Tag Archive for running

Whitestone 30k Race Report

March 24, 2010 planet3rry 2 comments

On February 28, 2010 I had my 12 year RUNiversary, and what a strange race it turned out to be…

The Whitestone 30k is a road race whose START/FINISH is at the Whitestone Inn in Paint Rock, TN. I had ran it back in 2002, but given it’s distance and date (traditionally, a Sunday) I hadn’t put it on my racing calendar. But this year, since I am not running a Spring Marathon, but instead training for a PR time at the 1/2 marathon distance on April 24 in Harriman, TN, I thought this would be a very good endurance run, since I just had run Strawplains Half Marathon just 2 weeks prior.

Like all the races that I know ahead of time that I am going to run, I will volunteer for any pre-race duties. Seeing that this was a training run and a longer distance, there would be little chance of me placing in my age-group, I wouldn’t need any warm-up and as long as I got to the starting line, I’d be fine. Bobby Holcombe was the race director for the event and emailing him saying that I could volunteer for anything pre-race that I’d be more than happy to help. My reply was that most things were covered, but a few people including myself would be on the “reserve/back-up list” in case there was a need for something. I could handle that, just fine.

One of the neat things about volunteering at Knoxville Track Club events, is that you get a Volunteer Voucher, which in essence is good for $5 in KTC money. That is, you can apply vouchers when purchasing KTC apparel or race entry fees for KTC events, or exchanging it for that race’s shirt (because it is so cool, or NOT white!). When you volunteer outside of Knox County, you get 2 of them! Well, with my volunteering at Strawplains, I had 9 coupons, which is worth $45 in KTC Land. It just so happened to be that Whitestone 30k was $45 for Day of Race registration! So, I didn’t have to pay a nickel to run the 30k! However, there were NO t-shirts for Day of Race entrants and I am waiting for the email saying that my shirt is ready.

I arrived on-site and proceeded to find Volunteer Check-In and Day of Race Registration. Wasn’t difficult at all, and still being early it went fast as well. When I checked in, everything was “covered” so I didn’t really have anything to do… I could just take my 2 coupons and head out for the race. But that’s shooting fish in a barrel and I’m not really programmed to work that way anyway. I’d still volunteer is there were NO coupons, but I appreciate the coupons though! Registration (usually a good pre-race activity) was fine, so I headed out to see if there was anything that I could to help outside. I wandered over to the KTC trailer and found people pulling out tables for the water stations. I jumped right in and helped get those tables into a pick-up to be taken out to the course. Then I started loading another truck with cones, Mile Markers, and Race In Progress signs.

I was beginning to shape up that the guy, Dave, was going to be alone in putting out the road markers, so I grabbed a map and hopped into the truck. The Whitestone 30k course wraps around itself depending on where you are. That is, there are certain chunks of roadway that you run over 3 times with different directions at the intersections depending on how far you are in the race. As a result some of the Mile Markers, are near 100ft of each other, so when it came to looking for the markings for these, if we found one, we knew the other was close. We had about 45 minutes to get all the Mile Markers, Cones and Race in Progress signs out there and for the most part it went pretty smoothly. We did calculate that given the race start that we’d be behind in getting everything out before the race actually started. Most of the Mile Markers weren’t an issue because even the immortal Elite Runners could never run that fast that we couldn’t put the 12 mile marker on the road before they would get there… they’d have to be running at a World Record pace of 1:00 mi/min.

Given our location (near Mile 11) and the time, we might have an issue with the 6 mile marker not being out on the course in time. After we put down Mile 12 marker, we started seeing some of the runners and the Police stopped traffic. We were close enough to some of the Mile Markers, that Dave took one in one direction and I took the other. While setting up the Mile Marker I had, # I think, I saw my friend THE Stewart Ellington, who at the time was in second overall, but there was a relay aspect to this race, so that might have just been a relay person ahead of him. I got to cheer him as he passed and then I ran back to the truck. THE Stewart Ellington ended up placing 1st in this race, and actually in alot of races around here… I joke with him that he better watchout because during the race I’ll be behind him chasing him down. Of course his pace is like 5 and some change… mine, eh…

So as we proceeded to head back, we saw the bulk of runners and Dave was talking with the people he knew as we went by. It was really cool because he knows some of the personally, he would tell me an interesting fact about them, which was cool. But we both TOTALLY missed the Mile 17 marker! So we kept going to put the Mile 18 mile marker down and then I asked him if he could take me to the Race Start before he went back to put down Mile 17. He dropped me off and I ran to my car where I put on my number and got what I would need for the race. When I got to the top of the hill, there was no one around… I found the line I assumed that was used for the Starting Line, leisurely got all my gear together, looked at the time and started the stopwatch. My watch said 8:56 when I started so that was +26 minutes into the race, if it had started right on time at 8:30 and the time was accurate.

The Race start is an Exciting downhill start… steep and windy down the parking lot and entrance to Whitestone Inn. I had just passed where my car was when I remembered: OH I DON’T HAVE MY WATERBOTTLE! Seeing that I had some inside of me just 3 days earlier that “Hated The World”, I was worried that I would be dehydrated during the race, so having that water bottle was of utmost importance! And that backtracking to the car was the best diversion ever… I would have been DOA if I hadn’t gone back and gotten it.

Miles 1-5

The first couple of miles, was just trying to find a pace that wasn’t too strenuous. The only thing was that I was DEAD LAST… I was 20+ minutes BEHIND the patrol car, so knowing that just made me WANT to run fast. But I know that had I done that I would be paying for it big time later in the race. This was the longest distance since the Flying Monkey Marathon in November 2009, so I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last. Plus hitting the Wall around Mile 9 of the Strawplains Half Marathon just 2 weeks prior, I wasn’t sure where that Wall would be for a 18.7 mile course… maybe 11, maybe 15… maybe 8? Who Knew?

