Paul Both

Finally.... A SUB 4 MARATHON!!!!

2012-02-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Boy am I happy to finally be able to write this post. I finished the Surf City Marathon in 3:56:16!!

I went into the race hoping to finish in under 4 hours, but told myself that I would be happy just to PR. Well, I did both and PR'd by over 10 minutes. I couldn't have been happier.

The wonderful weekend started off on Friday, when my race buddy (and daughter) Brittany and I went to the expo. We love Expos and spent over 3 hours going to every booth, checking out the merchandise and trying all the samples. Unfortunately, our favorite vendor, Dirty Red Gear, wasn't there so I wasn't able to buy Brittany anything from her, but we did see some other cool stuff like this.

Which is something I say, but wouldn't wear. And, this

Which is something we both say, in fact it was printed on Brittany's bib for the race. She didn't end up getting any clothes but we did get new race belts from Hippie Runner and they worked great. They were lightweight and didn't bounce during the race. Yeah, we really do love the expos!

Leaving the expo, we had someone take a picture of us at the entrance and as we were going back to my truck, I looked into my window and caught this.

The inside of my truck was dark but the reflection in the side view mirror was glowing. It was phenomenal! Even better than what I captured, as when I finally got the door open and lined up the shot, the sun had set a little more and it was glowing a little less intense than it was a minute earlier. Nevertheless, it was a magical moment and a precursor of the weekend to come.

My start time for the full was at 6:30 and Brittany's was 8:10 for the half. With almost a full 2 hours between our start times, I wasn't sure if Brittany wanted to go that early with me, but she said that she wouldn't want to sleep in on race morning anyway, so my Dad was kind enough to drive us both down to the race to avoid parking issues and we got to enjoy a perfect morning together.

We got there so early, it was dark and there was hardly anyone there yet.

A few minutes before the start.

I was very nervous for the race. I trained right on my paces and managed to stay injury free, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve my goal. In the past, I know now, that I had trained too slow. I had had injuries and started doing low heart rate training. Well, too much of that makes you... slow! So, I really stuck to my prescribed paces for a 4 hour marathon and this time would have no excuses.

I also decided that instead of going out at a 9:09 pace and trying to maintain that throughout the race (putting a lot of pressure on myself in those last 5 or 6 miles to not slow down) I would do what I know is not recommended and go out a little faster and bank a little time. I was pretty confident I could do this since I did my last 22 mile run at 9:11 pace and that was a training run and felt fine at the end.

Here are my splits with heart rate.

Mile 1 8:41 167
Mile 2 8:25 179
Mile 3 8:25 179
Mile 4 8:38 181
Mile 5 8:19 179
Mile 6 8:25 180
Mile 7 8:16 183
Mile 8 8:21 182
Mile 9 8:35 180
Mile 10 8:10 178
Mile 11 8:27 177
Mile 12 8:33 177
Mile 13 8:23 178
Mile 14 8:17 180
Mile 15 8:33 181
Mile 16 8:30 180
Mile 17 9:03 178
Mile 18 9:30 175
Mile 19 9:25 174
Mile 20 9:56 173
Mile 21 9:49 174
Mile 22 9:23 175
Mile 23 10:10 173
Mile 24 10:33 173
Mile 25 10:31 174
Mile 26 10:13 175
Finish 9:27 179

My overall average heart rate was 177, compared to previous marathons, this was 2-3 bpm lower, so I definitely don't feel like I went out too fast. I slowed at the end mainly due to fatigue in my legs, not overall fatigue and when I finished, I felt great everywhere except my legs. I felt much better than I had in any prior marathon. I had figured that if I could get to mile 20 by about 2:50 minutes, I would have an hour and ten minutes to do the final 6.2 miles. I got to the 20 mile mark at 2:53 and felt comfortable with that. I kept doing math in my head and knew what pace I had to maintain to come in under 4 hours. My legs were feeling heavy and I walked the water stations the last few miles and did a gel and some shot bloks that were provided by the race. By 3:30 I only had 2 1/2 miles left and was pretty sure I was going to make it. I did get a slight cramp in my left calf that luckily didn't turn into a full cramp, then about 5 minutes later, got one in my right calf. I thought, that might be the only thing that might actually stop me from my goal. Luckily it didn't.

Running all of those "marathons" across the country really helped me mentally in the race. It has erased the stigma of 26.2 miles in my head. Yes, there are all the physical things that happen when running 26.2 at this faster pace, but I have run more miles so many times that I could tell myself that it was "no big deal". It worked enough to keep me going and not slow too badly. I only had one pace group pass me and that was the 3:55 pace group. I have had pace groups pass me in past races and it is so demoralizing. Watching your dream go past you literally sucks! But with a 1/2 mile left to go at 3 hours and 50 minutes, I was sure the 4:00 pace group wouldn't pass me this time. It was the best half mile of my life. I enjoyed knowing that I was finally going to break 4 hours and let myself smile and enjoy the crowd. I opted to not listen to any music this race as well. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it, but I sure did not miss it. I felt more present and was able to be in my head more, mostly in a good way.

My Father came out and cheered us on at the finish. Brittany finished the half in 2:28:33 and her goal was 2:30. Mission accomplished for her as well! We met up with my Dad and went to the beer garden and met some friends, then, met a coworker of Brittany's who organizes the cycling volunteers and had a great conversation with them over some Stone IPA. Wow! what an epic day!

Now that I have finally ran a sub 4 marathon, I need to come up with another goal. I would need to shave 26 minutes off of that time to qualify for Boston. Somehow, that seems a little less out of reach now!

Paul

Good training

2011-12-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

My training for the Surf City marathon has been going fantastic! It feels so good to have all of my runs in my calendar and have a specific goal that I am working towards. It makes me a little disappointed in myself that I sputtered along for so many months. But, I am back at it now and I must say, I have never felt this prepared for a race since I started racing. My paces are all on track for my goal time. Looking back through my stats leading up to all of my other races, I am consistently close to a minute per mile faster. That's a good thing. When I first started running, I was plagued (like most people) with some injuries that threatened to sideline me for awhile. That really bummed me out and I discovered low heart rate training. Which basically gets you to slow down a bit, which in turn, tends to mitigate future injury.

I believe in low heart rate training, but like anything, TOO MUCH of a good thing is bad. You HAVE to mix in speed work or else you become, well... slow! It worked out ok for me because I needed that huge aerobic base for my cross country run, but, it wasn't that great for races. Now, I am mixing in speed work, tempo runs, hill training, Lasso 800's etc. and everything is working beautifully. I did my last 20 miler at a 10:01 avg. which is much better than my previous long runs leading up to my marathons. My tempo runs have been very comfortable at around 8:30's and it was effortless to do a sub 9 the last mile of my 12 on Sunday. All very good signs to shoot for a sub 4:00 marathon. Boy wouldn't that be great? But, I will be happy with a PR of 4:07 or less.

Now, all this running has got me thinking about another adventure. Of course running across Europe holds a great appeal for me. But, realistically, that may be a few years off due to logistics. So, maybe something a little more close to home. Possibly the southbound route from Canada to Mexico, or maybe Maine to Key West. An east coast run sounds like so much fun! I have become so fascinated with history that my own little tour of the 13 colonies would be amazing. We'll see, but it is very much on my mind and when I do a big run this time, it will be coming from a happy place. Not running away from anything, but towards something. Meeting great people and seeing beautiful places. That sounds like something to look forward to!

Goals are good!

2011-12-08T20:43:00.001-08:00

Yes, goals are good! It's funny, I kind of forgot this for the last year or so. It was hard to get excited for a race, but once I committed to doing the Surf City Marathon, everything just sort of fell into place. My training has been going very well. I have a goal time in mind and my paces have been right on target for my projected time. It has been nice to be training at higher paces as opposed to the slower paces that I was training at in preparation for my run across America and the couple +50 milers I did earlier this year. I have a 5k this Saturday that I am running with Brittany and I am very excited to be able to do races with her, now that she is a California girl again :)

I would love, of course, to PR the 5k. I'm not sure if I can do better than a 23:13, but I'm gonna try and it's gonna hurt. I get the most nervous for 5k's because there is no time to settle in. It's uncomfortable the whole way at close to my max heart rate. I prefer half marathons, but there's nothing like a 5k to see where you are really at.

I have retired the Vibrams for the time being and have been running in these.

The New Balance Minimalis shoes. After running so many miles in the Vibrams, I needed to find a very light shoe and these are working great. There's no doubt the Vibrams helped my form tremendously and switching to these shoes has made running a faster pace seem almost easy. And now, I can step on rocks and I don't feel it. That's a good thing!

So, I have taken my own advice, registered for races and have very specific training runs in my calendar. All is right with the world.

Paul

Surf City Marathon

2011-11-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had such a bad headache that once it was gone, you felt better than If you had never had it? That describes, pretty well, how I feel right now.

Chris and I finished the run one year ago on Wednesday. It's been an interesting, and quite honestly, a tough year. Ive struggled with setting a new goal, which for me and most people reading this, I'm sure, is a must to keep my sanity. My only real goal for the last year has been to see how much of the beer, that I've been brewing, I can drink every night. Of course, I'm pretty good at hunkering down and achieving the goals that I set for myself..... this probably hasn't been the best thing to spend my time on.

Depression!

