Time to start fresh. This new destination is an offshoot from my personal site. Recently it seems all I’ve been doing is talking about running and fitness. That might not appeal to everyone and I feel like getting more in-depth so why not branch it off into it’s own place?

That’s what this place is. A place for all the fitness discussions I feel like making. Hopefully it’ll be of some use.

I needed a run last night. Sure, I’d just run a 5K the day before but I was off all day for no good reason. Irritable, with just a heaviness in my heart. I mean, it’s not like there’s nothing going on, but regardless… I needed a run. I was scheduled for a “long run” anyway — if you can call any run in a 5k training plan “long” — so I figured I’d go out and knock out 6 or 7 miles after I put Julia to bed and clear my head.

I got everything on, kicked on the Clip+, put my reflector vest on and headed out from the house. I was going to cruise my old stomping grounds in a nearby golfing community. I used to do night runs there frequently the last time I got on a running kick so I know it well. I crossed one of the main drags and thought about my 5K and my desperate need to improve my hill running. Looking to the left there’s a long incline of almost half a mile that I knew would be “fun” so I decided to make it a hill repeat night.

I maintained my pace quite well. Scheduled for 8:22 and keeping about 8:00 flat even on the incline. My wind was better than during the race, too, with a glorious 60 degree evening and a light breeze. I reached the top of the hill feeling good and righteous, congratulating myself on getting out on my first night run this year. I felt secure in my reflector vest, listening to music quietly so I could still hear things going on around me, and if something did occur I had my Road ID right there on my…

Wait. Where the hell is my Road ID? I almost stopped dead in my tracks but I could actually picture it sitting in the drawer where I keep my wallet, keys, phones, etc. How stupid can I be? The first time I could really use and need my Road ID and I get 2 miles from the house before I realize I don’t have it.

Then my mind started working at me. This is Murphy’s Law writ large. There’s a pickup with my name on it somewhere that’s bearing down on me right this second. I’ve seen the marks on the sidewalk, the missing signs and shrubs from vehicles plowing off the road and into the landscaping. It happens. My wife, comfortably ensconced on the couch will look at the clock and start to wonder in about 45 minutes. In an hour she’ll start getting concerned. In 90 minutes she’ll be asking a neighbor to house-sit since Julia is asleep while she tries to find me. Of course I had deviated from the course I told her I would be on just so I could do my hill repeats. I’ll bleed out in a ditch before anyone finds me.

I got down the hill and did one more repeat back up before heading back to the barn. My pace kept solid but I only got a little under 4 in before my anxiety at an ignominious end became unbearable.

Yeah, it’s great having my brain.

I’m a little under a month following the Shamrock Marathon which is a wee bit funny to me. A month following the Marine Corps Marathon I was struggling with sore knees and dreading my runs. 4 weeks after the Shamrock and I’m shooting for a 5k PR. However, I had no clue what the course would be like so I was uncertain how likely a PR was. I train on flat ground almost exclusively. I loathe hills. Hills — okay… and wind, heat, humidity, dehydration, that guy that passed me like I was standing still — are the mind-killer. And the wind-killer. Was St. Timothy’s going to be hilly? They advertise a “NEW FLATTER COURSE this year”, their emphasis. Implying, to my mind, that last year was anything but flat. Trepidation!

I didn’t prep as much for the 5k. It’s 3 miles! I don’t need to carbo load the night before or get up 2 hours earlier and pound fruits and bagels. It’s 3 miles! I had a slightly more carb-laden breakfast, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade on the way there and showed up about 30 minutes early so I could pick up my timing chip. Once they announced the line-up for the 5k I walked in and found a place in the chute about 5 people back from the start. Behind the speed demons, in front of a large pack of kids. Count down and off we go.

I was shooting for a 7:20 pace early on. That would bring me in just under 23 minutes and would comfortably be a PR. My previous unofficial PR is a 23:30 or so or a 7:32 pace.