Being where I was on the course, when I approached MY mile 2, this was the Elite’s Mile 6, so I was being passed by some of the Elite Runners and some of the Relay Team. I did want to speed up as they passed, they made it look SOOO easy to run at that pace… I would sound like a herd of wild elephants or something.

When I approached the Split at Mile 2.5, which you pass by 3 times, I had to tell the Volunteers who were telling the runners at the Mile 6.5 point that I was just making my first pass! I filled my Water Bottle at every chance that I could to make sure that I stayed hydrated. Since I had helped set up the course, I already knew where the water stations were going to be located and so for Racing Dynamics, it made it easier to pace my water intake, trying to keep myself from dehydrating too quickly.

Right near the Mile 5 marker I saw the flashing lights of the patrol car who was following the last runner. At this point, I was relieved that I was now back “officially” within the course time cutoff.

Miles 6-12

For the next batch of miles, I felt pretty decent. I wasn’t pushing myself, but rather trying to stay evenly paced as best I could with the terrain. I was completely alone, there was no one ahead of me and the last runner was still behind, I really had no idea where I was in the race, other than next-to-last. Mile 8 of the course double backs on its self and it was here that I saw the tail end of runners, about 7 of them just starting Mile 9 and I was just beginning Mile 8. I tried to do some math to see if my pace would be enough to catch up with them before the finish line. I wasn’t sure… perhaps, but we hadn’t quite hit half-way and there were still Plenty O’Hills to worry about.

When I came to Mile 9, I could just make out the Police lights of the Last Runner, he was yet to start Mile 8. Good to know that he was still going steady-on. The runners ahead of me where out of side… still perhaps about a mile away, but with the hills and curves, I couldn’t see them. At Mile 10, I shifted my race strategy to incorporate some mandating walking (other than water stops). I could tell that I was consuming liquids WAY too fast, which for me means that if I continue at the same pace, I will end up Hitting the Wall and it falling on me. Using this strategy, I could at least defer The Wall to a later distance.

Starting at Mile 11, the course takes you back on the main road, which unfortunately is not sheltered from the elements. In my case, this was slightly beneficial because the cold wind was helping keep my core body temperature from rising too fast going up the hills. I was still able to maintain running for the most part, with walk breaks taken at specific locations (usually at the mid/end of a downhill).

Miles 13-Finish

I knew at this point that that personal finishing time (Terry Time) would be decent given the conditions, my training, etc but that the clock time would stink. I still figured that my pace was still overall faster than those that I saw at Mile 9, but I didn’t see them although there were hills and curves to obstruct my view. Knowing that I was basically running on this road right up until the finish line, I began to move into my Race Finish Mode. Even though there was no time goal involved (good that I didn’t have a Guess My Time, Win Crap contest), this was still a Race and unless it’s a “fun run” it’s ethical to beat 6 year olds and 80 year olds. My goal at this point was to maintain my pace, and to try to over take runners still on the course (which is a typical Race Strategy).

Around Mile 16 I started seeing a lot of vehicles coming from the direction of the Whitestone Inn. This could really only mean ONE thing… the Award Ceremony was over and people were leaving! And sure enough, that is what it was… runners…  rather “Finishers” leaving to head home and I’m still out there with just a few miles to go. I even saw the overall winner pass and wave to him and his wife and I wondered if it was weird that he saw me help setting up the course at “his” Mile 2 and that I was wearing a Race Bib and he was leaving at “my” Mile 17?

Just before I reached Mile 18, at the top of the hill, I could see another runner on the course. But damn was I tired! There wasn’t a whole lot in the take, but I did have one thing… motivation. I wanted… NEEDED to finish quickly. The uphill finish for this race is nothing to be trifled with even for those like me that actually “Like” hills! In the last 1/2 mile I shifted into a quick walk, fast pace run. While this is much more taxing on the body, it does provide a faster pace and at this point, it was do or die.

Not only is the uphill pretty steep, just to make it more “fun” there’s a number of curves associated with it. And it was here where I saw my chance to pick-off the weak of the herd. I pulled within 10-20 feet of the runner right in front of me waiting for the right time to move. The last part of the course is on a asphalt “trail” that leads up to the Inn and Chapel and maybe 0.1 of a mile… or little more… but, you have make a right turn from the parking lot onto to it. And that is when I made my move.

Right as she was turning, I accelerated past her and started to churn my legs to make it up the hill. I probably got a 20-25 feet ahead of her before my legs said… “NO MORE” and I was forced to walk. However, my mind decided to drown out my Legs whining and I focused on the top of the hill where I could see the clock and just started moving as best as I could. And then, I crossed the finish line… “officially” in 3:49:48 as the 124 finisher out of 126. Looking at the finishing times, I could have potentially have come in 122, if I had just been 15 seconds faster…

The unofficial Terry Finish Time was 3:28:49, which ended up being roughly 21 mins difference… so perhaps the race started a tad late. Now, although the conditions would have been different had I started with the rest, my unofficial time would have put me around 108 out of 126. So overall, I was fine with my time, it was a training run after all anyway, but I was more pleased from my performance. I have said it before that I have learned MORE about my running style and strategies on races that have gone poorly than I do where I run races well.

