Philly to LA on Foot

My race schedule for the summer

2012-04-15T15:54:00.001-04:00

The title of this post could very well be, "I don't know why I go to extremes" (with all apologies to Billy Joel).

Well, I guess there's something to be said for not starting small. I knew that I was getting back into race season, and, well, now I have 8 races scheduled. You'd think that it would make sense to start out slowly and work my way up to a few races. You'd be wrong. With few exceptions, I'm going the trail racing route this summer, and I absolutely can't wait.

I signed up for the Western NH Trail Series which is only $85 for the entire series. I'll run with some friends and I'll get to see parts of New Hampshire that I never have before.

From that series:

I'm also doing the Exeter Trail Series (a 10-mile trail run) on 6/10, and the Race to the Top of Vermont on 8/26. Oh, and I'm doing the Harpoon 5-miler on 5/20.

It's going to be a full summer, but I'm ready to be racing again. I even did a nice little 6-mile trail run yesterday just slightly north of me. Six miles is longer than I have been running, but I seemed to do OK with it. I even managed to do a quick bike ride this morning because the weather is so gorgeous.

Here we go!

Enjoying the beginning of race season

2012-03-30T18:21:00.000-04:00

As you well know, motivation has been a bit of a struggle for me. Despite the extremely mild winter in New England (snow-wise), I ended up doing a lot of indoor riding on the trainer, and very little outdoor running. I'm happy to report that we've had nicer temperatures and that's gotten me out in the great outdoors.

I also did what I haven't done for 2 1/2 years: I entered a race. I ran in the Shamrock Shuffle in Manchester, NH. It was an extraordinarily short race of just 2 miles, but it was a race nonetheless. It required me to be somewhere at a certain time, put on a race number, stand around in a huge group waiting for the start, and then actually running.

It felt great.

When you don't race, you forget about how good it feels to complete a race, even if you run regularly. And it did feel good. Mind you, I ran with a friend and didn't push myself. I easily finished the 2 miles in about 18 minutes. No land speed record by any account, but it was easy, and it reminded me that it wasn't a big deal.

Tomorrow, I'm doing the Gilmanton 5K. It's supposedly quite hilly, but I'm not all that concerned. As I was driving home, I just thought to myself: "Self: this is 3 miles. I can do this easily." That's a good feeling to feel that level of confidence, even if it's for something as short and achievable as 3.1 miles. I like what the feeling of race season is doing for me, and it's getting me motivated to increase the distance and the frequency.

I've needed this.

Maintenance, motivation and a whole lot of meh

2011-11-13T14:08:00.001-05:00

It's been 7 months since my last post (why does this sound like the beginning to a confession?). Between May and November, I'd love to tell you that there's been a bunch of news that I have needed to share, but just haven't had the time.

The truth is, though, there's just not a lot of news to share. My job continues to be great and I love doing what I'm doing every day. Making the career change to lawyerhood has been incredibly fulfilling and fun, and I'm not looking back, even for a second.

As for fitness, what's the opposite for progress? No, not Congress, despite the old joke. Regress. And that's what's been happening to my training. While I did go for a couple of longer 40+ mile bike rides over the summer, my training has trailed off significantly, and so has my mileage.

When I was in law school, I was routinely running no less than 4 miles in the morning before class. Now, I'm running not much more (if any more) than 2 miles. So I'm putting in about 8-12 miles a week on the roads. Am I upset about it? Meh. Not really.

I had tentatively planned to do a half-marathon in November with a friend of mine, but we just couldn't coordinate it and it never ended up happening. Meh, whatever.

We're about to start another ugly New England winter. I've trained over the winter for a spring marathon, and I vowed never to do that again. Trudging through the snow and ice on the poorly-maintained roads is no way to train.

But I know that I need to have some sort of goal out there. I'm not sure if a full marathon is for me, but if it is, I'd probably keep it local. There are two marathons in New Hampshire: the New Hampshire marathon in Bristol, and the City of Manchester Marathon in, well, Manchester.

Both of them are in the fall, so there's plenty of time for me to procrastinate, hem and haw about doing them, and then do a bunch of last minute training. I'm not positive I'll do another full, but if I do, I'll stay local to get there and back pretty quickly. If it doesn't happen, you got it: meh.

From 0-60 (miles)

2011-05-08T21:21:00.001-04:00

Not more than a few days ago, I talked about what I needed to do to make exercise fun again. Ask, and ye shall receive. Last Monday, I went on my first group bike ride with Granite State Wheelmen. Let me just tell you: I'm now addicted.

There were only a few people at the meetup, which was only a mile and a half from my house. I got out of work at a decent time and got over there a little early. I rode with one guy while the two others took a slower pace. It was so fun to ride with someone else and have a little camaraderie again. He even told me about the International Century ride into Canada in July. I think I'll have to make that happen.

