Category: My Blog

On Saturday they had a Running convention at the San Jose Marriott Hotel. Dean Karnazes was the key note speaker. He’s the author of the book, “Ultra Marathon Man”. I got a chance to speak with him and his wife and even his son. He also autographed my book for me as well. Just two weeks ago he finished a 350 mile run and yesterday he ran the Silicon Valley Marathon.

He has a ton of amazing accomplishments including:

-Running 350 miles non-stop.
-2004 Ultrarunner of the Year by Competitor Magazine
-Ran 146 miles through Death Valley to Mt. Whitney
-Winner of the 2004 Badwater Ultramarathon: considered, ‘The World’s Toughest Footrace.’
-He is also featured in many a publications such as Men’s Health, People, National Geographic, GQ, Times, and others.

You can also check out the website for his book at http://www.ultramarathonman.com

I slepted early the day before and woke up at 5am. I was already dressed with my running shorts and shirt under my sweats. I just had to pin my bib number. I went outside my house and jogged for about 2 and a half miles to warm up. The morning was cold and my fingers were freezing. After my warm-up run I got into my car and drove downtown. I stopped by a 7-11 and got myself a donut and two redbulls. I actuallly finished the donut and the rebulls before I drove to the parking lot wich was about two stop lights away. By this time it was already 6:10 and I can see a large crowd at the starting line. I parked my car and headed out.

When I got to the starting line there were people stretching and warming up on one side and on the other there was a huge amount people waiting in line to use the restroom. I stretched a bit and did some sprints to warm up as the morning was cold. It was finally time to start. The announcer was talking about something, I wasn’t really paying attention, and I was just waiting for the race to start. Then finally, the announcer counted down and the race started. I was about 10 feet from the starting line as the runner’s up front are the pro runners which usually finish the race at a ridiculous time.

I started off nice and steady with a pace of 7:30 per mile which is about 5 seconds faster than last years average mile pace. I hit my pace near perfect as my first two miles times were 7:28 and 7:29. I continued on with my pace and I was on track. If I can finish with this pace I can definately beat last year’s time. I don’t usuallly drink any of the water at any of the stations until I start feeling a bit thirsty or dry. It wasn’t until about mile # 4 that I grabbed some water and a packet of energy gel. I sipped the water and threw the cup away. I was unaware how the cold was affecting my hands. I couldn’t pinch my energy gel and tear it open. My fingers were numb and curled up holding the energy gel. I had to hold the gel with the bottom of my palms and used my teeth to rip it open. I was successful, but I also squeezed half the gel onto my neck and shirt. The rest I was able to consume.

Things were fine and dandy. I was sipping water about every other water station till I got a major cramp in my left calf muscle at the begining of mile # 8. I was in pain and had to run on my left heel (keeping my toes pointing up) to keep the cramp from happening again. My mile time suffered and dropped to about a 10 minute pace. It took about a mile for my cramp to completely go away where I can resume my normal pace. Since I was so far behind in pace I couldn’t just pick it back up where I left off. I had to slowly gain my pace back. Around mile # 10 the motherload of cramps hit me like a Mack truck. My left and right calf along with my left hamstring and even my lower back cramped up all at the same time. I stuttered my step and was stumbling a bit. I slowed down to a jog of about a 12 minute pace. I was in pain and running slower was the only thing that lessened it. At one point I wanted to stop and just walk, but I promised my left I would never walk in any race.

I finished the race with the pain and cramps. When I crossed the finish line I fell to my knees. Both my legs were cramping so bad. Someone gave me a bottle of water and a cup of fruit smoothie (It was the best smoothie I’ve ever had). I was on my knees for a couple of minutes, but I finally managed to pull my self up and head towards the massage tables where I got a 20 minute massage (It was the best massage I’ve ever had). After the massage I headed over to the first aid station and got a bag of ice for my leg and sat on the cots and watched the other runners finish.

