The calm before the storm

It's been slow around here lately. My bad. With my foot injury, I took a week and a half off from running (and skydiving) so there wasn't much to report. I guess an update on my foot is in order.

I've been going to physical therapy and she believes my injury is posterior tibial tendinitis, not anterior tibial tendinitis like I had originally guessed (I was close though!). Luckily she said it wasn't too severe and after a few sessions she had me back to my normal routine. After a week of running it has felt relatively fine, especially if I get a good warm-up in beforehand. I think that really is the key. Last night I ran 8mi and didn't give it a thorough warm-up. The first 3 or 4mi I could feel the slightest discomfort in the tendon, but after getting warmed up the discomfort subsided. This morning when I woke some of the pain had returned, the first time since being given the O-K to run a week ago. Hmm... JFK is 4 days away. Guess I better get serious about this whole "rest" thing. I'll do a few miles Thursday, but that'll be it between now and Saturday. Time for some R-I-C-E baby! (not the asian kind, the rest-ice-compression-elevation variety, duh)

...and then there's Saturday. Holy crap this thing is actually happening! I'm actually going to run my first 50-miler. Aside from the "oh my god what if my foot craps out on me" thought that is currently firing through my head, I think I'm pretty well off. At the peak of my training I did some 80 mile weeks. Most of my running has been on trails. My 50k went amazingly well. I guess now I should start packing some stuff into drop bags for the aide stations. Honestly though, I don't really think I'm going to need much. If anything, I'll need to drop stuff off at the aide stations (jacket, gloves, hat, etc) since it's looking to be 26 degrees at the start line. Then again, I've been so worried about my foot lately I haven't given much time to visualizing the race and what I might actually need when running for 9 or 10 hours. Looks like I've got something to keep my mind occupied the next few days! Stay tuned for a race report on Sunday or early next week.

Pre-race injuries - now a recurring theme

AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry about that. Just letting out a little frustration over the fact that I haven't run in 5 days now and I am in serious trail withdrawal.

I woke up last Wednesday with a pain in the medial arch of my left foot. First thoughts from any runner would be a possible case of plantar fasciitis, but I'm not so sure that this is what's ailing me. The location of the pain is on the outside of the foot and slightly higher up, with the pain continuing towards the top of the foot. If I had to make a somewhat educated guess (I get called Dr. at work sometimes, so that's gotta count for some credentials, right?), I'd guess that I have tendinosis/tendinitis of the anterior tibial tendon (labeled tibialis anterior in the illustration below).


I'm less than 3 weeks out from my first 50-miler. I'd be decreasing my weekly mileage anyways, but nowhere near this much. Instead I hopped on the road bike and put a good number of hours in the saddle over the last 3 days to at least get some cardio in. It's not the same though. I don't feel like I can clear my head by going out on a long bike ride... and I'm not going to lie it hurts to sit on that thing for any extended period of time.

This is all too familiar for me. About 3 weeks out from my first marathon I got a bout of achilles tendinitis in the right ankle that sidelined me for a week or two before getting back into it. Unfortunately with that issue I reinjured the achilles during my marathon and then had to do a few weeks of physical therapy and start from square 1 with increasing my mileage. Lord knows I don't want to relive that experience! Luckily I think this current injury is much less severe, so hopefully all will be well by JFK and I'll be back into the swing of things soon.

Come on foot! Don't fail me now. Heal, baby, heal!

Race Report: Potomac Heritage Trail 50k

It's official - I am now an ultramarathon runner! This past Sunday I competed in the VHTRC's Potomac Heritage Trail 50k. I ran it as a training run for my upcoming JFK50 race in November. As could be expected at ultra events, it was quite a low key event, starting and ending at someone's house in DC, no registration fees, no t-shirts or medals, no chip timing (honor system!) and a field of about 100 runners. Nice and simple - my type of event! Not really knowing what to expect with it being my first ultra, I was quite overwhelmed by the hospitality and friendliness of everyone even before the race started. I was quickly welcomed into this group of fellow nutjob ultra trail runners, and it was a breath of fresh air to meet folks who shared a passion for something that has thus far been mostly a solo journey for me into the ultra world.