Since I have been back from the run, I have become FASCINATED with history, particularly American history. Seeing so many amazing places across this country, especially east of the Mississippi, has given me a voracious appetite to learn as much as I can about our past as a nation. In my studies, I have been especially interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition. For obvious reasons, I am intrigued by their story of crossing this country. It's easy to draw a parallel between theirs and our journey, although, I will concede that even though the "Galt" and the baby jogger and Chris's bike and trailer were harsh conditions, they didn't compare to what Lewis and Clark encountered on their journey west. But what is no doubt the same no matter when and how you embark on such a long trip, is how you are forced to look inward and confront yourself, sometimes what you see is good, sometimes it's not so good. Also, the things that everyone gets accustomed to, the daily routine where your own little world, with it's trivial details, becomes drastically stripped away and suddenly, it's hard not to see the bigger picture. The TV doesn't matter, who's ON the TV, REALLY doesn't matter. How many toys you have or how nice your clothes are, just doesn't seem important. It's hard to step back into "regular life" where those priorities are crammed down everyone's throat 24/7. It's easy to feel like an alien at times.
I've told the story of all the people that tried to hand me money when I was pushing the baby jogger. They thought I was homeless. It makes me think sometimes. "Homeless"?? It has such an automatic negative connotation to it. I'm not talking about freezing, starving people here, with children, looking for shelter. But I would venture to guess that there a a good number of people who CHOOSE to be "homeless". They are "dropping out" if you will, from the rat race that has been created as a result of the industrial revolution. I've seen a documentary on this and there were several people who said it. They don't want to play the game. And I understand. The rat race is a hard thing to go back to and it's hard not to ask "why?" Even though it was way back in 1809, I wonder if these weren't some of the feelings Lewis and Clark had? Sadly, Meriwether Lewis shot himself. Luckily, I haven't been that depressed.

Selfish

I've talked about it before, I believe that the thing that I needed to discover about myself, and I DID, in a REALLY BIG WAY! Was how selfish I've been my entire life.
One of the hardest things for me, has always been to find balance. In this case, it has been about being strong, being true to yourself, not letting people get in your way, being goal oriented and accomplishing anything at all costs!! But, in doing so, I realized out on the run, that I have hurt many people over the years, not caring how they've felt, only caring about myself. It wasn't malicious, it's that my priorities were wrong. I thought that the ends justified the means and that if I could achieve everything that I wanted, I could provide everything to the people that I loved. There's that saying "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions".

It's easy to only think of yourself. More so now, with the "Me Generation" and our reality shows, facebook feeds and twitter feeds all about US. Even my blog, is mostly about me. We have slogans "If it feels good do it!" Or my new favorite "Follow your heart". Which the more I think about it, is just an excuse for people to do whatever they want, often ignoring any commitment they have made. Like they need to do whatever it is that they are being lead to do by some inner voice. I've always listened to that voice inside me, but I've also argued with it when I need to. When we have people like Kim Kardashian (who I have no kind words for) saying that she "followed her heart" and filed for divorce 72 days after getting married. Clearly, not everyone should be listening to their heart.

Of course, listening to your heart can be a really good thing. Again, it's all about balance. As it's never good to hurt someone else. It's also not good to hurt yourself. In my pursuit of being "selfless" I managed to lose myself. It's been nobody's fault but my own. I stopped thinking about me and what I wanted. I stopped communicating with friends. I stopped dreaming about the future. I stopped living, basically. I was waiting.... waiting for something that I had no control over. I've always told my daughters that the best way you can be good for someone, is to be the best person you could be. Here I was, not taking my own advice. Finding that balance is hard. For me, it is being strong, motivated, goal oriented and driven, without hurting anyone in the process.

So, why am I laying this all out in my blog? Because I know we all deal with this in some form or another. If you do endurance sports, you've no doubt wondered if all of your training is taking too much time away from your family. Or if the hobbies you do are worth the time you devote to them, etc. My conclusion is to exercise "rational self interest". I think of it this way, if a plane is going down, and you have a baby next to you, it's better to take the first breath from the oxygen mask, so you can keep giving oxygen to the baby. That's not being selfish, that's balance!

So, I've finally started thinking about me again and registered for my first big race since being back. I'm doing the Surf City Marathon on February 5th. Pretty cool since this was my first Marathon back in 2007. It feels great to be training for a race and have a training schedule in my calendar! It also feels good to be me again, this time, hopefully keeping all of my priorities in order.

What's next?

2011-07-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

What do you do after you've done something you never thought you could do? That is the question I have been asking myself for the past 8 months. For me, that thing was running across the country. It was such an epic journey for me that most things pale in comparison now. It has been hard to get excited about training for any races. Of course, after running such long slow distances, training to get faster at any distance is a formidable enough challenge. I could train specifically for any distance and focus on time. That would be good, but so far I just haven't been able to commit to a race. I did do a 56 miler around a park near me in March and trained to do 100 miles around the same park in April. The park is 4 miles around and it served as a good place to do it for logistical reasons. I had my own little aid station in my truck and 4 miles is a perfect interval. The problem was, BOREDOM! My 100 mile attempt ended in disappointment when I stopped at 14 loops, doing 56 miles once again. Physically, I could have gone on, but the motivation wasn't there. I guess you can't underestimate the threat of an official DNF or just the existence of a good old fashioned finish line. Perhaps even the lack of support from spectators or actual aid stations played a part. I would definitely like to do a 100 miler in the near future, but it will definitely be an organized race! Speaking of long distance races or "Extreme Marathons" if you'd like to call them, I took part in episode of Runner's Roundtable in April. That was fun and there were some interesting stories told of some really cool adventures.

As far as training goes, I have been averaging about 25 miles a week, which is on the low side for me, along with about 2-3 hours of cycling a week. I have started weight training which feels great! Running all of those miles before, left little time for lifting and now the body feels much stronger than I did with my emaciated upper body from my run. Oh, I miss triathlon training! Perhaps another Ironman.....

On the run, we toured several craft breweries and since then, my love for great American made beer has turned into a love for brewing. I brewed my first extract beer in January and just recently started brewing from "all grain". As with any hobby, there are many things to learn and many more things to buy! There is a real science to brewing beer and it is fascinating, all the many aspects of it. And of course very gratifying when you end up with a great finished product. In this case, a closet full of my favorite types of beer! It's a good thing I run so much :)

I've been working on writing my book about the run. I have about 18,000 words, which is 8 chapters in my case. Talk about tough! My original reasons for the run slowly transformed to a spiritual journey in which I confronted many things about myself and my life. There was a lot of time to think during those 120 days of running and what I learned about myself has motivated me to share in my book, what I believe were the reasons that I needed to do the run in the first place and what I learned about myself in the process. Like the memories that came flooding back while running through the desert in winter or through the Great Allegeheny Passage in fall, writing things down about your past can be an emotional experience. It is very cathartic, however and I hope that it is inspiring. AND, I hope that it doesn't suck!

So, the goal now, is to come up with a goal! One that will excite, inspire passion and preferably scare the crap out of me. I don't think there is such a thing as being "fearless". It's doing things in spite of your fear. And that is where I am most comfortable and feel most alive. I'm looking forward to it!!

Cadence

2011-01-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

I just read an article at "The Runner's Roundtable" about the average cadence of 6 Kenyan runners who ran at UTEP. Here are some numbers.

Pace per mile Avg. Cadence

7:40 175

6:43 181

5:58 185

5:22 191

4:58 196

I went back and found my second fastest 5k (my pr race didn't have cadence data) and found these interesting numbers. I ran 3.14 miles in 23.26, which is a 7:27 minute mile. My average cadence was 190! The Kenyans are a whole 2 minutes per mile faster at the same cadence.

My average heart rate for that race was 194. My max heart rate is around 210 and I believe my threshold is around 170. So, I was working hard.

Longer distance as a comparison? My fastest marathon 4:07:44 (9:22 pace) average HR 180, my cadence was 182. Fastest half marathon 1:48:20 (8:16) average HR 190, cadence 182!

What does that tell me? I don't think my fitness level is why I am not fast. I think it is my mechanics. I either fix that or I might as well get used to and be happy, being a slower long distance runner.

How much can you change your natural gait?

Liberty!

2010-11-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

I am VERY happy to report that a goal that felt seemingly impossible and started with a tweet "I think I am going to run across the country" in June of 2009, became a reality on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd 2010. Yes, election day :) We certainly didn't plan it that way, but as with everything on this run (aside from the broken feet and 5 month break) things seemed to go the right way.

Before I get into anything (and I have a lot to write) I want to thank everyone for their encouragement, love and support! I can't begin to express how much it meant to me to know that there were people who cared about what we were doing. There are so many people to thank and I want to list them all but I am terrified of missing someone, which would make me feel terrible, so I will hope that you'll all know that every message, tweet, gesture, phone call, meal, place to stay, or donation (even though 9 times out of 10 we were successful in politely declining them, some people are terribly persistent :) were appreciated beyond words and if there was ever a time while we were out there that I didn't respond appropriately, please forgive me, I was probably really tired :) We never expected anything from anyone on this run, so people's generosity, love and support was humbling and inspiring and has changed me in profound ways.

THANK YOU!

Now for some stats.

