Running Down

2012 Umstead Marathon Mascotolgy

2012-01-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again, when we provide our expert prognostication and rank the potential candidates for this year's upcoming Umstead Marathon mascot.

As you know, the mascot changes every year, and is kept secret until the day before the race. For details on how the mascot is selected see the post from last year.

2010 - Year of the Bunny

2010

That year, we thought the best choice would be a deer.
But we deduced that "The Conclave" was working their way through the animal kingdom and the next logical animal would be an opossum.
This prediction did not pan out, as 2010 was the Year of the bunny.

2011 - Year of the Tick

2011

Last year, we considered opossum once again, as well as a snake and a horse.
We went with Deer as our odds-on favorite due to its park presence.
SometimesBareFoot Josh proved to be the expert mascotologist by correctly naming the Tick to be the 2011 mascot.

2012
Here we are approaching the ninth running of the Umstead Marathon, and we have eight mascots behind us: Horse Fly, Flying Squirrel , Turtle, Fish, Turkey Vulture, Frog, Hare, and Tick. No obvious pattern has emerged, so we are left to judge potential candidates based on the following parameters::

Park Presence - How common is the animal in the park?
Runspiration - How mush does the animal inspire a person to run?
Silhouettability - How well could the animal be made into a plaque?
Logotimidation - How cool would the mascot look on a t-shirt and a pint glass?
Intangibles- Has something similar been used before? Is it representative of the Umstead Experience?

Each quality will be judged quantitatively and scored on a scale of 1-10.

I took an informal poll on facebook and got a list of 10 candidates which I will review:

Spider

Presence	In the summer? Oh yes. Not so much in the winter	8
Runspiration	Getting a face full of spiderweb can put a damper on a trail run.	2
Silhouettability	They managed to do the legs pretty well on the tick, but I'm not sure about another one with pipe cleaners	5
Logotimidation	Could possibly usurp The Tick for coolest race shirt. I look forward to the day I can use these phases: "Today I'm breaking out The Spider-Shirt" "Pour me a cold one in my Spider-Pint"	9
Intangibles	We just had an arachnid last year.	2
	Total Score	26

Deer

Presence	When you think about animals in Umstead, Deer are the first to come to mind. In 2008, the marathon briefly came to a halt as a herd stampeded across Graylyn.	10
Runspiration	A deer flying through the woods is the ultimate trail runner	9
Silhouettability	It would be difficult, but if they could carve the antlers it would be freaking awesome.	6
Logotimidation	A majestic deer with a huge rack posing with his head turned? Or maybe leaping across the front of the shirt? Could be an instant classic.	7
Intangibles	I was told by a member of the conclave that a deer would NEVER be the mascot because it had long been a symbol of The Uwharrie Mountain Run. However it seems the last few years, the Uwharrie folks have abandoned this. Is it open season yet on Deer mascots?	0
	Total Score	32

Copperhead Snake

Presence	Depends on who you ask. I have seen a lot snakes in Umstead, but don't think any were copperheads. Others will say that they are slithering through the trees a foot deep like in the Egyptian tomb in Raiders of the Lost Ark	6
Runspiration	I have witnessed more than a few people running through Umstead screaming "COPPERHEAD!"	9
Silhouettability	This is tricky. If it was long and stretched out it be a pretty fragile plaque. On the other hand if it was coiled up, it would kind of look like a pile of poo..	3
Logotimidation	A snake would be a pretty intimidating logo. All wrapped around the lettering? I'm sold.	8
Intangibles	They could put any snake on the t-shirt. A common water snake or rat snake. Or even a cobra. But in NC, it would still be a copperhead. Just like all soda is "coke".	5
	Total Score	31

Bear

Image stupidly stolen from the LawyersUSA website.

Presence

Apparently they do appear on a sign enumerating the park wildlife, but I don't think a bear has been seen in Umstead in a long time.

Runspiration

You can't outrun a bear. Play dead.

Silhouettability

Yes it would be easy to carve and recognize, but it would look like cheesy mountain-cabin-gift-store kitsch.

Logotimidation

It seems that bear imagery belongs to more mountainous locations. Plus even if they didn't put a ranger hat on the bear, I think I would still see Smokey.

Intangibles

There is already a race called "The Bear"

Total Score

Coyote

Source.

Presence

They are elusive, but Shannon and I have both seen them in the park.

Runspiration

If you can't be the deer, be the coyote chasing him!

Silhouettability

Good, but might be hard to distinguish from a dog.

Logotimidation

Something like the image above would nice change from the meek mascots we have had so far. Finally, a predator! Or they could go the Wile E Coyote route...

Intangibles

Even if they are in the park, "coyote" has a more of a Southwest vibe to it. It would seem out of place on an Umstead Pint.

Total Score

Horse Dung

Presence

Hard to miss.

Runspiration

Hard to imagine something less inspiring

Silhouettability

The plaque would be easy to carve, but might it take some explaining when you show it to people.

Logotimidation

I think this would be a very polarizing topic, between those who appreciate irony and those who do not. Split the difference.

Intangibles

Nothing says Umstead Bridle Trail like a pile of road apples.

Total Score

Crayfish

Presence	I'm sure they are in there somewhere, but runners aren't likely to see them	5
Runspiration	Maybe if it was a 20 foot mutant crawling down the trail. Hey there are those PCB's in the lake...	2
Silhouettability	Yikes	2
Logotimidation	Would look too much like an ad for a seafood restaurant	2
Intangibles	Crustacean would be a good subphylum to cross off the list, and we are due for another aquatic creature.	5
	Total Score	16

Opossum

Presence	Rarely seen during the day, though I have heard of runners encountering them on the trail.	7
Runspiration	Their slow, comically waddling gait hardly inspires running... except for maybe ultra-marathoners	3
Silhouettability	Not sure if the silhouette would we be easily recognizable, and the tail would be problematic. Got to give it a 3... UNLESS... the tail was a rope! And the plaque hung by it! Can you see that?	6
Logotimidation	A snarling, beady-eyed Opossum with its long bare tail would be pretty bad-ass	8
Intangibles	Come on! Marsupial is due! On the other hand, we pick this EVERY year.	8
	Total Score	32

Stegosaurus

Sorry	I'm not going to dignify this with a response	0
	Total Score	0

Other nominees:

Cicada - Might be too soon for another bug, I think.
Turkey - Just had Turkey Vulture in 2008
Beaver- Hmmmm. This seems plausible, but this post is already way too long.
Raccoon- This would be another good one, but maybe too much like a Squirrel
Duck - Would be disappointing

Finally, the Running-Down pick for the 2012 Umstead Mascot is...

Drum roll, please...

Bat

Presence	Watch carefully at dusk.	6
Runspiration	Agghh! There is one stuck in your hair! Run, run!	4
Silhouettability	Would be the most coveted plaque ever.	10
Logotimidation	Bats are just fricking cool, period.	8
Intangibles	I'm can't say why but I when I look at the previous mascots, it seems like a bat should be next. On the other hand we did already have a flying squirrel. (Though it looked more like road kill.) Too soon for another flying mammal?	5
	Total Score	33

Just barely edging out the perennial Opossum pick and the tainted Deer by a single point, the Bat comes out on top in our expert analysis.