The day before, I decided to do an easy 30-miler which my muscles forgot was supposed to be easy. I did it in about 1 hour, 40 minutes, which was a decent time. That next day I did another 28-mile ride to put me around 60 miles over two days.

So there you have it. I go from trying to find some fun in my works out doing 60 miles over two days. I did another 25 miles today at a decent pace. With any luck, I'll get out of work early enough tomorrow to make it another 30 miles.

For every job that must be done...

2011-04-24T15:10:00.000-04:00

I realize that it's been more than 2 months since my last post. I say that and it sounds like I'm going to confession. Forgive me running shoes, for I haven't run. It's been 5 days since my last run.

Work has kept me busy and the winter was brutally harsh, but spring has sprung. I'm starting to get outside in the mornings and in the evenings. Seeing the sun in the morning and afternoons has given me a renewed sense of purpose.

I've been biking a bit outside, but not nearly enough at this point. That's what I've really loved doing. I'm also going to join the Granite Street Wheelmen, a local bike group which has rides in the evenings.

I'm still not training for anything, but, depending on my luck, I may have no choice. I signed up for the lottery for the New York City Marathon. I'll find out later this week if I got in (unlikely). If so, then my training has to really kick into gear. That will mean a very active summer, which is probably better for my heart and waistline, anyway.

In some ways, I'm dreading the idea of running another marathon and going through a summer of training. I mean, well, marathon training is long and can be painful, and for me, it can be extraordinarily boring. But if that's what it is, then that's what it is.

As for the running, well, the title of this post describes my outlook. Mary Poppins said it best: "For every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap, the job's a game."

To be fair, she also said "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," so I'm not going with all of her words of wisdom.

But I have been doing fartleks and intervals, sprinting from tree to tree to try to make things enjoyable. I'm determined to make a game out of it, even if it kills me. Maybe I should just hum "Chim Chimminy Chimminy Chim Chim Chiree" as I bound down the streets. It worked for Dick Van Dyke.

My new trainer

2011-02-08T10:57:00.001-05:00

Our New England winter has been a bit more brutal than usual and the snow fall has been significant. That, and my recent lack of interest in running, has led me to get a trainer--a bike trainer.

I've really been enjoying using the trainer in the morning before I go to work. I can catch up on the news (or more likely SportsCenter) while I get a good workout and work up a good sweat.

I have found only two problems with the trainer. Up until now, I've used my Garmin watch to track my runs/rides. But, while I'm indoors, that won't work, so I'll need to get something new. Second, I've been smelling burning rubber. I've adjusted the tension a bit which has cut down on the smell, but it hasn't completely gone away. Apparently that's a side effect of the trainers.

Either way, I'm happy to have a warm place to workout while I wait for New England to thaw.

Year in Review

2010-12-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

As I thought about what I wanted to write this morning, I figured this post would be about the professional/personal accomplishments and about the lack of running/fitness accomplishments. But I decided to calculate my mileage for the year and it wasn't as bad as I thought. All told, I've run 625 miles in 2010. It's not a lot of miles, and it's far from a record for me, but, well, it's much better than I thought.

There are two fitness accomplishments from this year that are worth reflecting on: making it to Los Angeles and completing a Century ride in one day.

Making it to Los Angeles

As many of you know, the title of this blog is about my three-year quest to run the distance of Philadelphia, PA to Los Angeles, CA over the three years that I was in law school. I tracked my progress on maps as I "ran" across the country by running wherever I physically happened to be.

On April 30 of this year, I made the final run into Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport to be exact). It was a long road of 2,736 miles over the last three years that allowed me to reach my goal. I wanted to complete it before I graduated from law school (more on that later) on May 15 of this year. And I made it by 15 days.

Running across the country is a goal that I never, ever expected to complete. But knowing that it was out there helped me to stay motivated in some ugly New England winters and hot summers to run all the miles I needed. I ran with some great friends and I couldn't feel any luckier for being able to do it.

Century Ride

I also did a 100-mile bike ride in 2009. It was the Seacoast Century Ride, but we ended up doing it over 2 days (the remaining 18 miles happened on day 2). This year, I completed the full 100 miles in one day, and in just about 5 minutes slow than the combined time for the year before. The ride this year wasn't without a few problems, but I was thrilled (and incredibly sore) to have completed it in one day.

What happened next?

Well, as you can see from the graph, once I completed my final run from Philly to LA, my running dropped off significantly. Honestly, the remaining miles to get me to LA were a pain. I wasn't in pain, I just didn't want to run anymore. So finally, when I allowed myself to stop running, I did. And the miles haven't picked back up. Though I averaged just over 12 miles/week for the year, the majority of those miles occurred prior to April 30.

I also picked up the mileage on my bike a bit. I biked 561 total miles in 2010, which isn't bad considering that I can only bike from late March to mid-September. I've very much enjoyed getting on the bike to break things up a bit. The only problem is that I don't burn nearly as many calories while biking as I do while running.

