The Waving Runner

An unqualified opinion on the economy.

2012-01-27T17:46:00.001-06:00

This might be a little after the peak commenting time, butvarious parts of this have been coming up in conversation from time to time andI figured I would write about them to no one.

I have never been a huge fan of the Occupy protestors. It is in many ways everything that is wrongwith liberal protests – no clear leader, and a bunch of people that don’texactly make for great interviews. But,I like what the Occupiers are trying to say. I think.

The two things I think I think are that:

1. Capitalism has not grown as fast astransportation.

2. Profit margin expectations are unrealistic, andhurtful to the overall economy.

Capitalism is a good thing. It keeps prices in check, it keeps competition going. But now that you can get products fromcountries with economies that nowhere near similar to ours. And you can charge prices in one part of theworld that not in line with that area’s economy – such as charging WesternEuropean rates in rural Africa while paying the local staff, local wages.

My proposition is that capitalism works well in smallgeographic areas. But once you bring indifferent economic regions is where the problems begin. This, might bring a mild increase in thelocal economy, but it creates an inflated profit margin in the homeeconomy. Once these economies becomeaccustomed to these inflated profit margins – it creates an environment whereeconomies become less diverse and ultimately a top heavy society with adiminishing middle class.

Look at our economy. Thirty years ago, a factory worker could support their family and have adecent house. Today this is a nearminimum wage job and does not provide near enough to provide what it oncedid. This is in part because of theprofit margins that shareholders have started to expect and that in most cases,you could do this work for much cheaper in other countries, so a company canonly pay their workers slightly more than their savings on shipping.

If capitalism were to move to more of a fair trade model, itmakes moving business abroad based on resource availability, and not solely oncost. Additionally, if shareholdersstarted valuing long-term sustainability and not immediate windfall profits,then there is a greater chance that the profits would be invested back into thecompany’s employees.

OK, am I am idiot for thinking this? Sound off

Aloha

2011-12-22T11:47:00.001-06:00

I have made it! The trip was for the most part uneventful, only my flight from Honolulu to Hilo was delayed. But even that was only by 20 minutes. Apparently I have not yet adjusted to my new found time zone as I woke up at 4 a.m. local time this morning. It has been raining nearly 2 inches a day here, so the sky is staying mostly cloudy. Not sure what is on the agenda for today, but think it will be a fairly calm day.

Crawling Back

2011-10-08T22:48:00.003-05:00

Today I finally got back out and took a little ride on the bike. As I hadn’t a clue as to how my body would respond, I decided I would just go down to The Veloway to do some loops. (Yeah, hoping on the trainer would have been easier, but I have spent enough time in front of my TV lately.) I was actually very surprised how I felt on the bike! It went great and I actually felt like I could manage speeds close to what I had been riding before the pericarditis flared up - the hard part was not pushing it hard or heading out on MoPac for a little more of a real ride. Well, I did really push the fifth lap. But, it felt great and my heart responded just like it should. In the end I did nine loops and with the little ride to and from my car, managed nineteen miles in a little over an hour. Hopefully this means that I am back. Tomorrow I am going to ride with my friend Rob and perhaps even do a little run afterwards. We shall see.

After my bike ride, I made it home just in time to catch the start of the Ironman World Championship, Kona. One would think that watching the live web broadcast of an entire Ironman race would be something that you might check in on every once in a while, but certainly not a “just plop your ass down on the couch and hardly budge” type of event. Nope. I was enthralled. I watched it for nine hours. Now I want to qualify for the race more than ever. Watching the pros rip through one hundred twelve miles on the bike in four and a half hours and then set off at sub six minute mile pace for the marathon is just insane! I know that I will never be able to post those type of numbers…

Now for a little non-triathlon soap boxing – politics have become absurd! It is not my intention to make this a political blog or even discuss it here, but after a really good conversation with Claire earlier this week, I feel obliged to share this with you all. Chances are that you are amused or annoyed by some political sub-party that is making the news these days. Perhaps it is the new Occupy (place your location here) rallies going on or the Tea Party, but you probably have some strong reaction to them both. Everyone wishes that their politicians listened to them and would stop pandering to lobbyists and special interest groups (except for the ones we agree with, of course). The solution is really quite simple – vote! Voter turnout in federal elections over is low. Politicians cater to the people that actually vote, and by and large, the moderate middle is not very reliable at making it to the polls. But the overly vocal minority shows up in droves if you poke them the right way. I started this blog in part to focus on the things that we share. I truly believe that most people want largely similar things in life, and that we are not as polarly opposed to each other as the political environment would suggest. Typically only half of registered voters vote in presidential elections and even less in other national elections. If we all showed up to vote, I think we would find that the world at large, is not as extreme as it seems now.

OK. That is all for now. Run friendly! -T

Can I get some cheese with this?

2011-10-04T20:06:00.002-05:00

Forewarning – This is going to be a whiney entry.Naturally, shortly after I write a post about getting back to serious training, I come down with another bout of pericarditis. Luckily this bout has not come with the large amounts of chest pain that some of the previous ones did. Perhaps the Celebrex that I have been on has kept the pain away. What it has brought is exhaustion and frustration. Though, I have watched a ton of Angel and Psych.The most frustrating part is that if I lie down and not really move around a whole lot, I feel more or less OK. But, if I move around, at all, I quickly start to lose all of my energy. I have been going through this for about a week now and it seems to be getting a little bit better. But, even with that, I was only able to last a little over 4 hours at work today. After I came home and crashed out on the couch for a couple of hours, I feel more or less OK. Then, 30 minutes in the kitchen wipes me out again. Tomorrow morning I’ll see the cardiologist so I’ll hopefully get a better idea of what I need to be doing from here. My plan is to try to bounce back to full blown training faster this time than I have in the past. Before, I would always start back to training very slowly. While that might sound like the most logical approach, it takes me out of training for over a month and, well, it doesn’t seem to be keeping the flare ups from happening again. We shall see.Sorry for the rambling post, just needed to babble on a little bit. Until next time, run friendly!

I'm back...I hope.

2011-09-21T11:29:00.000-05:00

Hello Reader!Well, this has been a crazy year to say the least, but one that I have learned a lot about myself for sure. It is interesting how you usually look back on some of your toughest times as some of the most important of your life. For me, the first half of this year is certainly starting to look like that. I have had two major pericarditis flare-ups, several minor ones, and some possible near flare-ups as well. As a result, I have not done any triathlon races this year and have been forced to just write the year off. But through all of this time off, I have learned how much I truly love triathlon – especially the training. I have not had any health problems since May and have been able to slowly build the training back up and now hope to do a few road and trail races by the end of the year, including my first half marathon! (No, I don’t count my two 70.3 events as a half marathon.) Perhaps it was the heat, and perhaps it was the fear of another pericarditis episode that kept me from really pushing myself this summer, but I am now finally at a point where I am craving those insanely difficult workouts that make you feel like throwing up. (I never claimed to be normal.)So, for the rest of the year I am planning on running the IBM 10k, San Antonio Half, and hopefully the Rogue FatAss Trail series. Next year, I will look to get back into triathlon and working on my ultimate goal of trying to qualify for Kona*. The plan is to race several 70.3 events throughout the year and see where I am at the end of that. That’s about all for now. In the meantime, run friendly!*Just for clarification, I have no idea if qualifying for Kona is a realistic goal or not. I have never done an Ironman and have no idea if I could get close to breaking 10 hours even with diligent training. My goal is to simply go through all the steps and put in the work to see if I can – the goal is the journey.

Time to Reevalulate

2011-05-03T21:29:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I rode a pretty hard 40+ miles. It felt great to really push hard and try to keep up with Glenda and Nails. Well, they dropped me, but were kind enough to come back for me. And now, a couple of days later, I have what seems to be another flare up of pericarditis.

None of the doctors said that they think there is a correlation between strenuous exercise, but it seems that for me there is a pretty direct correlation. But, I seem to be able to push myself fairly hard while running and it not come back to hurt me. Part of me thinks that it is that I have a much stronger base in running than I do in biking and swimming. But, this is my third year of doing triathlon training and the flare ups have been becoming more frequent. So the denial side of me wants to believe that it is happening independent of my training. Sadly, I think I have been listening to the denial side a bit too much lately.

So, can I try to slowly build up a solid base in the swim and bike and hope that doesn’t cause any more problems? Or will that just lead to more flare ups and more time off from work. Or do I just walk away from training and start doing a little running, biking, and swimming to just stay in shape? Will that even keep the flare ups from happening? And what do I do if the flare ups keep happening even when I stop training? Do I go back to training?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -T

Race Reports and Updates

2011-04-27T17:48:00.001-05:00

Since getting the all clear from the doc, I have raced two trail races and slowly ramped up the triathlon training. Well, technically one of the races I didn't truly race and it was a couple of days before the doc cleared me. Oh well.

It has felt great to get back to running and training. My first race back, The Maze, was a 10k trail race held by Rogue Running. I did not race the race as many people might assume. I did push myself though and made it about a 70% effort run. The second race was The Loop, the second part of Rogue's trail series. This one I did race. The first thing I noticed is that I have lost a lot of my speed. I tried to stick with the leaders right off the start line, but I just couldn't run that fast. But, after things settled down and people found their rhythm, I could certainly hang with them. I know the speed will come back before too long, but it is going to take some work.

The tri training is coming along. Well, except that my bike frame got cracked. But Masi is shipping out a new one today or tomorrow! Every sport is a little rusty right now, but I have been surprised that it all seems to be in better shape this year than when I started up again last year. Fingers crossed that it continues on in this pattern.

One of my good friends and fellow vegetarian/vegan athletes has started up his own blog. He will probably be a much more prolific writer than I am. So go check it out. The No Meat Geek. Good stuff.

Until next time, run friendly! -T

I'm back!

2011-03-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that with a new drug, Celebrex - the arthritis med, I have been showing great recovery and the doctor has given me the clear to go back to training. I meet with Panther next week to determine what it is that will entail. But I'll go through some of my thoughts on it.

One of my goals for this year was to do an ironman so that I could say I did it before I turned 30. While I could still probably get there, it wouldn't be pretty, and it certainly wouldn't be a race that I would be proud of. So that is on the shelf for the time being. Instead, I figure I will try to use those fast twitch muscles while I still have them and focus on 5ks, 10ks, sprint, and olympic tris. We shall see.

I don't know how all of this will work yet, but I am excited about it. With all the training, I am going to still try to find more of a balance in my life this season though. I don't have the passion for golf that I once did, and it certainly does not compete with running and triathlon, but I don't want to get as far away from it as I have the past two years. Also, I want to try to make more time for my friends that don't do the crazy training gig. Again, how this will all work out, I don't know. But I am going to give it the ole college tri. (Yeah, that was bad, I know.)

OK. That's all for now. Y'all run friendly! -T

Perspective

2011-02-27T00:05:00.000-06:00

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." -Albert Einstein
"A life not lived for others is not a life." -Mother Teresa

A couple of weeks ago saw me turn another year older. I still cannot believe how many people wished me a happy birthday. It really meant a lot to me and has really made me think about the quotes above. The fulfillment you can get from making someone else feel good is far more rewarding than anything we do solely for ourselves.

Well, I said that I might try to post a little more frequently now that my life is not consumed with triathlon training. One thing that I have certainly had more time to do lately is think. Sadly I haven't been able to find the same type of clarity that can come from a 2 hour long run, but I have been able to start running with my trail group a little. That is a god-send. I wish I could do more and train harder, but at least it is running.

Recently, I have been pondering my love of comedies. Or more specifically, my lack of desire to read or watch dark books and movies. Every time I look at the news there are plenty of stories of human suffering and loss that when I watch a movie or read a book, I don't want to feel that anymore.

On a different note - I am back to working at the golf course and have started playing a bit more golf. I am still a long way from where I was, but it is coming back. In many ways, I probably have a lot more potential as a golfer than I do a runner or triathlete, but I do miss training incredibly. Oh well! I guess I will just have to take that intensity to golf.

In the mean time; run friendly! -T

A wave goodbye...for now

2011-02-06T13:57:00.001-06:00

After my first half ironman in November of 2009 I came down with
pericarditis. Essentially the lining of my heart gets inflamed and it
makes everything much more laborious. Since then it has come back a
few times an lately it has become more frequent and the attacks more
painful. There is no evidence that says intensive exercise causes the
flare ups, but it cannot be ruled out. So, my doctor and I have
decided to take a year off from triathlon and intensive running.

I have no intentions of completely giving up running, but I don't yet
know how much I will be allowed to do. Luckily I have golf that I can
fall back on as something to fill my time. While I am home I can get
pretty excited about golf. And when I am on the course, all the more.
But right now, I am writing this from a log on the side of the Barton
Creek Greenbelt Trail. Watching the trail runners go by is killing me.
Especially as I stare at my trail shoes not being able to do more than
walk. We shall see how this all goes.

I'll try to post more as I apparently will have more time to write.
So, this is goodbye for now to training. But also a timid hello to
whatever awaits around the corner. Run friendly!

Getting Back on the Horse

2010-11-04T16:41:00.001-05:00

First off - I am using the new mobile blogging "app" from blogger, so

I am not sure what this will look like.

