20-Miler in Gainesville summer heat

It's the pinnacle of any marathon training schedule. It's the top of the hill. It's the week you look at during week 1 and say, "holy sh*t! I wonder if I'll be able to do that!" Or for marathon veterans, it might be the week you look at and say, "I can't wait until I'm rockin' that mileage again!" For Jenny and myself it was last weekend and it involved a 20-miler through around, over and across the city of Gainesville, Florida. That's right; home of my beloved Florida Gators!



To make things more interesting the weather forecast boasted a "low" of 77 degrees and humidity levels were 90+ percent so basically that's the best it's going to get no matter what time we set out to run. Being one of the highest overall mileage weeks, my body was down right sore and pissed off. Runner's knee in my right leg and an old lower calf/Achilles tendon injury speaking up in the left leg. Bottom line: TallguySurfing was nervous, anxious and driven all at the same time.

I convinced Jenny (who isn't human when it comes to running in hot weather) that we must get up at 4 a.m. and be on the road by 5:30 a.m. to give us at least an hour to 90 minutes of running time before the sun begins scorching us. I could tell this didn't sit well with her as it's nearly an hour earlier than we've ever gotten up for a long run. This strategy veers from the routine. She's nervous about getting started earlier than our norm and I'm nervous about getting started too late. We attempt to go to sleep super early, but really only get about 5 hours, of which the last hour Jenny lays there awake.

As planned we start running at about 5:28 a.m. from the Gainesville Health Center down University Blvd. and it's humid. It's so humid that the water vapor is clearly visible in the air beneath the street lights. By mile one I'm covered in sweat and we're going at a 9 minute pace. "Ugg, it's going to be a long run," I think to myself.


The conversation begins to flow as normal, but I'm not feeling very talkative. Looking back I realize how freaked out I was about the 20 miles before me and the higher level of focus occurring, which unfortunately was hindering my conversation skills.

We are both wearing hydration packs to allow for more fluid consumption and to not have to worry about how far until the next water stop. Mine is filled to the max with a full pack of Crytomax blended into it. They will be serving Crytomax at the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon and want to make sure it agrees with my system in case I need something more than just water on race day. I'm also packing four GUs, including a Jet Blackberry with 2x caffeine for those last few miles.

Around mile 9 we are running through Hale; an upscale neighborhood with large and expensive homes. We stop at a tennis club. It's an upscale facility that I imagine the likes of the Stepford Wives or Desperate Housewives using at a more respectable hour. Since it's hours before anyone actually arrives so we have the place to ourselves. The water fountain is like that of a soda fountain with disposable cups, chip ice and cooled water. I'm in Heaven. I fill my Camelbak reservoir with ice. We discover the women's room is decked out with hair products, lotions and soaps. I curiously go to the men's room to find it barren and basic. Can you say "what the eff?" See pictures below. There are clean cloth towels ready for my sweat at courtside. This was the nicest water stop ever!






At mile 10, we met up with Tracey, whom planned to run part of the route with us (about 5 miles). As crazy as it sounds this relaxed me knowing that Jenny and Tracey could chat away and I could just push on through without having to worry about talking. I'm not going to lie. At this point of the run we are down on Archer Road west of I-75 heading east for 2 miles straight into the early morning sunrise. There is no shade and lots of traffic noise. I was not having fun at this point as I realize my shoes are actually squishing and squashing because they are full of sweat. Never in my life have I sweat so much that my shoes have become saturated this much. I've heard stories, but generally I'm not a crazy "sweater" guy. My feet feel heavy and my legs on par with fatigue. I ponder if I'll actually get blisters and if the new sweat saturation will help or hinder blister development. Tracey and Jenny are 20 feet ahead of me deep in conversation. We finally make it to a gas station at 75th and turn north. Knowing that we have passed the point of being the furthermost point from where we started helps my mental state ever so slightly. We stop at the gas station to use the restroom. My urine is a brilliant shade of yellow kind of like an elite Kenyan's shoes. No bueno. Back on the road and I'm slamming GU and sucking Camelbak like a big baby, but I keep to myself as I follow the two girls going north on SW 75th. At mile 15 it's time to say goodbye to Tracey as she needs to head back to her place and we have to head the opposite way. It was great having her company for part of the long run!



