Children's Charities 5k Run or Freaky Friday Part 2: Saturday Edition

Photos courtesy of Heather's iPhone.
Dad's pic may contend with Nikki's thumbs up picture at the Providence 5k as the happiest anyone has looked during a race.

The night before, we had a lovely family dinner at Olive Garden because (contrived family member meeting via commercial), I was carded for beer yet at the same time handed the check and a mild heart attack due to the butter that doubled as breadsticks. Sidelined by injury, Heather and I went to the race to support the parents at the race because sometimes for Heather and myself, it's so tough to go to all your parents' games when you are grinding away at the office 9-5 every day.

On the way to the race, we saw a lady in a van with handcuffs as her rearview mirror accessory of choice. I guess they ran out of the usual lei or high school tassels.

Since Heather and I were in street clothes, we made sure the 3 (JoAnn, Lisa, John) got to the starting line on time, carried water bottles, and took candids of the racers.

The race, while sporting less runners, was stacked in all age groups (minus my group in which no one ran. Couldn't run to my best so that award would've been empty)

Lauren, sorry but you have been bumped down 2 spots, (Andrea and Jess, 1 spot) making the women's 5k records that much tougher to crack thanks to Lisa PR'ing and JoAnn tacking on the first team run. Top 5 women 5k records have a difference of 2:40. Guys? 4:29. Guys, pick it up.


John Tang 25:47.07 (half: 12:37)
JoAnn Wood 27:37.4 (half: 13:31)
Lisa Tang 27:58.69 (half: 13:30)

There won't be any more PRs/ moving up the charts for the 5k from the Texas bunch until November 27th due to half marathon training.

Funniest image: A little ginger baby with a bib that blanketed him, ran while waving at birds.

Worst image: After one of the guys finished, he threw up. For 1, college flash backed. 2, disgusting.

sign of the times: pre-race, the organizers announce that the Plano Pacers Running Club has a facebook group.

Thought of the year: half marathon runners in Newport take on the half marathon runners in Dallas. Losers buy the winners something from their region, kinda like mayors before the Super Bowl.

The Day After Tomorrow

-PRs
-Jersey Shore
-Music and running



Soon, we may see a changing of the guards on the record books. (the second one in our short history). Be on the look out,
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Or tomorrow.

(and the kids of the Tang family are bowing out of the race, still plagued by bronchitis, so that leaves two people to PR)


Runner watching TV: Watching Jersey Shore, I was disappointed in The Situation wearing Reebok ReeZigs. For shame. Also, yes you can be disappointed in me for watching the Jersey Shore.





What could be more obscure than combining two obscure areas: running and indie songs? IF there was a venn diagram showing this, it'd be the smallest intersection ever.

underground songs + 'run' =


Phoenix-Run Run Run (the guys in that Cadillac commercial that are screaming "FALLIN FALLIN FALLIN")

White Denim-I Start To Run (music video has a nerdy looking dude running through the heat--sound familiar?)

Phantogram-Running From the Cops (reminds me of Providence because I played it a lot on the run--not because of the title)

Wu Tang vs The Beatles-Run (talk about obscure--mash ups)

Gnarls Barkley-Run (pro: in a nike running commercial
con: it has Tony Parker in it)

The Modern Lovers-Roadrunner (with a shout out to Stop n Shop)

Rooster run rubs wrong right foot

Nikki: I feel your pain in terms of people running past you then you passing them. I've definitely kicked easy runs in to races, but you know that from training with me. Fortunately for the new recruit, I no longer leave newbies if someone passes us if we are running easy (this won't last long, but I let it go and try not to sprint ahead).

Pat: Thanks for welcoming me in to the pre-breakfast club (great name by the way). Pat read my mind. I definitely feel like a proud parent right about now and reading about how the city of Boston takes your mind off the run makes me miss running around Providence that much more. And going down to Florida? AWESOME.

Speaking of Providence, that runner Molly Huddle whom I mentioned that ran the CVS 5k in 2008 may have run in to us while living in Providence since she trains on the same hills we traversed months ago.

New recruit has some bad news: right foot is hurt so that means no running for a bit as a duo. Also, in 5-6 weeks it's sionara as he sends it to Irving and out of suburban haven Plano.

Wednesday night, we agree on 6 am to run again.

So that means cancellation at 6 am via text. The good news (as I was u-turning back to my neighborhood) was that I'm up this early, might as well run instead of getting an hour of sleep. Temp at 76 and I have most of my lungs back (which is a great feeling).

And the 5k this weekend? Still up in the air for myself. I know there's no way I'm sniffing decent times or medals thanks to a stacked race. What would you do?

Go out there and try to run negative splits for once/ pace for the team -OR- not race altogether but go and support?

Failed blog name ideas: the jog blog

Warning: Super long blog below this one.....

I swear... The next time I post something it won't be as lengthy as the one below this. I was just super excited to be blogging my jogging again! lol

And congratulations to everyone who ran the Blessing of the Fleet. Sounds like everyone had great runs and are pleased with their experience despite the rain. Yay running!! :-)

Jess' 10-Miler Experience

WOW. It has been forever since my last contribution to this blog! I, like many other members of the TCRC, have been very busy with the whole getting licensed process. I am soooo glad that is over with! I can finally get back into a better routine of running and training. I have to admit, it was pretty brutal not having sufficient training prior to the Blessing. I only ran a few times in the couple of weeks before the race, not enough. And, to make me more nervous, I hadn't never run 10 miles before. My max was 8.3 miles. Oh well... I looked at it as some sort of victory run. A celebration of 6 hard years in 10 hard miles.

