Muddy Calves

One of the unexpectedly benefits of having an extremely obscure blog is that I’m not bothered by trolls or comment-bots (cue the crickets) so it has been awhile since I have had one of those messy email/message board exchanges that happen from time to time.

I’ve sure you seen and/or participated in them–people going back going back & forth in a futile exchange, quickly losing any resemblance of an actual discussion, mis-interpreting and mis-understanding each other on each on a larger and larger, often on an increasing personal, scale.

Human communication is a flawed method of transmitting information as it is. Not content with mis-communicating with local humans, we have greatly expanded our ability to mis-communicate over long distances with people we have never met at instantaneous speeds.

Enter the 10% rule.  Although, probably not the 10% rule that runners might think of–the long-standing rule of increasing your weekly mileage by a maximum of 10% per week (A rule I have issues with but that’s a different post).

A long time ago (20 years, give or take) in a galaxy (online community) far, far away… I learned a different 10% rule–be 10% nicer online than you would be in person.

My first web experience was skimming the Usenet groups, especially rec.running. From there I found the dead runners society. This presented a wonderful opportunity for me to have other running buddies around the world. A phenomenon that was noticed pretty quick online was that it seemed disagreements could quickly explode into “Flame Wars”, much more quickly than in real life. A big reason of that is typing messages back and forth is a different, if not inferior, method of communication.  You lose the body language (part of the reasons emoticons were invented–to partially fill this gap), you lose the ability for quick back & forth (parties typing long, partially disconnected rebuttals), and you lose some context (this person is responding in the 5 minutes they have before the tater-tot hot dish is done).

So at some point, and I wish I remembered the genesis, the dead runners society (drs) adopted the 10% rule. There were still disagreements and Flames but over the decades, it has been one of the least contentious online groups I’ve been a part of. I believe that the 10% rule is a big part of that. I also believe that the group has held nearly annual world conferences where deads meet each other has a big rule–reminds you that there are actual people at the other ends of the Interweb. I believe that keeping in mind the limitations of this form of communications is important in keeping conversations, either in a message board or via eMail, respectful.

My blog represents a portion of who I am, what I think, and what I feel. Sometimes because of my own inability to express myself, a lack of time, or a desire to keep some personal information personal, you may or may not get an accurate impression of who I am, what I know, or what I mean. This blog is mostly focused on my running & I try not to pull too much non-running stuff into it. But I don’t put everything about my running in it either–I would bore the snot out of you (wonder if I could monetize that) if I gave every little details of my running, especially since the vast majority of my training is boring, aerobic work especially now during base season. So sometimes a post will be based off a fleeting thought ( a rumination, if you will) that lasted 10 seconds.

Without proper context I can see how a post like Worries might make someone think I’m stressing out a goal time when I really wanted to reflect a moment of doubt I often have in the winter while I am still building base at a slow, ice-dodging, layer-encumbered, aerobic pace and before the spring thaw has brought back the bounce back to my step. And sometimes in a post, without realizing it, I don’t fully explain something–say, for example, my goal of running Grandma’s in 3:29:59. I am well aware that basically as  a first-timer, I should just do it for the experience–that if I insist on setting a goal pace, it should be at least 15-20 minutes slower than what my other race time might predict. But I’m also willing to experiment and fail. I’m also experienced enough that if  I  need to revise my goal in a month, or two months, on race day, or during the race–whether due to laziness, injury, conditioning, weather, or the view–that isn’t the end of the world. At this point, a goal time is almost meaningless anyhow since I’m still just doing aerobic runs. Once I run a couple of training races–the Ron Daws 25k in early April and probably a half in early May (Eau Claire? Lake Minnetonka? New Prague? anyone want to throw a blogger a freebie?)–and really judge my fitness, will a goal time really be meaningful. At this point, the goal time mostly serves as a motivational tool for me, not something I’m married to.

I welcome questions, comments, or scathing rebuttals–an intelligent, respectful disagreement is both fun and a learning experience but please abide by the 10% rule and don’t assume you know everything about me based off of a couple blogs posts or 140-character snippets, don’t make wild-ass assumptions, if something makes your spidey-senses tingle-ask about it, don’t read too much into random blog/twitter/email comments, don’t extrapolate what I may knowingly choose to do in my running to what I would recommend someone else do, consider that maybe “what we have here is a failure to communicate“, don’t assume that because I don’t instantly agree with you that I’m a  moron, and as Mighty Mur Lafferty  says, “Don’t be an Ass”. And, for my part, I will continue to delete personal insults like “Arrogant old butt blister” from my responses.

If you can live with those terms of engagement, great, let’s have a civil discussion & debate–if not, have a good life.