We all gathered outside of Kerry's house in Woodley Park for a chilly pre-race briefing. This consisted of Kerry telling us not to get lost, and if we got lost we could call her but she'd just tell us to find a cab. There was also one unnamed individual already peeing in the bushes during this pre-briefing, but this unnamed individual went on to set a new course record of 4:32, so I guess he is excused.

We set off promptly at 8am down Woodley Rd., and to everyone's surprise we had a police escort for a few blocks. As it turns out there was a local 5k starting at 8:30am, so we just considered ourselves to be slow 5k'ers that got off to an early start. After a quarter-mile or so we hit the trails of DC and were on our way. For more details see the course map below, taken from my Garmin.

View Larger Map

It was really quite amazing how quickly you go from a somewhat busy DC neighborhood to quiet trails that could easily be mistaken for being in the middle of nowhere. As we neared the end of the DC trails (not sure if they have a name, sorry), we emerged, literally, through a tunnel and over a guard rail onto the C&O Canal towpath at Fletcher's Boathouse. From there we proceeded south on the towpath for about 2 miles, then crossed the Key Bridge into Virginia and down a quick turn onto the Potomac Heritage Trail. I've run the roads here on my XMP training runs and had no idea there was trail running so close. Next time I'll know better! Trails >> Roads.

View of Chain Bridge from the Potomac Heritage Trail (Photo: RnR)

Now at this point I had heard that the 10 miles of the Potomac Heritage Trail we were going to cover was going to be technical at sections, but wow did I receive a wake-up call! The trails I run apparently aren't all that technical. I loved it though, running on technical trails requires mental focus, the kind I'm used to using when setting myself up for a good swoop when skydiving. Maybe that's why I like trail running so much? (Side note: Bryon at iRunFar had a good blog post about these similarities.)

Stream Crossing (Photo: RnR)

As we ran through each aide station there were opportunities to earn time deductions off your final clock time. Aide station #1 offered 1min off for eating a donut, 2mins for an anchovy (ummm... no thanks), and 5mins off for spam. Yes, spam. Honestly I don't know what I was thinking and I jumped at the opportunity to down a small piece of spam for 5 minutes off my total time. Anything to win, right? I thought to myself "Hey, at least it's not scrapple", washed it down with a quick swig of water and was on my way. Aide station #2 offered a game of wits, or at least a test of 3rd grade geography skills, where we had to correctly identify as many countries as possible from a globe in 45 seconds. I got 10, thus getting another 10 minutes off my time. "I am so smart! S-M-R-T!"

Heading northwest on the Potomac Heritage Trail, we spent most of our time with a nice view of the Potomac River to our right.

Potomac River (Photo: RnR)

Aide station #3 offered 5mins off for hula-hooping for 5 seconds (too easy) and an additional 5 mins off for each liquor-filled piece of chocolate we ate. I was nervous about this one, not knowing how my stomach would like the liquor/chocolate combo, but did one for the sake of being a good sport. The guy next to me had two - what a brave soul. I was fine, but later on I heard this guy's stomach had started giving him problems. Guess you gotta learn when to say when!

As I headed out of Aide #3 I realized I was no longer following anyone and some point around here the trail markings were going to change, but I didn't know what they were changing to (white chalk, blue chalk, purple chalk, and blue blazes were all part of the course). I passed a hiker and asked if he had seen other runners. "Yeah but it was a while ago, looks like you're in second place!" Hmm, that wasn't very reassuring. I then found myself running practically on the shoulder of the George Washington Parkway... again, not reassuring.

G/W Parkway - this can't be right (Photo: RnR)

I hadn't seen anyone for about 20 minutes, I was following permanent trail markings and hadn't seen any chalk that I was previously following, and I was possibly getting myself much further off course. I swallowed my pride, stopped, and turned around. Bummer, guess I'm not so smart after all. After maybe a quarter-mile of backtracking I ran into another runner from the race who knew where she was going. Woohoo! I was on the right path! I lost some time by stopping and turning around, but what's a little extra mileage, right?

Natural stairs with some man-made assistance (Photo: RnR)

Further down the trail I came to these natural "steps" with a not-so-natural handrail to assist with the climb. My quads were starting to hurt, so I admit I used the handrail. I then came across Aide station #4 at Turkey Run Park that had a ring toss game. I failed miserably at it, but hey I tried. As it turns out, Justine Morrison, previous course record holder, was the only person to make a ring and earn some time off, but with her speed she didn't need it!