On Friday, March 2nd, the Conclave will reveal their mascot choice.
So come back here on that day to read our gloating, told-you-so post celebrating the Year of the Bat!

1000 Mile Shoes

2012-01-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

Attention Mizuno:
The following is a great advertisement for your shoes. I am expecting compensation, in cash.

Good Mileage
Recently Shannon retired a pair of Mizuno Something-or-Other road shoes that had over 1000 miles on them.
(Shannon would like you to know it was 1017.8 miles to be exact). I had promised her that if she put a 1000 miles on them, then I would do a post honoring this achievement in frugality. So here it is.

Stats
Cost	$95
Miles	1017.8
Cost per mile	$0.09
Road Races	9
Trail Races	14
Blisters	0
Number of runs over 20 miles	5
Number of runs under 2 miles	48
Number of times I put screws in them and she got mad at me	1

These shoes worked well for Shannon, meaning they didn't cause any problems. The highlight in the life of this pair was when she won (won! I still can't believe it!) the 2011 Uwharrie 40 Miler.

It's worth noting that she had success despite using them in ways that Mizuno did not recommended.
Nothing crazy, but somewhat unconventional.

Unusual Fit

Souvenirs from the 2006 NY Marathon

When I first met Shannon, she got blisters on just about every long run she did. She had been getting blisters her whole life, and just accepted it as a fact of running.

"With the right shoes, you should never get a blister", was my opinion. Of course, everyone's foot is different, so finding the right fit takes a lot of experimenting. (The absolute perfect fit is no shoes at all, of course). Initially she was resistant to change shoes because they otherwise worked well for her.

Eventually she relented and we headed to our favorite running shop, Bull City Running. She liked the narrow width and lightness of the Mizunos, but they didn't feel quite right.

The standard sizing procedure, which leaves a half inch of room for the toes, put her in a size 7. But she preferred to have her toes crammed in there with no wiggle room, which sounds really uncomfortable. Reluctantly, they gave her a 6½.

With more experimenting, she found that removing insoles felt just right.
Number of blisters in the 1000 mile shoes: ZERO.
This includes the 40 mile ultra with soaking wet feet the entire time.

Shannon took the insoles out for a better fit and less cushioning

Most of the miles were trail or dirt, so not much wear

Trail Shoes?
Shannon was so happy to be blister free, she ran exclusively in these, even on trails, without another thought about it.
There must be dozens of brands of trail shoes out there claiming their superiority and even necessity on trails.
Shannon was unaware of this, and naively wore these for the toughest, rockiest, muddiest, trail races around here. And she did pretty well. (See the chart below)
Her ignorance of the need of trail shoes just goes to show that the shoe company marketing depts need to do a much better job.

Performance?
These shoes made it well past the 300-500 mile "limit" that the shoe companies place on them.
While it is true that after so many miles the cushioning breaks down, the question is: Does it matter?

Objectively, they seemed to work pretty well for Shannon well past the 500 mile mark:

Mile	Event	Result
152	5K	22:10
406	Run at The Rock Trail (mud fest)	1st age group
687	Uwharrie Mountain Run 40 Miler	Won (first female)
744	5K	21:14
784	Umstead Trail Marathon	PR 3:45:39 (3rd female)
898	MS Trail 12 Miler	1st age group
1000	10 Mile Umstead run	Fastest to date

Shannon did admit that the 1000 mile shoes no longer felt good on pavement. I guess if you get used the cushioning, then you will miss it when it is gone. On trails, however, she said they felt fine.

Retirement
Eventually the shoes started to fall apart and she had to retire these.

They had to be retired due to foot coming out

Kim at Bull City refused to take the shoes back

Response From Mizuno
After winning Uwharrie, Shannon kind of got an inflated ego (with help from me) and became envious of other runners being sponsored by La Sportiva and Montrail. So she emailed Mizuno, seeing if they would sponsor her trail running endeavors. This was the response:

Thank you for contacting Mizuno USA. We appreciate the positive feedback on our Wave Rider 13's. Your email has been forwarded to the head of our running division as he always enjoys receiving feedback on our products whether positive or negative. This only helps us to build a stronger product line. Thanks again for choosing Mizuno products.

Hmmm. Maybe she does need to switch to trail shoes.

Uwharrie Training Run

2012-01-23T20:52:00.001-05:00

Eight of us will be running Uwharrie in 2 weeks.
Ken and Josh are just nuts.

Uwharrie is a unique trail that is difficult to simulate, so a group of us who will be running the 20 and 40 miler this year headed out to the forest for a test run. Blogging celebrities Scott and Merrell-foot Josh were there, along with some other non-blogging riffraff.

Shannon took some photos that do a good job of showing what the trail is like.

Being signed up for the 40 miler, I wanted to test out my new shoes and my old knees on the rough and rocky terrain. Somehow I thought it would be a good idea to run 20 miles.

Turned out that it was not such a good idea. Let me just say that coming down the stairs this morning, I had to stop halfway and rest for a few minutes.

Josh demonstrates proper creek crossing technique.

Punishment
Uwharrie is a deceptively hard trail. There is no super steep climbs or especially difficult sections that you can point to. Instead, it slowly and repeatedly pounds you into pulp, like getting beaten to death with a rubber mallet.

Here is my stream of thoughts as I ran yesterday:

Mile 1: Holy crap I'm cold.
Mile 2: Hey, this is easy! I feel good!
Mile 4: Woohoo! This fun, I love this forest!
Mile 6: OK.. Maybe I'll just slow down a little here.
Mile 11: Wow, my hip kind of hurts.
Mile 12: Man this is rocky... dammit, twisted my ankle AGAIN.
Mile 14: Ow! A fricking bolder just rolled onto THE TOP of my foot.
Mile 16: Maybe I can run a little bit here... no, still walking
Mile 17: Oh God... my knees.
Mile 18: What? Still going up?
Mile 19: Good Lord is there any end to this freaking forest? Am I even on the trail anymore?
Mile 20: Is that a car I hear? Please let that be the road. Am I hallucinating again?

"Seriously? More rocks?"

Notes To Self
But it wasn't all bad. You can learn some important things from a run like this. Seriously, here are the things I learned (or was reminded of) on this training run:

Do NOT try to keep up with Bart and Dan. My heart will explode on the first hill.
Be patient. I already knew to walk up the steep hills. But there are also some treacherous drops that I lack the skill to run down. So don't even try. There are plenty of run-able stretches of trail to save my legs for.
Tie my shoes tighter. Wet shoes grow in size.
Secure my laces better. I always tuck my laces in and haven't had a shoe come untied in years. But the Uwharrie forest is alive. Yesterday a branch reached out from the side of the trail, grabbed the half inch of exposed lace and untied the shoe.
Just run through the creeks. The most painful missteps happened when I was trying not to get my feet wet. I would roll my ankle and fall into the water anyway.
Drink a little bit less. Applies both to the water during the run, and the beer afterwards.
Dress warmer. Being cold makes me run too fast.
Running too fast at the start causes inevitable pain and suffering later. Pick a target pace and do not go under it.
When going north on the wooden bridge, TURN LEFT. Do not go straight up the hill.
Do not run in Uwharrie. Seriously, it is not good for you.