Actually, the night before, I found myself on a celebratory dinner date with Danato at Siena restaurant on Federal Hill. It was really good! And yes, I had a couple Sangrias. I figure I could justify drinking the day before a race since the race didn't start until 6 pm, I could definitely sleep in as late as I wanted to. And I did.

During the day of the race, I was keeping myself lightly busy... occupied enough so that I wouldn't get bored alone at Danato's while he worked, but not too busy to tire myself out before the run. I hydrated myself, and ate a hearty breakfast and lunch (which could have hurt me or helped me during the race...). Oh, and Danato ran the race too. After working all day. Holy crap.

Danato and I headed out from Providence super early. We wanted to be sure to beat any possibility of traffic and we also wanted to try and find parking right at Narragansett Pier School, so we knew we had to get there before 5 when they closed down those roads. We saw the never-ending stop light traffic on Rt 4 so we ended up taking some back roads and drove through URI campus to get to 108. It was a success and definitely brought back memories :-) We made it to the high school parking with plenty of time to spare. Woohoo!

Got to see a few people before the race. Saw Erica, Nick Dorich, and even a fellow Rite Aid pharmacist! There were so many people there! Erica told us that the rest of the crew (Nikki, Knapp, and Kevin) were running a bit late because of traffic. And I couldn't believe her 15 minute drive actually took an hour! :-O

Danato and I started out in the big crowd together, but as soon as we crossed the chip sensor, Danato was off and I didn't see him for the rest of the race. I started out wanting to pace myself as best as I could. There was a lot of adrenaline at the beginning. I thought I was doing a good job pacing, but at mile 1 I checked my heart rate and Nike+ data. I was running 9:30min/mile... faster than my average pace and my heart rate was way too high. I did not feel tired but I knew I had to slow it down if I wanted to last 10 miles. I was able to slow down to 10:30min/miles. Early in the race, Bubba (Brian McD from Rx Class of 2009). Chatted with him for a little bit, then got back in the zone. And at one point Kevin was passing me. We talked briefly about the traffic then I said bye and wished him luck while he zoomed on by!

The course was mostly flat. There was a noticeable slight incline by mile 5 or so. Right on 108. But it wasn't bad. At the incline, I think I was more distracted by the rain beating down on me. It felt like I was running right against the rain, since my back seemed pretty dry compared to the front. I didn't end up wearing any sunglasses so my eyes were having a tough time in the downpour. I was afraid I was going to lose a contact, but luckily it stayed with me. Around mile 6, it turns off 108 into the woods of Narragansett. Seriously felt like I was in the middle of the jungle, especially with all that rain. Around this time, Knapp and I were running side by side for a bit. Chatted, complained about the weather, and updated him on where we were in the race. Then back into the zone. Throughout the race Knapp and I were pretty close to each other. For quite some time he was ahead of me.

By mile 9, or what seemed like mile 9 (sorry Knapp... my Nike+ was acting up because of the rain). Okay, it was probably mile 8.6... I caught up to Knapp... I noticed he had slowed down a bit. We were almost done. I thought we had just a mile left so that's what I told him. About 0.3 mile down we ran by what looked like the ONLY mile-marker on the whole course... and it said 9 miles. Ooops! I apologized to Knapp, wondered what the hell was wrong with my iPod, but picked up my pace to finish out strong.

Completed the run at 1 hour 49 minutes. Not too shabby. My goal was not to walk once. I achieved that goal and I made good time. I was proud. I couldn't find Danato in the celebrating crowd, but thanks to Kevin's height it was easy to spot him out of the crowd. I congratulated Kevin and Danato found me, gave me water and led me to the oranges and bananas (YUM!). Danato was shirtless, and cold. He had been waiting for me for a half hour. He finished in an hour and 17 minutes. Holy crap.

I would have wanted to stay and enjoy the festivities afterward but it was too wet and miserable for that so Danato and I hopped the shuttle bus (big yellow school bus) back to the Pier school where we had nice dry clothes to change into.

Overall, the course was very nice. I loved the crowd supporting us throughout the race, getting high-fives, and there were plenty of water stations. I bet there would have been some beautiful views if it hadn't been pouring for the majority of the time!

Today was my first run since Friday night. I just did 3 miles for a recovery run. Felt pretty good. Not as sore as I thought I would be after 10 miles. My area is very hilly so 3 miles seems like 4. I am really satisfied with the recovery and plan on running before work tomorrow.

Now that I've done 10 miles, what is next? I was thinking about holding off on the half-marathon until after the winter. But I don't think that is possible anymore. I have to keep going. And I am strongly considering signing up for the Newport half-marathon. I will probably be signing up by the end of this week. My overall goal is to do 26.2 by the time I am 26. The rate this is going, it might happen before I am even 26. Turning 24 in a couple of weeks and I have come a long way since I started running again this past January. Marathon by the time I am 25? Hmmm... it's a possibility.

Week 4

First off, awesome job in the blessing guys. I'm real proud of you guys. Just like Tang feels like a proud poppa of all of you, I feel like a proud grand-poppa haha. If you'd have told me in college that I wouldnt be the only runner out of the group soon I don't know if I woulda believed it, but you guys have come a LONG way in such a short time, I'm throughouly impressed. 10 miles is nothing to sneeze at, that is some serious stuff, if you can run 10 then 13.1 is a breeze and a marathon is a very, very realistic goal. Great job powering through the conditions, rain is fun to run in, but like Knapp said once your shoes and clothes start getting wet and heavy and the blisters come it causes for some troubling condtions, way to get through em!

