Saturday Morning Zen

Joe of “Joe Still Runs for Dom” fame, has completed the two marathons he set out to run.  He’s been busy raising money and awareness for his dear friend Dom and Dom’s family.  The goal was to raise $26,200; a thousand dollars for each of the 26.2 miles he would run.  The fundraising was so successful that as of today, the dollar amount is at $27,000.  Wow!

A few months ago I interviewed Joe for this blog (check out the first interview if you’re new here), and a few people in the bloggy-world published the interview on their blogs as well.  Now that Boston and the Pittsburgh marathon are over, Joe has his sights set on some new goals, one of which is to learn how to be a Daddy!  He and his wife, Dawn, are expecting a baby girl at the beginning of September.

Joe’s journey from deciding to run two marathons in 13 days for his friend, writing about his training, finding out he’s going to be a Dad, and running the marathons has been a journey that a lot of people have been following.  I spoke with Joe last week to catch up with him and see where he finds himself in the grand scheme of life.  We started out talking about babies and families…

“Lara: When is the baby due? How’s Dawn doing with all of your running?

Joe: Baby is coming on September 2nd or thereabouts – I’m counting on Dawn to keep me out of trouble as I learn the ropes – going to be a lot of fun making a ton of new mistakes and learning from them.  She is doing awesome Lara – she’s just over 5 months at this point, made it to both marathons, handled “ground support” at both and is feeling great. It’s about to get hot here in TX though, so I think the countdown is on to when she starts feeling uncomfortable.

Lara: You have a Mile race coming up soon.  How’s it going?

Joe: I’m really excited for the next two races- the Congress Avenue Mile is May 22 – so I’ve been pushing pace and running around 7:00′s this week, will try to run some 6:45′s next week and then see what we can do for the timed mile.  I have absolutely no idea.  5:25? Who knows?  After that I have an age-group title to defend in June at a small 5K in Holland, TX so I’ll be doing a lot of “speed work” these next couple months and dialing back on my long runs – which is good timing with summer coming to Texas.

Lara: Your goal times are incredible too.  For your marathon you wanted to keep an average pace of 7:20’s and now you want to pull off a 5-minute-mile.  Runners have an innate ability to be so versatile for different distances.

Joe: It’s been really amazing how well I recovered after Pittsburgh.  I was much less sore than Boston – those damn Newton Hills really tore me up – but I think another thing that helped was getting a sports massage the day before the Pittsburgh marathon.  I’ve never done that before.  The therapist really stretched my legs and hips hard; I was actually a little nervous about all that stretching, but I think it helped my legs rebound quickly after the race.  I ran four days later and a few days later did 6 miles at a 7:08 pace as though I had never raced the week before… absolutely amazing.

Lara: That’s quite a recommendation for proactive treatment.  Have you been working with a sports therapist at all during your training?  What made you decide to get in there and see someone, and try a new technique that might (or might not) help your performance?

Joe: I really have not used massage for anything but getting “loosened up” after a marathon to help the healing process.  But with the short turnaround between Boston and Pittsburgh I just went with my gut and figured I would give it a try.  The massage therapist at Verve in Pittsburgh works with the local sports teams (Pirates, Steelers and Penguins) and really understood where I was tight and why.  She spent about 30 minutes up on the table really stretching me with all her weight and then the final 30 minutes just loosening my muscles overall.  I felt awesome leaving there and really felt great until mile 13 of the Pittsburgh race – that was when my hip soreness and quad soreness from Boston came back on me.  I was grateful that I was virtually half-way through Marathon #2 before any of that soreness returned.

Lara: I read your Pittsburgh race report and had that sinking feeling of wondering when you were going to hit the wall.  From the sounds of it you thought the same thing.  I was surprised, honestly, that you didn’t have any pain or muscle tightness until mile 12!

Joe: I really thought I would feel it around the 10K to 8-mile mark, but I really felt strong and ran strong to the half-way point.  I was so relieved, as I thought it would be a full 20-mile gut-check kind of day.  But obviously all the training miles really helped as well as the cross training on the tri-bike and strength training.  But once I hit the uphill climb from miles 12-15 and my not-yet-recovered leg muscles got put under strain, they started barking pretty loudly.  In a way I enjoyed it – even though that sounds crazy – it was supposed to get hard…

Lara: You were mentally prepared for both of these races.  I loved the part in your race report when you said that you woke up Sunday morning and realized that you had slept easily through the entire night.  Sleep is a pretty good indicator of stress, or pressure that we put on ourselves.  Funny that people love to race, but it gives so many people such a pile of nerves.  You didn’t have that this time.

Joe: I was SHOCKED, Lara, about my sleep before the race.  I think part of it was seeing Dom and Val at dinner with the family and just getting a chance to really drink it all in.  It took all the pressure off of me knowing that all anybody expected was for me to do my best on Sunday – whatever that meant.  I felt like I was playing with house money on Sunday and that whatever I could do, would be good enough in the eyes of everyone I cared about.  So, I hit the pillow and slept like a baby.  I hope I can always feel like that before a race in the future.  With rested legs there is no telling how well I could have run.

Lara: “Playing with house money…” I like that.  You finally realized that whatever YOU did would be good enough.  And that was enough to let you rest peacefully.

Joe: Exactly – that was a tough course on Sunday as well – the winner in 2010 was almost 10 minutes slower than the winner in 2009.  I realistically was going to finish in 3:32 or so before I started “sheparding” runners to the finish.  At one point I stood for 4 minutes getting that charley horse worked out of my left calf – I think I did pretty well finishing in 3:42 only 13 days after Boston – so I was really pleased with the race.