American Legion Bridge turnaround (Photo: VHTRC.org)

Ok, so I admit the photo above isn't from this year's event (last year's maybe?), but it's the only one I could find that shows the true beauty of the natural features we saw on our route. The turnaround point for the race was the American Legion Bridge, aka the Beltway. With all the time I spend sitting on that parking lot of a highway, I have to say this was the most pleasant experience I've ever had with it... because I was on foot and there was no traffic! I don't recall hearing much traffic above me as I passed under it, but it's entirely possible traffic was at a standstill at 11am on a Sunday morning (can you tell I'm not a fan of the Beltway?).

The turnaround point is nice on this race because usually a turnaround indicates you are halfway done. On this race the American Legion Bridge is mile 18 of 31, so you are well on your way to being home. Shortly after the turnaround, I was running with a guy named Andrew when out of nowhere, in a not-so technical section, Andrew BIT IT on a root and went flying, somehow sliding to a stop on his back! I helped him up, luckily he was uninjured and just laughing at what just happened, and we continued on our way. He thinks he got too into "the zone" as if he were in a road race, thus not paying attention to footing. Lesson learned - stay alert!

Flat trails - yay! (Photo: RnR)

For the remainder of the run Andrew and I ran together, mostly to have another person to look for purple chalk (we learned purple chalk marked the way home, so we sounded like two idiots running around yelling "purple purple purple!" whenever we found some). We headed back to Aide Station #4 at Turkey Run, which was now #5, I failed again at the ring toss, had some Dr. Pepper and some M&M's (man I love ultra food!) and quickly got back to the running.

Another stream crossing (Photo: RnR)

Headed back into Aide #3 (now #6 and the final aide station), did some hula-hooping for another 5 minute deduction and skipped the shot this time around (they may have all been gone but I didn't check). As I earned my 5 minute deduction someone grabbed a picture of me and I heard "You know gyrating like that was illegal back in the 50's!" Hmm, let's hope that picture doesn't resurface anytime soon.

We crossed over the guardrail into the tunnel and back onto the DC trails for the final leg. For being 20-some miles into it, I was feeling pretty well. My legs were sore as could be expected, but I had been walking all the hills and went out at an easy pace so I knew I had it in me to finish strong. Andrew and I chugged along, mustering the word "purple" every couple of seconds it seemed. Also commonly heard was "ugghhhh, more hills!" We eventually found ourselves back on the neighborhood streets of DC. We thought we lost the chalk markings leading us back to the finish, slowed down to a walk, looked around, then realized "oh hey, that house we just passed was the finish, we're done!"

We walked back into Kerry's house and there she was with a sheet of paper with everyone's names. She looked at her watch and marked both of us down finishing with a time of 5:18 (not including time deductions, those haven't been calculated yet). She wasn't sure of the exact standings but said we were probably the 6th or 7th ones in! What? Holy hell! This was my first ultramarathon! I guess I can attribute it to beginner's luck? Let's hope this luck carries on to my first 50-miler next month!

After a nice warm shower, I grabbed some food and a beer from the BBQ going on in the backyard and plopped my feet up on a nice comfy couch. You can't ask for a better finish line than that! Big thanks to the VHTRC and all the volunteers that put on this year's Potomac Heritage Trail 50k. I had an absolute blast, and sorry to say it guys, but you'll probably be seeing a lot more of me. I think I've found a new group of people to run with!

My Highest Mileage Yet

This past week I logged 77.6 miles. My long run Saturday morning was my longest run yet, 27.6 miles (am I officially an ultrarunner now since I broke the 26.2 mark?) It was a good run with the XMP group, starting at Grosvenor Station in Bethesda and heading down through Rock Creek Park. A lot of the group is now tapering for their fall marathons, so our group of 10 or so dwindled down to 3 by the time we finished at Union Station. The route map is below.