Professional/Personal

Beyond fitness, 2010 has really been more about personal accomplishments than about fitness. After three years of law school, I finally graduated and passed two bar exams. That makes me eligible to practice law in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts (though I'm inactive in Massachusetts). I also got an awesome job as a criminal defense attorney at the New Hampshire Public Defenders' program, which I absolutely love.

At the end of the day, after leaving my family and friends, not to mention a very good job, I am in my new career and I'm doing something that I love. It was an unbelievably difficult transition to make for me, but I wake up every morning thankful that I did it. I don't regret making the change, even if my bank account does. I never thought I would be, but I am a believer that sometimes you have to make the unprofitable decision to do what you want and need to do. It's not a philosophy that I've really ever bought into before, and I can't buy into it very often again, but I believe it. I am truly happy where I am doing what I'm doing.

So Happy New Year, everyone. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.

Longing for the "dizzy" feeling

2010-12-05T08:00:00.043-05:00

As I've shared (several times), I'm not in the training mode right now and haven't been for a while. You could call my miles "maintenance miles" if you were extremely generous and being bribed. I'm in the 3-mile range at this point, not because I can't do more, but because I don't want to do more.

That said, I recently did a 5-mile run. In the past, that was just a warm-up for a much longer run. Heck, going up until my final destination at LAX, I was doing 7-mile runs 3 days a week. 5 miles would have been me wimping out. These days, 5 miles is a bit of a stretch.

I was debating between Dizzy Dean and Dizzy Gillespie,
so I went with more recognizable choice.

But after I ran the 5 miles, I had this dizzy feeling that I used to get when I was putting in unbelievable mileage (which, for me, was 30-35 miles a week). It's like when you stand up and you know that you haven't put enough calories into your body. Your body is telling you that you have to eat. And when you're done eating, you still get that feeling, so you eat again until it goes away. This is one of those phenomenon that only runners would understand.

I hadn't realized how much I missed that feeling until I got it again recently. It's an odd feeling to miss, of course, because it simply tells me that I'm not doing a good job at regulating my calories with my fitness. But it is a feeling that reminds me that I'm doing a lot of fitness.

I'm still not 100% ready to go back into some intense training mode, but this recent dizzy spell did send me for a bit of a spin. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Using music to trigger a memory

2010-11-30T08:00:00.038-05:00

A quick aside from my ~~regular~~ sparse running posts:

I've been a fan of music for as long as I can remember. We always had it in the house growing up, so it was always a part of my life. Like a lot of you, I'm sure, when you hear a certain song, it takes you back to a particular moment (or time period) in your life. Maybe a first love, breakup, celebration, whatever.

And, as you may have figured out by now, I'm a bit intense. And nostalgic. And a bit quirky. So, I decided to create a CD that I would listen to after I passed the bar so that anytime I would hear the song in the future, I would think of how amazing it felt to pass the bar. The song I played immediately after seeing my name of the "Pass List" was U2's "Beautiful Day." Now, every time I hear that song on the radio, I immediately think back to that morning, and how incredibly happy I was. Co-workers thought I was nuts for doing this kind of thing. They said I couldn't "force" a memory with a song. But, they're very wrong.

I have those songs when I run, too. In the last couple of months, I haven't been taking my iPod because the battery died and I haven't wanted to shell out the bucks to get it fixed. So, from time to time, I'll take out another music player, but it's bulky and doesn't seem to set correctly in its case. So, for the most part, I have been going without. I wonder if that is hurting my motivation.

Anyway, in addition to the fun songs that I listened to on runs, there were some good inspirational songs. The two that really stick out in my mind are Joe Esposito's "You're The Best" (from the montage in Karate Kid), and "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky. Every time I hear those songs (which, truthfully, isn't that often), I immediately think about the Lehigh Valley Marathon and what it felt like to finish it. I intentionally played "Gonna Fly Now" on the morning of my law school graduation. In fact, I stopped when I was about 5 minutes from my house so that it would be the last song that I heard before I drove to graduation.

I feel like there's got to be some sort of loony bin with my name on it with some of the odd things I do. I just hope they'll let Bono in from time to time.

Mileage, Motivation and my next race

2010-11-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

It feels like it's been quite a while since I have written, but, truth be told, on the running front, there's not much to report. On the personal side of things, however, life has been all sorts of excellent.

As of this past Monday, I'm now a full-fledged member of both the New Hampshire and Massachusetts bars. After 3 long years in law school, I passed two bar exams and am finally and officially a lawyer. My job as a Public Defender is challenging and interesting, and I'm loving every minute of it. The job is everything I had hoped it would be, and it means so much more to have given so much up to get to where I am.

So, on the personal/professional side, I really have no complaints. I'm extremely happy with that part of my life and wouldn't change it for the world. The running side, however, is much more of a struggle.