The "Tick Shirt" is rapidly becoming the most popular race shirt of all time.

Gear Review: Sunshine Friends Shoehorn

2012-01-20T21:57:00.002-05:00

Runners can accumulate a lot of gear and a lot of shoes, but one very useful tool is often overlooked:
The simple shoehorn.

It can really be a time saver. Instead of spending several minutes loosening up the laces, putting your foot in, then re-tightening and tying, you can just slip your foot right in!

And if you own a pair of those very snug minimalist shoes like Vibrams then a shoehorn is an absolute must.

I own a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves that are very tight. They fit like a... like a tight mitten. I bought them last year and it's always a struggle to get them on. It never occurred to me that it could be so much easier.

But then a few months ago I was in an Asian grocery store buying a 2 pound whole dried squid, when the "Sunshine Friends Shoehorn" really caught my eye. Heck, it practically thrust itself right in my face.

I don't think I have seen one before, but it looked oddly familiar. It reminded me of something... but I couldn't quite place it. What really sold me was the tagline:

"Joyful Sunshine Friends be a Friend With Anybody in The World"

With this, I can have friends all over the world, AND slip my shoes on! All this for the bargain price of $1.99. I had to snatch it up.

Comes with a double balled base holder,
so it is always standing at erect attention,
happily waiting to service you!

This is really a quality piece of equipment. Crafted in Korea of the finest pink plastic, the Sunshine Friends Shoehorn is confidently stiff while remaining supple and responsive.

It smoothly penetrates the tight slot between
your heel and the back of the shoe

As far as shoehorns go, I have to give this a solid 8 out of 10.
While it is perfectly functional, there is still something a little weird about it, that can't quite put my finger on...

Available at your local running shop
or Korean grocery store

2012 Umstead Marathon Second Chance Registration

2012-01-16T20:21:00.000-05:00

If you missed registration for the upcoming Umstead Marathon, you have another chance!

The will be a Second Chance Registration this Thursday, January 19th, at 8:00 am.

Check the website for details.

NOTE: Males capable off running a 3:30 or under are not permitted to register.

2012 Eno Equalizer

2012-01-16T14:49:00.001-05:00

Handicapped start

Yesterday was the Carolina Godiva Track Club Eno Equalizer, the 5th race in the Winter Series.
This race is a team event, with a fairly simple premise: The team who has all 3 members cross the finish first wins. In other words, your team finishing time is when the 3rd team member finishes..

To make it more fair, each runner is given a head start, or "handicap" according to their abilities. This is the "Equalizer" part. To add an element of strategy, this time handicap can be traded among team members to help balance the times.

Professor Richard Smith, Race Director, tries desperately to explain the rules

Unfortunately, this is more complexity than most runners can grasp early on a Sunday morning, and there was some confusion on the faces of the 58 runners gathered there.

Almost no one plummeted to their death off the side of the swinging bridge

The race is about 3.7 miles, on the Cox Mountain trail in Eno River State Park.
Originally, I scoffed at the idea of something so small being a "mountain", but that was before I tried to run up it. Then I was regretting not bringing any climbing gear.

The lower elevations of Cox Mountain,
before you get to the glacier.

My team failed to get a single person across the line before the winning time of 23:21. I think we really got screwed on the handicaps.

Shannon took lots of photos which are here. Because of a high mileage week, she ended up DFL, with the timing folks wondering where she was. All captured in this video here.

Maybe the only race you will run where you pass
a sign saying "no running"

With 2 hard trail races in two days my legs were beaten to a pulp, and I desperately needed a rest.

So we immediately headed over to a nearby section of Mountains to Sea trail and ran another 8 miles.

Surprisingly, my legs don't hurt too bad today... as long as keep them perfectly still.

2012 Little River Trail Run

2012-01-14T21:24:00.001-05:00

This was the 4th Little River Trail Run for Shannon and I.
See 2010 Race Report and 2011 Race Report for Shannon's photos and stories of coldness and hotties in my pants.

Shannon's photos from today can be found here on picasa and here on facebook.

The Trail Heads love switchbacks.
The Little River 10 mile course was designed by carefully mapping
the flight of a really pissed off bee caught in jar.

As is tradition, Little River is held on the absolute coldest day of the year. This morning was a balmy 28°F, so it looks like we are in for a mild winter.

We car pooled to the race with Chris and Jenny, shivered putting on our bibs and lined up at the start.

Start
I had four good runs last week so I was optimistic this morning. My goal was to beat my snow enhanced slip-sliding time from last year. Race director Willow counted down, and then the pack was off down the road at a 5:30 pace. Only one person there had any business running that fast, and that was David Roche, who ended up breaking his own course record.

Every one loves elevation profiles. It is race report crack.

Up and Up
The rest of us were gassed after the first mile, and entered the trail at a more reasonable pace.
I ended up following a pack of runners including friends Dan, Sam and Tim.

In preparation for Uwharrie, I have been practicing my downhill running the last few weeks, with the belief that if I don't fight gravity, it won't punish my crackling knees.

So I was waiting for a downhill to pass the group, but the elevation profile above lies like a presidential candidate. The trail just kept going up and up. It was killing me trying to keep up with these guys on one climb after another. I swear I heard a buzzing sound coming from my chest sounding like a badly tuned weed whacker. This went on for about 6 miles.

My heart rate during the race. As you can see it reached 300 bpm, which is 167% of my max heart rate.
You can kind of tell where the tough hills were.

Finish
Finally, just seconds before I blacked out, there came a downhill and I rolled down it, surprisingly gaining ground on the group. In a road race, I know I wouldn't have been anywhere near them, but I was really happy that I was able to hang with them on the trail on a good day. I sputtered out the last few miles, unable to keep up with the eventual Masters winner.

But happily, I was able to hang on and finish a minute faster than last year, and scored an awesome jacket for first in my age group.

Kudos to the Trail Heads for thinking "outside the race shirt"
and giving out custom printed arm warmers to all entrants.

Aftermath
It turns out that pushing as hard as you can and maxing out your heart rate for well over an hour really starves your brain of oxygen. As I sat down to write this race report, I could not focus at all. My head was literally vibrating, and I could not think straight.

Fortunately the TrailHeads had given out some very cool custom arm warmers that boast some impressive powers:

"Reduces muscle vibration, focuses muscle power, and controls body movements."

Just what I needed!

Using compression technology for MIND CONTROL

I finally was able to pass Dan by clubbing
him in the knee with large branch

Once again, big, huge thanks to the TrailHeads and all the volunteers for a great race!

