants. Here it is, the money shot. I hope you read the whole thing rather than skipping right to the end to see if I stuck it someplace predictable. If you did, you owe it to me to go back and start from the beginning. Anyway, I thought this kind of crap was made up. You see it on all sorts of websites, like engrishfunny.com but I never expected to see one up close. I actually saw a restaurant called "Young Dong." I'm surprised if it's not busted by Arcadia's vice squad at least once a month. With a name like that, you know it's a cougar hangout.

Times for my splits are as follows:
Mile 1 - 9:44
Mile 2 - 9:48
Mile 3 - 10:01
Mile 4 - 10:10
Remainder - 1:34 (a whole .17 miles, so nothing to get excited about)
Average pace - 9:54

OMGWTFBBQ!

There were so many ways this post could have started out but "OMGWTFBBQ" is really the most appropriate. First, I said last week that I was likely to start every post from then until the marathon with that. Well, you were warned, and I did run farther than I've ever run before this weekend. Second, I've got a couple of things to "BBQ" about.

WTFBBQ the First
I switched up the schedule a bit and ran outside on Saturday with Lisa. We had, in my opinion, a ridiculously good time. She made me slow down a bit, and I think I made her speed up a bit, so between the two of us we went at a speed that did some good for both of us. It was nice to have a partner during the run. So nice that I didn't have to listen to the iPod, which is good since the damn thing is lacking in battery power right now. The plan starting out was for her to leave me at the the 2.5 mile mark while I continued going around Lake Union. The problem with that plan is that we had some errands that we wanted to run before going back home, and that required a small change in plans. The new plan was for her to stop at 2.5 miles and take a break while I went on and came back and we would finish our last 2.5 together. Even that got changed once we made it to Fremont.

Since this was her first run with me on one of my routes, Lisa got to see that having to deal with stoplights isn't all that bad. They provide very convenient excuses to stop and catch your breath. Sadly, those breaks largely dried up when we got to the land of no stoplights.

We had lots of good chit chat as we went along, and I'd gladly recount it for you, but 1. I don't remember any of it almost three days later and 2.) it's not really polite to repeat private conversations, is it?

At 2.5 miles we were where no man has gone before, or at least where no Larry has gone before. I had no idea that Fremont was so close. Really, just follow along the path for another half a mile from my normal turnaround point and cross the bridge and you're there. Incidentally, the bridge was up at the time, so we got to take a breather. It wasn't much, but every bit helps. I love, love, love walking or running over bridges. It's far more intimate than being in a car. You get such a better and longer view of the water. The best part is looking down when you're running over grates and seeing the water pass below you. I don't know why I love it so much, but I do. And! It gives me a whole new class of people to wave at: boaters. One of them even waved back. Thanks old-lady-boater-friend!

We went just a little further along even though she'd planned to stop after crossing the bridge because we both thought we were fairly close to the famous Fremont Troll. Although we've lived here for almost 2.5 years we haven't seen one of Seattle's favorite but lesser known landmarks. Of course, it involved us running up a hill where I was almost pancaked Final Destination/Meet Joe Black style by a Metro bus. I re-learned that I should look both ways when crossing the street even if I think it's a one-way. Sometimes, I'm not 100% correct. I'm not saying I'm wrong, just not always 100% correct.

Lisa split off from me after the troll and I went on down the road and got on the Burke-Gillman trail. I thought I'd never been on it before, but it turns out that a lot of the Brew-Ha-Ha 5k at Oktoberfest is run on it. I did BHH last year. Still disappointed that I won't have the opportunity to beat my pathetic time from last year thanks to my damn wisdom teeth. I only went a half mile out and doubled back to meet back up with her at the burger place. We didn't stop though. I'm not sure my stomach/colon could take a burger with three more miles to go.

Now we started seeing everything in reverse. We even passed some people that we'd seen going the other way. I could talk about it all again, but that would be boring page-filler. I can fill pages, but it's not worth my time unless I'm turning this in for a grade, which I'm not. Somehow, when all was said and done and we got back to Whole Foods (maybe .15 miles from our starting point) I still needed to go .4 miles to get in my full 7. So I freelanced for a bit and got my total distance in.

