From Sea to Shining Sea

This is going to be a rather long post, so please bear with me. Last weekend, I flew to California to run a 5K and a Half Marathon. California is a beautiful state, though one in which I would not want to live.  To my mind, it is overpriced, overtaxed, and overregulated. Just to take one example, all over Disneyland, Disney had to post warning signs about possible carcinogens in the parks. If Walt Disney were starting out today, he would locate the company, and Disneyland, in Texas rather than California; which would no doubt have made my Texas friends very happy.  Had Disney done this, we would have had Disney’s Texas Adventure rather than Disney’s California Adventure as the second park in the Disneyland complex.  Come to think of it, that would have been a lot of fun. If anyone from the Walt Disney Company is reading this blog, consider this my application to be an Imagineer.

With all of that said, I love visiting California. It is a beautiful state. No state in the country has a wider range of climatic or ecological diversity.  Just within Southern California, traveling east to west across the state, you go from the Mojave Desert, over the San Gabriel Mountains, and into the Los Angeles area.  Passing through the suburbs and city, you come, finally, to the Pacific Ocean.  All of this can be driven in about 4 ½ hours, assuming traffic is not bad (more on that later).  Further, if you are in Southern California at the right time of year, you can go from skiing to surfing in about 2 hours and 100 miles. I was not interested in either skiing or surfing, but rather sightseeing and running.

I started my trip with a visit to the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. I probably would have gone there anyway as it is a must do for me any time I am in Southern California.  However, I was especially keen on going this year, as there is a major exhibit of items from the Walt Disney Archives. To anyone from California, or traveling to California who might be reading this, you owe it to yourself to visit this exhibition before it closes next April. The exhibition included artwork from some of Walt Disney’s early work, a reproduction of his office, and props and costumes from films both old and recent, among other items. Once I went through the Disney exhibit, I went through the main part of the museum. The museum traces Reagan’s rise from his boyhood in Illinois through his Presidency and beyond. Among the highlights of the collection was the suit President Reagan was wearing the day he was shot by John Hinckley and his Air Force 1, refurbished to the look the way it did during the Reagan Administration. It is an amazing collection, and well worth the time to see.

Thursday and Friday evenings were Baseball nights.  On Thursday, I went to catch an Angel’s game. On Friday, I was at Chavez Ravine for a Dodgers Game.  I enjoyed both stadium experiences. Parking was easier than any stadium I have visited on the east coast.  I was in and out of the parking lots within ten minutes. Angels Stadium sits opposite the I-5 and the Santa Ana River, about three miles from Disneyland.

Dodgers Stadium sits on a bluff overlooking the city of Los Angeles.  The view is breathtaking.

  Since I’m not a fan of either home team, I was not particularly invested in the games.  However, it was a lot of fun to see games in places I had not seen them before. 

  

Picture this guy behind the wheel
of a Mini, and that's what I saw.
Image taken from wikipedia.







I spent the day on Friday driving from San Bernardino to Santa Monica indulging my love of Route 66. During my drive, I was in traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard several cars behind a red light.  I looked to my left at a Mini Cooper that was passing on the other side of the road to turn into a shopping center and someone who looked a lot like was Wil Wheaton behind the wheel.  Traffic was stopped on both sides of the road for about a minute.

I got a good look at him.  Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to take his picture, though he probably wouldn’t have appreciated it anyway. Pulling away from the intersection, I grabbed my phone and pulled up a picture of Wheaton to confirm what I had seen and, sure enough, he was exactly whom I had seen at the intersection. I continued on to Santa Monica.  

Once there, I hung out on the pier for a while, then left

to head for the Disneyland Resort. It was a gorgeous day at the beach.  Much prettier than the traffic I endured leaving Santa Monica for Anaheim (2 hrs worth).

The next morning, I got up early and headed for the Rose Bowl, where the Awesome 80s Run would be held.  I was not originally planning to run the race, but when I saw a mockup of the race medal, I could not resist.  When I got the actual medal in my hand, it was even better than I expected.

