The Slump

So I'm in a bit of a slump these days.  Since the race I've taken some time to relax.  Two weeks after the race I ran some 30 plus miles in one week, which was a new record for me.  Then life took over.  I had a work trip to go on and I was busy getting ready for it. Then while on the trip I only had access to a treadmill, I hate treadmill running.  Since returning home from my work trip I haven't ran once.  It's been 14 days.  I had planned to run last night but my wife asked me to stay home and hang out with her.  We hardly see each other anymore since we work different shifts and she works on the weekends on occasion.  I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of some time alone with the woman I love.  It seems like everything is getting in the way of running.  My wife and I have races coming up on the 26th.  I have a 10K, which should be pretty easy since a 10k is pretty much my everyday run, and Mary Ann has a 5K.  It'll be her first race and she's not ready for it.  We were running a few days a week together but our schedules haven't allowed it the past two weeks.  Not only that, the Jogging stroller has all the tires flat thanks to some sticker burrs puncturing the tubes.  I should be able to get them fixed tomorrow morning though.  My plan is to run the next four days straight to kick start myself.  While it is a little bit of down time for me until I start training for my next big race I don't want to loose the ground I've gained over the past six months.  Maybe with the cooler temperatures and shorter days I can get things done.  I also need to make some changes to my diet.  I've started to notice that I eat a lot of junk.  We'll wait and see how that goes.  So what's next up on my plate?  Well I've planned for the family to run the Heritage Oaks Bank Family Day and Fun Run in Paso Robles.  It consist of several different races but I'll be doing the 10K, Mary Ann is in the 5k run (her first Race), and Lilly will be doing a Diaper Dash, a 5 yard Crawl.  I'm starting her early.  I just saw that the Warrior Dash is coming to Hollister in October which sounds like a good time.  I'm thinking about joining that just for the beer.  Then I plan to start my training in October for the Pasadena Marathon taking place in February.  It'll be my first full Marathon and I'm really looking forward to it.  Hopefully I can make it with the crazy schedule I have coming up with work and the holidays and what not.  So here's to pushing out of slumps and moving on.  Time for the next step in this crazy life of running I've involved myself in.  Thanks for reading and thank you even more for your support.

The Salinas Valley Half Marathon AKA Losing My Race Virginity

So after years of being the laziest person ever, 4 Months of serious training, and one week of awfulness, I've finally done it.  I ran my first race, The Salinas Valley Half-Marathon, and loved every minute of it.  I have several different times for the race which was actually .13 miles longer than what I thought it was.  My official course time was 1:47:48 seconds.  So were should we start?  Lets start with the week leading up to the race.
    Last Saturday I did my last long distance run with the hope of doing a couple short runs throughout the week. Well, Sunday life took over.  With work and taking care of my daughter I had no time to run Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.  Then Wednesday I had a SERIOUS stomach sickness.  I had to call off work and everything.  My wife had it as well when she got home from work that afternoon.  We sat around the house taking turns running to the bathrooms.  Thursday morning wasn't much better so we decided to go to the doctor to get checked out.  He said we had some sort of food poisoning and gave us some antibiotics and stuff.  It helped a ton and I went to work Thursday night to close out the week.  I came home and ran three miles at a very easy pace.  It was a very relaxing run as well.  I was trying to calm the nerves and just kept saying to myself "It's almost time".  It was a nice run to get the cobwebs out and loosen up before the race. Friday we slept in a bit and got everything ready for the trip and Drove to Soledad with a stop at the outlets in Gilroy.  It was a pretty good relaxing day.  We went to the Pasta Dinner in Salinas where we met up with Matt and had an excellent dinner.

