One day, I’m not sure exactly when, someone came to our company and said they had discovered a new way of getting from Point A to Point B and wanted us to add a new road. We had some meetings and they showed us pictures of the scenery of this undiscovered route. We couldn’t believe it. Why had no one discovered it yet? Not only was it better scenery, this new road was going to be a shortcut, taking them to Point B faster than the old way. Maintaining the original road already kept us pretty busy but we were afraid someone else might discover the new route so we jumped on the idea and forged a new road from Point A to Point B. The new road proved challenging to build but eventually it was finished and the road opened to traffic on a quiet Monday morning. At first the person that had discovered the route had some misgivings and complained that it wasn’t exactly the route they envisioned. They had wanted a 2 lane road but we had built a 4 lane road to handle more traffic over time. However, pretty soon they found they loved using the new road and seeing the new scenery. But as time went on, we were surprised at how many people still preferred the old road. In fact, many people started to get upset that we had built the new road and not made other improvements to the old road. And while we tried to show the advantages of the new road, most people continued to follow the same route as before even though it took longer.

During this time it was starting to get difficult to maintain two roads. We were constantly having to go back and forth. Working on one road had kept us busy. Two roads were at times chaotic. Sometimes we wondered if we should have just focused on improving the original road. We wondered if providing more choices was a mistake. Then something happened I will never forget. I was out working on the road one morning, and a man in a very expensive car stopped and introduced himself. He told me he’d just starting going from Point A to Point B and had tried both our routes. In fact, he said both routes were pretty good but he’d driven on roads before that let drivers go up to 100 MPH. That was crazy I told him. We can’t let people drive that fast. We never intended cars to drive on our roads at those types of speeds. But then he said there are lots of drivers like him that would drive 100 MPH if we allowed it. Build another road, a toll road, from Point A to Point B just for people to go 100 MPH, he said. It will pay for itself and some, he promised. We thought it over for a bit and convinced ourselves that because we had already built two roads, we had the process of building roads down to a science. Another one couldn’t be any harder. And so we did it. We built another road, dedicated to the 100 MPH drivers to take them from Point A to Point B the fastest way possible.

At that point, we considered ourselves brilliant. We had built 3 different roads to get someone from Point A to Point B. You could go the original way or the scenic way or the quickest way possible. We had it covered. Or so I thought. Things moved pretty smoothly on the roads but they were also crazy times. Day and night, we were constantly running from Point A to Point B, jumping from the 3 different roads and taking care of all the problems so traffic would flow smoothly in the morning. We were exhausted and drained at the end of most days.

After we finished with the third road, we thought we had everything covered. But, in fact, it was just the opposite. Even though we thought having three choices would be all people needed, instead people started to realize that we built roads. You’d be amazed at how many people have a better idea or a new way of getting from Point A to Point B. It wasn’t long before every day someone had a new idea for a better way of getting from Point A to Point B. Some people wanted to go over the mountains. Some wanted to go right through the mountain. And others wanted to go around the mountain. Everybody had a good reason for why their route was better than anything we already had. And before we knew it, all we did was work on roads going to the same place instead of building new roads to new places. Last count, we now have 255 roads that go from Point A to Point B with hundreds of more proposed routes waiting for review. Every now and then, I remember the days of working on the original road, working towards a dream while the sun beat down on my back and the sweat streamed down my face. Forging that first new road through unknown territory brought so much excitement. Every now and then I find myself looking at the distant mountains and wondering what new places are waiting to be discovered.

In a rare moment, a smile will cross my face as Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoon comes to mind. It’s the one that shows an old man standing next to a couple in a car asking for directions with a crumbled up map with arrows going from Point B to Point A , “Geez folks, not sure. Most folks want to go the other way.” He says.

Boston Is Like No Other Marathon

For the past 7 years on the first weekend of December, I’ve run the California International Marathon, the last 5 years pacing either the 3:00 or 3:10 group. Let me put those 7 years in a little perspective. There are some fast friends running this race. Auburn local Brad Poore will be running to qualify for the Olympic Trials. He’s shooting for 2:19. And this race has some of the ultra running legends leading a few of the pace groups. Tim Twietmeyer has run all 28 of the California International Marathons, most as warm ups for another 50 mile run through the mountains later that same afternoon. Bill Finkbeiner also paces the marathon. Another ultra legend having completed 27 consecutive Leadville 100 trail runs. Seriously, some of these pacers have more 100 mile belt buckles than marathon medals. And all the pacers are top quality at CIM. No matter what pace group you are in, you are in good hands. None of them are going to carry you to the finish line, but they’ll maintain a steady pace and keep the miles rolling and take your mind off the watch.

This is one of my favorites as the course can be fast, the quality of runners is high and the start is only minutes from our house. My secrets to this race are like most marathons.

