Had A Bad Day Again

Topic: Chicken and Ham(strings)
Key Words: Devil's Chicken, Glaciers, Flattop Mountain
Word Count: 481
Next Topic: Something Financial

Here's a synopsis of my time from Thursday at lunch to Saturday afternoon:

Ate Chicken Diablo (The Devil's Chicken!) for lunch on Thursday; went to Felix run despite feeling sick to my stomach; had to stop two miles into Felix run and walk back due to crazy bad hamstring pain (first time I can remember ever having to stop a run for injury); went home, checked temperature, it was 100 degrees; napped until 1:30AM and finally evicted the contents of my stomach ... the diablo was still there, I had been poisoned!; by 6AM my fever was gone and I was feeling better (certainly food poisoning); finally ate some food Friday night, but no way I would make Saturday morning's HoustonFIT run (certainly due to the sickness, maybe even due to the hammy, not sure if it's really injured or if Thursday was just a passing pain)

Thursday to Friday - certainly a bad day. I'm really ticked about missed today's run with HoustonFIT, as I'm to the point of Chicago training that I wanted to step up my milage. I hope to try a short run today and get in the long run tomorrow if the hammy is up to it.

Alaska update!

I haven't gotten around to writing a narrative of my Alaskan escape, but I have put the pictures online. Here's a very brief description of each day, and link to my photo albums on Snapfish.

Day Zero (I guess) - Some pictures from the plane. Nice ones of ice fields and glaciers near Alaska.

Day One - I took a trip to Denali National Park, home of North American's tallest mountain, Mount McKinley. You have to travel through Denali on bus, so most of my pictures are from various stops or actually from inside the bus.

Day Two - Kenai Peninsula and Kenai Fjords National Park. The park is home to Exit Glacier, which is one of the only glaciers in Alaska you can actually walk up to (I have a thing for glaciers, I don't know why).

Day Three - After the half marathon, I decided to try and climb Flattop Mountain! The mountain is a 3000 some odd foot tall structure just East of Anchorage and is Alaskas most summitted mountain. One website said "a few people die each year climbing it" but another said "grandma can make it with some stops". There's no way granny and her walker could summit this thing, and with rain starting, my running shoes were getting poor grip on the slippery rock (and I was tired as hell), so I didn't quite make it to the top, stopping about 100 feet from the summit.

Snapfish -> http://www1.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=8487359

Anchorage Half Marathon

Topic: Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon
Key Words: TITs, Earthquake Park, Michigan Coach
Word Count: 1793
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: The non-running parts of my Alaska Running Vacation

As Alaska was a running vacation, I've decided to continue with my plans to post trip details. However, as posting pictures to blogger is a pain, I'm just going to describe the days of my trip, and post the pictures on a sharing web site. I've given the photos meaningful names, so they can be correlated to the story if you wish to do so. First, the running part of the trip, the half-marathon.

Event: Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon; half held in conjunction with a 5-miler; marathon ended with the half
Location: Anchorage, 9AM at West High School, continuing to the airport, with a return to the school via Earthquake Park
Surface: City streets, unimproved trails, paved trails
Weather: Low 50's, calm winds, cloudy
Gear: Standard stuff, except I had a trash bag in my pocket and my running hat in case it rained (60% chance)
Time: 2:05:15
Mile Splits: they follow below
Narative:

I stole my pre-run breakfast, one and a half boxes of Fruit Loops and a glass of OJ from the hotel breakfast. Fearing rain, I slather up my feet with Vaseline (trying to avoid rubbing with rain soaked shoes), and headed for the high school. I didn't have my usual pre-race e-Boom Carb Gel, so I replaced the salts I get from it with a small bottle of Gatorade. The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be a large number of people. That may have been because the 5-Miler was starting with us, but I know it also had something to do with Team In Training. As Alaska isn't an every day kind of place to visit, lots of Team In Training runners sign up to raise money in exchange for airfare, lodging, and entry into this race. Now, obviously, I commend anyone who runs for charity, and especially a cancer charity. However, don't have your name start with a T, then an I, then a T, and try to pass off your acronym as TNT. No no no my charity friends, you are TIT, Team In Training, raising money for Lymphoma and Leukemia, be proud of it.

