Mechanicsburg Curiosities

One of the things that's changed since we moved is where I run.  Okay, that should go without saying, but at our condo I was able to skirt around the outside of town and get to some nice country roads when I have a long run.  But now to get to those country roads I have to run through town, and now I'm seeing things in Mechanicsburg I've never noticed before.

So on my 10-miler on Saturday I brought my camera-phone and snapped a few fuzzy low-res pictures.

First was the Magical Incense Store.  Yes, magical insense.  I'm not sure if they sell magic beans, but even if they did, I don't have a cow to trade for them anyway.

I'm not sure if that's really the glare of a sunny day or just the magic emanating from the incense in the shop.  I think the real question is how can an incense shop be profitable in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania?  But honestly, why didn't they just call it "Stoner's Pot Palace"?  (No one would have called that "blatant false advertising!")

Downtown there's a store called "Heel Your Sole" - which of course piqued my interest seeing as how often my feet have needed healing lately.  This place at least has a website - it looks like a kind of "foot spa."  Different.

Okay, so there's only so much to see in town.  I considered grabbing a photo of Finkenbinder Field, but really it's just another little league baseball diamond.  So I left town and explored the backroads.  It's funny how in an area that I know is less than a mile from really busy roads on four sides can be so quiet.

I took this picture in just such a place:

Cornfields as far as the eye can see.  Until you turn around.

And there's condos and new construction as far as the eye can see.  I don't know if this is just an area in flux or what, but there's not many places like this where you can take a picture of wide-open country and then turn around and see not just houses being constructed but condos!

Another thing that surprised me on my run was when I stopped by a park and found an open and clean bathroom:

It seems most places I've run the bathrooms are either locked or filthy.  (Possibly both, but how could I know that?) This restroom was in a park that had a nice 1/2 mile cinder trail.  Not a place to run barefoot, but a nice place to put in a couple quick traffic-free miles.

Another curiosity was found at a place called BWI - I don't know what they do but hey, they're hiring!

Finally, another rare sight around here was a bike lane:

At least I assume it's a bike lane seeing as how there's two white lines there and cars occasionally drifted over the inside one as if to run down an invisible rider.

But sadly, the bike lane wasn't a long one, and eventually ended.

I guess I didn't get the best angle there, but it basically guides the cyclist into a ditch.

I wish I had more, but once I get tired I pretty much quit taking pictures and want to go home.

Soft Star RunAmoc Observations

In previous posts on shoes, I've mentioned I don't like calling them "reviews" because everyone's feet is different and a shoe that I love might not work for you and a shoe that you love might not work for me.

I think the RunAmoc is a great example of why I do this.  A lot of people love the RunAmoc.  Donald, over at Running and Rambling, loves them so much he ran a fifty miler in them.  But they're not working for me.

I ordered them a couple weeks ago and have been using them on my easy days for lunchtime runs.  I've worked up to 2.5 miles barefoot, so 3 miles in moccasins didn't seem like a big deal.  Boy was I wrong.  The first time I wore them I did only 2.5 miles and had a bit of a hot spot on the ball of my right foot, beneath the fourth toe.  I blew it off and ran later that week and got a full-blown blister.  Underneath a callous. 

I still ran the Run for Reading 5K that weekend (in cross-country flats), but that evening my foot was killing me.  The pressure had built up so much beneath the callous that it had pushed forward so the tissue at the base of my fourth toe was inflammed.  It was weird.  Draining the blister with a needle didn't help - I think the top layer of skin was too thick to allow it to drain properly.  Normally when I get a blister it just dries out after a couple days and eventually flakes off - even if its under a callous.  What I ended up doing was taking a razor blade and cutting down the center of the blister and opening it up to relieve the pressure.

It worked, and Monday morning I was feeling much better--I even put in a good 6 mile run Monday evening.  Thinking I was better I gave the RunAmocs another try on Thursday and still got a small blister on that same spot.  Then today I gave it one last try.  It's not going to work.

There are three issues it could be:  form, foot physiology or size.

If it's form, it's fixable.  Probably.  With some work.  But if I've been running barefoot for five months and I can't handle the RunAmocs, it seems unlikely that its form.  And if it is, it's unlikely that it will improve significantly in a reasonable amount of time.

