Runnin' Runnin' and Runnin' Runnin'

1 day

2006-10-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

I'm here. 20 hours from now, if all goes well I should be crossing the finish line. That's right, I'm projecting 3:30, but I'll be happy just to finish.....and under 4 hours. I feel excited and nervous. I barely slept last night think about 26.2 miles. I've been perusing stories of inspiration and motivation in running magazines and thinking about my own story; how my life has changed and what a role running has played in it. Jesus. I'm starting to tear up.

Okay...get a grip.

But this IS truly emotional for me. It's been almost a year since I quit smoking, drinking, and started to run. When I put "run a marathon" on the list, I really didn't believe that it would come this soon. In this year, I've become a better person. I feel that running lead the way in that process. It has given me a new lease on life in everything and taught me how to overcome adversity. Life has presented some pretty strange and difficult challenges to me and I realize that I could've taken a very dark path but running in many ways saved my life.

It has also become one of my best friends and shown me the true beauty of my surroundings. The beautiful old houses of Ontario St, silent snowy mornings on the Red Mile in Calgary where I touched the Saddledome for good luck while my bandmates/Canucks fans slept, rediscovering all those great Ontario bands while running through the trails of Thunder Bay, feeling in the presence of God himself along the Seawall, the beautiful and challenging hills and fjords of Norway, feeling like Terry Fox on the highway from Cumberland to Courtenay, building my leg back to full strength in Las Vegas, exploring Copenhagen and Stockholm from a runner's point of view, running along side my brother in my first race (however briefly.....Go Frey!), and solving the problems of the world, well mine anyways, by putting one leg in front of the other.

I truly give thanks on this thanksgiving weekend for the ability to run and for all the wonderful support from my friends and family.

2 days

2006-10-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

This was shaping up to be a frustrating week. I layed off one week since I felt the pain in my calf, so basically Wednesday to Tuesday and then went for a short run from Granville to Oak and back. Not bad. I could feel my calf a tiny bit, but I think it had kind of healed. So, the next day I decided to go out for 20 minutes or so. Got about 10 minutes into it and got the f#$#ng side stitches again. Ok....don't panic.....you didn't eat much today.....no gatorade or water or anything......it's probably just food.

SO...

Today was the true test. It was to be my last run before Sunday. First I needed to fuel, so I walked down to my little indian restaurant (i thought veggies and basmati rice would be a good carb up). On the WALK down, I could feel the side stitches. Jesus. I ate up and then went home and put on my duds and hit the street.

Nothing for about 10 minutes then my RIGHT side started acting up which was strange, it's usually my left. I switched up the breathing and after 15 more minutes, I was running injury free. Bring it on Victoria, I'm coming for ya.

9 days

2006-09-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's 9 days till the marathon and I'm injured....let's back up a bit.

After coming back from Europe things got busy. The usual September student organizing as well as the wedding season still alive made things a bit hectic. I managed to get out a little but I was definitely feeling a bit unprepared for a marathon. And in the short runs I was doing as of a couple weeks ago I was getting the side stitches again. My self diagnosis was that I was a bit out of shape (4 or 5 days between runs) and my eating was a bit infrequent. I decided that I would do a couple short runs and make sure that I was properly carbing up. SO, last Thursday I went for a shorty (40 min), then a medium (1 hour 20 min) on Friday, and on Sunday which is exactly 2 weeks before the marathon and knew that this would be the last long run I was allowed before the marathon and I would begin my taper the next day, I went for "The BIg One". It was a 3+ hour haul, probably about 21 miles (all the literature told me that 23 miles should be the longest one before the marathon). In coming around the final stretch, I felt a pain in my right calf not unlike the injury I suffered before Christmas last year. I walked in, not because of the injury, but to cool down and thought it was interesting that my calf started to hurt at the very end of the run.

SO...