Lara: As you should be. I’m wondering what your Mile race training plan is going to look like?  A sprint is a ton different than a marathon.  How are you going to transition into your fast-twitch muscles?

Joe: Great question, Lara.  I really wish I had an extra week because last week I just focused on getting the remaining soreness out of my legs and feeling 100%.  So this week I’m running some intervals on the track on Thursday and again on Saturday.  4X400′s 4 times with a 2.5 mile warm-up running to the track and a 2.5 mile cool down running home.  Really easy on the way there and back.  Tomorrow I’m doing my typical Wednesday 6 miler at 7:00 pace.  Next week, which is race week I’m going to run intervals on Tuesday and Thursday with just a short shake-out 2-3 mile run on Friday.  Race is Saturday.  I think if I had just one more week I could have done some more interval work and really gotten ready to roll.  The only other thing I’m going to do is this Sunday I’m going to go for an 8-mile fartlek to just run some short, quick paced strides mixed in with some tempo work.  Not an exact science – but the best I can do with only a couple weeks to prepare.  I think I’ll learn a lot and be ready for this race next year.

Lara: That sounds pretty good.  Are you timing it and hitting certain paces, or are you doing this training sans technology?

Joe: I’m “loosely” timing my 400′s as not even my wife would get up early enough to go to the track with me and time me with a stop watch.  I’m trying to see how close I can get to running that 1:20-1:25 range and go from there.  I think race conditions and the slight downhill course can get me going enough to get in that 5:20 range – but honestly – I have no idea.  That’s what makes this such a fun race to be a part of.

Lara: When we spoke a few months ago you talked about having a “reason to run”.  Raising money for Dom and family has been a really compelling motivator for you for quite some time.  Now that the fundraising is finished and you hit your goal, what is going to be your “reason to run”?

Joe: I’ve really learned a lot, Lara, about why this sport is important to me.  When I look back I think I was a pretty selfish runner up until last summer.  I didn’t really invite people to my races with the exception of my wife and family, I didn’t really talk with a lot of runners beforehand, just enough to pass the time.  I wasn’t active in any running clubs or running groups and I pretty much had goals that were individual goals: PR’s, qualifying for Boston, getting stronger, getting faster etc. What I realized was that running, while a great source of peace and solitude where I could disengage from work and find my “therapy”, was something I should be sharing more. I reached out on Twitter, Daily Mile, on various running sites and blogs and quickly found out that there were people out there that wanted to know me.  They wanted to talk with me about running and/or life and that I was truly part of a community.  The more I gave, the more I received – that’s how you and I met.  So in addition to raising awareness about Dom and making a difference in his and his family’s life – I helped other runners reach their goals.  So, I’d like to continue to do that.  We have such an amazing sport – filled with amazing people – doing amazing things.  We’re all very passionate about the things that are important to us.  I realize now that I want to surround myself with those kinds of people as much as possible.  When I find a cause that I am passionate about, I’m going to go all in and try to make a difference.  In my downtime from racing and becoming a new Dad I’m going to hopefully help new runners discover our sport, or veteran runners reach their goals.  Boston was a perfect example for me in celebrating running.  It was a goal I chased for over a year and it was absolutely incredible.  Anyone who has that on their list of goals is someone who should chase it down.  If I can help that process and I don’t?  Shame on me, because I know better.

Lara: I can just imagine you in 12 years or so, coaching your daughter’s track team or helping at-risk kids find a better way to blow off steam and learn healthy coping habits.  Reaching out to others is something you’re very good at; this isn’t going to be a stretch for you at all.  Compassion makes the world go round.

Joe: I hope so Lara – that would be such a great thing to do.  I’ve been really lucky and blessed to find something that I am passionate about and love doing relatively late in my “active years”.  It’s all about paying it forward that is for sure. 

Lara: How’s Dom doing, as of now?  How’s his family?

Joe: Dom is struggling a bit right now, both physically and mentally.  A few weeks before Pittsburgh, he had to go back into the hospital with an unexplained blockage.  He was having trouble with bowel movements – (who could have imagined THAT as he tried to make the adjustment back to solid food with no stomach, spleen etc.) – this led to a procedure to remove a blockage and a temporary and reversible colostomy.  When they removed the tissue that was causing the blockage they found that it was scar tissue from his surgery.  That was “normal” so to speak, but after further investigation they actually found microscopic cancer cells in the blockage.  After all of the PET Scans, chemotherapy treatments (6 total) and surgery – that was very unexpected.  The Doctors all feel that this was old cancer cells, not new, and that it is not indicative that the cancer is back or it has spread.  But now we are waiting for Dom to regain his strength before they can prescribe another treatment course that will probably involve more chemotherapy.  This was a pretty big mental blow to him and the family. He is ready to fight and is eager to get back in there for treatment – but at 118 lbs. and still unable to really eat the way he needs to… we’ve got to get him “beefed” up a bit before he can step back in the ring again to fight.  He’s really amazing Lara – absolutely the bravest man I’ve ever known.

Lara: How’s he going to get beefed up if he can’t eat the nutrients he needs?  How does that work?

