It's marathon morning!

Hi from the floor of our hotel room. The stretching has begun. Amy and I are outta here at 5 and on our way down to the starting line. Weather is 60 degrees and cloudy. Feeling a mix of anxiety and excitement.

I'll twitter/fb the results ASAP, or check back here later in the day. Also, you might find info here on the results page.

Update from San Diego

Here we are in SD. 15 and a half hours til the gun goes off. Here's where we stand:

1. The weather. It's windshield wiper time around here. I'm just sayin. I'm sure the locals call this a "marine layer," but it's raining today. Weather.com says that it'll be similar tomorrow morning. Glad I brought long sleeves. I also bought at running hat today at the Expo to keep the drops away.

2. Health. Long night last night in the hotel. 6 of us in one room...let's just say hats off to my Guatemalan friends who do this routinely, cause it was tough. So not a lot of sleep. Left knee is fine so far; right hamstring is annoyingly tender. We'll see if that impacts tomorrow.

3. Cheering section. The kids made flags for me. Amy and her fam are ready to go. Also, it's been cool to get the text/email/fb/vmail love. Thanks everyone. If you're interested they will supposedly broadcast the finish line (site here). I'll try to blog in the morning before the race, or you can follow me on twitter/facebook.

4. Last supper. Rumor has it it'll be pasta and tri tip tonight at Brian's. Looking forward to that. Then tomorrow morning, it's either gonna be a bagel and banana or a nice bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. Game time decision.

There you go. Now I'm off to attempt a nap...

It's the week of...

...and here's the full report.

1. Put in a 20 mile run last Saturday. Ideally, in the name of something called "tapering," the weekend before would be mild. But in my case, I felt that psychologically I needed to have a 20 miler under my belt going into the marathon. So it was a calculated gamble; do the long run the week before and hopefully don't hurt yourself.

2. Unfortunately, the gamble has thusfar proved to be a bit mixed in terms of results. I am glad that when I line up next Sunday morning to run I'll do so knowing I can make 20 (and I did it in just barely over 3 hours, which is the "right" marathon pace). But I also picked up a bit of a sore right leg. Calf and hammy. So, lots of rest (and a bit of stress) this week.

3. Lots of people are asking me how I'm feeling about the marathon, and I always answer that I'm both excited about it and a bit fearful. I'm wary of running 26 miles in pain (nagging left knee, new right leg), but at the same time in my head I have this vision of what finishing will feel like, and it's gonna be sweet.

4. Last prep this week: emailing my buddies in SD to invite them out to watch, prepping the ipod, figuring out how and where the fam is going to cheer me on and, possibly, ideally, getting a 4ish miler in on Wednesday or Thursday.

Keep you posted...

Not sure I'm liking what's happening around mile 10...

Let's be honest...from now until the marathon, this is essentially a running blog!

Thanks to Deron for sending the link to this. 63 marathons in 63 days?!? Get outta here!

Today's inspiration....

17 days and counting

Yeah so that marathon thing is coming right up. Here are the recent key updates:

1. New shoes. I got some new shoes for my birthday and have been running in them now for a bit over a week. The old ones lasted some 300 miles. Rest in peace.

2. Injury report. My theory has been that my sore left knee has been caused by running in shoes that were starting to break down. So far I've noticed a bit of improvement in the knee with the new ones. I hope that trend continues. For those of you following at home, I'm thinking the diagnosis would be runner's knee. And then the other day I got a blister with the new shoes...UNDER MY TOENAIL. Nasty. Other than that, no problems.

3. Training. I did 10 miles on Monday morning on the race course. Beautiful, and I think it will really help me on race day to have done part of the course. This coming Sunday morning, I'm aiming for 20ish miles, the last 6-7 with Jeremy. That will be my last big, long run before the marathon.

4. Race strategy. I'm starting to think through the run. What will I eat and when? How often will I drink? What's the best way to think about the race from a strategic standpoint? Is it better to see the race as 4 legs of 6.55 miles? Should I think of it as four 5 mile quarters followed by a 10K to the finish? Most importantly, which songs on the ipod and in which order?!? Lots to mull over out on the road these days...

5. Logistics. We're going to leave for Irvine (or somewhere around there) on Friday the 29th. In to San Diego on Saturday for the Expo to pick up my number. Lots of pasta on Saturday night. Gun goes off at 6:30 on Sunday morning. I'm in corral 8 of like 23, so I won't see the line until about 6:50 I'd imagine. Spa at the hotel on Sunday afternoon followed by Casa de Guadalajara for dinner. Amy's family is coming out in force, I'm hoping some IV buddies will come cheer, and Grandpa Ha told me today he's flying down. I'm grateful in advance for the support!