By now the temperature is surely in the upper 80s and while my legs are feeling pretty good all things considered, my cooling system is not happy at all. Jenny looks at me and tells me I look better than previous "hot" runs we've done. "You're fine," she says and urges me to keep going. This is good in my mind. At least she isn't worried about me. We hit a short 1-mile stretch of road with no sidewalk and little shoulder. The highlight of this section is an overpass bridge going over I-75. Jenny is NOT thrilled about this section and tells me we need to get over it quickly. She takes off (probably only at our original 9-minute pace that seems like a sprint now) and I'm left chasing the pony tail up the bridge. In my mind it's Mount Everest. By the time I reach the top she's already at the bottom on the other side. I stop and walk as a reward for my accomplishment of conquering this peak. The scenery of a 6-lane highway below me is not very rewarding so I begin running down the hill where I find Jenny waiting at the next intersection. Only a 5k to go from here!

During those last 3 miles I had to stop 4 times because of the heat. It went something like this:
1.) You feel your breathing begin to increase involuntarily almost to the point of hyperventilation.
2.) Your brain tells your legs to keep running, but the lack of oxygen (reaching VO2Max) overrides the orders of your conscience and primal instinct makes you stop and walk.
3.) Annoyed as all hell you either a.) cry, b.) curse or c.) grunt
4.) After a matter of seconds or minutes of involuntarily walking you are able to catch your breath, replenish your blood oxygen levels and your brain can force your legs to start running again.

This is not my idea of a good time. I'm so out of it that I don't even stop my watch as I have previously done at water and bathroom stops (I wanted to have an idea of pace while running on this run). With 1 mile to go we can see the gym where we started. This is almost cruel as we must turn away, run through a neighborhood, up and down another hill and then return to the finish. This is also good because the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon course goes by the finish line at the halfway point and again with a few miles left. Finally, Jenny points to a brown sign and says that's the finish line. We both finish strong and a sense of joy overwhelms me knowing that I just ran 20 miles with my girlfriend! And, my legs are feeling pretty good. Without the beginning stages of heat exhaustion I think I would be perfectly fine running 20 miles. A new level of trust in the training schedule is achieved!

After 20 miles!

I'm drenched from head to toe and feel like I just got out of the ocean. There's not an article of clothing on me that can't be wrenched out. We head home, shower, meet friends for the biggest brunch ever at Flyin' Biscuit and then nap the afternoon away. By evening we're feeling pretty good. During the run we played a game. The runner that curses the most has to buy Seattle Manhattans at The Top to celebrate the 20-miler and beginning of taper later that night. English curse words count as 1 point. All curse words in foreign languages count 1 point for ever two since it takes more premeditation on these words. If you've read my entire post up to this point it's not hard to imagine that I'm buying us drinks. I owned this game and even dropped profanity in English, Danish, German and Spanish during the run!

Here's to the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon, running our 20-miler without injury and beginning a slow 3-week taper! A round of "Seattle Manhattans" at Gainesville's Top bar and restaurant.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday . . . 15-miler Recap!

Opening statement:
You know your girlfriend is a runner (and dietitian) when you take her to get her wisdom teeth removed and one of the first thing she tells you after, but while still heavily sedated, is that she wished they had used a different sedative instead of the one her oral surgeon chose because the other would have had more calories!



May 1st, otherwise known as May Day, is a public holiday in most of the world except the United States. I backpacked through Germany once upon a time and discovered that on May Day nobody works and everything is closed. This May Day happened to fall on a Saturday and with only seven weeks to go until the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon it only means one thing -- long run!

Originally, a few friends planned to join Jenny and I for our scheduled 15-miler, but with new injuries plaguing our friends, Jenny and I found out the day before it would only be the two of us. I changed the route ever so slightly to accommodate only our needs and we ended up getting a slightly later start that if we were forced to meet friends at a pre-determined time. This meant one thing and that was "heat." Now Jenny and I both prefer heat over cold, but with a record-reaching cold winter I think my body acclimated more to cold this winter (plus it was my first real "running winter") so when the temperature reached 90 degrees toward the late morning and miles 13, 14 and 15, my body screamed a huge "WTF?" But more on that later!