Our journey from CA to NY ended up being 2,904 miles. We started at the HB pier in Huntington Beach and ended in Battery Park, NY at the ferry station. I didn't run around the ferry like I said I would. I figured I had earned a ferry ride and quite frankly, I would have looked stupid :) Besides, we could have taken a ferry from NJ and ended up with less miles, so I figured running the 13 miles through Manhattan more than made up for me getting to put my feet up the last 2 miles. AND I get to put "NY" on my leg.

Total running time 714 hours, 11 minutes.

Average pace was 14:41 minutes per mile (I was hoping for under 15!) with an average heart rate of 136.

Of the 2,904 miles, 2,336 were completed on the first part and 567 on the 2nd part.

We completed the run in 146 days (on the road) of which 125 days were running days for an average of 23.23 miles per running day.

Comparing the first part of the run to the 2nd:

I averaged 23.12 miles a running day the first 2,336

and 23.64 miles the last 567 miles (not bad considering, pushing the 100 pound baby jogger over the hills of Pennsylvania:)

According to my Garmin, I burned 532,509 calories. That's ALOT of beer!

Speaking of my Garmin, I tracked EVERY step with my Garmin Forerunner and when I post a picture like the one below, it feels great to know that the line represents GPS data that was gathered from the watch on my wrist. I could be very anal at times as I wanted to be able to zoom in on that line and see where my feet touched the ground all the way across the country. I am so happy to say that I was able to do that (except on the ferry:) and if anyone is interested, email me and I can send you the .GPX file. It's pretty cool to do a tour in Google Earth :)

So now that it is complete, what did it all mean? Or, as a friend of mine asked, "Why do you do this to yourself?" Good question and thank you for asking. I know that you specifically are asking why I abuse my body as you were commenting on a picture of my "Cankle".

But, it gives me a really good opportunity to talk about "why" I decided to do this in the first place. And through that, I hope to answer why I do this to myself.

I was asked many times on the run, why I was running across the country. It was always a hard question to answer and I always struggled with it. Even on the website I dance around the issue. I know that we could have done a much better job of conveying a more focused "mission statement" or "call to action" but somehow and for some reason, we could never package it in such a way. My hope was that somehow people would understand, by the things that I did say, why I was doing this. I know there were a lot of people who understood, but there were many people who weren't following the whole run and may not know why. I hope this will explain it. Now that I am done, perhaps this is the first time I feel the freedom to be completely honest. So, hopefully it's not too much of a drag to talk about. If it is, skip down a couple of paragraphs, it will get a lot more positive. And please understand, as I tell this, that I in no way think my problem is unique. I know that many people are struggling right now, many are much worse off than me, with this economy, and many are out of jobs or in a mortgage that is under water. Which makes it even more important that I tell it. So here goes.

Debt is not an easy thing to talk about. There is a stigma, or at least there used to be, to having a large debt and the stress of owing someone can be very difficult. That is why, with the exception of a few credit cards when I was young, I stayed out of consumer debt. I paid cash for everything and lived within my means. I've always had an independent spirit and always preferred freedom over security. This usually meant that I would prefer being freelance or "self employed" to working for someone. About 10 years ago, I took a big risk and went into debt to finance gear for a recording studio. I struggled for a couple of years but then through perseverance, spending most of my time honing my craft and lots of faith, I started getting some clients. I set up my studio at a Post facility, they had a good amount of work and my risk started to pay off. I paid my taxes but, due to bills, child support, etc. I wasn't making estimates. So, I would be behind and have make an installment agreement. I never missed a payment. But, still, I owed. It was small the first couple of years and it was manageable. But I had a couple of good years, right about the time that I paid off my gear. NO WRITE OFFS!!!! Uh oh! I still lived within my means, but was able to do a few extra things like rent an apartment and pay for my daughter to be in her dorm. Still, nothing extravagant, and no consumer debt. The first year it happened, it put me over the limit of a simple installment agreement and then the second year it became completely overwhelming and unmanageable. Of course, with a tax debt, you are paying interest and penalties and it can spiral out of control very quickly. Mine has "spiraled" to the tune of about $63,000.

Again, I do not say this to elicit a "Poor me" response. I am far from alone. I am just so analytical and anal that I spent so much time analyzing what went wrong and more importantly what is wrong with our system that it drove me to drastic measures. Why didn't I just "shut up" and pay what I "owe". Well, therein lies the crux of the matter. The income tax is based on what a person produces, not on what he consumes. If a person not only gets taxed more because he produces more, but gets taxed at a higher percentage, how could that NOT be a disincentive to produce? I realize that is a pretty broad argument and may fall apart to some degree when you are talking about people who make millions or perhaps billions of dollars. But, when you are comparing people who make $30,000 compared to $80,000 a year and punish the people who make more with a higher tax rate, to me that is the redistribution of wealth. Plain and simple.

Secondly, As anyone who is self employed knows, there is a "Self employment tax" which is the money you pay into Social Security, which is supposed to be for your own retirement. When you are self employed, you pay twice the amount that a person who is employed pays. To add insult to injury, if you owe back taxes, you now must pay interest on your "retirement fund". It is a wonder why anyone still has the stomach to be an entrepreneur in this country. And perhaps that is why so many can't make it. It begins to look awfully appealing to just get a job and be "safe" rather than take any sort of risk. I actually believe that that is what we are seeing in this country. People throwing up their hands and asking why? I believe this is a huge part of our problem. I have thought on occasion that I would be better off getting a low paying service industry job, then to try and pay off what I "owe". Can anyone see the problem with this? It is an unintended consequence of our system.

It's also worth mentioning the problem with "withholding". Most people work for an employer and have their taxes "withheld" from their checks every week. They never see their gross pay so they don't realize that the market will pay whatever they get paid before taxes. They never see that other money, so they never miss it. I have said it for a long time and am now hearing other people say it. If everyone got paid their gross pay and then were required to write a check for their taxes every paycheck, our income tax system would last about 1 week and there would be MANY more people in my situation. Perhaps that is why self employment is discouraged.

The taxes I am talking about is the Federal Income Tax. I want to make it clear that I understand that as a society, we have to pay for things. I want to pay my "fair share" and my belief is that my "fair share" should not be based on what I make. It should be based on what I consume or services that I use. If I go into a store, I am charged for what is in my basket. Can you imagine if your bill were not based on that, but based on your income? That is the income tax.

Our system is broken. Most of us know it. Our country is bankrupt. Even from the time that we started planning this run until now, things have gotten much worse. We are grasping at straws. There is moral hazard everywhere. Our debt has become so large, it almost doesn't mean anything anymore. It is frightening.

There are so many more political points I would like to make but this post would never end. Instead, I will answer the question that I was asked so many times. "Why are you running across the country?"

I originally ran because I was angry at my tax debt for all of the reasons above. I wanted to illustrate a point. If you punish the people who are willing to sacrifice everything, then, as Margaret Thatcher said "You eventually run out of other peoples money". No one will feel the incentive to produce. Everyone will take the "safe job".

That is the reason that I started the run. But as I made my way across the country, many things changed for me. I became less angry (and believe me, I was angry). I looked inside of myself and saw things I liked and things I didn't like. I talked about some of that in my last post. But mostly, I came to realize what really mattered in life. And that I can be angry at our politicians and let it poison me or I can try and change it. If our Government is truly of and by the people, then it is US that need to change.

I saw a beautiful country full of people that have become way too comfortable. We want everything easy. We want to watch other people live their lives on TV rather than go out and live our own. We need to start pushing our lawnmowers instead of sitting on them. We need to start producing more and consuming less. We need to stop looking to the Government to solve all of our problems. We need to take responsibility for ourselves. We all need to strive for something exceptional. We all need to dig down and remember when we had a dream and we need to do something to make it happen. There is nothing special about me. I have only been running for 5 years. I am an average runner at best. Too many people say "I couldn't do that". I am proof that you can do anything that you set your mind to. We need to regain the American spirit that once drove us to be pioneers and hope that we will be rewarded for it.

When I decided to stop in May, it was the most devastating decision I have ever had to make. I don't regret it because I learned more about myself during those 5 months than if I had tried to keep going. Going back out and finishing the run was always the plan but when it came time to do it, I was deathly afraid! I have to thank Chris and my parents from the bottom of my heart because if it hadn't been for them, I am not sure I would have gone back out there. This was the defining moment. And the point is, fear is normal. It is what you do with that fear and whether or not you let it rule you, that determines what you become.

So, what is next for me? Well, I have a bit of a tax debt that I will be working to pay off. Luckily I love what I do, so I will continue to work in sound. I want to start working on some music again and perhaps go out on some auditions for some acting gigs. Also, along the run, I developed a great love for photography. Being on foot gives you a unique perspective and I was able to take pictures in a way that is not practical from a car going 70 MPH down the interstate.

I plan to publish a coffee table book of my favorite shots from the run. I also plan on writing a book about the run that I hope will inspire people. There is so much more I want to say and haven't written about that I believe would be of interest. Like how I dealt with and eventually overcame my panic disorder after facing it head on in Tucumcari, NM. I'll continue to run, but perhaps some nice little short races for awhile :) I would like to do some things for charity. A fellow crosser Ashley Kumlien is planning a cross country relay for MSRuntheUS and another crosser and friend Jim McCord is planning a coast to coast charity relay in 2012. Chris is busy working on the Documentary, So, even though I believe we could have done more while we were out there to have a more coherent message, I pray that we have a shot at making a difference now that we are finished.

