Pass Mountain

“Made a wrong turn, once or twice.  Dug my way out, blood and fire.

Bad decisions, thats alright…Welcome to my silly life!”

 

The desert.  The mountains.   Great people that I have read about have gone there in certain times of their life.  During struggles, challenges, or in time of reflection.  I am not sure our move to Arizona will qualify as such a magnanimous time.   But it sure does feel like.   We touched down on June 25^th.  It was well over 100 degrees.  It’s hot here in the summer, no doubt, but I was adamant that I would adapt and that my running would not suffer.    I got in a lot of quality running, high heat, lots of climbs, but a little low on the quantity.   Its beautiful out here to run, the way your sweat works the way it was designed to work, evaporating, cooling you and allowing you to function,  the sunsets, the stars… and the trails, the mountains!  I am not sure what it is about them , but it’s like they are a lightning rods for all the physical forces of the Earth; a direct result of the amazing power of the is world.  

Enough of waxing poetic, and on to the running.  If you talk to me about my running it is no secret that  a race in the Mountains has been on my list of things to do.    I am not sure I like the idea of a bucket list, because I don’t like the thought of mentally checking something off, for the sake of checking it off… as Mr. Keating said in Dead Poets Society, I want to “suck the marrow out of life.”  This means to stay a while to hang out, to soak it in… so anyway, I found a race that I was able to get on the schedule.   The Pass Mountain 50K in Usery Mountain Park in Mesa, AZ.   Nothing like running a course sight unseen, but based upon what I have run in the past… it seemed manageable.  Funny how in life you can be both right and wrong!

 

I’m not here for your entertainment. You don’t really want to mess with me tonight”

“Cause you know it’s over, before it began!” 

I take the drive out to the park at 5 am, down a Red Bull and start getting dressed in the Truckster.  It’s cold, like 39… ideal conditions to start a marathon, but when you’ve been training in 110, a 70 degree swing is a big deal.   Few minutes to the start, I breathe in the cool mountain air and look up to where I will be going.   Even though I know I am under trained, when I get to the starting line, I deep down feel it would be an insult to the racing gods to not give what I have… at that moment.   The gun goes off and down the trail we go.   Looking around, I gauge what trails we are on and based upon the 2 X 15.5 mile loops we will do, I recalibrate my race strategy.  Instead of taking it easy on the flats, to have enough for the mountain climbs… I decide… to take it easier on the climbs so that I can stretch it out on the flat lands. And as we all know “The best laid plans of mice and men… and those that barely have a 20 mile training run under their belt…go often awry!” (See Robert Burns)   This all made a lot of sense, as I am trailing two gents when…. CRASH!!! 

“I'm safe up high, nothing can touch me.  But why do I feel this party's over?

No pain inside, you're like perfection.  But how do I feel this good sober?”

I missed getting over that rock by half and inch and came slamming down to the parched, rocky, sunbaked earth.   I hit hard.   Those around asked if I was Ok. I was too stunned to mutter anything, but just scrambled out of the way so that no one fell over me.   It took me a second… hell no, it actually took me about 9 miles to come back from that.   Pain, and dare I say, anger, coursed through my body… the pack that I had been trailing headed off laughing, and singing like a pack of mutant clowns, dressed in the colorful shoes and self-absorbed camelbacks… I hated them… because 1 minute ago, that was me, all happy and shit and running well.  Now I am a crumpled mess on the side of a cactus!    It’s amazing how quickly your mind can make a situation dark and ugly.  And that is one of the real lessons in this whole life.   Can you get into a hole, and somehow dig back out.    So I kept moving forward,just after my fall is where the inclines started, so I had to climb with this kind of an attitude.  But somehow, I buckled down and got up and over the mountain.   The views so spectacular its not even fair to describe and a picture does no justice!   Finally, I get to the next aid station… at the half way point and start to refuel.   I am making good time too… 2:45 or so… perhaps a sub 6 hour finish is possible?  At the start of the day if you told me sub-7 I would be happy… but less than 6 hours!  Might have 2 beers for that!   

“Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears.   She's so pretty, that just ain't me.” 

It never ceases to amaze me just how quick the turnaround can be in your mindset.  As dark and as deep as you can get, the resulting high that comes is striking.   People often smirk and snicker at the thought of the “runner’s high” but I am here to tell you it is real and it is wonderful .  The chemicals that your brain can produce are better than anything you can buy… and they’re safe!  Win, win! To feel your body move, cutting through the air, moving the ground with each pace.   It is true transcendence…. Stop reading and go put your shoes on and move around…. 