Tang, welcome to the pre-breakfast club haha, waking up at 5:40 to run is a shock to the system but you'll get used to it, and I can imagine that the Texas heat is a little better at that time of the day, eh? haha

Nothing exciting over here, the half training continues. Saturday was a 7 miler, I ran up to the Boston common and around there, it was fun becasue there was a ton going on in the common and downtown in general. I like running around all of the action because watching all the goings on while I'm running distracts me and then bam I'm almost done. Had a 3 miler this morning, 4 tomorrow, 3 thurs and 5 in the Orlando heat on Saturday worked around Universal, Disney and Harry Potter, so pumped!

On To The Next One

Fellow runner Tyler wanted to throw out there that there's a 5k in Providence sponsored by some small company, not sure if you have heard of them. CVS, I believe?


CVS 5k


I can't believe I'll miss it again due to not being in RI during September for the 2nd year in a row. I wish I could run this since a lot of recognizable elites run it for the prize money ($ 5k for 1st place in a 5k--har har). Checking out 2008's results, US elites Matt Tegenkamp, Shalane Flanagan, and Molly Huddle (RI product) were at the race. You can tell I'm still a bit angry about not running the 2005 CVS 5k with Kara Goucher (or running period in 2005).

They actually show team affiliations on the right side for the results so you guys could definitely create a new team name.

Oh, 6 a.m. running.
~2.2 miles
The rooster is apparently not even in his neighborhood. More likely across the street since we heard it on the way to the park.
Running before work experiment continues during the 2 week rehab with the new recruit.
Do I stay awake for the 8-hour shift today?

Running Report: Blessing of the Fleet 2010

Overall, I think the race went really well for me. Of course, I had some struggles during it, but I think I overcame them to the best of my abilities.

I was very nervous during the day waiting for 6pm to come around. At about 4pm, my new shoes came in from Runningworld.com. I got me some Saucony (still don't know how to pronounce it correctly) Omni 8s. I got them mainly because they were on sale for $45, but also because of the great reviews it got, especially for women with wide feet, like me.

Now, I know one of the main rules Tang set forth is to never race with new shoes that aren't broken in properly, but I figured since my other shoes would give me major blisters anyway, I took my chances running the 10 miles in my never-worn-before shoes. Mistake? Maybe.

Like Knapp said, traffic was horrible that day, and it took him and Kevin an hour and a half to get to my house. I got a call from Erica around 5:30 asking where I was. It took Erica about an hour to drive 15 minutes to the race, and I only live a couple miles away from her house, so I thought we were definitely going to miss the start of the race! We finally left my house around 5:35 and drove to the Stop and Shop plaza, getting there around quarter to 6, so we had to do a half mile - mile "warm up jog" to get to the starting line. Fortunately, we got there with about 5 minutes to spare to get our numbers and a quick bathroom break. Of course, we had to line up at the very back of the line, behind about 3,000 other runners. So when the gun went off, it took us about 2 minutes to actually reach the start of the course.

I really enjoyed the first third of the race. Everyone on the sidelines were clapping, shouting, even giving me high fives! I really felt like a celebrity, it was awesome! When I hit the 1 mile mark, I finished it in about 13 minutes, which is around the pace I wanted to be. Ideally, I would have liked a 12 minute pace, but with the lack of training, it was hard for me to go all 10 miles without burning out. At the 3 mile mark, a lot of us had to run single file because of all the cars that wanted to pass by. It was actually really annoying because I was inhaling car exhaust for about a mile and a half. Not really optimal conditions.

When I hit the 3.5 mile mark, some crazy guy with a hose was spraying the runners to maybe 'cool them off' since you know, it was a whopping 70 degrees out. It didn't matter anyways because not long after it started to drizzle, and then DOWNPOUR!!! When I was running close to the beach is when it really started coming down at about 4 miles in. I don't know about everyone else, but I absolutely loved it! Aside from the fact that it probably slowed me down some and my headphones kept popping out of my ears, I thought it was so much fun!

The downpour only lasted about 10 minutes, then cleared up. I was still trucking along until about 5.5 miles in when I was experiencing excruciating shooting pain on the balls of my feet. I attribute this to the fact that I didn't break in my shoes before the run, and was paying dearly for it. I thought if I could just ignore the pain, it would go away after a little while, but the pain persisted and I was forced to walk for about 10-15 seconds until the pain subsided and I could start up again.

I finally reached mile 6 about 1:15 in and I was really feeling great, thinking I could power out the last 4 miles. I lasted about 1 mile before the pain started up again. By this point, I was at a really strange stretch in the course. It was a road that was surrounded by huge trees and green overgrowths. It really seemed like someone had paved a road in the middle of a forest! It was pretty, but also spooky because there weren't any streetlights and was very dimly lit. Made me glad I was running with a bunch of other people, cos I would be so scared running that road all by myself.

This is when I met the barefoot runner. Yes. You read that correctly. Some old guy ran the 10 miles BAREFOOT! The only other person crazy enough to do this is Kevin, but even I don't think he's that crazy!

It was also at that time that the shooting pains in my feet had started again, and at the end of that road, I had to walk for 10-15 seconds more. I started to get annoyed at myself. I started back up and went solid for the next two miles, with another downpour occurring between those miles. There were these two runners that kept running for a short distance, then walking for a couple of minutes. So, it turned out that they would pass me, then I would pass them, then they would pass me, so on and so forth. I don't know why, but this really pissed me off for some reason. Probably because of the fact that I wasn't stopping at all and they would still get ahead of me, and then they had the pleasure of walking for a couple of minutes. It was really getting on my nerves, but eventually they stopped and just walked altogether. Thank god!