The front half

St. Timothy’s is almost exclusively out and back with one extra loop around a block outbound. Which means you get pretty good intelligence on how your return trip is going to be on the way out. So starting out on a descent for most of the first mile told me all I needed to know about the finish: harsh. But I was able to stay frosty on the pace and reached the turnaround still holding pace. But I knew I had the ascent for the final mile.

I was honestly trying to conserve energy but my camel was showing through. I crossed the 180 heart rate mark about 1 1/8 miles in. Frankly, I didn’t look at my heart rate much during the race. With all the rolling hills I knew it would be higher than I’m typically comfortable with. I didn’t feel like I was in the danger zone. Sure, 180 is in my own personal zone 5, but it’s a race! It’s a short race! That’s what zone 5 is for.

The back half

I was slowing down and knew it. I hadn’t seen my boss, Scott, who was also racing and shooting for a very similar time but I knew he was back there somewhere, salivating. The course is almost like a ‘W’ in elevation profile, with a mile of mostly downhill, 3/4 of a mile of uphill, the turnaround and back downhill then finishing with 3/4 of a mile of uphill. On the return trip I was creeping up toward 8 minute miles on the uphills. I was able to keep making up a bit of time on the downhills, but my average pace was gliding up fairly steadily: 7:22… 7:23… 7:24. 2 1/2 miles in on the final ascent I was plinking 185 on the heart rate monitor, quite near my maximum. And I did it again. I lost focus and walked. I’m mad at myself for it and that will is something I’ve got to work on. Earlier on in my training last year I didn’t allow myself that luxury. I need to reach deep inside and find that guy again.

While I was stomping along getting my wind back Scott caught me. Gave me a slap on the shoulder as he went by. Luckily that got me moving again. I’d gotten a breather and, hell, only had about half a mile left. What kind of pansy walks with half a mile left? So I got moving again and tried to get the legs going again to keep my boss in catching distance. I steadily gained on him and finally passed him with about a quarter of a mile to go. I had some kick and was able to finish well. The Garmin says I finished in 23:33 for a 7:34 average pace. Officially St. Timothy’s says I finished in 23:45. I have no clue where those 12 seconds came from. Here’s the Garmin connect info.

Afterthoughts

The actual course was a royal pain for me. It tells me that I need to throw more hills into my workout mix. Mile splits weren’t called so if you didn’t have a Garmin I have no clue how you’d pace yourself. Of course everyone was nice. I will get revenge on the race next year… and be in a new age bracket so I won’t be in direct competition with Scott, either .

Also, I guess people just ignore the “no iPods” rule. I was surrounded by people with iPods at the start. I’d guesstimate maybe… 40% of runners had them. I don’t like it. If the race director says “no iPods”, don’t bring it! It’ll be interesting for the half marathon I’m doing in May. They’re disallowed and they say they’ll DQ anyone wearing one and not let them participate again.

Here’s me covering my race number trying to hit my Garmin. Believe it or not, this is the only picture of me at the event. I know it’s short and local, but that’s it? Erf.

Packet pickup day is always fun. A mixture of excitement and trepidation as the race is almost there.

I picked up my packet for the St. Timothy’s Sprint Sprint 5K yesterday for the race Saturday morning. It’s a smallish local race for a good cause. I’m hoping to set a PR tomorrow — which would be anything under 23:42 — but I don’t know how challenging the course is. It’s likely at least moderately rolling given it’s in the center of Raleigh so I might be out of luck. Being such a small race it’s not out of the realm of possibility for me to actually place in the top 3 of my age group. Depends on who shows up and how good of a run I have. Frankly it would have to be a stellar effort above my plan for me to accomplish that given last year’s results, but it’s still possible! Here’s last year’s results:

                      MALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39

Place Bib   Name                     Ag City               St Time    Pace  
===== ===== ======================== == ================== == ======= ===== 
1   189 JERRY WILLIAMSON         35 RALEIGH            NC   21:27  6:54 
2   214 COLIN MULDOON            36 RALEIGH            NC   21:55  7:04 
3     5 CHRISTOPHER BARNHART     36 RALEIGH            NC   22:15  7:10 
4   125 ZACH SLOANE              35 RALEIGH            NC   22:40  7:18 
5   148 LEX HARRIS               38 RALEIGH            NC   23:21  7:31 

Damn it! So close to my target pace. Look at the previous year!