It has been nearly three weeks since I ran my half ironman. Panther
told me to take three weeks to just do what i want and to really think
about what I want to do next. With kitchen remodeling in full force it
hasn't been to hard to fill in the time that training used to. But now
it is time to make my decision and get back on the horse.

I have decided that I really do want to do a full ironman and to see
if I could possibly qualify for Kona someday. So at least I have a
direction. But it is amazing to me just how hard it is to get back
into the training regime even with a strong desire to get back at it.
I know I will, but it seems like once you let a few practices go, your
schedule just keeps getting booked with non-workouts. Is this just me?
Or is this pretty common?

Well, hopefully I will see y'all out there soon. Run friendly!

-T (Sent from the phone. Excuse all the typos.)

Longhorn 70.3 Report

2010-11-03T11:24:00.001-05:00

OK, I am only two and a half weeks late in getting this up. For me, that is not too shabby. For the average person, that is horrible.

The Texas Tri Series came to an end on October 17th at the Ironman 70.3 Austin, formerly known as Longhorn 70.3. This was in many ways a race of contradictions. I PRed, but had a bad race. The race was well organized, but not a good experience. So, with that I shall go into report.

For those that don’t really want to read too much, here is a really quick recap. My swim went pretty well am happy with it. T1 was a little odd as I felt a bit nauseous running to my bike, but it settled quickly. The bike started off well, too well. And instead of trying to slow down and conserve energy, I pushed it and was spent by the end of it. Ultimately my time was great though. T2 sucked as I couldn’t find my shoes right away. The run was horrible! I walked some of it. But I finished a little more than 30 minutes faster than my half ironman last year.

Sadly one of my fellow competitors in the Texas Tri Series got hurt and was unable to run Longhorn. But, that allowed me to move into 4th place in my age group. Not the way I wanted to move up a notch, but what can I do.

Now for the details...

I picked up my packet out at the Travis County Expo Center on Friday after work. This had to be the most steps I have ever gone through to pick up a packet. And somehow I missed the one that would give me my transition bags. Oops. OK, back into the assembly line of competitors to see where I screwed up. I found it without too much of an issue, and was able to work my way out.

Saturday I had to take my back down to Walter E Long (Decker Lake) to be prepositioned into transition one (T1). I actually like leaving my bike overnight as it is one less thing to lug around with you on rave morning. But, with this being a huge race, bike rack space was at a premium, and you had to rack by your race number. I can barely remember how to get to my office some mornings, so I always try to get to transition early and stake out a spot on the end of a rack so I just have to look for my bike. No such luck with this setup. Oh well. I’ll just have to try to remember where it is I am racked.

The worst part of all of this was that I do try to let air out of my tires overnight to avoid the risk of a flat the next morning. (Colin convinced me that this was a good idea. And he is quite right!) Typically it is not a big deal to pump up your tires in the morning, but for this race, we had bags that everything had to fit into. A morning bag for anything that we would need before the swim start, and immediately after the race, a bike bag, and a run bag. My bike pump does not fit into one of those bags, and I had no spectators at the race that I could hand the pump off to. I was at the mercy of the benevolence of my fellow competitors on race morning. This worked out perfectly fine, but, as I am sure is the case with most endurance athletes, I don’t like leaving things to chance or in the hands of others - at least when it comes to racing.

Race day! Traffic was backed up early. And only got worse later thanks to a wreck. Thankfully I missed that. This morning, I had to park at the expo center and then get on the school bus that would take me over to Decker Lake. First though I had to drop off my run bag at transition two (T2). Again it was by number and this spot was even more hidden than my bike spot. Ugh! Oh well. On to the bus I went and got out to the lake. Luckily there was a very nice guy racked a few bikes away that let me use his pump. After dumping the liquids on the bike and placing my bag on the handlebars I was ready to go chat with a few friends that were racing and just get ready for it all. Colin got trapped in the wreck that I mentioned earlier and barely made it out to the lake before the first pros were getting out of the water. He and I chatted a little bit and helped each other into our wetsuits right before his wave started. I was five minutes behind him.

Finally, nearly an hour after the first wave, it was my turn to go. The horn blew and we were off. The first 100-200 meters were great and I was hanging with most of the lead pack of my wave, but then I lost whatever wind I had and could not catch my breath. Instead of fighting it, I just started breast stroking for a little while and low and behold, within a minute I had my breath back. OK, back to swimming! I started passing different colored swim caps by the halfway point and just managed to keep trucking along. When I finally got to the swim exit I heard the announcer say, “And one of the first blue caps to make it out of the water, Tanner Hunt from Austin!” Holy crap, I had no idea I would be anywhere near a point to be one of the first out of the water.

As I trotted up the hill I started unzipping my wetsuit and looked for the strippers. (Side note: I think it would be hilarious if a local strip club actually volunteered to do this at a race sometime.) But the wonderful non-exoctic dancer wetsuit strippers did a great job of getting me out of my wetsuit and back on my way. As I was running up the hill I just felt my stomach lurch and had to start walking for a little bit. Not quite sure what it was all about, but oh well. I found my bike without much trouble and stuffed my wetsuit in the bag and was on my way. My stomach was already settled down a little.

The bike started off great and I was feeling wonderful. A little cold and drafty, but wonderful. Then I looked down and saw that my jersey had become unzipped to where it was just barely hanging on by the zipper start. I tried to pull the zipper up with one hand but quickly discovered this was a two handed task. Ugh! I do not have the best balance on the bike, so this will be interesting. The first 5 or so miles had a lot of hills, turns, and rough road, so I just had to suck it up and enjoy the breeze. Finally we got into the flat part of the course and I decided it was worth a shot. I rode my bike with no handlebars. And I got the zipper up! I was actually very impressed by the feat. I fully expected to have to pull over and stop to do this. Onward I went. I hit mile 20 in about 55 minutes and realized I was going a fair amount faster than what I had planned on doing. Instead of realizing that this was a sign to slow it down and conserve, I tried to keep it going. By mile 40 the stretches were very frequent and I was not a happy camper. Oh well. Gut check time. By the time I made it back to the expo center and T2 I was starting to fade mentally. I have become fairly good at getting my feet out of my shoes while on the bike so that I don’t have to run in them and save a little time getting my running shoes on. As I rolled up to the dismount line I realized that I was still securely clipped in. Oops! Luckily I didn’t fall and got off the bike before the dismount line.

I couldn’t remember which row I was in for the life of me and had to look at the signs on the end of each row to see where my stuff was. Finally I found it and was able to get to my stuff. Got the bike racked and put all of my crap on, stuffed my bike bag with stuff and was on my way.

Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t feeling exactly fresh at this point, but new that my time was looking pretty good and if I could just keep it around a 7 minute pace for the first half of the run I would be doing great. And I typically start the run feeling bad but once I find my stride I can hold it. I hit mile 1 at 6:55 and was pretty happy with it. Right around the time I was leaving I saw Ginny and Padre (2 other runners from my running group, Riff Raff) not too far apart from each other as they were working on their runs. Mile 2 came up at 14:10. Not too shabby, we are on the trail part of it so I was fine losing a little bit of speed. I think I hit mile 3 at a little over 22 but was still doing OK. Then the wheels fell off. As I came up the big hill (Quadzilla) I had to do something that somehow I have managed to never do in a race before. I walked. After a few seconds I started to shuffle my feet again and made it to the top of the hill. Just then my quads started cramping on me. This was another first. Oh boy. And to top it off, my stomach was definitely not happy. After rubbing out the quads, I got back to doing a little bit of a jog, but my stomach was not getting any better. Finally, somewhere around mile 5, I pulled off to the side and forced myself to puke. That really helped and I found my stride again. It certainly wasn’t the 7 minute pace I was looking for, but it was something resembling running. And then I made it to the water stop manned by Riff Raff. As soon as they saw me they just erupted into cheers and there was no way that I could hobble through it. I found my stride, grabbed some drink (no clue what) and smiled big as they shouted. 50 meters later I returned to the hell that was going to be my life for the remainder of the race. My legs were fried. My resolve was withering into nothing and it just seemed like a long way to go. As I completed my first lap I realized that there was absolutely no chance of accomplishing my B goal of breaking 5 hours and what little spirits I had wilted drastically. But, I had a race to finish and dammit I was going to finish it. The quads kept cramping and there was more walking this time around than the last, but I tried to intermix a jog in there as much as possible. Shortly into the start of my second loop Colin saw me and said hello is his always chipper mood. Sadly all I could muster was a meek response, but his energy did make me feel a little better. Again, when I hit the Riff Raff water stop I found a spring of energy and tried to put on a show of competence and nearly pulled it off. Padre, was a little ahead of me and later said that he heard the cheers when I went through the water stop. How cool of a running group is that?! As I entered the Expo Center grounds I saw Padre was only about 20 meters in front of me. No sooner was I trying to catch him so that we could run in together that my quads seized up on me forcing me to stop completely and rub them out. Finally they released and I was able to start jogging again. As I made the turn up to the coliseum I started pushing if only to make myself feel a little better (mentally only that is - this increased pace did absolutely nothing good for me physically) and hammered my way to the finish line inside. I crossed the finish line. I finished it.

Final time was 5:27:09. A good 32 minutes faster than last years race (different course), but my run was a solid 15 minutes slower. Ultimately I am happy with the race as it is a huge testament to my training, coaching, and support that I have had that I can be disappointed by a 32 minute PR. But it is a tough pill to swallow knowing that I put myself in position to have a great race and then not be able to bring it home. Up next is the Rogue FAT ASS Trail Series - The Mule 30k on November 21st. Then, the Big Bend Ultra 50k on January 16th. Oh! And ironman prep. No rest for the wicked. Until the next time - run friendly!

Avia Austin Tri

2010-10-13T10:43:00.001-05:00

Race report only a little more than a month after the fact!

The Austin Tri was on Labor Day in downtown Austin. It really is a lot of fun getting to race in downtown Austin. The quick low down on it was that it was a great race for me with a few hiccups. I bettered last year’s time by 17 minutes and bettered my 10k PR by a little over 30 seconds.

On the Friday before the race, I decided to play golf with my friend Nick after work. This is all well and good, but I decided that I would carry my bag and walk the course instead of getting a cart. I’m in decent shape so this should not have been a big ordeal. But, I woke up on Saturday with an incredibly sore neck and shoulder. It only got worse throughout the day and by Sunday morning, it hurt to breathe everything had become so tight and sore. I managed to get a few laps in at my pool and a tiny run in and it seemed to loosen up a little bit.

I started off the swim feeling OK, but after about 100m or so, my chest got really tight and I couldn’t breathe. Not sure if it was the cold water, the soreness I had been suffering from, the apprehension of what the race would be like, or most likely, a combination of all of the above. Well, I have had bad swims before, so I didn’t freak out, I just breast and side stroked trying to not kick anyone and keep my head out of the water. After about another 200-300m, my chest opened up and I could go back to free style. The rest of the swim, with the exception of being incredibly pissed off at myself, went really well and I made up some ground.

Once I got on my bike I became very grateful for the loaner pair of sun glasses I got from my buddy, Jimmy. I wear contacts so I have to wear sunglasses on the bike to keep them from drying out. This day was very overcast and had a good chance of rain. Jimmy lent a pair of glasses to me with yellow lenses as all of mine are dark gray. This was a tremendous help! For me, I felt like I was flying on the bike and making good time. I even caught up to Tenille (she was on her second or third lap by this time - I was on my first) and said hi. She didn’t recognize me at the time, but apparently this was inspiring to her as she quickly passed me back and that was the last of her I would see during the race. (She totally rocked the race and came in 3rd Overall for the women! Right after winning the San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz the weekend before.) On my third lap I became infinitely more appreciative of my yellow sunglasses; the skies opened up and we had a nice little down pour for a good part of the lap. I am not the most confident rider so I slowed WAY down at first to ensure I didn’t crash and see how Beva (my bike) would handle the slick roads. Luckily we made it through with no crashes!

The rain stopped just as I was getting off the bike and it started to get quite muggy. Oh well. It beats running in 105* weather. This was the first time I decided to run without socks, so the wet shoes were not too comfortable right off the bat. However, had I had socks, they too would have started off wet. As I passed the first mile of the run I saw Kelly and Steven from my running group which gave me a nice little perk. A little before mile two, I saw Roger, my first running coach. handing out water bottles and gels. Despite the inspiration I started to fade a little bit, but then one of the nicest things happened to me. The pro that I had been right behind since the start of my lap called back to me, “Come on! Pick it up. Do it now while it is easy and help bring me in.” Somehow I found another gear and managed to pull ahead of him and hopefully be a little bit of a rabbit. Even with the increased pace, I still never felt like I was really managing all that great of a pace, or form, and my stomach was just screaming at me to stop eating sugar. When I finally came to the finish line I looked at my watch and saw a time of 42:45 for the 10k portion. This was much faster than it felt like I ran so I was ecstatic. Later when I looked at the results, I discovered I missed starting the watch after transition, and that my actual run time was 40:58! Overall time was 2:21:20.

Now there is just one more race - Ironman 70.3 Austin (formerly Longhorn). That is this Sunday and I am more than a little nervous about it. I feel ready and know that I am prepared for it, but for some reason that isn’t instilling me with a sense of calm. But I am certainly looking forward to it. I promise to be much, much more punctual on posting that race report. Until then, run friendly!