I had 1.5 miles to go when I had to stop again because of the pain. But I started back up quickly and told myself I wasn't going to stop anymore no matter what. It was the third time I started running again that I really began to feel the tiredness in my legs and thought that if I had to stop again, I probably wouldn't be able to start back up. 10 miles is really really long. And to be running for 2 hours? Thats a job and a half!

With half a mile to go, I could see all the runners that had finished before me, walking back to their cars or wherever. A lot of them looked so tired, but a few kept cheering us on talking about all the water, grapes, and oranges there were at the end of the race. That was enough for me to motor it to the finish line!

With my chip time, I finished at 2:04:08, which put me at a 12:18 minute pace, which I am so happy about! Thats really close to the goal I wanted. I saw Kevin and Knapp on the sidelines, but instead of finding them after the race, I went directly for the water. I had time to drink about half of a bottle and shove a handful of grapes in my mouth before we took the 2 mile trek back to the car. That was probably the worst part of all. My body was shutting down, but I had to keep on going to get back to the car. I had really high spirits, but everything else, physically, was awful! We finally made it back, and I literally had to crawl up the stairs in my house to get to the shower. Thats how much it hurt. Every little movement resulted in pain for the rest of the night. But it was SO worth it.

The one thing I wish they had were clear mile markers in the race. This has also happened in the other 5ks I've run in. I always had to ask somebody where the hell I was or how far I'd gone. Otherwise I would have been clueless!

In any case, I'm really proud of myself for running the 10 miles. I had some serious reservations about doing it because I ran like 2 times in the past month. Now I feel like I can run the half-marathon no problem! I'm really looking forward to putting that 13.1 decal on my car when I finish. I'm such a nerd. :)

Day 1, again for the Athletic Bastards in the AM

Thanks to the stipulation that the New Recruit can only run before work, I was confused and awoken at 5:40 by an alarm, drove out to his house, and heard an interesting sound. Was it a dog yowling? A baby?

It was a rooster. It was THAT early. (Pat, I don't know how you get up this early to run)

Light turns on inside the house. Thank god I did not wake up early for my own benefit.

First run: ~2 miles

With all the familiar Tang-isms during a run:" Keep your shoulders loose, your hands loose, take shorter strides, run slower than you think you can."

The funniest comment: he said that when he drives, he sees runners like us and thinks, man, what athletic bastards. I myself know that same feeling because that was me 2 years ago. I said the only difference between a runner and yourself is patience and commitment. In a month's time, you can say the same about yourself; an athletic bastard.

More eloquently put,

It takes patience to become the best runner you can be. Top athletes realize that running is a long-term sport. It is set up for people who value delayed gratification and who like hard-earned success.
Anthony Famiglietti, two-time Olympian and six-time national champion


So as long as this person keeps running, it keeps me motivated to run at early times since I'm too lazy to get up that early. It's weird because even though I like running, right now it's going to take this reliance on counting on each other to run early.

Running early feels so great after, knowing that you are done the rest of the day. I felt so great that I drove home and ran another 3.1 without knowing Lisa and JoAnn were running so I ran in to them.

Congrats to the Team

Congratulations to the Blessing runners. Thanks to Knapp's report, sounds like a tough race considering weather, traffic, and training but I am inspired by everyone that ran it and finished it. I've never seen '10 miles' and exclamation points and happy faces in the same sentence until after the race via text. Tack on a 5k to the end of that race, and that my friends is a half-marathon. I can't wait to see the other reports as well.

I now have a legit drawer for ONLY running junk (as part of the "You Know You're A Runner" article on the left side)

Thanks to the forced month off/ off-season for myself, I think I'll prematurely hand myself the Glass Jaw/ Eric Lindros award for being in non-running states for 1/2 the year.

The good news is that the summer recruitment process may mean the addition of two hopefuls to the team. I'm glad most of you joined during decent weather (well, when comparing it to the summer heat). It was tough enough organizing group runs but I don't know if it would have been possible to do 6 a.m. group runs.

To keep pressure off of these two, I won't mention their names until they feel like it. One of the runners has caught me at an opportune time, the same way the bulk of the team caught me; after a long hiatus. Hopefully this training/recruitment goes well this time, too.

Also, the monthly 5k race is right around the corner. Out of the 4 Tangs, only one has a shot at a PR/ medal in a stacked race since it isn't split in to two races like it usually is. Anyways, that one is Lisa, who has been the most consistent.

Blessing of the Fleet 10 miler

I'm not sure it was an entirely great idea to run this 10 mile run without the proper training for it. I really regret not doing a few more long runs in the previous weeks to prepare for it. Having said that, now that it is over, I can't wait to start training for the half. I remember thinking probably at mile 7 or 8 or so, what the hell am I doing this for, running sucks, what is wrong with me and all these other idiots. But once I finished my mood changed completely. I didn't reach my goal, but considering the elements I think I did OK, not great but OK.

Kevin and I decided to leave around 4 to get there for 6 start. What we didn't account for was the early Friday rush hour in Providence and Narragansett. So we made it to Nikki's house at 5:30. We ended up parking in the Stop and Shop parking lot and running a half mile or so to the registration table. After we signed up and got our bib we had about 2 minutes before the start of the race to pee and stretch what we could.

The start of the race was pretty sweet. There was a huge group of runners, 3500+ I think. The first half mile or so, in fact pretty much the whole race, was littered with people on the side of the road (most of them drunk) yelling encouragement. The weather was great for the first 2 miles, I think it was about 70, no sun, no rain, awesome. I felt great, no pain running with ease. I think, in retrospect, I went out too fast, considering my lack of training for the race.

