Short Jog in the Soggy South

A brief, placeholder-update with just my results from today's L.A. Marathon:

Chip-Time
26.2 mi.  4 hr.:20 min.:43 sec.  9:57 pace.

GPS-Time
26.47 mi.  4 hr.:17 min.:54 sec.  9:44 pace.  3,135 Calories

Dangit - I thought it'd be more calories...

Ow ow ow ow ow...

I think I'm starting to understand the allure of this entire "testing one's own limits" thing, as I did a lot of it this past weekend, the cumulative effect of which has resulted in a large-ish blister on the sole of my right foot, sore quadriceps (both sides), assent to have a dude touch my legs for a sports-massage at today's 5K, and the continued deepening of a perpetual, wicked farmer's tan.

Saturday's Run:  Where My Dawgs At - No, Seriously, Why Am I Running These Distances Alone?
19.91 mi.  3 hr.:6 min.:52 sec.  9:23 pace.  2,456 calories.
First off, the distance was pleasantly symmetric (1991 was also a pretty good year), and although some might think, gosh, it was so close to an even 20, my reply is that, along the line of reasoning that I've had that if I can run 3, I can run 5, if I can run 5, I can run 8, if I can run 8, I can run 12, if I can run 12, I can run 16, etc., then the extra 0.09 miles don't worry me.  I just ran two laps around the Newport Back Bay, once clockwise, once counter clockwise, for a near-twenty, and I did it alone, which put my entire last post about the joys of running solo to the test.

I learned a lot about myself on this run;  the first 3/4 was fairly easy, and then I had problems.  One of the (solvable) problems is that I now need to use Bodyglide on my lower back, where my fuel belt rubs (I now have kind of a fuel belt tramp stamp/abrasion), and between my thighs (in the crotchular area) where I've been afflicted with chub rub.  My quads started cramping on the last 4-5 miles, and I realized that I need to do some sort of electrolyte replacement when I go above 16 miles, given that when I perspire my skin, roughly speaking, becomes rimed with salt, like a margarita glass.  I guess a sports-drink or salt tablets would help, alternatively, I could just start licking the salt off my arms, but that might cause unease with my fellow hobbyists.  The day ended with a lot of groaning, and the giant foot blister described above.

Sunday's Run:  Murrieta 5K 2011!
(Per my GPS and not the official race record)  3.03 mi.  22 min.:46 sec.  7:30 pace.

First of all, it was a terrific event beautifully orchestrated by Emili Steele and her band of merry prankst... well, more like band of merry fundraising event organizers, but you get the idea.  Actually, it was my first ever race!  And perhaps it wasn't the best idea to run it the day after my long run and the aforementioned blistering, etc., and the cold I continue to fight off, and the electrolyte abnormality I still probably have, and the sun got in my eyes, and I still have to get ready for the L.A. Marathon, you get the point.  Since it was my first race (ever), I was a bit shy and ended up at the back of the pack at the starting line, which required a lot of dodging walkers, joggers, baby strollers (there was a triple-wide), etc. in order to get running, but it felt good, it made me feel like a real athlete, to keep passing all of these other runners... that is, until I realized that my vision was tunneling, everyone else kept smiling and chattering and going out of their way to high-five when I could barely stay on my feet, oh, you get the point.  Sean Bush was awesome, finishing in the top ten!  Me, I was just happy to finish.

And now, I have to have some serious alone-time with the giant blister that's on the sole of my right foot.  It's seriously starting to develop its own personality, like Master-Blaster, or that weird stomach-creature in Total Recall...

We Think Big Thoughts

Running is an activity best done in groups, or at least that's what all the cool kids are saying these days.  But there's a meditative, transcendent quality to running a distance alone.  Like, I wonder what Pheidippides was thinking about all of those long, lonely miles, I mean, besides, "ow ow ow ow ow ow ow...."

Which is funny because running is, by its nature, physical;  maybe it's when we're embodied in the mind-free rhythmicity of running that we're freed to think Big Thoughts.