We started off happy and eager, well nourished and hydrated, rested and loose. We created an imaginary start/finish line for fun where a large crack in the asphalt spanned across the road in front of my house. (as you can see once you stop looking at my girlfriend's beautiful runner's leg)


Early on the temperature was a perfect 70-degrees. The sun was already up, but a thick haze was keeping it cool. "If only that will last most of the run," I remember thinking. By mile 4 we were on the beach heading north with the wind at our backs and feeling good. (Look how happy we are!)


By the time we reached the inlet (jetties), or about 2.5 miles later, the haze was long gone and the sun was really heating things up. I was drenched in sweat. Now I like sweating, but once I'm acclimated to the Florida summer heat, which I'm not... yet, well, maybe now after this run I am. Hmmm.... I'm not sure. Anyways, I spotted two spinner sharks breach the waves a few yards off shore as we passed my normal surfing spot. The ocean was flat, side-choppy and nobody was in the water. Jenny's untrained eye never saw the sharks and I decided not to mention them nor point them out, but let her keep telling me a story (she's going to learn to surf now that's it warm and I don't want to freak her out before she gets her toes wet)!

Next was a mile long stretch of a boardwalk loop through a park. This is wear the heat really started knocking on TallGuySurfing's dehydration threshold. We made it to the bathrooms and I noticed we'd been running for longer than an hour and I haven't used a bathroom yet. Uh oh... I down my second Gu, drink some water and eat a handful of roasted almonds and dried cranberries that I pre-mixed and had in a baggy in my pocket. I know from experience that when I don't have to use any restrooms on a long run that it's a sure sign of becoming dehydrated, so I drink even more water. We continue on south weaving through beachside neighborhoods and even a short trail that Jenny was delightfully surprised to see before reaching Dees house. Dees was doing some work in his garage and was nice enough to let me stash my shirt on his patio. It was drenched. I'm talking wring it out and drink a cup of sweat drenched! It felt great to be rid of that hindrance and the air on my bare skin temporarily cooled me down. They asked if we'd take their golden retriever, Roxy, with us, but when we told them we still had 5 miles to go they simply said, "nevermind." Haha...

Then there was the bridge.

In my infinite wisdom I decided to place the high-rise bridge at mile 12 thinking that in the Seattle Marathon the large hills appear to be around the halfway point. This seemed like a good idea at the time... that is until you've ran 12 miles, it's 90 degrees and now there's this big freaking bridge in your way!


As one might notice from the picture Jenny is merely a speck in the distance. Yup, that's right. She is totally "chicking" me and this bridge! Actually, we discussed it and decided she should run ahead since I was reduced to a speed walker pace and going slow up hills actually hurts her legs and I was afraid it could aggravate old injuries if she stayed with me. Now at this point of the run we had only walked during water stops and ditching my shirt. I'm proud to say that I did not stop on the bridge and when I got to the top I released a few "choice" words for what I thought of said bridge. (This self-portrait just before those "choice" words is probably the worst picture ever of me and I'm totally owning it!)

Never fret! Jenny was waiting for me at the bottom. We had to cross an intersection, which she tells me I almost walked out into oncoming traffic. I suppose I was a little narked, hypoxic, stupid... whatever you want to call it. I made it about another half mile before giving in and taking a walk break. Hey, Hal Higdon says it's ok! Although, I'll admit, I felt pretty damn defeated at that point. After maybe 100 feet we start running again and make it to the last water stop in a park by the river. I feel like if I try and take my last Gu I'll throw up so I decide to drink only the water and splash some on my face and neck. (Below you can see Jenny looking like a million bucks at the 13-mile mark at Riverside Park)


The last two miles were a little painful. I think, and I say I think because it's a bit of a blur, we took three more, maybe four walk breaks before reaching that imaginary finish line. A dirty crack in a road never looked so appealing in my whole life! I collapsed on it!



Some of you northerners might make snow angels. Down here in Hades, after running 15 miles, I make sweat angels!