I had planned to run the event as quickly as possible, not so much for time as for being able to get back to Disneyland as soon as possible.  This went out the window when I met a new ROTEr, Stephanie, on course. We proceeded to primarily walk the 5K, with the occasional run inserted.  All in all, I was impressed with the event. The race theme was a lot of fun.  People really got into the theme; neon was ubiquitous.  



I got my medal and left Pasadena, heading back for Anaheim and the Disneyland Resort.  This was to be my second ever visit to Disneyland and my first visit to Disney’s California Adventure.  DCA had just completed a massive 5-year expansion, the centerpiece of which was Cars Land.   Having already decided, when I passed through four years prior that I preferred Disneyland to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, I had high expectations for DCA. Nonetheless, I was blown away by what Disney accomplished.   

Buena Vista Street

DCA includes some of the best parts of Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom in Orlando and combines it with a wide range of other attractions that encapsulates an idealized California; taking cues from places like Route 66, the Santa Monica Pier, Yosemite amongst others.  Cars Land is the most complete realization of a fictional world that I have ever seen.  In addition, at dusk, when the neon turns on, it is nothing short of magical.



Paradise Pier



The trip confirmed my previous views on Disneyland.  Between Disney World and Disneyland, my preference is for Disneyland. It is the original. Main Street U.S.A., which in terms of ambiance is my favorite part of the parks, is better in Anaheim. The design seems much more unified.  Whereas in Orlando, the buildings are something of a pastiche of different architectural styles from the turn of the last century, the Main Street U.S.A. in Anaheim was designed to look like an actual Midwestern small town from that time. Walt designed it to emulate his hometown of Marceline, MO. More than this is the fact that the shops on the inside, match what is on the outside.  In Disneyland, if the outside says Silhouette Shop or Main Street Cinema,  there is an actually a silhouette shop or cinema inside.



Cars Land



Unfortunately, much of this has been lot in Orlando as storefronts there are largely just facades for the same basic store spread all along the street.  Concerning rides, with the exception of Peter Pan’s Flight, all of the rides that are located in both Parks (Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean) are superior in Anaheim.  Also, a number of rides are present in Anaheim that are not in Orlando.  These include Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and, now Snow White’s Scary Adventures. While there are a few things in Orlando not present in Anaheim, none of these is a particularly glaring omission.  Even the most notable difference, the Hall of Presidents, is partly present with the reopening of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.



L-R: Brandi, Me, Janice



All of this fun was the lead up to the real reason for my trip, the Disneyland Half Marathon and the second leg of the Coast-to-Coast Challenge. Per ROTE standard operating procedure, I went to the H Tent (bag check tent that included the last initial of H) to find the other ROTErs who were meeting up before the race. I met up with Janice, with whom I had run the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach.  We were joined by a new (to me) ROTEr from Sacramento, Brandi.  Brandi had completed a number of races before, and had made several attempts at Disney races, but so far had not finished a Disney race.  We crossed the start line a little after 6:00 am, determined that that would change.   

 It is tough to post a great time in a Disney race as Disney throws so many distractions onto the course that I have found it impossible not to stop, and look, and take pictures.  This race was no exception.  Disneyland frontloads the half marathon course by running through both of its parks in the first four miles.  After a mile, the course enters DCA behind Paradise Pier, running past Tower of Terror, down Buena Vista Street and out to the plaza between DCA and Disneyland. The course enters Disneyland running down Main Street U.S.A. hanging a left into Frontierland, continuing through Fantasyland and back through the castle before heading through Tomorrowland and exiting beyond Toontown.  From here, the course turns east (into the rising sun) and begins zigzagging until we reach the Santa Ana River.  The course goes past the Honda Center (Anaheim Ducks) and through Angels Stadium (on the Warning Track) before returning to Disneyland, finishing in front of the Disneyland Hotel. For those unfamiliar with the layout of Disneyland: http://disneyland.disney.go.com/maps/, http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/ewwos/pdf/rundisney/disneyland-half-marathon/2012/2012-DLHM-Course-Map.pdf

The thing about it though is that this makes race time is not a huge deal, for the most part, as the course scenery causes you to stop, look around and take pictures.  However, this was even more the case for Brandi, as she had not yet seen the DCA expansion (It had only opened two and a half months earlier and she had not bought park tickets).  It was early enough in the morning that the Cars Land neon was still alight. We ran past the Tower of Terror, and back out through Hollywood Land and down Buena Vista Street to the park entrance. We ran across the plaza and into Disneyland Park on Main Street U.S.A. I never get tired of running Main Street. After navigating the park, we exited the park in the back. 