Joe: He’s back on the feeding tube for close to 8 hours every day – that really just gets him to the base-line 2,000 calories a day liquid diet.  The struggle is where he then tries to eat solid food on top of that, like oatmeal, soup etc.  When we were at the pre-race pasta dinner for the Pittsburgh Marathon there were plates of pasta, veal parmesan and fresh bread everywhere.  I was sitting near Dom and watched him fight down 1/4 of a bowl of homemade chicken soup.  It is so sad to watch as you can see him reconciling the fact that he knows that he needs to eat, but his body just won’t let him.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do to help him get over that issue and gain the strength he needs to keep going.  I tease him that he needs a “training calendar” to put on his fridge like I have that says, Monday – 10 bites of jello, Tuesday – 8 spoons of Oatmeal, Wednesday – 12 bites Cream of Wheat and just keep building on it from there.  Just like Marathon Training, before you know it you’re up to 30 bites of jello, 25 spoons of Oatmeal and 36 bites of Cream of Wheat.

Lara:  Could it really work like that?  Can a person train their body to accept food, like an athlete trains their body to endure harder work?

Joe: I’m smart enough to know one thing Lara – and that is I don’t know much about anything.  But to me it seems like exactly the way to go here.  He’s asking his body to create a new way of dealing with food.  He has to recruit other parts of his system to form a new stomach and process nutrition.  The human body is an amazing thing, and when you start placing it under pressure, it changes and adapts.  That’s how our runner-bodies adapt and improve.  I think there is something there, but even if I’m wrong, I think having goals to wake up to every day that helps you move closer to your long-term goal is a powerful tool.  If our training plan had 18 weeks of blank squares and the final square said – run 26.2 miles, I don’t think too many of us would even show up on race day, let along finish.

Lara: It really helps to have a support network of people around you.  That’s what it comes down to, doesn’t it?  You ran Pittsburgh and slept like a baby because you innately knew that you were loved and protected.  Dom keeps fighting because he knows, in the same way, that there are all these people propping him up.  It’s less of a fight when you’re not going it alone.

Joe: You are so right regarding the support network.  It’s amazing the amount of love that has been showered on the D’Eramo’s – it is making a huge difference to keep that family going.  It’s hard to even think about where they would be without everyone in their lives that care so much about them.

Lara: I was looking over our last interview and you were talking about “Maniac” being on your playlist.  Are you sick and tired of that song, or does the playlist still speak to you?  What are you listening to now (when you’re not running naked, of course)!

Joe: “Maniac” has been on my playlist a lot and makes me smile.  I’ve actually been running w/out music almost every other run since Pittsburgh, as part of my new “naked running” initiative.  It’s been really great.

Lara: In reflecting on this whole process, what would you say has been the most memorable, more important lesson you’ve learned?

Joe: I think that regardless of how successful the actual fundraising portion of Run for Dom was or wasn’t – it was truly successful because we saw an opportunity to make a difference and went for it.  We were never afraid to ask for help, never too proud to accept a lending hand and hopefully make a lasting impression on those that we came in contact with.  I’ve received so many notes, letters, messages and calls from people who I had never met before or who I have known since I was a little boy telling me how proud they were of me and for me.  I really never felt like I was doing anything that “substantial” – I just had a friend that needed help and I tried my best to help him any way that I could.  At the end of the day I was hoping that I would look back on May 2nd and feel like it was enough.  Nine months ago, I never dreamed that it would have been so successful and that it would have changed the way that I looked at things so dramatically.”

Nine months… that magical gestation period where human life is created.  He’s re-created his life in working hard for someone else’s.

Joe’s going to keep running, and Dom’s going to keep fighting cancer.  Please check in on them periodically and see how it’s all going.

Cheers!

This is the first in a four-part series on motherhood and running (or running and motherhood).  This first article will look at a few different aspects of training that applies to MOMS!  Timing, the psychology of running on a schedule, setting goals and then heading out of that training run is harder than it looks. 

Clothing

Wear running-appropriate clothing.  Spend the cash on clothing that you need, don’t feel guilty about it, and enjoy the comfort that comes from being able to throw on a shirt, shorts, shoes and a hat for your morning run.

Sports bra:  Wear a supportive sports bra. Buy a few good-quality sports bras; these can cost anywhere from $30-$45.  When I was nursing I wore a 36 DD; today, I’m down to a 34A (kids; they suck the very life outta ya).  I don’t have a lot on top, but I still wear a sports bra because it keeps things from going where I don’t want them too.  Also, I don’t have any chaffing because the girls are tucked in their own homes.

Depending on the season, invest in a few wicking t-shirts, a running jacket and shorts or pants.  Cotton shirts make you feel like you’ve just jumped in the pool and are running from turtles.  They look horrible on us and the material doesn’t breathe.  If you’re wary of spending a lot, check out the consignment or thrift stores.  Every time I’m there I find one or two technical t-shirts that still have a lot of life in them.

Shoes: Please, PLEASE go to a running store and get fitted for running shoes.  Your 10-year-old sneakers won’t work.  Trust me.  Last fall my sister started running a few miles around her neighborhood.  I took her on a Saturday Morning run with the ladies over Thanksgiving.  She didn’t complain, but it looked like her feet were hurting her.  I mentioned her apparent discomfort and it turns out she was wearing Merrill walking shoes!  She figured that since we were going to be on a trail that those shoes would work.  I sent her immediately to the Boulder Running Company for a gait analysis and new shoes.  She says it’s the best thing she’s ever bought.