So in short, the Anchorage half was full of TIT. Groups of TIT came from all over from the run; I noticed TIT from these locations: NY, LA, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Canada.
We gathered behind your standard balloon archway, heard the plain-jane Alaska State Anthem (as performed by some renowned, and rather dead, Alaskan singer) and all cheered loudly for the obligatory Star Spangled Banner. My running watch hit Noon, and we were off.

I fancy myself as an experienced runner. I figure one day I might get into coaching with a training group, and as I examined the TIT groups around me, I thought that it might be cool to serve as a coach for them in the future. If I did, I would spend a full day on race etiquette, because frankly my friends, TIT doesn't know how to behave! I say this, because I passed group after group of walking TIT in the first two minutes. I have a real pet peeve about that. I don't mind people walking events, but if you walk, GET IN THE BACK; I always fear I'll get clipped in the chaos of people trying to shoot around the walkers. Anyway, after some fancy footwork, the walkers were in my wake, and things were smooth saying for a while.

Mile 1 Split - 9:03

Mile 2 Split - 8:38

At about mile 2.5, there was a water stop. This seemed early, but as the course for this race was completely changed two weeks before the run, I was fearful of passing on the liquids in case the aid stations were haphazard. Too early for a GU, but I gulped a cup of water down, and continued.

Mile 3 Split - 8:58

Another water stop at mile 3.25! I think the one after mile 2 was actually for the 5 milers, as they split off into Earthquake park right after the aid station. I didn't want to stop again, but I figured this was as close to GU time as I would get. As I continued, I saw the first nasty hill of the day.

Mile 4 Split - 9:36

Stupid hills! Some people started to pass me here, so I guess I was dogging it a bit. At this point, we were behind the airport, and a Quantas 747 took off, literally, about 300 feet right over my head. Pretty cool!

Mile 5 Split - 9:27

I saw a lot of new signs in Alaska, most involving moose. Here though, I saw a different kind of new sign "Jetblast Area". I silently hoped a 747 would give me a tailwind, and continued on.

Mile 6 Split - 9:09

Now things got fun! This new race route had us leave the airport road to go into Earthquake Park, a city park created by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in the 60's! As we turned off the paved road, to make, so I thought, the transition to Earthquake, I was greeted with a nasty site .... grass. Tall, beaten down grass, on a severely rutted unimproved trail. This stuff was hard to run in, and many people were verbally lamenting the risk of turned ankles. I had to carefully pass a guy using one of the ruts! I hoped this wasn't going to continue for the rest of the run ....

Mile 7 Split - 9:41

It didn't! About a half mile was on this stuff, before we finally joined up with an asphalt running trail through a really awesome, wooded area (I figure, this was actually Earthquake Park). This time was when I met my nemesis, New York TIT. This guy pissed me off. He was the guy I had to pass above, and after that pass, he got into a rhythm of not allowing me by. Though I didn't see value in "dueling" with a guy with six miles to go, if he wanted to pace off me, fine, whatever. So every time I would pull along side and go by him (every tenth of a mile or so), he would pick up his pace and speed back by. Until .. one time he almost ran me off the trail! At this point, I was pissed. What made it worse, he was wearing headphones (probably why he almost ran me off the road, he couldn't hear me), and one time, he was getting some verbal encouragement (as TITs frequently did in Alaska) and he didn't acknowledge it (again, the headphones). I couldn't even sniff a "way to go, run hard" because I wasn't wearing the TIT purple and white. This guy was getting copious amounts of encouragement, and ignoring it so he could rock out.

Mile 8 Split - 9:32

The woods started to open up a bit, and we could occasionally see the water North of us. And I passed NY TIT! I promised to not let him beat me as I stormed by him going up a nasty hill; he seemed to be struggling, so I thought he was done for. Rest stop, GU number two.