If it's foot physiology, there's nothing I can do.  I know I have issues with a Haglund's deformity, but that's not going to give me a blister on the ball of my foot (but it will cause bursitis).


And it could be size.  I'm a short, fat size nine.  That is, I'm like a 8 3/4 EE.  Or maybe just E.  But I'm and 8.5 EE in dress shoes and a 9 D in running shoes.  Soft Star has only full sizes and they say if you're between sizes to go down on the RunAmoc.  But I didn't because I'm not that between sizes.  I'm way closer to a nine than an eight.  So I could get a size eight.  But if size wasn't the issue, then I'm out the cost of another pair of mocs.  (Because I can't return these - they've been worn outside.)

So these are going on eBay.  It makes me question whether true minimalist shoes are for me.  Maybe I'll stick with flats and seek out some zero-dropped cushioned shoes for long road runs...although the New Balance Minimus line sure has me curious...

A Reality Check

This summer I've been following some of the big ultras considerably more closely than I have in the past.

It started with the Western States Endurance Run, when I correctly predicted the top-two finishers (in order).  I certainly didn't predict that two-time champ Hal Koerner would take a DNF on an unusually runner-friendly day in California.  (I also didn't do a great job of predicting the women's race.)

I also followed Sherpa John's bid for the Grand Slam (running Western States, the Vermont 100, Leadville 100 and Wasatch 100 in the same year) and saw a guy with multiple sub-24 hour buckles from Vermont and multiple-time finisher of the difficult Massanutten Mountain Trails 100.  But he was humbled by Western States - hoping for a sub-24 buckle, he finished in 28:29.  Not to minimize the accomplishment though - simply finishing Western States is no easy task.  And, although he finished, it left him battered for Vermont - a race that he normally buckles, but this time his aching legs got him to the finish line more than five hours slower than in 2009.

...as Christian Griffith knows.  Christian finished three 100-milers between 2008 and 2009, but was humbled by the Keys 100 in May and then Western States, DNF'ing both races.

Last weekend was the Leadville 100 and two-time champ Anton Krupicka was the consensus favorite to win (after DNF'ing in 2009).  But he and Hal Koerner both got an ego-check by the high-altitude race.  Krupicka DNF'd for the second straight year (after leading for more than half the race) and Koerner failed to finish a 100-miler for the second time this year.

All this to say that you never what's going to happen past 50 miles.  When you look at the finishing rate for the JFK 50 - the largest ultramarathon in the US and one very popular with first-timers at that distance - you'll see that better than 90% of the field will cross the finish within the cutoff.   Compare that to Leadville - the largest 100-miler:  780 starters this year, 363 finished the race.  That's a finish percentage of 46.5%.  Granted that is going to be less than most 100-milers because the difficulty of the course, and the lack of qualifying standards and entrant limit.

This summer has been quite the reality check for me.  Not that I was going to leap right into the 100 mile distance without knowing I was well-prepared, but I was humbled two years ago by JFK with a disappointing time because I went into it under-trained.  If I make a similar mistake with a 100 mile race, I will like be even more humbled (and more disappointed) with a DNF.

So if (and that's a big "if") I ever undertake the 100-mile distance, you can bet that it will be after I've passed my own "qualifying standards" and am well-trained and well-prepared to take on that kind of distance - even then, as we learned from Krupicka and Koerner, there are no guarantees.  For now, I'm focused on getting a sub-4:00 marathon.  And then, well...I'm still not qualified to run 100 miles.

Cross Training

In the past, I've been pretty lax about cross-training.  It's just not as fun to do push-ups, crunches, dumbbell rows and squats as it is to go running on mile and miles of trail.

But lately, I'm beginning to realize that when I cross-train, I tend to get hurt less.  Also, after last week's race, I'm beginning to suspect it actually makes me faster.  And I have time to cross-train when I can't always run. 

I mentioned before I have a nice space for indoor training in our new house.  I envision me hooking up some headphones to the TV and doing some early-morning trainer rides on my bike there this winter.  And I've even got it cleaned up and usable:

And right now, that's one of two cross-training areas I have, because I also have this:

My backyard.  Not that I'm flipping tractor tires out there or dragging weighted sleds, but every Saturday after my morning run I have to mow the lawn - that's an extra 45 minutes of cardio, since I have a push mower.  (Honestly, I'd feel like a total wuss using a riding mower on my 1/4 acre property.) 