So, finally, to my friend that asked me "Why do you do this to yourself?" I say, it is because I always want to push myself. I always want to be the best I can be. I always want to strive for something better and magical! I want to live life to it's fullest! And I know that those things don't come unless you take risks. It may be uncomfortable, it may hurt, you may even fail, perhaps many times. But if you pick yourself back up and learn from your mistakes and keep going, you might actually make it. And it is liberating!

Paul

The journey continues

2010-09-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

As Chris posted .... 10/6/10 ! That is the day that we will be begin finishing what we started. That is the day that we will pack up the xTerra and drive back out to Hebron Ohio and pick up where we left off. This time without the Galt and yes....this time in SHOES! That is the day when, with every step, I will begin to erase the disappointment I have felt the last 4 1/2 months. It's also the day when I will have to confront my fears. Fears that are ironically more pronounced then when I left the pier in Huntington Beach. But, I WILL confront them and we will continue on our journey. And although the biggest lesson that I learned through out this last year, has been to let go. I have had to learn all over again that letting go doesn't mean that you stop fighting and striving for your dreams and goals. For though we may not be in control of our outcomes, we DO have control of our efforts! How ironic that a "control freak" would have to relearn this :)

So, the plan is to restart the run on the 9th. Exactly 5 months after stopping and exactly 9 months to the day from when we started. And although I am very disappointed that I had to stop and we didn't finish in one shot, I am happy that we will be continuing. I will try and post more to this blog, even if they are short posts and I am also going to try and shoot a bit more video and post to YouTube. It should be interesting out there as will we be "roughing it" more than last time... (is that possible?) But, I plan to take more time to enjoy the experience as I know from looking at the pictures from the first 121 days how awesome it is on the road. I am really looking forward to Pennsylvania and seeing the historical sights along the way. Oh boy.... here we go again!

NEVER give up.... cause it's not over until it is over. Those aren't just words, I have truly come to know the meaning.

Soldier on!

Home again

2010-05-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've tried several times in the last 5 weeks, to write this blog post. Until now, it has been very difficult to wrap my head around what happened in the 4 months between Jan 9th and May 9th. I am just now getting to the point where I can think about the run and not (still) have it scare the living crap out of me. It's hard to explain why I feel a bit uneasy looking at a map of the U.S. and I am not sure if I really KNOW why, but I will try and shed some light on it and maybe in doing so, I can better understand what is going on in my own head and perhaps I can help other people conquer some of their fears, or maybe, talk some sense into anyone thinking about doing something as crazy as we did :)

It started with a tweet "I think I'm going to run across the country" 6 months before we left the pier in Huntington Beach. It would be my "Run for Liberty" where I would use my love for running to voice my displeasure at what I see as an overreaching government, and more personally, speak out about my own "tax situation". With that first tweet, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into. I have always been a dreamer and I like to challenge myself with big goals. I know, having done it a few times, how the road to achieving your goals, can be a real roller coaster ride and that it is usually "darkest before the dawn" and how hard it can be to stay the course. I knew the preparation and planning that would go into it, the sacrifice and focus, the training and pain, the excitement and yes, doubt that would all be part of this adventure. Failing, however, would never enter my mind. And if it did? "I'll crawl if I have to" I'd say, and few who know me, doubted me. Winning at all costs? During my journey, I came to realize that some costs are too high (more on that later). First, some statistics...

Our journey lasted 121 days ending in Hebron, Ohio. In that time, I ran 2,336 miles in 100 running days, averaging 23.3 miles a day. I ran for 558 hours, through 10 states. My longest day was 33.15 miles and 7.71 was my shortest. I ran an "ultramarathon" (more than 26.2 miles) 21 of those days. 82 of the days were over 20 miles. The longest stretch without a rest day was 20 days, covering 519 miles. I burned approximately 280,320 calories over the entire run and each one of my feet hit the ground about 3,017,250 times. That's a lot of pounding and in the end, I think was responsible for me falling 525 miles short.

So, what Happened?

I can't stand the thought of quitting! I can be very stubborn and persistent. It's ironic that my stubbornness is what most likely led to me having to stop. I want to be really careful not to start placing blame. I take full responsibility for my decisions and I could have done some things differently and most likely had a better outcome, but to explain what happened, I need to tell the story as it happened.

First of all, I believe in the benefits of barefoot running. It is a great way to improve your form and force yourself to forefoot strike. But like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad. My goal from the beginning was to run across the country in the Vibrams. I imagined that they would want to sponsor me as I would be one of, if not THE first to do so in their shoes. I would find out about a month into the run that they would pass on sponsoring me because I was "Political". Well, this just solidified my determination to cross in the Vibrams. Didn't they realize that by NOT sponsoring me that that was sending a more powerful political message? Didn't they read this from my website? Now I HAD to finish in the Vibrams. Like I said, I'm stubborn.

The first couple of months, my feet held up pretty well. I did bruise my right heal in the first week, after landing pretty hard on some rocks as we were off road in the California desert. But it wasn't bad and it really didn't affect me too much. In fact, looking back at video, I am pleased with how we took those mountains fairly easily. The first time I can remember running into any trouble, was near the beginning of Oklahoma. Chris and I both got sick. He was throwing up, but me, since I never seem to throw up, just felt sick for a couple of days. It slowed my pace and generally messed up my rhythm. I also started missing my family ALOT! I would get pretty emotional out there and I had a few good cries in Oklahoma. I know, sort of embarrassing, but anyone who has done any endurance sports probably know what I mean.

Things turned around a bit (emotionally) in Oklahoma City. We got our first major press coverage there and it felt great to finally start getting our message out. A few days later, we got to Tulsa Oklahoma and spent a couple days with my family. This really helped lift my spirits. We were about half way to New York and physically I was still in decent shape. The front parts of my feet were starting to go numb, but it didn't concern me too much. I still had energy and numb feet were better than painful feet. We were still a couple of days ahead of schedule at this point, so even though I had stepped up the mileage to about 150 miles a week, we were still taking rest days every 6-8 days.

Time was a concern. I really did not want to finish later than May 28th. I had a couple of family things that I wanted to attend to, also, every day that we were out there, cost money and money was an issue (more on that later). We ended up taking an extra rest day in Tulsa and then another day (due to weather) a couple of days later in Chelsea, OK. Now, my comfortable cushion of time was dwindling away. I felt the pressure. By the time we hit Missouri, I was really focused. I thought of little else besides staying on schedule. I did 20 days straight, covering 519 miles. I felt ok during this time (energy wise) in fact, I think I enjoyed Missouri the most. But, things started falling apart with my feet. Anytime I ran on the interstate, things went well. Big wide shoulders with very little debris and rocks. Running on the back roads was a different story.

As you can see, the shoulder is full of ROCKS! If I had been in shoes, I could have ran right over them, but after a couple thousand miles, every tiny little rock felt like a hot poker. Bummer! On roads with a lot of traffic, it was real hard to keep any sort of decent pace. It was much harder to walk than it was to run, both physically and psychologically. The slower pace added hours onto my time everyday, which in turn wore me down physically. By the time I hit Ohio, I was deteriorating rapidly. We took a rest day at the Ohio state line and I knew my feet were pretty bad. They hurt every night up until this point, but I was always surprised at how they would bounce back (relatively) the next morning. I would swear at the end of every day, that my feet wouldn't work the next morning, but somehow, they would feel better the next day. This was starting to not be the case. They had gone from feeling numb to feeling numb and swollen. I also started to feel worn down and sick. Due to the longer days, I often lacked the energy to eat properly at the end of the day. Not good! I used the rest day to try and refuel and give my feet an ice bath (something I'd rather not talk about :). Ironically, as bad as I felt, the day at this Ohio campsite is one of my more fonder memories. It was a rainy day, Chris and Mike went and got some pizza and beer and we sat and listened to music. It was one of the few times I stopped thinking for a moment and enjoyed where I was at. It was day 114.

The next week, and Ohio was pretty much a blur. To stay on schedule, I would need to do at least 25 miles a day. I did 102 miles in the next 4 days and needed another rest day. Things at this point, did not look good. We took a rest day just outside of Columbus and even after resting for a day I was still wrecked. Two rest days after 100 miles, with 550 miles to go. This was the "I'll crawl if I have to" point. Up until now, Mike and "The Galt" would generally go ahead 25 miles or so and find a base camp for the evening. Chris had been riding on his own since Oklahoma (which made more sense, time wise, now that we were out of the desert) and I was running alone with my Nathan hydration pack. If I was going to continue, we needed another strategy. We decided to take it 5 miles at a time. Mike went up 5 miles and waited for me and Chris, it was more of a security blanket for me. If I got in trouble, I wouldn't be out there alone. We did this for 21 miles ending in Hebron, Ohio. I had enough. Chris said I looked like I was in some sort of controlled fall forward mixed in with a shuffle. I ended the day saying that I would see how I felt tomorrow. I was dehydrated and weak. I woke up the next day and knew there was no way I could go back out. I was done. We decided to go 25 miles east, to a campground and see if I could get it together.