In retrospect, it really was a good run no matter how bad I make it sound. I conquered my "allusive" 15-miles without provoking injury and I learned a few things. As I get more and more long runs under my belt I'm learning more and more about my body. I'm learning how important nutrition is not only right before workouts, but weeks before. I'm learning how to listen to my body more and more and recognize symptoms that might be signs of "bad" things starting that I can prevent or head off in advance. I'm also learning about how to better take care of myself in the days spent recovering or leading up to a long run.

I iced my lower legs after the run as a precaution, ate a huge amount of food and took an hour nap. Amazingly, I felt like a million bucks later in the day. My Achilles tendon is fine and despite some expected lower calve soreness it seems like I'm learning to recover better. Hell, we even went scurfing (being towed behind a boat on surfboards) the very next day!

Next week:
Muddy Buddy + 16-miler

Never Fear I'm Back! (Raleigh Recap part 1)

HOLY CRAP!

10 whole days without writing a post on this blog. That's the longest I've gone since creating this monster. Did you think I'd died, or moved on to bigger and better things, or perhaps won the Powerball lottery???

Well, sorry to burst your (or my) bubble, but none of the above are the case. It's a simple one that can be defined in one long run-on sentence:

I took a short vacation to the hills of North Carolina with the girlfriend where I brought home some kind of sinus infection only to head back to being absolutely slammed at work for a week in the midst of trying to squeeze in 20 to 25 miles of training runs per week with my desktop computer at work (from which I often write blogs on during down time) blowing up with smoke and electrical noise right in front of my very own eyes!

Whew! Being down a computer does not help in the midst of all those other things, but GOOD NEWS folks. I'm back. I'm feeling better and determined to get back on track this week with everything that I consider interesting in my life. So I'm going to start right where I left off and recap the North Carolina trip.

But before we go there I just want to point out that one of my followers, Cari Rich at Carichblogs, pointed out a fact error in my last post where I equated a song called "Wagon Wheel" to my upcoming trip and credited the Against Me! cover of it to Bob Dylan. Cari pointed out that Old Crow Medicine Show wrote the song and Bob Dylan was actually covering the song as well. This is awesome and I can't wait to search for the Old Crow Medicine Show recording of it. Thanks Cari!

Onward to Raleigh, North Carolina!

There are two runs to talk about on this trip. First was our long run. Scheduled to be a 13-miler, we mapped out a route, with the help of our lovely host, Kelly, that would begin in the Harris Lake County Park with about 5 miles of trails before heading out on country back roads for the remaining 8 miles back to Kelly's house. The route is nothing but rolling hills and perfect for training for the Seattle RnR Marathon.

First, let me say the park is beautiful. There's a disc golf course that looks really challenging, miles of mountain bike (only) trails, open playing fields and of course hiking trails, however, Jenny and I see them as running trails. Since we were both exhausted from working and traveling the day before along with drinking wine with Kelly we got a little bit of a late start. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until after 10 a.m., but the overcast weather was keeping it cool (probably upper 60s).A mile or so into the run we begin to realize that the trails are a little more technical than we planned with lots of roots to step over, hills to climb and switch backs changing direction. I like it. It's also very scenic with the lake, the newly green trees and even the nuclear power plant on the other side of the lake. Yup, I totally imagined Homer Simpson over there!


After about 45 minutes we realized that we're a little confused as the trail has disappeared. I vaguely remember the trail hugging the shoreline until the end and a small bridge to cross, which we have not reached yet. Getting lost is probably my fault since I suggest we continue on along the shoreline and before long we find ourselves in the middle of the disc golf course. Eventually we find our way out to a parking lot where Jenny asks a guy with hardware pierced all through his face which way to the park exit. He points us down the road and we're off after downing some Gu and Shot Blocks. It's not long after heading down a long hill on the asphalt (Woohoo for pavement after an hour on the trail) that we see hardware guy drive past us and go out of site in a car. A few minutes later he comes back heading the opposite direction not saying a word. Then a few minutes later (and another hill later) we come across the sign saying the park exit is the other way. Hardware guy was lost and he didn't even have the decency to tell us we were going the wrong way. Douchebag! So we turn around and run back up the hills we just ran down and find the park exit. Begin road portion of long run.