Recently, I started to have back problems after I ran. In the past, that was always because I needed new shoes. I went into the running store and they told me that I last got shoes in May. I thought that I had to have hit my 300 miles that I get on my shoes, especially because it's been so long. When I finally checked my mileage through Garmin, I was only at 158 miles. Since May! When I was on my virtual run from Philly to Los Angeles, I was going through running shoes like they were going out of style (though, frankly, they probably never were in style). Now I'm only 158 miles into shoes I bought in May. Oh, something has to change.

My mileage has been quite low. I still run 3 to 4 times a week (more often, it's 3, rather than 4 times), and I'm only running for 3-4 miles at a time (more often, it's closer to 3 miles). So, my mileage has been low and I haven't been going on longer runs. It's not that I think I can't do it. I just have no motivation to keep going. I'm bored to death with running.

I'm also getting into the coldest part of the year in New England, which means that it will be colder, snowier, icier and generally more treacherous to run in the winter. I did it remarkably well during law school, but my schedule is my rigid now, and my motivation is much lower.

So, I have a couple of options that I'm trying to figure out in my head. I could join a gym, but I absolutely detest gyms. I hate treadmills, and I don't like the time that a gym adds to my workout. It's always easier to just walk out of my house and go for a run. But, I think I could use some weight training to go with the cardio work that I'm doing now. I'm also trying to avoid paying $30+ a month for a gym. But I'm starting to waver.

I'm also thinking that I need to put a new goal out there so that I can start training. A co-worker is thinking about doing the Boston Prep 16-miler at the end of January. Since she lives close, I could do some training runs with her. I'm seriously considering it, because it would give me some motivation to get better mileage in as I prep for the race.

After I finally got to LA, my mileage dropped through the floor. I had been doing 20+ miles a week and that has fallen off. What's also fallen off is the number of calories I'm burning each week (down from 3,000 to about 1,000), which means that my waistline isn't quite as slim. Yet another problem.

So, long story long, I need some motivation to get myself out the door and to start burning more calories. Much, much easier said than done.

Hitting the snooze button for a run

2010-10-22T12:06:00.001-04:00

Today I did something that I haven't done in a very long time, maybe ever: I hit the snooze button on my alarm and decided not to go for my scheduled run this morning. I know that doesn't seem like a very extraordinary thing. For many people, it's quite common. But for those people who know me, this is anything but common.

You see, I have this really odd internal set of rules that doesn't allow me to miss a workout. It's not like it makes sense at all. I'm certainly not training for anything at this point, and my runs have been in the 4-5 mile range--nothing all that significant. So, I could afford to skip a run every once in a while. But for me, I just never allow myself that luxury (well, almost never). It just feels like cheating.

Mind you, it's been cold up here in NH already. It's in the mid 20s at 5:45 AM when I wake up to run. That's not "cold" when compared to how NH will be as we get further into winter. In 2 months, I'll be wishing I had 20-degree temperatures. But it's still tough to leave a warm out and go out and run into the cold.

The good news is that I've already run twice this week (back to back days, even), and I'm going to go for a run tomorrow morning, so I'll still get my minimum of 3 runs in for the week, so I gave myself a break on the early morning run this morning. But I was disappointed with how easy it was to skip the run. It's a habit that I can't get into.

I guess it's a good thing my arbitrary internal rule system doesn't allow it very often.

Tri-State Century: Ride Report

2010-10-02T13:03:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was a very successful weekend. I passed the New Hampshire bar exam on Friday, and I rode 100 miles across 3 states on Sunday. The 100-mile ride was the same one I did last year: the GSW Tri-State Century ride.

Nubble Lighthouse in Cape Neddick, ME

Wow, it feels like it's been quite a while since I've written a race report. It has, actually. The last one I wrote was after last year's marathon. It feels good to be putting some results up on the blog rather than just infrequent chatter.

We were up around 4:30 AM to get to Hampton Beach, NH for the start of the race. It was somewhat chilly, in the 60s, but not too bad. We started by going south into Newburyport, Massachusetts, and then came back into Hampton Beach to drop stuff at the car and to refuel for the day.

Me at the SAG stop

After tweaking a few things on my bicycle, we started the journey up to Nubble Lighthouse in Cape Neddick, Maine. We rode through Portsmouth and across the Maine border to finally turn around in Maine and then head back down to Hampton Beach. I rode with the same friend as last year.

So that we could keep a conversation going and so that I didn't get too far out in front of my friend, I rode rather closely behind her. It was a foot or two behind her, but it had to be about that close because I couldn't have heard her otherwise.

As you can imagine, riding that close to someone presents its own challenges. It all has to do with the other person slowing down. If I knew about the slow-down, I could adjust my speed. However, in Portsmouth, a family came out from the side street and she suddenly slowed her pace up a hill and I ran into her back tire. I went tumbling to the ground on my right side. I had some decent cuts on my leg and elbow and my hip has been bruised. I have just now been able to sleep on my right side. So, that was an adventure. She felt bad, but there wasn't much that could have been done. I'm not sure how to balance the riding close to the safety of more distance, but I clearly got the balance wrong up until that point. I decided that I'd keep at least 2 bike lengths between us for the balance of the day.