At about mile 3, it started to drizzle a little, which was nice because I was starting to sweat and the cold rain felt fantastic. There was a great supply of water during the race. I think the first one was a quarter mile in, which I appreciated because I was parched going in. There was a stand at least every half mile. Anyways, at about mile 3.5 I think, it started to downpour. At first it didn't really affect me much, but after a while it started to get to me. My shirt and shorts were so heavy and worst of all my socks were soaked. Once my soaks started to get wet it was only time for the blisters to start coming...and of course they did. Right now I have a pretty sweet looking blood blister that I just popped, and it leaked like an ounce of blood I think.

The rain persisted for about 3 or 4 miles I would say, as did the smoothness of my running. I hit a WALL at about mile 7.5 or 8 that I couldn't shake. Even though I told myself I wouldn't I had to walk for about a quarter to a half mile... weakkk. Although the crowd support got me back into it. The one thing the race lacked were mile markers. I never had an idea of how far we were or what my pace was. Everytime one of the spectators yelled something out, like 4 miles done I would run about a half mile and someone would say almost at 4 miles... It didn't bother me till the end, when I just wanted the damn thing to be over. At what I think was mile 9, Jess told me we had a mile left, so I was like OK lets pump out this last mile. Then we ran another .3 miles maybe and someone yelled out almost at 9 miles. I was like ARE YOU SERIOUS, where in God's name is this finish line??

Once the finish line was in sight, I finished pretty strong, and enjoyed the post-race water, oranges and grapes... best oranges I've ever eaten. I finished around 1:48 or 1:49 I think. Not what I was expected but I'm going to name some excuses because it makes me feel better. First the weather, my inflamed foot and blisters, my lack of really eating anything all day, and my lack of the recent long run training. It made me feel confident for the Half, and excited for more future races. If anybody ever told me before 3 months ago what I would run 10 miles, I don't even know what my reaction would be.

The worst part about the race was walking back to the car (over 2 miles away) with those damn blisters. The best part was the post race oranges, the crowd support, and stopping at Leo's for some nostalgia on the way home.

Week 3

Three weeks in and half marathon training is going swimingly. Tues/Thurs were the easy 3's that I've been getting up before work and doing which I'm liking more and more. After you get over the inital shock of seeing 5:48am on the alarm clock its a good way to get the day going and you can't beat the fact that you get home from work and don't have to run. Wednesday was a nice 5 miler, me and Lauren ran it at a talking pace which was about 9:30 or so until the last mile when I took off and only ended up beating her back by a minute or so which I was suprised about. Tomorrow is a 7 miler which should be good. Last Saturday was 6 and I ran into downtown and over past Fanieul Hall. I'm gonna do the same for the 7 but an extra half mile out into the North End.

Anyways the reason I decided to write a post was to say good luck to you guys doing the 10 miler tonight. I wish I could be there but unless I took some time off my boss wouldn't be happy with me leaving early 2 Fridays in a row. You will all do great, once you get to larger mileage (10, 13.1, 26.2, or the extreme 26.25) it's really all mental. Granted the speed at which you do it is physical, but getting over that finish line is all mental. You've all been running and you're all in fine shape to bang out 10, just dont let yourself give up. If you get to that point where you wanna stop just tell yourself the faster I go know the sooner I'll be finished and then you can really stop! haha thats what I do at least. Kick some ass, I'm looking forward to hearing the race reports.

running thoughts (haha, double meaning)

The Blessing of the Fleet 10 miler is only a day away.

Take the race however you want it but at this point, I would say like usual that the effort you put in is more important than whatever time you finish it at. If I was still up there (I wish :tear:) then the amount of running I have done in the past month would have me setting a goal of just finishing. You guys could even run this together or in smaller groups to help each other out. Make sure to drink enough water throughout the day and eat a couple hours before. That's one benefit of an evening race, fueling up without having to set an alarm clock. And as usual, race reports would be excellent because it combines my love of reading and running, all without having to sweat.

As always, good luck and I wish I could be there to run and/or support you guys. At the very least, there will be 6 new PRs for the record book.

Knapp: sick pick up. Mizunos are definitely a runner's shoe. I was thinking of picking that up at some point so you'll have to let me know how they are.

Random Thoughts:

You'll be happy to know URI was represented (and per usual, given attention to by the adults just like our old row in class) at the Walgreens meeting with fellow teammate Souksanh, who has been packing on the mileage and getting the usual treatment of getting razzed on.

A coworker and I shared a conversation about what there is to do here in Texas. Given the lack of options, somehow the zombie apocalypse came up. Running doubles as training for this because after all, you just have to be faster than the slowest person and I know we all are.

With the half marathon plan starting in less than a month, now comes the idea of a pool party around then, too. Nothing like getting back on the horse for a month to get back in to pre-sickness shape due to the standard Texas summer party: a body of water with half-naked people.

self-consciousness: my training motivation.

Preparation for Domination

As the 10 miler rapidly approaches, I thought it would be a good time to get a decent run under my belt. Due to the massive thunderstorms, KOB and I decided to hit the treadmills. I felt pretty good considering my lack of running recently. I decided to go for just 5 miles today, to conserve some energy for Friday. I finished 5 in about 49 minutes, and I feel like I could have done 8 easily at that pace, which gives some confidence.

I still have no idea what my goal pace for this is going to be. Had I kept pushing it like I was about a month ago, I would be thinking about maybe 9:20 or so, but right now I would be really happy with a 10 minute-mile pace (1:40 overall). The thing I am most worried about is sweat. Today I sweat through my shirt like 3 times over, and I only did half the distance in the AC! I can't wait for 10 miles in the heat, I'm going to leave a track of sweat behind me. Pacing will be more than key for me.

