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.