1. Little to light running the few days leading up to the marathon. Usually rest the legs Thursday or Friday. I usually do a 1 or 2 mile run on Saturday just to stretch the legs and shake out the cobwebs. No training you do these last few days is going to make you any faster on Sunday and you aren’t going to forget how to run by skipping a few days. So relax.
2. Get a solid night’s sleep on Friday night (the night before the night before the marathon). You’ll probably be somewhat restless the night before the marathon so take advantage of a solid night of sleep.
3. Get everything ready the night before the marathon: bib number pinned, shoes by the door, socks, watch charged, drop bag and some clothes to keep warm at the start. Nothing worse than frantically looking for something at 5 AM in the morning.
4. In the morning, arrive at the start with enough time to stretch, use a porta-potty and double knot tie your shoes.
5. Prepare the mind for the journey. The marathon is as much a mental journey as a physical one and at some point it’s going to hurt but let it come to you, don’t run after it.
6. When the gun goes off, let all the young hot shots pass you by and say “See ya later!” You’ll see most of them pulled over or limping along further down the road, usually the roadkill starts between mile 18 and 20. Make sure the 1st mile is your slowest. Start nice and easy. Relax and don’t end up as the roadkill.
7. Settle into a steady grove and enjoy the morning sun and the scenery and the running community. If you are running with a pace group, don’t get ahead of the group. It will probably feel too easy and that you should be running faster. No, that easy pace the first few miles is just the right pace. Nice and easy. Listen to the conversations but if you are trying for a PR, avoid spending too much time and energy talking it up. Remember, you are on a mission and only have so much energy. Conserve and ration and relax.
8. Hit the halfway point right on pace. For the 3:10 group, this means reaching Fair Oaks and Manzanita intersection after 1 hour and 35 minutes. Fuel up for the 2nd half with a CLIF SHOT or some other fuel source. And stay relaxed!
9. Focus on staying on pace from miles 14-22. These are the middle miles until the bridge. This is where the run comes to you and you begin to feel the pain of the marathon. The legs begin to burn. Welcome it. Embrace it. This is what you’ve trained for and you are now ready for the final miles. At this stage, this can almost turn into an out-of-body experience and you step outside yourself and keep reminding yourself how strong and solid you are running and that you just need to maintain the effort. Keep feeding yourself positive thoughts.
10. Once you cross the bridge and hit mile 22, if you feel great (like “Wow, I’ve never felt this fresh at this point before!”) then now is when you increase the effort. Not too fast but push ahead to the finish line. The finish line is just ahead, a few corners and you’ll hear it. Run all the way through the finish.

Finally, the marathon works best for me when broken into 3 smaller pieces:

1. Start to Halfway: “Wow, I can’t believe we already ran 13 miles!”
2. Halfway to Mile 20: Putting in the time. Stay consistent and positive.
3. The Final 10K. This is the reason you challenged yourself with the marathon. You’re telling the body to keep going. You’re finishing strong. Make it count.

The joy of this marathon for me is being a part of someone’s Boston Marathon qualifying journey. 3:10 is one of the standards of qualifying for the Boston Marathon and each year a few of the runners in the group hit their mark of qualifying for Boston. Crossing the finish line and seeing and hearing the excitement of someone who just qualified for the Boston Marathon is the best part of the morning.

Here are my splits pacing the 3:10 group at CIM for the years that I recorded my splits. In 2009, I had to make a quick bathroom stop at mile 16 which is why my splits are a little faster for the next 2 miles as I had to catch the group. It’s good to see mile 1 is almost always my slowest. Overall, the mile splits are pretty even and often with a few seconds of the 7:15 target pace for running at 3:10 marathon.

Here’s a Google Earth mashup of last year’s Garmin GPS CIM data:

How many of us would love to replace our GPS watch or cycling computer by just installing an app on our phone? There are already quite a few apps out there that do a similar job (RunKeeper, Adidas miCoach, My Tracks), but I like having access to the data through Garmin Connect, which is what Fit provides. I downloaded it and used it for a Sunday afternoon run. To perform some tests, I wore my Garmin 310 XT watch and used the app at the same time to compare the results. I was surprised to see the results were fairly close.

Garmin Fit Data Uploaded To Garmin Connect

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the results (310 XT on the left and Fit on the right). Fit shows .02 more miles, that’s only a 0.28% variation.

Comparing the Results Between the Garmin 310 XT and Garmin Fit App

Now what this app doesn’t provide on Android is heart rate data. I believe it is supported or will be supported on the iPhone. I’m sure it is just a matter of time as I’ve seen a few bluetooth heart rate monitors lately so that piece of the puzzle is coming. Also on the Android app, there is no virtual partner feature so if you like to train using the virtual partner you’re out of luck.

The main issue with the phone solution is how much easier glancing at a watch is compared to pulling out a phone looking at an app. Getting data mid run from a watch is a simple twist of the wrist but using a phone is a whole other matter. Usually the phone is strapped to an arm and the phone needs to be unlocked. So checking time/speed/distance while running using a phone is not an easy proposition. Some programs provide audible prompts and they work fairly well. I’ve experimented with the miCoach and hearing those splits called out from the phone can be a little discouraging on those easy runs.

So is it just a matter of time before the watch is obsolete? The smart phone seems to be replacing so many of our devices: point and shoot cameras, video cameras, GPS navigation devices, mp3 players and radios. Overall, the Fit app is an easy way to record runs/rides and keep your Garmin Connect data log current. I’ll continue using my watch for now, but when travelling or when the watch battery is drained, it’s good to have other options.

First Day At The Beach In San Juan, Puerto Rico

For the past couple months I’ve been on overdrive, working many 10 to 12 hour days. I was no longer accumulating vacation time because I’d maxed it out, but was unable to take it. Usually, sometime around midnight I would somehow find my way to bed, curl up exhausted, but the mind still reeling from the items waiting for the morning. Welcome to the American dream. The walls were closing in. It was time to step away. So we packed our suitcases and headed to Puerto Rico for a 7 day cruise through the Caribbean.

Day 1 thru 3: Puerto Rico

Before we left, Nicole checked the weather and the entire week predicted rain, but getting away was still going to be a treat. We took the redeye from SFO and made it into San Juan with enough time to enjoy an afternoon at the beach. Our hotel was next to the airport and right across the street from the beach and the water was that warm and almost glowing water along soft powder sand beaches that I think only the Caribbean has. We spent our first afternoon just playing in the water and having a good time together. Pretty soon the clouds started to roll in and it wasn’t too long before we enjoyed a good old-fashioned thunderstorm.

The next day we took our rental car and drove over to the El Yunque Rain Forest. This kept Dylan entertained as we told him to keep a lookout for Diego (Dylan’s favorite cartoon explorer and friend of Dora). Since Diego lives in the rain forest, we kept telling Dylan we might spot Diego rescuing an animal. We were planning to take a ferry over to the island of Culebra for the afternoon but we didn’t plan it too well. Arriving at the ferry, we learned we would have had to catch the 9 AM ferry, the one that left a few hours earlier, to get back the same day. So instead we found Seven Seas Beach, only a short drive from Fajardo, and hung out and then decided to take a night kayaking trip to Bio Bay. As we kayaked under the stars, the water filled with bioluminescent organisms and glowed underneath us. The kayaking trip was one of the highlights of the trip.