Ok, you’re back, good.   So from mile 15 to mile 20… pure joy and bliss…. Just as I headed to the last aid station before the 9 mile un-aided mountain climbing station.  Reality began to sink back in.   All those long runs I wish I had gotten in… well the resulting effects of them were desperately needed.  When you don’t have that kind of mileage under your belt, you have not trained your body to be miserly with its glycogen, or its fuel.   Basically, we all have enough energy in our body right now to get through 20 miles.  It’s your training and your fueling plan that can get you past that.    

“When someone said count your blessings now, For they're long gone.

I guess I just didn't know how I was all wrong” 

The best way I can describe what happened to the insides of my legs, is to picture them turning into wicker and someone lighting a match… yeah, about that good and I still had a 1,000 ft climb to do.   Nothing to do but suck down the fluid I have and hope for the best and maybe take a GU…oh yeah, the ones that I left in the car!  Damn.   Then last ditch effort is to pray that all the fat in my body can slide into my legs to fuel them up.     So I gritted it out for 9 miles to the final aid station… at mile 30.  One mile left.   Being totally depleted, I filled my bottles, had a chunk of pumpkin pie and some ginger ale and got down the final stretch of trail.   One guy that I had “competing” with off and on along the course was starting to close in.  I tried to call upon one last push, but the wicker baskets dried up.   We gave each other a laugh, and a “see you at the finish”… he too paused for a second with about 200 meters to go… but I just had NOTHING in me to pull ahead.  See even mid-packers can dual out to the end.   There is nothing better than testing yourself, along with a fellow competitor to see just how much you can pull out of each other.  Pure Joy!  (Especially getting across the line and clasping hands as worthy combatants!)

 So I did it… I got my 31 miles done on a mountain.  And I have to say it feels awesome, and I am ready to get out there again for more.   So the question you may ask… “Kevin, why the P!nk lyrics?”  Well, other than I dig her music, and that most her songs have close to 180 beats a minute, which is perfect running cadence.   She has soul, she is brutally honest, and she cuts down to the human core.   Because in the end this whole running thing for me is my way of, in a microcosm, to capture the joy and pain, the suffering and the celebration of life.   To embrace it and to take it all in because you only a have a brief split second window to decide if you are going to live something to its fullest, or are you going to let it go by.   The choice is ours to make every day, every minute, every second of our lives.   Give Thanks for it.  So to give Alecia Beth Moore of Abington, Pa the final word…. 

Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame.

Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned. 

But just because it burns, doesn't mean you're gonna die. 

You've gotta get up and try, try, try.  Gotta get up and  TRY, TRY, TRY!

Specificity

Specificity: : the quality or condition of being specific: as a : the condition of being peculiar to a particular individual or group of organisms.

It's a terrible cliche' to use the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to talk about a word because you don't have the clear ability to use your own words to explain it. Alas, I love cliches'. I am training for the Strolling Jim 40 Miler in Tennessee. At least I think I am. I have not signed up yet, cause I am not sure if it is going to be 100% feasible with all that is going on. But I will train likes its going to happen. Which leads to specificity. It makes logical sense that what ever race you are going to do, to do training that will simulate the conditions and terrain that you will face on race day. I am still not certain this makes any difference whatsoever. I think of Hendrik Ramaala winner of the 2004 NYC Marathon, who used to train on the same flat one mile loop in a park in Johannesburg South Africa. So it begs the question, "what really makes a difference?" Specific or not, what do you have to do, to get your mind made up that you are going to go out and "let it rip", and see how it turns out. That's part of the joy of the Weekend Warrior!

The Strolling Jim, while it is actually on roads, not trails, is know for its constant uphill, downhill, the kind that you do not find in pancake-flat Indianapolis. The one hill in Upper Arden and the incline at Marrot Park are probably equivalent to the lightest climb. But it will have to do. Besides the mild elevations, the other things I can add to the training, is speed and more miles... and of course getting down to racing weight. (That's a big issue right now)

I actually went to see a dietitian. I think that got me more mad, and made me eat more. My training has been real good, but the sugar addiction is pretty ridiculous. Not to look for excuses, but I will anyway, but the new job transition, a lot more travel, and the impending move to Arizona is leading to some pretty mindless eating. Frankly, fast food tastes good, jellybeans and ice cream taste good... and if my company is going to pay for me to eat a Cheesesteak and Ben Jerry's when I am on the road... then damn skippy I am not going to get brown rice and steamed vegetables. Vicious circle, it is! No clear answers, just the same old suggestions you can look up on-line everyday. Maybe I need hypno-therapy. We'll try that next month!