On Wednesday, the intention was to do a very short (30 min) run and after about 15 min I got that biting pain in the calf and I stopped immediately and walked it in. When this happened last year, it took 10 days of recovery and a new pair of shoes. At that point, I was using pronating shoes when I was in fact a neutral runner. Perhaps that forever injured me. It doesn't matter I guess. I just simply have to take it easy between now and next week and still keep the cardio UP! Biking and swimming are gonna be the life savers this week and I'll hold off any running until Wednesday I'm thinking. Maybe a 5 minuter on Tuesday, then 10 to 15 on and Wednesday and Thursday and 30 minutes on Friday. That's the plan....for now.

Side stitches, technology, and learning how to breathe

2006-07-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

So for the past couple of months I've been having a little bit of pain in my upper right abdominal when I run sometimes. Since the half marathon it's become more frequent and so I decided that 1:47 was a job well done and I could frankly allow for some time off and recover. So after about a week off I went out the other day. After about 6 blocks, it was if someone stuck a dagger into my side. I walked back home and had thoughts of ulcers and tumours running through my head. When I got home, I googled "running and abdominal pain". I came across a fascinating sports medicine site that described what's commonly known as "side stiches".

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/side-stitches.html

It described all of my symptoms and the solution seemed too easy to be true. Exhale on your left foot instead of the dominant right. If you're a regular reader of my blogs, you've probably come across my "Cause and Effect" rant. I was determined to prove this stupid solution wrong, so I put my shoes back on and went out again. I came back 2 and a half hours later. It was incredible. No pain at all, except for when I switched back to breathing on my right.

If any of you runners suffer from side stitches or any of the other symptoms, read that article and start breathing correctly!!!!!!!

I'm now back to my old self. 30 - 40 miles a week and focused on the Victoria marathon now in October.

Scotiabank Half Marathon

2006-06-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

My first race!

So the night before I had a gig and it was almost two gigs (including the graveyard shift at the yale 12:30 - 3:00). So I got home at 1:00 and was promptly up at 4:30....ugh. I didn't carb load that much the night before, but in the morning I managed to have a bagel with peanut butter, a banana loaf, and a protein bar along with a steady stream of gatorade and water. So much of this sport is eating.

My brother did the race with me and before it began he asked me if I had any predictions. I said that I'd be happy with 2 hours or less. Well I ended up with 1:47, putting me 524th out of 4000; so needless to say, I was pretty proud. Lee ended up with 1:29, putting him 81st overall. What a freak.

Never being in a race before, I didn't know what to expect. The coolest thing happened after the gun went. Everybody was totally silent, except the sound of shoes on pavement. 4000 pairs. What a crazy sound!

So next up is the Victoria Marathon. 26.2 miles. This race put that number into perspective a little. I feel confident I can do it, but I've got a lot of training over the next 16 weeks.

Thunder Bay

2006-06-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Never running in Ontario before, I was excited to see what Thunder Bay could offer a runner. Earlier that day I visited the local Starbucks/Chapters/Wal-Mart/Future Shop/Warehouse One etc. (you know the strip mall, it's the same one right across the country) and noticed that although friendly, the good people of Thunder Bay didn't seem exactly health concious if you know what I mean. So when I asked the front desk girl at the hotel (who clearly wasn't a runner either....not that there's anything wrong with that) if there was anywhere "cool to run", I was surprised to hear that there was some designated trails and paths close by. It was actually a pretty nice little path cut through some typical 60's style houses that reminded me of my old neighbourhood in Calgary a lot. About halfway through I suddenly got a real "sense" of Ontario. The vegetation, the landscapes, the look...I felt a lot closer to some of the music that I loved from Ontario: Rush, the Tragically Hip, Neil Young, etc. I don't know if that was the endorphins from runner's high or the music in the ipod, but I was moved.

Speaking of ipod, still looking for a decent set of headphones for running. I just bought some digital maxell ear buds, but they keep falling out of my ears. Think I'm gonna have to go for the wrap arounds.