Paddling Out For A Night Kayaking Trip To Bio Bay

For our last day in Puerto Rico, before boarding the cruise ship, we took the rental car the other direction on the island and went to the Camuy Caverns. This turned into another pleasant surprise as we were amazed at the size and different climate near the floor of the cavern. Lots of bats stuck to the top and some of the rock formations gave a silhouette human figure off in the shadows. We explored the caverns for about an hour before heading back to San Juan to visit the old fort near old town and then catch our cruise ship.

Rio Camuy Cave Park

I needed to drop the rental car back at the airport and so decided it was be perfect to work in a little 8 mile run back to the cruise ship from the airport. Normally, 8 miles would have been a breeze but the humidity of Puerto Rico on a Sunday afternoon brought me to a stop after only 6 miles. The air felt so heavy and had sucked the energy out of me that I was begging a few of the local gas stations to accept, please accept, my American Express Card. “Go ahead and charge me $10, make it $20 for that Coke. Just let me buy it before I pass out!” I finally made it to the ship and our room.

For all our previous cruises, our room was deep in the bowels of the ship. We would always have the smallest inside room with no window, not even a port-hole. But we had found such a good deal on this cruise and it included a balcony ($700 for each of us plus airfare). Let me not downplay the difference a balcony made. We don’t spend very much time in the room but being able to enjoy the views from our own room made the mornings a little extra special.

Day 4: St. Thomas and St. John

The first port of call was St. Thomas. For us, one of the exciting parts of taking a cruise is being in a new place every day and getting off the boat on our own, making the day an adventure by finding something interesting to do and see. So we decided to take the ferry from St. Thomas over to St. John and spent the day at Trunk Bay, one of the best beaches in the world. We took an open air taxi with Lisa, Cameron and Brenda to the ferry and then it was a short and relaxing 30 minute ferry ride over to St. John. This had to have been one of the most relaxing days of just hanging out on the beach and playing in the crystal clear water. The snorkeling was fantastic, not a lot of reefs, but there were enough fish (and some squid and rumors of sting rays) to keep us occupied for a few hours.

Dylan Jumping Right In At Trunk Bay, St. John.

Day 5: Day At Sea

From Dylan’s point of view, one of the best parts of the ship was not the food, not the service, not having someone clean your room twice a day, but having a giant water slide on the ship.

We stopped counting the number of times he went down the slide after 21 times. The day ended with the movie, Rango, on a giant screen on the deck of the ship, under the stars, while we sailed towards Barbados. Life was, you can say, pretty relaxing. And one of the experiences of the cruise is after a long and exhausting day playing, sitting down to a delicious 4 course meal. It was during these evening dinners that Dylan tried all types of new foods: shark, frog legs, clams, scallops. One night Lisa and Steve hung out with Dylan while Nicole and I had an alligator and lobster dinner all to ourselves.

Day 6: Barbados

This stop turned into another highlight of the cruise. In Barbados, we walked off the ship and walked to the bus depot no more than a mile away and paid $2 for all of us to take the bus out-of-town to one of the beaches. At the beach, we started noticing a couple large boats anchoring off shore about 100 yards and then dozens of snorkelers would jump in the water. We heard this was a good spot to see sea turtles. So Dylan and I swam out and sure enough, we swam with some pretty good size sea turtles. The water was about 50 – 60 feet deep and clear enough to see all the way down. I was really proud to see Dylan take to the ocean right away and have no fear of the fish swimming around us or the deep water or being a good distance from shore.

Day 7: St. Lucia

The 3rd port of call just kept getting better. On St. Lucia we found a tour with about 15 other people that left near the port and would take us near the Pitons and up to the sulfur springs at Soufriere and finally we would have a couple of hours at one of the black sand beaches. The tour started on a small fishing boat that took us along the cliffs. Unlike some of the other islands, St. Lucia didn’t seem to have a lot of open beaches. The coast was more rugged but the bright blue water against the rocky cliffs made for a picturesque trip along the coast. The sulphur springs are supposed to heal just about every ailment. And to the touch, the black water would nearly scald the skin. In fact, the locals make hardboiled eggs by just wrapping them in cloth and dipping them in the water. It is that hot. After about 1 minute, I was cooked.

Dipping Into The Black Volcano Water On St. Lucia

After the bath, it was time to shower off under the Toraille Waterfall down the road.

The Toraille Waterfall in St. Lucia

For our last stop in St. Lucia, we boarded the fishing boat and found a beautiful black sand beach and spent the afternoon just snorkeling and building sand castles. The colorful fish and reefs looked spectacular against a black sand backdrop.

Day 8: St. Kitts

Had we not already been to some of the other islands, St. Kitts would have been a fantastic vacation spot. But after visiting some of the other islands, St. Kitts seemed to have the fewest beaches and the water wasn’t the best for snorkeling. Even so, we still had a terrific time. With no plans, we walked off the boat and took a taxi to the tip of the island to Cockleshell Bay where off in the distance, we could see the Caribbean flowing into the Atlantic. We spent the entire day either in the water, under a tree or searching the beach for shells. Dylan snorkeled for hours, his head under water as he looked for fish and seashells. By the time we made it back to the ship, there was still enough time for me to take a run through the streets of Basseterre. Running around town gave a different view of life on the tropical islands. Narrow and crowded alley streets with boarded windows and doors covering up tiny homes and shops.

Sitting On A Dock In St. Kitts

Also in St. Kitts, some water found its way into my Sony TX5 waterproof camera, killing it. Typical, about a month after the warranty expires, the device magically starts to develop problems.