                      MALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39

Place Bib   Name                     Ag City               St Time    Pace  
===== ===== ======================== == ================== == ======= ===== 
1   179 RODRICK JONES            37 CARY               NC   20:43  6:41 
2   251 MATTHEW POWERS           37 RALEIGH            NC   23:13  7:29 
3   545 JOE NUSS                 38 RALEIGH            NC   23:34  7:35 

So I’ll just have to run as best I can and see what happens. Channel my inner Kenyan.

Speaking of Kenyans

I decided to get a new shirt to run in to try to show some support for my mom given what’s going on. For the front I went with something a bit shorter and less self-serving and to the point. I assume that the crowds for my next several races will be smaller, so I went with (hopefully) funny.

It’s a bit odd that I had just talked about how long I would continue to leave the “running in honor of my father” on the back of my shirt. I had answered “until there’s someone else that should be there.” With my mother battling cancer, it seemed like the right time.

The “steroids” thing was one of 4 things I came up with and tried out. When I asked Cat which one I should do, that was the only one that made her laugh out loud so obviously I had to go there. We’ll see if it works tomorrow.

If only there was a way to store and replicate weather at will. I’d record this past weekend and relive it all year long. Lower 70s, comfortable, sunny, glorious.

I was scheduled for a “long run” of 6 miles at 8:23 pace. I feel almost guilty for calling that a long run, hence the quotes. It’s just such a different mindset training for 5ks after training for marathons for a year. 13 miles was my shortest long run during marathon training, so 6 felt like chump change. I hit the turnaround point and felt a bit like a fraud. I’ve blown past that thing too many times in the past for it to feel right u-turning there.

With the “summer of speed” in full swing I’m savoring my long runs. I guess I’m more of a camel. That 6 miles started off a little rough but once my legs got moving the pace was quite easy. I actually averaged closer to 8:06 for most of it and finished off a bit faster than 5k race pace. I was pleasantly tired but not beat. Now compare that with my intervals and short tempo this week where I would have paid good money for a recliner and some bon-bons. I may be trying to channel cheetah, but the camel is showing through.

I may never reach cheetah status. I mean, let’s face facts here: I’m a hair short of 40 years old, 6’2″ tall and weigh just at 190 pounds. I’ve never trained for speed. I did my first intervals and speed work this winter. But I’m going to give it my all. I may puke a few times this summer, but that’s just the negative energy departing my body. At least that’s what I tell myself.

The weather in North Carolina during the summer can be brutal. Triple digit temperatures and high humidity combine in ways that makes even the short trip from the car to my office building miserable. Running in such conditions is almost as much fun as punching yourself repeatedly in the coinpurse. But, you deal with the hand your dealt. I took to getting up before dawn in the height of summer to hit the trail for my long runs. Otherwise it’s just punishing.

During the week for my shorter runs I wasn’t so fortunate. I run at lunch. It’s what I do. And I paid for it. But in many ways I think that some training in those conditions can have a positive effect. That way if you’re racing in anything more comfortable it feels like cake. Compared with 100 degrees and 90% humidity, anything else is a nice springtime outting.

So with the summer of speed in effect I had a couple of faster runs this past week in prep for my first 5k of the season this coming Saturday. And North Carolina being what it is, summer came for an early visit. On Monday I had a 5x800m interval workout at a 6:50 pace. That day wasn’t too bad, with a temperature around 85 degrees and humidity near 40%. Still, that’s the workout that let me discover my maximum heartrate: 189 or so. I’d always thought my max heart rate was somewhere around 180 given the classic “220 – age” formula and the fact that I’d never measured above about 178. Well, this day did it. I finished my last interval and could cheerfully have never run another.