Sample:  our memories are plastic, malleable, suggestible, not only can we forget, we can remember it wrong.  So what happens to us when our memories become virtual and accessible - does my iPhone make me less human, more than human, or just more annoying when you're trying to engage me in a conversation?  What happens to me as a person?  Are you right because you say you are?  What, or who, arbitrates the past?  Is there a threshold at which we are no longer able to opt out of a technology, or is it a smeary continuum?  When will google become self aware?  Does that just mean that google googles itself?  What happens when I forget?  How do I forget?  What happens when we can't forget?  What's Whitney Houston saying when she asks how do I know if he really loves me?

Maybe gasping for air on these runs is just making me hypoxic.

Supa-Speedy Solo Cinco Que
3.25 mi.  24 min.:10 sec.  7:26 pace.

Is It Hypoxia, or Is It Memorex?
7.58 mi.  1 hr.:3 min.:56 sec.  8:26 pace.

Because Running Is Cheaper Than Therapy...

Worked the overnight shift with the overnight crue (who were great;  it's just that pesky circadian rhythm..)...

Awokened this morning to a consultation request that'll require solutions to both immigration and health care reform (I'll get right on that...)...

The microwave stopped working (yes, the warranty's out...)...

Today's the day we have to meet with our accountant (scheduled to end right during rush hour traffic...)...

And during the first few steps of today's brief run what came to mind was, damn, it feels good to move...

Or Maybe Not, Once You Factor In Shoes, a GPS Watch and Heart Rate Monitor, Chafing-Free Technical Clothes, Spray-Tanner to Remedy That Crazy Farmer's Tan, Race Registration, Ibuprofen...
2.65 mi.  22 min.:24 sec.  8:27 pace.

The Great Indoors, or, I Have a Vision - Televsion

I've been running in the gym a lot for the past couple of weeks so I could kill two birds with one stone, work out while keeping up on the news in Egypt and the rest of the Middle East, but sometimes my plans don't work out - some days, rather than having CNN on the televisions, well, let's just say that I end up watching more Oprah than any fully employed straight man should be admitting to (did you know that Susan Lucci has been playing her role as Erica Kane on All My Children for over 40 years?  well, I do now).

But besides affording me an opportunity to keep up with current events and cultural milestones, running indoors lets me work on my running form.  I can dial in the speed, time and incline on the treadmill and see how my form changes:  that's how I first started working on a midfoot-strike stride, falling forward for hill-climbs (unfortunately, the treadmills at the gym don't have a descent angle function), where I experimented with sock-wearing with my current pair of shoes - it's kinda like a running lab.

And besides, Oprah's on!

Hats Off To You, Susan Lucci
3.24 mi.  30 min.  9:15 pace.

Emergency Mediatheque

If you've known me for a while, you may recall that I have writerly notions - after all, I chose to major in English because of John Keats, who was a physician (and died of tuberculosis;  I'd like the lasting influence on literature, the coughing up of blood, not so much).  Well, actually, rather than solely publications, I guess my ambitions are a little more generally media-related, since I'd like to be the Sanjay Gupta of NPR, given that I have a face for radio and all.

I feel a bit sorry for other niched authorial classes;  for example, I pity Anthony Bourdain, who, as we know, is the Tae Kim of food writers.  Anyway, I continue to expand my little empire of orphaned, vaguely emergency medicine, or writing, or running, related blogs, and while running today (my, how the mind wanders!) I came up with some more ideas:

The Reluctant Hipster (okay, so this one has nothing to do with emergency medicine, running, or writing, but I liked the ring of it)

Writers Who Work Their Jobby-Jobs Because They Choose To (yeah, not really)

Emergelicious (...)

Hill Associated With Track
4.95 mi.  41 min.:36 sec.  8:24 pace.

The World Looks Different On Foot

So on my evening run I'm going through the cross-walk, and at the intersection, just starting to go in the opposite direction, I see a red Porsche 911 convertible with the top down;  at the wheel is a man wearing an Evel Knievel-style Stars-and-Stripes helmet, aviator shades, and in the back is his young daughter, maybe 8 or so, with a frilly frilled helmet on as well, both skinny little arms raised above her head, feeling the air, both of them with giant grins on their faces.

I shoulda yelled, "hooray, the economy is back!"

Counterclockwise Run
6.51 mi.  53 min.:4 sec.  8:09 pace.