Day 9: St Maarten

Our last stop is one we had been to before, almost 10 years ago, with my parents and Nicole’s parents. Besides a trip to Disneyland with my parents when I was 4 years old, it was the one and only vacation I can remember ever taking with my parents. That day in St. Maarten almost 10 years ago provided such good memories: hanging out on the beach and watching my dad burn himself to the color of a lobster as he fell asleep floating on his back. We all had some good laughs that night at dinner as he kept saying he thought it would turn into a nice tan.

This time around, we took a small water taxi with Steve, Lisa, Cameron and Brenda up the coast near the airport. St. Maarten is the only place in the world where you can stand at the end of the runway and feel the jet blasts of a 747. After watching a couple smaller planes land and one larger passenger jet, we stopped at the Tiki Hut for some snorkeling. At the Tiki Hut, we snorkeled above a snuba course. Snuba is this odd-looking activity where people wear a helmet that feeds them air and they walk along the bottom of the ocean. It was like watching people in space, except underwater. Our little boat then motored towards the beach and we enjoyed our final afternoon playing in the waves and watching the thunderclouds roll in.

Enjoying The Last Day In St. Maarten

All in all, I think this was our best family vacation to date. We had a fantastic time together and were able to share the vacation with some friends.

Flying Over Desolation Wilderness

I find travelling tends to be the time when technology and gadgets shine and also when they create the most headaches. Take even the fact of writing this blog post. My laptop is too big to pull out of the bag during this flight so I tried using my smartphone to write a post. But the Android WordPress app doesn’t cache any posts. This means without an internet connection during the flight my phone has no access to WordPress. This left me with my final out: the iPad, where I can compose in the WordPress app while offline. So although it would have been an interesting experiment in blogging on my G2x smartphone, it just wasn’t going to be easy.

The process of making it on the plane can be a challenge. How I long for the days when technology actually simplifies life. Emptying my backpack through security reveals this love/hate relationship. Laptop. Tablet. Phone. GPS watch. And that’s only the first grey bin. I enjoy the iPad but I find it a consuming device that lacks most of the production tools that I need. Steve Jobs called the PC the truck, but a lot of people want smaller, more efficient vehicles. But I still need a truck. So I’m very interested in Windows 8 on a tablet that was shown at the Build conference a couple weeks ago.

Even though I haven’t posted the past two months, a lot has been going on. For one, work has been consuming most of my time and energy. The work demands have always been constant but I don’t remember being this busy in a long time. Definitely positive but by the end of the day I’m pretty much exhausted. And Nicole has been keeping busy with her photography. The past few weekends we’ve been on the road for photo shoots and weddings. Her pictures are amazing yet they continue to get better.

Last month we had a fun time celebrating Nicole’s birthday rafting down the Truckee River. As one of her presents this year, I took Dylan to the Dollar Store for a little fun. I gave him $5 so he could buy mom 5 presents, “things you think mommy would like.” The shopping took a while and we had some fun but the best part was Nicole opening them: Dora the Explorer towelletes, a gardening shovel, Whoppers and pink and purple “girl” socks.

A few Saturdays ago, while Dylan and I were hanging out in Santa Rosa, I wanted to go for a run in Annadel and take Dylan with me. We parked at Howarth Park and he rode his bike up Canyon, almost to the Lawndale trail, and that’s about where we turned around. I never imagined that my 3 year old son would be hitting the trails with me on his little bike but man was I a happy father in the park that Saturday. And he keeps pedalling a little farther each week. Ever since he was born, I would usually take him once a week with me on a run and push him in a jogging stroller. I always thought I would keep at it, every day lifting him in the stroller over a little gate on our route. And every few weeks, after he gained another pound or two, it would be like the story of the Milo of Croton who every day lifted a calf, day after day, while the calf grew so did the man’s strength, until one day the calf had grown into a bull and the man could still lift the bull. But now our boy is over 50 pounds and wants to ride his bike instead of being pushed in the jogging stroller. So last week was the first time we did a route close to our normal weekly route while he rode his bicycle and I ran. I think we averaged close to a 9 minute mile pace for 6 miles.

Dylan comming down Canyon in Annadel

As summer has come to an end, I’m looking forward to the fall weather and not having to worry about the rattlesnakes on the trail. This year I’ve seen more than any other year. I’m starting to take pictures of all the wildlife I run into. Last week I tried taking a time lapse of running up in Tahoe. I’ll do this again after ironing out some of the issues.

Well, the pilot has announced that we are making our final approach. This has been a decent flight. I learned a little and did a bit of writing. And luckily I didn’t have my laptop on my lap with the 15″ screen open when the guy in front of me decided to recline his seat. Now let me cross my fingers as I hit the Update button…

Summer Fun: Tubing on Clear Lake. At least one of us is having fun.

Has this ever happened to you? The other day I was in the middle of a conversation and instead of saying the word house, the word horse came out. I knew I wanted to say house and meant to say house, but missed it by one letter. It was the oddest moment. I could visualize the word and picture my brain picking the word from the file cabinet in my brain, but as the word was being delivered I could see it was the wrong word and, like watching it unfold in slow motion, couldn’t stop the wrong word from coming out. Why did I just say horse? I meant to say house. Yes, of course I know the difference between house and horse! Like having a bad sector on your computer’s hard drive, it’s like my memory hit a bad spot that needs to be reindex. I’m also looking at replacing the whole thing with one of those new SSD drives for even faster access.

I started the week and told myself it was time to be the squeaky wheel and receive a couple drops of oil as far as the medical situation goes. The medical professional is like a lot of others in that sometimes problems can be obscure and doctors are humans too. The source of the pain might not be clearly evident and a doctor may arrive at a diagnosis, not with 100% certainty, but because the diagnosis is likely the cause. So I was pleasantly surprised when I went to see the surgeon about the hernia and heard him say he doesn’t think I should have surgery. In fact, he’s not sure I haven’t had a hernia for years and never even knew about it. Since he doesn’t believe it’s the cause of the abdominal pain and tightness, I’m going to give it a couple more weeks to see if things continue to improve.