Mile 9 Split - 11:53

What?!?! 11:53! Surely not! I didn't run the hill that slow did I? I didn't walk for very long eating my GU. Wow. Oh well. Off I went. I heard a TIT fan cheer "Go Coach Jennine" to someone behind me, and I saw NY TIT and Coach Jennine storm past me. NY TIT had somehow gotten his second wind, or perhaps he had just been stalking me for a while. He was going way to fast for me too keep up; NY TIT was going to get the better of me today. Maybe I was really running 11:53 slow ....

Mile 10 Split - 8:19

OK, so the mile markers are screwed up. I felt a little better now, and felt downright giddy when I topped a hill and passed Uranus! (o: Come on ... say it ... "I topped the hill and passed Uranus!" Too funny, especially this late in the race. Anchorage had some kind of "Planet Walk" through the city and ... Uranus! ... just happened to be here. I briefly started trailing runner 4262 (or something like that) as I thought my legs had more in them, and wanted a faster runner to stalk. She was only a bit faster than me, so when a TIT Michigan Coach and her protege, Deborah, ran by, I hooked up with them. Michigan Coach was truly a seasoned runner, as she gave off the aura of a someone who had been doing this for a long time. She had encouraging, but not very soft words for other TITs that we passed, and she even gave some firm"Come on, almost there" to some non-TIT runners we passed up.

Mile 11 Split - 8:50

We were in full view of the water now. A lot of TIT cheering groups here.

Mile 12 Split - 11:46

Deborah wavered, and I went on. I should have tried to pull Deborah along, since I used them for just that, but I didn't want to be "that guy" who encourages you when you just want to suffer in your solitude. I know we were probably closer than the milage markers said, so I charged up a steep, winding hill to get back into the city, and started looking for the finish. As the school came into view, I stepped up my pace a bit, and as I rounded on the school campus, I really kicked it in. I didn't know how far I had left, as I knew we were to finish on the school's track, but there were too many balloons and banners to see exactly where the line was. As I hit the track, it became clear we only had to run a quarter of it, and I quickly fixated on my task .... catch and pass the chick with "CANADA" on her back. She was a game member of Canada's TIT squad, as she seemed to sense my charge and picked up her pace, but I found enough umph in my legs to catch and pass her with about 20 feet to go. 2:05:15 total (oddly, they only had timing mats at the finish, so my only listed time is gun time). My total time was 1:45 slower than Austin, but given the travels of the previous days, and the lack of training at this distance, I was pleased.

Mile 13.1 Split - 10:20

After the run, I did a smart thing ... I drank two pints of beer and tried to climb a mountain! That, and the rest of the trip, are for tomorrow ....

Auburn In Alaska

Topic: Leave It Better Than How You Found It

Key Words: Kenai, Exit Glacier, War Eagle

Word Count: Not Many

Tomorrow's Likely Topic: There won't be one, but if there were, it would be "I Hate Running in the Rain"

Though most people say they hate seeing other people's vacation photos, I've decided to do what I do best, run my mouth, and give a narrative to my Alaska frolic, complete with pictures. It will help me to remember the story behind the pictures, because I know they'll start to run together over time. I'll probably post the bulk of my photos on some sharing web site, but the highlights, and the story, will be here.

But I'm not going to start now. I've figured out how to drive to the start line, I've come to grips with the nasty weather for tomorrow, and I've realized I left my band-ades at home .... all things that, after today's drive, have left me kind of drained. How am I going to avoid nipple rash with no band-ades?!?? Sorry. I'm still in the denial phase about that packing blunder. So until I have more time, here are a few highlights of one of the most amazing things I've seen ... Exit Glacier ... and a few shots to show how, for a brief moment, I made Alaska a better place.

Exit Glacier, from about two miles away

Getting closer ....

Almost there ...

Exit Glacier!

I found a plain eagle ....

For a brief moment, it was a War Eagle!