Lastly, the goal. I'm hoping for 4 hours, and I'm cautiously optimistic. 4 hours would be a bit over 9 minute miles. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Amy!!!

For your present, here's a picture where--miraculously--everyone is looking at the camera!

Aches and pains...

Let's see. Why might Rob's left knee be sore this week?

a. Along with the rest of me, it turned 37 on the 24th and the decline has been swift and severe.
b. Injured chasing Josh's 7 year old buddies around at his birthday party last Sunday.
c. Gimpy left hamstring last week caused me to run funny.
d. Shoes wearing out.
e. All of the above?

30 days and counting...

Overhead just a second ago...

Grace walks into our room: "Mama, there's a jewel in my nose."

Victory!

It happens to the best of them...

We've recently gotten hooked up with a home group from our church, and so we've been meandering our way through the book of Acts on Sunday nights. As the series comes to a close, we've arrived in the latter third of the book, and, well, I've been exposed. As in, I like to think that I'm a bit of an Acts scholar since in IV through the years we've spent so much time teaching and training out of Acts. Problem is, I've realized that what I really mean is that I'm good through about Acts 15. After the council, I'm really Acts illiterate. So it's been terrific to keep going with this study.

The other night Amy and I came across a little gem of a passage in Acts 20:7-12. And, as a sometimes preacher, all I can say is that it's good to know I'm not alone in having people fall asleep during my talk. Plus, at least I've never killed someone! The text is here. Here a couple of things I love about it.

1. Paul INTENDS to speak until midnight. For some of us, going long just happens. For Paul, it's purposeful. He's leaving in the morning, and there are some things he needs the people to hear...and that's just how it's gonna be.

2. Evidently, Paul's a bit boring. I love it how Luke writes it: "as Paul talked on and on." Reminds me of the teacher from Charlie Brown's class.

3. The only thing that stops the boredom is a resurrection. How bizarre is this! Dude falls 3 stories onto his dome, dies and then Paul gets to perform a miracle. Not only does Paul not get prosecuted, he comes home the hero! Brilliant!

4. Unfazed, Paul just keeps talking. Like the energizer bunny, he keeps going until dawn! I'm wondering if perhaps this happens often for Paul. Maybe he's used to people dying during his sermons?

Things that wake me up...

Recently I was talking to Jeremy about how my alarm clock has pretty much become obsolete. I mean, I could count on my two hands the number of times here at home that I've used the alarm over the past 7 years. It got me thinking...what does wake me up?!? Here's my list of things that have woken me up over the past couple of months:

Yelling kids from down the hall.
The birds outside our window.
A little girl's dome pressed into my back (this morning's culprit).
The squeaking of Josh's bed springs as he flops around.
The annoying and intermittent "ack" that our (dying?) refrigerator makes.
The air conditioner or heater kicking on.
The street sweeper coming by on Fowler (with the accompanying realization that I forgot to move the Taurus).
Thunder and lightning.
Amy's allergies.
Baby noises in general.
The prospect of a long run.
Remembering about something I need to do.
Little girls crying out in their sleep.
The sound of our television still on playing an Oprah rerun.

Overheard from the stroller

Lucy, anticipating a great morning tomorrow:

"Momma, who is going to take us to 'Mornings with Mom' tomorrow, you or Dad?"

Happy 3rd Birthday to our dear Gracie!

Lily by the numbers

Our littlest one just had her 6 month birthday on the 1st and with it a nice check-up. 4 vaccines later, here were her numbers:

Weight: 17lbs, 12oz in the 75th percentile (gets that from her mom)
Height: 27.75 inches, which is off the charts (gets that from her dad)
Head size: 45cm in the 95th percentile (gets that from her beloved Uncle Nalley!)

I finished, and all I got was a glass of water, a sweaty shirt and a vague feeling of "runner's high"

Since I acquired this acute case of A.O.R. (Adult-Onset Running) in June, I have now run three half marathons. The first two involved things like timing chips, thousands of running partners, Jeremy, medals at the finish, Amy and the kids waiting and water stations out on the course.