In case you're interested, I've put my usual miles and average pace below. Even if you're not interested you're going to have to scroll past them to get to "WTFBBQ the Second," so you might as well take a look.

Mile 1 - 10:37
Mile 2 - 11:24
Mile 3 - 12:05
Mile 4 - 10:38
Mile 5 - 11:27
Mile 6 - 11:25
Mile 7 - 11:47
Overall Avg Pace - 11:20 (or thereabouts. I didn't actually write that one down. I'm going from memory here.)

WTFBBQ the Second

I did something to my back. I don't know exactly what, but it hurts like a motherfucker. I'm going to go ahead and blame the alternate treadmill I used on Thursday night. I have some logic to go along with it:

Back when I was taking Kung Fu we had these nights once a quarter or so of shuai chow. It's basically some Judo-type stuff, tossing people around based on getting them off balance and using their weight against them. It wasn't something I was particularly good at, so I got thrown more than I threw others. Even when there wasn't throwing involved there were still falls that we had to practice. I knew when I showed up on Wednesday nights and saw the mats on the floor that I was in for a week of pain, and it never failed. My shoulders and upper back became a solid mass of throbbing painful muscle after the falls. I couldn't turn my head; I couldn't lift my arms; I couldn't do anything. The pain always started on Friday, so I know it takes a couple of days to develop.

My back pain (and butt pain if you must know) started on Saturday, so working backwards I can tell that whatever did it happened on Thursday. The only thing remotely intense I did on Thursday was a run. On a new (to me) treadmill. Ergo, the treadmill caused the pain I'm feeling right this very moment. It's been so bad at times that I didn't think I could walk. Luckily, I was introduced to two wonder drugs: Advil and Aleve. Without them, I would probably still be in bed today.

Whatever caused it, it had better be done for my Tuesday night run. I already missed my recovery run because of it. I'm going to be pissed if I have to miss another one. Besides, I ate like a southern pig tonight and I'm probably going to do the same tomorrow. I NEED to burn some calories.

10-4 good buddy!

I can just barely remember when CB radios had a tiny hint of coolness to them. I doubt they were ever as cool as I thought they were, but maybe right after Smokey & the Bandit came out there was a bit of 18-wheeler, truck driver love. Maybe it was just the 80s in Texas though.

None of that has anything to do with anything though. I only mention CB radios because of the whole 10-4 sign-off. I still don't know what that means. I could probably find out on Wikipedia, but it's just not that important to me. What is important to me is what I've done for the past three days, which have been three days of pain and suffering.

I got home from work really early on Tuesday. It was at that awkward time where it was really too late to go into the office because I'd only be there for an hour or so, and what can you really get done in an hour? It takes me almost seven of them before I really get in the working groove as it is. One hour would be a waste of their time and mine. So, since I was home and I knew I needed to go three miles, I decided to walk over to Lake Union and start my run from there. My plan was to just go fast, which isn't really a very concrete plan now that I think about it. I should have made my plan something more explicit like "make my pace one minute faster than my normal," or "do a half mile fast and a half mile slow." Anyway, I did three miles: 8:13, 9:26, and 9:18. So, not horrible, but I obviously couldn't keep up my first mile's pace through the whole thing. Actually, I know that for the first half of mile one I was probably doing closer to a 7:00 mile and the second half was around a 9:30. Well, next time I'll set my goal to do all three at an average 9:00-9:15 pace. We'll see how that works out for me.

On Thursday, I went back to my trusty old treadmill. I didn't go into it planning on doing anything interesting or different, but then Lisa convinced me to do these things she called 10-4. Basically, you warm up at your normal speed for 10 minutes, then you do your next 10 minutes at a faster racing speed. After that you go back to your warm up speed for 4 minutes, then 10 minutes at warp speed. You get the idea. I did it for 5 miles. My racing speed wasn't even that fast. More like warp 1 than warp 9, but I was still gassed after the second 10 minute set. I had to take the next 4 minutes at a walk. Fortunately, I had some good television to watch. Bobby Flay was doing a fried chicken throwdown. I've never made fried chicken, but if I can ever get over my fear of boiling oil and being burned, I've got some great ideas. Damn, I'm craving some good, fried, country food. I wish there was a Babe's Chicken Dinner or even a reasonable equivalent around here. I could really tear up a chicken fried steak with some cream gravy and a heaping mound of mashed potatoes.