From here, the course turned east and (unfortunately) directly into the rising sun. Without sunglasses, I was reduced to watching the feet of the people in front of me as I continued forward.  Eventually the course zigzagged away from the sun and I could see again. A stretch a little further on where, in previous years, there was nothing there, this year was lined with classic cars.  We came to the conclusion that this was done in conjunction with the theme for the 5K race the day before.  In keeping with the opening of Cars Land, the theme of the 5K was a Cars road rally. The cars were a welcome distraction from an area of town that did not have much about which to write home.

This was just one example of what Disney puts on their courses that make them so special to run. Whether it is seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater in Cars Land, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee in front of Peter Pan's Flight, Darth Vader in Tomorrowland, various Disney princes and princesses in locations all around the parks, or several lines of classic cars in an otherwise bleak part of downtown Anaheim, Disney makes a great effort to make their races fun and memorable. 

From here, we turned right and made our way our way alongside the Santa Ana River toward the Honda Center and Angels Stadium. The “River” looked more like a glorified drainage ditch.  I shudder to think about the chemical content of the river’s water.  We lost some time here. The stretch along the river is a fairly narrow path.  By the time we got there, it was clogged with walkers.  As a result, we had to walk along with them and could not resume out intervals until we were on final approach to Angels Stadium.

The run through Angels Stadium was a blast. We entered Angels Stadium on the first base side and ran the warning track from foul pole to foul pole. Having been there to watch a game three nights prior I already had a sense of the stadium.  Looking up at my seat from three nights prior, the stadium looked a lot different from ground level. Securing the chance to run through Angels Stadium is a nice touch on Disney’s part.  It makes running through industrialized Anaheim totally worth it to get the chance to run the stadium.

Leaving Angels stadium, we passed the point Brandi was swept the last time she attempted the course. From the here, the course takes a more or less direct line back to Disneyland. We reentered the park behind DCA at the same point we entered earlier in the day.  However, this time, instead of reentering the onstage part of DCA, we stayed backstage this time and left the park, crossing Disneyland Drive, finishing across the street in front of the Disneyland Hotel. In finishing we accomplished several goals; Brandi got her Disney medal; I got my Coast-to-Coast Medal; Janice and I had a successful dry run for Marine Corps(though we will have to get faster in order to beat the bridge and finish); and, maybe most importantly, we started and finished together. Over the last few races I have run, it has become clear to me just how much more fun is running in a group, compared with running solo.  Moreover, keeping up with pacing is easier when you have someone (or several someones) along with you to push the pace along. Over the rest of the fall, all of my races, save for the OCNJ half marathon, has other friends running them.

One half marathon down, three halfs and a ten miler to go before Marine Corps at the end of October.  I feel good about where I’m at.  I just finished a 15 mile run on Sunday night.  This was the longest run I had finished since Shamrock in March when, afterward, a nagging hip injury forced me into PT for three months.  I was concerned because in the last few weeks, it had begun to flare up again.  This forced me into the weight room to work my glutes, hips, abs and obliques.  It seems to be paying off as I haven’t had much trouble finishing the last few long runs without significant discomfort.

 

Medals L-R: Disneyland Half, Coast-to-Coast, Awesome 80s Run



Next up is the Philadelphia Rock N Roll Half on Sunday.  Running this race along with the Disneyland Half will qualify me for Half Fanatics(http://www.halffanatics.com/); a group of runners that, as the name suggests, run half marathons, a lot. I will only initially qualify at the lowest level. Over the next few months, I hope to increase my levels several times.

Onward to Philly.