Spent a chunk of time driving around listening to National Public Radio today and of course most of the coverage was deservedly focused on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

At some point, my mind wondered why running, especially at the recreational level is so . . .  white (or at least lacking in African-Americans). I remembered wondering that at Bjorklund last year when seeing an (non-elite) African-Americans runner made the “whiteness” of the race all too obvious but I forgot about that thought until today.

And not to pick on any one organization, I thought that this header image from RunningUSA.org pretty well represents my impression of the racial make-up of most races.

Now I’ll admit, my impression might be totally off-base, maybe the participation by race is closer to the actual demographics of the country and I’m just out of touch. But if my impression is right, I can make some guesses related to sociology, economics, geography,  and culture but they would just be assumptions–mostly based off popular stereotypes and not any actual factual information.

Right now, I’m wondering what part of the running community are African-Americans and other minorities? And if these percentages are different from their proportion of the country’s overall population, why is there a difference?

No answers, just questions.

Warning: This ends with me running my personal slowest 5k by over 6 minutes.

I tackled a project this fall that totally Kicked My Ass.

I’ve posted some about my preparation for my fall project, like when I took the Road Runners Clubs of America (RRCA) Coach Certification class and a CPR class. But I haven’t said why I was doing those things.

Now, for the Grand Reveal.

I coached a Run Club at a local elementary school.

It was incredibly frustrating, challenging, and difficult but extremely rewarding.

One thing to keep in mind is that I work as a computer programmer in a very…mature office. At 41 years old, I’m probably 20 years younger than the average age. It’s a very slow, quiet, and structured place to work.

The exact opposite of coaching 30-some 1st to 8th graders.

While I had a teacher and a couple semi-regular volunteers helping me, I was totally out of my element. With their help and some additional support and advice from fellow coaches, Rebecca and Ann, I survived and, I think, near the end, almost knew what I was doing.

But there were times that I came home and wanted to quit. From a second grader hitting another second grader in the gut, to trying to get some of the kids to actually run, to dealing with a boy who couldn’t control his temper, to a girl learning about “the trots” the hard way, to trying to come up with snacks twice a week, to trying to keep the 1st graders to middle-schoolers interested at the same time, to one of the kids crashing with Gumby in the end-of-season race.

I do appreciate more what my teacher-wife goes through on a daily basis.

But uff-da!

But it was extremely rewarding, too. From the girl who always pushed to do a little more, to the 3rd grader who just kept going and going and going, to figuring out how to manage one of the tricky kids, to getting a gift of cookies, and just getting to know the kids, I learned a ton. I grew a bunch. I might not yet be a good kids coach but no one got a concussion the second half of the season so that’s a positive.

This was, in a way, therapy for me. I’ve been painfully shy–at least around new people–for most of my life. Largely due to the fact that I had a hard time making some sounds when I was young; partially, I think, because I grew up surrounded by people with Finnish accents. I often was embarrassed or frustrated because people could not understand what I was saying so to prevent that from happening, I talked as little as possible around new people.

As some point, I outgrew most of my speech problems but I never really realized it. It only was recently that it dawned on me that I rarely had to repeat myself to people. But I still carried the fear of talking to new people with me. And talking to groups–I was almost completely successfully in avoiding it.

After my epiphany, I started to make an effort to talk in groups–at first it was in company meetings with co-workers that I had worked with for a few year.

But coaching really forced me to get over any fears of talking in a hurry. I had 30-some kids I needed to yell at give instructions to, I had parents that I needed to yell at communicate with, and I had assistant coaches & volunteers to yell at coordinate. And, for the most part, I didn’t have time to think about it, I just had to do what needed to be done.

But really the most rewarding part was getting to know the kids. At the end of the season we ran a local Halloween race. We had 19 participants run a quarter-mile fun run and five participant, one volunteer, and myself run a 5k at the end.

I ended up hanging back with the 5kers instead of really racing but even that was incredible. I watched as our 3rd grader, who ran slow & steady, raced another boy about his age and, just like the proverbial tortoise, win in the end. I got to cheer our middle-schooler as she finished her first 5k with a flourish even though her shins were killing her–I told her it was OK to walk it in but she was determined to run the final stretch.

I looked forward to the end, but now I’m starting to plan for the Spring session.

Despite what my blog might reveal, I don’t just run to race.

Today’s run was supposed to short & slow, an easy day.  But sometimes I need a run more for emotional reasons than physiological reasons.  Today was one of those day.

I found out last night that someone very important to me is going through a rough patch.  A real rough patch.  And I can not help her right now.

So I’m a bundle of empathy, pain, fear, anxiety, hurt, anger, guilt, and love that I needed to release.  And, as fun as it may sound, going to a CPR class and talking about life-threatening situations touched too close to the heart today.  I spent most of my lunch hour on the phone with family sharing an odd mixture of tears & laughs.