On the way back from Maine, I could tell that she was having problems, especially with the hills. Her hip had been bothering her, and she ultimately decided to stop at 67 miles (what I'll call a "Canadian Century"). She had the SAG folks pick her up and then I continued the remaining 33 miles.

The first 67 miles had taken us about 5 hours to do because I was riding behind her and just going at her pace. The general pace was between 10 and 12 miles per hour, sometimes less if we were on a hill. Once I started to ride by myself, my pace increased to about 16 miles per hour, sometimes as much as 22-25 mph, especially as it got closer to the end and I wanted to be done.

By mile 80, I was completely bored. I was alone, it was getting dark and there weren't any riders left on the road. (They were smart.) Of course I couldn't ride with my iPod in, so it was just me and my thoughts for the last 20 miles or so. It was at this point that I decided the quickest way to get these miles over with is to ride faster, much faster. So, I dialed up the gears on my bike (24th or 25th gear, I think) and decided to do the remainder of the ride as fast as I possibly could. At that point, I was going between 20 and 25 miles and I was freezing.

Because I didn't have enough mileage from a detour, I had to go past the final stopping area and continue back into Massachusetts to get the remaining 6 miles in to make it an even 100 miles. At that point, I wasn't about to end early and have less than 100 miles in. My friend drove to the end point and waited for me. I was playing mental games with myself. "OK, 5 miles left. I can bike 5 miles in my sleep. OK, now it's 4 miles and change. This will be over soon." And so it went.

I finally came up on 100 miles and I couldn't have been happier. I hadn't stopped in the 2 hours it took me to get back, so my electrolytes were low and my brain wasn't functioning as well. I felt like I was drunk and couldn't form sentences. Luckily, a small sandwich helped me to perk up.

All in all, despite the injuries and the cold, it was a good day. Last year, we did the first 82 miles on Saturday and the remaining 18 on Sunday. It was a century, sure, but it was over 2 days. This year I did it all in one day and it felt extra special that way.

Totals:

Miles: 100

Time: 7:13:38

Ascent: 3,548 ft

Descent: 3,652 ft

Average pace: 13.8 mph or 4:20/mile

Calories burned: 6,064

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Hitting another milestone

2010-09-27T21:59:00.001-04:00

Well, it's official: I passed the New Hampshire bar! As I mentioned just after the exam, I felt pretty good about it. It turns that I had good reason.

Needless to say, this was a gigantic relief for me. Not passing the bar would have meant that I couldn't have practiced a profession that I spent the last three years of law school trying to learn. While I guess I would have been employable somewhere, the prospects for those of us who don't pass the bar are slight, especially in a tough economy.

The bar was the single most difficult thing that I've ever had to go through. It was dramatically difficult and emotionally draining. I used running and biking to keep me somewhat sane, but that didn't always work. I took two bar exams: one for New Hampshire and one for Massachusetts. I'll find out about Massachusetts in late October, but New Hampshire was the state that I was concerned about because I'm currently practicing in that state, so I need to have passed the bar. Massachusetts will be the proverbial icing on the cake.

So what's next for me post-bar? Well, I'm working as a Public Defender. A Public Defender is a criminal defense attorney for people who can't afford an attorney. It was the job that I've wanted for the last two years, and I couldn't possibly be happier to have it.

Needless to say, 2010 has been a very, very good year for me. Graduating from law school, finishing the distance from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and now passing the bar. Frankly, it will go down as one of the best years of my life. Wow, it feels great to feel that way.

Still to come: the Century ride I did this weekend. Spoiler alert: I'm really sore. Really sore.

Motivation is just a plane ride away

2010-08-16T08:00:00.019-04:00

These past few weeks have been quite leisurely, thankfully. After the bar, I needed some serious downtime and I got it.

I spent a week in my favorite city in the world, Seattle. Being in Seattle simply makes me happy. When I wake up in the morning, I smile and everywhere I walk, I smile. Seattle is my happy place and I make every possible effort to get out there as much as possible.

I go to my favorite bar, and I enjoy an adult beverage or two and I look out at the marina and just let my thoughts go. Going to Seattle is really an act of mental cleansing and I make the most of it.

It also allows me to run around the city and explore (though, frankly, I've seen most of the city by now). I went for a run one morning that took me to Safeco and Qwest fields (home of the Mariners and Seahawks, respectively) and I ended the run at Pike Place Market right in front of the guys who throw fish all over the place. The air was crisp and there wasn't much foot traffic so I just ran anywhere there was a walk signal. I felt like I could have run forever. And, if I hadn't had to check out of the hotel, I probably would have run another hour or more. It was just of those mornings. That morning, I remembered how much I loved to run.