Looking Ahead

Well after a longer than intended hiatus, I'm back, just as preparation for the fall really gets going. In regards to the previous post, I think I'll take a page out Mel Brooks' book and leave the last post without a Part 2, at least for the foreseeable future. I expect I'll come back to my trip as I get closer to the Rome Marathon next March.  After Shamrock back in March, I started developing hip pain.  I ended up doing two and a half month of physical therapy to fix the problem.  As I have been training for my fall races I think it worked, thankfully.  But, aside from the two races that were on the calendar, I was basically on the shelf for about three months.  As a result, I lost both a fair amount of fitness that had been built up through Walt Disney World and Virginia Beach as well as much of my motivation to train.  Once I got back from Europe, I found that I didn't really have much to say, that is until the last few weeks.

In the last month, I've started training again.  I didn't really have a choice if I wanted to be ready for Marine Corps at the end of October; and truth be told, I'm still a bit concerned that I may not have enough time to sufficiently train.  However, what's starting to get me jazzed for the fall is the release of medals for several of the races that I'm running.  My Fall racing season kicks off with a trip to California. I fly out two weeks from tomorrow for a trip to the Reagan Library, a day of driving Route 66, two nights of Baseball, two days and nights at Disneyland and, oh yeah, a 5K and a Half Marathon.  First up is the inaugural Awesome 80's Run:

I found this race through one of my ROTE friends who live in California. It's a 5K/10K race at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend.  Once I saw the medal, I just couldn't pass this race up. This is the first race of a series that is rolling out all over the country.  For future races and cities, check out this site: https://register.awesome80srun.com/

The next day is the Disneyland Half Marathon: The Disneyland Half is the second leg of my Coast to Coast Challenge.  Disney offers a third medal for those who complete a half or full marathon in Orlando (as I did in October) and a half marathon in Anaheim. I’ve been to Disneyland once before, back in the summer of 2008. At that point, the Disney California Adventure expansion was still four years from completion, so I only visited the flagship park.  The Disney property in Anaheim is much smaller than the property in Orlando.  As a result, most of the race is off property. The course runs through both parks before heading off through East Anaheim.  The course passes by the Honda Center (a.k.a., the Pond) where the Anaheim Ducks play; and it passes through Angels Stadium where the L.A. Angels of Anaheim (wordy much?) play, with a run on the Warning Track inside the stadium. The run returns to Disneyland and finishes at Downtown Disney in front of the Disneyland Hotel.

Back on the east coast, next up is the Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half Marathon on September 16.

I wasn’t really impressed with the VA Beach Rock N Roll medal last year.  I am very impressed with this one. The course does a loop through the city center, passing Independence Hall then running along the Schuylkill River before finishing in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Having looked at the elevation profile, I think that this is the flattest road race I will have ever run. 

My third race of the fall, alas, has not, and likely will not release its medal before the race, as it a smaller race.  On September 30, I’m running the OCNJ Half Marathon.  I’m really looking forward to this race. My times running in Virginia Beach have made me love running at the beach.  However, unlike Virginia Beach, Ocean City NJ has a real wood boardwalk.

Two weeks later, I have my last half marathon before the Marine Corps Marathon on October 13 in Baltimore. This race should prove to be a good indicator of my level of fitness going into Marine Corps.  As the medal indicates, the course is very hilly.  I’ve run the 5K at the last two Baltimore Running Festivals and I’m finally graduating to the Half Marathon.  These races also have the best race shirts I’ve seen at any the races I’ve run before; due to the fact that Under Armour is the primary sponsor of the Running festival.

The week after the Baltimore Half is the Army Ten Miler. Instead of a medal, they have a finisher coin. I’m not sure what to do about displaying it.  Any suggestions would be helpful. This is my final long run before the following week’s Marine Corps Marathon.

Finally, on October 28, all the preparation is done and I will run the Marine Corps Marathon, a race that I never would have thought I could/would run. This is the first race that I have serious concerns about finishing.  I have to finish the first twenty miles at a six hour marathon pace.  This is much faster than either of the marathons I have run to date.  Now WDW was not conducive to running a fast race because of all the distractions on the course, and the pace I took Shamrock was much slower because I was dealing with hip issues.  I should be good to go.  The reason for the concern is that the two cutoffs for the race are based on gun, rather than net time.  In the next ten weeks, I hope to have ramped up my pace enough to finish.  If all else fails, I’ll be counting on my ROTE chums to get me over the bridge in time.