Starting off slow

When you’re first starting to run after having kids, it doesn’t matter if you’ve always been a runner or if you’re new to the sport.  You’re starting from square one because your body has changed.  It’s not tight and supple anymore; the entire abdominal region is soft and there’s usually a few extra pounds in the outhouse.  Your core muscles are loose, making things seem off-balanced.  The jiggle in back can be un-nerving at times, but it doesn’t last long.  Running helps to tone the abs and get inner muscles that have been stretched like a rubber-band back in shape.  I hiked a lot after my babies were borne, but after I started running I lost the last 10 pounds and really firmed up my abs.  Now, my weight is about 5 pounds lower than it was pre-pregnancy, but my breasts, hips and butt are not the same shape. (Also, my hair used to be straight and fine.  Now it’s thick and wavy.  Go figure.)

I started running three years after my youngest child was born, and not because I wanted to.  My dog Kirby was fatter than a pig headed to slaughter and I worried she was in for a little doggie heart attack.  Hiking with her hadn’t shed the pounds and I couldn’t invest any more time into an activity that took such a chunk out of my tight schedule.  I needed more bang for my buck, and running was the answer.

We started by walking a quarter mile uphill to the pond at the top of our greenbelt, jogging around the perimeter, and walking home.  All in all, almost a mile.  She panted hard and my butt rocked from side to side.  A few days later, we did it again.  A few days after that, we did it again, but this time we ran part of the way home.

Kirby lost 20 pounds that year, thanks to her low-cal diet and plenty of exercise.  However, it took almost a year before I was ready to run with people.  I didn’t know how far or fast I was going and I was convinced that my girlfriends were super-athletes that would laugh me off the trail.  Shocking but true; I was shy.  In reality, I fit right in.  I wasn’t the fastest nor the slowest; I was able to keep up and had a great time.  No one would have known that I was the “new runner”.  This was my first major lesson in running: it doesn’t matter how fast you are; the point is that you’re out there running.

I wouldn’t have run had Kirby not motivated me.  She kept me lacing up my shoes, even when I was tired and didn’t feel like it.  A running partner keeps us from quitting, and it doesn’t matter if that partner is canine or human.

Timing: When to run

I started running when my daughter, S, was in kindergarten and my son, C, was in preschool.  My husband got the kids up and fed while Kirby and I ran.  After I got home he packed up and headed off to work.  I drove S to school and played with C until it was time to get S from kindergarten, have lunch, and then take C to preschool.  Our day was a literal shuffling of people from one place to another.  I almost always had a child with me  and obviously I needed to plan when I was going to run, for a few huge reasons: timing, sanity, scheduling and friends.

1.  Timing: The only viable time I had to exercise was in the morning during one of two times: before the family is awake, or right after the kids went to school.  If it’s not one of those two times, it doesn’t get done.  Too many other demands on our time take precedence after 10 AM.  Brand-new Moms time their runs around baby naptimes; Moms with older kids often time their runs around work and school commitments.

 2.  Sanity: if I know that a run is schedule for I’ll get mentally and physically prepared. I only have a certain amount of energy and it needs to be carefully expended, otherwise I’m a drooling mess come supper-time.  Planning my runs give me a semblance of control in an otherwise chaotic life.

3.  Scheduling: Once kids enter the picture the amount of planning goes through the roof.  Women become multi-tasking goddesses.  Exercise needs to be scheduled and it needs be as high on the priority list as dental appointments and bath-time. Sometimes this translates into tag-team parenting.  Enough said.

4.  Friends: if I want to run with an actual human being we need to plan it around both of our schedules.  Because we’re mommy’s we get up before the kids go to school or spouses leave for work.  The women I run with are, without exception, mothers whose first priority is getting the kids off to school.  Periodically I run with a friend at 6 AM because she needs to be home by 7:10 so her husband can leave for work.  Tag, you’re it!

Race Training

I’ve trained for several races over the past two years, as well as raced on the fly.  I’ve done 5K’s, 10K’s and two Half-Marathons.  I can easily train for those distances by running 3-4 days a week.  During the week I’ll run about 60 minutes; on occasion I’ll do 75 minutes, but that’s rare.  My Saturday morning run with the ladies is anywhere from 6-8 miles (55-75 minutes on average) and if I’m training, I’ll run again on Sunday (if nothing else is going on with the family).  I have not run a marathon yet, simply because I don’t have the time in my life to commit to more training right now.  Marathon training requires a long run of 2-3 hours at the peak of training, and I don’t have time for that at this stage in my life.

In a perfect version of Lara-land, I could decide to run a Half-Marathon and be ready to compete within 2-3 weeks.  This means that I need to do a long run of about 10-12 miles every few weeks, with medium runs of 6-8 miles and tempo runs of 6-7 runs interspersed.  An average hour is worth almost 7 miles, so running a 10-12 miler takes 90-110 minutes (give or take a little).  I can easily do that on the weekend; during the week it’s pretty tight unless I get up at 5 or 5:30 AM.  The reality of Lara-land is that right now, my fitness level is about half of that.  C’est la vie.

Weekend running can be tricky due to family commitments.  Spring is always hard because of Saturday morning soccer, baseball and/or basketball games.  We always lose runners due to games at this time of the year because kids’ sporting events come first (sorry, just the way it is!).  This year I got lucky because all of C’s soccer games were at a field in mid-Boulder at 9 AM.  I could run at 7 AM with the ladies and often have time for a really quick cup of coffee before I headed over to the field.  Thus, I felt like I won the jack-pot: I could run AND be there at every game to cheer on my budding goalie.  Score!