Here’s a picture from the Whitestone Inn, just a few feet from the Start/Finish Line

Whitestone Inn

Great view! Taken with Pi-Eleven (My Palm Pixi)

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2010 Running Calendar

February 25, 2010 planet3rry 3 comments

This is what I want to run for this year (well, considering that I am FINALLY posting it near the end of February):

Date Event Distance Location
28-Feb-10 Whitestone
30k		 30k
Race		 Paint
Rock, TN
28-Mar-10 Covenant
Health Knoxville Marathon		 VOLUNTEERING Knoxville,
TN
3-Apr-10 Greenways
5k		 5k
Race		 Knoxville,
TN
17-Apr-10 Spring
Sprint		 5k
Race		 Alcoa,
TN
17-Apr-10 Breakthrough
Ribbon Run		 5k
Race		 Knoxville,
TN
18-Apr-10 Trideltathon
Sprint Triathlon		 Sprint
Distance Tri		 Knoxville,
TN
24-Apr-10 Rittenhouse/Emory
River Half-Marathon		 Half-Marathon Harriman,
TN
1-May-10 Run
for the Deaf		 5k
Race		 Knoxville,
TN
15-May-10 The
Trail That Can’t Be Concord		 8-Mile
Trail Race		 Knoxville,
TN
29-May-10 TN Sport Med EXPO 10,000k 10k/5k Races Knoxville,
TN
31-May-10 Foothills
Sprint Triathlon		 Sprint
Distance Triathlon		 Maryville,
TN
5-Jun-10 Rigde
Runner Races		 Marathon Cairo,
WV
12-Jun-10 Ijams
Wilderness 10k Trail Run		 10k
Trail Race		 Knoxville,
TN
12-Jun-10 Magnum
Track Club Boogie		 Marathon Ellerbe,
NC
19-Jun-10 Summer
Solstice 8k		 8k Race Walland,
TN
20-Jun-10 Knoxville
Volunteer Olympic Triathlon		 1.5K
Swim / 40K Bike / 10K Run		 Knoxville,
TN
3-Jul-10 Pilot
Fireball Classic 5k		 5k
Race and 1-Mile Walk		 Knoxville,
TN
18-Jul-10 Tellico
Sprint Triathlon		 .6
mi./ 16 mile/ 3.1 mile		 Lenoir
City , TN
6-Aug-10 Haw
Ridge Trail Race		 7-Mile
Trail Race		 Oak
Ridge, TN
14-Aug-10 Scholars Run 5k Race Maryville,
TN
5-Sep-10 Norris
Dam Hard Trail Race		 15-Mile
Trail Race		 Norris,
TN
12-Sep-10 Wears
Valley 15k		 15k
Race		 Townsend,
TN
18-Sep-10 Arkansas
Marathon		 Marathon Benton,
AR
25-Sep-10 Big
South Fork 17.5 Mile Trail Race		 17.5-Mile
Trail Race		 Oneida,
TN
26-Sep-10 Quad
Cities Marathon		 Marathon Moline,
IL
3-Oct-10 OFF’N
RUNNING Triple Lake Trail Race		 Marathon Greensboro,
NC
10-Oct-10 Cross
Knox 15k		 15k
Race		 Knoxville,
TN
10-Oct-10 Mystery
Mountain Marathon		 Marathon Chatworth,
GA
16-Oct-10 Townsend
10k		 10k
Race		 Townsend,
TN
30-Oct-10 Halloween
Howl 10k		 10k
Race		 Knoxville,
TN
30-Oct-10 Ridge
to Bridge Marathon		 Marathon Morganton,
NC
7-Nov-10 Mill
House Classic 15k		 15k
Race		 Walland,
TN
13-Nov-10 Chickamauga
Marathon		 Marathon Chickamauga,
GA
21-Nov-10 Flying Monkey Marathon Marathon Nashville,
TN
25-Nov-10 BlueCross
Autumnfest 8k		 8k
Race & 2 mile Walk		 Knoxville,
TN
5-Dec-10 Reindeer Run 5k 5k Race Alcoa, TN
9-Dec-10 Rocket
City Marathon		 Marathon Huntsville,
AL

Legend:
The Races in BOLD are the ones that I have every intention on doing
The Races in GREEN are ones where I have a Time Goal in mind for that race
The Races in YELLOW are Marathons that I would contemplate doing if the logistics worked out
The other Races are ones that I would like to do, but I probably won’t because of time & cost, but I may volunteer at them

Local Knoxville area races can be found at the KTC Website
US Marathons can be found in a number of places, I usually go to Marathon Guide.com

running ,

Break for Strollers

February 25, 2010 planet3rry 4 comments

Or in my case: Strollers Broke!

We purchase a double stroller for the kids back in 2007, which I have taken on a number of different runs with me (including the 2007 and 2008 Worldwide Half Marathon) and some family excursions. Here’s a picture of the kids in the stroller on the 3rd Creek Greenway sometime in 2008.

We Like Running with Daddy

Well, on January 16 when I took the kids out on Third Creek Greenway from the Bearden Entrance to Tyson Park (2.5 miles one-way) where they can play on the nice big City of Knoxville playground. On the way back, I noticed that with about 1 mile to go, the stroller wanted to pull to the right. This was odd because The Elder was sitting on the left side and Vector Theory would suggest that it would pull to the left. I thought that it might have been a tire issue, with the right back tire having less pressure (thus creating more friction) and slowing that side down.

When we got back to the parking lot, we went over to look at the map of the Greenway and I showed the kids, where we were and where we went, etc. Then, when I went to leave, the kids seat dropped… how odd.

Getting back to the van, I took a closer look at the stroller and found a couple of places where it had broken:



EGADS! It’s pretty DARN broken there at the weld. I am not sure that even Duct Tape could fix it at this point. Looking at it with an engineer eye, I figured that it could be disassembled and the broken tubes could be replaced. I thought that the manufacturer would be able to supply the pieces for me, either for free or for a low-low cost.