I was also fortunate to stay with some friends in Green Lake, about a 15-minute ride from downtown Seattle. Green Lake is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. It's a little hippy-ish, which is fine with me. But the part I love is the 3-mile man-made lake with beautiful runnings paths around it.

We walked around the lake a couple of days and were able to choose between a gravel/dirt path and concrete. There were tons of bikers and people pushing running strollers, as well as a ton of runners. It was nice and cool as we strolled around the lake and the days were beautiful.

My second to last morning in Green Lake I decided to go for a run around the lake. From their place to Green Lake, around the lake, and back was about 4 miles, which was fine. Again, it was a little chilly and rainy but I couldn't have cared less. I kept a decent pace and stayed off of the concrete while I dodged others.

One of the things that I miss from New Hampshire is the lack of running paths in my area. Sure, you can drive to some, but they're not in my backyard and you can't walk or run to them. Having such a beautiful area so close to my house would be heaven.

Then again, if I want heaven, I may just have to visit Seattle again.

Letting a run go every once in a while

2010-08-12T08:00:00.012-04:00

I am a creature of habit. I believe in self-discipline and holding myself to goals that I set out. That self-discipline helped me immensely in law school when I could have been watching TV and playing video games all the time. (Truth be told, I did a lot of both over the last 3 years.)

But while self-discipline is generally a positive thing, I have found that I have a tough time moderating it. It's the old saying: moderation in everything, including moderation. Instead of giving myself a break and running or biking another day, I go out and bang out the miles even if I'm not feeling up to it. Again, that's generally a good thing, but it creates absolutely no flexibility into the schedule to allow for, well, life to sneak up.

It's almost like the movie, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. If it's Tuesday, I'm running or biking. And I'm doing that whether it's hot or cold, raining or sunny, thundering or snowing. And I do it because it's on the schedule. If it's not on the schedule, I don't do it.

During the bar, this type of discpline was critical. My days were heavily structured and scheduled, so I put exercise into the schedule and stuck to it. But, as of late, I haven't had much of a schedule as I have had a couple of weeks off.

And you know what? It's actually OK to miss a run or bike ride. It's OK to change it to a different day because your stomach is upset or there's something else to do. I know it doesn't sound like much of a revelation to most of you, but for me, it's like the first I've ever heard it. We're so funny that way, aren't we?

But with everything else, I can't let too many runs or rides slide. I still need to hit the road as often as possible and get my miles in. At least for now, I just don't have to be so incredibly rigid.

I guess there's a first time for everything.

End of the Bar as I know it (and oddly, I feel fine)

2010-08-03T23:45:00.000-04:00

Last week marked the end of a very, very long 8 weeks of studying for the bar exam. If you're not familiar with the bar exam, it's a 2-3 day exam including 200 multiple choice and a bunch of essay questions. Even after you pass law school, you can't practice law in the US unless you pass the bar exam (and subsequently get sworn into the bar). So from late May until the last week in July, if I had a spare moment, it was pretty much taken up with bar study.

I took the exam last week over three days so that I could take both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire bar exams. The good news is that it went well. I'm not all that superstitious, so I think it's OK to say that it went well. Even if it's not, I felt good about it and that's because of all of the studying I did to prepare. It's a good feeling when you feel like you studied too much.

During the exam, I made a concerted effort to get out and exercise 3-4 days a week. Sometimes I was biking and sometimes I was running. It helped to clear my head at the end of a long day of studying or to get me ready for even more studying. I only got to work out once during the week of the bar exam (with travel, etc.), but I'm going to give myself a pass on that one.

I now have my life back which means that I'll have more down time and even more time to exercise. I start a new job in late August, so I have a few weeks to veg out and just enjoy not having anything hanging over my head, except for the results of the exam, I guess. For what it's worth, I hear about NH on September 24 and about Mass. in late October/early November. Don't worry: I'll keep you posted!

I also did my first spin workout last night. I have to tell you: I both loved and hated it at the same time. Really, it was great and awful. It was also nothing like riding a bike. They do all sorts of weird standing poses and riding and lean different ways, etc. I had a very tough time balancing myself when I was standing on the bike, which is a good indication that I probably didn't set up the bike correctly.

But boy was it a workout! I'd love to know what kind of calorie burn I had, but one thing I know is that my burrito for dinner was calorie neutral. After a steady diet of Diet Sunkist, string cheese and hard pretzels during the bar study period, I'm very glad to have a day where I'm largely calorie neutral. I need to start eating like a human being again rather than a bar student.

It feels good to feel human again!

Keeping my head above water

2010-06-29T22:37:00.000-04:00

The last time I posted was nearly two months ago. At that point, I was graduating from law school and had nothing but time on my hands. Well, since then, I've gone into full bar preparation mode. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for my liver), I'm preparing to take the legal bar, not the how-many-beers-can-you-guzzle-in-an-hour bar exam.