Sick shoes BTW Tang, I just bought a new pair myself, some Mizuno Alchemy's. I really wanted to snare me some of those Nike's, but I feel like with my flat and fat feet and crazy overpronation it would be a bad combo.

I'll be sure to write up a RR on Saturday with my new PR.

Sooooooo...

With the 10 mile race fast approaching and my lack of training (thank you NAPLEX and MPJE), I'm becoming more and more nervous as to whether I can tackle this race or not. Of course I want to try and run the full 10, I just hope my body can pull through.

I went for a run with Kevin last night on the bike path, I wanted to do 6 but only ended up with 5 miles. The first 3 felt pretty good, but the last two were horrible. My body got tired and it felt like my legs were dragging the entire time. I wanted to stop, but kept trekking, finishing at about an hour. So if I can maintain a 12 minute pace, I'll be happy. It also didn't help that I had a huge lunch yesterday and felt like I was going to upchuck at any moment. Baaadddd idea.

Note to self: On race day, DO NOT eat a big lunch!

The plan for tomorrow is to run an easy 3 mi. with Erica on the SK bike path. I think that will be enough to maintain the training, without pushing too hard before the race.

I think this race will really be a test of mind over matter for me. Erica said that people cheer you on the whole way, so I think that will be a great help and hopefully I'll have enough of an adrenaline kick in me to keep on keepin' on!

Starting From Square One

Hopefully I'll be off the injured list soon, but in the mean time I have realized there are some countdowns in order:

• Blessing of The Fleet is this Friday--do NOT sprint with the front runners this time.
• One month away until the beginning of my half-marathon training
• 2 weeks until the monthly 5k race

While waiting to open a bank account (thanks to Hollywood, I can't help but scope a bank out when I'm inside), I realized in this blazing heat that everyone is complaining about, we could...

SWIM.

That's right, finally tacking on cross training to the regimen may help keep me injury-free (or less injuries) while keeping the ol' ticker going.

You know when you are a runner when...

you leave for work and there are 2 runners on the team taunting you. You want to skip work to go run.

you notice the floater pharmacist (the substitute teacher of the retail pharmacy world) has the same LunarGlides and wonder if he runs

Oh and to show Kevin I haven't grown too old and taken my finger off the pulse of indie music, Miike Snow concert and album get my stamps of approval and are vastly underrated. Unfortunately my discovery of the band came by way of Jersey Shore when they played my favorite song from this band, "Song For No One", which is perfect for the summertime.

Finally I can run again ...

Tang commented yesterday that no one had made a new post on the blog in quite some time, due to NAPLEX/MPJE constraints. Well now that I am done with both (hopefully), I look to rectify that situation. I haven't been running lately as much as I would have liked to, due to studying and knee problems, but now that I'm done with both tests and my knee is feeling better, I'm looking to run at least every other day.

When I have been running it's been limited to treadmill action indoors, due to the oppressive heat wave Rhode Island has been experiencing for the past 2 weeks. I feel like I've been regressing as a runner lately. It might just be that running on a treadmill for half an hour is painfully boring, but my pace has been slowly declining. I also haven't been able to run for long distances in quite some time, which doesn't bode will for my 10 mile race on Friday. Hopefully, after a full week of running this week and a long run or two I will be in good shape for Friday. We'll see.

What I do know, is what I will be listening to for the race, my new favorite record of the year, Best Coast - Crazy For You. It's an album full of 12 simple pop songs, that you feel like you've heard hundreds of times before, yet it keeps you coming back again and again. I'd liken it to a mix of the Beach Boys and the Supremes, surf pop if the Ronnette's sang. KOB recommended.

July Luck

topics explained:

• absence of me
• absence of we
• absence of asics

The month of July has been cruel on my running as well as the summer heat. If you take a peak at my running log, this month has been riddled with red crosses indicating sickness and a pulled lower back after moving furniture. Since I've been hacking up a storm for the past 2 weeks, I'm grateful that this is happening before the 3 month build up to the half-marathon (or Pikermi, since that's half way to Marathon). The 5k race at the end of the month will be interesting to say the least with only 2 weeks left. I've been out of commission 1/2 the time since my return to Texas. Welcome back, Tang.

The lack of posts may strike me next as we are all entering NAPLEX and MPJE pharmacy exam time. We have all withdrawn to our fortresses of solitude and I hope we all come back out victorious in about a month's time. Then, I'll get back to more running/posts and I hope that the rest of the Rx crew follows suit.

3/4 of the Tang crew are now outfitted with Lunar technology. The Lunar Flys my sister got are pretty legit. Ahem, Nike pick me to write for you guys, cough cough. No complaints yet from us.

Week 2

Finished off week 1 with a early morning 5 miler in good ol' Fieldstone Pond in Brewster, NY. The distance on the run was decieving becuase I ran in and out of all the little culdasacs in the development, ran around the big loop road and then ran to this nearby road called Mt. Ebo road which on map my run looked like a normal road, little did I know it was pretty much an actual mountain haha, just what you want on mile 4 1/2 of a 5 mile run.

Got up for what I decided was going to be a regular Tues/Thurs occurance, a 5:45 AM wake and run before work. It was really humid this morning, but the run went well. We'll see how good I feel at softball after work on the 6ish hours of sleep, but right now it still seems like a good idea waking up and getting the run done.

Tang- Hal Higdon is the guide that I used for all of my marathons and the one that I addapted to make my half marathon guide. I found that its a really really good guide because it makes running a distance like a marathon totally managable by increasing the mileage at small increments so you barely notice that you're running farther. And by giving you 3 rest days during the week it keeps the legs fresh and you dont burn out. Good Stuff.

