The Holidays Are Here...Run!

May the gods have mercy.  The holidays are officially, undeniably upon us.

Everyone seemingly looks forward to the holiday season, but I will confess to having developed an aversion to it all.  The rampant commercialization, the waning light of shortened days (rife with seasonal affective disorder), and the self-enhanced stress of meeting abstract holiday obligations related to family and friends.  While I can't deny that I enjoy the excitement and wonder that is still present in my children for the holidays, I personally would like nothing better than for them to pass quietly by while I give them nothing more than a nod of my head and a tip of my glass as acknowledgement.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day.  I knew that I was in for a stressful day and not particularly looking forward to dinner at the mother-in-law's house.  Not that the food wasn't going to be good (I was certain that it was) or that my children weren't excited (they were).  However, there would be volatile personalities present and a high potential for family drama that doesn't necessarily require a holiday gathering to be invoked but is much more certain with one.  Normally I would inoculate myself against the angst with a stiff drink or two before venturing out, but unfortunately I was on-call and therefore that removed that particular remedy from my list of options.

So on Wednesday night I decided to make the best of my Thanksgiving morning and run the Iroquois Hill Runners Thanksgiving Day Run.  The run is held each year on Thanksgiving morning and is a 5 mile run through the hills of Iroquois park, which is actually a pretty tough run with a hard climb the entire length of the first two miles or so.

IHR Thanksgiving Day Run Elevation Profile

At the urging of my co-worker, friend, and mentor Steve, I had ran this race last year under his entry as he wasn't able to participate.  Steve is the person who is singularly responsible for introducing the One Man to running for fun.  Running was something that I once loathed because of the inevitability of shin splints and severe discomfort that came from running.  Other than doing the absolute minimum that I had to do for PT tests (and struggling through the running portions of those), I wanted nothing to do with running.  Through intelligent suggestions and enthusiastic encouragement Steve guided me to pain free running and was the first person to encourage me to run in an organized road race, which he also ran with me.  That was almost almost three years ago.  Steve was running the Thanksgiving Day run this year and I could think of no better way to start my day than running it with the Jedi Master and being surrounded by the positive energy of the running community.

I was up and out the door just after 7:00 A.M. and on my way to late registration.  I stopped by Starbucks for my triple venti mocha and then made my way down highways and streets that were surprisingly empty for a holiday morning.  I did see a few runners who appeared to be making their way toward Iroquois Park.

The hills of Iroquois loom in the distance as I drive down Southern Parkway.

I arrived just before 8:00 A.M. and there were already tons of people present and parking was filling up.  I had printed out my registration form at home and brought it with me.

 

Late registration and packet pickup near the starting line.

A pleasant surprise at late registration was that I was still given a nice long-sleeve t-shirt with the IHR Thanksgiving day logo.  The temps were in the high 30s and climbing so I decided to return to the car and exchange the t-shirt and running jacket that I had been wearing for the IHR long-sleeve.

Run, Turkey!

I met up with Steve and his family near registration and enjoyed talking with them prior to the start.  With twenty-five minutes or so to go until the race was to begin I decided to head to the bathroom to relieve myself of some of the coffee that I had.  The line was not that long but apparently many of the people in line had not yet enjoyed their morning constitutional.  By the time the I was five people away from the door it was nine minutes until the start and it was painfully obvious I wasn't going to make a bathroom trip before the race began.  So shrugging off the trip to the bathroom I headed back to line up for the singing of My Old Kentucky Home and The Star Spangled Banner.

The One Man with the Jedi Master.

Without much delay the race was on.  Hundreds of runners started up the climb up the hills.  I took it very easy as I made the ascent.  I haven't been doing a lot of hill work lately (read "none") and wasn't sure what kind of toll the hills would take on me.  The funny thing about running hills for me however is that I tend to unconsciously push myself.  This day was no exception and I found myself slowly and steadily passing other runners as we climbed.

Beginning the ascent.

Near the top of the park I was struck by the early morning view with the sun still low in the early Thanksgiving Day sky.  I paused to take a couple of pictures as did several of the other runners.

View from the top.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  My photography stop allowed Steve to gain a good thirty seconds on me, but I was able to keep him in sight during the rest of the race even if I couldn't catch up to him again.

I was able to open up on the descent and felt like I was flying coming back down out of the hills.  The final stretch I really pushed myself because I knew I had a good chance of breaking 50 minutes if I did.  I crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 49:51.  Not bad for someone who doesn't do hill work.

The post-race snack was a pumpkin muffin with frosting and chocolate milk.  You can't beat that.  Way to go Iroquois Hill Runners.