I woke up early Saturday morning.  I was up at 5:40 and ready by 6:00.  My wonderful wife dropped me off at the High School were we met with Matt and got on the Bus for a trip to the starting line.  We sat around at the Soledad Mission for what seemed like forever. It was cold to me at around 50-55 degrees.  There was also a mist falling from the overcast sky wish was a little annoying to be honest.  They finally called every one to the starting line which was down the road about a tenth of a mile.  Wanting to finish under 2 hours I thought if I fell in with the 1:50-2:00 crowd I would be good.  Matt said to fall in with the 1:40-1:50 people so we did that instead.  It was a good idea too.  They got everyone together and did some speech and sang the National Anthem.  We stood around a couple more minutes and then hit the air horn and we were off.  It took me a good 6 seconds or so to reach the actual starting line from were we were stacked.  The crowded road started to thin with people passing and weaving in and out.  Matt and I ran together for about a quarter of a mile then he sped up to get around a guy and looked back to see if I was going to follow.  I just gave him a nod and left it at that.  I saw him about an hour and forty minutes at the finish line.  I wasn't going to hold him back from running his race.  The first mile was pretty much flat with a couple of turns and was mainly about loosening up and feeling my body out. My feet were numb for about the first 2.5 miles of the race from the cold. The first turn took us onto a farm road through the middle of two fields It was beat up and had tractor tire tracks all over it.  Big chunks of mud also needed to be dodged.  This road was about a mile long and led us to Foothill which is were the hills really started.  Thanks to my hills training and my knowledge of the course I was confident I could handle the hills on the course.  I was using Runkeeper on my iPhone and had all sorts of music blaring.  The race from here on out is pretty much a blur of aid stations people and fields.  Every Aid Station I ran past had tons of volunteers cheering and passing out GU, Gatorade, and Water.  I found out at the first Aid Station that drinking out of a paper cup is nearly impossible running at full speed.  I had to slow down to a fast walk for all the other water stops.  But I would quickly swig it and get back to moving.  I didn't want my legs to think they were getting a break.  I had 4 gels durning the race, 2 of my Hammers and 2 of the GUs that were being handed out.  There was one major uphill at about 6.5 miles, but it was nothing compared to Rocky Hill in Exeter.  I didn't hold back on the downhills and I'm almost positive that's the reason I'm so sore.  I hauled ass down the back side of the hills.  I was letting gravity do all the work and wasn't worried about holding myself back like I usually do.  It was race day and I didn't care if I was a little sore the next day.  I was landing so heavy and hard on the downhill that I could feel my kneecaps shaking as my foot hit the ground.  I didn't care though, I was on a roll.  I passed people.  I got passed by people. At one point I noticed some blond girl in a running skirt ahead of me.  Her ponytail was bouncing and swinging side to side.  It pissed me off.  I actually hated her hair.  I had to get around her.  I laugh about it now but I was actually mad.  It was strange.  Just past mile 12 my body did something I'd never felt it do before.  Every time I took a step and my foot landed my muscles felt like they were firing off, full of electricity.  It was a strange feeling and I loved it.  I felt it through the end of the race.  Coming up the the final turn into the winery I saw Matt standing in at the corner cheering me on, turns out he finished a full 7 minutes ahead of me.  He was waving his hat at me and yelling.  I don't know what cause I had some music blaring in my ears.  I don't remember what was playing, but I know that it made me want to run even more.  Crossing the finish like I looked up at the clock to see 1:47:48,  I stopped my RunKeeper app at 1:47:40.  Online RunKeeper says 1:47:37.  Any way you look at it I was 13 minutes under my goal of 2 hours.  I must brag on myself and say that that's a Hell of an achievement.  The Pace Calculator says that if had had ran just 13.1 miles instead of the 13.23 miles that I actually ran my time would have been 1:46:37.  Going through the little bottle neck shoot at the finish line they took my tag off my bib, put a medal around my neck, handed me a bottle of water and told me Congrats.  I felt like a champion.  It's an awesome feeling to accomplish a goal.  I shortly met up with my family and Matt who had actually been standing together at the last corner.  We took some pictures (which I need to get from my brother-in-law) and walked around the expo.  I got my goodie bag which has a great looking Finisher's shirt in it, and did some free wine tasting.  My daughter feel asleep in her stroller so my Wife and brother-in-law went and found a place to relax while Matt and I watched the first little bit of the awards.  We were blown away buy the top three 1:06:xx times.  We left and gave Matt a ride to his car at the high school.  He Followed us over to my wife's cousin's house and took a shower, then he left for his long drive back to Hanford.  The family and I relaxed a while then took a drive out to Carmel-by-the-Sea and went for a short 2 mile or so hike.  A great way to close out a lovely day.