Moonlight Margarita Run

2010-08-10T10:09:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday was the Moonlight Margarita Run benefiting The Trail Foundation. Lauren, one of the members of my running group, managed to land 8 passes to the gala for our group. So, after a little pleading on her part, several of us decided that we would go ahead and do the run; and of course the margaritas at the end. Our coach, Panther, was going to be doing the race with us and thought that it would be a great idea for us to do this as a costume run.

I am a fan of dressing ridiculously (life is too short to be serious all of the time) so costume to me means just looking like an idiot. In February a friend and I were planning on doing a Valentine’s Day themed pajama run only to have it canceled due to weather the day of. Sadly, I had already purchased my “pajamas” for this great event and have not had any opportunities arise in which to wear them. This seemed like the perfect occasion to break them out! So my pink night gown with orange hearts and orange frilly collar was called to duty! Along with some orange and white tie-dye knee high socks and my incredibly short race shorts.

Panther showed up decked out as Elvis, JJ came in a coconut bra and grass skirt, Lauren as an island girl, and Fitty in his fat Hawaiian tourist getup. A running group has never looked to distinguished. So after a few pictures with strangers we started to work our way to the start line. For whatever reason, I had decided that I wanted to try to actually race this thing. It was still 98* and I had done 8.5 miles in the Barton Creek hills that morning; obviously everything was setting up for a great race. So I amble up to the front of the starting line and get a lot of weird looks from the other runners. All of their eyes were saying the same thing, “Great, someone that I will have to try to dodge because they want to get right up to the front of the line to run 15 minute miles.” Oh well.

The air horn sounded and off we went. It was certainly warm, and my incredibly tight cotton gown was not as breathable as my typical no shirt running style, but for the most part I was feeling OK. That feeling quickly disappeared, my mouth got dry and I started to think that I might have started out a tad too fast. As I approached the Mile 1 marker I looked at my watch and confirmed my thoughts; 5:35, fastest mile ever. Gulp! I refused to be the idiot in the costume that took off like a bat out of hell only to finish it off at a crawl. Too make matters worse, the first water stop was unmanned so I had to forgo it. OK, I run in the heat all the time and cut-down workouts are painful, but I can do those. Let’s rock this!

I made the turn and started to head back down Cesar Chavez and took advantage of the downhill to just pull me down without pushing too hard. Mile 2 at 11:32. OK, I have slowed down, but still sub 6. This last mile is going to suck! And my downhill was gone, but there was water. Oh thank you merciful volunteers and your sweet elixir! By this point in the race I was starting to see some of my friends going the other way and really owe them a lot for the cheers they gave me. The cat calls from strangers helped too. ;) By the time we made the turn to Austin High I was completely spent, but I had been going back and forth with this one kid for most of the race and had just pulled ahead of him and was not wanting to give that up. (This guy is actually Taylor that I had met a few days prior at Jack’s Generic Tri where he got 2nd in our age group.) Gut check time.

As we made the curve around the football field I tried to start kicking with everything I had knowing that I had about a quarter mile left. Finally the finish line was in sight and never, with the possible exception of the Austin Marathon, has a finish line looked so welcoming. As I came down the stretch I heard Evil say, “Nice top!” which brought a smile to my nearly permanently grimaced face. As I looked down at my watch I saw that I had crossed in 18:17. Nearly a 3 minute PR and the first time I had managed to average a sub 6 minute pace for a race! Oh my 3 miles can be painful!

As I was chugging my water and enjoying my ice towel I saw Elvis (Panther) cross the finish line in a sub-20 minute time. Pretty damn impressive for someone wearing polyester long sleeves and pants. Plus a black wig! We watched and cheered in the rest of Riff Raff and even gave an interview for some UT student. Once everyone was accounted for we started making our way to the gala for margaritas and Mexican food. Great race and even better times!

(I will try to put more pictures up as I get them.)

Jack's Generic Tri Report

2010-08-02T13:14:00.002-05:00

Hey, a race report not too terribly long after the race - what a concept!

Jack’s Generic Tri was somewhat of a breakthrough race for me I believe. My placing in my age group wasn’t outstanding, but my overall place floored me and I finally feel like I can hang with these guys.

My goal was to flirt with 1:10:00 - I finished in 1:08:28; good for 19th overall and 7th in my age group. (8 of the top 20 overall finishers came from my age group.) After my typical warm-up jog with a few strides put in, I actually hopped in the lake for a little warm-up swim as well. I have never done this before, but think that it might be something to start including in the pre-start activity. Swim starts have never been my strong point, but my awesome swim coach, Tenille, has been working with me to start out hard the first 50 or so meters and then find my stride. And my friend Ginny has been hounding me too to have more confidence in my swimming. Somehow I managed to wiggle my way to the front of the line at the swim start so that I had fewer bodies to beat up (and get beat up by) so when the horn went off it wasn’t as painful as normal. After a few strokes though I was getting a bit winded and started to worry a little bit about a Rookie Tri repeat, but then Tenille and Ginny got in my head and told me to suck it up. So I did, and managed to find my own little place in the stream of stuff and kept on trucking. I got out of the water in a respectable 8:17 and headed off to T1.

For the first time on the bike I really started to feel comfortable. Typically the run is the only part of the race where I feel in my element, but by that point you are so tired I am not so sure that element is all too comfortable. But I was off on the bike and not instantly being passed by everyone and their brother which is quite a new experience. About halfway through the race I saw a group of cyclists a decent ways up the road from me and I told myself to just keep them in sight. As soon as I thought that, it occured to me that I was gaining on them. Why wait for the run to try to pass them? So I focused on my pedal stroke and started my chase. Low and behold, I passed them up and continued to find more people on the ride to pick off. On the final set of hills I was passed by one guy in my age group, but I knew that I had passed more people than had passed me so I was pretty confident that I had at least held my position since the swim. As I was coming towards the end of the bike course I managed to get my feet out of my shoes before getting off the bike and avoided having to un-clip at the line. Miraculously I did not fall on my butt while doing this and came off the bike after averaging an astounding (for me) 21.7mph.

Alright, the run! Yeah, my legs were feeling the pushing I was doing on the bike, but if I can survive Panther’s, my run and tri coach, horrendous cut downs and hill repeats, I know I can belt out a fast 3 miles. The first half of the run course is up a gradual hill and definitely makes you feel all that you have already done to your legs. But, what goes up must come down, so the turn around point almost serves as a slingshot. I had managed to pass 2-3 guys in my age group on the way out, but had been caught by one guy right before the turn around. I passed him up in the turn around, but knew it was going to be really hard to hold him off. As we picked up the pace going down the hill I could hear him just settle in behind me. So I slowed the pace just a little figuring that I wasn’t going to do all the work and then have nothing left for him at the end. No sooner had I settled on this strategy than we came up on another guy in our age group. With less than a mile left strategy was being thrown out the window. The three of us all started to speed up a little and jockey for position. Kevin, the guy that had been following me, passed the two of us just as we made the turn around the lake and found a stride that I just couldn’t match. But I did manage to fall in behind the other guy and pull ahead with about 200 meters left and just barely managed to out sprint (that might be a generous word at this point) him to the finish. Somehow I managed to run the 3 miles in 19:37, good for the 9th fastest run of the day.

My standing in the Texas Tri Series will not change after this race, but I certainly walked away with a sense of belonging. Perhaps it was just a great race day for me. Perhaps it was my first week of transitioning to being vegan. ;) Or perhaps it was culmination of the training, coaching, and support that I have been getting over the past year. I will certainly be marching into Austin Tri with a little more confidence.

Sadly, shortly after I finished I heard volunteers talking about a bike rider that had fallen and was being transported to the hospital. A little while later I got a call from a friend saying that it was our friend Stacey that had crashed. Stacey suffered a broken clavicle and is pretty banged up, but she will be fine. In the midst of phone calls, talking with race officials, finding Stacey’s gear, and filling in friends it occurred to me just how small, and wonderful, the tri community really is. Everyone knows and loves Stacey. She is incredibly out going and is that person that turns training partners into friendships that last well after the program. While I was trying to talk to people to get information, they either knew me, or at least knew that I had been around for a while, and tried to help in whatever way possible. Jack, of Jack and Adam’s, was wonderful and got Stacey’s bike and transition bag for me so that I was able to load it all in her car and take it back to Austin for her. I don’t know if this would have even been remotely feasible in a larger, less familiar environment. A large shout out to Jack and the rest of the Jack’s Generic staff. Also, there were no fewer than 20 people that told me to pass along their best wishes to Stacey and to let them know if there was anything they could do. Most of us do endurance sports to learn more about ourselves in some form or fashion, and the depth that this community has really came out yesterday. Thank you all. In the light of a scare, it really made me (and Stacey) feel good.

OK, that’s it for now. In the meantime - run friendly.

Texas Tri Series, Training, and Vegan

2010-07-29T12:25:00.001-05:00

Blogging frenzy!!!!

Well, it seems that the Texas Tri Series has posted the standings for the season through the first two races. Miraculously I am 5th in my age group and 18th overall. There is about 8 minutes between me and a podium position, so we shall see if I can’t close the gap over the next three races.

Speaking of races, the third race in the series and the last sprint distance, Jack’s Generic Tri is this Sunday. I don’t really think that I will be able to make much of a move in the standings on this one, but can hopefully just maintain my position.

With the quick turn around between races, being on-call for work one weekend, and a trip to Fort Worth, my training has felt sporadic at best the past three weeks. But I did manage to crank out a good brick workout in Fort Worth and my swimming seems to be getting better, so perhaps sporadic works for me. I guess we shall see.

Now for the big news...I have decided to go vegan. I had been throwing around the idea for quite some time, but never thought that I was close to pulling the trigger. But my nutritionist called me out for eating too much cheese and I realized that I am really bad at reining myself in and that the dairy and egg industry is really the same as the meat industry, so I decided to go ahead and go vegan. This is only day four of it, but so far it is going OK. It will be interesting to see how it affects my training. I’ll try to keep you posted on the progress, or digress.

OK, this was just a quick little update. In the meantime - run friendly.

Couples Triathlon Report

2010-07-29T09:24:00.007-05:00

I figure that I should probably post my race report before my next race. So here we go...

Several Sundays ago marked the second race of the Texas Tri Series, Couples Triathlon, and my first chance to truly measure my progress as a triathlete. Last year was my first venture into the tri world and Couples was my first race. While my final time was not as fast as I had hoped, I still walked away with two PRs and probably my best raced race.

Like all tris, the morning came way too early, but the butterflies were starting to flutter so the sleep cleared my eyes relatively quickly. Two pieces of peanut butter toast, some Ovaltine (yes, I eat like an 8 year old), a banana, and a glass of orange juice and I was ready to start loading up the car and getting race drinks ready.

My friend, Ginny, and I had decided to carpool to the race and as luck would have it, she was right on time getting to my place at 5:30 while I was running a good 10 minutes late. Oh well, this is the beauty of planning on getting there insanely early; you have time to run late. But we still managed to get on the road slightly after 5:45 and made it to the parking lot just after 6. The racks were largely unpopulated at this time and it was easy to get a prime spot and get your transition area set-up without having to shoe horn it in someplace.

After getting Beva, my bike, put in place and everything laid out for the race it was time to chit-chat with my teammate, Padre, Stacey, and some other friends and training companions that I ran into before going out for a mile jog to warm-up before heading down to swim start. On the warm-up jog I quickly realized that I had made a tactical error in wearing my Brooks T-6 racing flats. The run course is on grass and dirt roads within the park and were still quite soaked from the recent rains and my shoes were struggling mightily to find traction. Oh well, it wasn’t like I was going to be the only person with this problem.

As I was heading back into transition to put my now slightly soggy shoes I saw an old high school friend that has been doing tris for quite some time. Outside of Facebook, I haven’t seen Coop since high school; so it was great to chat briefly after all of these years.

With the shoes back in transition, I headed down towards the lake with my disposable water bottle, a packet of salt tablets (part of my nutritionist’s new game day plan), and plenty of butterflies. No matter how many times I race, I still get nervous at the start and I seem to get more and more addicted to the feeling. With 15 minutes to go I popped the three salt tablets and started sifting my way down to the start line with Padre and got ready for the mayhem that was to come. Finally we were let into the water and then the gun went off...

At The Rookie Tri in May I went out really hard on the swim only to find myself stuck with a bunch of people doing the same and ultimately had a freak out resulting in me having to back and side stroke for a bit to regain my breathe. This time around I decided that I would just go out at my pace and let the lead pack go, and just pull away from the bulk of the group as the swim progressed. As I approached the first buoy I could feel my chest tightening up, but I was able to reassure myself that I am a very strong swimmer and that I can swim this distance in my sleep. Just relax, find your stroke and trust it. Miraculously this little pep talk worked on my ever-cynical self, and low and behold, I started to pull away from everyone around me and feel more relaxed. As I rounded the second buoy my goggles had become fogged to the point that I couldn’t see the buoys ahead and sadly the pack had thinned to the point that I couldn’t rely on them to bring me. So I just raised my head up further out of the water and was able to make out the finish line and figured if I swam straight at it I would probably manage to stay on course. Luckily this plan worked as I refound the buoys and made my way to shore. Out of the water in 14:46. Not too bad.