It's not just mowing, either.  There's trimming the bushes, turning over our compost piles, edging our sidewalks (a challenge with our temperamental edger) and trying to tame the ivy growing in our front yard (a nearly impossible task).

So I may not get any 60-mile training weeks in before the marathon in November, but between the miles I do put in, my time in the bonus room with the dumbbells and the challenge of maintaining a yard I should be as ready as ever to go 26.2 miles.

Tony Dungy is Taking Some Hard Knocks

I know some of you out there just sort of skip my posts about sports.  But you may want to read this one.

Tuesday on the Dan Patrick Show, when asked whether he would hire Jets coach Rex Ryan, Tony Dungy said he wouldn't because of his frequent use of 4-letter words.  On HBO's Hard Knocks, Ryan frequently let loose strings of four-letter words (occasionally including the word "Jets").  When I heard Dungy's statement, I thought that was a bold statement and a statement of personal conviction, but not necessarily controversial.  But now it's over 48 hours later and it's still a story.

First I saw reaction on Profootballtalk.com.  The blog posted the story soon after the segment aired on Fox Sports Radio.  The story itself revealed no opinion on what Dungy said, but there are now 222 comments, many of which rail against Dungy, calling him "Holier than thou", comparing Ryan with Michael Vick (whom Dungy mentored - definitely not apples-to-apples), and even bringing up the fact that his son had committed suicide several years ago (no matter how good a parent you are, you can't prevent everything).

The thing is, Dungy never said that Rex Ryan was a bad person or a bad coach.  But it appears that Ryan is taking it that way.  In comments to the press he said, "I felt that he unfairly judged me, and that was disappointing to me."  But what did Dungy say that was different that what his own mother said after viewing Hard Knocks? 

Besides, why would anyone think that Dungy working with Ryan would be a good coaching combination?  They have entirely different styles - after all, Dungy's book was titled Quiet Strength.  The former Colts coach didn't say that Ryan was a bad person, or a bad coach, just that he prefers not to be around someone who uses that much profanity.

I think the big hang up that people have is that Dungy mentioned that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should give Ryan a call and tell him to tone it down some.  The thought that the commissioner's office dictating how coaches talk to their players is a little ridiculous.

But Ryan wasn't just talking to his players - he was talking to TV cameras.   And Dungy didn't say that the NFL should fine the Jets' Coach, just that he should let him know that that is not the image the NFL wants to portray.  The NFL fines players for flipping off crowds, hot dogging in the end zone and wearing socks that don't match.  Why is it such a stretch that they would get involved with a coach using four-letter words in front of TV cameras?  (And we're not talking about an accidental slip on a ref's game mic).

So why does a former coach who is trying to do the right thing, to guide young people, and to encourage men to become leaders and mentors and be a good a father elicit such a negative reaction from so many people?   I can't even say they disagree with his views, but many disagree with his faith.  Suddenly Tony Dungy is a bad guy for saying that he doesn't like profanity.  The world is officially upside-down.

Run for Reading 5K race report

Most years (okay, two of the last three) my August race has been the Fredrickson Library Loop 5K in Camp Hill.  This year, the timing for that race was bad.  We had just moved, I was recovering from injury, it just didn't work out.

But when our plans for this weekend fell through, Beth mentioned that I could do the Simpson Library "Run for Reading" 5K here in Mechanicsburg (Upper Allen Township, actually).  It was held at Friendship Park where there was a great playground for Adele and Beth had found out that there was a stamping/scrapbooking garage sale going on in the neighborhood we'd be running through.

By Friday afternoon I knew the day would be perfect for a race, the expected low would be around 68 degrees and with the high only in the low 80s, it meant that it would probably still be in the low seventies at 8:30 in the morning when the race starts.  Even with a few hills on the course, it would be a good day to run a fast time.  However, I had done some knew things in my strength training routing and I knew my foot wasn't entirely healed from the injury (I suspect tendinitis) I suffered a few weeks ago, so I wasn't entirely convinced I'd be able to beat my PR of 23:25, but after two 25-minute-plus 5K lasts winter I knew that I should certainly put in my fastest 5K in over a year.