It’s great being part of a loosely-knit group of people who show up at the same time each week to run together.  Kathy, our Saturday Morning “cruise director”, sends out an email every Thursday with details on where to meet.  Barring hurricane-force winds, sleet and other annoying acts of nature, whoever’s had a decent night’s sleep shows up at 7 AM to get in a few hours of girl-time before coveted family-time takes over.

Setting Goals

I’m a big fan of setting goals.  A goal gives you something to work towards.  Sometimes my goal is to make it to 7 PM before I crawl into bed with the covers over my head.  Other days I have a little more oomph and my goal is to get to the top of the mile-long hill without dropping below a 7:30/mile pace.  That’s what I like about goals; they’re totally relative to the person and situation and how much sleep you’ve had the night before.

On occasion I’ve set actual race goals.  I’m pretty careful with this though and am painfully realistic.  If I can’t commit to keeping my base and adding a few miles to reach the Half-Marathon distance then I’m not going to do it.  I like races but there’s a lot of mental preparation in getting there and I don’t want the stress of a race if I’m not going to be ready for it.  I want to know where I’m going to park, how many people will be there, how it feels to race in whatever weather conditions are predicted, etc.  I’m too much of a Mom to just say “Oh, dress however you want, bring snacks if you feel like it and let’s just go.”  No.  I’m going to dress so that I’m comfortable and if my kids are spectators, that means making sure they’re comfortable too.  I need to pack snacks for them so I don’t hear the whine-fest as soon as they see my gorgeously flushed, sweaty face as I cross the finish line.  Making sure they’re taken care of ensures that I will have a fabulous time with them at my race, though honestly, sometimes I arrange for them to stay home so I can take off and run races with my girlfriends.  I like the fact that my kids see me racing and being active, but sometimes I need to do my sport away from the confines of my family dynamic.  And THAT is a ton of fun, too!

Next week: Nutrition after Babies (or, how your body changed and now you’re suddenly intolerant to everything you used to be able to eat).

Keep the questions coming, email me: Lara @ saturdaymorningzen .com, and I’ll incorporate them into the articles!

Saturday’s run was not in the morning, and it wasn’t in Colorado.

I got to Ashland last night and spent today eating, reading, resting, talking, eating, talking, reading and sleeping before I finally got around to running.  With no one to entertain, fights to mediate, meals to make or bedtimes to adhere to, I’m suddenly in a wonderful, strange, very zen-like existence.  These next few days are about ME, and no one else.  This is new territory I’m visiting.  Don’t worry, I’m a quick learner.  I think I’ll be okay.

Gwen drove me around Downtown Ashland this morning and showed me the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where she and husband Michael work (Gwen is a Stage Manager and Michael is the Master Electrician).  We visited the Ashland Food Co-op and then lollipopped home while she pointed out landmarks.  Michael added to this body of knowledge by telling me how to get up to the hills and down onto the bike path. With a hazy mental picture of the area and enough light to see by, I was good to go.

Gwen left for the evening just as I was waking up from my 2 ½ hr nap (see, I told you I’m a quick learner, I know what to do with free time).  She said she was taking the car because it looked like thunderstorms tonight and she wanted to be able to come home out of the rain at 1 AM when she gets off work.  Fair enough.

I headed out of the subdivision, trying to find the through-road that connects to downtown.  Failing that, I found the elementary school that has a bike path close-by.  Much to my surprise there was a trail map of the area at the mouth of the bike-path.  After studying it for a minute I changed direction and decided to follow the path through town into the hills.  The elevation would go from about 1500 to 2200 feet above sea level, and I’m a sucker for trail running.

When I turned around I noticed that my Garmin wasn’t tracking properly.  I had been running for about 5 minutes but the mile said 2 miles.  Not so, I swear.  There were bars saying I had signal, but things weren’t syncing.  I reset to zero and headed into town.

Here and there I had signal, but it wasn’t consistent so I just watched the timer.  Because I was running in a brand-new location, I knew that my sense of time and distance would be off because I’d be so busy gawking at all the new sights.  Do you do that?  It takes me a few runs on the same trail before I get an accurate sense of what’s really there; the newness has to wear off before I can take off my rose-colored glasses.  Fine, I’ll admit it; I’m really a child in an adult’s body.

I got through Downtown Ashland and had this strange feeling of being in a movie.  Ashland is beautiful, touristy and happy; lots of places for tourists to spend their money while they wait to take in a show at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), the biggest Shakespeare Festival in the Western Hemisphere.  There are tons of restaurants, kids playing in the nearby parks, girls walking along the railroad tracks, kids sitting with their parents at outdoor tables eating ice cream. Imagine the camera panning to take in the setting and then switching to this random runner (me).  The runner creates movement in the scene, flitting between people, running next to the lamp-post and crossing the street.  Old people look up from the racks of clothes lining the sidewalks as they browse for deals on t-shirts, knick-knacks and other doo-dads that no one really needs.

I kept following the signs and made it onto the path.  Lithia Park is right outside the brick area and was full of more happy people.  There were couples walking, kids playing catch with their parents in the green, a family looking at the duck pond.  Further up more people were walking the trail with loved one,  and groups of people were picnicking around fire pits and built-in grills.  The trail was wide and so very soft.  Wood chips were spread on the trail and must have been several inches deep to achieve the springiness that made this trail feel better than a rubber track.