Smokey, The Weather, Not The Bear

I've got a few minutes to kill before going to packet pickup, so I thought I would share this screen capture from weather.com for Anchorage:

It seems that Alaska is burning. Particularly, the part I'm going to today is burning (nice!), and the smoke, according the weather advisory, is "blowing in from the East and being trapped in the Anchorage bowl." I never knew "Smoke" could be current conditions, but there you have it. Thankfully, it is supposed to clear the afternoon; not ideal conditions for a run.

So since I hyped them up, here they are, in crisp digital zoom ... BEARS!!!

Yes, I know, that's like full 12X digital zoom, but what did you expect, it's a mother bear and her cub, was I supposed to get close! I'm not sure which blurry spot is the cub, but the blond/brown blob near the lower part, down the center line, THAT'S A FREAKIN' BEAR MAN! And yes, there was like a quarter mile between me and mommy and baby, and a bus, and about 50 people, but hey, I could have been eaten in like a moments notice. And yes, on the way back by, the bears were so unconcerned with us, the baby bear climbed up on the patch of snow and start sliding and flipping it's way down (they're so cute before they grow up to be killers!).

Off to brave the smoke.

Too Wired Too Sleep

Topic: Mile High (Blogging) Club
Key Words: Southwest, Button Fields of Nebraska and Kansas, Yearly Salary
Word Count: Who Knows
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Sheep

On an early morning in December 1993, I took my first plane flight; Birmingham to Chicago Midway, non-stop, on Southwest airlines. I was so impressed with how the clouds looked, I did something real nerdy, I took some pictures through the plane window.

Since that first flight, I've certainly flown a lot, but rarely in the daytime. I suppose it's not really daytime now, after all, my watch says it's 11:05PM CDT. None-the-less, the sky is bright and glaciers are in full glow. I suppose I'm taking the rare nighttime flight in broad daylight! Having not seen the Earth, in daylight, from this high in some time, I think I forgot how awesome things look from 30,000 feet. So I reverted to my original nerdly ways and started snapping pics ....

I know they are just irrigation circles in Kansas and Nebraska, but they looked too cool; like buttons thrown out on the ground.




American Junior peeled back her clouds for some nice shots of the Canadian Rockies.

And somewhere about an hour South of Anchorage, I saw this amazing set of mountains and glaciers.




I've been a busy bee on this flight; I'm trying not to sleep so that I can get some good rest tonight. I forwent my finance magazines for a while, instead opting to extinguish one laptop battery while colonizing the Caribbean in Europa Universalis III (don't worry Jas, I live in harmony with your people)! I then went back to the magazines and read a long spread on starting your own business, and tried to believe the article claiming that our bull market still had a couple of years of life. My neighbor, who is flying for the first time, got a little personal, asking me how many kids I wanted, and what my yearly salary was (she's 54 and married with kids; not looking for a sugar daddy, I hope). Her neighbor is flying to Spain ... via Alaska (sounds shady .... Leon would have had him kicked off the plane if he heard that). 11:12PM CDT. Still light out. I hope my internal clock is up for this.

Cloverleaf

Topic: Houston Hills, The Man Made One's At Least
Key Words: Jovial, Cloverleaf, Yogi and Boo Boo
Word Count: 699
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: The Super 8 Motel

My last post was a bit of a downer, so it's time to be jovial again! And nothing is more of a knee slapper ... than running hills in Houston! Hills in Houston??? Yes, there are a few, but none-the-less, today's Houston FIT hill workout was on a set of man made hills at the fly-over between Waugh and Memorial. After meeting at Jackson Hill, we ran to the Waugh overpass of Memorial, did two sets of skips, butt kicks, and strides, and then ran the cloverleaf. The cloverleaf had two long, gently sloping uphills and two fairly identical downhills. This was certainly not a course on par with the Spots Park hill course, but it was a good start to hill training. The cloverleaf was supposedly a mile, but it had to be less as I did the first loop in 8:30 and the second in 7:34. I finished third on the second loop, so I replaced the lack of hardcore uphills with speed. And I had on my black socks; they make me faster. Basketball after the running, and after stinking it up for three games, I finally hit some shots late.