Best post-race snack EVER.

I felt good about the 49:51 time all that day and even smiled to myself today thinking about it; even if my quads are a little more sore than usual.

And for the record, the Thanksgiving Day meal was delicious.  The evening did end on a sour note, not unexpectedly, when the aforementioned personalities clashed.  But making the best of what was left of the evening, I took the family to the movies.  You'd be surprised how many people were actually at the theater on Thanksgiving night.  Maybe I'm not quite so alone in my aversions.

LSC Half Marathon 2012

The second running of the Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon was on Saturday, November 3rd.  I would have written this blog post/race report before now but the very evening after the race I received a call from work that set off a cascade of events that resulted in me working around the clock for the following four days after.  Most of those days included repeated briefings that were way too similar to this (we all work with at least one Leroy Jenkins), and finally ended with a day spent flying around the city.

Not that my job isn't cool sometimes.  I mean, what other career lets you shoot guns, drive fast cars, and fly around in helicopters?  Certainly not the company IT department.

So on to the race report...

The Warm Up

I slept like crap the night before the race which is no big surprise.  I usually sleep like crap.  The race was to start at 8:30 A.M. so I set my alarm for 5:00 and was up and eating a breakfast that consisted of toast with peanut butter and some milk.  Jumped in the shower and then wandered outside to get a feel for the weather.  The forecast had temperatures in the 40s with a chance of rain.  Even though it was in the low 30s as I stood outside, it didn't really feel all that bad.  I opted for a pair of running shorts, the long sleeve tech shirt that the Sports Commission gave out for the race, and a "throw away" sweatshirt.  By 7:00 I was out the door and on my way to Starbucks to pick up Venti Mocha.  I opted for a quad and was on my way to the race venue.

View from the Yum! Center steps toward the Start.

I arrived around 7:30.  The race started in front of the KFC Yum! Center and I opted to park in the garage beneath the arena.  There weren't very many other cars doing the same and I was a little surprised given that the finish line was very close to where we would start.  I sat in my car and sipped my coffee for a while before I strapped on my Garmin and fired up my Bluetooth headphones.

I made my way to the front of the Yum! Center just as the National Anthem was being played for the Pure Tap 5K that started at 8:00.  Although there were a lot of people around, there didn't seem to be quite as many as last year's inaugural running of the LSC Half.  As the 5K race started I milled about aimlessly, crowd watching, before making my way to the port o' potty line.  The organizers had strategically (perhaps) located the port o' potties inside the parking garage across the street from the Yum! Center.  So I stood in the line that stretched down the sidewalk for a good 15 minutes before I had my turn.

I was out of the port o' potty just as the National Anthem was played for the start of the Half.  I smiled to myself as this was what had happened to me at last year's running.  Perhaps I'm starting a tradition.  At the corner of the street was an overly energetic girl who was doing some cross between plyometrics and cheer leading.  I wanted to slap her.  But instead I went about making sure my music was ready and my Runmeter app was fired up on my iPhone as I made my way to the back of the pack lining up for the start.

My view from the back of the pack.

The weather wasn't all that chilly and the sky looked like the forecast of rain might have been wrong.  I considered for a moment shedding the sweatshirt, but decided I would wait to see how things played out along the way.  For some odd reason I was feeling nervous about this 13.1 mile run.  My training long runs had been strong and even though I was nervous I was confident that I could pull out a PR (Personal Record for you non-running types) from this run.  From the back of the pack I could barely see the starting line and only when the crowd began surging forward did I realize the race had been started.

The Race

The first 3.5 miles were great.  I felt great.  I looked great.  I was running strong.  Around 1.5 miles in I saw my friend Ginger who is training for the 2013 Goofy Challenge at Disney.  I enjoyed seeing Ginger.  She looked great and asked me if I was "going for it," referencing my desire to beat last year's time.  I told her that I thought I was and I pushed on ahead.

At around 3 miles or so, just before entering Cherokee Park, I met more friends including Lenore who is currently sidelined with an injury but was still awesome enough to come out to cheer.  I paused long enough to give her a nice sweaty hug before rushing off into the park.  The strategy was to take it easy on the climbs in Cherokee and then turn it on during the descents and the flat portions in the latter portion of the course.  That strategy went out the window with the first hill as I maintained my pace without slowing.  I did throw silent curses at the elderly man who sprinted past me on the hill.  I had smug satisfaction at the top, however, when I passed him as he was walking.

I felt like I flew through the park and as I navigated the course back out there was Lenore and the cowbell crew who had moved down to cheer us on out of the park.  I waved to them and smiled as I pushed on toward mile 7.  I checked my Garmin and I was on track to match my time from last year's run.  And although I was still feeling pretty good I knew something was going to have to happen if I was going to PR.