About 24 minutes after I reset the Garmin it started to rain.  Small, soft drops fell from the sky and gently spattered my bare arms, face and legs.  The air was warm and the drops of moisture felt like an extension of the air itself rather than a thresh-hold that had just been crossed.  My sunglasses that had been necessary equipment when I began the run were suddenly superfluous; I removed them from my face, folded them into my hand and carried them gently the rest of the run.  I continued to run uphill.

This hill was nothing like the Rocky Mountains, my regular running playground.  This hill was low, gentle, lush and teeming with flora.  A small river runs beside the trail and its music sounded different to my mountain ears.  My senses were startlingly acute and every fiber of my body sang with pleasure.

Finally I reached a place where I could either cross a street and continue on the trail, or turn around.  A group of mountain bikers was riding above me on a trail parallel to my trail and stopped just ahead of me, where the trails merged.  My watch read 28 minutes.  It was time to turn around.

 And so I headed home.  Down the trail I ran, sometimes running on the wide soft trail near the river, other times testing my quick reflexes on the narrow upper trail that ran parallel to the lower.  The picnickers were packing up to go home, their movements hurried as they huddled into their jackets.  A Mom with her baby in a sling stood under an overhang, waiting out the rain.  The three teenagers that had meandered with no destination just minutes before ran for shelter.  The duck pond was empty.  And the three kids that had played catch with their Momma were running in the grass with their shoes off, faces uplifted and mouths open, trying to drink the rain.

“Look, she’s running through the rain!” one of them called to the others as I flew past.  A smile erupted from my face and stayed plastered in place for the duration of the run.  Yes, I was running in the rain.  Only children and myself were out enjoying the feel of water gracing our bodies.

I emerged from Lithia Park into Downtown Ashland again and easily found my way through the streets back to Gwen and Michael’s house.  The texture of the rain never changed, nor did the cadence of the soft patter on trees and concrete.  The front of my shirt and shorts were soaked, along with my socks and shoes.

Now, everything is hanging up to dry.  The rain has continued sporadically this evening, and a great roil of thunder even passed through.   This is a bummer for the show Gwen’s teching tonight in the outdoor theatre at OSF.  She’ll stay dry, but the actors might get damp.

Barefoot running has gained mainstream attention due in part to  “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.  I’ve been aware of the popularity of barefoot running and have listened to conversations from fellow runners about how “alive” their feet feel after a quick mile in the snow, but remained skeptical. 

I regularly run on asphalt and trail; the idea of running on either surface without protection is enough to make my eyes water.  Run barefoot on asphalt or open trail littered with rocks and all kinds of pricklies?  No thanks.  My sneakers allow me to run on the unnatural surfaces that exist in the modern world. I’m not about to step out of my foot protection and risk stepping on broken glass, dog poo, or worse.  I am obviously a skeptic about the trend; thus, when ALTA Physical Therapy in Boulder hosted a moderated panel discussion on barefoot running a few weeks ago, I figured I may as well go and hear what the experts have to say.

The place was packed and the panelists were a veritable “who’s who” in the field of running.  The moderator was Barry Siff, local businessman and former owner of 5430 Sports. Ray Keller, a documentarian, filmed the discussion.  Panelists were: Danny Upshire (Active Imprints), Alan Culpepper (American distance runner with national titles and owner of Solepepper Sports), Melody Fairchild (greatest female high school runner in U.S. history), Bobby McGee (Endurance Coach), Aaron Anderson (PTI Orthotics Lab), and Charlie Merrill (ALTA Physical Therapy).  They have all been in the business of running and examining body mechanics for decades, and their combined experience gives them over 200 years of knowledge and perspective of how people run, how surfaces change the mechanics of foot and spinal alignment, how shoe technology has evolved since the 1970’s to bring running to the masses, and how the advent of shoes has created a culture of overcompensation.

The discussion began with Danny Upshire and Bobby McGee talking about a few advantages of “minimalist running”:

• Humans evolved as barefoot runners.  When a foot is encased in a shoe the body and foot change alignment.  Without shoes (or with minimal protection), the body and foot remain in a neutral position. 
• There is high sensory imprint on the forefoot because each step is taken lightly and then quickly lifted.  In contrast, when a person wears a shoe there a lot of pressure is exerted on different areas of the foot that are not designed to withstand such force.
• An “unshod” or “minimalist” foot will receive better proprioceptor response with each footfall.  This can increase the body’s natural ability to align itself and protect itself from injury.

Aaron Anderson spoke next and emphasized a point that was made several times throughout the evening.  Certain foot types are NOT going to work with barefoot running.  Some people need correction and stability in their shoes in order to be able to run in the first place, and those people should NOT attempt minimal running.  Way back when, tribes were populated with warriors, hunters and gatherers.  People were assigned their place in the tribe based on their natural abilities.  Some people had a natural ability to run for hours without tiring; other people did better digging roots and collecting berries.  Not everyone has the ability to run sub-4 minute miles like Alan Culpepper, and not all of us should take off our shoes and run through the meadow with our bare feet blazing.

Alan Culpepper talked about the huge risk of injury when folks suddenly decide to go Native and start barefoot running.  He made his point metaphorically with a little anecdote about his wife, Shayne.  She’s an Olympic qualifier and national champion.  When she was pregnant with the first of their three kids, she developed medical conditions that stopped her from running at all.  After the baby was born she couldn’t just pick up where she had left off; she had to start from square one.  Even though she had been a rock-star runner in college and had a stellar post-collegiate running career, on day one she began by walking a mile.  She had to re-build her capacity and endurance from scratch, as though she had never run a day in her life.  Alan uses this as a metaphor for barefoot running.  When someone decides they want to do it, they need to start out really, really slow, and let their body acclimate to the activity.  In virtually all cases, this should several years.