Uwharrie Quest for Clay

2012-01-11T20:14:00.001-05:00

"Celebrating Human Spirit"
Photo courtesy of Michael Mahan, from his post here

Getting to be that time of year again. In just 24 days runners from all over NC and beyond will make the annual pilgrimage to Uwharrie to spend the day in the woods.

In anticipation, I started googling around "the internets" and stumbled across Michael Mahan's blog, which shows him and his crew making the 600 awards for the race. The bowls, jars and medallions are hand crafted from clay dug from NC ~~the area~~, so after the race you get to take home a little piece of the ~~Uwharrie~~ NC mountains. This is fitting, as often the Uwharrie trail will extract a piece of you.

Photo courtesy of Michael Mahan

Even if you are not into ceramics, make sure you check it out his blog. It is really interesting and photos are gorgeous. I absolutely love the raw simplicity of carved runner that is on this years awards.
Michael is calling the awards "jars" (for the 20 and 40 miler), but to me that's a mug, and I'll be drinking coffee out of that baby (if I am lucky enough to finish).

This will be my 3rd year doing the Uwharrie 40. The first year I really worried about finishing, the second year I was worried about going fast. But this year I am feeling much more relaxed, and really looking forward to just being out there, mile after mile of rocks, trees, streams, and more rocks. No iPhones or cars or computer screens. I know that if my legs fail me, it probably only means a relaxing walk to finish.

Some of the early prototypes
Photo courtesy of Michael Mahan, from his post here

I can't image a different finisher's award for Uwharrie. Some manufactured trinket would seem so out of place. The trail is very rough and raw, cutting through miles of untamed forest.
It isn't some well groomed trail in a state park, and it is a world away from pavement.
When you are knee deep in a ice cold stream, trying to remember the last time you saw the trail, or even another person, you can't help feeling a special connection to mother earth.

So that well crafted hunk of earth is the perfect thing to take home to remind you of that connection, and symbolizes what makes the Uwharrie Mountain Run special.

2011 Running Photo Contest Winners

2012-01-01T17:07:00.000-05:00

Results from our "Why We Run" running photo contest are in.

Our 7 judges reviewed the 28 submissions carefully, and each chose their favorites. There was quite a variety of opinions and several fist fights broke out. The votes were tallied and here are the winners:

3rd Place ($25)
"For the Future"
Scott Lynch

2nd Place ($50)
"Thumbs Up"
Heiko Rath

And drum roll please...

1st Place ($100)
"untitled"
Kimberly Sullivan
(This image literally invoked tears in one our judges)

Congrats to our winners, and many thanks to everyone who submitted. Every photo submitted had it's own merits, and the judges found decision making process difficult. All seven judges picked a different photo as their favorite, and almost every photo had votes or positive comments.

Every entrant had their own unique mix of reasons of "Why We Run", and so did each of the judges. The same image which gets a shrug from one viewer can strike a powerful emotional response in another. For example one judge was unimpressed with "The Feeling of Flying" (photo below), yet it resonated strongly with me. I closed my eyes and immediately felt myself flying down Company Mill trail. I tried to explain it to him, but couldn't. But the image says it perfectly to me.

Here are our honorable mentions. These were picked as favorites by judges or were otherwise notable:

Honorable Mention
"The Feeling of Flying"
Jaclyn Kolev

Honorable Mention
"Uwharrie Stream Crossing"
Frank Lilley

Honorable Mention
"Still Smiling"
Monique Turco

Honorable Mention
"Legs"
Samantha Mulvey
(Several judges identified strongly with her artist statement)

Most Likely to be Published in a Runner's World
"26.2"
Andrew Vanover

Bloggers Favorite

"Fast Track"
Harold Hill
(Both Shannon and I thought thought this was the best image)

Thanks again to all the entrants, especially Harold Hill who demonstrated the most enthusiasm and creativity in submitting 8 different images.

We are not through with photos submitted and the stories behind them, as they will serve as content for the "Why We Run" book that Shannon and I are working on.

There will be another photo contest for 2012, but it the submission process will be different. So stay tuned, and save those great images...

Photo Contest Entry List Update

2011-12-13T12:02:00.001-05:00

"Fast Track"
Harold Hill

So I finally got all the entries organized. Here is a link to the Picasa Web Album

Here is a link to same album in Google+ (looks cooler).

Click here for the spreadsheet list of the entries I have so far. There are a few missing, but hopefully I will get that fixed.

So far we have 2 judges, so five spots left.

Below is a slide show. (Sorry it is flash. I hate flash).

$100 Photo Contest Ends in 23 Days

2011-12-07T16:59:00.001-05:00

Your time is running out

You have one last chance to submit a photo for the 2011 Running Photo of the Year contest.

The deadline is December 31, 2011 at 9:00 AM.

Submissions
I have changed the submission process slightly. Please follow these 3 steps carefully. If you don't, your submission may be lost

You MUST fill out this form. If you don't, then I will not know who the photo is from. This is because the when the photo is emailed, it goes into a dropbox, and I dont see the email.
Then email the image to this address: 113635732325082234976.contest@picasaweb.com
In the subject line, include: your name, the month, and the title of the image. Don't include anything in the body of the email, because I cannot see it.

I am no longer accepting links. Due to my disorganization, I waited to long to get some of the images and they are gone now. I will try to contact the applicants to resubmit. Sorry about that.

Judging

The judging will take place at our usual New Years Eve gathering. Here are the rules that I am making up as I type this:

There will be 7 volunteer judges.
There will be a presentation of all of the submissions, along with a discussion of the merits of each
Each judge will pick their top three submissions, awarding points.

1st = 3 points
2nd = 2 points
3rd = 1 points

Judges cannot vote for their own photos, if they have any.
Points will be tallied up. Top prize is awarded to the most points, seconds place to the next, etc.
Any ties will be broken by Shannon and I.
Prize money is mailed out first week in January.

Wanna be a Judge?

All ya gotta do is volunteer. Leave a comment here, send me an email, tell me in person, whatever. The next 6 people to volunteer are in. We already have 1 judge.

You will have to come to our New Year's Eve party (which can be painfully dull, we often play Scrabble).
I suppose if you really want to be a judge, but really don't want to spend New Year's eve looking at running photos and playing Scrabble then I'll make an exception.

Current Entries
In the next few days I will make a post with the current entries. I will also be contacting some of you about problems with the submissions.

2011 Run at the Rock

2011-12-03T22:15:00.001-05:00

Running On Empty
As Shannon and I were making the drive to our 4th "Run At The Rock", the car was complaining.

Distance to Empty: 20 miles.

A rational response to this is to get gas. Being insecure, I take this as a challenge:
"Oh yeah?", I tell the car, "I bet I can go thirty!"

Which we did. Pulling into a gas station a few miles from Cedarock Park, I reached for my wallet...
Uh oh.
Shannon didn't bring hers either. We scrounged for change in the seats, but only found 10 cents and $15 gift card to Inside-Out Sports. Both useless.

So we decided to push our luck and drive on to the race, tapping into uncharted regions of the gas tank.