Hey, did you see that story that Time ran this week about how working out doesn't really make you lose weight? I think I finally get it.

I need to start collecting my favorite running blog posts from the week so that I can start actually referencing them. I say that because somewhere, sometime in the last five days I read a post with the subject "is your marathon training making you fat?" If I could remember where I read it I'd link to it, but the upshot of it was that you do all of your normal eating, then you're sucking down some energy gels (haven't tried them yet, but I'm getting close to ordering some) and drinking energy drinks, and afterward you're eating something for some recovery. I guess if you're not watching how many calories you take in you can really do some damage to the waistline in spite of all the calories you burn getting to your 26.2 mile fun run.

Today I planned on coming home and hitting the road for a 4 miler; however, Mother Nature had other plans for me. Eventually, I will have to be willing to start my running in the chill and the rain. Heck, there's an extremely good chance that race day will start out in the really-freaking-cold with an icy rain and snow mix. I've been told that it's happened before. And I'm in Seattle. We do rain here as professionally as Texas does heat. I just wasn't feeling ready for it today. And since I didn't pack my workout bag this morning or when I came home from lunch, I didn't want to change and walk over to the gym. I almost just said "screw it" and plopped my ass down on the couch to spread a bit, but I sucked it up and hit the mini-gym in my building. I didn't have to go outside, but I still got in my 4 miles. It wasn't bad, but let's just say that every 'mill is different. This one had lower arms than the one I'm used to being on, so it felt a little off; it had more buttons and looked more complicated than the ones at All-Star. And the room had pretty much no airflow. On the plus side, I had a private television that I could just plug my headphones into. And! It's football time! Look, I love me some Food Network, but if I have to choose between someone cooking pig or someone throwing a pigskin, throw Porky's ass downfield as far as he can squeal! I can really lose myself in a football game, and I will happily run as long as I need. I may have to switch up my schedule so that I run during Monday Night Football.

I get Friday's off, and my legs are thanking me for not using them tomorrow. If I could work from bed I would. The only bad thing about a non-running day is that it has to be a mostly non-eating day. Or a "eff-it, I've lost enough weight" day. Most likely that's what it will turn out to be.

We can parasail here?

My first week of marathon training has ended. After this week, with just a few exceptions, I'll probably start off each post with something to the effect of "THAT WAS THE FARTHEST I'VE EVER RUN! OMGWTFBBQ!" I'll try to contain my excitement, for your safety and mine. However, this first week of training was no different than the last two months have been. I ran 4 miles on Saturday and 6 miles on Sunday. On the same course that I've been running every Sunday. I like the route a lot, but I'm getting kind of bored with the same old scenery. And I would much prefer to have my hills sprinkled throughout rather than just coming in a massive quarter- to half-mile incline in the last mile. It's not like I can blame that on anyone though. I'm the one that plotted the route after all.

However, before we get to Sunday, I've still got Saturday to talk about. I did 3 miles on a 'mill, and for the first time I connected the treadmill to a hamster mill. Side Note: They call Big Brother house guests hamsters, and they're generally work-out freaks (what else do they have to do in there anyway?), so I guess their treadmill is also a hamster mill. There's all that running, but you're not going anywhere. I think I did it in 27 minutes, which is fast for me, so I ain't complaining. I'd really like to get my 5k speed to around 24 minutes. We'll see. I'm not planning on another 5k until the day before the marathon, which may or may not be a good idea. I wanted to do the Brew-ha-ha again this year and improve on my time from last year, but it's happening the day after I get my wisdom teeth taken out. I could do it, but I'll be whacked out on percocet and rocking a mostly empty belly. It just doesn't sound like a great idea.