I just saw the results for the race and I finished 90th over all and 23rd in my age/sex group.  That's top 10%.  Happy.  I'll have some pictures when I get them.  Thanks for reading and thank you for your continued support.  Also it's still not too late to donate to my charity, you can do so by clicking one of the many links on this page including the headere at the top.

RunKeeper Activity Page
Race Results Page
WWP Charity Donation Page

Last Long Run

Just as the title says I did my last long run.  That is until my race next Saturday.  I have a few short runs lined up, nothing longer than a 10K.  I ran this route tonight.  I left around 8:45 pm for my run.  I took me 1:30:07 for a pace of 8:43.  This run seemed pretty easy to be honest. I really didn't have any problems till I got to Jackson Ave (the cross run for 11th to 10th).  There is a Del Monte processing plant out there and the smells made my eyes water, my nose and throat burn, and it sucked.  I also ran through there during a shift change cause that road was way to busy for the time I ran through there.  I had to stop a little past the plant to take a leak.  It was kind of strange being in a hurry like that and all.  With a couple cars driving past I hid behind what might be the only real tree on the route.  I also lost my red blinking light somewhere on the way north.  I remember having it when I stopped but not when I checked for it.  I drove back that way trying to find it and could not.  While it clips on great to the waist band of my shorts the water belt is not thick enough for a good hold.  I might order something from Fuel Belt.  My nipples started to hurt around mile 7 which is a first for me.  My nipples never hurt.  Band Aides are going to be a must for the race.  I have a short run planned for tomorrow and a couple more next week, then it's race day.  The nerves are starting to tingle.

The Month of July

Sorry Friends, it has been a while.  July has been an adventurous month for me.  I've been onboard an aircraft carrier for work and traveled the state and ran in the foothills and a lot of other stuff.  My milage this month is lacking compared to last month.  It's a week before the race and I'm starting to get a little nervous.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not out to win it.  I'm out to finish it.  So lets start on the 5th of July since I haven't written to you since then.  After my long run with Matt on the Fourth I took the day off to recover and hang out with my family.  I had the day off from work as well and left for the boat on the 6th.  I'm a contractor working for a company called AECOM and my title is Aircraft Worker.  I'm not going to explain my job because I do several different things, but the over all goal is to train pilots to fly F/A-18 E&F Super Hornets.  

That's one right there.  The first 2 days aboard the ship we didn't have any jets onboard so we only "Worked" for 8 hours.  work consisted of reading Dean Karnazes book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner on my iPhones iBook app.  It's a great read and extremely motivational.  Being on the ship is different and I'll post some pictures of it at the end of this blog.  The main thing is that I had to run on a treadmill while I was there.  I only did it twice though (shame on me).  Once we got aircraft onboard we switched to 12 hour days and we actually worked a good majority of it.  Running around a flight deck with six tiedown chains is no joke.  They weight 10 or 11 pounds each and can really take a toll on you with all the other gear you have.  My runs on the boat were boring to say the least.  The first was around five and a half and the second somewhere around 7.  I'll just say that it's really hard to watch a movie on an iPhone while running.  Moving on now to what happened upon returning home from my little trip.  

    My first run after coming home was a my usual 5 mile loop downtown which almost killed me.  It was insanely hot, 103ish if I recall, and I had just eaten a ton of food.  Hummus and Tabouli taste pretty good the second time around.  That weekend my friend Matt and I went back out to Exeter to run some hills.  We decided to do a full 13.1 that day.  I wasn't really feeling it after 5 miles I wanted to stop.  My legs hurt the hill had just kicked my butt and It was heating up.  I had to walk a lot on the way back up Rocky Hill (we did an out and back).  I hauled it on the way back down though.  I ran out of water around mile 11 and stopped to soak my shirt in a sprinkler that was spraying an orchard.  That really helped to keep me cool.  Even with all the walking I was excited to see that I'd finished under 2:15.  I'm confident now that I can complete my run near the 2 hour mark.  The hills at this corse are nothing like those in Exeter.  I took a few days off to recover from that run and only ran 8 miles the next week.  My normal 5 and then a birthday run. 