Ipod

2006-06-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

I recently bought an ipod. I have been resisting running with music until I can run with ALL of my music. I've been holding off buying an ipod until I can buy the big ass 60 GB that would accomodate my collection. So on Sunday I went for my first run with music. Seems odd doesn't it that someone who's so into running and so into music hadn't found a way to put this peanut butter and chocolate together earlier. Anyways....it has changed everything. Life is different now. Runs were already reflective and epic, but now there is a completely new dimension. So awesome. Here's the first Running Mix:

Running Mix 1:

And You and I.........Yes
I Can See For Miles......The Who
The Kids are Alright.....The Who
Two Hearts Beat as One........U2
Giftshop......The Tragically Hip
Sowing the Seeds of Love.......Tears for Fears
Mother Nature's Son.....Sheryl Crow
People of the Sun.......Rage against the Machine
Fake Plastic Trees......Radiohead
Mull of Kintyre......Wings
B-Boy Stance.....K-os
Take Me Out.......Franz Ferdinand
Badge.......Cream
B Boys Makin' WIth the Freak Freak.....Beastie Boys
Custard Pie.......Led Zeppelin
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.......The Beatles
Head over Heels......Tears for Fears
I'm Not Down......The Clash
Immigrant Song.....Led Zeppelin
In My Place.....Coldplay
It's a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock and Roll.....AC/DC
Lilac Wine.....Jeff Buckley
Lucky Man......The Verve
On the Horizon.....Sloan
One Thing....Amerie
Stay Together For the Kids......Blink 182
The Dark of the Matinee......Franz Ferdinand
The Righteous and the Wicked.......Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Scientist......Coldplay
We Can Work it Out.....The Beatles

Running Mix 2:

'It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken' The Tragically Hip
I've Seen All Good People Yes
And The Cradle Will Rock... Van Halen
Mean Street Van Halen
Trip Through Your Wires U2
Something On The Tragically Hip
If It Feels Good Do It Sloan
Let Down Radiohead
What A Life Juliana Hatfield
Manic Depression Jimi Hendrix
Mojo Pin Jeff Buckley
Is There Something I Should Know Duran Duran
Straight To Hell The Clash
Preaching The End Of The World Chris Cornell
I Bombed Korea Cake
The Distance Cake
Race Car Ya-Yas Cake
Getting Better The Beatles
Lady Madonna The Beatles
Two Of Us The Beatles
I've Got A Feeling The Beatles
Invisible Ink Aimee Mann
Black Market Weather Report
Aja Steely Dan
Run To The Hills Iron Maiden
The Marquee and the Moon Sloan
Delivering Maybes Sloan
Rock The Casbah The Clash
Little Guitars Van Halen
GZ And Hustlas Snoop Dogg
Fight The Power Public Enemy
Float On Modest Mouse
Thugs The Tragically Hip
Inevitability Of Death The Tragically Hip
Titanic Terrarium The Tragically Hip
Impossibilium The Tragically Hip
Super Disco Breakin' The Beastie Boys
The Scoop The Beastie Boys
All Apologies Nirvana
Brain Stew Green Day
The Sound of Settling Death Cab For Cutie
B-Boy Stance k-os
Grindin' Clipse
Tom Sawyer Rush
My Music At Work The Tragically Hip
Money City Maniacs Sloan
In Bloom Nirvana
War Pigs/Luke's Wall Black Sabbath
Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun The Beastie Boys
Always On The Run Lenny Kravitz
Poses Rufus Wainwright
Pretty Penny Stone Temple Pilots
Fight The Tragically Hip
Saturn Stevie Wonder
Doing It To Death James Brown
Perk Seamus Blake
Square Dance Eminem
The Enemies Of Energy Kurt Rosenwinkel
Transatlanticism Death Cab For Cutie
Lets Stay Engaged The Tragically Hip
Some Days Are Better Than Others U2
Numb U2

The tempos were weird at first, but then I started playing a game of polyrhythms against my running tempo (GEEK!!!!).