I’ve never experienced that kind of muscle cramping before. I probably didn’t drink enough fluids the days before. I hope this story doesn’t discourage anyone from running and everyone should definately give a half marathon a try. I’ll be doing it again next year hopefully sans the cramping.

I ran the half marathon last year and I did pretty good as a guy who just barely started long-distance running (2 and a half years). Plus, I had three month training with Spartans Running Club which helped out a lot.

My time was 1:37:25. The 13.1 mile is grueling; mentally and physically. I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had the time to train as compared to last year, but I have been running an average of 8 miles everyday for the past 3 and a half weeks. I feel comfortable that I can finish strong, but I don’t know if I will be able to beat last year’s time. With my new shoes and some weight trainning I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks I can probably squeeze out a decent time.

Over the weekend I had some time to add movie covers onto each of the movie reviews I have covered on my blog. It adds a bit more of image content and it should help readers see what the movie is about from the DVD cover or movie poster. So future movie reviews will have a DVD cover or movie poster.

I was off from work yesterday, and I got a chance to run all my errands including getting some new running shoes. I got the Mizuno WaveRider 8. They’re much more comfortable than my last set which were Asics DS Racers. The DS Racers are extremely light and is categorized as a “Racing Flat” which concentrate on being a super light weight shoe with less support. The Mizunos has more support and feels light, but not as light as the DS. I also had some time yesterday to put in 10 miles into my new shoes and so far they work great.

A couple of days ago I was digging through my storage shed I came upon my comic book and cards collection that I thought I lost. Back in grade school I was a comic-book-reading geek. I loved the Marvel series and I also had multiple set card collection of them.

I just finished an 8 mile run and now my shoes have hit the 800 miles mark. Yup, you got that right, my pair of running shoes has a mileage of 800 miles. I’ve had these shoes for about a year, so it accounts to about an average of 2.2 miles a day or 15.4 miles a week. I would probably have hit this mark much sooner, but I’ve been very busy the past couple of months. Anyways, it’s time for new shoes!

I had a blast this weekend. I got to go to The Killer’s concert and see some bands play. The Killer’s are a fairly new band, at least for me it is, and their music isn’t the type I usually listen to, but nonetheless they were entertaining. Modest Mouse opened for The Killers and unfortunately I can’t say the same for them. Modest Mouse was really boring. They weren’t really interactive with the crowd at all. They played their music and took off. My friend and I attend the concert a bit early, who am I kidding, we were about 9 hours early before the Modest Mouse played. The wait was worth it as we got to drink beer and eat garlic fries and nachos.

Spending the whole day at the concert was a double-edge sword. I had fun, but it got me tired for the following morning which I had a 10K race. All the alcohol I drank at the concert didn’t help me much either. I’m dissapointed at my time that I got, but it was something I knew I was getting myself into. I got the Silicon Valley Half marathon coming up at the end of the month, so hopefully I can redeem myself.

I finally have some time to sit down to think and write about last month’s vegetarian diet. The reason why I switched to a vegetarian last month was because I’ve been meaning to do it in the past. Many people have been saying its a much healthier diet and good for you mentally and physically.

With 30 days of not eating any meat I can say being a vegetarian isn’t much healthier than a non-vegetarian diet. I lost about 2 to 3 lbs which isn’t significant at all. Maybe if it was a more extended period of time there is a good change a person can lose more weight. Mentally, I felt more tired more often. During the diet I was lazy to do anything. I just wanted to stay home and watch television all day. The worst part about this diet is watching your friends and co-workers eating all the yummy food that you can’t eat.

In the end, a vegetarian diet isn’t any healthier than my previous diet. For those of you who believe a no-meat diet is the way to go to be healthy, think again. Stick to a well-rounded meal and stay away from too much fat and salt.

Note: The day after my veggie diet had I eaten pizza with grilled chicken for the topping, and at night while sleeping I woke up with the worst stomach pain ever. It last for several hours and had to hit the toilet a few times. My body was probably not use to eating meat which may have caused the pain. I don’t think it was a bad pizza because none of my friends who ate it had any problems.