     My birthday was on the 24th and my family and I went to the Central Coast to get out of the heat. Stopped in Paso Robles because I wanted to find some TOMS shoes which I did.  It was a little b-day present to myself.  We then went to Atascadero for a little picnic and to walk around the little zoo there.  It's nothing amazing, but Lilly liked the animals there.  After that we headed out to Morro Bay on the 41 which is a drive I've always liked and I had a slice of the best pumpkin pie ever.  We took tons of pictures out on the beach which I've posted on facebook. (Click here to see birthday pictures) When we were done there we headed down to SLO to walk around and do some shopping and what not.  We made it home just after dark.  My wife was exhausted and went straight to bed but I was full of energy so I decided to go for run.  I did 2.6 miles (I turned 26) as fast as I could  I came out with a 7:07 pace which is pretty quick for me.  

    My training this week has been rather lacking.  I've had to watch my daughter everyday till it's time to go to work and then work has been kicking my butt.  See now that I'm on nights I run the radio during the flight schedule.  I'm on my feet nearly 7 hours a day now.  It keeps me active though and I'm getting used to being on my feet for long periods of time which is good if I'm going to be doing greater distances.  By Wednesday I'd had enough and went to Walmart after work and got some lights.  I got a red blinking light that I can clip onto my waist band and a hat bill light that I put on my running visor.  I was ready to go Thursday after work and ended up doing a 10k.  The lights worked great.  My contacts were a little dry so it was hard to see sometimes but the head lamp was bright and the flashing red light will blind you if you look into it.  My 10k route takes me out of town into the fields, the wind blowing through the corn is pretty creepy late at night when you're all alone.  I'm sure several people thought I was crazy.  My run time wasn't super fast but I forgot to bring water.  I think if I did have some I could have shaved a few seconds off the pace.  The weather was awesome too, a slight breeze, 75 degrees.  So this brings us up to today.  I plan on putting some miles in later tonight around sun down. I've also been looking into some other things to do.  I've gotten in touch with a old friend about cycling and he's given me a contact out here to get started.  I need to find some alternatives to running as my knees are starting to hurt a little.  I've also wanted to look into a swim coach to possibly give a Tri a shot sometime next year.  My ultimate goal though is a Marathon in 2011.  I'm thinking that the Fresno Two Cities would be good.  

The Ship USS Carl Vinson

This was taken with my iPhone and an app called Pano.  It's not perfect but you get the point.  This was the day after all the jets flew off.  

This is your standard rack and cube.  These are generally called "Coffin Racks"  it does sort of feel like you're in a coffin.  They are arranged into cubes of usually 6 racks.  They aren't comfortable as the mattress is only 4 inches thick.  Now imagine sleeping in this for 6-10 months.  

This is me with all of my gear on.  I have a cranial for head protection, it has my headset for hearing protection and googles for the eyes.  Long sleeve turtle neck is to protect the skin from the hot, hot exhaust (this really sucks in place like the Persian Gulf where it's 100+everyday), Leather Gloves are a must for chains and such. I also have a float coat on, It's a vest that will inflate itself if I somehow end up in the water.  I'm also wearing cammie pants steal toe boots.  I have 6 chains which are about 60-65 pounds total and a tool pouch thats 3 or 4 pounds.  Now run around with all of this stuff for 6+ hours in a place that's been referred to Organized Chaos.  That's my job.  A workout in itself.  

Fourth Of July: Happy Birthday America

As we celebrate the independence and the birth of our nation lets remember those that have given so much to keep it that way.  Please join me in supporting our nations finest by clicking the Proud Supporter banner at the top of the page. Thank you and have a happy and safe Independence Day.

The Hills

So I've been wanting to do a hills run for a while now.  The largest hill here in Hanford is the 12th Avenue bridge over 198.  A DailyMile friend Rob told me about this Meyer-Rocky Loop in Exeter. So, I went over there last week while on a trip to Visalia and drove the loop.  Only in reverse, so now for me its the Rocky-Meyer Loop.  I made all my plans to run the route this week.  I got the water belt, made plans for a friend to come along, the works.  Well at the last minute my friends couldn't go and my wife had to work.  Thank God for Grandma's cause that's where the baby went. I had planned to leave around 6 am but my daughter was asleep and after staying up later to write my last post I decided I could use a little extra myself.  I ended up leaving around 730 to drop my daughter off.  I made it to Exeter around 830 and got out there.