North Carolina's hills are different than Florida. I know that sounds stupid and obvious, but this was a good lesson for me. I'm used to being able to see the top of the hill. In North Carolina the hills can go on for miles. For example: right about the time Jenny is really getting into a groove and feeling awesome, I'm starting to feel leg fatigue and the sun pops out from the overcast sky. It's hot, but not super hot so I don't really think it'll bother me that much. I mean, seriously, I run in Florida in July. Anyways, I realize we've been going up a hill for quite a while so I start timing it. 28-minutes later we are still going up hill. Jenny is out front chatting away and I almost completely lose it. "We've been running up this F*cking hill for 28 minutes," I yell. I try to have a sense of humor about it, but I'm definitely not having the best run at this point. You see, the hills in Carolina can go on for miles and they're curvy so after 28 minutes it turns into just getting around the next curve to see if the hill is going to end. Slow gradual hill... I am not used to at all!

This is actually a hill

Jenny and I after conquering the 28-minute hill...

In a nutshell, we did reach the top of the hill. We finished strong going up a steep hill into Kelly's subdivision and yes, you could see the top of that hill. I then collapse in the grass for a symbolic picture of the way I felt. It was a good hurt.

A few days later I mapped out the run, the getting lost, the going the wrong way and even a short cut across an onion field and figured we ran nearly 14.5 miles... NOT 13. Whew!

Well, that's all for now. I'll catch up on the next run tomorrow... a 3.5 miler around another lake in North Carolina with more HILLS! It's time for me to have a beer!

I'm shipping up to Raleigh!

While many of my blogger friends are "shipping up to Boston" this weekend, I'll be heading out in a few minutes to Raleigh from the Gainesville airport with Jenny to visit a few of our friends for the weekend. Another song comes to mind; an old Bob Dylan song I believe recently covered by Against Me! that goes something like this, "picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers and I'm a hopin' for Raleigh..."

Anyways, I'm excited to get out of Florida for a few days and away from the real estate business, which has been driving me nuts the past few weeks. Tomorrow we have a 13-miler on tap first thing in the morning. According to a combination of Google Earth and Mapmyrun.com it looks like we'll be able to run from the house we're staying at through the countryside to the Harris County Lake Park where there's miles of trails with our names written all over them. I'm hoping for some hills myself. I'll probably carry along the camera so expect a full recap with pictures sometime later next week after I get back!

I'll also be tuning into the Universal Sports channel Monday morning to watch the Boston Marathon. Best of luck to all you bloggers either spectating or racing/running!

Surfing..... oh man, I'm getting antsy. We've had about two weeks of onshore winds and the few windows of opportunities early in the morning with light and variable winds I've missed because of work. I've heard there's been some "going off" moments on the inside of the rocks. Now that I'm leaving town, I'm sure it'll be epic. I fully intend to hit it hard next week!

Seattle Training Report:
I'm feeling really strong. I've logged 12 miles so far this week without the weekly long run and I'm having to remind myself to take it easy and slow down. Looking back at my training log from last year it's becoming apparent that I had no idea what heck I was doing. I still feel like I'm super new and still a novice, but at least I feel like I'm more wise and smart enough not to overdo it again. Time will tell as I'm about to enter the realm of injury territory where my body will tell me yea or nay for higher mileage weeks. Hopefully, this time with less surfing, softball, tennis and other oddities in the picture an injury such as Mr. Achilles won't repeat itself.

AHA Fundraising Report:
So super stoked to have busted our goal this week. Honestly, I feel like I should have made a harder/higher goal. I had no idea we'd receive SO MUCH support without begging for it. Last I checked we busted $1,300 to support American Heart Association. Running the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon is going to mean so much to Jenny and I and I can't begin to thank everyone that has shown support!

Happy Weekend to All and catch you on the flip side! Keep the stoke!

Two lessons learned (Long run recap)

12.5 Mile long run down.... a heck of a lot more to go until Seattle Marathon! Last weekends long run with Jenny was fun, but I learned two important lessons.

1.) Don't eat a LOT of one food type (in my case asparagus) the night before a long run.

2.) Don't attempt to go to work where you are going to have to be standing and walking for hours immediately after a long run.