After class, I had some time to get in a run.  I was “suppose” to do two easy miles.   But I needed to hammer some of the emotions out so I did 3 miles HARD.  It was hot today and I hadn’t eaten lunch so it was pretty tough.  I needed to feel some physical pain today to mask the emotional pain, hopefully washing some of it away.

In the process, I discovered that not only can you use the “talk test” to determine if you’re running aerobically or anaerobically but you can also use the “cry test”.  You can not run anaerobically and cry.  Trust me, I tried.

One thing that made this run even more poignant is that this person is one of my running heroes.  She is the one that motivated to start running again after I had given it up in college.  She is the person that has encouraged my running more than anyone.  She is the one that had the courage to run in college. She is the person that understands my passion for running better than anyone. She is the person that came to see me finish the Bjorklund half marathon this year.   So using running to cope in this situation was both extremely appropriate but also a painful reminder of what she is going through.

I don’t often use a run to burn off emotions like this–more typically I use them to refocus myself, to clear my mind, or just to escape.  But there have been a handful of times where I’ve run just to burn off pure emotion.

And now, I hope to return to my boring old blog about my training…

I just spent the last two days taking the Road Runners Club of America’s Coach Certification Class.

It was awesome.

First, Patti & Warren Finke, the instructors, are long-time runners, marathons, ultra-runners, and coaches.  Patti is an exercise physiologist, and has been the American age-group record-holder for 50km and 50mi.  She has been an Oregon Road Runners Club Age group runner of the year three times.  Warren has raced in over 170 marathons and ultramarathons–winning more than 20.  Twice he has been the U.S. track record hold for 100km.

Obviously, both are well qualified.

But their presentation is what really made the classes enjoyable.  The first day included a lot of lecture on topics like nutrition and physiology. The material was somewhat dull but they kept the class entertaining with antidotes from their 60+ combined years in the sport.

One of my favorite stories was about a competitor in the Race Across America bike race who started hallucinating in St Louis that his crew was a bunch of aliens trying to abduct him.  This racer later confessed that even after his crew caught him and got him to sleep a couple hours, that he thought all the way to Atlantic City that his crew was a bunch of aliens.

The second day was a bit more interactive as we broke into small groups and worked on developing training plans for Josefina, as interestingly played by Patti.

One of the side benefits I had not expected–and wish I had been able to take better advantage of–was meeting several other (better) bloggers.

Rebecca, me, Adam, and Ann

Rebecca from Michigan sat next to me the first day and works with Girls On the Run.  If I remember right, she works with over 80 different clubs in a 3 county area in the Detroit area.  I’m hoping to pry some more information from her as I try to get my program going.

Adam’s blog, The Boring Runner is tragically mis-named.  I wish my blog was half as entertaining as his.   Dude can run, too.

Unfortunately, I had less time to talk with Sporty Girl of Sporty Girl Jewelry Fame but she was extremely nice & she makes really cool sports-themed jewelry.

The long lectures on Saturday, coupled with the fact I hustled home to my family right after class instead of going to the restaurant, limited how much I got a chance to hang out with anyone.  I wish there had been a casual get together Friday night or a group run one of the mornings.  But I guess there’s always Twitter.

Again, the class was really amazing, I think I learned a lot–we’ll see when I take the test.  If I pass (and I complete my CPR & First Aid class later this month), I’ll be  a certified Running Coach.  I have a few goals in mind of what I want to do with that but even if I go no further than the experience I had this weekend, it was worth it and something I would recommend for any runner.  If you live in the Portland area (or Kona) , you might want to check out Team Oregon‘s training groups.

Kickerstarter has popped up a couple of times in the last couple months in different podcasts I listen to.  Mighty Mur Lafferty of I Should Be Writing Fame used it to raise money to get her Afterlive Series printed and Carl the Mailman from The 3 Non-Joggers Podcast used it to raise funds for his documentary film, One Fall.

Both mentioned it enough to piqué my interest in what else is going on there.  I did some standard searches–Lego, Mego, Running,  and Runner and saw some interesting stuff.  But one project stuck out to me, the Simple Hydration Water Bottle.

Odd shape?

The clever thing is it is designed to slip into your waistband so you don’t have to carry it but don’t need any special belts or straps or anything.

Cool.

Kickstarter is designed for crowd-funding of projects.  Individuals chip in $ so a project can be funded and completed.  The thing is, the project is only funded if it raises 100% of the money requested.   The water bottle has raised $10,610 of $20,000so far with 24 days left. I was informed that 95% of projects that get over the half-way point endd up getting fully funded.

One of the important things about kickstarter projects is designing a sensible reward system for contributors.  While every contribution helps, contributing $20 gets one of the bottles.  Additional pledges get you other swag like hats and shirts.