Now onto race results. In spite of my extra fluff, I ran a personal best in a Marathon this past weekend. I came in 7Th (out of 74, which is crazy and awesome) in a time of 3:39:23! And even more crazy is I won my age group 31-39.... that will probably never happen again...so we'll take it! More importantly, a major goal has been hit. I have wanted to get below 3:40 for about 3 years now, and I finally did it a the Circular Logic Marathon in West Lafayette, IN. I was just looking to do this as "some training miles". But the race director was a real nice guy. He sent me an email saying that he read my blog, and that his daughter-in-law went to Rutgers, too. Small world. So anyway, I am not sure why, just being shown some human kindness maybe, but I felt like I needed to go out and do my best for him, and myself. I went out an ran 8:10 to 8:20 miles the first 23 or so, then started to wither on miles 24 and 25 with about 8:45's... basically I needed to run a sub 9 minute mile to come in below. So I "sacked up" and ran the toughest 8:38 mile of my life. My left foot felt like the flesh was ripping off, which it wasn't, my guts felt like they were pouring out, which they certainly were not.... yet I flew into the finish just as the Who's Babba O'Reilly was beating in my ear. I least I felt like I was flying. I sure it looked pretty pedestrian, but the high of really "letting it rip" and having it pay off, was so worth it.

A note on the move... Yay, I got a promotion. But we are moving to Arizona for it! Looks like it will be around the first week in July. If you had talked to me 12 years ago, when Rose I just got married, it was a dream to move there. It's funny or not funny depending on how you look at it, how the Almighty Universal Power can take its time answering you. It is not going to be easy, the Fine's have done well in Indiana. (Can't believe it, but I may cry when I hear "Back Home Again"... before the 500!) But I think something special lies waiting in the Desert for us. I am not sure what..... but there is something good. I feel it in my whole person. As for running, keep it on the down low, cause Rose will read this... but the trails are going to be pretty awesome, too!

Be.

Kevin

Cold Weather Training

Yeah, I don't do it! This is the time of year that the YMCA membership gets some good use. Sad to say though, this past 30 days has probably been the least I have run in 5 years. That might be a good thing physically, but mentally its a big struggle. I will say that the runs that I have done, have been more quality than usual so its not a bad trade off.

I have a three pronged approach to the Spring Season. 1. Stay Strong 2.Get the lead out 3. Don't do anything too dumb! The goals are to run my fastest 5k, my fastest Marathon and to run a great Ultra. The Ultra goal is a little different because I may be running a race that I have wanted to do for a while. The Strolling Jim 40 Miler in Wartrace, TN on May 5th. (You can all breath a sigh of relief... I'm not doing a 50 miler!) http://sj40mile.com/ It was named after a great walking horse, named, you guessed it "Strolling Jim". If you can finish under 7 hours you get a gold t-shirt....as you know if there is a t-shirt involved... I am in. Plus, I have positioned this to Rose, that this would give us a great chance to go Nashville, someplace we have not been. So, sounds like a "Win-Win" to me!

The next goal race is the Carmel Marathon on April 21st. I was looking at this as a "tempo run" for whatever ultra I ended up deciding to do. this might be a little, well maybe a lot closer to the Ultra time wise. But I tend to do better with a 2 week taper! ;-) I did Carmel last year, fair, flat course, that I set a PR on it last year in June heat, so I am feeling like if I get a good day weather-wise, it can come together. The goal food for after the race is a Big Ugly at Bub's so we may all have to have a get together there for some large burgers!!!

The most pressing goal coming up is in March and April to go after the Holy Grail of the Fat Runner... the Sub 20 minute 5K!!!! I just need to see 19:5X.... I will confess that I have that number up on the fridge. I was once told stories of Olympic swimmers putting times up on the wall and hitting it by thousandths of seconds! that is fine just as long as I get into the 19's!!!