I seldom strap on a heart rate monitor but I put it on for a run the other evening. I’d been on the phone since 11 AM and had just gotten off a 4 hour conference call and decided to head out for a 1 hour run. For the first time in weeks, I am starting to feel the body improving. Not back to normal but it feels like things are on the mend. So when I was 10 minutes into my run and I was gasping for air, I looked down at my watch thinking I must be clocking the first couple miles under 7:00/min pace. My Garmin gave me the bad news and told me we were barely pushing a 7:30 pace and my heart rate was over 150. Wow! I’m having to start training all over again. I finished the 7 miles at 7:29/min pace (151 BPM or 82% MAX).

Overlook and Courthouse - Average Heart Rate 151 BPM - Pace 7:29

Now this is a good 10 BPM higher than my average even though I’m moving at slower pace. So my heart is working harder and I’m going slower? This shows I’m not back to normal yet and probably on the tail end of a couple different issues. Here’s my heart rate when I’m feeling normal on the same route at about 6:55/min pace (138 BPM or 75% MAX):

Overlook and Courthouse - Average Heart Rate 138 - Pace 6:54

This is a more normal range at 7/min pace and I would expect an average of 140 BPM at the 7:30/min pace. The good thing about both graphs is the upward trend towards the end. It’s always good to see the effort increase. The heart rate monitor is a good indicator if other factors might be contributing to a sluggish workout or fatigue. Running at 82% of MAX is quite a bit more effort than running at 75% of MAX. These are the days it’s interesting to look at the data. The data shows the effort is there, it’s the speed that needs work.

Nicole and I took a few nights to watch the movie Benjamin Button, but we finally made it through. A moving story on a few different levels (being there at the end and saying goodbye to a parent, the gift of life, the cycle of life, the joy of life, absent fathers, discovery and adventure and love). It’s a movie better than the book (the movie is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald). Some great observations are made by Benjamin Button as he travels through life and I’m going to end here with my favorite quote found in a postcard Benjamin writes to his daughter:

For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

Morning MTB Ride With My Son

Turning 40 seemed like no big deal, still have 10 more years to 50 and still have a wife and lot of friends basking in their 30′s. I’m not sure what happened but some hidden switch in my body flipped and things started coming undone when I hit 40, parts suddenly stopped working, the wheels began to wobble and my “check engine” light comes on about once a month. I’m seeing and talking to my doctor more than I talk to my best friends. The latest is I’ve been diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. I’ve been dealing with some sharp abdominal pain on the left side, mainly when running, but it was also painful getting out of bed or trying to do a leg lift. After a couple of weeks it got to the point that I stopped running and went to the doctor. His first thought was a hernia but he couldn’t feel anything substantial so he thought maybe a muscle pull or tear. He ordered an ultrasound. If the ultrasound came back negative that should rule out the hernia. Well the ultrasound revealed a small inguinal hernia where some fat tissue is poking through the abdominal muscle. I stopped running for almost 2 weeks but then he said running probably isn’t causing any additional damage (actually said he was surprised this type and size of the hernia was amounting to so much pain). Next week I am seeing a surgeon and will discuss options. I’ve done some running the past few days and it seems to be feeling better but it’s hard to gauge. When I was 4 years old, I had a groin hernia and had to have it surgically repaired. At 4 years old, staying in the hospital overnight was the ultimate instigator for many weeks of nightmares. The guy in the bed next to mine had his entire head wrapped with white gauze and had only breathing tubes peeking out of two holes where his nose would be. I’m sure he would have rather been in any other place and in a much better situation, but given what it was, he was the perfect stand-in for my version of a mummy. I’m not sure I slept more than a few minutes the first night in the hospital. I’m trying to avoid another hernia surgery.

I’ve been spending more time on the bike the past couple weeks. Last week I think I spent at least 1 hour on the bike for 6 out of the 7 days. Often substituting a 1 hour ride for a 1 hour run. But I miss the simplicity and therapy running provides. And like the hard-headed runner most of us are, I think I can run right through a problem. Hopefully, I’ll get a definitive diagnosis and be back to normal pretty soon. And in the meantime, I’ve enjoyed riding bikes with Dylan and exploring some of the mountain trails in Tahoe with him this past weekend. During the week, if Nicole has a photo shoot in the evening, we’ll ride our bikes downtown. Pretty remarkable to see your own 3 year old son ride his bike more than 3 miles.

This weekend Tahoe Rim 50 Mile race is out of the question. I might be able to drag through it but given my condition right now and lack of almost any good running the past month, it would not be a positive experience for me. I did one of my favorite 11 mile loops in Tahoe on Sunday and then again on Monday. On Monday I felt OK but was still a good 20 seconds slower per mile than my usual time. I’ve come to the realization that I’m trying to run but I’m not running close to my normal range. I’ve reached the point where I’ve taken my hands off the steering wheel and my foot off the gas pedal and will just have to see where the car goes. There’s the good pain you feel, muscles tight, things hurt but you know you are sharpening yourself. And then there’s the bad pain you don’t want to admit you feel, the something-isn’t-right pain. I’m trying to get back to that good pain.

Crossing Alder Creek

One of the things I enjoy while on some of my runs is listening to a good audio book. A good book can turn a routine run on the trails into a captivating story where I’m so involved in the book that I might fail to notice 15 minutes just passed. I recently finished listening Chris McCormack’s book “I’m Here To Win: A World Champion’s Advice For Peak Performance” and have to recommend it for my athlete friends. There are a number of nuggets in the book but the insights into Macca’s mind and approach to training and racing are invaluable blocks of data. I’ve often thought how interesting it would be to be inside the mind of one of the top athletes during a race and to hear what they feed their mind. Macca gives us this in his book and takes the reader through his training and inside his thoughts during some of his biggest races.

