Fritz's Running Babel

Nostolgia

2011-11-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

Every time I see a flash drive price drop, I think to back in the 80's when my dad's work bought him a 20Meg hard drive for about two grand. I thought to myself: wait- you can do that? I thought everything thing had to be on floppies! Ah, the innocence of youth...

Anyway, I finished the book "Ready Player One" last week. My one sentence review: "If you were a geek growing up in the 80's, this is your dystopian wet dream." Since I was a geek growing up in the 80's, I loved it. Extra awesomeness having Will Wheaton as the narrator... this is definitely in the running as my favorite of the year.

Speaking of running, it's getting back on track. After the big race, I had a couple of weeks of two miles/week, then three of 20 mpw, and last week was ~25. I'm nostalgic for 40-60, because that's the miles at which I feel most happy. Or least stressed.

School is getting significantly more challenging, but I'm rising to it. I think. It's amazing how much more time I have for it since I'm not spending nearly as much time running as I'm used to, and I'm averaging about five hours of sleep per day. You'd think that with having 10 days off for Thanksgiving, my body would let itself relax enough to sleep in a little, but no such luck.

Okay, back to the books. Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving week!

This. One week ago yesterday.

2011-10-23T13:20:00.000-04:00

Top of Michigan 100K

2011-10-21T19:09:00.001-04:00

62 miles is an awfully long way.

To be fair, so is 26.2. Or 10. Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my brain around five miles, and that's usually how long it takes for my leg muscles to feel warmed up. I think I still count miles one-two-three-many.

The start of the race was a bit confused for me. I got there and checked in. I went back to the car to stay warm, make some last minute decisions on what to wear, and then my brother David said: "where is everyone?" a few minutes of searching, and then I saw headlamps bouncing down the path. I started at the back and stayed there, happily enough.

I remember hitting mile 26 and thinking "I feel pretty fresh! I feel like I could start to run a marathon now!" and then I considered that I had another marathon to go. And then I had ten miles to tack on after ward. I don't think I was discouraged, but perhaps a bit daunted. I dealt with it by thinking about it as little as possible.

I hit mile 28 and someone at the aid station told me it was the half way point. I didn't like the discrepancy between course personnel and garmin, but I've learned to take Garmin with a grain of salt. Sometimes that can be a mistake, like the quarter inch layer of salt I inadvertently dipped onto a boiled potato before I put it into my mouth at the aid station. My stomach wasn't happy with me for a few miles afterward. Oops.

I remember the wind and the rain. They shut down the Mackinaw bridge for the day because of it- too many visions of a Yugo plunging off of it, I guess. I know I was pushed off the trail a couple of times, but mostly because I was in my own world and reacted too slowly to compensate. It rained pretty much the whole time, and through the wind let up occasionally, I remember it being in my face a lot more than it was at my back.

Of course, that's the way it usually goes. Memory is like that.

I have to give killer Kudos to my brother David and my Sister-in-Law Deb. They were kind enough to trail me for the entire day, meeting me at the aid stations and giving me such wonderful gifts like chicken soup and encouragement. A few minutes before the race started, it finally dawned on me just how cold, windy and rainy it would be. David offered me his jacket. I wore it the entire time, and it very well might have kept me from a DNF.

I hit mile 26 in almost exactly five hours, and was pretty pleased. I hit mile 50 at 10:02, and thought I was being pretty consistent. I remember thinking that 12 miles is no big deal; I've run 12 in my sleep. I didn't consider 12 a long run.

It was an awfully long run. Three hours to go 12 miles, only made bearable by David coming to meet me around mile 58 and run/walk me in.

I finished, went to the post race party, had a long island iced tea, and pretty much slept all the way back to Gaylord. As the Tigers ended their season, I took a long, hot shower (but still managed to get the cold water spray down of my legs in) and blissfully crashed on a couch for ten or twelve hours. Best sleep I've had in months.

A week later, and I haven't gone for a run yet. My body still feel quite drained, even though I've eaten quite a bit. I've managed to pick up a cold that's been going around. However, I see people out running, and I feel a little jealous. I'm sure I'll be out there soon enough...

Third Quarter books

2011-09-26T14:33:00.001-04:00

Dance of Dragons -GRR Martin

I had high hopes for this book; and though it mostly dwelt on characters I like, pacing was glacial. I could go on, but that was the thought that stood out. I wonder if he might pass away before bringing the series to a close, and they'll have to tap someone like Sanderson to finish it off.