View Larger Map

I'm very surprised my legs have been holding up so well through all of this intense training. Earlier in the year when I trained by myself for my first marathon, by the time I got to my 20-mile runs I was dying and I could barely walk for the remainder of the day. This past Saturday I ran almost 8 more than that and my legs felt relatively well throughout the rest of the day. So what do I attribute this to? Well, first and foremost, my training with the XMP group has forced me to slow down my runs to a proper training pace. That has payed off BIG TIME. Speaking of, we got our group shirts this weekend (pic below). I think they turned out well, although the logo on mine appears to be slightly off-center.


I think another big factor in my improved running is how much attention I've been paying to proper recovery. I try to focus on proper nutrition after my long/hard runs (Endurox within 30 minutes of my run) and I've sacrificed a decent amount of skydiving to let myself rest. If I head to the dropzone right after a long run I end up running around, packing parachutes, carrying 200 lb tadem passengers (it's actually a lot of fun, I swear!), but I pay the price and usually feel like death, mentally and physically, come Monday morning. By sacrificing some jumping on certain weekends I have the opportunity to chill (read: nap) and let my body rest and get into recovery mode, rebuilding everything that was destroyed over the previous 20-some miles.

So proper training, nutrition and rest have all done wonders to my dear and beloved legs, but what is the one thing that has made the biggest difference in my training?

CAUTION: Ice baths may cause shrinkage (Photo: Flickr)

ICE BATHS! Now I know the judges are out on this one and there has not been solid evidence that an ice bath, aka cryotherapy, helps in physiological recovery for athletes, but I can personally attest that sitting in a bathtub of ice water for 10-15 minutes has worked WONDERS for my muscle recovery. My legs usually hurt a bit before going in for that first dip, but once you get out of the cold water it's a whole new world. The ice reduces/prevents any post-run swelling and you can feel the blood rush back through your legs, kicking the circulatory and lymphatic systems into gear as they carry away all the damaged debris and build your muscles to a newer, stronger state. It's not the easiest of things to sit idly in 40 degree water for 15 minutes, but I usually get a nice hot bowl of oatmeal and pass the time by jamming to some loud music. (I guess that means the new Metallica album is a beneficial recovery tool as well. Individual results may vary.)

So there you have it. Drinking Endurox, less skydiving, napping and ice baths. That's how I've become a stronger runner these past couple of months. The back of the XMP shirt says it all!

Running Strong since 2008!

This just in - I'm an idiot

Just found these pics of me racing Doug, sprinting to the finish, and having way too much fun at the Park's Half two weekends ago. Yup, I'm an idiot...

Photos: Brightroom

Race Report: Parks Half-Marathon 9/14/08

This past weekend the Montgomery County Road Runner's Club put on their 3rd annual Parks Half-Marathon. The route took approximately 2500 runners from the Rockville Metro Station, south through the Rock Creek Stream Valley, onto the Capital Crescent Trail and ending in the heart of downtown Bethesda.

View Larger Map

I see the Parks Half as the beginning of the local fall race season. Mid-September usually offers cooler mornings that allow for good race times for all involved. This year, mother nature decided to mix things up and thought that we should race on a morning that was as hot and humid as any mid-summer run. Humidity was near 90% and temps hovered around 78 F during the race and steadily climbed to the mid-90s later in the day. Needless to say, this type of weather surprised many people and left many runners unprepared and in over their heads.

On days like this, it is good for runners to pace themselves so they don't go out too hard too soon. That's where I come in. I had the pleasure of pacing those runners looking to run 8:00 - 8:15 minute miles. I've never had the pleasure of running as a pacer before - heck, I've only raced one half-marathon and one marathon before this! Thanks to the XMP Group I train with (many of whom were pacers for this race), I have become a much stronger runner and I've learned how to pace myself very well, so I was more than happy to volunteer my services so that others could run a smart race.

The masses make their way down Veirs Mill Rd (Photo: Some guy on Flickr)

On to the race itself. The first 2 miles were all downhill, fast, and crowded. Once the course flattened out the pack started to thin. Around this point there wasn't a big pack in front of me, but turning around I saw a large pack of runners and probably had a couple dozen hoping to follow my pace. At my side were some of my fellow XMP'ers, so we all chit-chatted and, as we always do, made fun of Doug for trying to pull the group faster than we're supposed to be running. Nothing too significant occurred during the middle miles, just lots of running and sweating (seriously, everyone was drenched head to toe from the humidity).