I made my Start/Finish at the corner of Rocky Hill Drive and Hwy 65.  This first photo shows the road about 3/4 of a mile in.  I hit the one mile mark crossing Spruce and almost immediately started the climb up the first hill.  This was a climb of around 400 feet over the course of a mile.  My legs were burning the whole way up.  I was actually ready to stop at the top of this hill and walk back down.  But, I was on a mission.



I stopped for a picture and a drink near the top.  This is looking back the way I came.  It's a hazy day in the valley today.  It was already starting to heat up at this point as well.

This is the view from the back side of the hill going down into Yokohl Valley.  It was way easier to run down than to run up.  I saw quite a few runners and cyclist on this stretch of rode.  It was nice to know I wasn't the only one out here.  I had a Raspberry Hammer Gel on the way down. It was pretty yummy.




A look back from Yokohl Valley Road and Road 228.  This was a pretty easy flat portion.  It stayed that way until about mile 6 when I started my climb up the Meyer Dr Hill.

This is a look down the hill I ran up.  This one was way easier that the first hill.  Only about 200 feet of climb.  I had another Gel this time it was Montana Huckleberry and it was the best thing I've ever had.  Really I want to put it on toast.  Was ready to step it up down the back side of this and get back down to Exeter.

One more mile to go.  I was so tired at this point.  I think by this time I'd ran further than I had ever ran before and I still had a ways to go yet.

Sorry for this one.  The camera on an iPhone 3g isn't that great when you're moving.  You can see the finish line at the light head  If you can even see the light.  I stepped it up at this point and tried to finish strong.

Total Distance was 11.52 miles with 724 feet of climb in 1:52:45.  A very good run for me.  I really enjoyed the challenge of my first hills run and hope to do it again sometime soon.  If you'd like to see the elevation charts and geotagged photo's go to my RunKeeper profile by clicking here.

First Impressions: Amphipod RunLite 4

 So I finally broke down and got a hydration system today.  I have experience running with a CamelBak watering system and I know that it's not for me.  I can't stand the sloshing around on my back and the sweat spot it leaves behind. Running with a water bottle in my hand isn't for me either.  So I thought I'd give this a go. I got the Amphipod RunLite 4.  I picked this up from the fine folks at Sierra Running Company in Fresno.  They had all the systems I could think of Amphipod, Nathan, Fuel Belt, and some others.  They had some nice people on staff that where very helpful.  I was allowed to try on the different belts and see how they felt.  I tried this on first because I'd looked into it a lot and really wanted to get it.  Not wanting to just jump on the first thing that came my way I tried on the Fuel Belt.  I noticed that bottles where a little more difficult to get in and out of the holsters on that one.  The bottles also felt strange in my hand.  I went back to the Amphipod and changed two of the holsters to sit sideways on the belt and put it on again.  This gave me the feeling of more room for my for arms.  I'm of average-ish height at 6'1" and I have long arms.  I didn't feel the bottles rubbing when they were upright, but I knew it was close.  The comfort in the store was nice and the price was average from what I'd researched. At $44.50 it seemed like a fair buy.  I spent the rest of my day walking around Fresno with my wife wanting to go home to try out my new toy.

First Run:
    When we finally got home late this afternoon my wife wanted to go get something so I stayed at home with the baby and fiddled with the belt trying things on in different spots.  The wife finally got home around 7:20 and I was ready to go.  I ran my usual test route (Same 3 mile out and back I use to test anything new).  I had all four bottles filled with water.  I know I don't need 32 oz of water for a 3 mile run but I wanted to test the weight and balance of the thing.  Because the belt sits more on your waist and not the hips it seems a little strange at first.  And I had to tighten it up a little to stop some bouncing.  Once it was snug there was no bounce at all.  The bottles were easy to take in and out of the holsters and gave a reassuring click when they were in.  I drank out of two of them to see how the slosh factor was.  Couldn't really feel the water moving around at all.  I sprayed all the water out of one and swapped it out with a bottle on my back.  I had to use my other hand to find the holster on my back.  With my placing of the pouch that comes with the belt I had a hard time taking my phone in and out it.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be if it were on my back.  I may have to move it to the front to make it easier.  After my run was over I noticed that I had some impression marks on my side from the pads on the holsters.  We'll see how this thing works on my long hills work out tomorrow.