Training Plan Decisions

As some of us inch closer and closer to embarking upon a training plan for the half marathon, one word comes to mind: commitment.

That word is a bit intimidating. Most plans are around 12 weeks with each day planned out. I can't think of any other time where I had my life planned out that far in advance. The benefits will be tremendous as this will be for a lot of us a new plateau for athletic prowess. I'll definitely have a new found respect for those that have put in the miles and weeks all for one race. I've decided to go with Hal Higdon's 12 week plan but not to a t, a mix of novice, intermediate, and expert.

Out of all the training plans, one thing is clear and that is we all have to extend our long runs each week to get closer to tackling 13.1 miles not only physically but mentally. Looks like I'll know what you guys are up to on the weekends for a good hour or two.

Runners:

Tang, A

Pritesh

With the remnants of flu still in my body, treadmill time with Pritesh. I forgot how comfy the Nike Free Shoes were.

Mother Knows Best

AM:

JoAnn

Lisa

John

Chisholm Trail then Einstein's Bagels for the stereotypical runner's Saturday morning in Plano.

Midday:

Aaron

Dear Running,

With the weather in Plano mirroring that of Seattle and my body taking on influenza, I have had to take a break from us for a week. Food doesn't taste the same (since my metabolism went back down to zero). Today mom asked,

"You running the Coit Loop (3.15 m)?"

No.

"Hedgcoxe (4.67 m)?"

(famous last words) No, Chisholm Trail (6.58 m).

As I ran an out and back trail, of course I get to the very end, then start walking the longest walk of shame because I can't breathe.

The last mile, it starts raining.

So I'll see you tomorrow then?

Love,

Aaron

While on the run:

• saw teenage normal non-ninja turtles and napping ducks
• got a "Howdy"
• saw a sign that said "this yard protected by Taloolah" <- I thought of Cool Runnings as most of you should have as well.
• thought, why would anyone smoke? My combined chest congestion and humidity made it feel as though I were breathing through a straw. Oh that's right, because smoking is cool. I forgot.

What positive things have happened though:

• KOB, without the characteristic excited shouting we are all accustomed to, broke the 100 mile mark. Congratulations my friend.
• It's nice to have a running expert/ resident Kenyan on the team in Mr. Henderson. It is one thing to train based on plans made by people you'll never meet, but to have sage advice from a friend who has run the distances about to be tackled really ups my confidence and hopefully everyone else.
• Watching the Diamond League on Thursday, Usain Bolt came out in this shirt:

Up and At Em

Day 3 of half marathon training started about 10 hours after the day 2 training ended. After going 4.25 last night at 7:30, I tried something new this morning, waking up and running pre-work. Getting up at 5:50 wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be and running at that time of the morning is perfect. It’s quiet, there aren’t many people around or much traffic at the cross walks, the temperature is perfect and you start your day with a sense of accomplishment and best of all you don’t have to run at night in those precious post work hours. All in all it was a good experience and I’m planning on doing it for all of the Tuesday/Thursday runs going forward as they stay between 3 and 4 miles which is do-able pre work.

Knapp, just read your last post. 7.5 non stop is awesome, especially when your previous high was 4.5, good work! Not stopping is so key, that sounds obvious but it really is, I’ve found that its better to slow yourself down to a real slow jog than to stop and/or walk. Once you stop, even if its to start walking and the walking is faster than the slow jog it’s a different motion, I find its real hard to get yourself running again once you stop that motion, especially when you’re running long distances like the half or the marathon, just keep moving. Oh and def take some days off, you don’t wanna burn yourself out this early or get some shin splits from over working yourself. BTW I cant do the 10 miler, in order to get there in time I’d have to cut out of work at like 3 since theres some major traffic heading to RI on Fridays, which would usually be fine but I have to cut out at 3 the Friday before that to get to Parfait’s wedding. But keep me posted on it, I want to know how it goes.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Aaaaaaaaand We're baaaaack

After about a 3 week hiatus, 6 stitches, becoming a home owner, lots of painting, packing, moving, late nights and more moving life has settled back down (sorta) and it coincidently coincides with the start of the “Official Half Marathon Training Guide” that I drew up a few months back. So yesterday on the hottest day of the year, after a sweat filled softball game I got home, grabbed my running shoes and me and Lauren went for the 3 mile run that would start the 3 month long half marathon training.

Running around the new condo pwns running around the old apartment, not only because it’s a much nicer area and we get to run down by the ocean for the most part, but the best thing about running at the new place is the lack of the giant half mile hill that started out every run at the old apartment. The run went pretty good, I was beat from being in the sun for the past 2 hours at softball and right from the get go Lauren lead the way. This marked the first time that Lauren took charge of the run and she did really well, including a nice sprint up one of the hills that had me saying, seriously? Now? Running in the heat is interesting, I always say I cant stand it but then I think about running in the middle of the winter and the heat doesn’t seem that bad, its actually kinda nice cause you feel like you ran so much more than 3 miles due to the copious amount of sweat.

Anyways, I’m glad to be back on the trails and more importantly back on the TRC Blog. I’ve been reading even though I haven’t been running, keep up the good work everybody!

Sri we’ll have to go for a run under the arches in September when we visit. The one time I went to St. Louis I went running around there and around the Cardinals stadium, it was real nice.

It was good seeing TRC members knapp, kob and nikki this past weekend up at our place, although there was no running involved, just a lot of drinking and eating.