Everyone describes the bar as a marathon. In other words, you're supposed to pace yourself and not get too tired during the two months plus of studying. I don't think many people understand how a marathon works when they make this comparison. When I want a marathon to end sooner, I just run faster. No such luck here. No matter how fast I run, the bar is still coming at the end of July. I can't make the finish line get here any sooner. I'd prefer a series of 10Ks or something like that. You know, anything that's a shorter distance that allows me to feel good about my progress.

As for exercise, I've been able to largely keep up with it. I haven't been running 20+ miles a week, but I have been running several times a week and have been biking to supplement the running. Unfortunately, I find that the biking doesn't burn anywhere near the number of calories that running does, so that means that I have to ride considerably farther and longer to get the same calories burned.

So what does that mean? It means I'm not biking as much as I'd like because it takes so much time out of my day. I have been enjoying it significantly more than running, though, I must say. Zero impact and I can actually go places, as opposed to an out and back or a run in a circle. Biking definitely gives me more options.

For now, I'm trying to keep my sanity by also keeping my waistline down. Hitting the roads really has a way of clearing my head. I think I'm going to need that over the next 30 days because my head is full of all sorts of crazy legal data.

Reflections on the end of a 2,736-mile journey

2010-05-11T17:11:00.003-04:00

As I'm sure you saw, I made it to Los Angeles a few weeks ago. That final run marked a 2,736-mile journey from the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, PA to the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, CA. After a couple of weeks, I've been able to reflect on what this trip has meant to me.

When I started this journey on May 18, 2007, I desperately hoped that I'd finish it at the end of law school. I knew that I had a problem with getting bored with things and not finishing them, but I was going to do my very best to make it happen. As I sit here nearly three years later with law school now completely under my belt, I still can't put into words what this journey has meant to me.

I can tell you a few things that it's meant to me. It's meant 9 inches off of my waistline and 75 pounds lost. All told, I've run 393 hours, 40 minutes and have burned 382,310 calories on my way from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.

But, as with most trips, it's not about the destination. It's about the journey getting there. So I thought I'd tell you about some of my favorite runs.

New Orleans Marathon
My first marathon and, wow, I can't even tell how much it meant to finish that race. I felt like I could do anything. It was in my first year of law school after I had dislocated my shoulder. I still get emotional reading my race report from that day. I finished in just under 5 hours.

Lehigh Valley Marathon
This was a coming-home of sorts. I had lived in the Allentown, PA, area for the last seven years before going to law school. Friends live there and my family lives close. I ran a course that included roads that I used to drive on everyday to work. It ended up being a very emotional race for me as well.

But most importantly, it became a much faster race for me. I finished in 3:56:25, about an hour faster than my previous marathon. I could not have been more thrilled.

Runs in Europe
I was in Europe for a month in my first year of law school, and I definitely took my running shoes with me. I talked about some of the runs I took while I was touring. I saw the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and deer in Phoenix Park in the middle of Dublin. I felt more alive running in those foreign cities that I have in a really long time running in the US.

48 Miles in 48 Hours
The biggest and most important run for me as part of the journey is my ultramarathon. I created a 48-mile ultramarathon where I ran from Concord, NH to just over the state line in Tyngsboro, MA, over a two-day period. Hence the name: 48 Miles in 48 Hours.

This ultramarathon represented the longest distance that I had ever run (and will likely be the longest I'll ever run in the future). It tested my body and my will to keep going. Finishing that run was a huge accomplishment for me, and one that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Unintended benefits
When I started out, I thought this blog would be a way for me to hold myself accountable. I never dreamed that it would inspire so many people to hit the road themselves. I talk with a lot of people at school about running and my goals have helped others to set their own goals. It doesn't have to be something ridiculous like running across the country; it just needs to be something and it needs to be personal to you.

One of the most rewarding parts of this journey, if not the most rewarding part, is the effect on others to get out the door and make a difference in their lives. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to have helped even one person.

What's next
At this point, I don't have a clue of what's next. I don't have any sort of large goal to bike across the country or run back across the country or around the world or anything like that. For now, I'm enjoying running when I want to and not having to put in a specific amount of miles. If I want to run 4 miles, I can do that. I don't have to run 7 miles at a time in order to make it to a certain spot.

I've also been riding my bike considerably more, and that's much more enjoyable to me these days. It's considerably less impact, and for now, at least, it's still fairly new. I can get more places in less time and it allows me to run a lot of errands.

So for now, I'm just hoping to "be".

A hearty thank you
I absolutely could not have completed this journey without the help and encouragement from my friends and readers/supporters. Knowing that I had to keep myself accountable to all of you made me hit the road when it was too cold or rainy or I just didn't want to. Knowing that when things were bad, you'd be there to pick me up helped too much to even quantify.