Melody Fairchild talked about the mindset of barefoot running, and how it takes a ton of self-discipline and self-moderation to achieve the potential rewards of walking or running minimally.  In our American culture we are taught to race to the top, to push ourselves hard, to not listen to the nuances of our body, to push past pain.  Seasoned runners cannot and should not throw away their shoes and expect to run as fast or as far as they can in their bare feet.  They need to take it super-slow and allow the foot and body to re-learn a natural alignment, and how all the pieces work together.  Alan Culpepper mentioned that if minimalist running is in the cards for you, try it for one or two days a week, as a piece of a workout.  Walk around in your Vibram 5 Fingers before you try to run in them.  Get used to the feel of the ground beneath your feet and feel how your muscles are sore after walking or gently jogging.

All of the panelists agreed that before a person should ever even attempt barefoot running, they should see a person trained in body mechanics to determine if they should even attempt it.  A physical therapist or running specialist will be able to tell so much about your body, feet, tendons, pronation, etc, and can be a coach or mentor on your way to realigning your body from the foot, up.

Melody Fairchild discussed how barefoot running is a mindset and that we’re not raised with it in this culture.  You can get the advantages of barefoot running with barefoot walking; it takes self-discipline and self-moderation, two things that are pretty anti-American.  She’s proposing that we slow down, stop looking to technology (shoe or otherwise) to fix our problems, get back to the basics of moving unimpeded, and see what happens.

During the discussion someone pointed out that one of the reasons Kenyans are natural runners is because children learn proper biomechanics from the minute their feet touch the earth.  In local villages children do not wear shoes; they run barefoot in the red dirt that turns into sticky mud when the rain falls.  Children run miles and miles to and from school every day; their bodies are naturally aligned because their feet and spine receive constant proprioceptor feedback.  Dirt roads are softer than asphalt or cement sidewalk and more forgiving on developing bones.  There are few instances of villagers experiencing the multitude of foot, sacrum and back issues that plague Americans because proper body alignment is naturally gained when people stand, walk and run on the ground instead of in shoes that block natural sensation from reaching their body.

Extrapolating the concept of this argument, it would seem that there would be fewer instances of mis-aligned spines and foot injuries in cultures that have more natural surfaces on which to walk and run.  In the early years of civilization people wore shoes for warmth and protection.  Native Americans wore moccasins that offered warmth in the winter but still allowed the foot to strike the ground in a natural way.  Early American immigrants wore shoes and boots that were utilitarian and hard, holding the foot and ankle in a vice-like grip that didn’t allow any contact with the natural world.  And it is from these roots that modern footwear takes its cue.

One of the panelists displayed a cross-section of a running shoe and talked about the changes in shoe technology over the last 40 years.  He pointed out the slightly elevated heel of the shoe and said that a slight heel in a running shoe actually makes the foot strike that area when running, which is exactly opposite of where the foot should strike naturally.  Landing on the heel of the foot and rolling forward puts three times your body weight on a very fragile area, a place on the foot that is not designed to withstand that pressure.  Imagine standing in your bare feet and jumping high into the air and purposefully landing on your heel.  You’ll never do that again because you’ll have just fractured your heel.  You’ll naturally try to land on the ball of your foot, which is where you should be striking each time you land.  A shoe can change that landing point to such a degree that you aren’t even aware of where you’re landing, which influences the impact of body alignment on the rest of the body structures.

If we’re to understand the cultural significance of footwear and body alignment on our own bodies, we need to look at how babies and children learn about the world around them.  Infants learn through touch, and this sense of touch is not limited to what the hands can grasp.  Babies put things in their mouths, toddle barefoot in the grass, and dip their naked toes in the water while marveling at the sensation.  They learn how to jump because they can feel the earth under their feet and experience the proprioceptor sensation of skin, bones, muscles and tendons all working together to achieve balance.

Americans used to put sweet little booties on their babies to keep their tootsie warm in inclement weather.  Now, over-zealous parents buy expensive replicas of their own shoes to put on delicate feet that are barely walking, thus taking away important sensory information.  Our environment has changed from natural to manufactured so quickly that children no longer experience sensations through their feet.  Even in the house, children often wear soled shoes.  Protection (and fashion) has overridden body development, and that is what barefoot running is trying to address.  In a much broader sense, however, this is a cultural phenomenon that is applicable not only to running, but how we allow children to develop and experience the natural world while their malleable bodies are still growing and changing.

Barefoot running is more than just running without shoes; it challenges a cultural perception that shoes are safe and should always be worn.  As well, barefoot running forces people to pay close attention to their body, attend to pain, run slowly and carefully, and embrace moderation and self-discipline.  We are a culture of excess, and barefoot running is an antithesis to a culture of over-consumption and lack of personal restraint. The fact that there are still cultures on this planet that run barefoot and have an almost non-existent percentage of foot, ankle and spinal maladies because of the proprioceptor response to aligned running, is telling.  Barefoot running (or minimal running) can be a way of slowing down and allowing the feet and body to learn how to align in a natural way.  If you’re still interested in trying barefoot running, take the time to talk to someone about your particular stride, body imbalances, and the rest of the stuff that goes along with body issues, and get feedback on if barefoot running is right for you.