Once I’m past MCM, my weekends largely go away. There are a couple of small non-medal races in December, the Jingle all the Way 8K in Washington and the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler in Baltimore.  But most of my weekends will be consisting of two runs a half long run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.  But this is all for a good cause as it is working toward my first Goofy Challenge.  For those who don’t know, the Goofy Challenge consists of running the Disney World Half and Full Marathons back to back.  I’ve also decided to throw in the WDW 5K for good measure.  These are the medals that have had such a big deal made about them over the last few weeks:

Going almost unnoticed between the release of the half and full marathon medals, the 5K was released late last week.  I really like it. I wasn’t sure if I would want to wear it with the other medals. I can say that I will have no problem wearing this one solo, at least on the Friday of the 5K, at that it will stand up well with the other medals.

Through a runDisney facebook campaign, which to my mind was a fairly laborious process, the new medals for the Half and Full Marathons were revealed.  I won’t further belabor the point for those unfamiliar with this (and for those who were following nothing more really needs to be said). For any of the uninitiated who are curious, check out “The Great Medal Caper” on the runDisney Facebook page. 

The Donald medal that came out of the process was pretty similar to the 15^th anniversary medal that was released last year. Basically, they took last year’s medal, removed the color and set it against a circular background. I was one of the ones who liked last year’s design, so I’m happy that the design was incorporated into the new medal design. Though a part of me wishes we had gotten a running Donald similar to the running Mickey we’ve had for the last few years.

The main event of “The Great Medal Caper” was the 20^th Anniversary Marathon Medal.  The final designs were leaked in the days leading up to the formal reveal.  Based on what was leaked, I was not confident about the medal, truth be told I’m still not over the moon yet (though I expect to be as soon as I can see it in person. The race medal was billed as something unique and spectacular before the reveal.

The medal designers certainly accomplished the unique part; at least as far as individual Disney races are concerned. The medal is a double spinner. The Mickey Head spins, as does the ring of text between the inner Mickey and the outer ring. I am optimistic that once I see it in person I will get very excited about it. However, ultimately, this isn’t the medal I expect to be most excited about; because it isn’t the medal that by the time it is placed around my neck that I will have been working toward for the previous two and a half years.

The first long distance race I ran was the 2011 WDW Half Marathon. I planned to finish it, go back to the hotel, clean up, and go about my business with Disney Vacationing.  I did not expect to do anything like that again.  However, once I finished I realized that I was going to run the marathon the next year. The next morning I got up and went to watch the end of the Marathon. At that point, watching the people make the final turn out of EPCOT, I realized that I could run the marathon.  It didn’t take long to formulate the full plan of 2011 Half, 2012 Full, and 2013 Goofy. And so, here I am, gearing up to do something that, about two years ago, I would have said you were nuts if you told me I’d be where I am. However, I won’t be doing it alone, for two reasons.  First, a friend of mine is going down with me, running the races and splitting a room at Port Orleans Riverside with me.

However, the second reason is that since last year, I’ve been making connections with many new friends through ROTE. These connections have enabled me to run with fellow ROTErs in Virginia Beach and earlier in the summer in the Baltimore 10 Miler.  I expect to have the chance to run with a subset of them at each of the races in the fall except for the OCNJ Half and possibly the Jingle all the Way 8K (as of right now, no one is on the roster).  I will not be difficult to spot many of us as we will be wearing snazzy new red tech shirts (the color in the photo is a little off). This is going to be a fun fall.

Europe in Pictures (part 1)

I expect to be posing in greater detail about the trip I'm currently taking.  For now, I think I'll let my pictures do the talking.  Below is one picture for each day of the trip.  More details when I return.

Climbing Pike's Peek (and no, that's not a typo).

I had expected to post more over the last few weeks. Then again, I also expected to run more in the last few weeks as well. I've been on the shelf for the last few weeks. My hips started bothering me in the weeks leading up to the Shamrock. This recurred about halfway through the race. A few weeks after I got back, I decided to get looked at by a doctor. He took X-rays and determined that there was just gluteal tendinitis. I'm discovering through this that my running mechanics are a bit off. When I'm running, unless I'm intentional about it, I have a tendency to run a bit duck footed. This is throwing my alignment off completely. Additionally, my hip flexors, calves, and left hamstring are particularly tight. I've been in PT for the last two weeks trying to resolve these issues. Hopefully they will be worked out before the Baltimore Ten Miler in mid June.