Again, there are some great lessons in the book, but one that I really enjoyed is having “folders” in your brain that you prepare, or put together, during your training. After a solid training run in some heat, you might store some key pieces of data from the training in your “Running In The Heat” folder so during a race that is hot, you can pull that folder out and recall that you trained exactly for this situation. He really goes into the mind games that he plays, not only with his competition, but also with himself during the darkest moments during a race, the times his body is yelling at him to stop. What’s obvious in the book is that even the top athletes have moments in the race when they want to stop and end the pain, but Macca clearly shows the advantages of staying positive and feeding your mind positive vibes during the race. Instead of fearing those suffering moments, welcome them like an old friend.

Another key piece of advice for endurance racing is that you cannot treat your body like a car in regards to fuel. With a car you can run it almost to empty while racing then fill it back up and the car will perform just fine. A car doesn’t perform at 50% with only 50% of fuel in the tank. But when we let our bodies run almost to empty during a race and then try to fill it back up as the needle starts to reach the E, our performance is going to suffer. We need to try to keep topping off our fuel tank during the race and then as the finish line gets closer, we can slow or stop the fueling process, finishing almost on empty. If you haven’t read it, even if you aren’t a fan of Macca, it’s worth reading.

The other book that I’m actually reading right now, since it is not an audible book, is “Dreaming in Code” by Scott Rosenberg. This is more about the process and madness of developing and delivering software and not a book about coding software. I keep coming across truisms in the book where I find myself saying “Exactly!” I’ve always thought I’ve yet to discover some secret in the software world that other developers have discovered so I could spend more time coding and less time debugging. A part I could easily relate to early in the book is when he talks about a computer pioneer having an epiphany in 1949 (yes in 1949):

In his memoirs, computing pioneer Maurice Wilkes wrote of the moment in 1949 when, hauling punch cards up the stairs to a primitive computer called EDSAC in Cambridge, England, he saw the future: “The realization came over me with full force that a good part of the remainder of my life was going to be spent in finding errors in my own programs.”

I think almost anyone who has written software used by other people can relate to having that realization. Another favorite line in the book which is actually taken from another book “The Mythical Man-Month” by Frederick Brooks:

“The bearing of a child takes nine months,” he wrote, “no matter how many women are assigned.”

Does that sound familiar? Well, Brooks came up with his own law and it should be one that every project manager should remember:

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

The last thing a developer wants to do is at the 11th hour bring some new resource up to speed and worry about someone else’s code injecting new and unknown bugs into a known commodity. There are so many of these truisms throughout the book, things we know to be true because we have experienced them, yet we keep coding in the hope that we will finally come face-to-face with and fix the sole remaining bug before the final build is packaged, sealed and shipped.

And finally, a quick update on my lost phone. I mentioned in my last post that I had lost my phone, probably dropping it on the side of a mountain in Squaw Valley. Well the next night a little after midnight, I couldn’t sleep and kept berating myself for losing another phone. Suddenly, I shot up and said “Google! Google can tell me where it is!” Of course, why hadn’t I thought about it before? As a user of Google and Google Latitudes, my phone constantly tracks and reports its location. I should be able just to log into my Google Dashboard and see the last place the phone reported its location. And that’s what I did. Presto, there was a complete history of the phone’s whereabouts up until its battery finally gave out. The phone had been sitting at the Western States Finish Line all Saturday afternoon. I emailed the race director and got a reply the next morning that indeed a phone had been turned in. Thank goodness for Big Brother!

Location Latitude's History from Google Dashboard

Best of luck to those climbing the mountains at the Tahoe Rim this weekend and those racing through the wine country at the Vineman 70.3. I’m afraid I’ll be taking it easy again this weekend while many friends are out there racing. Remember to keep topping your fuel tank during your race. Like an old friend, embrace the good pain and the suffering.

Kilian Jornet and his pacer, Simon Mtuy, around mile 94

Wrapping up a very busy weekend here trying to keep tabs on 3 races: Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, Ironman Coeur d’ Alene and RAAM (Race Across America) – all without my phone. Another very close finish at Western States this year, even with defending champion Geoff Roes dropping at mile 55. With so many fast runners at the top, there was a lot of hype and anticipation leading up to the race this year. Would Geoff continue his undefeated ultra streak and defend the top spot? Would Kilian break through and showcase his speed and endurance in the United States? Would Hal make a return to the top after some impressive times at other 2011 races? Or would Dave Mackey push the speed for all 100 miles and be the first to arrive in Auburn? And you can’t count out Nick Clark, 4th place last year and only steps behind Julian, or a handful of other very fast ultra runners that might make a sustained surge.

My plan was similar to last year and run part of backcountry again and get some shots of the lead runners in the high country but since Duncan Canyon was closed for traffic and the Robinson Flat aid station closed due to snow, I wasn’t able to cover any of the first 30 miles, except the start at Squaw. Star Blackford flew out to pace Western States runner Stephen Zeidner and stayed with us Friday night. But her flight was delayed and she didn’t even land in Sacramento until midnight with the race starting in 5 hours. We made it to Tahoe around 2:30 AM, took about an hour and half nap and then drove over to Squaw for the 5 AM start.

The lead pack heading up Squaw Valley at Mile 1

California had record levels of snow this year and even late in June, runners were warned that they would be running many of the first 15 miles on snow, twice as much snow the runners encountered in 2010. At 5 AM in the morning, the snow was more like hard ice and if you have ever tried running on ice at an incline (going up the side of 9,000′ mountain) on rubber soled running shoes, it can be a little treacherous. And although it slowed many down, the lead runners didn’t seem to be affected by the conditions.