Photos:

This is the belt.  Notice how the two side bottles are sideways and not up and down.  I really like being able to put this this way.  It's not an option on the Fuel Belt.

From the top you can see how I have things positioned.  The pouch may have to go in front of the bottle.  I find it easier to grab the left one anyway.

Having four small bottles is nice.  I can put water in 3 and Gatorade or any other drink in the 4th.

CLICK!!  Those tabs fit into the grooves on the side of the bottle.  It will give you a nice click when it goes in there right.  If you're like me and run with music you won't hear it so just give the bottle a little tug to make sure it's in there.

The pouch is just big enough for my iPhone that I need to upgrade.  When headphones are plugged in it sits just a little sideways with the stem of the cord holding it up.  Not a big deal though.

I can also fit two gels in there as well.  I'm using Hammer Gel's for this.  This pouch does have some stretch to it so I may start switching the phone and gels.  I may be able to fit three or more with the phone.

I just tried this and you can indeed fit three but it's tight and something may fall out while trying to dig the phone out and running.

There is also a small pocket on the belt itself.  I used a marker just to show you the full size of it.  It does stretch a little bit the seam at the opening doesn't really open very large.  Would be a good place for a car or house key.

Hell Run #1

Holy crap the heat is here.  After a somewhat mild spring summer is here with a bang.  For those not familiar with the area it gets super hot here in the California Central Valley.  And yeah it's a dry heat.  It's not the humid stuff like we have in my homeland of East Texas.  But this dry heat isn't a joke either.  The combination of Heat, Dryness, and Wind (breeze)  makes your skin feel dry all the time.  It almost seems like you don't sweat at all (but you really are).  Add in the effects of the blazingly bright sunshine and you're headed for disaster. I ran into this problem today on my run. It was 14 degrees warmer since my last run (I'm sure it was more since my last run was later in the day).  That's a big change in temperature.  My first 2 miles where great.  Everything after that, not so much.  From mile 3 to 4 was the hardest part.  I only had a 16.9 oz bottle of water with me which was a mistake but I don't have any other hydration system.  I'm a little undecided about that at the moment.  I have never been so happy to finish a run as today.  I was so glad it was over and that I could get out of the heat.  After the run my RunKeeper app told me the time and pace for the run and I was pretty disappointed.  My pace was 30 seconds slower than sunday on the same course. I make up excuses though, long day, rough day at work, the heat.  I guess these do play a factor but 30 seconds? Really?  So my new task is to find a hydration system that works for me.  I have many more runs in this heat so I need to figure it out quick.  So as Summer shows it's gnarly head I just want to wish you all a safe Summer and remind you to STAY HYDRATED.