The Big One

2006-05-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

Alright, I haven't "blogged" (verbs for the new millenium are fun aren't they) since May 7, but that doesn't mean I haven't been out running. I've been sticking to a new regime of alternating running and working out. I've been told that you shouldn't be working out on the same day you do cardio and the reading I've done corroborates this. It's better for the muscles and better for the leg recovery and I think I'm settling into the life of a runner; this will be something that I do the rest of my life and I have to be reasonable with my body. Old data used to tell people to run daily, but it seems that the new thinking is to allow 48 hour recovery between runs.

It's almost a month until the Scotia half-marathon which I feel I could run tomorrow if needed. I have to start tapering down as I approach the race and that'll probably start in 2 weeks. I do want to get out and do the "big one" as I haven't done it in awhile, but I probably shouldn't. The big one is out from my house down 59th to Ontario, Ontario to Science World, GM Place to Robson, Robson to Denman, Denman to Stanley Park, around Stanley Park to Beach Ave, Beach to Burrard bridge, Burrard bridge to Cypress, Cypress to King Ed, King Ed to Angus, Angus to 57th, 57th to granville, and home. That's I think about a marathon....pretty close anyways.

My point is, I'm not gonna do it until after the scotia as much as I want to. I'm not gonna do it.....I'm not gonna do it.....

Victoria and Cumberland

2006-05-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

There wasn't any parking at the hotel in Victoria, so I had to park on the street at a meter which means the meter has to be filled every hour and a half. In other words, I have an hour and a half to run.

I tried to do the same thing I did in Nanaimo: go to the Running Room, get a great route, and go out on a big run. The guy at the Running Room, totally ignored me so after 2 minutes I got pissed off and left. I found a map of Vic and planned out the route.

I started down Government to the water and carried along their seawall. Unfortunately their seawall goes along the water and reverts back up to the road then back to the water, etc. and it gets a bit annoying. So I got all the way around to "the blue bridge" and at this point, I started thinking about my parking. I'd probably been out for an hour or maybe more already and I'd be risking it if I went out and over this bridge, so I doubled back to the car to check it. 25 minutes left. Hmm.....can't go back to the bridge. So I went up to Beacon Hill Park (past South Park Elementary....nice) and finished the last 20 minutes there.

I ran from Cumberland to Courtenay and back yesterday. Easy to Courtenay and REALLY intense and uphill coming back. OK out of batteries now.

Running on the road

2006-05-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

7% battery

Ran lost lake in whistler. Trails etc....awesome. Went for two that day though, one hour long in Van and then another hour in Whistler.

6%

Did Nanaimo this morning. They have a great seawallish type of thing from departure bay to downtown. Did that and freestyled it through the city. Suprisingly a lot of runners in Nanaimo. And a big thanks to the woman from the running room.

5%

Gonna do a big-un here in Victoria tomorrow that I'm looking fwd to.

I'll write more when I have battery life and wireless!!!

The Red (8) Mile

2006-04-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Calgary. Great city, strange weather. Yesterday was chinook conditions (probably 15 degrees) when we (Famous Players Band) rolled in. Unfortunately, didn't have the time yesterday for a run, but I figured today would be the same kind of weather, but when I rolled out of the Hyatt this morning at 7:30....SNOW!!!

Anyways....

Got an hour and a bit in. Left the Hyatt on Center Street right by the Calgary tower. Incidentally, this seems to be the area of town that I'm always restricted to each time we come to Calgary whether it's with FP, Soul Decision, or Kia. If I wasn't from there, I think my perception of Calgary from the gigs in the last five years there would be limited to a 3 block radius surrounding the Hyatt/Marriott/Palliser/Delta/Convention Center; in fact, I'm certain that some members of the band haven't thought that Calgary exists otherwise.