Wednesday was a tempo day, 3 miles at 7:40. I’ve done 3.1 at 7:32 so I figured I could do this. It was pretty hot again, almost identical to Monday. After my warmup I was already pinging 162 on the heart rate monitor. This doesn’t bode well. After ramping up to pace I’m already bumping 170 in less than a fifth of a mile. A little under 1.5 miles in an I’m constantly at 177 and I finally take a break, breathing like a bellows. Gawd almighty. I end up taking two more walking breaks on a scheduled measly 3 mile tempo run, hitting 185 on the heart rate monitor on the back stretch up the only hill on the course.

Let’s see what effect the weather had. Pulling up Wolfram Alpha for some historical data on my unofficial 5k PR in June for crying out loud: about 75 degrees and 45% humidity. For that one I hit a maximum of 174 on the heart rate monitor. I didn’t even hit 170 until 2 miles in.

Perhaps “summer of speed” is a misnomer. Might be “summer of horror”.

I don’t think too much about mortality. I think about it more now that I’m married with child but still manage to keep it at bay. But I recognize that were I, say, 10 miles out on a long run along the Tobacco Trail and I keeled over with a heart attack or somehow got hit by a car or a ravenous pack of rabid goats descended on me it would be hard for anyone to know who I was or anything about me. Cat always has a nagging worry when I go out on my long runs that “something will happen” and there would be no way for her to know. I began carrying my cell phone which is a moderate pain but would suffice for me to contact her if something happened, but it still doesn’t help too much if something really bad happened and people were trying to help me. Sure, they could check the address book on my phone but they’d have to unlock it. Etc, etc.

Road ID solves that problem. It’s stunningly simple as all good ideas are. Mine came in yesterday and I’m wearing it around just to get a feel for it. Obviously I’m not used to wearing things on my right arm, but still it’s not obtrusive and it’s everything you could ask for. Their site is well-done as well, giving tips and hints on precisely what to put on it along with accepted abbreviations for medical conditions you might wish to include. If you have space save the last line for a snappy slogan to peek down at during races. I chose “One mile at a time” which is about perfect for me.

They have different styles including dog tags, ankle bracelets and little shoe pouches so you should be able to find something that resonates. I chose the standard, original version over both the rubberized one and the new-fangled “online” version. To my mind having all the important information right there on the bracelet is better than an 800 number to call to get the information. Sure, you can fit more information online which is a benefit. The online version is also dynamic so that if I change my phone number or I suddenly develop an allergy to goats I can update my info immediately, but I’ll just fork over the cash for a new one if that happens.

You can use this coupon code to get $1 off for the next 30 or so days: ThanksBrian632690. There’s no limit of these coupon codes out there, they give everyone a “tell a friend” code when you order. And no, I don’t get a red cent of it. Also they donate a portion of the proceeds to an organization of your choice which I thought was cool.

I’d seriously recommend this to anyone that exercises outside with any regularity. You just never know when that unchecked goat population will literally bite you on the ass.

After over a year of constant marathon training I’ve decided to spice things up this spring and summer. It’s not that I’m in a rut, it’s just that if I switch gears a bit I think it’ll help me both mentally and physically for any future marathon training I do.

For one thing I want to improve my speed and leg strength. To that end I have two 5k races and a possible half marathon scheduled out to May. I’m also working in some resistance leg workouts which I haven’t done since running as well as hill repeats. I’ve never been particularly fast but I’d like to be faster. I’ve switched over to the FIRST 5K training plan which incorporates faster paces and fewer overall miles than the marathon plan which only makes sense. The dates for my events don’t really fall perfectly so I’m really using the training plan as an overall plan that’ll have races sandwiched within it in place of weekend “long” runs. The half marathon is kind of an outlier in relation to the 5K training plan so I’ll likely up the long runs on a few of the planned runs to better prep for that. 13 miles doesn’t worry me. 13 miles was my shortest long run in my marathon training plan! I looked forward to the 13 mile days, so a half is not daunting.