I did manage to run a 10k over the weekend; the Pike's Peek 10k in Rockville. It starts at the Shady Grove Metro station and runs down MD 355 to White Flint Mall. The course was quite familiar as it was the base course for nearly all of the longs I did in preparation for my previous two marathons. Because of my injury issues, I probably wouldn't have run it but for the fact that enough other people in my Sunday School class were running it that the decision was made to make the race a class outing.

For the first mile I ran with the other guys from class; they're in much better shape than I am. I managed to keep up with them through a roughly ten minute mile for the first mile. This was easily the fastest mile I've run in a long time. I fell back at that point and tried to recover. It took about five minutes after that to get my breath back to the point that I could start jogging again. From this point I reverted to my original plan of a five minute run/one minute walk interval.

At this point I ran into another guy from the upcountry whose name, regrettably, I'm blanking on. Anyway, he had tweaked his hamstring early in the race and was planning to just walk the rest of the way. We ended up running/walking the rest of the way together. By the end of the race several of my leg muscles, including My hamstring, had also started to tighten. There is no doubt that we both finished in a better time than we would have had we both run solo. That's one of the great things about running races, the chance to make friends.

I wasn't able to better last years time. However, considering the injuries I'm dealing with, I'm pleased with missing last year's time by only five minutes.

Well, for the next couple of weeks, the blog will go from primarily about running to primarily about travel as I'm leaving tomorrow for Europe. I'll spend four days in London followed by nine days primarily in Rome. I'll try to post some during the trip, but there will be a fairly extensive post post-trip. I'm hoping to run some to try to rebuild my fitness level. The Warrior Dash is coming up almost immediately post trip.

Since I'm planning to run the Rome Marathon next year, I'm interested, though not looking forward, to experience running the cobblestone streets of Rome. I want to know what I'm dealing with. I guess its fair to say the trip to Rome is a part sightseeing/part scouting trip.

Assuming that I don't get my iPhone stolen in London/Rome, I hope to post again soon.

Discovering the Joys of PRing though Intervals

After a two and a half week hiatus, I'm finally back after running a 15K and a marathon, but more on them in a minute.  For the first time ever, I tried running intervals during the Gate River Run.  I repeated the experiment during the marathon the next week.    Even though I had never tried them before (and I know that generally you shouldn't add something new on a race day) I found that I actually enjoyed running them.  During the GRR, I ran a 5-minute run, 1-minute walk interval. The next week I decided to walk with a friend who was doing a 9-minute walk, 1-minute run interval.  I think I will try to pick up the pace a bit for my next race, but for the Shamrock it was probably just what I needed.  One final general observation, which goes for both races;  I was really surprised just how many people were wearing their race shirts during the races, though there were fewer in Jacksonville than in both Virginia Beach races.  Wearing a race shirt in the race is generally a sign of a rookie; it just isn't done.

The view of Jacksonville from the Hart Bridge above the St. Johns River.

The Gate River Run was on Saturday March 10.  It started and finished at the Gator Bowl in downtown Jacksonville, FL.  The elite women were given a seven-minute head start over the elite men.  This allowed two women to cross the finish line before the first men, though the fastest man turned in a faster chip time by over six minutes.  The men's division winner was Mo Trafeh, one of the U.S. representatives to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.  I got his picture, but I couldn't quite work up the nerve to actually meet him.  I guess I'm turning into a running geek.

As for my race, suffice it to say, I was not one of the elite runners. I started well back of the elites.  I got off to a good pace. The first two miles were sub 13-minute miles.  The next two were sub 14. After that, I started losing time. I lost a lot of time getting up and over the Hart Bridge.  The Hart Bridge, which is incorporated in the design of the medal, is a very tall bridge over the St. Johns River.  Overall, though, I was reasonably pleased with my time of 2:14:08.  At least that was the time on my watch.  Unfortunately, when I pulled up my official time, somehow my chip time and the gun time was identical, even though I crossed the start line long after the gun sounded.  No matter though, whatever time I ran was a PR since I had never run a 15K race before.