So, on to today. I'm still working out the settings on Grendel. I think I've got it because I saw the thing pause when I was standing still, but if that's the case, I don't know how to explain my splits.

Mile 1 - Time 11:37
Well that didn't go as planned. The time was supposed to be either 10 minutes or less. I have no excuse. Seriously, wtf happened? I'm bummed.

Mile 2 - Time 9:24
Ok, here's what I think happened. Yes, Grendel is set to auto-pause whenever I'm standing still, but it takes it a second or two to realize that I'm not going anywhere. Yeah, that's it. The first mile has plenty of stoplights to wait through. I have to either find a route without too many stoplights, or I'm going to have to just learn to live with some suck ass times. Given where I live, I'm probably going to have to suck it up.

The reason I think the stoplights are the problems is because of miles 2-5. I'm in the park with nothing to make me stop except for frisbee players, dogs, people who veer from one side of the path to the other, and me.

As soon as I got into the park I was greeted with a new and unexpected sight: parasailing. We can do parasailing here? It shouldn't surprise me, since there's all that water, but in three summers this is the first time I've seen parasailing being done in Elliot Bay. I went parasailing for the first time in March, and it was tons of fun. I want to go again. I'm not that into paying for it though.

Mile 3 - Time 9:58
Still below 10 minutes per mile, so I'm still happy. I'm enjoying the view. That's a mighty nice cruise ship you've got there. I've got to get around these slow people, I swear that guy looks like he's fake running. I wish I could master the trick of reading a book or a magazine while running.

Mile 4 - Time 9:21
Hmm, what have we here? Oh, that would be more speed. I don't know where it came from though. Whatever, just like money, I'll take more speed wherever I can find it.

I'm amazed by the way people can just lay in the park doing nothing. I can't handle doing that for more than a few minutes. I'd get antsy and want to see what else there was around me. There's one spot along the trail where there's a little workout area. It's very little, and I almost think it's a bit of perpetual performance art. There's a couple of pull-up bars in a little patch of sand. Attached by chain is one of those short dumbells for doing some curls, but it's made of concrete. I guess that means it's weatherproof. I see people doing stuff in that area all the time. Usually they look like they're just playing around, today's contestants looked like they were serious. One was cranking out the pull-ups, the other was working her abs. Silly people, don't you know "mini muscle beach" is for looks only?

Mile 5 - Time 10:09
Oh, you damn slow tourists, must you always be in my way? First you take up the whole sidewalk, then you blindly and bravely step in front of me. Those of you that are looking right at me refuse to give an inch. Those of you that can't see me are just freaking unpredictable. I could change all my frustrations with this mile by simply crossing the street, but it's so much nicer right by the water! At least I won't have to deal with this next weekend.

Mile 6 - Time 13:40
There are a combination of factors here that lead to this sucktastic time. First, running up Madison literally means up. It's a ridiculous incline and it lasts somewhere between a quarter to a half mile. Second, you really just don't know how nasty this hill is until you try it out. It's from the waterfront to 5th Ave. Please, go try it right now. I'll wait.

Are you back? Did you do it? If you did, you'll understand why I went up so much slower, and you'll also understand why I stopped at every street, regardless of whether I had the light to cross. A guy's got to catch his breath, you know. And this is the big drawback from this entire route. I have to go down to get to the water at the beginning, but I have to go back up eventually.

I actually had to run around Westlake Center before I finally hit 6 miles. More evidence that the iPod is back to it's lying ways. It doesn't matter anymore since I now have Grendel, but I take offense when my electronics lie to me.

Next Sunday I finally increase my distance, and I've already got my route planned out. I'm going to run straight around Lake Union. There's a path that goes around it, so it should be fairly obvious. And, bonus, I'll get a preview of the Lake Union 10-K which I'm running on the 26th. It will be wonderful to get some new scenery.

Running with dachshunds

Whew! I had no idea a week and a half off would take so much out of me. It was a good week, filled with travel and fun. I've decided that there's no point in lying to myself anymore. Next time I go on a trip, I'm not going to take up the space in my luggage with running clothes, because I know that I'm not going to run and I AM going to want that extra space for whatever gee-gaws, thingamajigs and whatchamacallits I pick up gallivanting around the country. I may make an exception for work-related travel, if I have to do any.