To hit these goals of have enlisted the help of Nationally Recognized Coach Carl Egbert. You may have heard of him from 3HS fame or from his Flying Delaware Blue Hen days. (If you need an online Coach you should give him a try... he's way better than Alberto Salazar) Carl and I have taken my based, and how should I say... We are sharpening steel, with steel. The quality of my workouts have improved tremendously. And I am doing speed work outs in ranges that I have never hit before. So well see... first shot will be March 11th, for the Big 10 Hoops Classic 5K... I am sure Rose will let me race for my 12th wedding anniversary!

The one thing I am content with is... unless it warms up a lot I have no intention of going outside...(except for the trip to Mexico at the end of January) most miles are getting logged on a Treadmill. I just hate getting over dressed and I certainly can't try to run up-tempo in it. Another interesting wrinkle is I have my first appointment with a Registered Dietitian on February 24th... so I can unknowingly enlist the help of another professional into my mania! Until next time... Be!

2012 Resolution

Happy New Year! I have never been one for resolutions, 'cause I'm not a fan of broken promises, so If I make one... I like to really give it a good try. I am getting back to documenting my idiotic tales of running. 1. It helps me to remember. and 2. Maybe one day it will help to completely confuse my children as to why their Dad was in running clothes most of their life. 2011 was a good year. I set personal bests for all the distances I raced. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can do better.

This year with Amelia as a new training partner, I was able to get a little closer to the recreational runner's Holy Grail... the Sub 20 minute 5K. It was the only 3 month period where I kept my crazy eating under control. Lighter means faster.

I ran 3 marathons this year, Flying Pig, the Carmel Marathon, and the Indianapolis, running consecutive personal bests at the Indiana races, getting down to 3:41. I have been trying to get the clock to read 3:3X:XX for about 3 years now. The Indy race I really had a good chance, but a 25 mile per hour wind in the face really took the steam out of me.

I also ran my fastest 50K this year, dropping 45 minutes off my time at Germantown, getting down to 5:23, on trails. It was a great day weather wise and I felt amazing through all 31 miles. It was a transcending experience. To drop that much time, to feel that good, I must be doing something right! Most importantly not one day, did I not run due to a "running related" injury. Its getting close to 5 years, since I had anything that's stopped me, so that's a big deal too!

I still think I have a couple years left of getting faster. ( I think) This of course, goes against the rule I subscribe to... that you can only have 7 years of improvement, at anything. All things, work, sports, life, you can only try to improve on the same thing for 7 years and make it better, after that it falls apart. You either have to go do something else, quit, get fired... or reinvent the thing that you do. So this year my reinvention has to be how I eat. I can't continue to run 50 up to 70 miles a week... but eat like I'm running 120! Plus the fast food obsession needs to get some serious work. (Rosaries and Proverbs is just not enough to get me over the hump) I am thinking of some radical scenarios (radical for me, that is) to try to get my eating issues under control... seriously, if I did not run like I do...I'd be in line to be a Biggest Loser contestant, no doubt in my mind!

So for the tentative 2012 race schedule: this is just target races, there is no telling when something may pop up or get substituted.

March Big 10 Hoops 5k.... will need to run some 5K's before and after this... but this is the target for running a 19:5X. I have enlisted the help of famed Florida running coach Carl Egbert to help prepare me for this feat. (he's working pro bono) I know I have it in me somewhere... more fast running and 15lbs off the frame should help!

Then next target is the Marathon. I currently plan to run the Carmel Marathon again, which has moved its date to late April. (Much better than the Inaugural which was in mid-June this year) I was really proud of myself for running a PR in the heat, and I look forward to being on the starting line 30 years from now as an old codger that has run in ALL of them!

A well as being a shot to run a best time, the marathon is also going to serve as a "tempo run" for another go at the 50 mile distance. There are 2 events in mid-May that I am considering. Either doing the Dances with Dirt Gnawbone race again, or going up to Wisconsin for the Ice Age Trail 50..... the cons of the going to Brown county is they get stupid sometimes running you so far off trail...(not looking to go Hoosier Hiking) and the con of the Kettle Moraine race is driving 5 hours. So we'll see.

For the fall, I am just hoping to have a real nice training effort at running a great Marathon again. My training is always best going from the summer into fall. Not sure what race.... I would love to do Steamtown (Scranton, Pa)... if it could coincide with a Rutgers game. I have never done the Monumental so that is an option. If we head back home then maybe Philly. We'll see, plenty of time to figure that one out.

Thank you for the indulgence, I just wanted to get my thoughts down for the year. I have resolved to keep up with this, so I am shooting for a monthly edition! All in all, 2012, should be a fun year of Going, Going, Going!