Transitions have never been a strong suit of mine, but I keep trying to improve them. So I ran a little faster than I would like up the hill and into T1, grabbed a cup of water from the volunteers and dashed towards my bike. Typically I try way too hard to clean my feet before putting on my shoes but this day I decided I’d settle for just knocking off the major clumps of debris. What do you know? It helped! Got my sunglasses on, strapped on the helmet and started to trot to the bike start. T1-2:10

Bike has always been the weakest of the three sports for me, but I have been working on it a lot this year. So as I was getting everything adjusted for the ride I heard the distinctive griding whirl of a carbon wheel bike coming up from behind me. “Great, already starting to get passed by everyone!” I thought, but alas, after I got settled, I passed that bike up and never saw him again! Of course several bikes did ultimately pass me, but I think that I passed as many, if not more. Finally, I was holding my own on the bike. The loop around Decker is known for its hills, and particularly this nasty little gem on Blue Bluff Rd that starts immediately after a 90* turn. Luckily I knew of this hill and put my bike in an easy gear before I even got to it and was able to attack it without frantic shifting or falling off. The rest of the ride went by uneventful expect for the end when I went to grab my water bottle to take my second round of electrolyte capsules. It wasn’t there! So, I either littered or gave someone a very nice insulated Camelbak water bottle. But I was out of Accelorade so I had to forgo the electrolytes. Oh well. Unclipped and headed into T2. Bike-32:58

Racked Beva, threw on my socks and shoes, grabbed the race belt, and started working on the bandanna. As I headed out of T2 the volunteers were advertising they had Pure Sport so I grabbed a cup of that in hopes that it would make up for my lost electrolyte pills. T2-1:24

As I finished swigging down the Pure Sport and adjusting the knot on my bandanna I started looking for my stride. It really was a lot like a trail run in that watching your footing was a premium. I could feel my stomach starting to foam from all of the Accelorade I had consumed on the bike and started to get a littler nervous about what might be in store for me, but I kept pushing along. As I approached the first water stop, I was passed by a few people that had names on their tri jerseys and realized that the pros were closing in on me. Instead of demoralizing me, it actually gave me a little bit of a pep and I now had fast runners to try to keep up with. Eventual Women’s 2nd place overall winner, Natasha Van Der Merwe, passed me just before Mile 1. She seemed to be going at a good pace for me so I just latched on to her for a few minutes. As we got back to some of the more technical trail running type terrain I started to feel my stride and passed her up, but she never got far behind me and was definitely pushing me all the way in. The better part of the last half mile of the run course is up a fairly steep hill that starts at the bottom of the dam. My legs were feeling none to fresh by this point, but I could see people struggling up ahead of me and tried to pull them in and make my charge to the finish line. Finally the hill was crested and I had the flat stretch to the finish line! Run-21:01

I was honestly a little surprised to see the clock when I crossed. I had stopped paying attention to my watch so really had no idea where I stood for the race. My goal was to break 1:10. The swim had gone well, my transitions were reasonably quick for me, and I really felt that I had pushed the bike as hard as I could. So when I saw the clock read 1:12 I was a little disappointed. But after I got to think about it for a little while I realized that I had ran my race exactly the way I had wanted to. Perhaps I could have pushed a tad harder on the swim, maybe I need to learn how to leave my shoes on the bike; but I ran this race smartly and did everything I could to do my best. And I walked away with two PRs! Last year I finished Couples in 1:25:46. This year I did 1:12:21. That is not too shabby of a boost. And, I have only raced one 5k in my life, but it was a 21:37 at the 2008 Jingle Bell 5k.

I know that I still have a lot of work left to do if I am to continue to achieve my goals this year in the Texas Tri Series, but this is probably one of the races that I am the proudest of. I just raced well. Hopefully I’ll post more about training and life in the coming weeks. In the meantime, run friendly!

I swear I'll be better...

2010-06-29T08:12:00.003-05:00

I am quite possibly the worst blogger ever. It has been far too long since I have posted anything on here. So here goes a little catch-up entry. (This will be slightly glorified bullet points.)

After Strawberry's early departure from us, I quickly put her memory aside and replaced her with a younger woman - Snowflake. She is a gorgeous white Haro commuter bike and is doing a great job at getting me to swim practice and to work occasionally. Speaking of which, yesterday was the first time I got yelled and cussed at while riding to swim. Bikes have the right to take the entire lane on Pleasant Valley as you cross the dam, apparently this gentleman didn't read the sign. Oh well.

(OK the picture is crappy, but she really is pretty.)

Training is going well. The heat has certainly taken paces down a little, but I am sure that they will start to climb back to normalcy once I get fully acclimated. I have had to go out to my parents a few times over the past few weeks so have managed to get some good rides in out there. But, there is one road that looks incredibly innocent, but I swear it just shreds my legs every time I go down it. By summer's end, I will master you, Ranch Road 1900!!!! I have meant to do two loops out there but my legs are always down after one for whatever reason. Oh well.

Since I am already signed up for the Big Bend 50k in January, I am having to augment my triathlon training with trail running. I LOVE TRAIL RUNNING! it is beautiful, infinitely harder, and you cannot drift off while doing it or you fall. I am trying to start using my long trail runs as my long runs, but this is a new strategy and have yet to really implement it...stay tuned.

Last week I met Panther, my coach, at Gold's Gym and for the first time in my life, am entering into a weight training program. I have no intentions of getting big, but am tired of having pathetically no upper body strength. Today at lunch will be my first trip back to the weight room. We shall see...

That is the jest of the past month. I promise to get back on my blog post and get at least a post or two out per week. Colin is kicking my ass both in training and writing!!!!

Long Time Coming

2010-06-03T09:49:00.001-05:00

Wow! I had not been planning on taking two weeks to make my next post. Sorry about that. I'll try to sum it all up fairly quickly.

Two weekends ago I went up to Fort Worth to see Sam and help him get ready to move into his new house. Well, the painting had not been going at the expected pace, so there wasn't much to do. But we did manage to ride our bikes from the house to his office so he could see if it will be a manageable commute; it is. But on the way back to his apartment, the straps holding my bike rack to the trunk snapped sending both bikes tumbling into the median. Thankfully the bikes and rack did not hot any other cars. (My knots holding the bikes to the rack held.) We were able to pull off to the side, back up, and pick up the bikes. Sam is still trying to decide if his is worth saving; my bike, Strawberry Shortcake, was going to cost $150-200 to repair, and even then it might have needed more. So I have ordered (and received) a new bike.

Last week there wasn't too much of excitement to report in the world of training, but I did make it out to my parents' for the long weekend. Thanks to my friend Mike, I managed to get a new bike rack and took Beva, my tri bike, out to the country. Saturday I was able to get about a 45 mile ride in. There were a ton of bugs out that day and by the end of the ride, my shoulders were speckled black with gnats. Sunday I wasn't able to get out early so I settled for an 8.5 mile run that evening in the heat. Monday morning I got up in time to get out on the road for a 20 mile ride and a 5 mile run for my brick. All in all, it was a great weekend for training. It was also nice to see the folks. :)

This week has been a blur, partly because it is short and partly because I am just busy as can be. Tuesday evening my group did hill repeats on Mesa in NW Austin. Not an easy run and even harder with the heat. Yesterday I got to go pick up my new commuter bike, Snowflake, and then do about 11 miles of trail running on the Greenbelt. We managed to get off the trail just before the storms hit. The storms came and went and this morning I crawled out of bed way too early and met my group, Riff Raff, for fartleks at the track. All I can say is that my legs are not feeling to fresh after all that. We shall see if I make it to swim this evening.

Oh! Last Thursday, Stacey and I ran the Rogue Raffler and had a blast. To top it all off, we both won some goodies! Stacey won a gift card to a restaurant and I won a pair of Adidas running shoes. I walked away with a pair of Adidas Marathons that feel great! Looks like I just made the Sweedish Olympic Team.

That pretty much catches you up. I'll try to stay on top of this blog a bit better in the future. Until next time, run friendly.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Road to Wellville

2010-05-21T20:00:00.001-05:00

Well, this week has been a wash out for exercising. With the exception of failing miserably at hula hooping and running down the halls at Rogue trying on some new shoes, I got not exercise in. Today I have the most energy I have had all week, but the throat is still a little raw and it has been joined by some awesome congestion. I am in Fort Worth this weekend to help a friend get his new house ready to move into; I am hoping just getting away for a weekend (allergies and just escaping) will be good for me. We shall see.

The training related things that I can write about are that I met with a nutritionist today and that I bought new running shoes. As many of you know, I am not exactly the healthiest of vegetarians and that I have recently been told that I have high blood pressure. So this was a long time coming. I signed up for a 6 session program with her and am eagerly looking forward to working on it. Today's session was spent focusing on my current habits and what I need to start changing. Primarily I need to stop eating processed foods and start eating more fruits and veggies. Giving up my salty snacks will be hard, but I am pretty sure I can increase the fruits and veggies. I'll keep you all posted. For my drive up here I brought a cooler full of fruit and berries. Not too shabby for road trip food.

As for the shoes-my current Brooks Launch are probably getting to within 50 miles or so of being done. So Rogue had tweeted today that if you buy new shoes and say that you love Rogue, you get a free shirt! Figured that this was pretty good timing. Of course they did not have any size 13 Launch in stock and would not be getting any in until late June. Not so sure that would work, so I tried on a few more. Ended up getting a pair of Brooks Racer ST4s. They are a little closer to flats than my Launch, but not true flats. This should be fun to try out! That's about all I got. Until next time, run friendly!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Down and Out

2010-05-18T12:57:00.002-05:00

As I was getting ready for bed Sunday night I noticed that my throat was getting a little sore. No worries, I thought...But Monday morning rolled around after some pretty bad sleep and my throat was as raw as could be. Made it to work and was quasi-conscious through the first half of the morning, but by the time staff meeting came about I was starting to fade. Apparently my office was less than stoked with me showing up with whatever it is and sent me home around 11:30.

So, since last night I have been camped out on my couch slowly going insane. Since running and triathlon has essentially become the bulk of my social life, it really is hard just going a few days without doing something. Oh well, I am getting through a bunch of Netflix. Surprisingly, The Proposal is not nearly as bad as you want it to be. Yeah, I just admitted that on here. I really need to get out and go running.

I have realized that I am horrible at putting pictures on my blog, so I am including a lovely picture of my couch. I'll try to be a little more photo friendly going forward. Until next time, couch surf friendly!

I am a litterer!

2010-05-17T16:25:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went out for a little ride and really had no idea of how far I was going to go or how it would go. So, after I crawled out of bed at the crack of 10:30, had a little breakfast I hopped on the bike and headed east. For whatever reason (perhaps it was the 11 hours of sleep) I was feeling good and just kept riding until I came upon Manor. When I pulled into the Dollar General on the outskirts of town, I looked at my watch and it had only been about an hour and 15 minutes to get out there. Once I got home I found out that my route was a little over 21.5 miles. While this might not come off as astounding speed, I was very happy with it. The better part of the first half of that journey was through Austin and involved a fair amount of stop signs and traffic lights. Perhaps I am being a tad optimistic, but I think I was probably averaging over 20mph once I got out on the open roads. (20mph or greater is my arbitrary barometer of what I need to do at a minimum in my races.)

After my last race, I realized that I do not spend near enough time in the big chain ring and then shift way to early on hills and kill all of my speed. This ride I tried to not be afraid of dropping it into the big ring and gain the speed whenever I had a chance. The other real tri geek tidbit of this is that I mixed two bottles of Pure Sport Workout drink. It is an electrolyte powder that also contains protein in it. The initial taste is a tad different than what you expect from a lemon-lime drink, not really sure how to explain it, but it didn't take too long to get used to it. But it certainly seemed to keep me going for the duration of the ride. I took one Hammer Gel in Manor and then one when I got back home. Somehow I managed to make the return trip in just about the same time. Though as I was sitting at the light at Wickersham and Riverside I realized that I was one water bottle light from what I started with. Crap! I littered somewhere along the route. I AM A LITTERER!!!!

Oh well, as I dragged my guilt ridden butt into my house I realized that I still had a fair amount of energy. I had thought about making this a brick workout, but was not really thinking I would feel as good after the bike. So I grabbed my fuel belt and two water bottles and headed out. As I took off I decided that I would try to run down to the hike and bike trail and do the four mile loop and head back. It is about a mile and a half down to the trail so it would be a 7 mile run. My surprising amount of energy managed to stick around until I crossed the river at I-35 and reality started to catch up with me. By the time I left the trail and started heading back to my place, reality decided to really put me in my place. It felt like the end of a race just to get back to my place.

Alas I made it home. After a short stint in the pool to soak, I started to feel back to normal. I did try to wave to the other runners on the trail, but apparently an overly sweaty dude decked out in Lycra is even more frightening than just a typical waving runner. Oh well, I still tried and I will continue to do so. So - run friendly!

The Rookie Tri

2010-05-13T13:54:00.000-05:00

The first race of the season is under my belt. It wasn't the best race I have ever raced, but it was my first top ten in my age group! The Rookie Tri is a sub-sprint distance race and is the first of the five races that make up the Texas Tri Series.