The third one was this morning. This time, none of that was there. But I did run my 13 miles. For the record, the time was a 1:56:06. Also, memo to my two concerned mothers: no bonking this time! It's a part of a serious ramping up for the marathon in May. Here's the plan for the rest of the time:

4 weekly runs:
1. Short recovery run on Monday (3ish miles)
2. Longer run at tempo on Wednesday (8-10 miles)
3. Whatever seems good on Friday
4. Long run on Sunday (or Friday/Saturday in a couple of cases)

Sunday schedule:
April 12: 14 miles (in Sacramento)
April 19: 15 miles
April 25: there's this 5 mile race up at Woodward
May 2: 17 miles (on a Saturday)
May 10: 18 miles
May 17: 20 miles (Jer, I'll run over and pick you up and we can run out to Kearny to meet the fams)
May 24: TAPER! 8ish miles
May 31: The Big Daddy

Worst flight ever

To begin with, let's just all agree that any flight that lands successfully is by definition a good one. So, just so we're clear about that.

Last night I caught a United Express flight from Denver to Fresno. Here's the story:

First of all, it was a blustery evening in Denver last night. Because of that, we left late. Turns out that when there are thunderstorms in the area the FAA wants more space between take-offs in case something goes wonky. So it meant that we sat on the tarmac for awhile. It also meant that, in the words of the pilot: "the climb-out is gonna be bumpy." Indeed.

To compound this problem, only one of our aircraft's two air conditioners was functional. Aside from causing me to wonder...hmm, what else might not be "functional" on this plane, it made the cabin warm. I mean, warm. Bumpy and warm. Bumpy and warm.

The other thing is that evidently there is another FAA regulation that with only one functional air conditioner, you are only able to fly up to a certain altitude. And for us that altitude happened to be, oh, right at the cloud line. Which meant that it was bumpy the whole way home. Bumpy and warm. It also mean that the flight attendant had to stay seated, which meant no drinks. Bumpy, warm and thirsty.

People were not happy. Bumpy, warm, thirsty and pissy.

And because all of that wasn't quite enough, with about 40 minutes to go, I was watching the flight attendant and she was on the phone with the pilots when her eyes turned into saucers and she quickly hung up the phone. Her gaze was directed at the woman in 2B, right in front of me, who was...BARFING. Bumpy, warm, thirsty, pissy and the lovely smell of vomit.

We landed, and it was the fastest I've ever seen a plane cleared out.

Urbana 09

In Madison for IV Spring Management meetings. They've been good and all, but wow am I ready to head home tomorrow.

It's an Urbana year this year, so we're all at work on pulling that off. Early promo stuff is now available. I was stoked to find the following video. It features one of our old Cal Poly students Scott Johnson. Enjoy!

The bonk

A few running posts, coming right up!

OK people, as of today the SD marathon is just over 2 months away. That's coming soon! I'm feeling the training pressure. On the flip side, thanks for the VCCC congregation for their generosity this morning! I went and preached the morning service and they gave me a gift which will basically cover my entry fee.

So yesterday I went out for what I was hoping to be a 13+ mile cruise, but as the miles passed by, it became clear that I was starting to struggle. I ended up stopping for water 2 or 3 times and eventually cut the run after 12 miles and walked the rest of the way home. Once I got there, I collapsed onto the floor and proceeded, over the course of the evening, to down 2 gatorades, 2 glasses of apple juice and like 5 glasses of water.

In a past life, I was a road cyclist. And we had a term for what happened to me yesterday. We called it "bonking." Most of the time, we bonked when we did not take on enough water or food during a ride. Common symptoms were a lack of energy and general loopiness (more than usual!). I had both of those things going on yesterday for sure.

So, some takeaways from the experience:

1. Gotta drink more before a long run. Especially as it gets warmer around here. Yesterday it was pushing 80.

2. Gotta drink during a long run. To do this well, I need to plan out my routes better. Yesterday, I had a water fountain waiting for me at 6.5 miles (at Fowler and Shepherd), but when I got there it was broken. Curse the City of Clovis! I'm thusfar resisting any sort of Camel-back, handheld water bottle or, worse, those pods on a belt systems, but I don't know.

3. Gotta eat during a long run. Especially if I really want to do a marathon. Problem is, my stomach gets a little hinky during a long run. Yesterday, I had a bag of beans, but do I need more than that? Something different than that? Ideas? What works for you?

Off tomorrow to Denver and then on to Madison on Tuesday for the week. Running shoes are ready to go!

My neck of the woods

What a beautiful day today here in Clovis! One of the 5 or 6 good ones we get all year it seems. So I strapped on my GPS watch and walked a bunch. Did you know...

It's .63 miles from our house to the office
If you take the longer/preferred route, it's .90
My little stretch break march around Toys R Us is .40 miles
From the office door to Panera it's .35
Tack on another .34 from Panera to Target
To go get Lucy at her portable from my office is .39 door to door
And from my office front door to Office Max is a robust 333 feet.

Just over 5 miles all told. Loved it.