Mid-way? (Photo: Dan DiFonzo)

Later on, maybe around mile 9, I looked back again to see how the pack was doing and noticed that it had dwindled down significantly. The heat and humidity was taking its toll. As we were passing the Mormon Temple I was having a conversation with a fine young lady about the smell of stinky fish and how it compares to that of Chinese Restaurant dumpsters at 6am (gotta make the time pass somehow). I don't know if it was the thought of stinky fish, the brutal humidity, or a combination of both but she admitted she was pushing harder than she should, so she was going to wisen up for the last few miles and slow her pace. Was I running too fast? Checked my Garmin. Nope, right on pace. Such is the life of a pacer. I was a moving target people used to gauge their own race, and while she had made it this far staying with me she knew continuing on would lead to trouble over the last few miles.

The last 2 miles were pretty lonely. It seems most people got slowed down as we got closer to 13.1 and my pack was now a few scattered runners who were just trying to keep me in sight. These last 2 miles also had a slight but noticeable incline. Determined to stick to my assigned pace, I found myself passing a good number of runners, many of whom now resorted to a combination of running and walking. The last 1/4 mile of the race runs through an enclosed tunnel on the Capital Crescent Trail. As I entered the tunnel I could begin hearing echoes of the crowd near the finish line. Exiting the tunnel puts you right in downtown Bethesda with only a block or two to go.

Me exiting the tunnel near the finish line (Photo: Edward Johnson)

Doug picked up his pace and passed me with a smirk, as if to say "haha pacer, I can sprint to the end." I've kept to my pace this whole time, my responsibilites of a pacer are now over and the finish line is in sight... full steam ahead! I sprinted past Doug, beating him by 1 second and finishing in 1:46:30. That averages to 8:08 minute miles, smack dab in the middle of my assigned pace range! Looks like I'm not so bad at this pacing gig after all.

The post race celebration featured the usual bagels, bananas, oranges, gatorade, etc., but also included pizza and pasta from Mamma Lucia's! Gotta love good pasta right after a run. I ran into Damon and Erica, two fellow skydivers I've known for years. Damon was actually one of my instructors when I first started learning to jump, so it's always funny to see him outside of the dropzone. Metro cards were handed out to all racers and we all packed into the Metro cars and made our way back to the Rockville station. What a hot, sweaty mess that was! I feel bad for anyone that had to ride in those cars once we got off. Oh well! Parks Half-Marathon completed, and my first time as a pacer was a success.

More pictures from the race can be found here. If I find ones from elsewhere on the course I'll post them too.

UPDATE: Pictures available on the MCRRC photo site.

Running in Cali

Sun setting at "The Dish"

I ended up at Stanford University for a conference late last week. Work paying me to take a trip out to Cali? Sure thing! I did some research, and not wanting to drive to my runs I found a local spot called "The Dish" that is apparently a big running spot for those in the Palo Alto area. I found a route on mapmyrun.com that started near my hotel and made its way through the Dish, uploaded it to my Garmin 305, and was on my way.

...or so I thought. When I went out for my 12-miler Thursday evening, things just didn't seem to be working out. First off, I couldn't figure out how to work the navigation function on my Garmin. It was my first time attempting to use this feature and I really should have played with it on routes I know back at home, I just didn't have time to do so before my trip, so I ended up winging it with my directions. Luckily I had studied the map a little bit and carried a map with me. As I plodded along I soon realized I had eaten too much and too recently due to the big late lunch we got at the conference. (My bad, that would be my inner fat kid coming out). This led me to feel full and heavy with every footstep - not a comfortable feeling. Add that feeling to the 95 degree heat with bone dry air (I'm used to running with a bit of moisture in the air), and I wasn't feeling too hot (no pun intended).

...then I got lost. I thought I studied the map and knew where I was going?! Apparently not, so out comes the map and I figure out where I made the wrong turn. I eventually make it to the Dish and think "ok finally I'm not fighting with the traffic of cars, just other runners". Then I hit the hills. Holy hell! ~500' of elevation gain over a mile... doesn't sound like too much, does it? Well, it was tough. Really tough. One section had a 18% elevation gain, needless to say I walked that section. In the end, I survived. Barely, but in one piece.

