Run All Day, Run All Night

Running with friends is always much more fun than running alone.  Every race involves running with friends, but normally each individual is competing on their own.  The Ragnar Relay gives an opportunity to run with friends, but race as a team.  I ran my first Ragnar in 2011 and had so much fun that when the opportunity arose to be on the team for the 2012 Ragnar del Sol,  held on February 24/25, there was no question about whether to participate or not.

Our Team name was simply “The Workout Group”, or WOG, because all the runners are also part of weekly training group by that name. Many of us were on the team last year, with a couple of newbies.  The night before the race, we got together and decorated our 2 team vans.

I was in Van 1, along with Steve F., Sheryl, Craig, Michelle K., and Monica.  Van 2 team members were Diane, Dari, Pete, Tim, Steve O., and Michelle H.  Our van had the first six legs, so got off to an early start on Friday morning to make the long drive to Wickenburg.  When you spend almost 2 days in a van with friends, you can’t help but have a lot of fun, and we had a good time as soon as we got on our way.

When we arrived at the start, we picked up our race packets.  We decided to show our team spirit by applying tattoos to our legs:

Steve started us off with a quick hilly run.  There are exchange stations where runners slap a wrist bracelet to the next runner on arrival. Here’s Steve making the relay to Michelle at the first exchange:

I had the 3^rd leg of the relay.  It was a 7-miler, mostly gradual downhill., and it took me 44:36  I was a bit hot since it was mid-afternoon, but the excitement of finally getting to run kept it fun.  During each leg, the other 5 members drove the van to the next exchange point.  Along the way, they would stop to cheer on the runner and take photos.  Here’s one of me during the first leg:

As the day turned in to night, we kept on running.  Ragnar rules require reflective vests and headlamps during the night, which is smart.  It’s fun to see how various teams try to make their safety gear fashionable, and some of the runners had quite interesting lighting displays. Ragnar also seems to bring out some of the wild side in people; our bunny theme was rather tame compared to some!  Even team naming seems to be competitive, with some of them clearly trying to be the most outlandish.

The Nighttime exchanges were a bit tricky for a couple of reasons.  It’s virtually impossible to identify runners until they are very close, although volunteers do attempt to radio in team numbers a minute or so in advance.  Also, it was much colder so the waiting team members usually didn’t want to stand around for a long time waiting.  Somehow we did manage to make the exchanges on time, including the transfer over to Van 2.  Here’s a picture of Craig handing off the slap bracelet to Monica, in the wee morning hours:

My nighttime run was leg #15, and it included some trail running.  That part was very challenging because it was sandy and rocky terrain, and running it in the dark made for unsure footing.  The leg turned out to be 6.4 miles and it took me 44:48.  After my run, a funny thing happened.  I opened a piece of Dove chocolate, the kind with the little sayings on the inside of the wrapper – and it said, “It is O.K. to go slower”!  It was a lot funnier in the middle of the night, when nobody had slept.

There’s very little sleep, if any, for most of us in Ragnar – but that’s partly what makes it so fun.  Sleep deprivation tends to make people get a bit silly so we had a lot of fun as the event went on.  While waiting for the Van 2 transfer back to Van 1 at exchange 24, I did manage to doze for about an hour, not deep sleep as I was sitting up in the passenger seat, but it helped.  There’s something magical about the sunrise, though, and we all were a bit revived when daylight sprung.  Here is Michelle K. running her final leg, giving us a “kill count”:

One of the Ragnar oddities is the Kill Count.  Whenever you pass another racer, you score a “kill”, and teams track their kills by marking their vans – similar to the old markings made by pilots in WWII on their aircraft.  Since the start times are staggered, there is a tendency for kills to increase as the event goes on, and our team was making kills like mad in the final legs.

My last leg, #27, was a long one – just over 9 miles.  But I was feeling strong and having an incredible time passing other racers.  My time was 57:39 and I made 44 kills!  For the 3 legs combined, I ran 22.5 miles in 2:27:03.