There were many factors at play in our decision to stop. First and foremost, at that point I couldn't continue. I have been in situations where I was extremely uncomfortable and in pain. Ironman Arizona '08, where 17% of the field did not finish and this race comes to mind. I feel like I know the difference between wanting to stop and not being able to continue. I felt that my body was done and if I tried to keep going, I was going to do some serious damage to my body. But, it didn't stop me from questioning my resolve. In any event, if I were to try and keep going, I would have to rest up for a few days. Chris, Mike and I talked and I decided to give it a day to see how I felt. I did some major soul searching that night. Not only would I be stopping, but it would force all three of us to stop. This weighed heavily on me as well. It would have to be our decision and the guys were very supportive and I am very thankful for that.

I learned a lot about myself while I was out there. 558 hours of running gives you a lot of time to think. It was like a walkabout meets a near death experience. Not to be overly dramatic, but it really did show me what is important and what is not, on so many levels. It also made me reflect back on my life. Everything came into sharp focus. Some good things, some not so good. One of the "not so good things" is the fact that I have been very selfish at times in my life. This weighed heavily in my decision to stop. I started to think about what I would be risking if we took a week for me to recover. We would be late for sure. It would cost more money (which was getting tight). It would also eat into my remaining time with my daughter Brittany, who is getting married and moving to Colorado at the end of July, and possibly make me late for my daughter's graduation. All things that I was unwilling to sacrifice. I kept thinking, am I willing to sacrifice these things for my pride. At that point, I felt like continuing at all costs would be yet another thing that I was selfish about, so I could say "I ran from CA to NY". Perhaps I was delirious, but I know I wasn't making excuses. The run was over and my body was done. Looking back now, I know I made the right decision. But at the time, it was devastating.

We stayed at the campground for another day and then drove back home in 3 days. My recovery has been difficult. I didn't realize how long it would take to feel "normal" again. I spent the first 2 or 3 weeks, laying in bed. Part exhausted part depressed. It's hard to explain exactly how I've felt. For close to the last year, my life has revolved around this run. When I got home, nothing looked the same. I could write a book on this subject alone. It has been really hard to get my bearings on things. I have felt like a fish out of water. Perhaps some of it is because we didn't finish. A sort of limbo? Or, perhaps, I have changed profoundly and I need to find myself again. I have started to feel better now that I have started training again (mostly cycling) and have worked a few days. Idle time is not good for the body or the mind. But, I am actually starting to feel "normal" again (whatever that means).

So, what now?

Like I said, it has been hard for me to wrap my head around the run. As I start to train again, I am thinking a lot about going back out and finishing. Honestly, that thought has only been in my head for the last week or so. But now, it actually sounds appealing. We learned so much in those 4 months. Things that we could do to make the last 525 miles easier. Also, ways that we could be more effective with our message. There is still work to be done. Maybe, we'll go out and finish the run and then go to some key states and campaign for some candidates... Nevada?? Oh boy! Here I go again......

I apologize if this post is a little rambling and not very elegant sounding. I had to cover a lot of ground and it was hard to get it all down in written form. But, I didn't want to put it off any longer. There is still so much more to say. I do think I am going to start writing a book about my experiences out there. There are some things that I think might help some people, like how I dealt with my panic disorder while I was out there, etc. But, like I said, way too much to post here.

I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who followed the run! I can't begin to tell you all how much it meant to us to have your support and read your posts on our adventure. It made me feel much less alone out there. I really miss talking to everyone :( I've laid low these last few weeks, I figure you all could use a respite from me and my posts after all the posts during the run ;-) Now that I have actually addressed what happened, I can start talking about the future.

Soldier on!

Paul

Christopher Creek, AZ

2010-02-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, it will be one month since we left on my " Run for Liberty". It's been 30 days and we've gone roughly 550 miles, through 2 states. It's hard to believe that I have covered every one of those miles with my own two feet, under my own power. The irony is, the running has been the easy part. Yes, it hurts at times, especially towards the end of a 26 or 27 mile day, of which there has been quite a few. But for me, running is a comfort, it's familiar. I trained for months, specifically for what I am doing now. I know it well and I usually know what to expect. I wish I could say the same about everything else on this journey.

Everyday brings a new challenge of which I have little control. Most of the logistical duties are handled by Mike. He finds the next base camp, after I determine (roughly) how far we'll be running and riding that day. I look on my Maps app on my iPhone and I try, as best I can, to scope out a road or area that we can safely park, from the sattelite view of the area. Then it goes something like this. "Ok, go up about 24 1/2 miles and you should see a road, we probably can't go any further because there's nothing for another 18 miles". Then, if all goes well, Mike texts or emails the base camp location to me and we run into base camp. So far, that's happened maybe twice :) Ah... The control thing, we have very little of it.

Right now, I am laying in a bed (for the first time in a month) in a cabin in Christopher Creek, AZ, being taught a thing or two about control (or lack thereof). Christopher Creek is a very small town off the (main) highway 260. It has a market, a church and a restaurant/bar called the Creekside Steakhouse. There are 2 mobile home parks and the rest of the residences are cabins. I suspect that most people that live here are happy to be tucked away in the middle of nowhere.

As we were running into "town" on Friday and commenting on how we may have just stepped into heaven (it reminds us of the town in "Big Fish" but with lots of snow) Mike pulled up in my xTerra with the bad news. "The Galt is broken". The leaf spring broke and up until Friday, I'd never heard of a leaf spring. Well, it's now Monday and I sure as hell know about leaf springs. First off, if you are driving 20 miles to a junk yard to find a replacement, take the old one with you before paying $50 for one that's "close, but won't work". Secondly, if you break a leaf spring in the middle of nowhere, you'll probaby have to drive at least 90 miles to get a new one and wait until Monday to do it.

I guess it's ironic that I am running across the country and I am being stopped by a trailer. I don't really know what to think about that. I have been tempted to strap on my Nathan and just go. Or maybe Chris and I could set out and Mike can hang back and catch up when it gets fixed or maybe I should just chill, (did I mention the snow?) "let go" be thankful for the rest and enjoy this little fairy tale town we stumbled into. I mean , there must have been a reason that this happened here, right in front of the Creekside Steakhouse. It could have happened anywhere and as bad as I want to go, I already miss this place.

We did go another 8 miles to the top of the rim on Saturday. At 7,500' elevation, it pretty much flattens out. So today (hopefully) after the Galt gets fixed, Mike will drive us there and we have 23 miles to Heber. After that, we start the long decent to route 66. We are about 310 miles to Albuquerque and will try to make it there by the 20th for a charity 5k.

Hmm, I wonder how much control I have over this one.....

PB

Mobile Blogging from here.

The waiting

2009-12-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

2 weeks until we leave.... and I am sick :(

Not "super bad" sick, just "feel generally shitty" sick. I've taken the last 3 days as rest days, which worked out okay, since it is Christmas :)

Aside from battling this nasty cold (or whatever it is) I have been doing very well in my training. Last week I ran 73 miles and my body is holding up well. I am fully acclimated to my Vibrams, and now, I don't even notice that I am not wearing conventional running shoes. As of today, I have 492 miles on my first set of Vibrams (classics) and they are still going strong. My parents bought me a pair of KSO's for Christmas. These will be better for the cold weather as they cover more of the foot.

I also got a great rain jacket from REI. The Marmot PreCip Jacket

It is tough to dress appropriately when you are running in cold weather. I HATE being cold and I always tend to wear too much when going out on a run, even though I know that 5 minutes in, I will be shedding clothing. I am going to have to go into REI and try different layers under this jacket and try and anticipate the conditions I will be in, the next few months. The jacket is a small and I plan on wearing it over my Nathan hydration pack as well. I have to make sure it will fit in a small. I may have to exchange it for a medium. Did I mention I hate being cold!

Speaking of weather, at least Chris and I will be shielded from the elements, somewhat, in our shiny, new (to us) trailer! Our home for the next 4 odd months, our own 15' of luxury.....

THE GALT MOBILE!!!

That's right! Chris found this little beauty and we couldn't pass it up. It will tow behind my XTerra perfectly and I think it says "Rugged Individualism" like no other trailer (in our price range) that I have seen.

Speaking of "Going Galt", I made a difficult decision a couple of weeks ago, that I won't get into at this time, but although it was a hard choice to make, it afforded the run to become self sustaining, financially. Without us having to take donations or turning the Galt Mobile into "NASCAR" with logos all over it. Now, the only logos or stickers on it, will be ones we really want, to promote our message. We'll have our PubQuest banner and some cool stickers alluding to "Atlas Shrugged" and the like. I'd love to find someone to paint this on the side.

Or maybe this

Then again, we don't want to call too much attention to ourselves. I already feel like I'll be dodging bullets out there. And Chris? well he's afraid of something else entirely.

In any event, we are close and it is VERY real! I am starting to pack and get everything together. Next week, I'll wrap things up at work, and the next week, will be spent making final preparations and alterations to The Galt and buying food, etc. I am really looking forward to this, as running all of these miles and working has been extremely taxing. Hmmm... interesting that I would use that word ;)..... taxing. I digress.

Again, I have to apologize for not updating my blog more often. I have thought many times of abandoning this space since it is so much easier to just update twitter and facebook. But this really is a special place where I feel like I can talk about things that I can't on those other spaces. But, having said that, I do know that once we leave, I won't be able to update here, as much as I would like. So, if you would like to follow, please follow us on twitter and facebook. Also, of course, the "Run For Liberty" website and our "Run For Liberty" facebook page.