I'm just going to throw it out there. We made Naan bread pizza with asparagus, pesto, cheese and chicken the night before the run. Yup, if you read Runner's World the recipe is in the current issue. I can report that if you haven't made it do it! It's amazing. I ate it off my plate like a starving African kid. It tasted so damn good. Hmmmm.... I think I might just make it again tonight. It's fast, simple and easy. Only problem is with my stomach not being used to large amounts of asparagus it didn't take kindly to me bouncing around on a long run for 2 hours! Yeah... TallGuySurfing had some GI issues on Saturday. But, not to worry. I didn't let it ruin the fun. We had a great time.

Started out about 45 minutes before dawn and made it to the beach just as the sun was breaching the horizon. We held a steady slow pace and stopped for water twice. The air temperature was perfect at about 65 degrees. I carried my camera and took a few pictures.

After reaching the 12.5 mark Jenny continued on for another couple miles (we're trying to merge our training schedules together piece by piece) and I got ready for work. By the time I got out of the shower Jenny had made an amazing omelet for me, which I immediately engulfed! Here's where the second lesson comes into play. I had an open house to conduct at 10 a.m. for a couple hours and then a showing immediately after so I was on my feet for 3 hours after the long run. By the time I got back to the house and met up with Jenny my legs were torched! We decided to just chill out and eat a glorious lunch on the couch with our legs elevated and...... and...... and have a wonderful glass of wine!


Tonight I decided the perfect cure for a bad day (computer crashed... the kind of crash the involves smoke coming out of it) at work would be to charge a high rise bridge. This is actually something I try to do quite regularly, but have been slacking off the past month. So hills it was and 3 miles for 6 repeats. Here's a picture I took a few weeks ago of the only "hill" in town moments before dawn.

Why we're running the Seattle RNR Marathon!

Today I attended a funeral of a man I only met once on the beach.

I feel that funerals aren't really for the poor soul resting in the coffin or urn, but more as support for the family and friends and that's the reason for my attendance.* When my father passed away there was standing room only at the service and the procession was more than a mile long. That alone meant everything to me.
Today's service was for my good friend, Bob's, father who succumbed to a long battle with heart disease last Friday. This has prompted me to start something I've been planning to do for a long time; help fight the battle against heart disease!
Just about all of us have been affected by heart disease in one way or another, whether personally or we know someone with it or whom has died from it. For Bob and myself it was our fathers that were taken from this world by heart disease.
I was only 15 when my father had a sudden heart attack with no warning one Sunday morning while out for his weekly long run. The doctors said he was gone before his body fully collapsed to the ground while running. We had no warning signs and if there were any they weren't recognized, which actually happens very often with heart disease.

My father and I with the catch of the day a couple years before his heart attack.

By raising awareness of these sometimes misunderstood symptoms and continuing research in science, The American Heart Association is fighting the battle against heart disease and this is the core of why I'm writing this post.


Many of you know I am currently training for the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 26, 2010. Running this race along side me will be, Jenny, my girlfriend that stands witness to the battle against heart disease every day she goes to work as a dietitian in a cardiac wing of a major hospital. But, I want you to know exactly why I am running this race.

I'm dedicating my running of this race to my father and I find it fitting that when I cross that finish line I will be doing something he was passionate about the last few years of his life, running, and also accomplishing something he never had the chance to.... running a marathon!

This is also why I've started a fund raising effort for the American Heart Association and why I'll be asking for donations these next several months. My goal is only $795. That's $15 for each year my father graced this Earth with his sense of humor, helping hand, smile and love. Times are tough economically. I don't expect any person to donate, but it would be nice and every cent helps a great cause. Consider this; In the time you took to read this at least three people experienced coronary events and one person has died due to heart disease.

Please at least check out my fund raising page over at AHA and maybe.... at least consider a donation. You know I'll be totally stoked if you make even the smallest contribution! I'd also love to hear your personal stories if any of you have suffered a loss in the family due to heart disease. I'll even co-dedicate this race to any of my reader's loved ones that have passed away to heart disease! Here's the link to my fund raising page:

http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/FunRaiser/NAT-Funraiser?px=2103915&pg=personal&fr_id=1150&et=MTLc_1RSqMxkh6hwpm18Kg..&s_tafId=3031



*Note: Mark my words, when I bite it I want all my family and my friends to have a huge party, go surfing, go running, drink to much alcohol, dance and have a good time in my memory!