Tang, nice new shoes, although going against the asics is a bad choice haha. Just make sure they have enough support in them, its important for distance running (what the guy at rhode runner told me).

Tang Goes Shopping for Shoes

Thanks to being the only person possible to catch the flu in the summer in Texas, I haven't run in 4 days and the best run-centric thing I've done is watched the Prefontaine Classic. With the flu impeding everything, I had some free time to help find running shoes for my family. Since I still have more than one iota of self-consciousness, I won't steer towards the Vibram FiveFinger gloves/shoes or the clunky Frankenstein-looking stability shoes. Again, I have gone against Bober's Asics mentality and I am about to be the proud owner of LunarGlide+ highlighter yellow sneakers. I feel almost like Bober and his Asics represent the Jedis and the Nike machine represents the Dark Side, then I stop thinking about that and think about how cool my new overpriced shoes look.

But wait, you are shopping for your family, you must be asking yourself. In a stroke of Knapp-like purchasing prowess, I had to pull the trigger on such a great deal. That deal?

52 bucks on Road Runner Sports right now.

52 bucks. Originally 99.99.

Joined the VIP club, got 10% extra off and free shipping. Randomly, the club has hotel discounts??

So now, I have staked my minimal running reputation on these shoes turning out well for Pops and myself. At least they won Best Debut from Runner's World and I half-jokingly wanted to buy these since those advertisements came out with the Halloween-themed first pair came out touting the rocket science technology in these shoes.

True Life: I am a newbie runner who has bought enough out-of-stock shoes to last for 2 years.

(needs a catchier title I suppose)

The Long Run

Runners
AM
Tang, H/L

Mid
Tang, A


Before heading out to ATX this weekend for the 4th I thought I'd throw in a long run in support of the team members who will be tackling 10 miles in less than a month. I can't wait until the weather goes back to the tune of below 60.

While on the run:

• The Chisholm Trail can be split in to 3 sections; boring trail, (turn at the North Pole house), dog park/ dog poo minefield, (past the newly built memorial), and a duck pond. When the sky isn't threatening to rain, I'll take a camera on the run to help everyone visualize the trail where my words lack imagination.

• One pro of Plano trails in replacing Blackstone Park: If I plan it out, I get a water fountain roughly every 10 minutes on my long run.
• Blackstone and water fountains (or bubblers): 0.

• I say "How's it goin?" to everyone I see on the run so it shook me when a lady and her dog said "not good" (the lady, not the dog) because the dog dragged her in to the muddy creek leaving her with mud on her backside.

• Without good pacing and 4 pints of Fat Tire Ale, today's run was uneven and I succumbed to :gasp: walking a bit. In honor of the World Cup, I added 2 minutes to my finishing time due to stoppage.

• Thanks to the incredible heat, I went shirtless midday through main streets with high school kids out of school so if I did not get a shout out, I could not consider it a proper run. 200 meters left, a car somehow spots me through trees and the stereotypical passenger says "put on a shirt". This is the exact opposite of what the fit and proper bird (too much BBC this week) was saying to me on the trail. This is probably the first stage towards the (thought?) process that started The Situation from The Jersey Shore.

And to go off on a tangent I figured in "the long run" of things, I wanted to remind everyone to work out (strengthening your core, hips, legs) as well as stretching beforehand and after to prevent injury (I'm no hypocrite any more since I'm doing this). I remember being sidelined for a month and not feeling too great. Once you get bit by the running bug, you want to keep it going so think about running not only for today, but :dramatic pause: the long run.

Born to Run: The Book Report by Aaron Tang

I barely qualify as either a middle of the road writer or runner (making me perfect as a critic since I can't achieve fame from either) but by comparing this book to Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes, one is able to see that Mr. MacDougall is a writer who occasionally runs whereas Dean Karnazes is a runner who occasionally writes. In this way, Born To Run really blends storytelling, humor, and imagery together well.

I read this last year but re-read it to give this book report justice. The story is quite remarkable even if you are not a runner. Basically, Mr. MacDougall enters an arena more dangerous than Mt. Doom (thanks to ruthless drug cartels) to find THE tribe of the best runners that we've never heard of (even though I remember seeing them in an MTV Road Rules episode where the cast were running with them, playing rarajipari).

I think the best part of the book (other than the fact it is all about running) is being able to travel and meet a culture as rare as the Tarahumara (pronounced Tara -oo- mara). Part of the reason why I love running is exploration and this book is able to fulfill this using pen and paper without endangering my life.

Along the way, he is able to flesh out the characters of the story, almost as caricatures of themselves (although the characters may actually be THAT superhuman-like).

Pictures of the characters

After a year of exposing myself to the world of running, it is that much greater to read about the likes of the Czech great Emil Zatopek and on the home front, Deena Kastor, Scott Jurek and Ann Trason. There's even a semi-respective nod to Dean Karnazes the Ultramarathon Man. I think that the author views Dean as a self-promoter then a runner whereas the runners in this book have this innate love of running just for the sake of running. This ideal started me up but was lost on me in the past 6 months and I think I need to get back there instead of worrying about placing or qualifying for Boston.

He challenges Nike's very existence and goes in to the theory of barefoot running (keep in mind the biases associated with him since he is sponsored by Vibram FiveFingers--thanks Epidemiology class/ Pharmacy Journal Club). He even manages to throw in a new spin on the theory of how we came to become the dominant species instead of the UFC-like Neanderthals with the help of Harvard.

If you are a runner and read, this is the book you HAVE to read. This is THE runner's book of the past couple years. Ask anyone who runs and reads and they have read it.

other points of interest:

Chia pets are apparently edible and give the Tarahumara their strength. (Chia seeds, that is)