Over 16 Years Ago I Ran My First Marathon!

Los Angeles Marathon IV Finishers Medal from March 6, 1994My 7 year old brought home a huge trophy for his Pony League baseball season...to him it makes no difference if the team wins or loses, or how many hits he gets...no, to him, its all about having fun and all the "stuff" that he gets, least of which is the humongous, oversized trophy that all the kids receive at the end of the year. He just loves that trophy and the fact that it is bigger than his soccer trophy. He's proud.

So then I had the problem of appeasing my 4 year old, who doesn't have a nice big trophy like that (yet). He wanted something too. My quick thinking led me to the Mizuno shoebox in the garage that has become a repository for 16 years of race medals.  There must be over 200 medals in that box, with the ribbons all tangled.

Most of the medals I could easily part with, but I became possessive of my marathon medals. They have a different meaning than the local 5K/10K races.  I can go out and run a 5K anytime. But a marathon, run at a decent pace, takes months and months of dedication, persistence and grit. Running the marathon means sacrifice. It means getting out of bed at 5 a.m. to run for 3 hours while everyone else is sleeping in. It means braving the heat, leaving parties early, passing on the salsa the night before the run. It means hard work and focus!

All...for the glory of...running 26.2 miles...and a finisher medal.

My 4 year old seemed to intuitively understand this. I told him that some of the medals were "extra special" to me and I wanted to put those in a special box (or in my case shove them in a different drawer). He was amenable to that and got his medal fix with other medals.

So I was looking through the 25 or so marathon medals I've collected and most of them brought back distinct memories. (A handful of marathons I ran as "training runs" and interestingly I have very little recollection of those marathons.)

My very first marathon was the 9th Los Angeles Marathon on March 6, 1994. It was a wet day and I hadn't really trained in rain. In fact, I remember the day before wondering, what type of clothes should I wear in the rain. This first marathon was a surreal experience. After finishing 17 minutes faster than my expectation (I ran a 3:03), I was jubilant, yet, like the other finishers, the celebration was muted because of the rain pouring down on us.  I was sorer then hell for the next week and I already knew another marathon was in my future. I was hooked.

That 1994 L.A. Marathon medal is actually one of my most unique medals. It is the only one made out of glass as you can see from the picture. What a great memory that medal brings. It deserves a better home than a Mizuno shoe box in the garage.

So today I was determined to run for 2 hours. Two weeks ago I ran 1 hour, 39 minutes and a week ago 1 hour, 47 minutes (my 2 longest runs of the year). Without much fanfare I came in at 1 hour, 54 minutes, approximately 15 miles.  I ran a loop course and decided I didn't need to go out of my way for an extra 6 minutes.

3 weekends, 3 progressively longest runs of the year. I'm on track with my training.  Just have to keep dodging injuries as best I can.

Next weekend I'd be better off doing a tempo run or finding a local race to get some speed into my legs. We shall see.

Saved by Cloud Cover in Mid July

Yesterday I spent the day in Santa Barbara with the kids at the Museum of Natural History and didn't get home until late. I was pretty tired and started falling asleep at 9:30 p.m. while reading a story to my 4 year old. But I managed to catch a second wind and ended up messing around on the computer and watching a show until...(gulp)...2:30 a.m.

That wouldn't have been so bad had I not had a plan to run long in the morning. But in my old age (soon to be 46), I've lost a bit of my self motivation when it comes to getting to bed on time. Hey, I'm a busy guy. I enjoy to many things and thus, my sleep takes a hit.

This is not healthy for sure and I'm probably taking years off my life with my miserable 5 to 6 hours a night of sleep. But I don't blame anyone but myself. In fact, it's 10 p.m right now and I should be in bed as I have an early morning flight out of LAX, but feel compelled to write this instead.

So in any case, in the back of my mind I was hoping for a continuation of the unusual weather pattern we've had all July....massive cloud cover in the morning here in Ventura County, lingering into the afternoon. Luckily this played out once again today.

I was up at 7:45 a.m. off of 5 hours sleep and decided I had to make a go of it. So within 5 minutes I had my hat, watch, beverages and gels ready to go. My pre-race consumption was half a bottle of water and one pack of gel. Yum. My goal was to go around 1 hour, 40 minutes, or about 10 minute longer than my previous long run of the year.

Mission accomplished. I plowed away, not particularly fast, but without any pain, aches or complaints. It actually felt good.  One hour, 39 minutes, about 14 miles. I could have run longer. I attribute the success of today's run to cloud cover and mid 60s temps for the duration of the run. Had I encountered full blown sun and 80 degree heat more expected for an 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. run mid-July, I don't think the run would have been so pleasurable.

So today I had my cake and ate it too. I stayed up way later than I should have and survived with a smile on my face my longest run since my last marathon on December 6, 2009. Rolling with the punches. Next long run I'm likely to encounter heat...so I'll definitely have to get to bed EARLIER so I can wake up and beat the heat.

I felt so good today that later in the day I stopped by the gym for one of my Conejo Joe Signature 20 Minute Workouts.  What a great day of fitness. Tomorrow unfortunately I'll be on an airplane for most of the day...which means an opportunity to catch up on my sleep!!

July 6, 2010 Training Update

My last update was June 20th, after running a decent 5K on Father's Day. Five days later, on Friday, June 25th, I got up a bit early and ran up to the Danielson Monument in Sycamore Canyon. Here is the path.

I enjoy that run up to the monument, a tribute to the rancher who, along with his family, farmed and ranched in Rancho Sierra Vista and later donated the land to the National Park Service. As I ascend up the hill toward the monument and burned down cabin (just a chimney remains), my mind starts to wander...how challenging that must have been to live up there.  Would take a long time to get to Trader Joe's from up on that mountain.

The trails are slightly overgrown this time of year, so I had to do my best to avert foliage for poison oak, ticks, etc. What I like about this run is the challenge of the uphill grind, nice views and then the much quicker descent back down into the canyon. Then more hills. This is a nice, strength building run.

I added extra mileage to the run to get to about 10 miles over 80 minutes. The next day, all set for a planned road trip to Vegas, out of the blue I was on my back with a stomach flu for 2 days. Two steps forward, 1 step back, as usual!

One week later, July 4th, I pondered running a 10K.  But I was up so late with the kids after the annual Moorpark 3rd of July Fireworks Show that I opted to sleep in. The good news is that we've been having some nice carryover of June Gloom weather into July. I started my 14 mile run at 8:45 a.m. and had marine layer sheltering me for nearly the entire 92 minute run. Cloud cover is a runner's best friend.