Gainesville 6-miler Go Gators Recap!

As I'm sitting in a Borders Bookstore writing this I can help but think about all our fellow surfers and friends in Hawaii who are evacuating to higher ground right now as a 3-to 8-foot tsunami rushes toward them at the speed of a jet airplane. My thoughts go out to them and hope that since they've had so much time and warning it won't be anywhere near as bad as Thailand tsunami was a few years ago. Mahalo my friends.

In other news, I've got a great run to recap from yesterday!

Jenny and I are having a lazy Saturday here in Gainesville. She's writing Rockstar Energy drink right now about possibly sponsoring her relay team for the upcoming Sunset to Sunrise relay race across Florida and I'm monitoring the Hawaii situation. It was forecast to be rainy and cold this morning, which is was, but now it's turning out to be a beautiful day. We had planned our first official long run for Seattle Marathon training for this morning, but when we saw the forecast we opted to do it after work last night at dusk instead. It wasn't nearly as cold and since it was only a 6-miler it works perfectly for me (getting back into the swing of things) and Jenny (recovering from her kick ass finish at the Donna Half Marathon last weekend).

Jenny mapped out a route through the University of Florida campus and sent it to me via MapMyRun.com and I was instantly stoked! I graduated from UF in 1999 and while I've been back for football games (Go Gators), I haven't really explored the campus in more than a decade. This would be a great opportunity and to share memories with Jenny!

We met at the Publix on University and 34th and started our run just minutes before sunset. As we ran down 2nd and past the University Golf Course a walnut fell into the road right next to us missing a passing car only by inches. I looked on the road for the nut and was confused because I couldn't find it. Then Jenny realized it was a golf ball. Amazing. A stray golf ball missed us only by about 10 feet and a car by only inches! We continued on past the law school and toward Ben Hill Griffin Stadium; a.k.a. The Swamp.

This is the spot where I was T-boned by a short middle eastern man that wanted to kick my @ss until I got out of the car and he saw how tall I was back in 1998! Ahhh the memories!

This alligator was not built when I was a student, like so many things, but we had fun running past it as it stands sentinel to The Swamp!

After passing the stadium we kept going west through so many new and old parts of the campus. Between buildings, dorms and stores that I walked thousands of times back in the day. It's funny what you remember vividly and what memories are triggered by seeing your old college, or old band marching field or the hill on Newell Road that I used to charge on my bicycle. As we turned back west the sun was setting and the sky was on fire.



When we crossed North South Road (it's called something else today, but I'm going by what it was when I was a student) a group of about 20 students walked by all wearing bandannas on their heads. Another oddity. Then we saw a student running in the road barefoot. No frog feet, just plain old barefoot. That's hardcore. I'll run barefoot on the beach, but not on a road. As we arrived down at Lake Alice it was twilight and a beautiful site!

Then I noticed there are now TWO bat houses at UF! Those bats must have been breeding like mice! There were a few dozen people standing around watching the bats leave the house for the night just as I remembered it, but we didn't stick around. We had a run to finish! (Plus, I see more bats near my house along Riverside Drive in the summer).


From here on out it was a simple shot up 34th Street back to our cars. As we pass the famous wall on the hill near University I get goose bumps as we pass the memorial to the 1990 slayings of five students by a sick twisted douchebag serial killer. When I was a student this wall stood memorializing their memory and it still does today. I remember once that someone painted over the memorial and within hours it was painted back.


I'm happy to say how much fun this run was; laid back and relaxing. The weather was beautiful and I received no complaints from Mr. Achilles! Finally tally for the week:

15-miles down. . . 413 miles to run before Seattle RNR Marathon!

The Thursday Stoke!

Today I am totally stoked about one thing and one thing only! This:

After the Donna Half Marathon last weekend Jenny and I set down and registered for the June 26th Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon. It's official. No backing out now. TallGuySurfing is going to run another marathon and this time I intend to really "run" it unlike that frozen race last month called Disney.

This really sounds like a great race. For one, I love music. I was a music major my first couple of years in college. I'm a former marching band geek and I've played in a few rock bands back in the day as well so why not enjoy some good old rock 'n' roll while I run through one of my favorite cities; Seattle?!? Now I know what you might be thinking and I've been to Seattle three times and it's never rained once so hopefully my luck will hold out! Plus, can you say hills? Something tells me I'm going to be running the bridge many many times the next few months.