Anyone that is in the area, we are leaving the morning of Jan. 9th from the HB Pier. We'll be down there at 8 am and plan to start around 9. Julie from PubQuest is riding the first 3 days with us and it she is helping us coordinate the Craft Breweries and Brew-Pubs that we are stopping at along the way. I have added the places we are stopping, as events on our facebook page, so stop by there to see where we will be the first 3 days. I will be adding them as we make our way across the country. It is a lot of work and since the schedule may change a bit here and there, I felt it better to do it as we go along.

It's already been such a long road and we haven't even started yet. I am tired of waiting. I just want to run!

Paul

8 weeks to go!

2009-11-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

It seems like yesterday when I posted that it was 180 days until the start of the run. Well, a few days back, we hit the 90 day mark and just as I was getting ready to blog about it, we went and changed the date. We are now leaving

Sat. Jan 9th!!!

Which, according to my calculations, is 54 days from now. This is a good thing. I originally set the date for 2 days after the Surf City marathon and the 2nd annual MGM Reunion. There was a problem with that start date. My youngest daughter Jasmine, is graduating from High School on June 16th and our original schedule put us arriving in New York about a week later. I figured I could make up some time and do extra miles. If I not, I would fly back for a couple of days to see her graduate. Dumb idea and way too stressful. So, the decision was made a few days ago to move the start date up a month. What a relief! It has already proved to be a better start date and to be perfectly honest, I would go now if I could. So Jan 9th it is! And I get to see this one Graduate!

My training has been going well. This week I start doing 2 runs a day to see how I'll hold up on the road. I am very excited! My Coach is watching me closely to make sure I'm not overtraining and most of all eating enough.

We have finished episode 4!

Now, with the Long Beach Marathon out of the way, I am looking forward to focusing more on the run. The next episode is going to be about Chris and why is going on this Whacky adventure. Speaking of Whacky..... Well, I'll wait to talk about that until I know more.... We'll also be shedding some more light on the inspiration for the run, how the Libertarian message plays a part and of course, the Craft Beer connection! Very exciting stuff.

Paul

Sponsors, charities and endorsements

2009-10-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

We are 105 days away from starting the run. It is getting very real and very exciting! I have finished the route and already know there will be some minor changes, such as planned rest days and some detours here and there to hit the local Brewpubs. But it is a good starting point.

As the day approaches, one question grows louder. How are we gonna pay for it? I wrote the paragraphs below to help answer that question. It is going on our website, on our "Sponsor" page. Oh and if anyone knows of someone who needs an RV transported from CA to NY and doesn't mind it taking 4 months, let us know. Another win/win :)

A friend of mine recently offered to donate $100 to the run. It was an odd moment. I was extremely grateful that he would believe in what we are doing enough to give us money to help us accomplish it. But, it brought up some interesting thoughts, regarding charities, sponsors and endorsements.

Let me start by saying, this is in no way a judgement on anyone else, or in any way questioning anyone else's motives. There are many people who do things for charity, as I have in the past, and I am sure that their reasons and motives are genuine. I am now speaking only about myself and our upcoming journey.

I have very specific reasons for wanting to run across the country. They are, by and large, a matter of self preservation. Which, stated another way, could be called selfish. I do hope that through what we are doing, many positive things come out of it and it helps and inspires other people. That part is not selfish, but to try and find a charity to somehow make it seem selfless, would be disingenuous. It would be much easier to sell to people and would probably look better in local newspapers, but it would not be true.

We could put a PayPal link on our website and take donations... for... US. But that would be the antithesis of what we believe in. Working for what you have in life. I certainly don't want to be a charity. It could be argued that spreading the message of personal liberty and less Government is a valuable message and very important to a lot of people, therefore a lot of people would be willing to donate to something that they themselves may not have the time to do. But, again, something just doesn't feel right about asking for money. So, no PayPal link.

So, how do we work our way across the country? Chris and I are in production. We are shooting this for a Documentary and we are posting webisodes as we go. Naturally, there is a good opportunity for companies to sponsor the run in exchange for exposure. Ahh! The old win/win. A mutually agreed to contract, the way it is supposed to be. I believe that we can fund our journey through sponsors. But, with sponsors brings potential pitfalls. Do we have to temper what we say? That doesn't sound good. I can understand a large corporation not wanting to be affiliated with certain things that don't align with their customers views or beliefs, but does a sponsor have to agree with everything I say? Chris and I, as much as we are like minded, do not agree on everything. In fact, we have gotten into a healthy debate or two about a certain subject, but that doesn't stop us from working quite nicely together. Sadly in our current society, it seems the threat of boycotts and the ever present state of "political correctness" has served to strip everyone of their voice, in fear of offending someone. Besides, if a company that makes a Hydration Pack sponsors me, it should be because I use their product and it helped me get across the country, not because of who I voted for in the last election.

We need sponsors so I can run. I am not running to get sponsors. I have been using certain gear since I have been running and unless I legitimately feel like switching to something else I will continue to use them. That is not saying that other products aren't great, I just believe in being honest. I will list the products we use and I would love it if some of them decide to sponsor us. But even if they don't, I am endorsing them. I think that is the way it should be.

Oh, and my friends $100... I told him to keep it. But, if he absolutely insists... well, I can't be rude :)

Paul

The agony of da feet

2009-10-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Oy! Sorry I just couldn't resist, for it is my FEET that I will blame for Sundays disappointment. Let's just get it out of the way-

4:24:07

That's close to 17 minutes SLOWER than lasts years race... I am supposed to be getting faster not slower.

Here are my splits, just to drive the point home.

mile 1 8:59

mile 2 9:10

mile 3 9:12

mile 4 8:52

mile 5 9:04

mile 6 8:54

mile 7 8:32

mile 8 8:50

mile 9 8:50

mile 10 9:00

mile 11 8:56

mile 12 9:06

mile 13 9:14

mile 14 9:24

mile 15 9:25

mile 16 10:06

mile 17 9:46

mile 18 11:14

mile 19 10:43

mile 20 10:45

mile 21 11:21

mile 22 11:46

mile 23 12:29

mile 24 12:22

mile 25 12:10

mile 26 11:32

last .2 10:36

I didn't even make it to mile 15 before I knew things were going south on me. But to be perfectly honest, looking back, I am surprised it went as well as it did. Because a week before the race, I could barely walk. My right foot was so jacked from doing 120 miles in three weeks in the Vibrams that I wasn't sure I could even run the marathon. 2 weeks before the race, every time my right foot hit the ground, it felt like someone was jamming a hot poker into it.

Yes, I overdid it... BIG TIME! But there was a reason. I usually buy new running shoes every 300-400 miles. I had been running in my present shoes about 600 miles (do I REALLY need to buy new shoes every 300 miles just because they SAY I do?). They were literally starting to fall apart and I was faced with a decision. Do I buy another pair of shoes so I can safely finish out my marathon training when I really want to buy the Vibram Five Fingers? Or do I go Gonzo and buy the Vibrams. Ignoring all the advice about safely transitioning to barefoot running and proving that 1. not only do I NOT need the overpriced shoe casts that the Nikes and Asics sell to us runners every 3 months or so, but 2. I also have an extremely high tolerance for pain and I can H.T.F.U. and suffer thru it.

I'm a DUMBASS!!

I ended up with the Vibrams AND a nice new pair of Asics Gel-Hyperspeed 3's

At least they are racing flats and very light. I did the last 2 weeks of training in them but unfortunately the damage was done. Starting barefoot running is a lot like starting running period. When you start running your body has to adjust. During this period of time, if you go too fast, you run the risk of injuring yourself (achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis). Even if you don't injure yourself, there is a period of adjustment where you feel little pains, like shin splints. You need to start slow, to give your body enough time to adapt to the new stresses you are putting on it. I have given this advice to many new runners. Well since running barefoot changes your running form so much (a good thing) then it stands to reason that a different set of muscles are used as well. It ALSO stands to reason that the same precautions should be observed if you go from running close to 5,000 miles one way and then switch everything up overnight. Duh! Enough said.

My Asics sure were purty at the race!

If I had to put my money on what went wrong, I would say that it was because I spent the last 5 weeks doing less than quality training. And if one things for sure, you cannot "wish" yourself a marathon PR. Yes, running and races are a large part "mental" but you cannot fake a marathon. The training has got to be there if you wanna improve your time. It wasn't, so I didn't. Well, it was 5 minutes faster than the LA Marathon in May. So I guess I can be happy about that.

So, Long Beach is behind me and I now have ONE focus. "The Run for Liberty". Yes I will be doing the run in the Vibrams and yes, I will pull my head out of my ass and transition wisely this time. Thankfully, I will have help with that. I have hired a coach to help me prepare for the run. I am really excited about it. He comes highly recommended and he is going to help me with my training and nutrition. I am sure I will be posting a lot about that in the next four months.

118 days!

Time flys!

Paul

Episode 3 Barefoot running

2009-10-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Everything is moving along nicely with the show! I am glad to have the new episode finished and posted. It has taken some patience knowing that we had to devote some time on back story for any of this to make sense. There is still a lot of ground to cover, but it is starting to come together. Here is Episode 3.

It is amazing how the run is taking on a life of it's own. Chris, me and my old friend Mike Cernak from grade school have been hanging out a lot. One of our favorite things to do is go Beer tasting on Friday nights. We LOVE Craft Beer! It's a whole movement that we are very interested in for several reasons. One of which, is the care and individuality that local brewers put into their creations. What better way to get a sense of the different communities that we will be traveling through. Brittany and I went to The Stone Brewing Co. on Sunday and toured the facility. It was amazing and they make great beer! There is a local place in Huntington Beach called BrewBakers, where they actually teach you how, and let you, brew your own beer. what better place to start, than in our own back yard. I am VERY excited to start incorporating this part of the run into the show.