Anyways....

Left the Hyatt and went north on Center over the Center Street Bridge and went around the Bow River. This is Calgary's answer to the seawall. Not sure if this path has an official name but it's nice and goes right around Prince's Island Park and the Bow. I played the park with Kia Kadiri last summer as part of the Africa festival (dig that!!! Africafest in Calgary, go figure, eh? Lots of peeps and lots of fun), but it was a couple years ago that the park was basically destroyed by the Bow when it flooded. The City of Calgary did an amazing and obviously speedy job of rebuilding things and long story short, makes for a great run.

ANYWAYS....

Came back to the city via 14th Street???? maybe and continued up to 17th Avenue.....The Red Mile. Home to the huge celebration that lasted almost 2 months in 2004 during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Flames' Cinderella story cup run. Last night was amazing to be in that energy of a city so proud of their underdogs that continually (last night was no exception either) grind and play their asses off every minute of every period. So refreshing to watch a team like that (ouch!!!). It was harder to spot someone not wearing a jersey yesterday than it was to spot someone that was. It dawned on me how important the playoffs are to the economy of a city and not that Calgary has a bad economy, but it gets people out and spending their oil profits in their town. That said, there was an intense amount of homeless people in this city as I ran through it today. I don't where I'm going with this....

ANYWAYS!!!!!!.....

The Red Mile took me all the way out to the stampede, which brought back some great memories of childhood and growing up in Calgary. If I would've had more time to run, I would've liked to gone out to Parkland where I grew up. That's a pretty long run, especially if it's there and back again, but I think it would be fun. I could see my old house, fish creek, and maybe even a stop by Southcenter mall where I proposed marriage to someone; that's a story for a different blog entirely....

East West

2006-04-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Combination of 2 runs yesterday, Kerrisdale and the Ontario runs that precede the False Creek and Granville Island: 59th to Ontario, Ontario to 37th, 37th to Arbutus/East Boulevard, East Boul. to 57th, 57th to Granville, home. Pretty good, not too long or too short. Still battling a little shin splint action in the left leg, not completely healed apparently. Knees giving me a little grief too strangely. Going to Calgary tommorow and I always look forward to my run around the Bow when I'm there.

Kerrisdale/Shoes

2006-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

So I ended up going down Granville to 37th, 37th to Larch, Larch to 41st, 41st to East Boulevard, East Boulevard to 57th, 57th to Granville, and home. Nice run. Felt good.

In the time that I've been seriously running (November till now), I've gone through 3 pairs of shoes. Well, "gone through" tends to imply that I've worn them out or something; I have been experimenting until I've found the right ones. It seems that my quest is over.

When I first started running, I went to the Running Room and did their tests so that they could determine what type of runner I was. It looks as if I was a pronator, meaning that I run on the inside edges of my soles. They sold me a pair of Brooks Adrenaline shoes. Very comfy. In fact, the most comfy shoe I had ever worn. After about a month and a half I started to develop a calf strain which eventually kept me from running. I was so frustrated with myself, having pushed it too hard even though I was a beginner. It was at this time that I was finishing reading Galloway's Book on Running (ironically a book on running injury free). In one of the last chapters he talks about shoes. He recommended looking at the soles of your shoes. Turns out that the wear from running was on the outside of my soles. I took my shoes back and said, "AH HA!!! I'm a pronator!" The girl looked at my shoes and confirmed that I had the wrong ones. She made me do the tests again and she said that it still looked like I was a pronator and that she could see why the girl at the other store had originally made the mistake. "It's one of those weird things, everybody is different."

She then hooked me up with a pair of Brooks Glycerine. No more problems. Once again, I could run injury free. Although, I found these shoes really uncomfortable. Incredible stiff, not like the Adrenalines. I started to develop a weird strain on the outside edge of my right foot. At that point, I knew how much damage shoes could do and I wasn't gonna take any chances. I went to the Running Room in Richmond (beauty alliteration, eh?) and Amanda helped me by letting me try on every neutral shoe in the store in my size. I tried on about 15 pairs and in a game of running shoe survivor, voted them off one by one. The winner was the Asics Gel Cumulus.