Trading Body Parts for Cash
My running this year has been a steady cycle of overdoing it and injuries.
My latest crash was a DNF 3 weeks ago at The Misery Run. I had to quit running after 2 miles because my Turkey Tendon (behind my knee) was threatening to snap in half.
I only managed to get a few 8 miles runs in since then, so it was questionable if I would make it through a hard 14 miler.

But I decided to risk injury because I was doing surprisingly well in the NC Trail Half Marathon Series, mostly because of my stellar attendance record. So I didn't want to miss Run at the Rock, which was the final race of the series.
If I could place in the top seven, I could over take David Roche for 1st place in the standings. Assuming, of course, he didn't show up.

"Damnit! I was hoping you wouldn't show up", I told him, as his mere presence crushed my dreams.
Now I had to live with Shannon besting me once again, as she had 1st place in the series safely locked up.

People get a little crazy during the first mile

Run Like A Bargain Shopper
Like most single track trail races, Run at the Rock starts with a half mile or so of open road. The purpose of this is to give time for runners to settle into a reasonable pace and allow the pack to thin out into an orderly line onto the trail.

But most trail runners approach this first mile like Black Friday Walmart shoppers. At the "GO", I sprinted off like a lunatic trampling several people trying to get to the trail first. Before the first turn I pepper sprayed several people next to me so I could take the corner.

My goal for the race was to average an 8:00 min/mile, but a quarter mile in, the Garmin said I was running a 6:00 min/mile. Despite this ridiculous pace, there was still about 30 people in front of me. In the open field, I made an asshole move and ran outside the couse markers to cut ahead a bunch of them and then hit the trail.

Damn elves

Out Of Gas
After a mile, the pack thinned out and I was running with just a couple other guys. We splashed through a few small gullies, and clomped through some muddy patches.
I was feeling surprisingly good. My Turkey Tendon and knees felt fine.

So at the 3 mile marker, I stopped being conservative, and let it rip.
I crashed down rocky slopes and charged up the hills. I felt great, but was breathing really hard.
After what seemed a long while, my legs became weak and I was hunched over, gasping for air, trudging slowly up a hill. Almost completely spent, I looked up and saw... the 4 mile marker.

I laughed, because at that point another 10 miles seemed impossibly far. I walked for a while to catch my breath, but was only passed by a couple guys. As I finished the first loop I thought about dropping out, but nothing really hurt, I was just exhausted.

So I ran the second loop more to my abilities. I walked up all of the steep hills, conserving my energy so that I could fly down the other side. My apologies to Brian Tajlili and Dan Bedard, who must have thought I was an idiot.

But the walking allowed me to finally see the waterfall. I have run this race 3 times before, so that means I ran by it 7 times without seeing it. I know why I never look at it though, because just as I did, I took a wrong turn. Damn you, beautiful nature.

I finally made it to the finish line and collapsed in a heap. Yes, this was overly dramatic, but I was really happy. It was my longest run in 5 weeks, my fastest in 2 months, and most importantly nothing broke.

Shannon just keeps getting faster on the trails. She was 3rd female, while taking pictures as usual. Click here for the album. Her speediness has resulted in a decline in photo quality however, as we had to delete about 100 blurry ones. She did get this one of Tim Gautreau's prodigious blisters.

I have to thank Scott for lending us money so we could get home.

Be sure to check out his race report here, as it is absolutely way better than mine.
Oh, and me saying that may or not be part of the terms of the loan.

Up and Running

2011-12-02T16:48:00.001-05:00

I was making similar face at The Misery Run for a different reason

Alright, I'm back. I'm "between injuries" once again.
Wow, it's been like six weeks since my last post.
Let's check the running log to see what's been happening with me:

10/15 - Did OK at Triple Lakes, knees feeling better
10/22 - Strained my "turkey tendon" (again) trying to run 18 miles.
10/28 - Quit running, for good this time
11/01 - In a severe bout of optimism, sign up for the Uwharrie 40
11/06 - Ran the NY Marathon... well, in a virtual reality Avatar-sort-of-way
11/10 - Become thankful that my neighbor donated an elliptical machine to us
11/13 - Drop out of the Misery Run after 2 miles when Turkey Tendon fails
11/14 - Never running again. I mean it this time.
11/17 - Become thankful that Sams Club sells Naproxen in bulk
11/20 - Run 8 miles! In great new shoes!
11/30 - Fail to run 8 miles! In crappy new shoes!

So that's been what's happening with me.
Shannon has been doing good. She has the Umstead 100 Miler coming up in a few months and she is giving some serious thought to starting to train for it.

The blog to-do list is really filling up. Here are some posts I'll try to get out this month:

Interview with our favorite running couple Jim Hite and Joyce Hodges-Hite
Shannon's 1000 mile shoes
New "clown" shoe review (?)
Call for judges for Running Photo contest
2011 Running Photos of the year selections!
Review of the absolute best running accessory ever.
New York Marathon race report (maybe not, could stir up controversy)
Run at the Rock race report

Yes, I will be attempting to run the Run At The Rock 14 Miler tomorrow. I have not run further than 9 miles since the Turkey Tendon failure 5 weeks ago, so it who knows what will happen.

Thanks for reading!

2011 Triple Lakes Trail Race

2011-10-15T20:43:00.001-04:00

Robin was at the race today.

Between Injuries
"Are you between injuries?", Smart-ass Ultra Brad asked me at the race today.

The answer is: Yes!... well, for a few hours anyway.

I finally started to get over my knee problems that have plagued me since Uwharrie last February.
The solution was not biking, cortisone shots, or acupuncture.
Barefoot running was starting to work, but then, of course, I got impatient and hurt my foot. TMTS=TOFP

The solution was, once again, small steps.
I am not a very smart person, it seems, as I quickly forget even the hardest learned lessons.

I made my rediscovery a few weeks ago. Instead of trying to go fast, I tried to run with zero pain. This required taking tiny, ridiculously small steps. It was a 12 minute mile, but it worked. For the first time in a while, I actually felt better after a run instead of worse.

A day later I tried it again. A little faster, and felt better still. Eureka!

Sick
In a desperate attempt to train for the New York Marathon, I put in a 40 mile week.
Going from 10 miles a week to 40 is slightly more than the recommended 10%. My hamstrings were shredded, and on Monday I woke up with a sore throat. I rested all week, but by this morning it had progressed to a full fledged snot infested cold.

Still, I didn't want to miss the race today. So a handful of Tylenol, caffeine, and decongestant, and we are off!

Start

Batman was also there.
Instead of a cape, he wore a Godiva shirt.

Triple Lakes Trail Race has 3 events: a 40 mile ultra, a marathon and "fun" run for the kids. Shannon and I ran the fun run, which is a half marathon. This was our third time running it. Here is the race report from 2009.

The race started with an air horn. Ben Godfrey took off, and in about 12 seconds he was a mile down the greenway and out of sight.

This made it seem like the rest of us was plodding along, but then Shannon looked at her watch and said "I don't need to be doing a 6 min mile". I certainly didn't either, so I slowed down and followed 3 other guys onto the trail.