With 4 days left until the Long Beach Marathon, I am going a little crazy with the reduced mileage (taper). It's going to be a busy weekend with our prerace dinner/tweetup on Saturday, then the race on Sunday. After the race we are going to meet up again at Rock Bottom for some microbrew Long Beach style. Hmmm... I am sensing a theme! But of course the main focus for me right now is a sub-4 on Sunday! So, with plenty of rest, some fast healing for my battered feet and some nice cool weather, I am hoping to see a 3:xx:xx on the clock.

Paul

Macro Blogging

2009-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

With all of this micro blogging, it is getting harder and harder to find time to do long form posts. I do believe, however, that blogging in long form definitely has its place and isn't going anywhere. I just wish I didn't procrastinate as much and sat down to update this blog more often. But, after updating my facebook page, twitter and dailymile page, I am pretty much "updated out" and struggle to think of anything I haven't already said in a more "stream of conscience" way. But, like I said, long form blogging is different and in this case, gives me a much better way of talking "in long form," which if you are reading this or know me, you already know I like to do. So, here's an update on what's been going on.

Chris and I have 2 episodes in the can for the "Run For Liberty"

Chris is busy cutting episode 3, which will focus on my switch to the Vibram Five Fingers and how that has affected my training for the Long Beach Marathon. The first couple of episodes have been a sort of introduction to me and the run. I am very excited to get more specific about different aspects of what we will be doing as we travel across the country. I am anxious for everyone to meet Chris and hear his story and why he wants to take this journey. We are talking about lots of different things we will be filming and highlighting as we venture across the country. It is looking like we will be roughly following Route 66 to Chicago, then to New York via Washington D.C. In a somewhat new development, we'll be touring as many Craft Breweries, or "microbreweries" as we can along the way. A true slice of Americana. Also, please head over to the map on the website and add yourself, as we are still planning the route and we are more than willing to detour a bit for a good tweetup or run with some friends.

As I said before, when I first told you all about this crazy plan, this is a journey and I can only see the first few feet of the road that lies ahead. As I walk down the road, more presents itself and it is this part that is truly fascinating. The trip is taking turns that I never anticipated and we are still at the beginning. Perhaps the best part is, the idea for this run started in, quite frankly, a VERY negative place. But, as time goes on, those negative feelings and reasons for the run are slowly evaporating and what drives me forward is positive. Although I am running for Liberty, my own and the actual Statue itself, in many ways I have already found it.

Thanks again for following me and if you want more updates than the one a month like I seem to only manage now.... well, you know where to find me!

Do I ever shut up?

2009-09-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

This morning Chris and I did our first radio interview about the Run For Liberty. I had commented to Chris that I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to say. Well, in typical fashion, all Cindy had to do was ask me a question and I had no problem filling an entire hour with my blabbering. Chris made lots of comments after we were done, about his participation (or lack of participation) in the conversation. He's a funny guy! Next time, I'm gonna shut up and let him do more of the talking. We shot it as well, since we phoned in the interview from my studio.

It was great talking to Cindy Rakowitz about the run. She is a wizard at Public Realations and we had a great conversation about new social media and how things like Twitter and facebook will play a part in our adventure across the country. Cool stuff! We also touched on how micro blogging such as Twitter, makes long form blogging seem like more of a chore. I certainly does take more effort to sit down and post to a blog, as opposed spitting out quick bursts of thought on Twitter. This is clearly evidenced by my lack of posts here. Maybe it is because, anything that I write here, seems more permanent and "on record" Hmmm.... Long form blogs are still great for posting pictures and links and forming larger ideas. Besides, sometimes it's just too hard to say what you wanna say in 140 or less.

You can download the interview as an mp3 or listen in iTunes. You might as well listen, instead of me rehashing it here. Hell, I had a whole hour to talk about it, and believe me, no one else got a word in edgewise.

Paul

Vibram Five Fingers

2009-09-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and purchased the Vibram Five Fingers. I have been eying these babies for a long time. As most of you know, my daughter Brittany is a barefoot runner, and I have ran barefoot on occasion. But, since I have done the majority of my training on the treadmill at a local gym, and they don't allow bare feet on the gym floor, I have had to put off releasing my feet from the shackles of modern footwear.

Yesterday, Brittany and I went down to Sport's Chalet and I snagged the last pair of Vibram Five Finger "Classics" in Black!!! YES! I had thought that I wanted the KSO (stands for, "Keep stuff out") but after trying them on, I decided on the "Classics" and am glad I did!

I ran 4 miles barefoot on Monday, purchased the VFF's on Tuesday. Ran 5 1/2 miles in them that evening and loved it. I got up this morning and ran 2 miles in them at the gym (without incident) and finished up the with 3 more miles this evening with Brit. In addition to all of this barefoot running, today also was my first "2 a day". I will be breaking up my days into 2 runs a day on my Transcontinental run. So, I will start to incorporate this into my training schedule periodically until after the Long Beach Marathon. At which time, my mileage will be ramping up drastically.

Chris and I have been busy shooting lots of footage, documenting the process leading up to my run. We are editing episode 2 and it should be ready in the next few days. It is proving to be a truly organic process and continues to evolve on a daily basis. I really do hope that people will find it as interesting as I do, seeing where it will all lead. I know where I want to go, but am so excited to see how I am going to get there. Even though this started as my run across America, I have become just as excited and interested in Chris's reasons for going on this journey, and looking forward to all of his knowledge of the places we will travel through along the way. It really is so much more than some idiot (me) pulling a Forrest Gump.

Tomorrow, Sep. 10th 7 am, Chris and I will be interviewed by Cindy Rakowitz on Voice America. We'll talk some more about our plans and it will give you guys a chance to learn more about Chris. If you can't tune in live, then you can download and listen at your convenience.

As always, You can follow me on Twitter and here is Chris's Twitter account. Or add me as a friend on facebook and (if you dare) Chris's facebook page.

Episode 1

2009-08-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted! I don't know what will be more tiring, shooting, editing, website building and blogging or doing the actual run! Episode 1 is finally done and posted here. The "Run for Liberty" website is coming along slowly but surely. I would love to write more but, I'm beat. On top of sitting in front of my computer for 8 hours today, I did a 10 miler and I have a 20 miler tomorrow for a total of 54 miles. Not a bad week.

Paul

8 weeks to Long Beach

2009-08-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

I am half way through my training plan in preparation for The Long Beach Marathon. I really do love this point in a marathon training program. I love high mileage! I feel pretty relaxed most of the time and find it very easy to sleep :) This week I will run 54 miles and it will look like this..

Monday: 4 miles- easy

Tuesday: 10 miles

Wednesday: 5 miles

Thursday: 45 min tempo

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 10 miles- marathon race pace

Sunday: 20 miles

I am feeling really good and I have been training at the paces that would indicate a sub-4 marathon. That would be sweet! I will be visualizing a 3:xx:xx on the clock from now until Oct. 11th. And, of course, praying for great weather!

We shot more footage on Sunday for my "Run for Liberty". I, once again, was not at a loss for words as I rambled on about all things running. I really do love this sport and get VERY excited when I talk about it. We have enough footage for our first piece and Chris is editing it now. It should be done in the next few days. I am working on the website in the meantime. I am more than excited to get this first clip up!

I am looking for a Trainer and Nutritionist to help me prepare for the run. It's not easy, since this type of endeavor has it's own specific challenges. You can't open up the Yellow Pages and find "Transcontinental run" under "Trainer". In any event, I think it will be similar to training for an Ironman, as opposed to training for a 5K. I will need to get my body used to staying aerobic for anywhere from 6-10 hours a day, pretty much everyday. And preparing my body for the pounding it will take day after day after day. And then, of course there is the nutrition part. I see a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my future! By the way, why is it that so many runners and triathletes love PB&J? I digress.... If anyone knows of a trainer or nutritionist that might be qualified in this area and is not camera shy ;), please let me know.

Paul

180 Days

2009-08-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

180... That's a nice round number. It represents a half circle, the amount of days in a child's school year, an "about face" and a change of direction, or in this case, the number of days till I start my "Run for Liberty"

I have decided on Tuesday, February 9th 2010 as the start date. But, as with anything in this journey, it is subject to change. I have a nice little countdown app in my iPhone so I can obsess on the date. But more importantly... PLAN!

We shot some more footage yesterday and hope to have the first webisode edited and posted within a week. Until then, I am working on my website and hope to have more information about the run ready to go live at the same time the webisode is done. I've also booked my first interview on the show "Stars of PR" with Cindy Rakowitz on the Voice America Radio Network! It will air at 7 am on Thursday, September 10th.

Progress!

Paul

One step at a time

2009-08-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

"One step at a time" best describes my approach to planning my upcoming run across America. I have a very specific goal... To run from Huntington Beach, California to the Statue of Liberty. That part is specific and concrete. The rest however, is not. That is what is so exciting about this endeavor!