The awesome hills (note sarcasm)

Friday's 7-miler was better. I drove to the Dish and ran 2 loops. Not as full of a stomach either, but it was still hot and dry.

Rolling hills

Saturday was the best of the Stanford runs. Got out early before the heat hit (in the 60s and 70s most of the run) and ran from the hotel out to the Dish, did 3 loops and headed back for a total of 16.2 miles (10 shy of a marathon - darn so close). I even got to see the sun rise over the mountains, what a sight!

So long Cali. Thanks for the hill-work!

8/16-8/17 jumping and running

Ahmed freeflying over Delmarva (photo: Me)

I was finally able to get up in the sky this weekend and do some playing around! Did some fun freeflying with Ahmed for my fun jumps and countered that with 5 tandem working jumps. 9 total jumps for the weekend, bringing my total to 698 jumps. So close to 700! Gotta start planning something fun now.

I must not have been paying attention to the dropzone calendar because, to my surprise, there was a huge catfish and crab feast after jumping on Saturday. Good jumps, good friends and good crabs... gotta love it!

Crab feast (photo: Thalia)

As for running, had a nice 18-miler early Saturday morning with the XMP group, including some pretty decent hill sections to spice it up a bit. Usually I would expect my legs to be trashed, but I took an ice bath afterwards and my legs felt great, even after jumping tandems later in the day! Looks like an ice bath is going to become a usual part of my routine after long runs.

I'm in a recovery week now so I've got 2 days off and total weekly mileage should only reach around 50 miles. Remember, recovery is a vital part of proper training! Back at it next week...

Study shows running slows aging

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine just published an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine showing that running slows the aging process in those of middle to old age. The 21-year study followed 284 runners and 156 healthy control subjects who were all 50-years-old at the beginning of the study. At 19 years the mortality rate was a 15% among the runners and 34%, more than double, for the control group. The study concludes that "Vigorous exercise (running) at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage."

Woohoo! I'm going to live forever! Oh wait, nevermind. Close enough though...

So lace up them shoes and let's all go enjoy our happy, healthy lives!

Related Links:

Abstract from the Archives of Internal Medicine

BBC News article summarizing the study

Guess who I met today?

Me and Dean Karnazes

Me: "You're the reason I got into ultramarathons."
Dean: "I'm sorry."

Talk about a genuinely nice guy! We only had a few minutes to chat, but it looks like I should be able to run a few miles with him at The North Face Endurance Challenge on Sept. 6th since we'll both be running the half marathon. You would think he would be running the 50-miler but he's the host of the event so he'll have a ton of obligations and he can't spend all day running. I'll be doing the half since it's a bit too early in my training program to be "racing" a 50k like I originally planned. Looks like running the half won't be so bad after all!

(And a shout out to Salty for making this run-in happen. Gotta love that girl!)

The root cause of a national epidemic

There is a national epidemic out there people. It affects millions of Americans on a weekly basis, often striking with little to no warning. No, I'm not warning about the dangers of eating jalapeno peppers or talking about how fat our youth are getting (seriously kids, easy on the pudding pops), I'm talking about A Case of the Mondays.

Yeah you heard me. A Case of the Mondays. You know that feeling when your alarm goes off on Monday morning and you force your eyes open, you accidentally fall asleep at the traffic light on the way to work and can't believe that you're about to sit at a desk for 8 hours. Apparently this is a common occurrence for most people, but not so for me. I usually feel great and refreshed after a nice weekend of running or skydiving.

"But what is the cause of this epidemic?" you may be asking yourself right now. I'll tell you. I didn't find this out after years of painstaking research, but rather accidentally after a weekend of doing the things I love to do. The dreaded Monday morning exhaustion is caused by a combination of lots of running AND lots of skydiving. Yup, apparently millions of Americans are just as insane as I am and are running and skydiving on the weekends like there is no tomorrow. I know I did, and I am officially done for.

16 miles Saturday (after the rain passed)
woke up at 5am Sunday for another 8 miles
6 tandem skydives Sunday (oh, and 4 hrs in the car driving to and from the dropzone)

I guess hauling around 200lbs of meat (aka a person) with a 60lb backpack (tandem rig) back and forth, up and down from 13000 feet all day isn't the best recovery for 24 miles of weekend running. Who'd have thunk it?