I Finish!
I felt pretty good with all the drugs, but 13 miles is a long way for me these days, so I tried to take it easy. Ended up passing one guy, and another stopped in a porta-potty. So I was then in 3rd place.

But by mile 6, the "easy" pace felt really hard. My nose was running like a faucet. It was step, step, sniffle, step, step, sniffle.

I had one bad coughing spell, and hacked up something disturbing.
I would like to blame my cold for my struggles, but really my body is just not used to running that far or fast. My hips and back were aching, and I was having trouble lifting my feet.

Simulation of what I coughed up at mile 7

Around mile 8, I kicked the end of a stick. The other end of the stick stuck into the ground, causing my foot to "pole vault" about 3 feet into the air, bending leg at an unnatural angle. Lucky nothing snapped.

I continued to slow, until I was just plodding along trying to get to the finish line. Going around the pond at the end I looked back and didn't see anyone, but then about 30 feet from the finish a kid comes up right behind me. I managed to out kick the little bastard to stay in 3rd. But 1:44 was the slowest of my 3 times at this race.

How could I stay home and miss this?

Shannon Wins! Ken Wins!
A few minutes later Shannon comes around the pond as the first woman. She is a trail running machine!

She took pictures all the while, of course. Click here for the photo album.

We waited around to see our friend Ken come in, but we didn't have to wait long. He won the marathon.
And he had just signed up on a whim at the last minute. Amazing.

Godiva wins Men's marathon and women's half marathon.
Suck it Bull City!

That Didn't Last Long
As I finish writing this, my legs are aching and I have an ice bag on my throbbing knee.
My time between injuries didn't last too long, I guess. I think I forgot to take the small steps today. Sigh.
Someday, I'll learn...

Questions for the Hites?

2011-10-15T15:58:00.002-04:00

Runners Joyce Hodges-Hite, 74 and Jim Hite, 77

We met the amazing running couple Joyce Hodges-Hite and Jim Hite at the Continental Divide 10K Trail Race last year.

The CDTR 10K is a race in which elite runners who run 5Ks in the 14 minute range walk up some of the hills.

To see a couple in their 70's there tackling that brutal course was astounding. Shannon and I can only hope to be that couple 35 years from now.

They will be in town on Monday, so we are going to interview them and find out what makes them tick. I'll post it here.

If you have any ideas for questions we could ask, please submit them below. It would be much appreciated!

Ales for Rails 5k

2011-10-12T18:26:00.000-04:00

Shannon ran the inaugural "North Carolina Rail-Trails Ales for Rails 5k" on Sunday. It was at Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, so I tagged along to for some of the "Rail-Trail Ale", which was delicious.

The bibs were made from old UHF antennas

Shannon took a bunch a pictures. The album is here.

2011 CDTR 10K Race Report

2011-09-04T23:55:00.000-04:00

Lots of fast guys up front. Who would win? None of them.

The incredible legs of Joyce Hodges-Hite.
Yes, that's her age.

Charity Race
The Continental Divide Trail 10K is held on a brutally technical course in Laurel Springs, NC. The name refers to the Eastern Continental Divide in case you're wondering. This tiny race attracts big talent because it serves as the USATF National 10K Trail Championship.

For those not familiar, USATF is a charity program where mediocre runners like myself donate $30 each to help disadvantaged runners who are burdened with unnatural speed. On the men's side, the needy runners at the race included trail prodigy David Roche, mountain goat Ryan Woods, La Sportiva Mountain Cup winner Jared Scott, and Olympic hopeful Bobby Mack.

But the most incredible athlete present was easily Joyce Hodges-Hite, returning for her third year in a row. She ran the same course that left elite athletes stumbling and gasping for air. She is 74 years old. The next time I complain about some knee pain, just say "Joyce Hodges-Hite" and I'll shut up.

New to the race this year was a truck doling out free post race smoothies. More on that later.

Race co-director Jason Bryant gets
upset with incompetent photographers

Race Day Jitters
The men's race came first, and as I lined up at the start, I was nervous.
Mostly about what I had to do after I was done running. Shannon had volunteered us to be the "official" race photographers, and I was on the hook for capturing the women's event.
I had practiced using Shannon's Canon 5D Mark II during the week, and had discovered that I had no idea what I was doing.
The camera is really complicated and gives you 1000 different options for producing dark and blurry pictures.

Race directors Jason and Alison Bryant had comped our race fee, so I did not want to disappoint.

First I had to get through the race without hurting myself too much, which would be a challenge. My runners knee rehab was still incomplete, and I had run a grand total of 60 miles in the previous 3 months. Most of it very slow and painful.

Competitive Plummeting
Fortunately for me, the race actually did not involve much running.
Here is the breakdown:

Running : 20%
Trudging/climbing up steep slopes: 40%
Plummeting out of control: 40%

The race began at the top of a grassy hill. At the word "go", I was swept up with the pack as we flew across the field and descended down a gravel path. I had not run a 6 minute mile in many months and my legs were not ready for it.

My right hamstring was screaming at me, "What the hell are you doing?". After a quarter mile, in an effort to protect itself, it curled up like a retracting tape measure. I tried to adjust my stride, but then my arthritic knees began to buckle. Suddenly it became impossible to control my descent down the path.

The grade became more and more severe and I was literary falling down the hill, unable to stop myself. I was passing guys right and left, trying not to crash into them. Later, I would receive complements about my impressive downhill running ability, and I failed to confess that it was completely involuntary.

My contribution to the team was my incredible skill of dropping like a rock.

Competitive Trudging

Shannon captures my good running form

Finally I hit the road at the bottom of the 300 foot drop and managed to remain on my feet. The course immediately does a U-turn and heads straight back up. This was a huge relief to my legs, as I shifted to a nice slow power hike. The guys in front of me were actually running up the slope, but strangely I was able to keep up with them.

By the top, I was warmed up and my legs felt better. Which was good, because next we hit the single track and some more semi-controlled falling down a 400 foot drop in a quarter mile.

On the next climb, I was hunched over with my hands on my knees for a good quarter mile. It seemed like it helped, and I thought about finishing the race like that.

Hitting the Wall
The race continued up and down a few more times, all the while I was expecting to completely tank. It didn't really know how far my legs would carry me, or how to pace myself, so I was just going all out. "You are going to regret this later", entered my head. But it felt so great to be racing again, I decided to just enjoy the moment.

In 2010, showing her my "O" face

I had been following teammate Craig Heinly for the last half of the race, just trying to keep up with him. As we made the final climb up "The Rock Wall", I think we were both delirious from exhaustion. Craig went right, and I stopped and stared at the orange flags on the left for few seconds, trying to comprehend what they meant.

"I think it's this way". I turned left and ended up ahead of him. Next I saw Shannon taking photos at the top of the rock wall and made a deliberate effort not make the maniacal primal scream face I did last year at the same spot.

Improbable Finish
I stumbled my way out of the trail and up to the finish. I stopped my watch, and the time was 51:43.
"What?" This was over a minute faster than last year, when I was running 200 miles a month instead of 20.