I have always been very goal oriented. I think in big, overall goals and concepts and (usually) am able to break those down into smaller chunks that are more easily achieved. Until all those smaller goals eventually lead to the ultimate goal. I have had pretty good success with that approach. This one, however, is pretty big and is taking a bit more... ummm.... FAITH!

As anal as I am, and as much as I would like to have every aspect of the run planned out, to ensure success, I have quickly realized, that would be virtually impossible. I must just keep taking steps. Perhaps that is the ultimate allure of doing it.

It's not really the running part that keeps me up at night. I pretty much know how I'll train for that. I have a good idea how I'll go about consuming enough calories. I can visualize (very important tool) tweeting updates and posting my progress to my blog and facebook. Those things feel real and doable. It is the other things that I can't see yet. The things that I can't ...... CONTROL! What a great lesson this will be.

I have given considerable thought as to what I should post, how much to post and where. With so many ways to communicate, it is hard to find the right medium, for which information. Plus I don't want to burn you all out :) I have decided that this blog is read by my more intimate group of friends, so I feel comfortable sharing more of my "thought process" than just the facts and statistics of the run itself. This gives me the opportunity to share some news while I am still working on the website, which will be much more official looking.

So, here's where we are at so far.

The run will start February 8th. I will be leaving from the Huntington Beach Pier. I am attending the 2nd annual reunion with this group of old friends, and some of them will be running in the Surf City Marathon on Feb. 7th. They have expressed interest in seeing me off, so that sounds like a pretty cool way to start the journey. We will have to wait and see which distance I will run, since a full marathon may or may not be a good idea the day before what lies ahead.

I will be doing the run supported. Chris Swenson, a guy a work with and a good friend will be driving the support vehicle. But, more importantly, he will be filming the run for webisodes and most likely a documentary. We are both in production and have the gear to shoot it in High Definition. This is a BIG plus! It will look fantastic! We are fully prepared to do the trip using my Xterra as the support vehicle and load it up with our supplies and tents and do it on the cheap. The ideal scenario and goal, however, will be to travel in an RV with a designated driver, so Chris can concentrate on shooting and editing the webisodes. That's where the faith comes in.

I do have a message and a purpose for this run, which I will be articulating as time goes on. I spent a couple of weeks thinking about how I could get sponsors, so I could have a more comfortable place to rest between runs. I started feeling pressure and realizing that my reasons for doing this run may be compromised if I had sponsors that wanted to temper what I have to say. Boy talk about a moral dilemma. The minute I decided that we could plan the run on the cheap, and any added luxury would only be welcomed with acceptable compromises. It was as if a giant weight had been lifted. So as of now this is the plan and it feels doable.

Yesterday, we did our first shoot for the first webisode. We are editing it now and should have it done in the next week or so. This should shed some light on my reasons for the run. For now, I will let "Run for Liberty" speak for itself.

I am excited to be documenting my progress in this way. I think it is important to show the process. In the past, all you might hear is "So and so, is running across the country". That seems impossible! The question is, how did he get there? or even more important, how did he START.

I'm an average guy with a big dream. Unfortunately, too many people believe that they can't do big things. That the other guy was "born better" or is "luckier" or "more talented". I have all of those doubts. I have that little voice in my head that says "the guys who have done this, were better runners" or "you're not good enough" or "what if this, or that happens?"

I invite you to join me in silencing that voice!

One step at a time.

Paul

A new PR, hardware and a little road trip

2009-08-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind on the blogging, so let's get right to it! Brittany and I ran the Guy Poncy Memorial 5K today, at Angel Stadium. My mileage is up, in preparation for the Long Beach Marathon in October, so I was feelin' good vibes about todays race. I woke up at 6 am to find my Garmin Forerunner 305 dead as a doornail. Bummer! I am a stats FREAK but, alas, I would have to do todays race au natural.... or as one of my tweeps put it "Zen".

What a race! I felt great, and running sans gadgets (even without my iPhone) proved to be a good move. I PR'd by 13 seconds with a 23:13 and even better, placed 2nd in my Age Group. Was there another race today?? I mean, I am VERY happy with my PR, but my time wouldn't usually snag 2nd, in the m-40-44 age group. Oh well, I got hardware and and I'm not gonna question it!

Brittany ran a great race as well. This is her second race running barefoot and finished in 29:41! She was asked several times about running barefoot and was quite the ambassador for the cause. Spurred even more, no doubt, by a recent article in the OC Register about barefoot running.

We also met up with a couple cool runnin' tweeps Danica and Carmen and talked running and snapped a photo to document our "tweetup".

Now, about this "Road trip". It's interesting, with social media being as it is, this won't be the first that I have talked about my plans, but this will serve as more of a formal announcement than tweeting about it or through status updates on facebook.

I am going to run across the United States, from the Huntington Beach Pier to the Statue of Liberty. I will run between 20 and 30 miles a day and the run will take approximately 4 months. The tentative plan is to start in late January or early February. I will do it with a support vehicle and will most likely be shooting it for a documentary.

Why do I want to do this? The simple answer is, that I LOVE TO RUN. It has become my passion and my therapy. Every night when I go to bed, no matter how challenging the day has been, I look forward to running the next morning. It's almost like a new beginning, and every day I get to challenge myself with a specific purpose, which is usually a training session designed to make me faster at my next race. It reminds me every day that, although we have no real control in our lives, that in the things we can control, we have a responsibility to do them, whole heartedly and with passion. There are some circumstances in my life right now that have been really challenging for me and have beaten me down pretty bad. There have been times when I have felt like I have come to a real fork in the road. Where, depending on my response and attitude, it could go two very different ways. I have decided to take a road which, I believe will get me much better results.

I can't really explain where I got my idea for my "Run for Liberty". But I do know that it has been nagging at me for quite some time now and won't let go. As I started mentioning it to people, a surprising thing happened. Instead of "that's impossible" or "your crazy", people have been very supportive. I've heard things like "what route will you take?" and "anything you need, just let me know". It has been a very pleasant surprise.

But, I have no delusions about this run. It will be extremely hard. I am not an elite athlete. But I am is extremely focused (read.. obsessed) and... well... stubborn! I have run 4 full marathons, 2 ultra marathons (50k's) and an Ironman. I have a pretty good idea, the level of fatigue, boredom and sheer determination it will take to get to NY.

There have been approx. 220 Trans Continental runs recorded. Of these, 6 were unsupported and the rest were supported with some sort of support vehicle. Originally my plan was to go unsupported. I wanted to go almost immediately. I wanted to go buy a baby jogger, load it with my essentials and take off. See where fate took me (cause of that fork in the road I was talking about). I planned a route to San Francisco, so I could avoid the heat, and then I would make a right and head East. As I planned my original route and saw the real possibility that I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no water or food, I started thinking I need a better plan. I decided a Jan/Feb start will be much better weather wise and will allow me to take the southern route. I will do it supported, which in all honesty, takes care of my biggest anxiety... a place to sleep.

I am very fortunate to work in the Film/TV production and post production industry. I know a lot of people which I hope to use to my advantage in documenting this entire journey. Anyone who reads my blog or knows me, knows how I feel about reality shows. The last thing I want, is to shoot a reality show and be scripting fights between me and the Driver. It ain't gonna happen. But the reality is, running across the country is going to take money and the way to get money is sponsors. The way to get sponsors is exposure. I think there is an honorable way to document this, that other runners (and anyone with a crazy dream) will find interesting. I will be pursuing, as sponsors, companies that make the products that I use.

We are going to start shooting very soon, starting with an appointment with a Sports Physiologist/Trainer to discuss my fitness level and a training program to get me ready for the run. The plan is to post those clips as webisodes as we go along. I am hoping that people will want to follow this journey. It is a cliche but "A journey of a (3) thousand miles, starts with a single step". I've taken about 2 steps so far.. the rest is faith. Oh, and LOTS of hard work!

I will be tweeting, facebooking, blogging and updating my website as things progress.

Oh... And here's my hardware.

I'm sure glad the super fast guys didn't show up :)

Paul

Just a quick thought

2009-07-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

To think.... Not even 20 years ago, a movie asked the question "would you cheat on your spouse for a million dollars?" Now... It seems like a silly question and I'd venture to say 80% would not hesitate to take the money. Add a reality show and I bet you could snag the another 19%. At least in America anyway. Here's to the 1% who know the true cost of whoring yourself out, not being able to look at yourself in the mirror.

Paul

The Quest for Sub-4

2009-06-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I will start my training for the Long Beach Marathon. After my disappointing finish at the LA Marathon, it would be an understatement to say, that I am ready for a good time at my next race. And by "good time" I mean an official time that starts with a "3"! I came close at the LB Marathon last year, with a 4:07 and with some very specific training, good weather and most likely a considerable amount of suffering, I hope to crack the 4 hour mark on Oct. 11th. I have had 2 half Marathon times of under 1:50, which by all accounts, indicates that a sub-4 Marathon should be relatively easy for me. But, alas, my coveted time has eluded me thus far. I stating my training tomorrow pretty well rested, for a change. I plan on doing everything in the program exactly as prescribed. I tend to slack a bit with the speed work and the hill repeats, but this time I am going to do it all.

I am also going to concentrate mainly on this Marathon as my "A" race and only do, perhaps, one 5K between now and then and try and schedule 1 half a month before. I AM FOCUSED! I am also going to do the strength training and plyometrics described in the plan. It feels good to have an uncluttered race calendar with a very specific goal that I am working for.

Paul