Adele was nice enough to let us sleep in on Saturday morning, not rousing us until an hour past her usual 5:45 AM reveille. That was great, but we went to bed Friday night anticipating that we'd have plenty of time to get ready in the morning.  And we did have plenty of time, it just would have helped to have a plan.  After pulling ourselves together, we were out the door at 8:03, and reached Friendship Park at about 8:10.  Once I registered, Beth and Adele headed towards the aforementioned garage sale, while I warmed up.  We had anticipated the race going right past the sale.  (This is not how it turned out and Beth felt awful about missing the race - especially the finish.)

For the race I wore my Brooks Mach 11 spikeless cross-country flats.  I had considered wearing my Brooks Green Silence, but cushioning for some reason aggravates my tendinitis, so despite it being a three-mile race on asphalt, I wore the flats.  Which, in the end I think was probably a good choice.

I warmed up with a lap around the park and then trotted out on the course to get a bit of a preview.  I didn't really need a preview since I had often rode my bike through this development, but I had just enough time to take a quick jaunt around the block and get completely loosened up.  I reached the start just a minute or two before the (proverbial) gun went off - perfect timing!

At the start of every race I try to take notice of people and where they are lining up and using my keen powers of observation to make a determination of where I should line up.  At this race there were a lot of young kids - like junior high aged lined up at the start of the pack, a few athletic-looking guys near them and then the rest of us.  I quickly ascertained that except for the few athletic-looking guys near the front noone else had any concept of where they should be, so they stood wherever.  Which can make things very frustrating if your starting near the back and you should be in the middle, or worse, the front.  So lined up behind the athletic-looking guys, deciding it was better to make people pass me than face the frustration of passing everyone who has no concept of how to line up for a 5K.  (In other words, I just followed the axiom, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.")

The gun (er...airhorn) went off and we took off.  I always have troubling finding my pace for a 5K, but I've found a good rule of thumb is to feel like you're going a little too slow at the start, because after a half-mile the fatigue of your pace will begin to set in.  Following that rule, I was a little surprised that nobody was passing me.  Rather than panic I decided to keep a steady pace.  I probably wasn't going to PR anyway, so if I blow up, who cares?

After the first mile the junior-high kids leaning over the start line began to drop like flies.  I'll admit that a couple 14 year-olds beat me, which should be no surprise to you if you follow this blog at all.  I reached the first mile-marker in 7 minutes flat.  A little fast, but I was feeling good, so I didn't adjust my pace.  There was a little up-and-down on the loop around Fisher Park, but for the most part the second mile was pretty flat.  At the second time check I was at 13:47.

At this point I was thinking "PR" and judging by those around me at the start, I may have a chance at an age-group award.  It seemed to me that everyone else at the front of the pack was much younger or much older than me.  Or a woman.  I ticked up my pace slightly and started passing people.  But when we reached the final loop at Friendship Park, where there were some small hills I felt my pace slacken a bit.

I spent the entire loop chasing a couple of younger guys, one of whom I passed about a quarter mile from the finish line.  As I made the final turn towards the finish, I was stoked when I saw the finishing clock at 22 minutes.  I finished in 22:28, a PR by nearly a minute!

Because of the stamping/scrapbooking yardsale mix-up I found Beth a few minutes later.  She was sorry she had missed me, but was thrilled to learn how well I did.  We decided to stay for the awards (which seemed to take forever to start) since I felt I had a shot at an age group award.  Turns out it was more than a shot.  When I located the results board, I snuck a peak and noticed that despite finishing 21st overall, I was definitely in line for at least second place in the 30-39 age group - there was one tag I couldn't quite make out the age on.  Well, whatever was on that tag wasn't the letter M with an number in the thirties, so I came home with my first-ever age-group win.  (I've twice come in second at other 5K's.)

Not bad for a race in the middle of August with modest expectations!

Chased by a Giant

Recently my friend Dan with whom I often give (and take) grief over bowling scores (we bowl on the same team) called me out on his blog.  (If you click that link be sure to go to the "the family giant" section, not the "the technical giant".  Under "technical giant" he talks about strange things like "Arduino," "Gradle" and "Trixbox" which I assume are obscure references from a Douglas Adams novel.)