Padre, a friend from my training group, picked me up insanely early and we headed down to New Braunfels together. We got there just as the parking lot was opening an got a great spot near the front. As we unloaded the our bikes it tried to rain a few times but nothing too bad. After we had our transitions areas setup, we had about and hour and a half before race time. So we sat in his Forerunner for about an hour before going for a brief mile long warmup run. After that, it was time to head to the start.

I dipped my toe in the water and felt that it was actually pretty warm, so I felt comfortable not diving in for a warmup swim and settled for just swinging my arms around to loosen up. Perhaps this was a mistake; I don't know. My swim wave was the second one to go off. After swimming all winter, my swim has become very strong so I was looking to devour this 300 meter swim. The gun went off and I took off hard trying to get in the mix of the lead pack and then just draft my way to the finish line. Apparently I was not the only person to have this idea. After about 100 meters, the pack was still incredibly dense and there was no stride not draft to find. I was out of breathe and couldn't seem to catch it no matter what I tried. I started to panic. After a few attempts at taking a stroke I realized I wasn't going to be able to just shake it off. So I struggled to make it out to the outside of the swimming "lane" and started to side stroke. I was still paniced and could not settle down. Somehow I managed to make the turn around the buoy and finally started to calm down. I decided I would try to get back to freestyle and see if I could bring it in. Outside of going horrifically offcourse, I managed to bring it in fine. After the race I was amazed to see that I did the swim in 7:02 or somethig like that. It felt like 20 minutes.

Transitions always suck for me and this was no different. Nothing bad happened, but just like all aspects of my life; smooth is not something I do. OK, I'm on a bike.

At the suggestion of my coach, Panther, I set out to go as hard as I could on the bike. Of course, my ineptitude in transition is only surpassed by my cycling capability. But off I went. Typically I get passed left and right but this day I only got passed by a few folks. Nothing exciting or eventful happened other than realizing that I am not fast going up hills; something to work on. Finally in right around 35 minutes I came up on the dismount line of the 11.2 mile bike ride. I unclipped without falling (which did go through my mind) and strayed trotting to transition.

Now this transition was by no means speedy, but for me it went pretty well for me. Grabbed some water at the gate and headed out to run.

Running is by far my strongest event, but for whatever reason, I was not feeling quick at all heading out. I had forgotten to look at my watch when I started the run so I didn't really have any idea what my pace was like, but I kept coming up on people and passing them. Finally we made the final turn to go run around the lake for the finish. I gave it all I had and managed to cross the finish line in just under 58 minutes. The run had taken me 12:39 which was good for the 3rd fastest in my age group.

After my poor swim I still managed to come in 9th in my age group. All in all I am very happy with the race. Hopefully I learned a little from the swim and can avoid having anymore panic attacks. Until the next time, run friendly! -Tanner

Another Running Departure

2010-05-04T13:13:00.002-05:00

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am a very political person. But, I try very hard to not bring politics into this blog as it really is a very divisive topic and this blog is really supposed to serve as a reminder of the things that bring us closer together - not further us apart. While political in nature, this article really seems to fit with that attitude.

So when I read this article, it echoes a lot of what my thoughts and feelings are right now with politics and the world in general. At the end of the day we almost all want the same things; a feeling of security that tomorrow the sun will rise again and for that to happen to our neighbor.

As I have said before, and will continue to do so; when you see another runner out there on the trail, give a smile and a wave. Even say hi. At least you know you have something in common with them. In the mean time, run friendly! -T

Texas Round-Up 10k Report

2010-04-24T09:35:00.002-05:00

This morning I awoke to run the Texas Round-Up 10k. I had not been planning on running this race until about a week and half ago when I found that my employer offered free entry to it. Well, who can argue with free?!

The last 10k race I ran was last year's Round-Up and my standing PR, 42:36. Now, I have certainly become a stronger runner over the past year, but with the exception of a 12k leg of a marathon relay last September, I have done no speed events, all triathlons and the Austin Marathon. And most of my training has been geared to more of the endurance events, so I really had no idea what to expect. My pipe dream of a goal was to break 40 minutes, but just bettering my PR would be great too.

I got to the race about an hour early to get a good warm-up in, drop off my clothes bag, and just not be rushed. Well, the warm-up was a little harder than I would have liked. I didn't do anything that I don't typically, I just felt more winded than I would have preferred. Oh well. Off to the portajohn, grab a sip of water, and head to the start line. Apparently I was not the only one that thought of this agenda. I got to the starting gates with about 5 minutes to go, this left me well back in the pack. I was about 10 yards behind the 11:30 pace sign; my goal pace was about 6:30. My work of weaving through the masses was set. The gun went off and a little more than a minute later I finally shuffled across the starting line and punched the button on my watch (my free entry fee was not for a timed bib).

Just as expected, it was a mad house and I was trying to running back my way through everyone without bumping or cutting them off. Things had thinned out a little bit by the time I hit the 1 mile marker at 7:08 according to my watch. Not as bad as it could have been but I definitely had a hard race in front of me if I wanted to pull of anything near 40. Luckily I found my stride and was able to hit mile 2 at about 13:30 and the 5k split at 20:45ish.

OK, breaking 40 was now out of the window, but a good race and a PR were easily in sight as I was still feeling pretty good and maintaining my pace. Miles 4 and 5 came and went without much ado, my pace still seemed fine. As I was making my way around the State Cemetery I came up on two guys wearing Rogue shirts. As I gave them the typical, "Go Rogue!" shout one of them shouted back to "Take it home!". That was the motivation I need to pound up the hill and turn towards downtown. Then there was the hill going up to the Capitol that is a killer. But I made it up that and realized that I was sitting at about 37:30. I wasn't sure how far I was from mile 6, but knew I had to be pretty close so I tried to pick it up a little and give it everything I could. Finally we worked our way around the Capitol and I knew I was close so I tried to pick it up another notch and just kick as hard as I could.

And then there was the final turn onto Congress and the straight away to the finish. As I crossed the line and stopped my watch I looked down to see 41:34 frozen on the display. I PRed by a minute! It wasn't the time that I had hoped for, and my time was certainly hampered by getting stuck at the back of the starting line, but still - I PRed!

Departure from running

2010-04-09T23:54:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading an article on the new iPad and then a follow up article on the death of the book. A couple of years ago I remember there being a similar series of stories on the death of the CD and the iPod and iTunes. It prompted me to write a post on a now deleted blog and I guess I feel obliged to write again about this.

The post that I did before was about the death of the CD at the hands of iTunes and the mp3. I am a huge fan of albums and CDs. There is something about just putting on an album and letting it play all the way through and just listening to it. Not on shuffle. Not as background noise. But to simply sit down, listen to it, and let it engulf you. And if you play it on a decent stereo, the sound quality (noticably bass) is so much better than that of an mp3. How can we allow the CD and the album to die? There is such an experience to be had that we are losing.

But then I started looking at my CD collection and noticing its sheer size. The amount of CDs, the cases, and the liner notes. All of this...material. And it dawned on me. I need to try and embrace the mp3 not for the convenience factor but rather the environmental impact it can have.

I think the same argument can be made about books and ereaders. There is definitely an experience that is to be had flipping the pages of a book. The smell of a book store or a library. Even the black smudges that get on your fingers from reading a newspaper. But think of all of the trees that have been harvested over the years to bring us this. Are the words any different just because they come on a screen relative to a leaf of paper?

All this being said-I don't know if I will be looking at getting an iPad. Yes it is cool and pretty and can be a fine vessle for all that I mentioned above. But I am not so sure that I want to sail down this river in the exact fashion that Steve Jobs tells me to. Apple makes great products, don't get me wrong on that, but they are not open by any stretch of the imagination. If I want a laptop/netbook replacement I think I am going to want something that can surf the entire web, not just the Flash free portions. And if I want to download pictures onto my tablet, I don't want to have to go back to my computer to sync them on. And if Apple's history is any indication, it will be quite some time before they open their products up to this. I would like some choice as to where I buy my books and songs from. So I think I will hold off on getting a tablet.

It should be noted that I wrote this post on my iPhone. I never said I wasn't a hypocrite. More running posts to come; just felt like writing my thought down. Until next time, run friendly.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fatigue or Illness?

2010-04-08T11:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning I woke up after over 8 hours of sleep feeling as if I had hardly slept a wink. As I tried to go through my morning routine I become more exhausted. So I decided to call the office and let them know that I would be running a few hours late-thinking that all I needed was a little rest. Well, I never seemed to get any more energy. So I decided to just take the day off.

My training has not been as consistent as I would like it, but I have been getting more time in the gym in addition to my run and swim workouts. Today I made it into the office but am feeling only moderately more energetic. As I don't have any other symptoms I am hoping that this is just a simple case of fatigue, but am getting a tad worried.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tri it again

2010-03-20T14:56:00.002-05:00

Once again I have been horribly remiss at blogging. And once again I shall make what by now is merely an empty promise to do better.

Since my last post I completed the Austin Marathon. It was my first and a very good experience. Despite being under-trained and dealing with a personal ordeal that left me quite ragged and sleep deprived, I finished in 4:09. All things considered I was pretty happy with it.

Now tri season has come around. My goal is to do as well as I can in the Texas Tri Series and see if I can't possibly break 5 hours at Longhorn 70.3. We shall see. I started my training regiment last week and will do my best to keep this posted with my progress.

OK, that's it for now. Run friendly!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where has the time gone?

2009-12-23T10:14:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the delay; I have been slacking.

It is hard to believe that I only have two and a half days left here. Though I have done quite a bit, there are still things on my list. Guess I'll just have to try to sneak out again sometime.

On Friday, my mom and I went with a local bird expert out to Mauna Kea to try to see some of the more rare and endangered birds of the big island. The first stop was a nature preserve on the eastern slopes of the volcano (the wet side). We saw a bunch of very colorful and two and a half of the three endangered birds we were looking for. One them we only saw briefly and never got a good look at. (I cannot remember all if the Hawaiian names of the birds so will not even try to here.) That afternoon we worked our way to the western slopes (dry side) to try to see a few more birds and one other endangered species. There was not quite the diversity of birds on this side but we did manage to see 4-5 of the bird we were looking for. It was a neat, but sad feeling getting to see a bird that was so rare.

Saturday morning we got on the road at 4:30 to make it over to the Kona side for a whale watching tour. The day started off interesting as we had to make most of the drive in a severe thunderstorm. (Whereas Hawaii does get a lot of rain, it typically does not come so violently.) But we made the nervous drive just fine and were even a little early for the trip. Once we got on the boat we were told that we would start by going about 2 miles off shore to see if we could see some of the toothed whales (sperm whales, beaked whales and pilot whales) that stay around the island all year. Sadly after about an hour and a half without seeing anything we had to start making our way back to shallower water and begin the search for humpbacks. While we did get to see spinner and spotted dolphins we never did manage to see any whales.

Sunday was a bit of a wash as the thunderstorms had continued and did not let up until late that afternoon. We were actually pretty happy to just have a day to rest and recover from our two previous early mornings.

Monday we got off to a leisurely start and meandered our way south until we came to South Point, the southern most point inthe US. It is a pretty interesting place. Severe cliffs down to the ocean and tall grass prairie on top with very little to break the wind. On our way back to Hilo we stopped at two black sand beaches and saw several sea turtles basking. Apparently the green sea turtles will bask for up to 24 hours and during much of this time look completely dead. After talking to some volunteers that were watching over some turtle nests, we were relieved to know that these weren't just sick or dead turtles on the beach.

Yeaterday did not take us far from Hilo. We went over to the second house to clean out the pool and while there we saw a couple of humpback whales breaching off the coast. The show did not last but for two or three jumps, but it kept us glued to our binoculars scanning the surface for more activity. That afternoon we headed into Hilo to go see a few parts of the town that I have yet to see and to do a little shopping.

Over the next two days I am hoping to make it up to the northern tip of the island and take a hike through one of the valleys and also head back south to check out more of Volcano National Park. Not sure which one will be done on which day, but we shall see.

Hope that all is going well back on the mainland. Miss y'all. I think I am off for a run before this day gets started.

Hilo

2009-12-17T14:21:00.001-06:00

I made it to Hilo! I was even feeling a little perky as I got offthe plane and started walking down the open air terminal of the Hilo airport. This feeling did not last long. After a short walk about Coconut Island the day caught up with me. We had dinner at Ken's Pancake House where I proceeded to pretty much crash. After that we called it an evening ad headed to the house. I think I made it to nearly 8:30 local time before crashing. Morning came early though as I am still on Texas time and could not really sleep past 4:30. So a little before 7 I grabbed my running shoes and went for a 55 minute run down Onomea Bay Scenic Loop. It was a pretty fantastic route to run. I crossed several one lane bridges that went over streams that were cascading their way to the Pacific. Between the dense foliage you would get glimpses of waterfalls and the ocean. (I'll try to post pictures later.)

One thing that was strange to me was that as I was getting off if the plane in Hilo I almost had the feeling of coming home. Perhaps home is not the right word, but it felt comfortable and welcoming; even though I have only been here once before. Last summer I had a total sense if awe and was nearly overwhelmed by all that I saw. It is still just as awe inspiriping as before, but just feels more like an old friend this time around. (There was your sappy moment of the day.)