So, I went hunting for the Dreamer Design website…

The first site that I found was for Stroller Ideas, where the had this to say about Dreamer Design Strollers…

“Dreamer Design does just that “Dreams to Design”. With years of Jogging Stroller experience behind their creative team, they have taken all the requests from parents over the years and turned them into an AWESOME stroller line. They back up our product line with a 20 year warranty and include features that no one else offers. The extra foot brake for added safety and the all weather canopy included with the purchase, just to name a few. From their creative research team to our customer service staff, your buying a name that says quality and strollers from the heart.”

and then when I went to the

Dreamer Design website… this is what is there:

Yeah! So now I am screwed! I can’t get any help from the Manufacturer… there are “no” spare parts. I’d basically have to buy a used one and gouge that one for parts, or just buy a new stroller. It totally sucks! The little glimmer of Optimism’s Flame is that now that The Younger can ride his bike, I can him with me on shorter runs. There is also the possibility of using a “not-really-for-running” stroller for The Elder while the The Younger follows behind. But the traffic on 3rd Creek is a little too much for them right now.

running ,

Rain then Race

January 22, 2010 planet3rry One comment

Yesterday (Thursday Jan 21 2010), the weather peeps said that there would be Rain and more Rain until the afternoon and then a break and then MORE rain. And sure enough, the morning time was surely rainy and so I concluded that a lunchtime run wouldn’t fit into the schedule. Plus the fact that we had an IEPish meeting at the primary school earlier that morning and I would be taking time off for that, I could at least “Work” through “Lunch” and redeem that hour back. Plus this week at work has been rather unusual with the work requests.

Go Figure… about 11am the sky cleared up a bit, the rain stopped and it was almost pleasant. And it stayed that way until… OH until the evening! I could have managed that Lunchtime run, BUT (wait, here’s the rest of the story) I didn’t have 1) Shorts or 2) Underwear Incognito (i.e. “shorts”) or 3) Towels because I had “thought” about checking off my list of stuff to restock my workout bag (and car) but I never actually got around to “doing anything about it”.

Today (Friday), I had The Younger with me at work, then with everywhere I needed to take him, I didn’t get back to my desk until 1:30pm. But no worries… I just have a 10miler tomorrow.

That’s right! It’s the annual Calhoun’s 10 miler in Lenoir City, TN! I’ve run this one a couple of times and with a Fall Marathon, it’s typically the first long distance of the year for my Spring Training. Which technically, it will be longest distance so far this year (decade) but I have not figured out what I am going to race this Spring.

I doubt that I will be asked back to the Knoxville Marathon as a pacer, given my CRASH AND BURRRNNNNNN (i.e. DNF) from last year, which means that I will Volunteer somewhere out on the course like I have done in the past. So that means we will have to travel somewhere (not far probably) for a race and if we do that… I want to do a race in a State I have ran before (‘Being Sober’ doesn’t count).

So, I’m going to look at the calendar of 2010 races from Marathon Guide (around 411 of them starting the first weekend of April through end of December) and which ones are candidates and go from there.

But I think in the mean time, I will concentrate on the local races, which will help build for a Late March/Early April marathon at the very least. Calhoun’s 10 miler (now), Strawplains Half Marathon (2-13-10) and Whitestone 30k. Also, there are a number of shorter races that I “can” run, but given they cost money… I might run a few and volunteer at some. That way, I can earn volunteer coupons for Race Entries, KTC items!

Life In General

Determinated, despite no shorts

January 19, 2010 planet3rry 4 comments

“planet3rry Getting ready to do a lunchtime run… MAN it has bem a loooong time! http://tinyurl.com/yd7e58e about 2 hours ago from Tweed”

From my twitter on Tuesday (1/19/2010), I was VERY excited about getting back into the Run-At-Lunch thing that I used to do, but hadn’t in MONTHS. I think sometime November, I ran ONCE at lunch time. So, I was excited to get back out on the streets of the UT Campus and Downtown area for my runs. The lunchtime runs are truly the meat of my running life. I’ll post what my mileage was for 2009, and it was some what of a joke. Some of the mental trash that went on in 2009 carried over into 2010… and it was FINALLY 18 Days that I broke the seal on running in 2010 and today’s lunchtime was the second run of the year (hell, decade for that matter).

And in my second tweet on my running, I commented about my dilemma… a lack of running attire in my workout bag for the run, namely: SHORTS.

“planet3rry So what does a runner do when faced with no running shorts in you workout bag and you can’t exactly run in you work pants? about 2 hours ago from Tweed “

Being rather excited to get out and up to the Aquatic Center, I threw my workout stuff into my backpack and headed out the door. I knew that I should have everything, as I had started to (but only got halfway) organizing my workout bag last week. This time I HAD shoes… so I should be good… right? Wrong.

I got to the Aquatic Center and while I was disrobing, I realized that I couldn’t re-robe myself with running shorts because there were none to be found. WHA? I didn’t have shorts… COME ON NOW! I should have shorts… I mean, I have forgotten socks, towels and shirts before, but SHORTS? Sweatpants… I usually carry sweatpants! Except this time. I’m thinking now, “Oh great, now I have to back to my office and mope around because I forgot stooopid shorts.” Who knew if I had shorts at my desk at this point anyway. I thought that I had them in my bag, but nooooo…

Pants… I could run in my pants. Denim Jeans to be exact. Friends don’t let Friends run in Cotton and surely not Denim. I didn’t have a backup for the pants… and I didn’t want the denim to get wet then heavy, not to mention the stench. Bathing suit! Yes! I could wear my Speedos… they aren’t the European Old Man Cut. They actually have like a 1/4″ inseam so, they are about as long as some of the running shorts out there. And while I would run in them (and have), that is warm weather attire since I run in them when I do a Brick Workout (swim then run).