After heading back for a little nap before driving on to Michigan Bluff, I realized I didn’t have my cell phone. Panicking, I triple checked the car, backpacks and the cabin but no luck. It must have fallen out of my pocket on the side of the mountain in Squaw. We drove back to Squaw and I retraced my steps. But no luck. Somewhere out there, my trusty little phone must be laying in the snow, its battery dwindling, waiting for me to find it.

Then it was the 1 hour and 45 minute drive from Squaw to Michigan Bluff, trying to catch the leaders. Michigan Bluff is mile 55 in the race and this year it was the first aid station where you could see the runners. Normally, there is crew access around mile 30, but this year crews had to wait 55 miles before seeing their runner for the first time. Kilian came through around 1:20 PM in 1st place, powering out of the canyons. This after losing 15 minutes in the snow after he and a few other top runners took a wrong turn. He arrived looking relatively fresh but had several runners just a few minutes behind him. Mike Wolfe, Nick Clark, Tim Olson, Hal Koerner and Dave Mackey all came running up behind Kilian, all within 5 to 15 minutes. After 20 minutes, there was no sign of defending champion Geoff Roes, and we would later learn he would drop at Michigan Bluff, eventually arriving 56 minutes after Kilian.

A little note here. If you read Geoff’s blog, Fumbling Towards Endurance, it sounds like he went into the race not having the hunger to repeat. Six days before the race he wrote,

“I imagine that I will eventually get to the point of not craving this kind of running anymore, or at least much less often than the once a month that I do now.

But then he went on to say he’s

focused and ready as anyone to scratch and claw to compete at my highest potential on that given day. I’m just not willing to compromise my enjoyment and nourishment from my running on the other 29 days of the month. I did that for a couple years in the past and there’s just no comparison in terms of the nourishment that I get out of it. Training with a specific focus and purpose of trying to be as fast as possible on a given day at some point in the future feels so shallow and silly to me when compared to simply going out and doing the run that feels the most logical, enjoyable, and appealing on each given day..” I’m not sure if he was mentally preparing himself for having a bad day. Believe me I can relate to reaching the point/age where you just want to run for the enjoyment

I can certainly relate to wanting just to go for a run to enjoy the run. I suspect we might all reach an age or point in our lives where priorities change and what you wanted last year is not the same thing as what you want this year. It’s probably a healthy evolution of wanting to experience new and different things. But at 23, Kilian still needs to feed that hunger.

Kilian Jornet coming into Michigan Bluff

From Michigan Bluff, the top runners can cover the distance to Foresthill (mile 62), in about 1 hour. Kilian came through again in 1st but with Jez Bragg right on his heels. Nick, Hal and Mike were only minutes behind. With 8 runners coming into Foresthill all within 15 minutes of each other meant that at mile 62, we had a good race to the finish.

Mike Wolfe coming into Foresthill (mile 62) with his game face

We left Star at Foresthill awaiting the start of her pacing duties later in the day. We drove back to Auburn so Dylan could take a little nap and I unsuccesfully tried to catch the leaders at Rucky Chucky. Nicole, Dylan and I then drove over to Cool and a little before 8 PM, Kilian came running through the Cool meadows with his pacer, Simon Mtuy, and a Salomon camera guy running in front recording the run. The sun was just starting to set and everything was quiet and the 3 of them pushed through the fields on towards No Hands Bridge. Kilian looked behind him a few times for the sight of another runner.

Kilian Jornet heading passing through the Cool meadows

This section of the course opens up so you can see for a couple hundred yards, unlike most of the other course where it is single track snaking through the mountains. But there was no sight of anyone for a few hundred yards.

It’s only a few miles down to No Hands Bridge and Kilian came through still in 1st but Mike Wolfe was only a couple of minutes behind. While Kilian seemed to stop for a few seconds at No Hands Bridge aid station, Mike Wolfe didn’t stop for a second and had no pacer. He raced across the bridge and knew Kilian was just up ahead.

Mike Wolfe crossing No Hands Bridge, trying to run down Kilian Jornet

In just over 20 minutes, Kilian emerged from the last climb up Robie in 1st place. (A couple hours later, the lead women would run into a bear climbing out of the canyon to Robie Point.) I captured his last mile on video and even at mile 99, we wasn’t even breathing that hard, was running close to a 7 minute pace and looked fresher than many of us after running a marathon. He crossed the finish in 15 hours and 34 minutes, gave Geoff Roes a high-five just before entering the stadium and told me he wasn’t sure if he was going to be back next year.

A big congrats to the runners, pacers and volunteers out there on the course. Well done to Carrie Hyatt who finished and can now sport that WS 100 belt buckle around town. Also, well done out there in the Ironman world to buddies: Bob Shebest, Kevin Buchholz and Layne Scoggins. Looks like Bob’s time of 9 hours and 43 minutes may have earned him another trip to Kona!

The Race Is On Auburn

A last minute visit to the doctor is forcing me to pull out of Sunday’s Auburn Triathlon. Once in a while, life throws up a speed bump and it’s probably a good idea to take notice and apply the brakes. The past few days I’ve had a quick, almost stabbing but noticeably hot sensation right near my heart when out on a run. It lasts barely a second but is unmistakable and I’ve felt it 2 or 3 times each evening when running the past few days, but only when running. Today I finally called the doctor and he performed an EKG which reported an abnormality on the V3 (graph should point up but instead points down). Could be nothing, but after consulting another cardiologist and the recurring pain/heat sensation, he wants to do some stress tests before anymore running. With any luck it will be a case of something like heartburn without the normal symptoms. So Sunday’s triathlon is out but we will have a good time watching and cheering those on the course.

The last couple weeks I’ve been listening to the book “Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper” by Howard Wasdin. It’s one of the books where I can’t wait to put on the headphones for an hour after work and head outside to hear more. No matter how tired I feel, listening to Howard Wasdin’s tale keeps me going on the trail. The other book I’ve been enjoying recently is “In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives” by Steven Levy. I’ve got quite a few more books queued up in the Audible list so looking forward to hitting the trail soon or going for a nice Sunday afternoon bike ride.