After the final transfer to Van 2, we headed to the finish line and waited.  We had a pizza and relaxed for a while, and when Steve O. came in to the finish on the last leg, we all joined him and crossed the line as a team.  It was so much fun!  The best thing about Ragnar really isn’t the running, it’s the friendships that are made and strengthened by the shared experience.  It’s a weird mixture of complete exhaustion with elation, and it’s difficult to really explain in words.

Team WOG’s total time for the roughly 200 mile course was 25:51:20, which was fast enough to earn us 1^st place in the Open Mixed Division!  Each team member received this cool relay baton for the win.

After Ragnar finished on Saturday, I was tired, but I managed to drag myself out of bed early on Sunday morning to run the “Pueblo’s Rodeo Run
 4-miler.  Hosted by my friend Steve Taggert and Tagg Running Events, this race is a fundraiser for the Pueblo High School running team. We had nice weather this year at the start (last year it was freezing).

The course runs along the river path and is fairly flat.  It’s an unusual race distance, longer than a 5k so it’s hard to push quite as hard, but shorter than a 10k so you don’t need to hold back as much.  I finished this year in 24:57, which is a new 4-mile PR for me.  I was 2^ndoverall, and won these nice awards:

As you can imagine, by Sunday night I was ready for some real sleep.  And yes, I did take Monday off from running!

We Didn't Come Out Smelling Like Roses, But It Was FUN!

Of all the races I’ll run in 2012, the one that I will remember best will be the Rock’n’Roll Pasadena Half Marathon, held on February 19^th. That race was where my youngest son, Jason, made his half-marathon debut in a most spectacular way.

The story started back in December, 2011, when Jason watched an episode of “The Biggest Loser” in which the contestants ran a full marathon.  Jason was impressed enough by their feat that he decided to train for a long distance effort himself.  Up until then, he had run occasional 5k events around town, and his longest run was about 4 miles.  I thought that a large event would be more enjoyable for him, so we decided to sign up for the Rock’n’Roll Pasadena Half Marathon.  My wife, Pam, also signed up for the race.  We are fortunate to have relatives in Southern California who we can stay with, and the drive is reasonable from Tucson, so it was a fairly low-cost trip.

We set up a training log and Jason did a good job working on it for the next couple of months.  He logged over 150 miles training, and gradually increased his long runs with the longest being 11 miles.  His strategy going in to the race was to take walk breaks where necessary, but I thought that if the day went well he might be able to run the whole thing.

We drove out on Thursday night after a busy day of work and school.  My oldest son, Ryan, also came along (to spectate, as he does not run).  On Friday, we went to the Expo to get our race packets.  It was a small expo compared to others that I’ve been to, but we still had fun.

I even found the car of my dreams there – my favorite color!

On Saturday we visited Laguna Beach with our relatives, and had a nice time.

Sunday morning was the typical early race-day start, and I was pleased to discover that we actually got to park right next to the starting line!  It was still dark when we arrived, so I snapped a quick shot of the Rose Bowl sign:

Although the race started and finished at the Rose Bowl, we never actually got to go in the Rose Bowl.  The start line had the normal corral system that Rock’n’Roll events use, and we were all towards the front – Jason in corral 4, Pam in corral 2, and corral 1 for me.  Before we started, I told Jason that he should not worry about time, the main goal was to finish – but I also told him that I thought he was capable of a 2-hour race.

Once we started, it did not take very long for me to think that was not so likely.  I was expecting some slight hills, but this course was really hilly!  There were some steep hills, and four 180-degree turnarounds.  It did not seem like a fast course to me, and I knew that my pace was slower than what I had hoped.  At the 7-mile point, the course doubles back on itself and I was thrilled to see Jason running strong – he even waved and called out “Go Dad”!