This week marks the first official week of my training program, and I am looking forward to getting to it. Ironically, my first week looks much like the previous weeks with 3-4 mile runs for four days and a 6 mile run on the weekend. Actually, the first week, according to the plan, is a 5 mile long run, but I'm skipping that. Plus, bumping my plan up a week gives me a chance to skip my long run on 9/20 when I will be recovering from having all four of my wisdom teeth yanked out. I predict incoherence and a dependency on percocet (already got the prescription - hehe!). I might want to save some of those percs for after the marathon, now that I think about it. Actually, I think we've got some other good stuff floating around somewhere, so maybe I don't need to skimp myself on the perckies.

Today was only my second chance to work out with the Garmin (codename: Grendel), the previous opportunity being the Torchlight, so I'm working through the settings. I had it set so that it would pause every time I stopped so that my time waiting at lights did not work against me, and I reset that so that it didn't auto-pause today. That was a mistake. It made me look bad (read: SSSSLLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWWWW). I changed that one back as soon as the run was over. I also made a setting change so that it automatically counts a "lap" every mile. That one I really like as it will allow me to see the splits for every mile.

Mile 1 - Time 13:31
It's not obvious yet, but this is the first sign that I shouldn't have turned off auto-pause. Thirteen and a half minutes to go one mile?! That's less than five miles an hour, and I know exactly what caused my time to be so slow: stoplights. If I had paused while I was standing at the lights, my time would have been much more like miles 2 and 3. It just made things look ugly.

I went earlier today than usual, which meant that there were more people crowding up my running space and more people on bicycles. I recognize the bicycle as a valid method of transportation and easier on the environment than a car is, but a sidewalk is for WALKERS; if you want to ride a bike, get on the road and get off my nice, safe path. And you with the walker! Stay to the right!

Mile 2 - Time 9:16
Yeah! That's more like it! Between 6.5 and 7mph, moving at a decent clip. I love that I'm going faster, but there are no breaks, unless I make one for myself, in miles 2 and 3. I "zipped" through this one, wheezing the whole way and hoping for the end of the second mile to come faster. Faster, dammit! Really, I don't even remember much about the second mile. There just wasn't that much going on.

Mile 3 - Time 9:45
Hey! Where'd my 30 seconds go? Oh yeah, that walk break right at the beginning of the mile. But that can't be all of it. I must have slowed down a bit. I checked Grendel often and saw my pace all over the place. It must have been slower more often than I thought. I'll bet what happened was that I looked down and saw a slow pace, so I sped up a bit to a satisfactory pace, and as soon as I stopped looking at it I slowed down again.

I saw a lady running with her dog (hint: look at the title). She looked like she was going fast enough, maybe 5-5.5mph. The poor little dachshund looked like he was going twice that speed. His little legs were a blur. I can't decide if it was a little bit of animal cruelty or just good human/doggy bonding.

Mile 4 - Time 12:27
Seriously?! Stoplights again. I'm more disappointed about this mile than the first mile, because I was consciously giving it more. I wanted to finish strong. I ran fast down the sidewalks only to arrive just as the "Don't Walk" sign went solid. I'm enough of a scofflaw that I'll run against the light, but traffic was constant enough that I was almost guaranteed to be run over. I'm not willing to get run over just to make up some time. I charged up the final hill to my apartment, glad to put this first post-break run behind me.

I was feeling a lot better by the end, but that's always the case. I can't wait to start increasing the miles. That's for next week though. Tomorrow is another four miler, which will either be on my other 4 mile route or on the treadmill, I haven't decided yet. I can't wait to start planning out routes for the increasing mileage. There are some parts of Seattle that I'm not familiar with, and this will be a good way to explore them.

16 weeks from Sunday until the Seattle Marathon. Incidentally, that means 16 weeks from tomorrow until Thanksgiving. I'm going to do some carb-loading at Maggiano's. Between now and then, I'm going to eat pretty much whatever the hell I want. I'll be burning enough calories for it.