In terms of goals I just want to improve my PRs. My unofficial 5K PR is 23:20 which just happened during a training run one day last summer. I started out on a typical day and realized I was moving at a decent clip. I just kept going until I’d hit the 5K mark and clocked in at that time. My current goal is beating 23 minutes which I think is attainable. I’d like to keep chipping away at it and ideally would love to beat 20 minutes eventually, but that’s going to take a lot of work over the summer. That’s not necessarily bad and is, in fact, precisely what I want. But 3 minutes over 5K is pretty substantial and I’m not underestimating the difficulty.

My unofficial half marathon PR is from the Shamrock Marathon at 1:58:44. It’s possible I’ve done better in a training run but I don’t recall right now. I know I can beat that with ease but by how much is a better question. Go out too fast and blow my energy on the first 10K or go out too slow and wind up with time left on the clock and energy left in the tank. Tough call. I imagine I’ll shoot for a 1:45 time to start with which calls for a relatively reasonable 8:00/mile pace. Doable? We’ll see.

Prerace

After all the prep and miles, the Shamrock is in the books. It was both wonderful and hard in almost equal measures. I had been watching the weather forecast since last weekend and it didn’t look good (though even a weatherman saying they know what will happen tomorrow typically shouldn’t be trusted). Sunny days right up until Sunday when thunderstorms and wind was forecast. As the week went on it began changing subtly; by Wednesday they were scattered thunderstorms, by Thursday it was mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of rain, by Friday mostly sunny with a 20% chance of rain.

We traveled Saturday morning on a lovely day and got into our hotel at about 2:20. As luck would have it one of my favorite authors, Patrick Rothfuss, was in Virginia Beach for a signing. As luck would have it… I didn’t make it to see him. Just couldn’t work out the timing in order to get my race packet on time. So we settled in and then went to the convention center to get my packet. Julia documented the journey and captured me receiving my bib. Of course I had to wear my Marine Corps shirt. That’s just logical.

We spent the rest of the day playing on the beach with Julia. It was quite frigid with the wind — and the wind had me petrified for the following day — but we made the best of it. After that it was a pasta buffet at the hotel — not great, not horrible — and an attempt at sleep. Attempt.

Race day

Sunday dawned — after a frankly miserable night of sleep — with no clouds and temperatures ranging from 50 to a bit over 70 through the race. I got suited up and headed to the starting line a little over a mile and a half down the road. My mind wandered quite a bit trying to get over the anxiety. For the Marine Corps I had no expectations. My training had had too many setbacks to realistically shoot for anything but finishing. For Shamrock, I knew I’d done the distance. Now I wanted to shoot for time. 4 hours to be exact. My training had gone pretty well but a few minor setbacks caused me to miss some of my longer long runs. Would the training be enough?

The first half

I got to the starting line with about 10 minutes to spare. Yes, I cut it a bit close but I didn’t want to stand around for 40 minutes like I had for the MCM. So a nice brisk walk then 10 minutes of shuffling from foot to foot sounded okay to me. Right before the horn I pulled off my two overshirts and tied them around my waist — I would see Cat and Julia in just over 10 minutes so I could drop them off — and off we went.

I had a 9:00 minutes pace planned. It’s what I’ve been training with forever. Holding to that pace would beat 4 hours by a decent margin. Even if I fell off the pace some towards the end I had a good 5 minutes of leeway. I hit the first mile marker at 9:01. Not bad, I know my pace pretty well. The Garmin was having fun in the buildings but it was reasonably accurate until later. I saw my girls soon thereafter and gave them my spare shirts and got some nice love. Second mile hit at 8:57 then it was over the bridge, the one “hill” of the race, repeated twice. Truly it was nothing.