We are off to explore the Puna Coast this afternoon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Honolulu

2009-12-16T19:15:00.000-06:00

The flight out of LA left on time and our expected flight time is five hours and twenty minutes (I started writing this while in flight.) Thus far the flight has been pretty smooth. Though shortly after leaving LA I realized that I don't remember what time my flight leaves from Honolulu to Hilo. I think it is about an hour and a half layover so I should have time to check my email and look into this as I have to check in for that flight yet.

My one complaint so far is that they did not offer a free meal on the flight. I had to spend three bucks for a tube of Lays potato chips. Amazingly enough they do give you the entire can of soda for free! So between finding my flight and checking in for it I will probably try to find some food.

Made it to Honolulu fine! Managed to get a Burger King veggie burger and fries to complemet the lunch of poptato chips. Good stuff.

Checkin for my Hilo flight was easy enough, but the signs pointing me to the correct terminal were a tad confusing and the tram does not tell you where you are. Luckily I swallowed my pride and just asked. I'm now waiting at the gate and will leave in about 45 minutes. Talk more then. Aloha!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

LAX onward to Honolulu

2009-12-16T12:13:00.001-06:00

Do anytime I have to navigate away from this blogger app, it deletes my previous ramblings. Attempt number three! Made it through the long security line in Austin. Flight into LA landed early and am now boarding the flight to Honolulu. So far everything has gone smoothly with the exception of my contact solution leaking out on the flight. I have a longer lay over in Honolulu and will try to post more then.

Iron Star Report

2009-11-19T16:18:00.004-06:00

It would be logical to assume that the lack of a race report is because I have just been too busy to get around to doing it. That would be great if it were true, but I have had loads of time to get this done; just haven't gotten around to it. I'll get into the story of my abundant downtime later, but for now, the race report that was promised!

Somehow I managed to wake up about fifteen minutes before my alarm went off at 4AM the morning of the race. I guess the nerves were all ready getting ramped up. Claire and I had managed to get our transition bags packed the night before and had everything setup to where all we had to do was load the car in the morning. My cousin said that their neighborhood was a little shady so we should keep the bikes in the house overnight. Their house is beautiful and the neighborhood is as cute as can be; Claire and I were a little curious as to what constitutes "shady" in my cousin's mind. But we played along and left our bikes in the house overnight. When we made it out to the car Sunday morning we discovered that Claire's Camry had been the unfortunate victim of an egging. That is right, someone egged her car. Who does that anymore?! (I kind of found it funny. The humor was lost on Claire at first, but that probably stems from it being her car. Yes, I am aware that I am a jerk.) Even with having everything setup and staged the night before, it was nearly 5 before we got on the road. Outside of not being able to find the Wal-Mart or HEB that was open for some bagels the drive up was uneventful and quick. (We did manage a convenience store for some power bars.)

Once we parked and got the tires pumped up we had about a half mile walk to the transition area. Originally I was not a huge fan of this but in hindsight I think that it allowed the day to sink in a little bit. Getting everything in its place in transition was pretty easy with the exception of the incredibly low bike racks. I have always racked my bike by the seat but these racks were so low that was not an option, though I did try much to the annoyance of those around me. I finally settled on using the handlebars instead. Think I will have to start doing that from here on out actually. Just as we were about to start working our way to the swim start it dawned on us that we had yet to pick up our timing chips. Oops! Luckily Stacey, Sally, and Eric were hanging around to help the poor distraught racers keep their heads on their shoulders.

I was in the fourth and final wave to go out that morning. The swim portion was a point-to-point route and it really pointed out just how far 1.2 miles is when you lay it out. Lake Conroe was at 73* from what we were told and I would say that it was fairly cool; especially without a wetsuit. I had not been able to train too hard going into Iron Star. Early October brought some calf strain issues and the last week of October brought some flu like crud to me. Really, the week before the race (when I am supposed to be doing very little) was the first time I was feeling healthy in a month. So my plan in the water was to just go easy. And easy I went. Perhaps too easy. It took me 41:00 minutes flat out to complete the swim portion. And I even ran part of the swim! (The water was pretty shallow at some points.) I was hoping for something in the 37 minute range, but oh well. Finishing was the primary goal. When I finally got to the end of the swim I was shocked to hear, "Good job, Tanner! Let me help you". Sally had taken it upon herself to start helping the swimmers out of the water and up the boat ramp. It really felt great to see a friendly face right out of the water. Stacey was shouting out from the sidelines and documenting the event for us all.

Transition 1 was not anything to write home about. I wasn't horribly slow, but I am certainly less proficient than most at getting going on the bike. Perhaps this can be something to work on for next year's season. At any rate, Beva and I were off.

Cycling is not my strong suit. Again, my goal was to just go through at a decent pace, but to not kill myself. Well, I accomplished one of those. I managed to come in second to last in age group on the bike. And if you look at the official results it says I was last. But the guy in first place took 00:01:04 to do the bike course and 3:23:38 to do transition 2. I took 3:20:01 for the bike portion. Alas, more things to work on. The bike ride was gorgeous. A lot of the ride was through Sam Houston National Forest and around Lake Conroe. There were three water bottle hand-up stations and all were well manned with very helpful and encouraging volunteers. Each stop also had a porta-john which I did not miss one of. Perhaps that would have helped out my time a little bit, but at least I knew that I was staying hydrated and that my body was still working. A little less than halfway through the bike course I saw James moving along and going pretty strong. I had no idea at the time how far in front of me he was, but soon found out the distance was pretty immense. A little while later, perhaps two and half hours or more into the bike I came up on Claire. She was smiling and doing well. I must say that it is really nice coming up next to your friends in the race. Of course it is nice to see them and exchange encouragement, but I think it also adds a little familiarity to a pretty daunting and foreign world. At least it did for me.

So, three hours and twenty minutes after getting out of the water I started rolling back into transitionland and getting ready for the run. Once again, I was pretty slow at this transition thing. Maybe I should just learn how to adjust everything on the go. Oh, and there was a bathroom leaving transition. Yep, I hit that one too. Surprisingly enough, my strategy of taking it easy was paying off and I felt reasonably good going into the run. Of course, just as I started going, it dawned on me that I had only done one run of 10 miles in the past two months. This had potential of being interesting. Plus, I was wearing racing flats. But with the screams and shouts from Stacey and Sally; it felt possible.

The first few miles clicked by really quickly. I ran into Jimmy and Nyleva on the run which again a real comforting feeling; felt like a training run and the pressure thawed a little. Somewhere between miles two and three I had the realization that I was running my first half marathon. Hmm...this should be interesting. Around mile four I saw James again. He was looking very strong and headed to the finish line. That was mile nine for him. He would go on to smoke the course in 5:28:03 and take 3rd in the 30-34 age group! I was still feeling pretty good at this point and the miles continued to be coming and going seemingly quick for which I was very appreciative. The only disconcerting thing was that while I was not being passed by anyone, I had yet to pass anyone in my age group. (In triathlons you will have your age written on the back of your calf so that you can identify other people that are in your age group.) Oh well, there was not much that I could do about that. The water stops were stationed every mile and had water, gatorade, gels, and electrolyte pills and again were staffed by very helpful, friendly, and encouraging volunteers. For those that have not raced before, it really is amazing how much having people cheer you on can perk your spirits. By the time I came to mile eight I had managed to pass someone in my age group which made me feel a little better but the culmination of the days events were starting to settle upon me. My pace had certainly dropped a little and I found myself saying, "Only five more miles!". This was not looking quite as rosy as it was at mile 2. Surprisingly enough my little countdown seemed to be working and by mile eleven I had managed to pass another person in my age group. Neither one of us were looking particularly vibrant at this point, but who was? By mile twelve the ball of my foot was starting to object to the racing flats. As long as I focused on making a good foot strike though the pain was not severe and I could continue onwards. Also, the last person in my age group that I had passed seemed to like my pace and had not faded as far behind me as I had hoped. Walking at this point was not an option. Finally I made the turn to the resort! Surely the finish line was just around the corner. But alas, they routed us through the neighborhood what was supposedly for less than a mile though I feel it was more like an additional 10k at this point. And then there it was; the finish line. As I emerged out of the residential street I could hear the cheers from my Austin support group. James and Jacque were on the sidelines already finished cheering me on alongside Sally, Stacey, and Eric that had been there all day for us. Somehow I found one last gear to finish as strong as I could. One look at the clock told me that I would be able to accomplish my second goal; breaking six hours. I started twenty minutes after the first wave and the race clock read 6:19:xx. I crossed at 6:19:32; subtract twenty minutes from that and my time was 5:59:32! The run had taken me 1:53:20. And my first half ironman was done.

After getting water, a Pepsi, and a banana I collapsed by my friends. My body had had enough. After a few minutes I was able to be somewhat cognizant and had the chance to see Jimmy and Nyleva come in one after the other. Following close behind them was Claire. All six of us had finished the race! Finishing the race was a major accomplishment, but being able to share it with the people you had spent time training with really made it much better. (I know that is cheesy, but it really did make a difference.)

Iron Star Half Iron Tri Recap

2009-11-09T12:02:00.000-06:00

Woohoo! The half ironman is done! Not only did I complete my first half ironman distance tri yesterday, I also ran my first half marathon! Yesterday I, and several of my Rogue training buddies, completed the Iron Star Triathlon out in Montgomery, TX on Lake Conroe. Everyone did a great job! Jacque (5:59:11), Nyleva (6:34:37), Jimmy (6:39:28), James (5:28:03 and 3rd in his age group!), Claire (6:56:47), and I (5:59:32) all swam, biked and ran through the piney woods of east Texas yesterday and all finished strong. It was a pretty good showing for the Rogues I would say. My goal was to break 6 hours so I was quite happy with my 28 second buffer that I left myself.

Luckily my cousin and her husband live in Houston, only an hour away so Claire and I were able to stay with them this weekend to avoid paying for a hotel and not have to drive all the way back to Austin yesterday. Today we are both quite sore and moving pretty slow which is OK since neither of us have be at work today or even on the road home at any particular time. On top of the soreness, we are both ravenous. Luckily we both like to eat a lot anyway so this is being put down in the "perk" category.

Speaking of food, I think lunch is calling. I will post a more detailed race report this week along with some pictures hopefully. Thanks to everyone for all of the support leading up to this. It has really helped! In the meantime, run friendly! -T

Somber News

2009-09-28T15:49:00.001-05:00

I just found out that the son of one of my friends is in a coma from a fall he had last week. While I never met Justin I have worked with his dad for several years and consider him a friend. Justin works for RunTex and is involved in the running world. RunTex is having a candlelight vigil this Thursday night, October 1st, at 8PM. I know that it would mean a lot for the family to see the running world come out and show their support.

The Austin Tri and Beva

2009-09-22T16:00:00.002-05:00

So much to report! I bet it would be a little less daunting if I were to do this a little more progressively, huh? Since I last left you all I got my new triathlon bike, gone to Corpus Christi, and completed my first Olympic distance tri.

Strawberry Shortcake is a great bike and a ton of fun to ride. But when it comes to racing, her 12 gears, down tube shifters, and steel frame make her a little less than peppy. So it was time to look at getting a new bike. Enter Beva, my lovely Masi Coltello Aero. When I ordered her I was expecting to get a red bike with white lettering and decals, but came to find out that the previous year’s model was available for $200 less and the only difference was it was white with red lettering and decals. For those that don’t know me all that well, I am not exactly the world’s largest UT fan. In fact it could be said that I am a bit of a UT antagonist. So alas, the “red” lettering and decals is actually a rather dark orange. This was a little bit of a kharmatic sucker punch. Oh well. She is still lovely and I am having a blast on her. It is amazing how much easier cycling is on a newer and lighter bike.

A couple of days after getting Beva, I had to head down to Corpus Christi for a conference. It has actually been 20+ years since I have been to Corpus, so I was pretty excited to head down there. I stayed at one of the Omni hotels right along the sea wall, so the view and location were great! My first evening their I decided I would hop out to the sea wall (just across the street from the hotel) and go for a run. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly humid it was; who would have thought that?! But the second thing I noticed was that practically everybody waved at each other! It was the coolest thing. No matter what pace, direction, or what not, everybody out on the sea wall acknowledged the other folks out there. The next two days I managed to get Beva out on the road. Beva is much larger than Strawberry so for someone that is already not the most comfortable on a bike, she is a bit daunting. With that in mind and my race coming up the next week I figured that I should just spend some time getting acclimated to riding her. Luckily the conference's schedule (and my skipping of one session) allowed for me to get two rides in, one of about 30 minutes and another of about 90. There is definitely something to be said for riding along the beach. Pretty nice little outings. Oh; the conference was good and I actually learned a fair amount.

Speaking of learning stuff; I really hope that I learned a lot from the Austin Triathlon. It really all started out fine. I got my bike setup in the transition area the day before, had a decent sleep that night, and came to the race feeling pretty good. As has become tradition (well, if two previous times counts as tradition) I popped a gel about 15 minutes before I jumped into the water for the swim. The treading start was something new to me, but I really liked it. The start, though still a jumble, did not seem to be quite as violent as the running starts. The swim went really well. I didn't want to go out too hard and be exhausted as soon as I got out of the water, but I didn't want to lollygag toomuch. Despite the dread of not being able to see the buoys that were spread incredibly far apart, I was able to get in a decent stride most of the way and felt great for all 1500 meters of the swim.