Now, I've mentioned before that lately some of my friends have taken up running and are pretty much instantly faster than me.  Which is fine.  But they all have the advantage (for the most part) of being smaller, or at least shorter than me.

So let me point out one of the urban myths about running that is often held by non-runners:  that taller people are faster.  People think long legs = big stride = speed.  Not so.  The taller you are, the heavier you are.  (That is, assuming the same level of health/body fat content).  And the further you run the more weight becomes a hinderance.  Usain Bolt may be 6'5", but marathoner Ryan Hall is 5'10" (and only 130 pounds!).  Not that 5' 10" is short, but it's more than half a foot less than 6' 5."

Dan is about 6'9" (I almost swiped a photo from his Facebook page to illustrate this, but thought better of it).  I am 6'1". Currently at 170 pounds, my BMI is 22.4.  For Dan to match my BMI, he would have to weigh 209 pounds or 23% more than me.  If he were to drop to 170 pounds to match my weight, his BMI would be 18.2 and in the "underweight" range - meaning he would likely not have the strength to match my speed over a given distance.

So, in conclusion, Dan may end up "faster" than me - but I would expect that at distances over 800 meters, the eight-inch difference in our height would give me the edge for endurance.  But in the end, we're going to have to have a 5K showdown to decide!

Hey Look! I Have a Bike!

Funny thing about moving.  You discover just how much stuff you have.  And some items it seems you can totally forget you have them until you move and have find a new place for them (or get rid of them).

When we moved last week I suddenly remembered that I have a bike!  Actually I have three!  Okay, I never actually forgot, but when I packed up my bike stuff I started getting that hankering to get back out there on two wheels again.

On Friday I rode my bike for the first time in about two months.  It's very unlike me to neglect my bike(s) for that long.  But I was gung-ho about increasing my running mileage, and with Adele and trying to do some core work, there was not time for the bike.  (Oh yeah, and all that moving stuff).

So Friday I did a little exploration, trying to find the fastest route to Blue Mountain - a scouting trip for future rides.  I didn't plan to go over Blue Mountain, just find my way to the roads that would take me there.

I'm not sure I found the fastest way anywhere because the roads around here are a bit confusing, and while I did look at Google maps, I didn't actually print everything out, and my memory proved fallible.

 Including every U-turn I did (3), I put in 21 miles.  And I felt great.  That's the great thing about cycling.  You can take months off, start riding again, and not feel any kind of fitness loss (if you've been running or otherwise working out).  However, my butt-toughness did not stay with me on my hiatus.  So when I rode again this afternoon, I felt the consequences of my cycling sloth.

New House, New You

You know how every year Runner's World and Bicycling (and perhaps many other Rodale magazines) have a headline that says "New Year, New You"?  This post has nothing to do with that.

But Beth, Adele and myself have moved into our new house.  And I'm still the same, except tired, dehydrated and with a couple pairs of green socks from mowing and whacking weeds.

I almost didn't post tonight because there was no way I could write a post about the new house without pictures.  Then I remembered my camera was in a box next to the computer (lots of things are still in boxes - like my running shoes!) so I took a picture of my "man cave."  Well, really more like my "man nook which also shares space with our computer stuff, the drying rack and other stuff that doesn't really fit elsewhere in the house (and for a while Beth's scrapbooking stuff)." 

And, in case you were wondering, it all faces a 15-inch television (with a VCR!).


I almost went for a run this morning, but instead put some stuff in the attic.  I figure its about equivalent effort, and my foot is still a bit of an issue.  I am going to run, though tomorrow.  It seems my feet feel best when barefoot, so I'm keeping my shoes off as much as possible.  In fact, Beth had to remind me once to put shoes on when I went someplace I've become so used to it.  But as a precaution (and also due to otherwise being on my feet all day) I haven't run at all since last Sunday.

I will get up early for a barefoot run tomorrow, then maybe I'll go back to a two-a-day on Wednesday.  I'm due for a "long run" on Friday, but at this point I don't see that happening in the "18 miles I had planned" sense - but possibly in the "2 miles barefoot in the morning and a bike ride afterwards" sense or maybe somewhere in between.  Right now I'm not going to stress about it.  Obviously I have enough to stress about (see above photo).