New Years Weekend Trail Run

A few posts ago I introduced you to the Cellon Creek Loop at the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park here in Florida where the Dietitian and I ran a 5-mile loop and I regrettably forgot my camera. I was forced to use a couple stock photos of the park in my recap.

But guess what?!?

I returned to the park for another trail run this past New Years weekend with the Dietitian and two of her running friends. They set out to do 15-miles. Not wanting to risk aggravating my Achilles tendon, I decided to run the first two miles with them and then take the Cellon Creek Loop back to the truck and see how I feel. This time we saw even more deer. My last count was 22 I think. I completed one loop and then a little extra to make it 5 miles and felt amazing. The air temperature was in the upper 30s when we started out. Nobody like it. I wore my Nike Fit long pants, wool socks, long sleeve Under Armor Heat Gear, Addias running gloves (which I'm absolutely in love with) and a beanie. It took at least 3 miles to warm up, but by the end of the first loop I felt so good I decided to go for another loop. It would be about 10 miles. Hey, it's better to be running and staying warm than freezing cold and waiting for the girls to finish their 15-miler!

Not 30 seconds after I finished my 10 miles and started to stretch I hear voices behind me. The girls have returned. I think to myself, "Holy crap, they did 15 in the time it took me to do 10? Damn, I'm slow." The Dietitian runs up and gives me a big hug! They are all stoked, but have only done 11.5 miles. "Thank God," I think to myself. They doubled back to use the restrooms and still plan on finishing off the 15-miles on the Cellon Creek Loop.

For good measure, I jumped on my mountain bike and did the Loop one more time crossing path with the Dietitian and her friends somewhere near the middle.

So... Less than a week until the Disney Marathon and I was able to run a 10 mile trail run at around a 10-minute pace (picture taking included) and do another 5 miles on the mountain bike with very little Achilles tendon pain. What's even more exciting is I kept telling myself after the run/bike that I need to remember to take some anti-inflammatory drugs and ice my Achilles. We all went out for a glorious brunch at The Flying Biscuit and I totally forgot about my Achilles until hours later. I neglected it by accident only to realize there was no difference. It wasn't swollen up or aggravated. While the ice and drugs make for a good precaution, I didn't need them after all. Maybe I'm more healed up than I think?

I remembered the camera this time around! Here are a few pictures I snapped during the run.

Happy New Year!

Bring on Twenty Ten!

Good Riddance 2009.

I can honestly say that I started this year off better than any recent years I can remember! I spent the last three days with someone who becoming more and more special to my heart. We rocked in the New Year, the Gators won the Sugar Bowl and introduced Cincinnati to the S.E.C. in proper fashion with a good smack down, and I ran an amazing trail run in more than chilly temperatures. However, as much as I'd love to talk about how great Twenty Ten is turning out already, 2009 deserves a little reflection.

2009 by the numbers:

Leashes Broken - 3
Contest Surfed - 1
Surf contest (placed in top 3) - 1
Races Ran - 5
Races Volunteered - 1
Surfing Trips to Puerto Rico - 3
Airline Flights taken - 11
Weddings Attended - 4
Miles Ran - 602
Running Shoes used - 3
Running injuries - 1 (Achilles tendon)
Days Surfed - 154
Meals at McDonalds, Burger King or Hardees - 0
New Experiences - Countless, but still searching for more!

Happy New Year everyone!

First run with Harrison... first run with Galloway...

Around the beginning of the summer I found myself having a few beers over at my friend Harrison's house. It's a very social place and one learns very quickly that if you're lucky enough to be hanging out at the Harrison's there are two rules. 1.) you will probably drink too much and 2.) if Mrs. Harrison offers you food, don't be a fool. Eat it! No matter what, it'll be good!