So what else could I do? Run in my skivvies? Well, not to mention my unmentionables, but I wore a pair of technical skivvies since I knew that I would be running today. While I “could” run in these seeing that they would be the equivalent of the “sports bra”, I did not want the chance of them becoming Running Thongs during the run.

I dug into the depths of my workout bag and I discovered a pair of Boxer-Briefs. Hmmmm, Salvation? They had more fabric real estate than my current skivvies or the Speedos. They were dark-gray which would not stand out as some of the other vibrant under garments that I have. They kinda “looked” like spandex except that the stitching on the backside was not disguised not were they very shiny, but the might work.

I ended up wearing them, with my shirt no tucked. This way, the shirt would cover some of my backside, so unless you were really looking, you wouldn’t see the underwear stitching. Plus, I was hoping that if people were to look, they might just think they were short-short running shorts and I’d be gone down the road. I wasn’t trying to draw attention at this point because this was not a clothing-optional organized race and I didn’t want to violate any pub(l)ic decency laws in the city.

So, I went out to run in my underwear. Things went fine. No unusual honking or whistling or yelling that I noticed. I didn’t go quite as far as I wanted… I ended up going 2.8 miles, which was fine. I tested out some GPS apps on my Palm Pixi, which is my first experience using GPS equipment, so now I get to see how that all worked out.

I’ve made a list of stuff I need to restock my workout bag, but nothing was going to stop me from running at lunchtime.

Life In General

Internet 60 minutes at a time

January 15, 2010 planet3rry One comment

[This was written on New Year's Eve...]

Our household has been without internet since September as a way to cut spending. Also at the end of September, we turned off our home phone AND our Cable. Although, we have not totally become TV free in our household, we have made that step to stop the crap that Hollywood can only seem to reproduce time and time again. And if there is anything news worthy, we do have the internet via our mobile phones (My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Palm Pre) and my work. I do now have the Palm Pixi (which I call ‘Pi-11′ to soften the tinkerbell connotations of the phone…. disclaimer: my most recent phone was a pink Katana II, so having a phone that “sounds” girlie is nothing compared to one that “looks” girlie) [uh, where was I], which I can access my email and web and a bunch of other cool stuff that I could only do if: I borrowed My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Pre or be at work.

Now that I am on a forced vacation… December 28 through January 1st, because the University of Tennessee is in its annual “administrative closing” cycle, this meant two things: More Kid Time, Less internet. My BRILLIANT Lovely and Talented Wife suggested that I go to the Library and work “1/2 day” to maintain some normalcy in our household. Both The Elder and The Younger are on their Christmas Holiday Winter Whatever Break and so with everybody home that is just a recipe for Clutter and Chaos. So, a few things had to happen for me to get to the point where I could work 1/2 days. 1) I needed a place to work with Internet Access 2) I needed a place conducive to getting real work done 3) I needed a place that I could work and then when I was done working, I could run. yes, I said RUN. As of me typing this blog entry, I have not run since December 3rd, but there is hope on the way. I need am INTERVENTION from this not running.

The place that satisfied ALL these conditions was the Knox County Public Library… 1) I can get internet access, 60 minutes with a library card, 2) It’s quiet in the library and you can really “buy” anything… but does have some strange personalities that roam through the collections and 3) The Farragut Branch is really close to my house AND adjacent to the Campbell Station Greenway! So, 2 weeks ago, I signed up for my library card… which means that now the The County and The Government is following my every move… wait, don’t they already do that?

Since my “real” work has actually been full of legimate work, thanks American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, I have had little time to do the things that I used to do mainly at work: Blog and Trade (stocks/options). So that is what I have been doing this week… well, when I wasn’t sitting in the waiting room of The Clinic.

Seems that the other day, in one of those simple instances… like putting down a cup of coffee… strange things happen in our world which follows the rules of Physics. Seems that I was able to apply enough Force (F) which was enough to break (coeffiecent of adhesion) the handle of the mug into two (n) pieces which cause one of the pieces to interact with my hand, namely the knuckle of my right hand’s middle finger (FU). Following Newtonic Rules of Motion, it was the ceramic piece which ceased to be in motion once it came into contact with my knuckle. Seems that about an inch (1″) of flesh was enough to stop the ceramic piece’s motion, however, it caused an incision to open in my hand (OWWIE). Noah would have been excited because with the blood, it was like the parting of the Red Sea. (I put the wrong person down, just to check to see if you were reading this… everybody knows that Abraham parted the Red Sea). Being a guy, and previously been certified in Red Cross First Aid, even to the First Responder level, I knew that I needed something… and a beer was not that thing. It was direct Pressure (P), and I applied that in a millisecond (ms) of the cut. At this point, I wasn’t sure of just how big the cut was, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty. My Lovely and Talented Wife was in the next room and hopefully not engrossed too deep in a game of Five or More to hear my body hit the hardwood floor as I bled out.