The clouds had moved in and it started to rain by mile 8.  I was suddenly glad that I had made the decision to keep the sweatshirt.  I could also feel my energy beginning to drop.  Moving forward was becoming increasingly difficult and I knew that my paced had slowed.  I took the single gel that I had brought with me and hoped that it would give me what I needed to pick back up.  It was also around this time that Ginger blew past me like I was standing still.  I commented that I thought that she was going to take this run easy but she said she had shifted into "race mode."  I watched as she slowly pulled away and disappeared into the distance as the rain began to fall heavily.

By mile 9 I knew that whatever that thing was that needed to happen for me to PR wasn't going to happen.  My legs were heavy and I felt sluggish.  I was cold and soaked and still waiting on that "runner's high" that people talk about but I never seem to get.  By this time we were in downtown Louisville and the only good thing was that the strong headwind from last year's race was absent; replaced instead by frigid rain.

At mile 11 I knew I was out of juice.  I kept trying to push myself but the fire was gone.  Runners were passing me on the left and right and when I glanced down at my Garmin I realized my pace was no better than that of a speed walker.  The last two miles were an exercise in perseverance.  I crossed the finish line in 02:26:24.  More than 16 minutes slower than last year's time on the exact same course.

After grabbing my super-cool finisher's medal I then met Ginger and Kevin just past the recovery snacks.  We were soaked and freezing but able to spend a few minutes talking before the chill finally motivated us to be on our way.  I headed up toward the pizza booth with the idea of grabbing a slice, but I began shivering and instead decided to make my way back to the car.

Soaked in AWESOME!

Post Race Thoughts

Damn I'm cold!  Well, that was my initial post race thought anyway.

Even through the rain and freezing temps I enjoyed my running of the Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon.  The LSC puts on a good race and the organization seemed even more solid on this, their second year.  Last year's event was a pleasure to run and if the weather had cooperated this year I'm sure I would have had that PR on this quick and relatively flat course.  There's always next year.

But for now I can say that I've ran the LSC Half every year.  Both of them.

The Perfect Day

Have you ever had one of those days where everything went perfectly?  I mean absolutely perfect.  Everything falls right into place, your timing is impeccable, and every plan that you've laid out goes off without a snag?  You know!  One of those days where nothing could possibly seem to go wrong.  Everyone loves you; thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread.  You are the man!  Or woman, as the case may be.  One of those days where you love your job and the job loves you right back.  Ever have an entire week like that?  Yeah, me neither.

As a matter-of-fact the last couple of weeks have been made up of a combination of less-than-perfect days and days that I'm certain the Devil himself custom designed specifically for me.  Not that I haven't given Old Scratch his due from time to time, but I think we certainly have reached a trade imbalance with the last few weeks.

So as you can already figure out this isn't going to be a nice little blog post where I talk about rainbows and bunnys.  This is the post where my frustration, bitterness, and angst will come shining through.

I read recently how unbelievably awesome everyone's lives seem to be if you believe everything that you read posted on Facebook or Twitter.  As Beth over at Shut Up + Run said in one of her blog posts, "If you hang around on Facebook long enough, you may want to slit your wrists. It seems everyone is at party and you are at home cleaning the toilets."  You can read more of Beth's observations here.  So if you are looking for a party, I would suggest you navigate away from this page now and go read about someone else's perfect life on Facebook.  If you think you can handle a dose of some of what has been pissing me off recently, then by all means, press on.

Here is a funny cat picture while you make your decision:

Still here?  Okay then.  Where shall we start?

How about work?  For many different reasons I can't go into specifics, but I think you'll understand the crux of my frustration.

I'm certain that everyone has their own share of work frustrations - those that actually work.  I could rant all day long about everything that is wrong with my job; all of it a direct result of bureaucratic assholes who are so far removed from reality that they couldn't find their way back if they had a map and a team of Sherpa.  For the operators in the field the reality of what is happening and the resources that are needed to do their jobs effectively are painfully obvious.  At least the ones who give a damn.  There are those who have just given up and no longer care - if they ever did - and I blame that directly on leadership.  Without getting into those aforementioned specifics it comes down to these three factors:

1. Lack of manpower.
2. Lack of resources.
3. Lack of effective leadership.

Frustration or exhaustion?  It all looks the same.