Ryan brought his bike and was out taking pictures.  Here is one of Jason running at about 9.5 miles in, still looking strong:

There was some really nice scenery along the course.  One thing I have noticed about California road races is that they often use concrete for paving there, as opposed to the asphalt that I am used to in Tucson.  Unfortunately concrete is harder and on long races I can feel the difference.  The Pasadena course was no exception and I was pushing my pace, so my feet were feeling it.  Here’s a photo that Ryan captured of me on the “Colorado Bridge”, about 9 miles in - you can see the concrete surface:

I finished my race in 1:24:21, which was a new half-marathon PR for me.  I was happy with that although I had hoped for a slightly faster time.  Pam came in next, at 1:45:35, a great time for her considering she has not been training for long distance.  I was so anxious waiting for Jason to come in, and it was so exciting when I finally saw his red shirt approaching!  He was really pushing hard for the last half-mile or so – this picture was about a tenth of a mile from the finish:

He kicked across that line in 1:58:11 !!!!!!!

Needless to say I was one proud papa at that point.  I ran around to greet him at the finisher area and he was smiling big!

So we were all very happy finishers.  Jason smashed out a sub-2 on his first half-marathon attempt, and ran the whole way; Pam was right on her goal time; and I was 44^th overall, 4^th in my age group, with a new PR.

After the race we hung around for a while soaking up the post-race festivities and celebrating.  Sugar Ray put on a concert and all was well with the world for a little while.

All good things must come to an end (to make room for more good things), so by noon we were packing it up for the drive back to Tucson.  I actually spent some time working during the drive back (when I wasn’t driving of course).  But we all took home this nice bling to help us relive the memories:

Love is in the Air; Feet are on the Ground

I’m a bit behind in posting blogs – this one is about a race that occurred about 3 weeks ago.  The race was short, and my blog will also be short.

Valentine’s Day for a running couple often involves a run together.  Let’s face it, people in love don’t mind getting a bit sweaty around each other, and a good workout increases endorphins, which enhances…but I digress.

The Fine Valentine Couple’s Relay was a low-budget, high-fun event held on the University of Arizona campus.  This year it was a morning event, two days before Valentine’s Day.  The first member of each relay team started, along with some runners who were racing the entire route.  I ran the relay with my wife, Pam, while my son, Jason, ran the full course.  The start was just inside the main gate on University Blvd:

The course consisted of two loops around campus, including some ramp climbs.  At the halfway point, relay runners had to show “signs of affection” and hand over a candy bracelet, which made for some really fun mid-race activity!  Here is a picture of my friends Jeff and Dianne in the relay transition area:

And here’s one of Pam and I in the transition, notice I wore red for Valentine’s!

Jason ran a nice fast pace, here he is after completing the first lap:

The final stretch was a slight downhill which felt pretty good.  It turned out that the course was considerably shorter than the advertised 4 miles, but I don’t think anyone really got too upset about that.

Pam and I finished first place in the “Married > 10 Years” category.  Other relay categories included Combined Age groups and Parent/Child teams.  This made for some challenging results-figuring by the timing team but the runners all enjoyed hanging out for a while after the race while the results were being compiled.  We won this nice picture frame:

This race has been around for a while, but has undergone significant changes from year to year.  It’s small and very fun, so I hope to see it continue!

A Real Endless Summer Includes a Marathon! Surf City USA

(Originally Published on Runners World Loop 2/7/12)

I think we all wish we could live an “Endless Summer” on the beach.  There’s something so naturally beautiful about the waves crashing on the shore, the abundant sealife, and of course the frolicking bikini-clad sunbathers.  (Google Endless Summer if you don't know what I'm talking about).  So when I decided to enter the Surf City Marathon, I knew I’d be enjoying more than just another run.

Held in Huntington Beach, California, the Surf City Marathon advertises itself as "California’s Classic Oceanfront Marathon".  The course never strays far from the beach, and the last 9 miles or so are actually run along the paved beach path.  The event website promises that runners can “Observe native surfers in their natural habitat”, and I did indeed see many boards on race morning!