I made it the Laundry Room, which is also our First Aid Triage Room and our Pharmacy. I was now faced with a dilemma… I couldn’t get the band-aids (please don’t sue me) bandages with one hand incapacitated and the other one engaged in self-preservation. I tried for about 30 seconds, before I called out, “Lovely and Talented Wife, I need your help!”. I was met with an immediate response since I NEVER ask for help, even if getting help is EASIER than the way that I am doing it. So, with the calling for help, she was like a cat hearing the can-opener, except… no tasty treat. Surprisingly we were able to get the bandage on with little problem. There wasn’t much blood, but there was “sinking” of one of the flaps of the skin. I didn’t think that I needed stitches, but still followed (yes, dear) my wife’s request of trying to call the doctor. But given that it was 7:30pm on a Sunday, I had no chance of being seen. That meant, if I wanted stitches, I would need to go to the Emergency Room. Seeing that I 1) I did not have a head injury or 2) a gunshot wound, the chance of being seen in the Emergency Room before Sunrise, was slim to very very very slim. I decided to do my own First Aid handy work and try to survive the night.

Although I was never a Boy Scout but rather watch MacGvyer in the 80s (and had the hair at the time), I was able to fashion a split for my finger using a bandage, prewrap, athletic tape and popsicle sticks. And it worked, just peachy! No duct tape needed (darn!).

The next day, once the kids were up, I had some full frontal reality. In about 10 minutes, they must have hit my finger at least once if not TWICE! (and once was enough). I decided that I would be going to “The Clinic” so that I could get it looked at by a ‘professional’ and see if I really needed stitches. The Clinic didn’t open until 2pm though and I didn’t want to go to my PCP because that place is full of sick people. At least at the clinic, they are doing mainly tests at time of day. After a 2 and 1/2 hour wait at the clinic… I walked out with a metal splint on my finger, which was a nice upgrade to my home-grown splint. All it cost was the price of a co-pay.

### Fast Forward 2 weeks

I guess now I have to play catch up on my blog. The good thing is that I have a smart phone now which makes texting, browsing, etc SOOOO much easier. So, now I still have to figure out my running calendar this year!

Life In General , ,

2009 Flying Monkey Marathon Race Report

January 14, 2010 planet3rry 3 comments

2009 Flying Monkey Marathon Race Report

Date 11.22.2009

Location: Percy Warner Park, Antioch TN

Abstract

This was my second consecutive running of this race, and while I was excited about the event, I was grossly undertrained. With low motivation in August, when training was supposed to start, to a sliced heel in September and then in early November, a mysterious chest congestion which produced some amount of phelghm, I hardly was able to train like I wanted, or how I should! Regardless, I was signed up, even pleading after the race had filled up to capacity to be an entrant, so I was going to run the race even if was the death of me. [ed. Note since I am writing this, I did not die, although I would have been nice monkey fodder if they knew my state on the course]. The race was a nice tie-in to our trip to California, we were flying out of Nashville and so we would be in Nashville the day before our flight which, in theory, should make the flight easier for the whole family.

Pre-Race

Having the advantage of running this race previously, I knew when and where the race start would take place. This logistic point would be very important, as when I go to the race site, I had about 4 minutes until race start. We used reward points to stay at our hotel, which was actually the second time that I had used points to stay at a hotel for a race.

At the hotel, I got ready for the race and did most of my pre-race ritual. I tossed my clothes that I was going to use in the race near my race bag. I pinned my gels (4 ACCEL gels 2-Key Lime, 2-Orange) to my shorts. I found that I had to do this the night before, because doing that when you are rushing around doing this leads to getting poked with the safety pins!

Race Morning

There’s always anxiety and anticipation on race morning… and for a while, I had convinced myself that I wasn’t under trained for this race. I was having delusions of grandeur of coming in under my bib number (#438) at 4 hours sub-38 minutes. Then I was distracted with having to get the kids ready to take me to the race. I felt pretty decent about the amount of food that I ate for breakfast… which was mainly oatmeal, but I had saved some chicken for some protein.

Even though we “sorta” knew where the race was, we still used the GPS to get us there. I was getting pretty nervous as the estimated GPS arrival time was getting dangerously close to the race start time… and I had to use the bathroom (just #1).

My Lovely and Talented wife drove me through the parking, up to where the bridge was which connected to the race festivities. I hopped out of the van, said a few quick good-byes and headed to get my stuff.

I somewhere around 4 minutes from the time that I left the van until the race gun went off. I hurried to the registration table, got my goods and my bib number. Being in a state park does hold some advantages. There’s basically hundreds of places to use the bathroom.

The weather wasn’t fore-casted to be all that great, possible rain, but it was surely overcast and the temperature not all that warm… just about perfect for a marathon. The race director was warning us runners (although he is foolish to run as well) of all the hazards of the park and running… so I knew that it would be just a few seconds. And it was, because we were off!

Mile 1 “Who is the more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows?”

I probably had one of the best starts to the marathon that I ever had. I wasn’t shooting off like a rocket, since I wasn’t planning on making any crazy attempts at a course PR. The first ½ to ¾ of a mile is long reprieve of being relatively flat, that probably helped too.

Mile 4 “Battling against that is more like… suicide”

I had another delusion since I had started off so well, that even up the first section of hills, I felt steady in my pace. I knew that the split times would vary from mile to mile, given the hills, but I felt great. At least for the first 8 or 9 miles

Mile 13.1 “Will he finish where he begins?”

As the race started, I decided that I would make race strategy would be to run the first half of the marathon as best as I could, trying to keep a 10:30ish pace. I had even factored in some time buffer time so that my goal time to cross the half-way time would be near 2:30. Then, I would change strategies and switch to the run-walk.

Crossing at 2:34 and knowing that I was past the point where I would be able to hold up my desired pace. I decided to do a 4 minute walk/ 1 minute walk and somehow, I was able to set my watch’s interval timer to do this. So, there I was… 4 minutes run, 1 minute walk and I was still in great spirits even knowing that I would be past 5 hours.