Father's Day Sundown Run

This year was my first year to celebrate Father's Day as a father.  To be completely honest I did feel a little honored today.  My wife had to work today, unfortunately, but that let me hang out with my wonderful Little Girl one-on-one.  It's amazing being a dad and I love it.  At first I planned to drive to Exeter to run in the foothills out there.  A fellow DailyMiler, Rob, told me about a trek that he does out there.  After waking up at 542 this morning asking my wife when she had to be at work, 6 am by the way, I never went back to sleep and wasn't motivated that early to go run.  So I hung out with my girl till around 1030 until I took her to her Grandma's house so I could go do some stuff.  I went to Visalia and walked around Sport Chalet for a while.  I'm currently looking for a better hydration system than the one I have, which is to carry a bottle of water with me and throw it away when it's empty.  I'm still at an impasse with that one.  I'll get to that in a later post.  I also went to Costco to get some things.  Walking to the car I made the decision to just drive out to Exeter and see these hills.  Holy cow was my first impression.  I actually think I drove it in reverse from what Rob said, but wow these hills are way more than anything I'll have to run in my Half.  The scenery is beautiful out there too.  I'm planning on going this up coming Sunday if anyone would like to join me. For Father's day my mother-in-law got me $50 worth of Applebee's cards and my wife didn't feel like cooking so Lilly, wife, and I went there for dinner.  I ate a lot.  I mean a whole lot.  Even Desert, which I hardly ever do.  I ate this meal with bittersweetness though cause I knew that I still had a run to do.  A 10 mile run in fact.  After letting my food "settle" for an hour or two I decided that 10 miles was a little far.  It was getting late and I don't feel safe running at night (no lights, crazy drivers, rough neighborhoods). So I went on my 10K route but this time I went backwards.  I set a personal best with this one running it in 49:23.  My last mile was 7:29.7.  That's pretty good for me.  Normally I use an iPhone app called RunKeeper (also available for Android OS 2.0).  But my phone has been on the fritz lately and the app fails to open.  I'm sure that it's my phone.  RK usually tells me my distance time and pace with audio cues.  Without those cues though I just ran my hardest for as long as I could.  I got home right as the sun dropped behind the mountains to the west (of course it was those).  It was an awesome ending to a decent day.  Maybe my Father's Day 10K will be better next year.

My Wounded Warrior Project

So I've decided to use my upcoming race to raise money.  I decided to do this long ago I just had a hard time deciding which charity to run for.  After much deliberation I chose to run for Wounded Warrior Project.  To be honest this wasn't my first choice.  I had them at a close second to Central Valley Children's Hospital.  After many unanswered emails to the hospital I contacted WWP.  I had a return email the next business day.  It wasn't an automated, pre-made, one size fits all type of email.  It was from an actual person that answered my question.  I've set a small goal of $1000 for the cause.  It's not an unreasonable amount in my book.  I think that it is very attainable.  If I could get 100 people to donate Ten Dollars each I would have my goal.  To those that actually read this blog, which I'm sure is very few since this is only the second day I've had it, I'm asking that you share this with anyone you know.  You can reach the donation page by clicking the Proud Supporter Image in this post.  I will also include a link at the end of the post that you can copy and paste into Facebook or any other place you would like.  I've been preparing for this race and I still have a ways to go before I'm ready.  If you'd like more information you can visit the WWP website at www.WoundedWarriorProjecct.org. Thank you for all your support.

Donation Page URL:
http://WWPProudSupporter.kintera.org/danieltodd33

Nike Free Run+

So here are my thoughts 25 miles into my Nike Free Run+ shoes.  Over all I'm really happy with them.  Of course I went from wearing an old pair of Nike Shox to these.  My first impression was that these where the most comfortable shoes I'd ever worn.  After running 26ish miles in them that still holds true.  I'm sure most of you know about the Free line of Nike running shoes.  Most of you know about the deep cuts in the soles and how they help with foot flexibility.  I had to get these shoes in an 11.  I don't know if it's a Nike thing but they were a half size too small compared to other shoes (my Shox are the same way).  These shoes are very light.  Not the lightest shoe I've ever worn but light all the same.  The upper part of the shoes seems to be made entirely out of mesh with everything else overlaying that material.  With all of this mesh the shoes breath incredibly well.  Before my run today I decided to soak myself with a hose to start off cool and I got some down in my sock.  My socks dried out really quickly and were completely dry at the end of my run.  Oh and my socks aren't high tech stay dry socks at all.  The soles of these shoes are a little more built up than other Frees I have seen.  They are however nothing like the Shox I've racked 200 + miles on.  They are also wide coming away from the shoe at an angle to give you a wide base to land on.  My assumption on this is to spread the landing area to give you less impact during midfoot strike.  And while we're talking about midfoot strike these shoes make it really easy to land this way.  Landing like this was nearly impossible in my old shoes but so much easier in these.  So far these shoes are great, we'll see how they are at 50 miles. 

(Right)Made for the NIKE+ system.  I don't use it but it's nice to have in case I want to.
(Below) The bottom of the shoe.  The soft foam picks up rocks from time to time but you really don't notice at all.  I had to pull some sticker burrs out of them as well.



(Bottom)Hopefully you can see the difference in width.  I feel like my toes have more room to spread.