I intended to pledge and recommend you look the information over and consider it too.

Between getting injured and being away from home, I didn’t spend as much time looking for race reports from Bjorklund as I would have liked to.  And when I did, I didn’t find as many as I thought I would.

Without any more fanfare, here are others’ race reports that I found:

• Laura completed her first half marathon. Way to Go!
• Matt ran a blistering 1:12:31
• Greg, the 5th master, ran a 1:11:43
• Root4Home set a PR.
• Carly volunteered at the race.
• Julie’s Race Report has great pictures as always.
• Chad ran Grandma’s but he gets included anyhow.

Only two items in this post-race thinkpad.

First, I have found only one race report so far for the ALARC Legends 10k, Richelle has a great race report and also has a Minnesota Runner’s Giveaway of some SWAG she has collected and a cool necklace (your choice of three) that she made.

Second, I’ve been putzing around figuring what I should try to run at Bjorklund.  Originally, I was hoping to PR by running faster than 93:39 (7:09 pace).  Then, I thought maybe I would just be happy by beating my course record of 95:47 (7:19).  Then I started to think that might be too aggressive.

But then I saw the forecast, perfect conditions: cool, around 50 degrees. Maybe some rain. Wind (10-15 mph) at our backs.

And the added confidence of running 6 easy miles at 6:58 pace without feeling like I was pushing.  Plus I’m feeling strong during my taper.

So my plan is to attack.  Go out and run the first 10 miles at 7:00 pace and assess then whether I want to coast in, whether I’m going to crash, or whether I want to race the final 5k.  I figure if I hit 10 at 70:00, I could slow to 8:00 pace and still run a respectable 94-something.  But even if I totally crash, so what? If I crash and burn, so what? I’m doing this for fun, nothing really depends on me running a certain pace. I’ve got no pressure on me to do anything so just go for it and see what I can do.

It’s nice to have a plan.

It’s also nice to have incentive.  I decided that if I PR, I’m going to treat myself to this:

It’s not expensive–in fact, cheaper than most singlets I’ve found but not something I really need.

Well, other than being wiped out later in the day I don’t seem to have done any permanent damage.  I have the normal aches and realized I got dehydrated–didn’t have to make any trips Monday morning after drinking a liter of water on my way into work.  Yikes!  That normally that leads to 3 or 4 trips.

I did take the Monday off from running to give my various body parts–Achilles, quads, and left thumb some time to heal.

To, borrow from CNN-Sports Illustrated Writer, Peter King, here are some things I think I think after running the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon.

     1) Reading others’ stories about the same race is a lot of fun.  Gives you a different perspective.   So far, I’ve read:

• Julie’s Race Report–she almost didn’t bring any cold-weather gear.  Yowzer!
• Chemo-man’s Report–Someone I noticed in the crowd.  I need to read more of his story.
• Mark also didn’t like the way the starting mats were positioned and ran with the 1:40 pace group and he passed me somewhere between 8.5 and the finish.
• Alyssa ran a great race in nasty conditions to come within 1 minute of her PR.
• A Vegan Runner and her fiance both run PRs!
• Jen and Willa rejoiced in victory.
• Tenacious (didn’t find her official handle) had a Pyrrhic Victory.
• The winner, Seth Brickley, and I have something in common–our shoes come untied during races except he takes the time to stop & tie them.
• minnetonkafelix’s photos–Some great pictures of the race, a talented photographer with some good photos of the Lake Minnetonka area.
• Official photos of the race.  I didn’t see myself in the 400+ pictures but recognized a lot of other runners.

2)  This winter needs to end.

3)  Whatever fruit punch trauma I suffered in my childhood made a deep and permanent scar on my taste buds & stomach.  Red Gatorade, Yuck!

4)  I am getting older and slower but maybe not as fast I thought I was.

5)  Cross-training and stretching are good ideas.

6)  Despite sometimes recognizing good ideas, I can completely pretend like they don’t exist.

7)  Opposable thumbs are a nice feature–they make things like tying your shoes, pinning a bib, opening a Gu, and grabbing a cup of water a lot easier.  Thanks, Ugg and Eev for evolving them for us.

8)  A cold, blustery wind has a way of  distracting me from hills.

9)  Runners might be crazy.

10)  Our supporters and spectators might be crazier–standing around in that cold for a few hours to get a quick glimpse of their loved ones does not sound like fun.

11)  Happiness is a pair of warm sweatpants.

12)  I probably could use a more closely fitted running jacket.

13)  Sometimes my mp3 player is smarter than I am.

.1)  I wonder if the person who figures out the proper formula for the number of port-a-potties required for a race will earn a Nobel Prize for physics, medicine, economics, peace, or all of the above?