People say that running is an individual sport. I think they're only half right. I run with thoughts of the people who are important to me. I run for their honor and I run for their memory. I'm not foolish enough to believe that I did this all myself. You were with me every step of the way.

Thank you.

I made it to LA!

2010-04-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

After my (very rainy) 6-mile run this afternoon, I am officially finished with my journey. I would be seeing the sign above after a 2,736 mile journey. Lots, lots more to follow when I have a few minutes. For now, I'm enjoying my journey being complete. It's been a long, long road and I'm thrilled to be at the end.

6 miles to go - Lennox, CA (4/26/10)

2010-04-26T13:24:00.000-04:00

I'm 2,730 miles into my journey with only 6 miles to go! As you can see from the picture, I'm just about to get off of 105 West to get onto Highway 1 for the last few miles into Los Angeles International Airport. I did 8 miles and some change this morning so that I'd have an even lighter run later this week.

One more run and I've run all the way across the country!

15 miles to go - Progress - 4/25/10 (Lynwood, CA)

2010-04-25T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well, the big news is that I'm only 15 miles away from LAX! I will get to the finish line by the middle of this coming week, and I can't tell you how excited I am to get there (and how ready I am to kick down the miles).

I'm now 2,721 miles into my journey and I'm on 105 West toward LAX. At this point, the only quick turn I'll need to make is onto Highway 1 to turn into the airport.

I'm in Lynwood which was named after Mrs. Lynn Wood Sessions, the wife of a local dairyman. The town is close to Watts and is the residence of, among others, Weird Al Yankovic, Venus Williams, Kevin Costner, and Glen Bell (the founder of Taco Bell).

I'm planning to make my final run at White Park in Concord, NH, on Wednesday morning. That's where my graduation will be on May 15, so I thought it was the right place to end the journey. I'll be ending a week and a half early!

Progress - 4/16/10 (Baldwin Park, CA)

2010-04-16T14:34:00.000-04:00

I'm now 2,699 miles into my journey and have stopped in Baldwin Park, CA. I got off of 210 West and am now heading on 605 South as I work my way to Los Angeles International Airport. I have only 37 miles remaining. At this point, it's the 605 South to 105 West until I get to the airport.

Baldwin Park is famous for having the first In-N-Out Burger which started in 1948. If I were actually (instead of virtually) there, I'd definitely be sampling some of the burger goodness.

The rise of the middle-age ironman

2010-04-12T10:09:00.000-04:00

The Times (UK) recently wrote about the change of the male mid-life crisis. It used to be fast cars and younger girls, but now it's triathlons and ultramarathons. The article goes through the shift from material things to how we are making a shift to crazier and crazier athletic feats.

Though I'm not quite in what would be considered "middle age," I did fall into a quarter-life crisis around 28 when I realized that I was not looking the way I wanted to look, and I wasn't looking the way that I used to look. So I started on a plan to be more athletic. Now, I'm (very thankfully) almost done with my three-year journey from Philadelphia to LA, and I need to decide what's next.

I did do an ultramarathon and have run a couple marathons as part of my quarter-life crisis. Though I'm not running across the Sahara desert like some of these guys, I guess we all have our sports car equivalents.

Besides, I've got a couple of years before the mid-life crisis begins. I just hope I'll choose triathlons and ultramarathons. They're cheaper than sports cars, but these days, probably not by much.

Progress - 4/9/10 (Rancho Cucamonga, CA)

2010-04-09T12:03:00.001-04:00

I'm 2,680 miles into the trip and have turned west onto Route 210 and have just passed Rancho Cucamonga. I'll take 210 until I get to Butler and then I'll head southwest toward the airport. I have 56 miles remaining and 36 days to get to LAX. At this point, I only need to average 11 miles a week, which is 10 less than I have been averaging.

I haven't decided whether I'll cut back on mileage and switch to biking a bit so that I can get the time line closer to graduation, or whether I'll just plan to finish it when I get to it.

Progress - 4/2/10 (Keenbrook, CA)

2010-04-02T14:09:00.000-04:00

I'm now 2,569 miles into my journey and am just passing Keenbrook, CA on Route 15. I'd give you some facts about Keenbrook, but the internet seems a bit void of them. I'm sure the town is, um, beautiful.

I was in Texas last week for a law school competition and was only able to eek out a 4-mile run over a 5-day period, so I was a bit concerned about my mileage. This week, I was able to get 19 miles in (had to cut my 7-mile run today a bit short).

Before plugging in the mileage, I thought that I'd have to worry about an increase in mileage to get me to LAX by May 15, 2010. It turns out that the opposite is true. Based on my mileage to date, I only need to run another 77 miles. Based on the six weeks left until graduation, that means I just have to do a bit over 12 miles a week to get there--no problem (I say, knocking on wood).

The next big turn is from Route 15 onto Route 210 West toward Pasadena. I'm starting to smell the (virtual) LA air!