This week also marks the 18-week away point from the marathon, which means it's time to start training again. I've taken most of February off from long distance running and my Achilles tendon feels the best it has since my injury back in September. I really feel like I'm a smarter more-experienced runner now and hope that will help me this time around now that I've officially commenced training!

That training started Tuesday with a measly little 3 miles. Then there was another 3 miles on Wednesday and tonight I'll hash out another 3 miles. I'm following the Hal Higdon 18-week novice training schedule. The way I see it I'm 6 miles down with 422 miles to go! Bring on Seattle and all its Pike Place Farmer's Market (where I fully intend to eat everything in sight)!!!

I'm also stoked for the Redhead and B.oB. and wish them a speedy fast finish this weekend at the Gasparilla Marathon. Oh and good luck to Jamoosh who is running the Half. Go easy on that injury dude! And happy running to everyone else this weekend too!

So What's Next???

Three weeks ago I ran the Disney Marathon (a.k.a. The Arctic Marathon). Since the race I've been running a few times a week, all short runs of 3-5 miles each, with no real plan other than just recovering and giving my Achilles tendon time to heal. I spent the last week in Puerto Rico surfing, snorkeling and running with Jenny and our friends John and Julie. This is also the reason I've been AWOL on the blogsphere and I'm honestly overwhelmed with how far behind I am on my Reader and my emails. (I promise I'll try to catch up and there will be a Puerto Rico recap soon!). However, getting back on subject; I've been asked many times in the past three weeks, "So what's next for you?"

To answer that question simply: ANOTHER MARATHON!

Yes, I know... I know... TallGuySurfing has said in the past that running a marathon was a one time thing to scratch off the bucket list and then I'd just do shorter distance runs for fun after the marathon. If you read my recaps here and here you might gather that I wasn't all that happy with how the training experience went nor the actual race and was just happy to finish without injury along side my friend Harrison. After many fun conversations with Jenny about it and also learning more and more about this "running" world I've decided I WANT that uninjured training experience and I WANT to see what I can accomplish in a serious marathon race situation.

So without further adieu here's the plan!

We'll call it the Road to Seattle! With the end result being June 26th, the date of the Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon. This is a race that Jenny really wants to do and we both love the idea of a vacation to the Pacific Northwest!

February
No races are planned. I've made a promise to myself to only run short distances to limit the abuse to my Achilles. I will use this time to cross train in an effort to strengthen my legs (squats.... lots of squats) and do physical therapy exercises to strengthen both my Achilles tendons. I'll probably also surf as much as possible and spectate a few races. Jenny is running the Donna Half on Feb. 21 along with some of her friends and I plan to be there to rock the cowbell and also cheer on the Redhead too!

March
Commence Seattle Training. The goal is to go lightly almost as I'm a novice to not injure myself. I'll be using one of Hal Higdon's plans. Yes, I bought his book, Marathon The Ultimate Training Guide, and this shall be my bible. March also has some other exciting adventures in the works including being a van driver for Team Hot Legs in the Sunset2Sunrise Relay, an open window for a quick "swell chasing" trip to Puerto Rico and most certainly a yet-to-be-named celebration for Jenny's Birthday!

April
Mileage will increase and this month will probably be key in determining if I can increase weekly mileage without re-aggravating the Achilles injury. There might also be a trip to North Carolina in the works with some possible "hills" to train for the next month's exciting activities!

May
Can you say Muddy Buddy?!?!? Jenny and I will rock the course in our first ever Muddy Buddy race in Orlando. Then on May 16th I'm off to California for the ING Bay to Breakers 12k. I've convinced my Cousin in Portland to take on a serious training plan and run that race with me as well as my good friend in Sacramento. It will be a great chance to see some friends and family and get a little crazy at the same time and conquer the giant hill of San Fransisco!

June
Well, June will be "go time" and hopefully another successful Marathon. I know some other bloggers are running Seattle as well and can't wait to follow along!

That's the plan so stay tuned for all the wacky stories that will surely follow in the wake of the swell!