Around 5 miles in — splits of 8:57 and 8:59 for 3 and 4 — my bladder was quietly calling and I finally caved in. I waited for a portapotty, ran in when it opened and… stood there with my dong in my hand. Shy bladder. I couldn’t go. I looked down at my watch and gave up. Mile 5 split was 9:52, I had blown almost a minute for nothing. That was the last time I stopped to try to pee. It continued to call quietly but it never got bad and eventually left me alone. My pre-race plan and advice from others after my bladder problems in the MCM had me stop drinking 2 hours prior to the marathon and then start again after about 2 miles in. Looks like pretty sound advice.

My 6 mile split was 9:24 I guess from still having some pee break time, but that was also where the Garmin started playing with me. The turnaround between miles 5 and 6 threw me off by a tenth of a mile. It was fairly easy to adjust as I wasn’t trusting the Garmin’s actual paces but rather my manual splits crossing the official mile markers. A previous long run had taught me that.

Through Camp Pendleton I maintained pretty decent splits of 8:56, 8:56 and 8:57 which brought me back to the bridge at mile marker 9. No problem on the bridge this way either and it was nice to say bye to the only real incline. Mile 10 was a bit too fast at 8:51. I saw my girls again between the 10 and 11 mile markers on the boardwalk where Julia executed a precision bottle switch and banana handoff and off I went again hitting mile 11 in 8:52. This took us to the main road where most of the pain would occur. I hit 12 in 8:59 which is about where I wanted to be. I hit the half marathon point at 1:58:44 which is pretty much on course especially given my bladder bust. For perspective, I hit the halfway point at the Marine Corps Marathon in 2:10:32.

That just leaves the second half. Gulp.

The second half

All along this section of the race is the last half of both the marathon and the half marathon coming towards you on the right side of the lane. The slower runners and walkers were just hitting the final miles of their races. So I did what I do: cheered them. Every name I could read off the front of the bib I’d cheer them. “That’s the way, Barb!” “Almost there, Don!” I didn’t cheer the ones with headphones; I didn’t wear headphones because they’re forbidden so if I don’t get to use the crutch those who did don’t get my support. This was a great distraction but I have a feeling it cost me somewhat in energy. Who knows. It still felt good to give some folks a pick-me-up.

I hit the next splits in 8:58, 8:59, 8:59, 9:00 and 8:58. That gets us to mile marker 17 and the end of the good portion of the race. The rest of the day was a giant pile of suck. I hit about 17 and a quarter and didn’t feel right. I normally maintain a 2-steps-in-3-steps-out breathing cadence when I’m at pace except for hills. I couldn’t do that anymore. I felt a bit light-headed and tingly. I didn’t want to walk but I did. It’s kind of obvious to see when you chart my average heartrate over the race. From about 1:30 in up until the 17 mile marker my heartrate was on a ramp up to 172. That’s high for me. I was just beat. I don’t really know why, whether it was the slight gradual incline to it or “wasting” my breath on cheering others, or whether it was the fact that the temperatures were higher than any I’d trained in since the MCM. I just did not feel right.

I didn’t walk for long but the pattern was set in motion. The 18 mile marker showed up at 9:46. 19 miles at 9:44. 20 at 9:51. I wasn’t running much slower but I had to walk. I’d just get beaten back down again. I had been hydrating like a mother the whole time, with a total of 48 ounces that I carried on me and I grabbed extra water at the aid stations. I had electrolytes from an S-Cap I took before the race and one mixed into my mid-race bottle. I carried a total of 7 Gu gels and had a banana at 10.5 in. I should have been adequately prepared… but I wasn’t for some reason. I know there’s a mental aspect as well as physical, but when I wasn’t feeling good I really wasn’t. I thought a number of times of calling it a day at a medical tent but I found just enough to keep going.

Then the 4 hour pace group passed me at mile 21 (10:03 split). I knew they were back there. I’d seen them at the start and at the turnaround prior to Camp Pendleton. I knew it was a matter of time. And during a walking break there they went. I knew I couldn’t do any more 9:09 splits. 4 hours was gone. I called Cat and told her that I was pretty beat and that I wouldn’t be there at 4 hours. I was going to finish but I didn’t know how long it would take. She gave me as much support as I could hope for and I was grateful. I started running again. 22 miles appeared in 11:39, the worst split of the day.