So as I was saying, I found myself drinking at the Harrisons. The conversation somehow got off on running, marathon running to be exact. Then to my amazement both the Harrisons started talking about how they plan to train and run this little marathon called Disney Marathon on Jan. 10th, 2010. A little taken back I was fucking shocked at this as neither Mr. nor Mrs. Harrison* are avid runners. A few more beers and I stood up in front of a modest large ** crowd of friends and proclaimed that "I TOO SHALL RUN THE DISNEY MARATHON!" I mean seriously, 2010 is a LONG ways away, right?

The next day I woke up, slightly hung over, grabbed the cell phone, called Harrison and asked, "did I really say I would run a marathon last night?" His response was simple and in a matter-of-fact tone of voice all I heard was, "yes you did... you sure did!"

Here we are only days away from Jan. 10th, 2010 (not so far away now) and after having my training scheduled FUBAR'ed by a nagging Achilles tendon injury I've gone from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C to Plan WHATEVER. The one thing I know is I will run this race and I will run another marathon at a later date to get the proper training experience once I'm completely healed.

So onward to Plan WHATEVER. The best I can say right now is after months of training and countless conversations about our injuries (Harrison has struggled with shin splints, minor Achilles pain and a few other problems) that we will both attempt to run this Marathon together with the understanding that we can leave each other at anytime to finish or get a better time.

We came up with this idea and then we realized we have never run together. It's very ironic because early on I would ask and pester Harrison to go for a run with me, but he would always find a reason to decline my offers, for fear that I was too fast for him. In recent months I've run very little being injured and I'm glad to say Harrison's confidence has made leaps and bounds. Now I am the run finding reasons not to run with him for fear I am too slow. Finally, we decided to do a long run together to serve a couple purposes. First, to see if we can run together at all and second, to see how his running style "Galloway," jives with me as I've never attempted the run walk run walk training style.

During the Holiday Halfathon I was forced to walk a lot of Mile 8 because of annoying cramps. This allowed my legs to get cold and caused them to ache upon starting to run again and that led to further cramps in my calves. My muscles aren't used to stopping and starting back up again. Harrison assured me that if I started walking earlier and for shorter amounts of time that I'd actually feel stronger down the stretch. What the hell, I'll try anything once!

On Sunday we set out for our long runs. The air temperature was 55 degrees. I decided for a short sleeve tech shirt, shorts, normal socks, a beanie and some light weather gloves. I plotted out a route on MapMyRun that fit both our needs; 10-12 miles for me and 20 miles for Harrison. Me being the genius that I am, I'm not going to attempt 20 miles until Marathon day (note: that was a statement of sarcasm about being a genius).

We set out a little goofy. I lunged ahead of Harrison for a few steps then slowed down only to lay chase as he sped up to match me. About 50 feet later we were pacing the same. I asked if this was the correct pace and he agreed that it's a "good pace." It felt slow to me, but I was prepared to go slow rather than my faster "pretend I'm not injured" pace. Another thing to note is I totally forgot my watch. I'm such a failure when it comes to timing my runs. I guess time isn't as important to me as others. According to the more responsible Harrison, who remembered his watch, we started our first walk around 13 minutes. The entire run went this way; run for 10-15 minutes and then walk for 1-2 minutes. At first it seemed very ridiculous. I wasn't even sweating and I didn't feel warmed up and we were already walking? After an hour of this my legs felt great. Time was flying by and I was truly enjoying our conversation. I hate doing long runs alone. I really think all long runs should be accompanied by a good conversation pal. Since the temperature was colder than I've ever experienced on a long run (yes, I'm used to Hades and our 80+ degree weather before the sunrises most of the year) I found that I did not sweat very much at all, but still forced myself to take a couple of Gu gels and even had to use the bathroom once (a rare occasion for me well into a long run).

Overall the run was excellent. We had one scare while trying to run along side each other on a narrow sidewalk. Harrison slipped off the shoulder of the sidewalk and almost twisted his ankle, but he was fine and we continued on to better running conditions such as a boardwalk and a little bit of the beach with the wind at our backs. I decided to end my run at 11.65 miles, which took us about 2 hours and 8 minutes according to Harrison's watch. John hashed onward and I drove ahead providing two additional water stops for him before he finished 20-miles. He is so ready for Disney and I'm so proud of him. He's come so far since that night of beer drinking at the beginning of the summer. I feel like I'm ready as well and could have easily gone 20-miles with him using his running method, but with only 2-weeks until the marathon I decided to be cautious and not risk further injury.