Blade Itself- J Ambercrombie
Before They are hanged
Last argument of kings

Needed to get some Epic Fantasy where the plot moved, the characters felt real, and everything came to a crashing conclusion. Second time this year.

Dune- F Herbert
Ghost Story -J Butcher
Shadows Linger -G Cook

I read Dune a couple of times in the past; age 10, age 20 something, and now age 30 something. It's a lot easier to follow now than it was a quarter century ago. strange that.

Ghost story was enjoyable; though the characters didn't develop as much as I would have liked to see, I thought it moved the plot along. Besides, the previous book in the series (Changes) had enough going on in it for a couple of books. I'm curious to see where Butcher will go from here.

War Breaker- B Sanderson
Firstborn
Way of Kings

All stuff I've read before, but I was killing time while waiting for my next audiobook credits to come in, or was reading them while concurrently listening to something else. Also was interesting to see Sanderson's growth as an author.

Diplomatic Immunity - LM Bujold
Cryoburn

Finished off the VorKosigan novels again. Still love/hate (but mostly love) the end of Cryoburn. After a fairly vanilla book (enjoyable, but not her best work) Bujold writes a series of reactions which were some of the most effective scenes I've read/heard.

Macbeth - AJ Hartley/D Hewson

I'd never read/seen the play or watched a movie of it before, so I got the audiobook. It was interesting; the story as tough to deal with as season two of the "Slings and Arrows"

Golden Compass - P Pullman
Boneshaker - C Priest
Clementine
Dreadnought

Didn't realize that I got so much steampunk all in a row. Priest is kind of Steampunk horror, which I didn't expect. Golden Compass was a bit easier for me to stomach (I'm not a big horror fan) but things worked out a little too easily. Will probably continue to get their (Pullman and Priest's) books.

Fuzzy Nation - J Scalzi
Live Free or Die - J Ringo

Fuzzy nation is just fun, and I needed a change of pace after the steampunk. Honestly it felt like stepping up into clean, fresh, warm air after being stuck in dank, uncomfortable, cold basement for hours.

J Ringo is sort of fun- if he'd keep off the political theory and go for story, I'd enjoy his books more. Since I don't agree with him politically, when he climbs on his soap box it kind of sets my teeth on edge. I think he wants to be the SF's version of Ayn Rand.

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Mudstock 2011

2011-09-12T13:04:00.001-04:00

I love understatement.

So saying Woodstock 2011 was a bit muddy is like saying I occasionally like to run, or that political ads can be kind of annoying.

It started off with a wrong turn. Or a correct turn that wasn't followed by dozens of people- whatever. all I know is that I was following the pink flags. Doesn't really matter that I was going the wrong way- it gave me a chance to cheer on all the 100K, 50 & 100 milers who were going in the proper direction.

And if you hadn't guessed, I'm also a fan of rationalization.

I paced JB, who was doing her first 50K and seems to have a gift for it. At least, she held up better than I. For me, the day started off painful- my right lower back was tight when I woke up, continued to feel uncomfortable on the way to the race, and was got pretty bad as the race progressed. Which is why drugs were invented. Advil was very much my friend- otherwise, I don't believe I could have finished.

As more and more people tromped through the trails and water and dirt mixed nicely, it really did become a mudfest. In retrospect, the word I like is "slurry" because it avoids the obvious comparisons. Occasionally it looked like chocolate frosting. I also thought chocolate pudding- and the designs of all the shoes that had slipped in it reminded me of abstract art. All us runners were adding in our own marks, making it a collaboration.

I really liked to think of it artistically, because all the comparisons to chocolate made me pretty hungry.

We finished to first lap and got food; we also decided to make the half mile trek out to the car to drop off gear, get more advil, and randomly help stuck cars out of the parking lot. Two of the half marathoners (or maybe 5 milers; I'm not sure) needed a push out of the mud, and I thought "why not?"

Obviously, the drugs were helping.

The second loop was even more fun- there were hills far to slippery to climb without using trees; water that went up past my knees, and bees at most every aid station.

The volunteers were awesome; pretty much everyone had a "good job" encouragement as we passed one another, and the hours and time flew.