Southern California is a reasonable drive from Tucson.  My oldest son, Ryan, and I arrived late Friday afternoon and we went straight to the Expo.  I must say that although the Expo was not the largest I’ve seen, it was definitely the most creatively decorated!  Here’s me hanging out near the entrance:

I realized on Friday that I made a huge blunder and forgot to pack my running shoes!  Normally I am very careful with packing but for this trip I messed up.  They didn’t have my favorite shoes at the Expo, so on Saturday I spent a while searching for a new pair.  I was rescued by ‘A Snail’s Pace Running Shop’, who not only found me a pair of my brand and model (Mizuno Wave Elixir 6), but sold them to me at a significant discount since they were last year’s model!  On Saturday afternoon, we returned to the Expo where I met up with my buddy Alfredo.  He ran his 93^rd marathon this weekend and it was great to catch up with him again.  This picture shows Ryan, Alfredo, and I:

The shoe fiasco got me stressed, but my biggest fear was a flu-like sickness that had been keeping me congested and coughing for several days.  Without going into a lengthy story, I’ll just say that I’m convinced that the antiobiotics that I had to take for my jaw infection weakened my system enough to cause me to get sick (if you read my blog on the Houston Marathon a couple of weeks ago, you may recall that I had a tooth extracted right after that race).  On the plus side, I planned to take it easy on this race anyway, given that it had only been 3 weeks since Houston.  In fact my plan was to treat this as a “B” race, sort of a long, supported, training run, with no real time pressure – I figured I’d be happy with a 3:20 to 3:30 finishing time.  As it turned out, I did do a lot of hack coughing during the race, which actually got painful at times, but I survived.

Sunday morning arrived with cool temperatures but no cloud cover.  It was in the low-50’s at the start, and the first few miles were mostly shaded.  Ryan rode his bike around and took a few pictures.  I was feeling good so decided to push the pace early on, knowing that I would eventually slow down.  Here’s a picture from around mile 1, as we ran along Pacific Coast Highway (I’m in the orange).  You can see Catalina Island in the background:

The course did go into neighborhoods at about mile 3, and even took some interesting turns on paths in Huntington Central Park, including a very small amount of dirt trails.  It was relatively flat, but there were a few hills and some gradual inclines.  We came back near the beach around mile 9, and did an out-and-back for a few miles on the PCH, followed by an out-and-back on the beach path.  By this point it was getting warm, and the sun shining in my face on the return portions was a bit rough.  Here is a picture of me at about mile 17, right after I got onto the beach path:

There were about 2,400 finishers in the marathon, so at this point in the race I was running mostly alone.  It might have been nice to be with a pack but I was just sort of running whatever pace worked for me at the time.  However there were tons of runners around, including some 18,000 half-marathoners who were on the course, and there were also many spectators.  The beach path was open to beachgoers, so it was common for me to be dodging surfers as they carried their boards across the path, or walkers and joggers out for their daily exercise. For example, in this picture, which was taken around mile 24, the guy next to me was not even in the race:

Some of you will be able to tell from that picture that my form was getting pretty bad by then.  One of the real challenges of a marathon is to maintain proper running form throughout the race, and I certainly have not yet learned to do that.  My legs grow weary after about 20 miles and I begin to exhibit all sorts of bad form – slouching shoulders, heel striking, rotating hips, etc.

In fact I really ran out of steam in the final mile.  It’s mentally disappointing when you can see the finish line, but have nothing left even when thousands of people are cheering everyone on.  A few guys kicked past me but I trudged my way in.  However, I was pleased to clock a final time of 3:10:53, which was considerably faster than what I expected.  Actually that is my 3^rd fastest marathon ever.  I got 71^st place overall, and 8^th in my age group, but more importantly I really enjoyed this marathon.  The course was great, the organization was superb, and there were so many spectators along the way providing encouragement.  It was a class act and I hope to run this one again.

After the race, I enjoyed soaking my feet in the ocean for a few minutes.  Look closely in this shot and you may see the surfer crashing in the background:

The Surf City medal has to be one of the coolest I’ve ever seen.   It’s attached to a wooden surfboard!  I set it up in the sand for this picture and I think the seagull in the background was thinking about sneaking up and stealing it!