I can honestly say this was the slowest-best long run of my life. If there is going to be a way to finish the Disney Marathon completely unprepared like I am without injuring myself this plan is it. Plan Whatever with a bit of Jeff Galloway! Hey Disney.... Bring it!



*Mrs. Harrison, bless her heart, had to drop out of the training program due to poor knees.
** You guys have no clue how stoked I am to finally figure out how to do the strike through line!

Hitting the trails in Gainesville

Ahhhhh Gainesville. So many memories, so many stories. It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since I lived in this small, yet big, college town surrounded by what I like to call "real Florida," or otherwise known as the north central part of the state that tends to be more "southern" than the Hispanic dominated south Florida or the Yankee dominated coastlines. It's amazing that my college memories during my years at the University of Florida seem to be primarily limited to parties, football games, friends and a few bars, some of which no longer exists, but the parks, natural environment, recreation areas and outdoor activities are nothing but a void. I guess I had a few too many beers back in the day.

Nevertheless, I'm happy to say that last week I got to experience a small slice of this town that I'm actually a little ashamed of never taking advantage of while I was a resident party animal. The San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park, located just north of Gainesville off C.R. 232, is absolutely beautiful. It's about 6,900 acres of trails accommodating hikers, bicyclist and equestrians. The Dietitian and I planned out a 4.5 mile run, turned 5-miler (we got temporarily confused), along the Cellon Creek Loop, which is described as "traversing both sides of Cellon Creek as it winds through rolling terrain and across small jog jumps. This is a 4-mile intermediate level trail."

It was a crisp morning as the air temperature was in the upper 40s. This would be my first trail run since before injuring my Achilles tendon in September. Not really knowing how to dress for running in cold weather (we're used to running in 90+ degrees down here in Florida) I opted for a long sleeve Under Armor Heat Gear top, running shorts and some wool snowboarding socks. The dietitian wore a long sleeve tech shirt, long running pants and gloves.

The trail was super fun right away. Unlike some of the trails I run around New Smyrna Beach, this area of Florida has very little palmetto plants and palm trees. There's less under growth in the hammock making for better visibility. Less palm trees mean more oak and pine trees and other hardwoods. The trail was heavy with gnarly roots protruding chaotically here and there on the trail requiring constant attention to every step. This dodging of the roots works the core muscles so much more than a regular run on pavement. I love it! The ground is laden with leaves. So much so that extra care must be taken not to slip. The leaves also have the tendency to cover up and hide one of the gnarly roots just waiting to twist an ankle, but this is what I define as trail running!

About halfway through the trail we realize that we're not on the trail. We've been chatting up a storm and totally not paying attention. It's a good thing the Dietitian knows the area because I'm completely lost and would otherwise have to pull out some Bear Grylls knowledge to get us back on track. We double back and find our way back on the trail. About a mile later we're chatting away again making a bunch of noise while I hear a loud shuffle ahead. At first I think some mountain bikers are headed our way and then appearing out of nowhere two deer jump right in front of us not but 20 feet away! They're both doe. Figures that the one time I leave the camera in the truck, this happens! They stop and watch us run by and I sense little fear from them, unlike the deer found in the woods around my home that are more accustomed to hunters shooting at them. Awesome.

Right around the 4-mile mark we emerge into a huge grassy field rolling with small Florida "hills" that reminds me somewhat to other areas of the south like Alabama. The last mile skirts the tree line just within the woods but keeping visibility of the field before we arrive back at the parking area. The run was great. My company was even better. My Achilles tendon spoke to me a little, but did not complain in the hours and days after the run so I'm giving myself a big SUCCESS on this trail run and look forward to visiting the preserve again on future trips to good old Gainesville!