Speaking of bike riding, the Amgen Tour of California started this past week. The California winter has hung around much longer this year and on Sunday snow cancelled Stage 1 and forced Stage 2 to start in Nevada City instead of Squaw Valley. We had driven up to Northstar to watch the finish of Stage 1, but with snow falling and temperatures in the upper 20′s, race officials first delayed the start from 10 AM to 1 PM, then at 1 PM they cancelled the entire Stage 1. I took the day off work on Monday to watch the Stage 2 (2nd day off this year and possible correlation to prescribed stress test on Monday), but with the roads still covered in snow and ice at the higher elevations, around 7 AM on Monday race officials made another change and moved the start of Stage 2 from Squaw Valley to Nevada City. So we packed up and drove over to Nevada City along Highway 20. The drive was beautiful. It would have made for some fantastic pictures with all the bright colors of the peloton screaming down the Sierra Nevadas with the backdrop of white fresh powder, giant pine trees and rocky cliffs. But it was not to be.

Highway 20 On The Way To Nevada City

Every now and then, you either have to go big or go home, and this year Auburn decided to go big and host the start of the Amgen Tour of California Stage 3. The entire town was out to show their support. And although the skies threatened rain, the rain held off until the riders made two complete laps through downtown Auburn then Auburn bid adieu to the racers and the riders rode right past our house and into the wind and towards Modesto. Congrats to the local bike stores, Bike Emporium and Victory Velo, for advocating, organizing and supporting having Auburn host Stage 3. I think the only thing better would be to have a Stage finish in Auburn with a few last laps sprinting through town.

Final Lap Through Downtown Auburn

One of the interesting people we met at the Amgen start in Nevada City was Bill from Denver, Colorado supporting the Jelly Belly team. Bill and his wife drive the Jelly Belly RV 4 months of the year. They drive all over the country handing out Jelly Belly snacks. It is remarkable to see the number of people it takes to support a team of riders and you begin to realize all the little stories that are woven, but never told, into the big story. Not sure of the Jelly Belly RV’s calendar in late June, but wouldn’t this be the ultimate RAAM RV?

Bill and His Wife Drive The Jelly Belly RV

Incredible Vistas During The Morning Team Run

Had the Big Sur Marathon on Sunday and again, for the second year in a row, we could not have ordered better weather.

The actual marathon was a modified course since a portion of Highway 1 had been washed away a few weeks ago. Instead of a point-to-point from Big Sur State Park to Carmel along Highway 1, this year the course was an out-and-back, starting and finishing in Carmel. And although the rumor was the course was more difficult this year, I had many runners hang with the 3:30 group into the mile 20. Last year, I really had only a few stick with me after mile 20.

When gathering at the starting line and looking around at the faces running with the 3:30 pace group, it’s hard to determine which ones will be around at the final miles. The lean, fit and chatty triathlete may look promising, but somehow fades in the middle miles. On the other hand, the short, stocky, fullback-looking, salt-stained runner struggling on my left somehow hangs on mile after mile. It’s hard to know which ones not only have the physical strength, but also the mental strength, to push through those final miles. I always enjoy talking with some of the runners but have to remind myself not to wear someone out over a conversation that may run over an hour with the same runner. Usually at the start I give a disclaimer when pacing a 3:10 or 3:20 group that I will keep my chatter to a minimum. And the one piece of advice I always give right before the starting gun goes off is that this race is as much mental as physical and they need to stay mentally strong and mentally positive. The term is self-efficacy: believing in yourself, believing that you can accomplish your goal, believing that you are going to succeed. And when you know you can accomplish your goal then you’ll likely persist through the temporary pain. Whereas the minute you are battling doubts and your mental state goes negative (“I feel awful”, “My legs hurt” or whatever the excuse), you’ve opened the emergency exit door, an escape clause for not succeeding. And once that door opens even a crack, it is almost impossible to get it closed again. You have to believe that it is possible to accomplish your goal.

The 3:30 Train Around Mile 7

One of the guys running with my group was James McGaugh and he had told me he once weighed 330 pounds. I looked over at him and honestly said, “No way!” He looked about half that weight now. He also said he averages about 4 hours sleep a night and I think he said he was the trainer for the Cal Berkeley football team. He kept cruising along with the group mile after mile but somewhere around mile 20, he started to trail and I eventually lost sight of him.

One of Phil Hann’s favorite lines is “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Whether it’s finishing a marathon, qualifying for Boston, running a 50K or 100 mile race, at some point it’s going to feel hard, maybe impossible. But you have to break it down, “one bite at a time”. You could see this at Big Sur. At mile 20, the pack starts to thin. You can hear some on the edge, their breathing heavy, the salt stains forming down the sides of their faces. Now they are trying to eat an elephant and they just need to take one bite at a time. Just get to the next mile. Pick an object off in the distance and run toward it. Then pick another one. Simplify the task. Small goals. Manageable targets. Keep moving.

At this point the goal of pacing is to push those with some gas in the tank ahead and keep motivating those already redlining, nudging them forward one step at a time. At mile 24, there was a short section through Point Lobos State Reserve where we were running out of the park while runners were coming into the park. I spotted James McGaugh still running and looking strong. By this point, I had sent most of the pack ahead as they were gaining steam and we neared the finish. I had a couple of runners with me, including that short stocky guy on my left that I would have never picked to finish in under 3:30. But here he was. We had one more hill at mile 25 and as we started up the hill, he started to slow down, about to start walking. But one more “C’mon. You are almost there!” and he caught himself and was next to me, stride for stride until mile 26 when he sprinted across the finish line.

After I crossed the finish line, I immediately removed my chip tag and then turned around and ran back out to catch my real Biggest Loser runner. I waited just after mile 25 and then joined him for his last mile, and caught his finish on video. This is what Clif Bar Pacing is all about.

Here’s the data from my Garmin.