The Beach/Boardwalk as seen from my room.

The next weekend I was off to Virginia Beach for my second marathon.  Course: http://shamrockmarathon.com/assets/2012Shamrock/Maps/2012%20Marathon%20Map.pdf. I wasn't sure what to expect.  Between injury, illness and occasional bouts of laziness, I had horribly undertrained for this race.  I was excited to finally meet some of the other members of Running of the Ears, known as ROTErs.  Most of the other ROTErs were running the half.  The consensus was that because of the variety of schedules arriving in VA Beach, that a meet up before the race would be better.  I went to dinner the night before at Mannino's Italian Bistro (http://www.manninositalianbistro.com/ordereze/default.aspx).  It was a ways off the beach, but it is the best Italian food I can remember having.  Anyone going to VA Beach would be well served to try this place.  I went back to the room and stayed up too late watching Louisville beat New Mexico in the NCAA tournament; totally worth it though.  I got up early the next morning to watch the start of the half marathon and to search (in vain as it turned out) for some of the other ROTErs.  It occurred to me that, never having met them, looking for them in a crowd of over 15,000 people would be problematic.  I did recognize a few of them as they crossed the start line, though.  After the half went off, I made my way back toward the start line of the marathon.  I knew that there was one ROTEr that I felt confident I could find.  We were in the same corral and the number of marathoners was much smaller that the half marathon field.  Nonetheless, it took until only about 5 minutes remaining before the start of the race before I found Janice.  Her intended pace meshed well with my undertraining; also I wanted to have a race partner.  It turned out to be a good idea.  I was undertrained, and on antibiotics for a lingering case of bronchitis. Add to that the fact that my hips started bothering me about halfway through the race, and I'm not sure I could/should have gone any faster than I did.

We started out running until the field thinned out and, largely, left us behind.  Once we weren't getting in anyone's way, we started into intervals of 9 minutes walking with 1 minute running.  The first half of the course largely mirrors the course of the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon that is held each year during Labor Day weekend. We started at 33rd St and Atlantic Ave heading south. The first half contains the only significant bit of elevation, the bridge over the Rudee inlet. The course continues past the Virginia Aquarium, through Camp Pendleton (not the one in California) and then back onto the Boardwalk.  Leaving the Boardwalk, we returned to Atlantic Avenue at 22nd St. and headed north past the Half Marathon start, roughly the halfway point of the race.  The race ran up the Beach to Fort Story.  I was very much looking forward to reaching Fort Story.  My friend Tiffani, from my old high school church youth group is living at Fort Story. Tiffani said that she would be out watching the runners come through.  When I got there, I discovered that her kids had made me a sign. I have fans... who knew?  We stopped for a minute or so and then we were off again.  We left the Fort and headed south; back toward the finish.  Upon leaving the fort, we saw the first numbered street sign. There were only about 50 blocks remaining.  We ran through several groups of cheering volunteers as we neared the turnoff for the Boardwalk.  As we were just about to make the final turn, we saw several more ROTErs who had run the half waiting for us cheering.  We made the final turn and saw the finish line just beyond the Neptune statue.  We ran on and, for the first and only time all day, separated so that I could ensure that I PRd.  I finished about a minute ahead of Janice.  We both set new PRs.

 

A sign for me.  Almost makes me feel like a real runner.

Even though I was running only about 10% of the time, I still posted a better time than I did at the WDW marathon.  Part of that is due to some of the picture taking I did in Disney World.  However, I logged a much better time on the back half of this marathon that I did on the back half of Disney World; and I think that this is due, in no small part, to the intervals I ran.  In the coming weeks, I'm going to start experimenting a bit more with intervals as the group I'm hoping to run the Marine Corps Marathon with will be running 1 minute running, 1 minute walking intervals.

All in all, I enjoyed running in Virginia Beach.  There are stretches that are pretty boring; especially the stretch alongside a swamp on the backside of Fort Story. Most of the run was enjoyable; especially the parts near the water.  Once we got onto Fort Story, it turned out to be very pretty.  Fort Story, for all you history buffs out there, contains the site where the first English Settlers set foot in Virginia.  It also has two very picturesque lighthouses. 