Merry Christmas!

TallGuySurfing wishes everyone a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!


Mr. T Wiggles a.k.a. Sir Tucker the Labradoodle wishes everyone a woof woof Christmas as well...

The Thursday Stoke!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

Wishing the best for the entire Blogsphere! Here's a few Christmas wishes.

M-istletoe, may I find myself under some with a special someone...
E-pic Waves, for Easy Tom, Vancity Allie and Christian...
R-ecords, as in PRs for Redhead Running, Spike, B.o.b. & Lisa...
R-incon baby! Puerto Rico... I'll see you again in a few weeks...
Y-ou know you want some tasty Christmas food. Forget training and indulge...

C-ompletion, as in goal completion for the Redhead and Operation Jack...
H-anging ten, as in lots of noseriding in 2010...
R-aces, lots of races in 2010 including Muddy Buddy, Bay to Breakers and maybe Seattle...
I-njury Free, for myself and everyone else dealing with injuries right now...
S-eventeen days until Disney. Good luck to me, Harrison, Lucy, Julie, Jessica and Melissa...
T-ibialis, as posterior tibialis or a new one for Frayed Laces. That girl is inspirational...
M-any more posts from the Beginning Runner's Blog, that girl's humor cracks me up...
A-wesomeness stoked out positive karma all around...
S-well, as in fun swell waves for Wiffleboy, Surfsister, JY, Mick and Holly!

The Thursday Stoke!

Check out these epic waves!

Yes, I'm stoked about the amazing everyone-at-work-thinks-I'm-at-a-lunch-appointment-but-I'm-really-surfing-with-my-bros surfing session we had at the inlet on Tuesday!

It's Thursday and I'm still stoked!

You can clearly see in the picture above the super glassy, chest to head high peelers that were rolling in out in the background behind my 9'8" Anderson noserider!

Or perhaps not. There was a rumor in town that the surf was really fun. Only one obvious problem.... due to the fog you just had to paddle out and find out for yourself.

Text messages are great when you're friends with a lot of surfers. If there's good swell in the water your phone will start blowing up with messages of wacky named surf spots, wave information and sometimes unintelligible jibber-jabber that only surfers "get." Tuesday was one of those days. It started at dawn, about 7 a.m., as my phone sounded off. It was Dees. He's already at the beach. He can hear the surf, but not see it. There's no wind and he just "knows" it's good. He doesn't want to paddle out alone, but I'm due at an 8 a.m. meeting and can't join him. Surfing alone is usually not a big deal unless the conditions are dangerous (i.e. Hurricane swell), but surfing alone in heavy fog is just down right spooky. It is sort of like surfing at night, only you can still get sunburned. You can't see the beach and your only indication of the direction of land is the direction of the waves. Dees drives down the beach until he finds parked cars, paddles out and finds some strangers to surf within sight of, which is less spooky than being alone in a fog bank.

I attend my meeting, which sucks, and then sneak out for "lunch." I rendezvous with Norton and Tennessee Jeremy. Norton is a flight instructor and doesn't have another flight until 3 p.m. Tennessee Jeremy is a student and is in between final exams. Surfs up!

For the longest time it was only our threesome and of course the dolphins and spotted eagle rays that decided to say hello between waves. The rides are long, clean and perfect for noseriding. We have no idea if we are drifting or even what direction we are drifting. If it were a point break there would be no way to triangulate ourselves to the point. Sound seems to carry better through the fog, perhaps due to the high humidity/precipitation? We cheer each other on wave after wave and hear other surfers off in the unseen distance doing the same. It's one of those days where it's hard to leave the water, but work beacons. We leave the water and return to our lives, but with huge smiles all around. My feet are sandy within the socks inside my shoes and my hair is tangled, damp and salty. As I return to work a couple co-workers that also surf give a nod of approval for they "know." And the other co-workers? Well, who cares what they think.

Yes, I am stoked. The windless fog is my friend.

Here's another picture of the epic day of surfing at the beach!