Mile 15 “Curse my blasted circuits, I wasn’t fast enough”

There’s one difficulty with the run-walk method… when you are really hurting, it’s hard to transition from the walk back to the run. I’m not a huge fan of switching from running to slowing down to a walk, especially on a hilly course, because it makes up hills longer and down hills harder on the knees. However, I wasn’t not going to deny myself of any walk breaks… so if I was in “run” mode and came to a water stop, I was walking through to refill my bottle… and if my watch signaled that it was time to walk just after the water stop… oh well.

Mile 20 “I won’t give up! I am not afraid!” “Oh, you will be, you WILL BE!”

The proverbial Wall of Mile 20 had come much earlier, but still there is something special about reaching the 20 mile mark. It’s the end of the warm-up for the 10k that you are running! And while this spot of a marathon has it’s own evil influence over the psyche of runners, I look to a different sci-fi movie as my mantra for Mile 20, The Matrix.

When Neo is finding out if he is “The One” (a similar title that Qui-Gonn Jin heralded Anakin, in The Phantom Menace) , he is an apartment room which children who see to have some special abilities. One of the kids is bending a spoon with their thought which leads to the phrase “There is no spoon”. Hence, at Mile 20, “There is no Wall”.

Mile 22 “The circle is now complete, when I left you I was the apprentice. Now I Am the Master!”

The Mile 22 marker is one of my favorite signs. Double-Deuce! Only 4 miles away… and it’s at this point that you can start to estimate finishing time. I knew that it wasn’t going to be anything to write home about, but still a refreshing sight.

One thing that I hadn’t expected was that I was well hydrated. Despite being deep into the race, I had an urge to use the bathroom that did not go away after a mile or two. Again, I took advantage of being in a State Park.

Mile 24 “Help Me Obi-wan Kenobi, you are my only hope!”

This was probably my worst mile from an attitude point of view. I knew the terrain ahead, I knew how I was feeling and was starting to lose focus on the race. At this point, I was alone on the course, with no runners ahead that I could see. I started to get myself focused on the finish, despite the fact that I wasn’t going to finish with the time that I wanted, I was still going to go through my normal finish ritual.

Mile 25 “The Force is strong with this one”

There’s one volunteer that you pass twice that you enjoy seeing. He gets to see you early and at the end. So when you see him the second time, you know that you are close to the finish line. It also helps

Mile 26 “Echo Base, this is Rogue 2, I found [him]. Repeat, I found [him]

Mile Splits

1 – 10:19

2 – 10:45

3 – 11:46

4 – 12:14

5 – 10:58

6 – 12:41

7 – 10:22

8 – 12:05

9 – 11:16

10 – 12:16

11 – 11:55

12 – 11:58

13 – 14:23

13.1 – 2:34:35

14 – 13:17

15 – 14:00

16 – 11:59

17 – 13:38

18 – 14:37

19 – 12:56

20 – 16:17

21 – 13:52

22 – 13:39

23 – 13:05

24 – 11:22

25 – 11:57

26 – 13:14

26.2 – 5:31:58

running , ,

My Kingdom for a Post or Podcast

December 14, 2009 planet3rry One comment

I started typing up my race report to the Flying Monkey Marathon weeks ago! unfortunately it is on a computer that has limited internet access and I failed to bring it into work today to load up what I had. I also didn’t copy the file to a removable media so that I could bring it to work and upload. Bad Terry. The good news is that it is pretty much done. I need to go steal some pictures from My Lovely and Talented Wife who happen to catch me at the beginning of the race. I might even see if there are any professional pictures of me out there… I don’t think so. I think that the photographer took pictures of all the real runners, you might see me way in the background. Of course, I can be easily recognized with my Red ASD Athletes shirt and white DUMP RUNNERS CLUB headband. Hopefully, I will get that post posted tonight.

I also have the audio version of the race report to edit as well. That is sitting on my iRiver as well… I am such a slacker. GEEZ!

I am not sure how much I will get done. I am going to a free ABA Training workshop here in Knoxville from 1-4pm which means that I will be at work for half-day. Work is the only place that I can get a block of time to do stuff. The Younger is always wanting to “Get on my shoulders” or lately, play Lightsavers Lightsabers. And I know there will be a time when he won’t want to do any of that, because his Old Man is a freaking idiot! I think that is the same time that aliens come an suck out his brain until he is roughly 20 or so. The Elder is wanting me to play the “real” races or games on the Playstation 2. He is more than capable of doing the practice races (for the CARS game) but I think the stress of racing against other competitors is a little much right now. This too will pass and he won’t want me to play for him and I will get stuck off on the sidelines. That is when I will be able to blog more.

Plus, apart from the Race Reports, I do have some other stuff to write about, that well, 140 characters just doesn’t do it justice… so those are in sitting in my Creative Repository until I get some time.

I’ve been listening to B97.5 which is Knoxville’s Official Christmas Radio Station since the beginning of the month. They play Delilah from 7 – midnight and last night was a rerun from earlier in the month, which is the second time that I have heard a rerun of one of her shows. Of course when it comes to traditional commercial radio stations, there is a limited pool of Christmas songs to play. They do make up for it by playing the same Christmas song but from a different artist, but it is Christmas music. I now need to watch A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation as part of the Terry Traditional Christmas. I’ll eventually get to the Black & White Classics too…

Life In General, running ,

Getting Interesting

November 20, 2009 planet3rry 2 comments

Here’s the current Forecast for the Flying Monkey Marathon on Sunday in Nashville

Running in the Rain

I’m dancing running in the Rain

running , ,

An update longer than 140 Characters

November 19, 2009 planet3rry 5 comments

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! FLYING MONKEYS! RUNNERS! HILLS! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

It’s Race Week, and I have been getting anxious… more than I have in the past (except for 2009 Knoxville Marathon). The Race that I am running is the 4th Annual (A New Hope) Flying Monkey Marathon run in the “rolling” hills of Percy Warner Park just outside of Nashville, Tn. Like any of my marathons, I am very excited about it, but I am holding some reservation on getting too excited. When I get to excited, I get delusions of grandeur and when I get delusions of grandeur, I get stoopid. Usually this comes in the form of “temporarily forgetting” the amount of training that I have completed before a marathon. I have yet to train adequately for ANY of marathons, despite the passion for running them, I find myself not having enough time to get it all in. Sometimes it is that clever avoidance technique that has me miss runs or cut runs down in length. THIS time was supposed to be different. Oh, and it was… just not in a “good” way.