But, of course, you really don't need much training to drop down a hill out of control.

Smoothie
I saw someone with a smoothie and it looked wonderful. I was hot, hungry and thirsty.
"Where did you get that?"
"They are handing them out down there."
I started to head down to get one, when Shannon appeared. "Quick, take the camera! My race starts in 5 minutes". I helped her pin her bib on, and went over to capture women's start.

I was happy that my legs still functioned, as I was able to run to a few different spots to get shots. All the while still thinking of that smoothie. After 45 minutes I went headed back down to "The Rock Wall" to get the leaders coming up.

Nooooooooo!
I had managed to run the race without tripping, but here, with the camera, is where I fell. It was a slow motion crash, with my knees, then elbows, then face hitting the dirt. But when I came to a stop, the ludicrously expensive camera remained perched in my hand an inch off the ground.

I sat on the rocks for an hour and tried to get a shot of each of the women. Out of 800 pictures I ended up with 8 good ones, including the one above. [ see here for links to all the photos ]. Finally I had to leave without getting the last 3 women, because I was starving and lure of the smoothie was too great.

I headed down to the Sheets truck, and as I walked up, the woman inside waved her hand at me. "Sorry! That was the last one!" And slammed the window shut in my face.

I was too stunned and exhausted to complain, and instead collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"Do you want mine?", asked my teammate Barbara, who had received the last one. She graciously gave it to me. And thus my day was finally complete, and it had exceeded all expectations.

Godiva women's team took 2nd place Open and 1st place Master's.

Shannon
Shannon also had a very good day, taking an astounding 6:30 off her time from last year. Though she was a little disappointed that she had got passed at the very end, dropping her from 10th to 11th place.

As they handed out the medals for the women's race, they called up 10th place, then 9th, then 8th...
"Oh! If I just could have ran a little harder at the end, I could have been in the top 10!", she winced.

But then, in the middle of calling out the awards, Molly Nunn, the USATF representative, said "Wait, there seems to be some discrepancy." After a few minutes of consulting and reviewing the results, they made a change. It seems one of the top 10 was not registered USATF.

"In 10th place is Shannon Johnstone!"

That's right! Shannon placed in the top ten in a national trail race (*among those USATF registered). How cool is that?

Back at school she bragged to her students, who were not so easily impressed:
"Tenth?"

2011 CDTR 10K Photos - All

2011-09-02T23:33:00.004-04:00

All of the photos are up for the 2011 Continental Divide 10K Trail Championship.

Click here for all of the 600+ photos on Picasa.

We picked out our favorites in a "Best Of "Album here.

Here are the links to the Facebook albums:
Women's Race
Men's Race and Misc Part 1
Men's Race and Misc Part 2
Men's Race and Misc Part 3

You can email us at photo@running-down.com if you would like a high rez photo.

I'll try to do my race report this weekend.

2011 CDTR 10K Photos - Women's Race

2011-09-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before, Shannon and I photographed the the 2011 Continental Divide 10K Trail Championship.

I took pictures of the women's race while Shannon ran, and Shannon took pictures of the men's race and everything else.

Women's Race
I finished editing the photos that I took, and I am somewhat disappointed with the results. It turns out that it is not as simple as point and shoot, and I have a lot to learn about photography.

Here is a link to the album on Facebook

Feel free to tag away.

Here is a link to a Picasa Album

You can email me a photo@running-down.com if you would like a high rez photo.

Shannon is still editing the Men's race, and we have more from the pre-race and awards ceremony.
Sorry it's taking so long to get them done, we have a lot of stuff going on this week.

These are the best of the set.

The New Cure is...

2011-09-01T17:54:00.000-04:00

Let me trot out this graph for the last time (I promise):

Before 2007, the more I ran, the more my knees hurt. After that, it doesn't make sense. Why did my knees get better even though I was running more?

Looking at my log, I see I was riding my mountain bike quite a bit back then. Let's add in the bike miles:

Hmmm. Seems to be a correlation between the bike miles and the knee health. It may not look like a lot of bike mileage, but those are not namby-pamby-"spinning"-at-110-rpm road miles. Those are hunched-over-the-handle-bars-pedal-mashing Turkey Creek miles.

The Bike
I started riding my mountain bike in 2006 because I couldn't run.
After a year, my knees got better and I could run again. I kept riding, all the while running more miles and getting faster. Then in the fall of 2011, I became obsessed with a sub-3 marathon. I mostly quit the bike and started running 6 days a week.

Cross Training
I have always been skeptical about the value of "cross-training". I always thought that the best training for running was running, and your legs will become as strong as they need to be. I only rode the bike to have something to do when I was taking a day off from running.

I put PowerCranks on the bike hoping they would make me a faster runner. It never occurred to me that the bike might be strengthening my legs and keeping me healthy. But maybe that was the case.

Shriveled Pepper
Last December I started getting injuries and taking a lot of days off. I still pushed hard in the races, which led to more injuries and more days off. I think my legs just got weaker and weaker.
Months of limping around and favoring my left leg actually caused my right quad to atrophy and shrivel up like a green pepper at Food Lion.

An Experiment
So back in July, I decided my new magic cure for Runners Knee was the bike!
My plan was to focus on strength instead of high turnover, so that meant a lot of high gear pedal mashing.

To make pedaling motion more like a running stride, I did the following things:

Moved my seat as far forward as it would go, for a more upright position
Put the seat up high so that my legs extended completely
Slid the cleats all the way forward to allow my calf to flex
Adjusted the cranks from 172.5mm to 180mm

The result was a full leg extension, the same motion as the quad strengthening exercises that are recommended for runners knee.
But instead of 3 sets of 10, I could do thousands of reps as I commuted back and forth to work.
In July I managed to put in over 400 miles and only crashed the bike once.

Baby Steps
Slowly, I started feeling better. It might have been the biking, or just the time off from running. I was able to start running again, just a mile or two at a time. I ran barefoot, because the knee felt better that way. Coming into August, I struggled up to 12 miles a week.

Please, Not Another Race
Too many hard races had led to my crappy knee condition, so I vowed not to sign up for any more races until I felt healthy again.

However, Shannon and I had volunteered to photograph the Continental Divide 10K Trail Championship in Laurel Springs, NC on August 27.
For this, the organizers gave us free entry to the race, and I received an email that I was signed up.
6.2 miles of lung searing climbs and knee crushing descents? That seemed like the absolute worst idea for my recovery.

But I supposed I could walk it if I had to...

The Test
Nine days before the race, it was a nice cool morning. I decided to put the on the old shoes and head out to the trail for a 7 mile run. Just to see if I was capable of going that far. It was the longest since my Bayshore Bonk back in May.

The right knee still bothered me quite a bit, and the downhills hurt like hell, but not enough to stop me.
The thing that amazed me was how easy the uphills felt.

Considering I had only run 50 miles the last 3 months, it was quite a good run. Maybe the 900 miles I had put on the bike this summer had helped me even more than I had hoped.