The first two could be easily worked around if the third (and most important) factor wasn't an issue.  Imagine going to work every day and feeling like you had to fight your employer to let you do your job.  That is what it has been like for me for a very, very long time now and I've grown weary of it.  I could take the low road like others have: show up, be ineffective, and collect a paycheck.  But that isn't my nature.  And not only is it not my nature, it doesn't fulfill the oath that I took or achieve the mission objectives that I have been tasked with that attempt to ensure a free and secure society.  I do this job because, for all the frustration, all the angst, all the asinine mandates of fat-ass bureaucratic assholes, I sometimes do make a difference.  I do what I do because, like some idealistic boy scout, I believe in what I do and I love my job.

Next?  How about my fitness pursuits.  This blog is called One Man Running.  My running and training has also been exceedingly frustrating.  Work and home (another issue altogether which I will spare the general populous) has been pulling at me to the point that I am physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.  My nutrition has also been less than stellar.  The end result is that both my motivation and my performance have taken big hits.  My gym workouts and my training runs have been lackluster and I've missed some of my weekly scheduled runs altogether.  Recent mornings I have started my workouts only to be interrupted half-way through or have a sudden loss of desire fall on me so heavily that I simply put down the weights, dress, and go to my office to start my day.  On a recent run I was not even a half mile in when I just didn't feel like running.  At all.  So I stopped without so much as an attempt at battling or pushing myself over it as I normally would.

How I've felt after most of my runs.

As I've been training for the Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon which is this Saturday, the only positive has been that I haven't missed any of my long runs, simply from the sheer force of determination.  But those training runs have been slow and difficult.  It seems as though I've been beset by one pin prick of irritation after another for each of those runs.  Constant interruptions, missed meals, dehydration, forgotten BodyGlide (and the consequences of that), dead Garmin, dead Bluetooth headphones, the list goes on and on.  This past Sunday for example I missed out on running in the morning, which is when I feel my performance is best, and had to settle for running in the mid-afternoon.  I also realized that I had forgotten my new running shoes at work and had to opt for my recently retired pair for my scheduled 12 mile run.  The purpose of retiring those shoes was the shin pain that I was beginning to experience.  Around 8 miles in and the pain was definitely there.  At 10.25 miles I had hit the wall anyway and that was where my run ended.  It has been a very long time since I've seen the proverbial "wall" and was a little surprised when I did.  And did I mention that at the start of my run my Garmin was dead?  If it hadn't been for the Runmeter app on my iPhone I might have packed it in right there.

Since Sunday's failed 12 miler I haven't run at all.  This was suppose to be a taper week with three small runs scheduled before the Half this Saturday.  None of those runs have happend.  Even though I have put in the training and the long runs, like the KDF Marathon this past April, I'm just not feeling it.  I have a not-so-secret goal of beating my time from the inaguarl running of the LSC last November.  What I don't have is a lot of confidence that will happen.

If there is a silver lining it is that my knee is feeling better since the PRP procedure.  There is still some residual ache and discomfort at the beginning of my runs, but that pain abates and eventually disappears as I warm up.  The problem is that I realize that the effects of my knee injury will never go away.  I will live with the consequences of the injury for the rest of my life and, unless there are hyper-advancements in orthopedics, this knee could be a show stopper in my later years.


Every day is a bad hair day.

Oh, and speaking of silver linings I have absolutely had it with my hair.  As narcissistic as I am (or at least regularly accused of being), I'm obviously very concerned with my closely cropped coiffure.  In 2005 I was involved in a very serious auto accident.  That accident ripped a little scalp off of my skull.  The trauma doc pulled the skin together and put a few staples in to hold it together.  Ever since one section of hair grows in the opposite direction than the rest, in some faux, twisted attempt to make me look like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.  To keep it under control I have resorted to bi-weekly visits to the barber shop and the use of "relaxing" shampoos in an attempt to coax the rogue follicles into compliance or at least mitigate their undeterred rebellion.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing however, is that there is all of this natural "highlighting" that has begun to appear along the sides of my hair.  It used to be easy enough to keep the grey concealed by keeping my hair cut closely, but that is no longer working as well as it once did.  The steady march toward the grave is heralded by the visible ravages of age.  Getting old sucks.

So there, in not so much of a nutshell, you have a few of the sources of my irritation.  If I launched into the complete list - along with sub-catagories - this would be a book and not a blog post.  Did I also mention that I've been writing this post for almost a week?  That is the way things are going for me at the moment.  But I will do what I'm used to doing: suck it up and keep moving.  Because in reality there are no perfect days, maybe just perfect perspectives, and the only way to change your view is to keep moving forward from where you are.

And in case you are wondering, you won't find the One Man on Facebook.  I'm quite convinced that Facebook was designed specifically by the Devil, and is probably his best invention yet.