What was supposed to be around a 15-16 week multi-moderate distance (16-18 miles for long runs), ended up being a sporadic shorter distance 5-6 week training plan. With the “Taper” being NO running because of chest congestion issue that I didn’t want to inflame to pneumonia or something in that neighborhood. As of today’s chest x-ray (part of my annual physical exam) my lungs are clear and my symptoms are gone. I am being to believe that my issue was 50% cold and 50% allergies. While I did have a slight sore throat, I never had a fever, but was really tired for a number of days… one of which I slept close to 18 hours. I kept having a cough with some phelghm with little improvement. Last week, I did an overhaul of the kids bedroom, thinking that they were having allergy issues, and I felt better, but I still had the cough.

In running, there are a few Rules of Thumb that most people abide by. One of them is the 10% Rule, which is used for different aspects of running. I don’t necessary follow (but understand the logic and reasoning behind it) the 10% Rule for Weekly Mileage: Thou Shalt not increase weekly mileage by more than 10% of the previous week’s mileage or suffer the wrath of INJURY. I do follow the Sickness Rule… if your cold symptoms are Above the Neck, You Can Run; If Below, Don’t!

Since I still having the cough, I took an Allegy med late Sunday and in a few hours felt much better. Monday, I was feeling MUCH MUCH better, but I still had “The Cough”. On Wednesday (which is yesterday as I type this), I only had times where I felt the need to cough and the volume of phelghm was smaller and smaller. Today, I have only coughed once, with minimal results. Plus, verification from the doctor who not only saw my Chest X-ray, plus listened to my breathing said he couldn’t find anything. So, I feel that I am Free and Clear now. But where does that leave me?

###

Over in the STRAT3GY MARATHON ROOM, the debate on “How to Run the Marathon” is being discussed. There are 3 different methods being debated. The consensus is that it will not “Be Raced” but that leaves the questions, ” How Shall it be Run?”

  1. Race It
  2. Start Running and Hope for the Best
  3. Tortoise and Hare method (Run-Walk)

You might think that this marathon situation is new to the Planet3rry Universe of Running, but you would be mistaken. I have encountered a very similar situation back in 2002. I was on a project in Lake Charles, LA when it went from going okay to “uh-oh”. The tritium clean-up we soon discover would take longer (it ended up being 3 weeks longer) and that left me the opportunity to run the Mardi Gras Marathon. Previous to the Mardi Gras Marathon, I had run the Strawplain Half-Marathon the week before and cumulative mileage for 2002 up to the Mardi Gras Marathon was 40 miles. I was in the “Rest” mode coming off my PR performance at the 2001 Richmond Marathon (November 2001). I was at the Mardi Gras Marathon where I perfected my “Marathon Survival Mode”. I knew that since I had little to no training, plus running with a friend for the first Half of the marathon, but by myself the rest of the way, that I would need to be “Slow and Steady” for the entire race. The course is ridiculously flat. Seriously, the ONLY incline that we went over was a man-made bridge that rose to 10′ or so over a culvert, which we ran over twice. Other than that, it is FLAT! But too much of one thing is not always good. While it was flat, you use the same muscles over and over and over, with no reprieve given from rolling (i.e. gentle) hills. So my deficit in training miles was also amplified from the fact that we were in New Orleans the night before. If there was any carbo-loading, it was from the sugar in the alcohol. Plus, we didn’t get to hotel until later in the evening early morning leaving the amount of sleep to a few hours. But, I one of the maxims that I use is that it is not the Night Before the Race where sleep is important, it’s the ‘Night BEFORE the Night Before’ the Race that counts.

Despite the fact that the Mile 4 water stop was grossly unmanned for the number of runners demanding water, nor the fact that at the Mile 9 water stop, it had either NEVER been staffed or had been abandoned because there were two 6-foot table with packages of cups and two trash cans of liquid for you to “Self-Serve”, I still had a decent first Half-marathon. By Mile 14 I was starving, which means “It’s TOO late for fueling, eat and wish for the best”, I started to succumb to the fatigue and began shifting into my survival mode. At first, it was purposely walking through water stops and food tables to maximize my intake of solids and liquids. At Mile 21, I had shifted into stopping to massage and stretch my legs after each water stop (now a mile apart). Near Mile 24, I had created a simple stretch routine that would give my legs a breather while being quick to perform it. And then at mile 26, I had gone through my Finish Line “procedure/technique” and knew the point where I could go “full throttle” to the Finish Line. My finish time was 4:38:14, which was a surprise to me since I knew that I wasn’t going to “race” it. My original Race Report of the Mardi Gras Marathon can be found here.

Here’s my Mile Split Times from last year’s Flying Monkey Marathon

Miles of (s)miles

I should match this with the Course Elevation Map!

So what does that leave me to believe that I can do? I am not too sure!

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