We hung out on the beach for a while, but since I had to drive back to Arizona I skipped the big post-race party and beer garden.  During the drive I listened to the Super Bowl on the satellite radio.  Overall it was a great couple of days and a nice short break in the midst of my busy season.  And of course there is always the post-race reward to be enjoyed:

Here in the Old West, Folks Sometimes Run With Guns

(Originally Published on Runners World Loop 1/30/12)

Race Directors often search for unique locations to hold events.  In Southern Arizona, one of those unique locations is Old Tucson Studios.  This theme park has been home to many movie sets over the past 70 years, including some very famous flicks.

When they are not shooting a Western movie or TV show at Old Tucson, the public is allowed to tour the park.  Race Director Randy Accetta saw the potential for a fun running event, and the result was the “Sunrise at Old Tucson Cross Country Trail Run”.  The race actually begins right in the middle of Old Tucson, on Main Street in front of the Hotel & Saloon; the start happens when the Sheriff fires off his shotgun.  After a quick loop through the dirt roads in town, the race heads out to a few miles of cactus-forested desert trails in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains.

And yes, the race is run by our very own local “Mexican Lone Ranger”!  I was too busy trying to escape his heroic chase, so wasn't able to capture a picture myself, but here's one taken by my friend Gilbert:

Before the race, the MLR was reportedly heard to say:  “I'm going to knock off those two hornary varments when I head them off at the pass, then I'm going to hog-tie those two scally-wags up and then make off with the loot!"  The FaceBook smack-talk was going strong!

Because the trails are narrow, Randy wisely splits the event into two separate races.  Last year it was Open and Master’s divisions, and this year we had a Men’s race first, followed by a Women’s race.

The Men’s race began just as the sun was cresting the mountaintop, at about 8:15 a.m.  It’s a fast start as many people want to avoid getting blocked behind other runners; the narrow trails beginning after about 1 mile make passing difficult.  I haven’t done any trail running for a long time, and my trail running shoes weigh about twice as much as my normal shoes, so by about mile 2 I was feeling pretty bad. Cross country racing requires some different strategies from road racing, where you can generally keep an even pace.  In cross country, it’s better to use hills, twists, and varying terrain to your advantage, but all my knowledge of that seemed to be somewhere else this morning.

I finished the race in 25:48, and my GPS showed about 3.8 miles.  That was good enough for 16^th overall, 1^st in my age group.  My son Jason also ran the event and got a nice time.  Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of us running.  After Jason finished, he and I immediately ran another 3.2 miles.  (We also had run 2 miles for a warmup, so his total for the day was 9 miles).

We got back in time to see the women finishers.  Here are a couple of fast female friends, Stephanie and Michelle, racing to the finish line:

My wife Pam was also in the race, and she got into the spirit of things with a few cowgirl accessories.  She finished strong and came in with guns-a-blazing, challenging a few Caballero who were trying to pick gunfights with the finishers.

Pam’s the Coach for Saguaro High School’s Cross Country Team, and they came out this morning to volunteer at the race.  Actually, as with all Southern Arizona Roadrunners events, there were lots of volunteers – from packet pickup and registration, to finish line workers (some of whom were Pima Community College runners), to course markers, etc.  I honestly cannot imagine how the SAR races could survive without the many volunteers.

The finish line area was between the rodeo arena and some movie prop building facades.  There was a free southwest-style breakfast, free Body Armor drinks,  and plenty of great opportunity to socialize with friends.

The awards ceremony was sponsored by The Running Shop, and winners took home some nice prizes.  I got this nice tech shirt for my age-group win, and Pam won a gift certificate for placing in her age group.

After the race, runners are granted free access to Old Tucson Studios for the remainder of the day.  There is a lot to do there (including my favorite, a walk through the gold mine!), but I had to work this afternoon – it is tax season – and also had to help Jason with a science fair project, so unfortunately had to skip the tour.  I’ve been there numerous times before, and I highly recommend a visit!  Runners also get a coupon for a free visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, an absolute must-visit attraction near Tucson.