My longest (time wise) run ever!
Distance 31 miles (plus a mile or so to get to the parking lot)
Time 7:59:59.9
Pace 15:27

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2nd Quarter books

2011-07-16T00:16:00.001-04:00

Only read a few interesting books since April; some were repeats, some were gambles that didn't pay off, and some were just out of a sense of ennui.

Still, it's nice to have stories going through my head. Strangely enough, it seems to help keep life in perspective.

The name of the wind- P Rothfuss
Wise Man's Fear

A Hymn before Battle- J Ringo
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire

Dreadnaught- J Campbell
Fuzzy Nation- John Scalzi
Moon Called- P Briggs
Borders of Infinity- LM Bujold
Elantris- B Sanderson
Moon is a Harsh Mistress- R Heinlein
Overkill- Robert Buettner

The first two by Patrick Rothfuss are my favorites. There is an interesting back story, the character is smart and quick, but has flaws which tie well into his strengths. I did have the discomfort of continually thinking: "When's the other shoe going to drop? When are things really going to get bad?"

Occasionally it was difficult to listen to for that reason. But there were some moments of genuine awesome storytelling.

The stuff by John Ringo was plot driven military silliness, but entertaining. Fuzzy Nation was legal driven fun; decent number of laugh out load moments.

Cetaganda- LM Bujold
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Winterfair Gifts

Listening through the VorKosigan novels again. I'm amazed that they have the staying power to keep me entertained enough to listen through all of them for the past three or four years; occasionally multiple times per year.

I hope Sanderson will get the next book in the Stormlight Archive done soon. He's fairly prolific, so it shouldn't be more than a year or two. And I'm looking forward to Butcher's Ghost Story. That should be coming out in the next few days.

Pity that Patrick Rothfuss took years between his two novels. Still, I'd rather a good book that ooh a while rather than a half assed effort once a year. Of course, the worst of both worlds occasionally happens, too. Hope it doesn't in his case.

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Ophilia Bonner 8K

2011-07-15T21:19:00.001-04:00

The race was maybe five miles away from where I go to school, and about two hours after my last class on Thursday. So it just sort of made sense to me.

I very nearly forgot about it, though; habit nearly had me driving back home after class. But I remembered in time, plotted my course to the race, and showed up to pick up my bib and do my warm up.

I figured a four mile warm up would have me up to nine for the day, and I wanted to get a feel for the terrain. It was very much like the Crim, except not as hilly. Really quite flat, now that I think about it.

Race started, and I settled into a comfortably hard pace; I passed a few, and was passed by a few. The 5K and 8K folks started at the same time, so you weren't quite sure if someone was a competitor or just along for the ride for the first mile and a half.

I found myself following a lady who had a very even pace; I was fairly happy to have someone to set my sights on for the majority of the race. I followed her for about four miles, when we joined up with the 5K race folk and started passing people.

Like, a lot of people.

I'm not why I react this way, but it seems to give me a boost to reel people in. I ran harder, and my mile pace dropped about 45 seconds. The last half mile was pretty rough, but I just kept at it.

I finished in 35:26 2nd AG, 13 OA (out of 90 or so). I even got a trophy. No idea what I'll do with it. Seems a silly bauble, really. But as a mid packer, I should enjoy the little things, I guess...

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Location:Flint, MI

Fun with dumbbells

2011-07-10T22:34:00.001-04:00

Ever since Bayshore, I've had some problems with my left hamstring. I have about 15-20° less extension in my knee with full hip flexion, and a muscle knot that feels about the size of a marble at it's proximal attachment.

What that means in english is that it's a real pain in my ass. Enough that after a hard run it's kinda painful to sit. I've tried regular stretching, foam roller, tennis ball, and (OTC) drugs to try to calm it down, with no avail.

So I've gone something a little more desperate. Picture in your mind the stereotypical "touch your toes" hamstring stretch, except have a 30# dumbbell in one of your hands. As gravity does it's work, stand on a step for a better stretch.

Work on doing an anterior pelvic tilt to move ischial tuberosity (the attachment point for hamstrings) further away from it's origin. Finally, flex right knee so that the left is the only one getting the stretch.

While your imagining this, try *not* to imagine the "pop" sound which means something very, very bad has happened. :P

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Hungry Duck Half

2011-07-04T19:55:00.001-04:00

Second of nine or races in my quest to have a season of fun, rather than of focus on an "A" race.