Typically I am not too terribly fast in transition and today ended up not being an exception despite my efforts to make it one. My feet were just caked with mud and dirt by the time I made it to my bike and it took me a bit of time to get it knocked off sufficiently before throwing on my shoes. Oh well.

Well, here it is; Beva's maiden race. The bike course consisted of three laps around and through downtown Austin. I had done a test run on the course just two days before so I was feeling pretty confident that I would be able to get through it without incident and know where to shift and all that good stuff. This was all true, but alas my inexperience on bikes caught up to me. I dropped my chain just a few hundred yards before a big turn and had to jump off to the side of the road and get it back on. More than likely this didn't take but a minute and a half or so, but it was still aggravating. I was just in a bad gear choice and tried to push it too hard. Luckily this was the first loop and I was able to get through the next two without any other mechanical failures. If only my brain didn't stop working too. During my ride I took another gel and for some reason, it did not agree with my stomach too well. I became a little queasyabout 15 minutes after taking it. Then there was the fact that I am a little too competitive at times. About halfway through my first lap I started to hear the familiar sound of carbon disc wheels coming up behind me. This was not supposed to be happening so quickly on my new bike! Beva and I were supposed to be flying! It took me the rest of the lap to realize that most of these people breezing past me were the pros making their laps, yet I still felt pressured to try to kick it up a notch anytime I got passed. This increased machismo coupled with my gurgling tummy left me quite distracted and I failed to drink even half of the water and Propel that I had with me. By the end of the bike I was still feeling OK, just a little bit of an upset stomach but nothing too bad. I had average 20mph which for me was really good and ultimately I was pretty happy with the ride.

Shortly after reracking my bike and getting my running shoes on I began to feel the effects of under-hydration and a digestive system not loving the gels. I wanted to throw-up and could not drink enough at the water stations; plus my legs felt as if they had nothing left in them to give. As I filled up on water and Gatorade at the water stops my stomach began to start sloshing with all of the liquid it no longer had the ability to take in. My queasiness has now manifested itself into outright nausea. Awesome! Only 4 more miles to go. The run is typically my best part and I had been looking forward to it. Alas, it felt like I was just barely moving and despising every minute of it. Finally I saw that the finish line was within a quarter mile and managed to summon everything left in me and gave it one last push. As soon as I crossed the line I started looking forward to my next triathlon and was telling myself that I would learn from this experience. Then I set off to pass out under a tent with cold water and try not to throw-up on anyone.

Miraculously I had to have been moving faster in the run than it felt like. I managed to finish the 10k in 48:27 and the entire race in 2:38:16. Not as well as I know that I can do, but for my first time out I am really proud of that time. It was certainly the most difficult physical thing I have done so far. Now the countdown begins for Iron Star in Conroe, TX; a half ironman on November 8th. We shall see what happens.

Randomness

2009-08-25T15:58:00.002-05:00

There really is not a whole lot of running or triathlon stuff to report right now; so what little I have I will get out of the way first. The leg is feeling much better! This morning I made it through a 4 mile run with no pain. And I even went along at a pretty good pace, so that is making me very happy. Hopefully this means that I will be ready for the Austin Tri on Labor Day. We shall see. Only other tidbit of news I have is that I should be getting my new bike in this week.

On a completely un-running topic I recently drank the koolaide and purchased an iPhone. (My office recently gave the OK for us to use them and I found out the data plan was $15 less per month than my BlackBerry.) Going into buying the phone, I asked a bunch of my friends what they thought of theirs and was amazed that only one of them had anything less than an enthusiastic praise chorus for it. That one just said that it was a good phone. I have never seen that with any electronic device. So my expectations were pretty high. It has been about three weeks now that I have had my iPhone 3Gs. It is definitely a good phone. But i have not had the euphoric experience that most people seem to have. I cannot really put my finger on it, but it just hasn't changed my life to quite the same degree as it has seemed to do so for others. What about y'all? Any thoughts?

That is about all for now, but in the mean time, run friendly! -T

Long Overdue Update

2009-08-23T11:47:00.001-05:00

Who would have ever thought that I would have a staggeringly wide gap between posts? Yeah, we all saw that coming I think...

I have now completed my first two triathlons and am three and a half weeks out from my first Olympic distance. Jack's Generic Tri was the latest endeavor. It, like Couples Tri, was a sprint distance race. Luckily this time there were no chain, or other mechanical, issues with Strawberry Shortcake. Everything seemed to go a little smoother this time around just by the simple fact that it was a tad less foreign to me. I think that I can probably kick it up a notch or so on the swim, but was pretty happy with the effort I gave throughout it all. We shall see how it all comes together for the Austin Tri (the Olympic distance) coming up on Labor Day.

We all know and love Strawberry Shortcake. She is a lovely 12 speed, steel framed bike from the early '80s with the gear shifts on the downtube and has a ton of character. I truly do enjoy her and look forward to holding onto her for some time to come. But as far as riding her in a triathlon is probably akin to trying to run the Kentucky Derby on a Clydesdale. So I have gone forth and ordered a new bike. My Masi Coltello Aero should be in late this week or early next. Needless to say I am quite excited.

The last bit of exciting kibblet of knowledge is that I am currently trying to recover from a lower leg injury. Last Saturday, about halfway through my 14 mile run, my left shin just started hurting more and more until it finally forced me to stop and hobble home. (It is a very long walk from the Capitol grounds to Mary Street.) I have laid off of it, mostly, this past week and have had some work done on it at Advanced Rehabilitation. It seems to be getting better and I am hopeful that I can get back to running this coming week. As for right now I will continue to take it easy and sport the red kinesio tape on my leg.

Perhaps I do have the motivation to go for a dip in Barton Springs today...

As I forgot to post this yesterday, I will fill in the cliff hanger. I did go swim yesterday afternoon and this morning at Barton Springs. It was quite nice and am glad I did it. The tape held up through the first swim, but I took it off in the shower last night. No major hair loss to report.

A Call for Body Glide

2009-07-20T13:47:00.003-05:00

This is not a post for the faint of heart. Well, the ending at least.

For my long run this Saturday I decided to head over to One Texas Center at Barton Springs and South 1st and do a modified version of one of my favorite runs. I took off on South 1st, crossed Lady Bird Lake (it pains me to not say Town Lake) and up Colorado before weaseling my way over to Guadalupe. The goal for this run was to do 90 minutes, and as I had not done a true long run in quite some time, I was not exactly sure what to expect.

All in all I was feeling great. Made it down the drag and was headed north of campus. I even made it to Lamar with plenty of time to spare before turning back. At the 40 minute mark I hit 51st. I wasn’t quite sure of the ease in which I could find cross streets and such that would take me back to good southern bound routes after that so I decided I would just turn right onto 51st and make up the extra time on the hike and bike trail.

After hoping from Duval to Speedway, through campus and across the Capital grounds, I started to notice an annoying little sensation as I was running south down Congress. One of my nipples had begun to chafe a small amount, but not an insane amount; just enough to announce its presence. This was kind of odd as I had used Body Glide before my run. (For those wondering, Body Glide is a lubricant to reduce chaffing during running and comes in what looks like a deodorant stick.) So I go ahead and hang a right and jump onto the hike and bike trail at Congress and proceed onwards to the Pfluger Foot Bridge. As I am making my along the trail I start getting this weird sense that people are looking at me with an abnormal amount of curiosity. I know I am sweaty and certainly a little flushed in the face, but I am not wheezing for making any strange grunting noises so I am a tad perplexed. (Somewhere in the back of my mind I was certain it was just because they had never before seen running demonstrated in such a magnificent and graceful way. I like to live in a fantasy world. And yes, the unicorns do run beside me.)

Finally I made my way back to the parking lot of One Texas Center and after 90 minutes I had covered 11 miles. As I began to walk around a little to get my cool down in that I realized why everyone had been giving me perplexed looks; there, on the front of my shirt was a sweat diluted blood stain leading down from my right nipple. Lovely!

The moral of this story is to always use more Body Glide than you think is necessary. Or it just serves as yet another great thing to laugh at me about. I’ll let you all decide.

In the meantime, have fun, stay safe, run friendly, and wave; even to the guy with the bloody nipple. –Tanner

PS I have a strong sense that I was jumping from one verb tense to another throughout this. I am too lazy to go back and make the changes.

Couples Tri

2009-07-14T08:42:00.002-05:00

I survived! Which is much more of an accomplishment than I had thought that it would be. I finished in 1:25:46 which beat my goal of 1:30 and I definitely learned more on what to expect in the future. It was a blast and I am definitely going to keep going!

The swim, as expected, was the most foreign event to me. I have swam in open water before and am not creeped out by murky water, but I had never done these things with several hundred of my best friends; that is where things became a little interesting. People had prepared me for the onslaught on bumps and kicks that were going to happen, so that was frustrating, but not frightening. What really started to make me bug out was that when I came up to get my bearings, I had to really strain to see over the other swimmers and it just took much longer to get a fix on where I needed to go. Finally by the last third of the swim I had settled down and got a good stride going. Hopefully the next race will be a little more smooth. [800m in 16:28]

The first transition was by far my longest. It was a pretty long jog up from the lake to the transition area. Once there I had to put on my shirt, dry my feet and pull on socks and shoes. I probably could have gone a tad more smoothly through it, but all in all, it wasn't too bad. [T1 in 3:27]

So off to the races Strawberry Shortcake and I were. Make no mistake, I was planning on getting creamed here. (And I did.) We got rolling and as expected all of those fancy, new, younger bikes just passed us up like nothing, but still I was going forward and feeling good. All in all, that was all I was hoping for. I had been warned about this one turn at the bottom of a hill that went directly into a pretty steep climb. As I got to the bottom of the hill I got into what I thought was a pretty light gear, made the turn and started my climb. I quickly realized that I had misjudged my gearing and had to drop it again. Yeah, disaster loomed. My chain slipped off as soon as I did this. I quickly hopped off and jumped into the weeds, flipped the bike over, and started examining the problem. Let it be known that I am not mechanical in nature and that I have no experience repairing bicycles. Low and behold, after a couple of minutes I had the chain back on. Miracles do happen! Now came the crashing realization that I was still in too big of a gear, especially being that I was starting this hill climb from a dead stop. Back over the side of the road to change the gear again. Finally made it up the hill and had reasonably smooth sailing from there. Even started to pass a lot of people; not sure if it was anger or just the "rest" that I had. All in all I would say that I lost anywhere from 3-5 minutes with that ordeal. [11.2 miles in 41:59]

Second transition was fine. Was already in my shoes and outside of hanging my bike up the wrong way got out fairly smoothly. [T2 in 1:15]

Finally I was off to the races. I knew that I didn't have everything left in the tank, but I felt that I could still run at a decent pace. The trail was almost entirely on grass, except for a little bit on a road at the very end, which made the pounding a lot easier to take. After about a mile in I realized that I should have popped a goo in transition or at the tail end of the bike, but oh well. There wasn't too much left. Most of the race was downhill until you came into the last kilometer of it or so. Climbing that last hill really pointed out how much energy I truly had already spent. But as I neared the top, I saw the finish line, and saw that my parents (for whom this was their first time coming out to see me race since high school) had made it there to watch the final kick it pushed me on and I was able to sprint in the last 150 meters. I had crossed the line and finished my first triathlon. [5km in 22:35]

Sorry for the long-winded play by play. I'll try to keep the next report a little shorter.

Run friendly! -Tanner

Tri Training

2009-07-10T15:52:00.002-05:00

June marked the beginning of my triathlon aspirations. That month quickly melted away, much the same as the stick of deodorant I forgot in the car, and I have now found myself in July. The training is still going strong and I have managed to transpose my sick running obsession onto the whole triathlon thing. Sunday will mark my first triathlon. My good running buddy Jimmy signed us up for the Couples Triathlon (horrible name for it not requiring you to actually be a couple). This is only a sprint tri (800m swim, 11.2 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) so it shouldn't be too terribly brutal. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Yes, I have apparently forgotten how to write. Hopefully I will become more productive on here and that might inspire the mental juices to flow once again. (And yes, I am aware that they never flowed with much force.)

Athletics in America

2009-05-16T20:31:00.001-05:00

I love sports! I love playing them. I love watching them. And I love to attend sporting events. That just needs to be said before anything else.

My original intention with this blog was to inspire a few more people to be a little friendlier on the running trails. I had actually wanted to stay away from more serious subjects or really anything that might be polarizing. (For those that know me, not speaking my mind is very hard.) But some recent commentary during the NBA playoffs hit a nerve that fired a switch and now I cannot hold it in. So please, read what I have to say and comment.

During the second round of the NBA playoffs my favorite player, Dirk Nowitzki, in an interview commented on how the series of defenders he had faced were able to guard him well. He even went on to essentially complement them on their defense. In the media this was seen as a sign of weakness and Dirk was attacked for "giving fuel" to his opponents and bolstering their egos. Now, I can understand where some of the commentary is coming from; you don't want to give your opponent an instruction manual on how to play you. But it really irked me how so many of the commentators were saying that as a star athlete you should never admit or acknowledge anything that might suggest you are anything but the best player. This is where the floodgates were ripped open for me.