Someone wake me up when my energy returns...

Dean Karnazes' 50/50 movie premiere - this Thursday!

There is a new film coming out about Dean Karnazes, North Face sponsored ultrarunner and NYT best-selling author of UltraMarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner. The film is called UltraMarathon Man (hmm, sounds familiar) and will be playing at select theatres this Thursday for one time only. I will be going with some friends to the Majestic in downtown Silver Spring. If anyone would like to join, just let me know. More theatre listings are found here at the official movie website.

Back in 2006 Dean ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days, finishing off with a sub-3 hour finish at the New York City Marathon. Over the course of the 50 days, people from all around the country came out to run with Dean, whether it was their first marathon or their hundredth. This film is the documentary following Dean's 50/50 journey.

When he came around this way he ran through Baltimore. At the time I had only read an article or two about him in Runner's World, but it was enough to peak my interest. I marked the date on my calendar and was hoping to make it out for a few miles with him (at the time marathons were not even a thought in my mind... oh how things have changed!). Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to make it out, but I'm still looking forward to the film. Let's hope it's good!

New toys and good runs

I got in a nice easy 16-miler early Saturday morning on the Capital Crescent Trail, there and back from Bethesda down to the Kennedy Center. Average heart-rate was 138 keeping a 9:09 pace, so I was definitely training in my correct zones. Temps were much cooler than recent weekends so that was surely welcomed (as was the flat and shaded route).

While running I got to enjoy some of my new favorite running toys (yes, I'll admit it - I'm a gear whore). Earlier in the week I picked up a Nathan Sports HPL #020 Hydration Vest. I've heard great things about it from other trail/ultra runners so it's something I've been wanting to get for quite some time now. I tested it out on some mid-length trail runs during the week and was surprised at how comfortable the vest was. It didn't budge during the log-hopping and tight corners, so it gets an A+ for staying put.

My one issue with it, though, is the mouthpiece. It's difficult to open/close and I can barely get any suction through it. The mouthpiece on my CamelBak works 100 times better. Ah-ha, I've got an idea! I swapped the tube and mouthpiece assembly from the CamelBak and put it on the Nathan Vest. I think we have ourselves a winner!

Actually, one more thing about the vest. During the run you could hear the water swishing back and forth pretty loudly. Since I was the one setting the group's pace for a good portion of the run (who's bright idea was that?), people were commenting that I sounded like a metronome. Tick-tock-tick-tock. Then again, I was the only one wearing a hydration pack so maybe they all make noise and I just hadn't noticed it before. Everyone else had either hand-held bottles, which make much less noise but are somewhat annoying to hold for long periods of time, or a waist pack that stashes a water bottle like this one, which I have yet to try. I didn't mind the noise of the Nathan pack at all, but since we passed so many water fountains on the CCT I think I'll reserve it's use for medium to long trail runs or any type of run where I can't refill a bottle every couple of miles.

Nathan Vest and Chocolate GU. Awesome.

I also recently discovered the joy that is Chocolate Outrage GU. I had previously been using the Tri-Berry, Lemon Sublime or Plain GU flavors and thought I had found my personal favorites. Boy was I wrong. Chocolate GU is like brownie batter disguised as endurance fuel! As a former fat kid, I don't think there's anything in the world that could make me happier. It's so good that I'm tempted to eat it as dessert after meals. Luckily I have at least some self-restrain.

Chocolate GU, *drool* Oh, sorry. Self-restrain, right...

On the jumping side of things, Sunday was scheduled to be my day of skydiving for the weekend. I was really looking forward to it too since it's been over 2 weeks since I've jumped. Oh, and I have a paycheck waiting for me at the dz, so that's even more of a reason to head down. Unfortunately, mother nature brought upon some torrential downpour yesterday (Sunday) so it was one of those days where, aside from my run, I just sat around twiddling my thumbs. Oh, and I caught up on the latest season of Weeds. Love that show.

In total, 21.5 miles this weekend (50 for the week) and 0 jumps. No skydiving= bummer, but the runs were great so I can't complain. Until next time... adios amigos.