I was suddenly looking forward to Laurel Springs...

NEXT: Continental Divide 10K Trail Championship

They tried to make me go to rehab...

2011-08-31T10:01:00.000-04:00

I said, "No, no, no".

And by rehab, I mean physical therapy for my knees.
If they want me to go to drug rehab, I'll go, but only if it's somewhere nice.

Physical Therapy
I had been to physical therapy before for my Runners Knee in 2006. Here is how it went:

Therapist: Lay on this table and do 3 sets of 10 leg lifts.
Me: Ok, done. Now what.
Therapist: Uh, do some more leg lifts. Then come back for 3 days a week for the next 8 weeks.
Me: For more leg lifts?
Therapist: Uh, well... yeah.

Me: So I come here 3 days a week and pay you $300 an hour to tell me to do leg lifts?
Therapist: Yes.
Me: Why don't I just stay home and do leg lifts for free?
Therapist: Because I am a professional.

Go back to start... Do not pass go... Lose $2000
So after lots of doctors visits I was back to where I started from.
All the way back to 2006, in fact. A case of runners knee and no answers.

"Small Steps" wasn't working.
Hell, even "NO STEPS" wasn't working.

Hmmm. Why did it come back? A better question, why did it go away for a few years?

Fortunately I have kept a detailed running log since 2007 that could answer those questions.

Some people think running logs are useless data.

But back in July, I looked at my log and found something very interesting...

To be continued.

Runner's Knee - part 4 , The Knees Strike Back

2011-08-30T23:11:00.001-04:00

My continuing saga with "Runner's Knee"...

In Part #1, I declared myself cured from 20+ years of "Runner's Knee".
In Part #2, I enumerated the my long and painfully stupid search for the cure.
In Part #3, I announced that the cure was "small steps".

Now, in Part #4, I retract all that. I was wrong, I am not cured.

A case of 3rd degree runners knee.
In this stage, the knees begin to bleed.

This year the old Runners Knee came back with a vengeance, but I was in denial.
How could I have it again? I was cured! I had it all figured out with the "small steps"!

It had to be something else.

So back in May I went to the same doctor I went to in 2006, the previous time I had quit running because of knee pain. He gave me the same diagnoses as he did back then: Chondromalacia

He said physical therapy would not help me. Instead his recommended treatments were...

Bullshit, in a pill form

Glucosamine Chondroitin
Here is the conversation I had with the doctor. For the sake of brevity, I am paraphrasing.

Doctor: "I highly recommend you take Glucosamine Chondroitin, it helps people with your condition."
Me: "But from what I have read, all the legitimate studies have concluded it is no better than placebo."
Doctor: "True, but we have the really good stuff that requires a prescription. It must work better because it is way more expensive than the over-the-counter kind. And we sell it here!"

More expensive Bullshit, injected directly into the knee

Hyaluronan Shots

Doctor: "I highly recommend you also get Hyaluronan Shots, it helps people with your condition."
Me: "But from what I have read, all the legitimate studies have concluded those shots are also no better than placebo."
Doctor: "But we sell the Othovisc brand, which does work, because the drug company says it does. Plus we give it to professional hockey players and they say it works for them.

Knee torture

Arthroscopic Surgery
Doctor: "If those drugs don't work, then we can do surgery to smooth out the cartilage under your knee cap."

Cortisone Injections
I had not run at all for 3 weeks, yet my knees were still killing me. They did not seem to be getting any better, it still even hurt to walk. Since I am not a fan of placebo treatments, I opted for a drug that actual does something: Cortisone.

Unfortunately it did absolutely nothing for me. A few days after the shots, I tried to run the result was the same. I hobbled home after a half mile.

There just had to be something seriously wrong. So I sought out another doctor.

Getting fitted for skinny jeans

Doctor #2
Again I am paraphrasing, but this is what Doctor #2 told me:

You have Chondromalacia, which is a fancy name for arthritis. There is really nothing you can do for it.
If it hurts to run, then don't run.
Glucosamine Chondroitin is bullshit
Hyaluronan Shots are even more expensive bullshit
"Cartilage smoothing" is an absolute last resort, and the success rate is near zero
Your right quad is like half the size of your left, what the hell did you do to it?
I am prescribing physical therapy, which we sell right here in the building

To be continued...

Blog Blitz!

2011-08-30T16:51:00.004-04:00

Shannon and I have returned from our mountain vacation where we both photographed and ran the Continental Divide 10K Trail Race.

So in the next few days, we will be posting the following things:

Photographs from the CDTR 10K
Race report
What we did on on our summer vacation.
Some more observations on runners knee

We have over 1000 photos that we must sift through, whittle down to 200 or so, and then edit.

This will take a few days, but we should have them posted to picasa and facebook by this weekend.

Unfortunately our photos will be superfluous, as Heiko Rath has already posted his complete set here.

Stay tuned...

Woohoo! Barefoot!

2011-08-14T22:02:00.002-04:00

My knee has gotten a little better, so I have tentatively started running again.

Today I ran "The Dogmile" with Shannon and 3 of our dogs. I went barefoot because, strangely enough, my knee hurts less without shoes on.

Running barefoot, however, can have it's own problems.

I was feeling surprisingly good, just an easy jog, not really noticing the knee at all. We got a half a mile down the greenway, where we usually turn around and head home.
I glanced back and asked Shannon, "Wan't to go a little further?"

Our 85 pound dog Dudley, who was in front of me, apparently didn't understand the question.
He spun around to head home, and we collided head on. It was like hitting a concrete barricade.
First, my fragile foot crumpled into his rock solid leg. Then I was thrown over the top of him, crashing a 7 point landing onto the blacktop.

"Ow." I didn't feel the scrapes on my knees and elbows at all, because one of my toes had been crushed like a grape and the white searing pain blocked out all other sensation.
"OK, maybe we won't go any further."
After sitting on the pavement for a few minutes examining the toe, I guessed that it wasn't broken. "Let's head home"

I was able to gingerly run on it, and on the way back we saw another couple walking by. The guy called out after we had passed, "Woohoo! Barefoot!"

When we got to the end of the greenway, I saw a lot of kids in the street, so I decided to stop and put little Jorge back on the leash.
In a remarkably familiar accident, Shannon, who was running behind me, had turned to look back at Jorge and didn't see me stop.

She crashed into me, stepping hard on that same injured toe. "Oh, no..."
I looked down to see it swelling up into a shape and color of a plum.

Woohoo.

The Zen of Barefooting can hurt like hell.

2011 Uwharrie Rumble

2011-08-14T18:13:00.001-04:00

Shannon ran the Uwharrie Rumble Half Marathon today, and took some pictures.

Click here for the photo album

I did not run it due to a defective knee, though I really wish I could have.

Shannon found the race difficult as she wilted in the oppressive humidity and steep hills. She still managed to take 1st in her age group and 4th female in a voluptuous time of 2:12.

The 8K starting out

Congrats to all the runners who scored pint glasses.
Pint glasses are the best awards a race can hand out. You can't drink beer out of a medal or a trophy.