The thing that was most enjoyable about it, though, was having a running partner.  I got to spend seven hours hanging out and progressing through a 26.2 mile course making a new friend; that's pretty cool.  Moreover, that's the kind of thing that running with a group like ROTE promotes.  VA Beach was my first race with other ROTErs and I could not be more excited to run with them again.  I'll get a chance to run with them in a number of other races this year including, Dover AFB Half, Baltimore Ten Miler and Half Marathon, Philly RnR Half, MCM, and of course the Disneyland Half and Walt Disney World Goofy.  I got to meet more ROTErs after the race.  ROTErs Megan, Jen and Lauren were waiting and cheering near the final turn.  They came and found us at the finish line after Janice and I completed our Marathons.  After we had time to clean up, we met for dinner at Baja Cantina on 23rd st (another spot that gets two thumbs up from me).  One of these days, I will get around to writing a post where I will wax poetic about the wonders of Running of the Ears.  For now, I'll just say that ROTE is a terrific site for those who enjoy running, love Disney, and want a place to meet and be encouraged by people with similar interests. We ate and hung out for about two and a half hours before we broke up and returned to our hotels and got ready to return to real life.

Fast forward a few days. I got back out on the track yesterday and ran a mile.  This may not sound like much, but this is much sooner than I usually return to running.  It's usually more like a full week between a half marathon and my next run.  It was two weeks between the WDW marathon and my next run.  I felt a bit sore but good overall.  I'm very hopeful I can keep fitness level up going forward. My next race is the Pike's Peek 10K in Rockville at the end of April with my next half marathon in June in Dover DE.  In between, I'll be squeezing in a trip to London and Rome.  Not sure how I'll squeeze in some running to stay on track, but it's a good problem to have.

One final postscript: In one of the most baffling ad campaigns I've ever seen, Pearl Izumi, a running gear company based out of Japan, has succeeded in ensuring that I will never buy anything bearing their name; even if I eventually work my way into their targeted demographic.  To see the ad that just came out check out fellow ROTEr Beth's blog: http://runningwithmickey.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/wow-just-wow/.  In short, Pearl Izumi is calling out marathoners that run a 7 hr marathon (a time that I'm just slightly below) as moseyers that are not giving the race their all.  Leaving aside the stupidity of alienating a demographic that is much larger than the elite marathoners who comprise a very small portion of each race's field, who are they to say that just because we are running at a slower pace than Boston qualifiers that we are not giving it our all.  I find this to be incredibly insulting both on my behalf, and on behalf of many runners who do give it their all to finish at six hours and above.  It is not easy to be on your feet for nearly seven hours; it took me until Tuesday to resume walking without me feet feeling sore.  I don't care for boycotts, as I generally don't like the idea of squelching speech in the marketplace of ideas.  However, in this case, Pearl Izumi has clearly stated that they do not want business from people like me.  I'm more than happy to take their hint.    

Oorah...

This will be a short post with getting ready to leave first thing tomorrow to head down to Florida.  I registered today for the Marine Corps Marathon.  I only worked a half day so that I could be at my computer when registration opened at 3:00 this afternoon.  After a six mile run, I got home about 2:30 and began waiting for registration to open.  As it turned out, registration opened about twelve minutes early.  I registered immediately so that I'd be sure to have a spot, for peace of mind.  However, I didn't think that it was too urgent since it took 28 hours last year for the race to sell out.  About three hours later, the MCM website posted that they had sold out, much to my stunned surprise.  I expect that in the coming years they are going to have to implement some sort of lottery or qualifying standard.  Good thing they haven't this year.

This weekend I'm off to Jacksonville, FL to visit family and run the Gate River Run on Saturday.  The River Run starts at the Gator Bowl stadium and continues 9.3 miles through downtown Jacksonville on both sides of the St. Johns River.  For those interested in seeing a course map: http://us.mapometer.com/running/route_1747006.html. The course finishes just beyond the bridge in the picture.  I hope have a race recap up sometime later in the weekend, though I may not have it up until I get back.