For anyone looking for shoes, the Running Room kicks ass and their staff are all runners, unlike other shoe/sport stores. Although, this could be a bit of a detriment; Amanda's Mizuno bias started rearing itself when I asked about Adidas. She never brought any adidas until I asked and Adidas by the way, ended up being the runner up (I was rooting for them so much!!!!). The Running Room on Denman and Georgia has an outlet store beside it that has great deals.

Saturday's Run and no, I didn't run the Sun Run

2006-04-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

Didn't get time to log Saturday's run. Basically, "False Creek" in reverse. West to east this time. I really like this run. It's nice and long. 2 and half or 3 hours for this guy. I've taken Sunday and Monday off and today I'm gonna get back out. Not sure where yet, gonna see how I feel. Left leg was a little stiff on the walk down to the 'buck this morning.

No, I didn't run the sun run. Not to be elitist, but I can run 10 km no sweat, in fact most of my daily runs are 10 km. I realize that this is a great goal for some and I think it's awesome that they do it, but it ain't for me. From what I understand, there is so many people and it's hard to even run for the first 3 km. I AM doing the scotiabank half marathon (13.1 miles) in June and I think that'll be more my style. I was to do the Vancouver Marathon next week, but I'll be on the island with Bill Runge and I won't be able to make it back for the start time.

Granville Island

2006-04-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

A variation on False Creek. 59th to Ontario, Ontario to 1st, past Randall's rehearsal space to Granville Isl., along the south "Seaside" seawall to the planetarium/vanier park, to cypress, cypress to king ed, king ed to angus, angus to 57, 57 to granville. Felt a little pain out of the gates but it went away quickly. I think it was about 2 hours.

Shorty

2006-04-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today I ran my usual maintenance run. 57th to Angus, Angus to 41st, 41st to Cartier, Cartier to 58th. Pretty basic, takes about half hour. As soon as I hit the pavement, I felt that it was one of those days. You just can't wait to finish. Half way through, those feelings went away but my left inside shin was bugging me again. I can't wait till it goes away. A little more than 2 months to the Scotiabank half marathon which I feel fine about. I feel like I could run it tommorow. I need a marathon. I won't be around for Vancouver and I won't be around for Victoria unless I sub a gig out the night before. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Calgary? Interior? Wherever...

Lee ran a 3:10 at Boston. Once again, not bad for a guy who was supposed to lose a leg to cancer.

False Creek

2006-04-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've decided to keep a journal of my runs if for no one else's entertainment but my own. I'll chronicle my daily runs and all things related.

So, yesterday. First run in a long time that I felt completely injury free. I've been suffering some shin splints in the left leg recently. It started after taking 10 days off, so I'm thinking that it's not running related. I've been doing some ab exercises that put some pressure on the shins so this may be the problem. I'm gonna lay off the exercises for a while and see what happens. Regardless, yesterday felt good.

Started at Granville and 59th to Ontario, then north to Science World and around False Creek on the "Seaside" seawall (Plaza of Nations, David Lam Park, etc) to the Burrard st. bridge, over the bridge onto Cornwall to Cypress (Cypress bike route), south on Cypress to King Ed, King Ed to Marguerite, Marguerite to 57th, and 57th east to Granville.

For future reference, I'm gonna call this run "False Creek". I like this run a lot. The old houses along Ontario are great, especially around Mt. Pleasant. I never used to like "old" houses until recently. Over the course of my running, I watched some being restored and they look great.

Lee, my brother, is running Boston today. He should be setting out in half an hour. Very exciting. I'd love to see him finally break 3 hours....especially at Boston. They're broadcasting it on OLN, so maybe we'll get a glimpse of him.