Tomorrow I leave for Alaska and the Mayor's Midnight Half Marathon. I'm excited, though the weather man is now predicting rain on Saturday, the day of the run. I do not have much in the way of rain gear (maybe I should run with an umbrella?), so please do your "no rain dance" and direct it to Anchorage. Here's what I'll be doing:

Thursday - I'm heading to Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley. Interestingly enough, it's peak is higher from it's base than any other mountain (who knew!), but it is generally covered in clouds during the afternoon, so I may not get to see it. Denali favors the wildlife over it's human visitors to the point of requiring you to traverse the park by foot or special bus on a special road. A six hour safari is on tap. I'll have my bear knife with me, and my sprintin' shoes, just in case.

Friday - I'm heading to Kenai Fjords National Park. The drive, which is along a road carved into the mountains rising out of the Pacific, is supposedly one of the highlights. I picked this for Friday since it is closer than Denali to Anchorage, thus allowing me to make morning packet pickup and also allowing me to get back before toooo late. If I dare (again, the bears) Kenai allows direct access to Exit Glacier. I probably won't hike to the top of the ice field, but I should get to see some nice glacier action.

Saturday - The run is @ 9AM. I have to be out of my hotel @ noon, so I have incentive to put a little bit of effort forward. I have no real time goals, but if I'm feeling well after fending off Yogi and Boo Boo, I'll shoot for 9:30 miles, or about a 2:04:30. The course is hilly, so it may present some problems. After I hastily vacate my hotel, I'm going to a local brewhouse to ease my aching legs, and then to Chugach State Park, which is located beside Anchorage. Though not a "National" park, Chugach is supposedly quite the place for hiking and has a nice mountain you can summit to get a view of the lay of the land. I fly out at 9PM or so, so I should get so spend a decent amount of time in the park.

And that's it. Medal number 11 will be procured if all goes well (#12 if I count the plastic one!). Jasmin, since mean old Nasa isn't going to let you come (I mean, it's just the space shuttle!!), I'll try to snap you some nice pics; I'll throw them up hear as I get them.

Eleven Years Ago

The deluge of Houston continued on Sunday, so no cross training, but I did go to the gym to do an upper body workout (BEEFCAKE!). Monday was, well, busy, but I did stick to the HoustonFIT plan and do 35 minutes easy at the park. Unfortunately, all my running shorts were dirty, so I wore regular workout shorts (cotton! HORROR!!), and all my running socks were dirty, so I wore white, cotton socks (shut up Jonathan, they made me slow!). Even worse, it was hot and I was distracted; I wasn't really into the run. I suppose the fact that I did the run in such a state of "blah" is a good sign; maybe that shows a little bit of dedication.

The idea with this weekend's post was that it was time to explain why it is that I decided to run for ACS, why I choose MD Anderson over United Way, and why I wore my Lance Armstrong wrist band all weekend. The story was going to be about my personal experience with cancer, my Father's death from prostate cancer, and as he actually died on Father's Day, eleven years ago, the timing seemed right. I think the story is a bit too personal, and some of my reasons a bit too selfish (I'm always trying to convince myself to be more involved with cancer charities, and I think I was using the idea of writing the story to motivate me to do more), so I decided not to share it here.

Our mortality, particularly on a blog that I try to keep light and entertaining, isn't a fun topic, but it's real life. The important take away is to remind people to make smart decisions about their health, get screened when they should, and to pass the message on to those they love. I'm hopeful that our generation will succeed where the previous one did not, that we will discover breakthroughs in prevention, treatment, and even cures for some cancers (I even know of a couple of freshly minted PhDs who might enter the molecular battle!). To get there though, a lot of work needs to be done. I'm struggling with whether I want to continue doing what I've been doing, raising money and maybe going on an occasional blog rant (sorry!), or whether I want to try and do more. Today I learned that work might move me to Fairfax, to take a job outside of IT with the our Downstream business. It's a little hard to figure out what I want to do with my professional life when my professional life is in flux! Sorry. Had to vent a little :o)

Maybe change is what I need though. I did just change shoes and socks, something I never thought I would do. Maybe more change would do me good.