I need to start waking up at five am more often. The sunrise this morning was beautiful, even if I was so tired that every time I made a turn on the way to the race, I had a brief moment of panic thinking that I was going the wrong way.

I also didn't realize till I got the race that I forgot my Garmin. I've been running Garmin free quite a bit lately, but this is the first time in six years of running I've been without something to time myself. It was particularly odd when I crossed the finish line. I found myself pushing on my wrist where the Garmin "stop" button would be. No joke.

So I have no idea of my time; I'm pretty sure it was about what I was shooting: maybe a 1:39-1:40. I ran most of the race with a friend nicknamed A-train; he still had a lot of gas at mile 11 so I told him to go on ahead. He dropped to sub-7 pace while I think I maintained a decent 7:35-7:40.

Not only was I sans garmin, I was also shirtless. I don't have quite the physique to run shirtless as comfortably as other of my friends, but I do overheat quickly, and I've been going shirtless almost as much as garminless these days. I only felt self conscious when I wasn't running.

After the race I popped into a recently opened running store in Brighton called Elite Feet. Very nice place; wide open, video analysis on a treadmill, exceptionally knowledgeable staff. I must've hung out in there for a good 45 minutes analyzing gait patterns in different shoes and chatting about form, shoes, and things like that.

Fun times!

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Solstice 10 Mile

2011-06-25T17:35:00.001-04:00

First of my nine (or so) races. It went just about perfectly. :)

I went in with this vague idea of going relatively easy the first three miles, moderate hard the second three miles, and hard the last three miles.

Of course, those of you with math skills realize that this adds up to nine. I didn't really figure that out until mile six. On the other hand, I didn't follow that plan even a little, so I just got a chance to laugh at myself.

I warmed up about mile with some of my Daily Mile friends, kicked back and watched the 10K start. Soon enough I was lining up with the rest of the 10 milers, feeling that anticipation that usually comes at the beginning of a race.

Doing the first half mile on a horse track was sort of interesting. A bit sandy, and kind of banked, it wasn't my favorite running surface; on the other hand, I like it better than concrete. Nearly tripped going out of the track, and a few minutes later hit the first hill.

I later thought that during the race, if I can feel myself going down the hill, I'll probably have to pay for it a lot, later. Well. We started off with money in the bank. The first hill wasn't killer. Might maim a bit, if you didn't respect it, but not killer.

No, I think it was the downhills that were truly killer. I like to let my momentum work, but it still and kill the quads. I was feeling it by mile eight, and am particularly glad I skipped my strength training workout Friday.

The miles flew by; I thought random thoughts, and attacked (or was attacked by) random hills. There were houses, but I didn't see them. Lots of people were wearing the race shirt, I guess, but I wasn't paying attention.

In fact, either I was in the "zone" for most of the race, or I pretty much sleepran through it. Not really sure I could tell the difference, really.

Finished the race in 1:16:28 (Garmin time) and enjoyed the post race festivities. Had a good time standing around and chatting with all the various people. then went off to Guernsey Farms for food and company. I'm regretting not getting chocolate milk and ice cream... but I'll know better for next time.

So, I got a shiny new PR to go along with my shiny new metal. Also got a lei, which was new but not shiny. A good race. I definitely recommend it!

2011-06-18T12:40:00.002-04:00

It's possible I've overdone my race commitments this season. But you know how it goes when a big chunk of my social set are runners: every race anyone is doing sounds like a good idea. So here it is:

6-25 Solstice Run 10M
7-4 Hungry Duck Half Marathon
7-31 Warrior Dash 5K
8-6 The Legend Half Marathon
8-14 RUT lucky 13 fat ass
8-27 The Crim 10M
9-3 Labor Day 30K
9-10 Run Woodstock 50M
10-2 Brooksie Way Half Marathon

If I have anything left, I may sign up for a marathon after the Brooksie, but I'm not sure. Hopefully I can run these relatively smart; not push so hard that I injure myself.

I'm a little worried about the Crim/Labor Day 30K/Woodstock weekends; one after the other isn't a great way to keep myself from overdoing it. But I wouldn't have a problem dropping down from the 50 Mile to the marathon, or even the half if necessary. Or DNFing. There are lots of 50 Milers out there, and I have time to try again, if at first I don't succeed.

If you're doing any of these races, let me know!

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Location:Races!