I picked it up as much as I could. Miles 23, 24 and 25 were hard miles. There was a fairly stiff headwind blowing sporadically that really wore us down. The crowds were starting to get there again and many people helped my spirits. Once I reached the turn to get onto the boardwalk I just went. I could finally see the finish line. At that point that was all I cared about. I hit 26 miles at 10:07 and found Cat and Julia waving and cheering. They hadn’t seen me finish the MCM but they were able to see this one. I gave Julia a high five and concentrated on putting one in front of the other. That final fifth of a mile looked long but I knew that it was almost over.

And then it was over. I remembered to smile. I remember to hit the stop button on the Garmin. 4:08:19 officially. A bit over 22 minutes faster than my MCM time. Not quite my goal, but a good time. I claimed my finisher medal and walked slowly forward through the volunteers, grabbing some water, getting a banana, getting some pretzels and a cookie. I thanked all of the volunteers I dealt with and eventually made my way out and found my girls who gave me all the love and encouragement I could hope for. At one point I told Cat to please remind me in the future when I say I want to do another one that I don’t want to run another marathon. Might have been the pain and disappointment talking. A long stroll back to the hotel along the water with my shoes off was the cap to a pretty memorable day.

Afterthoughts

The race was really wonderfully run. The swag was awesome: a long-sleeve tech shirt for registering, a tech hat and long-sleeve T for finishing and, of course, a medal. All of them are really wonderful bits of swag. The race course was clearly marked and the aid stations were both plentiful and well staffed. Everyone was supportive and enthusiastic.

My shirt was a success. I had a lot of people around me laugh at the joke on the back. I had several who told me my father would be proud which admittedly made me choke up a bit every time. One man told me my father had a good son. That got me too. The front of the shirt was just as good. Though the organizers were smart enough to put first names on the bibs to make it easier for everyone, I had a lot of people saying “Hi Brian!” or “Keep smiling, Brian” or some nice thing to say. That helped quite a bit.

I actually feel pretty good today. I felt better after this race than after the MCM, and that’s with another mile and a half or so walk along the beach back to the hotel. I drove us home today and I don’t feel any stiffer than I usually do after a long run. Maybe that means my problems are mental. Maybe not.

It was a good race. I feel good about my time, though I didn’t meet my goal. Will I run another? Never say never.

My rather short-lived 2nd gen iPod Shuffle won’t sync anymore. It won’t even attach over USB. It attaches, detaches, attaches, detaches, etc, forever. It’s not the cable since I can unplug mine and plug in Cat’s just fine. It’s started doing this recently and I was able to recover it previously after futzing with a few hours. No joy this time. I got it last year to run with because it’s tiny and worked. The whole “working” part is a relatively important requirement that I have with my devices, so I needed an alternative to the non-working one.

I almost ordered a new Shuffle, complete with asinine cable-mounted controls which precludes using anything but Shuffle-oriented headphones. Then I sat back and thought. I don’t need an iPod. I loathe the Apple-mandated “thou shalt sync with one computer” since I’m regularly on either my home machine or my work machine and if I want to jam a new song on there at either place Apple would rather I did not. I simply need a small MP3 player.

Enter the SanDisk Sansa Clip+. I got a 4G one (because Best Buy doesn’t carry the 2G one) for less than the cost of a 2G iPod Shuffle. And for my money I get a player that has a (small) screen, has an FM tuner (useful for those YMCA workouts when I want to listen in to the TV feeds), has a programmable equalizer, can be expanded with SD cards, can be used with any earbuds known to man, is compatible with Rhapsody 2 Go if I ever want to go back, and which is mountable on any PC.

And yet the Shuffle outsells it by some insane factor, I’m sure. Oh well. I for one welcome my new workout buddy.