Every day we hear how athletics helps kids stay out of trouble and builds character. I am not saying that I completely disagree with that and I know that this is the case for a great number of folks. But I would have to say that the way we view and treat sports, from little league up to professional levels, really only makes sports a positive for a very select few. I hope that I never have the type of "character" that does not allow me to congratulate someone for doing something better than I can. ESPECIALLY if I participate in the same activity.

Competition is a good thing and can teach people a lot about themselves and life. Sports are a great arena to teach this, but far too early it becomes solely about winning and not about having fun. What the competition in sports can teach us is that is the game is played the right way you can take pride and knowledge away from even a loss. And at the end of the day, it is just that, a game, and should be done because you enjoy it and for that reason alone. When we put the emphasis on winning at such an early age we create an environment where kids are self conscious about their athletic ability by the time they reach kindergarten. So unless you are one of the fortunate few that show great athleticism at an early age I could not imagine that you would grow up thinking that sports builds character much less keep you out of trouble.

As things are setup now, and reaffirmed through the commentary on a basketball star complimenting a competitor, athletics is breeding a society of egotistical bullies and alienating a much larger percentage of the population. "I'm just not that good at it," should never be a reason to not do a sport if you have fun doing it.

So there you have it. My take on athletics in America. I will still watch sports and I will still love playing them. I am sure that many of you have some thoughts on this and I would love to hear them. In the meantime, run friendly! -Tanner

The Much Delayed Update

2009-05-06T22:07:00.002-05:00

OK, I am officially tired of working on the flu! I meant to write earlier, but my work schedule made it hard. Plus I am lazy, so...

The Round-Up 10k was a tough race. I had run the course once before, but it was with a group and a slow pace, so my memory of it not being too hilly or tough was quickly proven inaccurate. My coach, Roger, paced my running buddy, Dave, and I are for the first part of the race. Roger had just ran the Boston Marathon that Monday, so his help was more than the normal act of kindness. What a trooper! We might have taken off a little too fast, but I know I would have never ran the race as fast without doing so. We ran the first 2 miles in under 13 minutes! Slowed up after that, but I still got my PR at 42:36! Dave too got his PR of 42:22. Not the course I expected it to happen on, but it was a rush.

I have had the opportunity to jump on Strawberry Shortcake, my bike, once and hit up the Veloway. It might be true that once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. However that saying says nothing to your ability to have confidence or even ride in a straight line. It was a scary and funny outing for sure, but I did have a blast. So once I get a new chain on her (little bit of a kink in it now) I will be out there more just trying to get comfortable again.

With that, and the ever increasing temperature, I think that it is safe to say that I am now moving forward with training for a triathlon. I have no idea what I am thinking in doing this, but I have a feeling it is going to be fun. :) Alrighty then, with that I am off to bed. Have a good one and remember to keep runnin' friendly! -T

PS Real pictures and better layouts coming. I promise.

Final Week

2009-04-21T14:18:00.002-05:00

That is my new bike. The photo isn't all that great, but she is red and white. I have decided to call her Strawberry Shortcake. Why even try to make her sound masculine?

So this is the final week before my big race. I honestly don't know if I am going to be able to improve any on Cap 10k time, but the training has been fun the past few weeks. Two Saturdays ago, my good running buddy, Dave, and I took off on an 8 mile run off of Lake Austin Blvd. There were a lot of people running along the streets over there and it was a great run, so I can see why. But one thing I did notice was that the vast majority of the runners out there waved! They actually acknowledged other runners. It was such a great thing! So, wherever you are, keep waving and say "Hi!".

That is really all I have for today. Tonight I am meeting Sara to get learned on the ways of riding a bicycle. I'll keep you all posted on how that whole saga unfolds. -T

What in the world am I thinking?!

2009-04-16T08:58:00.003-05:00

Lately I have been really struggling with where I should place my focus this summer. I love running without a doubt and am never in a bad mood while doing it. But golf was my first love and is still a huge passion of mine. So with my last planned race coming up in a week and a half I had started debating what sport I should really focus on. There is no way that I would give up one completely, but simply place more emphasis on one and do the other purely for fun.

I have pretty much decided to focus on the golf this summer, but a third idea has crept into my mind: triathlon. Now, I have never been a huge fan of bicycles. Not sure why, but I have tended to prefer running to biking. Apparently, this could present a bit of a problem when it comes to doing a triathlon. So I purchased an old road bike for really cheap and will spend the summer riding it around a little just trying to get familiar with a bike again. It is true; you never forget how to, but it certainly is a lot scarier than it was before.

Over the summer I am going to try to dedicate myself to golfing, getting in better physical shape, swimming, running, and will just get comfortable on a bike so that hopefully I can start actual training in the fall. Perhaps I should try to squeeze my job in there as well. :)

What about you? Any plans on changing the routine this summer? Let me know. In the meantime, I will see you all on the trail! -T

Capital 10K and Bunny Chasing

2009-04-07T12:12:00.002-05:00

Greetings one and all! Life has been fairly busy for me lately so I apologize for having not blogged anything in quite some time.

The Capital 10,000 was the last Sunday in March and a race that I had never ran before. It was pretty much as crazy and goofy as I had heard. Most of you will be surprised to learn that I passed up the offer of free Krispy Kreme doughnuts along the route. I had set a goal to beat 45 minutes in this race and am happy to report that I did! I finished at 43:54 which I was pretty impressed with. The entire week prior I had been in San Antonio and had only managed getting on an elliptical twice so I was a little worried I'd be stiff. But the weather was great and the crowds were awesome. Who doesn't love hearing the Rocky theme?

After the Cap 10 I have decided to really focus on the Texas Round Up at the end of April. So last night while I was running past the local ACC campus, I passed two folks chasing their pet rabbit around the parking lot. I am not entirely sure how this bunny came to escape from the truck or any of the back story but decided that asking questions would probably not bring me any answers I wanted to hear. I just new that I did not want to run back by the parking lot and see that the bunny had been hit by a car. So after about 10 minutes of unforeseen sprints, the charcoal grey bunny was captured and back with his owners. Roadkill avoided.

OK, I am writing this from one of the hallways in the Austin Convention Center as I am attending the National Hurricane Conference this week and I think I should probably start getting ready to go to my next session. Have fun and see you next time! -Tanner

Austin in the Spring

2009-03-19T08:53:00.002-05:00

Obviously I am getting a little excited about the warmer weather and the longer days. My running group met yesterday afternoon near downtown. As I was driving there, with the windows rolled down; I heard the sounds of bands playing for SXSW, watched the people running about downtown for work and the music and just basked in the sun. Sadly, I do not believe that I will be doing anything for SXSW, but it is fun to see the activity it brings to Austin each year. After the run, I was able to slip on my birkenstocks for the first time this year! There really is no point to this entry other than to say the weather is great right now! So go out and enjoy it. Feel free to share your stories. Peace, Tanner

Oh blessed day light saving time!

2009-03-17T16:06:00.002-05:00

We have had a week of longer days now. And from keeping my ear to the grapevine and the barrage of Facebook status updates I am guessing that not everyone is as stoked about this as I am. For me, I love that I can now go practice golf for an hour or so after work and still make it home with time to go for a good run. I know that some people are a little irked with having to drive to work in the dark; but I say it is a small price to pay. Besides, it will be light in the morning soon enough! Go out and soak up the sun!

Make love, not war.

2009-03-13T16:48:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of reasons why people do not live the healthiest of lifestyles. But once someone makes an attempt to change some of those habits there are just as many reasons why they may chose to abandon ship and go back to their old routine. The overall goal of this blog is to help eradicate one of those reasons:

RUNNERS AND HEALTH NUTS ARE JERKS! At least a good percentage of them are.

I think we all lose perspective once we go down one path or another. I love to run. And I run farther and faster than is necessary to stay in shape. I am training to race. Sometimes I will look at other people in a running group and ask myself, “Why aren’t they pushing themselves harder?” Then I have to remember that they probably do not have the same goals as me.

As I stated in an earlier post, I still crave the horrible fast food and other junk like that from time to time, but more often than not can talk myself out of it. Yet, I still find myself being judgmental of the people that don’t eat as healthy as me. “Do they know what they are doing to their bodies?” That is the same question people asked me when I was a smoker. And it annoyed me to no end then. Yes, I was well aware of what I was doing to my body.

Most of the readers of this blog are probably on the healthier side of things in terms of lifestyles, so I don’t feel as if I really need to offer an olive branch to motivate someone to be healthier. But I do feel I should make a challenge to you all to try and make the world of physical activity and berry munching to be a more accepting one. Say “hi!” to someone on the trail, offer help and be friendly in the weight room. And if you see someone be a jerk or an elitist, call them out on it. It is an intimidating world to enter, especially if you have never been to it before.

I realize that this probably comes of as a little too much of a hippie love fest thing, but I’m from Austin so I say it’s fine.

What are we going to do tonight, Brain?

2009-02-20T15:28:00.002-06:00

As I look out the window of my office today I can see that the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and that the wind is blowing a bit. Of course, all it does is remind me that I am stuck in my office for the next two hours or so. My leg seems to have healed enough that I can do a little running on it. Wednesday I ran with my group and was able to do the drills, though not at full speed, but was able to do them. It is really amazing how much of a relief it is to be able to run again.

As I am sure that you have noticed, true ideas of discussion have been limited here. It was my original goal to just have a blog to get people to start enjoying running more and spread the joy. (Yes, I know that was way too cheesy.) But, I think that the majority of us like it when someone throughout the course of the day takes the time to acknowledge us. Why not try to be that person for someone else?

And whereas I did not really want this to become another technical running blog, nor a political blog of any sorts, perhaps I could start sharing some routes and drills that I have found or been shown. It might venture slightly into the technical world, but hey, I am in need of material here! Also, please share any of your routes, drills or tips in the comments. Thanks!

Out of the Game...Temporarily

2009-02-14T15:31:00.005-06:00

Once I decided to make a much more concerted effort to stay on top of the blog game a bit more, it would only make sense that I get an injury and am taken off of the running path for a bit. Not entirely sure what is going on, my my IT band/hip are rather sore and my knee has decided that it wants admission to the pity party as well. If things do not start feeling better over the weekend I will probably start looking for professional opinions on the happenings.

The biggest problem that I find when I am unable to is my diet. I love to eat. And when I am running a lot I can get away with eating more and also tend to crave primarily healthy food. However, when reduced to a more sedentary life, my old culinary cravings surface. Namely anything served on a value menu or off of a rotisserie at the local 7-11. Am I alone in this or are there other active people out there that have similar issues? Perhaps it is that when I am moving about a lot I crave the foods that allow me to keep that energy level, but when I am down for the count, I crave those incredibly rich foods that leave you in a coma for several hours after eating them. Oh well. Love to hear your thoughts.

I'm a hypocrite!

2009-02-09T11:23:00.001-06:00

This post is primarily a confessional. Between work and life (read laziness) it has been quite sometime since my last entry. I will try to be a little better about this in the future as this is a blog that I am truly interested in cultivated and seeing grow; you know, t-shirts and groups. :)

One confession down, one to go. I must admit that I became one of the non-friendly, unwaving folks on the hike and bike trail a couple of weeks ago. I was down there to do a three mile time trial for a running class that I am in. During the three miles, I was so intent on posting the best time that I could that I merely responded to the other folks on the trail as objects to be navigated. Here is the part where I would normally give justifications for my failing to wave and be friendly, but no. I started this blog to try to get people to be different than that, and I completely failed to follow my own advice. So all I can do is promise to try to do better in the future.

OK, time to head outta here for now. Check back frequently as I promise to better on this. Cheers! -Tanner

PS I'll try to add some photos and other formatting stuff soon.

New Year's?

2009-01-12T16:58:00.001-06:00

Is it just New Year’s resolutions or what that has people out on the trail? On Saturday I made it around Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail and realized that there are a ton of people out there. At least there were a ton of people on the western end of the trail. (My more common east side was still fairly devoid of traffic.) This brought to mind several questions:

1) Is it really just the New Year’s rush out on the trail?
2) Why is the west side of the trail always so much more crowded than the east?
3) How do I go about maintaining the run friendly style on the super crowded west end?

In reality, I think I know the question to all of the questions above but would like to open them up to more discussion. Obviously question 2 is more of an Austin question, but the other two I feel are open for national, or even international, debate. So let’s hear it.

Howdy!

2009-01-09T09:47:00.000-06:00

Greetings to one and all and welcome to the maiden voyage of this blog. Being that this is the first entry I figure it would be best if I just tell you a little about me and why I am even doing this. My name is Tanner and am a 26 year old semi-avid runner. I grew up in the Hill County outside of Austin, and while driving out there, it is customary to wave at the other cars on the road. I would like to see a little more of that attitude in running. I understand and respect that running is a great escape; it allows you the chance to zone out and be completely alone in your thoughts as that is one of the things I enjoy most about it. At the same time, we are all out there doing the same activity, so we have something in common; why not try to make the world a little less big and formidable?

So, when you see me on the trail and I wave at you (more than likely just a lazy peace sign and a nod) do not take it as me hitting on you, but simply that I am saying, “Hi! Glad to see you out here”. We spend too much time focusing on the differences between each other. Burn that extra calorie to flash a peace sign and hey, maybe even flash a smile. :) See you out there!