I had the BEST time ever at the Title 9k+ Mother’s Day race yesterday.  It was a mix of a lot of factors, but they all came together and culminated in a fantastic, memorable race.  This course was measured at 9.9K, just meters shy of a full 10K.

The morning dawned bright and sunny, and by 9 AM it was a warm 55 degrees.  I wore purple shorts and an almost neon-green tech t-shirt that would be easily seen by my family when I came down the race shoot.  My hair was tied up in pig-tails on either side of my head; another dead give-away for my spectator family.  No hat; I learned my lesson two years ago when a gust of wind blew over the water and ripped the hat from my head.  For this race, sunglasses and sunscreen sufficed.

We got to the race by 8:15 and met my friend Elorie at packet pick-up.  Her two girls were thrilled to see my two kids, and they immediately took off playing.  Bill was going to watch the kids while she and I raced; a perfect Mother’s Day present.  I got my bib and goody bag and decided between an X-small or Medium shirt (all the Smalls were gone).  The X-small fit okay; I’ll just have to be careful to always line-dry it after washing it in cold.  No matter.

Once we had our bibs, we gradually made our way over to the corrals.  The start line was in the same place as the finish line this year; we would be making a 360 degree loop.  I picked a place near the 7-minute sign a volunteer was holding.  Elorie wanted to go to the 9-minute pace but I wouldn’t let her.  I just had a feeling about this one; we were going to rock.

Everyone was so HAPPY at the starting line!  The race staff was laughing and bobbing around, the volunteers were perky and giddy, and the women were as bouncy as teenagers.  Granted, there were some teenagers, but they weren’t nearly as bouncy as the Mom’s!

The starting horn sounded, I punched my Garmin and we were off.  Elorie decided she would stick with me as long as she could before dropping back.  Since I didn’t have a goal time in mind, we decided to make it up as we went along.  What freedom, to give yourself permission to ENJOY the race.

The course was packed dirt roads the entire way around.  Some areas were heavily rutted, other places were just slightly tippy the way a good dirt road gets after a long wet winter.  After the first kilometer people had pretty well sorted themselves out; some in front of us, most of them behind.  I checked my Garmin: 7:16 pace.

We hit the first hill and stopped talking.  Elorie was holding strong and I listened to her breathe.  She’s an amazing mountain biker, a pixie of a woman that has so much inner strength it fairly radiates from every follicle on her body.  Neither of us has been running steadily, so we figured we were perfectly suited to pulling out all the stops and just letting ‘er rip.  Mile 2: 7:32.

The road flattened briefly, then we started another small but steady incline.  A few people dropped back and a few came up from behind.  The first water station was just ahead.  “You thirsty?” I asked Elorie.  “Nope, I’m good,” she replied.  We kept going.

We crested the last hill and it was easy going the rest of the way.  The marker for 5 km was just ahead and I checked my watch.  The time was 22:34.  I did quick math and figured that this pace, I’d pull into the finish shoot right around 45 minutes.  Wow.  That was a lot faster than I though I was running.  Cool.

Elorie dropped back.  A few minutes later I turned to see her and she waved.  I waved back and kept moving.  We were running our own races now and I decided to just open up the legs and let it fly.  No holding back, leave it all on the course.  It was Mother’s Day, MY day, and I was giving it everything because I could.

The minutes ticked by and the km markers came at regular intervals.  My Garmin paces remained strong: anywhere between 6:45 and 7:26.  Somewhere around km 7 I heard the sound of a small body coming up from behind.  Looking over my shoulder I saw a cute little girl, maybe 10 years old, running like only she could.  Her legs turned over easily, her face was flushed with exertion, and she easily passed me.  I briefly considered anchoring to her and letting her pull me in, but decided that would probably kill me.  I was going fast, but not that fast.  Later I found out she beat me by a good two minutes.

I decided that since I was running so strong during the race that I wouldn’t try to push pace or sprint until the last kilometer.  Once I hit km 9 I’d sprint, but not before.

And there it was.  9 km and the road turned slightly, opening into a gradual downhill.  It was as though the gods knew I was running and created the perfect course for Lara.  A spectator had walked back from the finish line and said that we were in the top 40 finishers… suddenly I wanted to be closer to the top 30.  A little competitive itch hit and I knew how to pass those ladies.

I opened up the legs, leaned back just a hair and ran.  I sprinted towards the finish line and heard them cheering.  One little girl pointed at me and said “She’s fast!”  I don’t know about that, but I was absolutely loving every single second of running on this course, this day, at this moment. 

I ran under the clock and noticed it said 45-something.  The volunteers were saying “slow down, slow down” and then someone put a finisher’s necklace in my hand.  I grabbed a water bottle and went back to wait for Elorie; a short wait, as she was less than two minutes behind me. The kids and Bill came screaming over to us and Connor pounced on me, saying “You’re the best Mommy” over and over again.

My official time was 45:21, with a 7:24 pace overall.  I was 9^th in my age group and 33^rd overall in a field of about 1875 finishers. 

Note:  I felt great the rest of the day, a runner’s high that lasted until I went to bed.  The one thing that was a little weird was that my kidneys seemed to shut down.  It was really hard to get the fluids to pass all the way through my body, and my stomach cramped up about six hours later and got really bloated.  It seems directly related to the race, my speed and lactic acid, though I don’t know enough about super-fast racing to know how to prevent this from happening again.  Anyone?  Suggestions?