putting the knit in shizknitz

This morning ended up being a bigger challenge than last week, but a good one. 14 miles, 2.5 hrs. I began with a northbound trek up Ocean to the totem pole (3 mi, half uphill, half downhill) then when I met with the group, they did the same route again, then back down the south path along the beach. We did the first half of the scheduled 7 then added on an extra 4 for a total of 11 miles. The beginning of the 11 seemed a little fast than usual which I’ve learned doesn’t do too well for me, and I suffered towards the end of the run. One thing I’m particularly proud of are my hill runs during the week, so the run up the road from the pier is usually not a problem

I’m working in some extra workouts, so I’m going back to Temescal tomorrow morning, a little earlier this week - 7:30 hike in the SM Mts.

WTF have I been doing this entire summer… I now have 7 weeks left until the SF Nike Women’s Marathon. I’ve been doing my hilly 6 milers since I’ve been home, but decided to do the 11 with some friends before the official Legger’s 6 miles yesterday. Now what was surprising (and hella good) is that I felt GREAT after the 11 miles (this is considering we met at 5:30 AM, and that we were doing 7:1 splits instead of my usual 6:1). I decided not to throw in the last 6 to rest my knees but next week am going to push for 14-15 ish.

During a few of my elementary school days, my parents would send my sister and I back to Japan for the summer. We were too young to really appreciate it back then, but now I look back with fond memories. My great-grandfather was still alive at the time, he was the mastermind behind the success of the family. He was a brilliant businessman, and although he was quite old and could barely walk at the time, he would talk on and on about things that I barely understood. He lived upstairs and I only saw him when I went to go take him food at lunch and dinner. As most children I was a little scared, he was old, and he smelled like old people do. I went out of obligation rather than love, although I felt love because we were related, but not out of a closeness I could identify as a grade school child.

I remember some of the things he used to tell me - he couldn’t understand cereal, to him it was like senbei but it got soft in milk (although putting that in milk didn’t make sense to him either) and how he always wanted to go to America (that’s what the Japanese call the US, America). He said that he would have come to America to give his try at the land of opportunity. He said that he would have come to America to run, to run a marathon. He laughed, since he could barely walk, but somehow even at that age I thought that a marathon represented something more - the freedom, the choice, the attempt to push yourself to achieve something you never thought you could have achieved before.

I saw that happen at the LA Marathon and more. A man who was running on crutches because he only had one leg. A man who had a heart attack (and unfortunately later died), a woman who was so exhausted at mile 23 that she could barely run straight, and many more countless stories that passed me silently on the course with over 25,200 people. For those of you who don’t know, I ran my first 5K last May, and officially started training for the LAM in August. If I can do it, anyone can. Here’s a timeline of events:

Fri night: Eat pasta with friends. Carboload? Sure, why the hell not. Get to bed early.
Sat lunch: Pick up T from the airport. Drag his Shanghai-jetlagged butt to lunch at Souplantation.
Sat Dinner: Continue to drag T to the Omni Hotel, and carboload dinner with the LA Leggers. I was a little dissapointed because I had booked the Omni through their website and not with the Leggers and was thus told that the latest checkout time was 1 PM. I knew there was no way I would finish running the marathon before then. The Carboload dinner was fun because it was with the crew, but the price was outrageous for a pasta buffet and they automatically included a huge service charge on top of the listed price.
Sat Night: Tried to sleep, didn’t work, knitted. Laid out clothes.
Sun Morning: Went down to the ballroom at 6:30 AM. Went to the bathroom 3 times due to nerves. 7:15 AM walked out to the start line.
Start Line: Could barely hear what was going on until the crowd surged forward. It was hard to stay with the group due to flying debris (people throwing their clothes off and stuff on the ground), ran straight for 3 miles.
Mile 4: started our run 7 min, walk 1 min routine. The group was still together.
Mile 8: my muscles started to tighten up…
Mile 11.5: fell back from group and ran 6 min, walk 1 min routine.
Mile 15: ran with Terry, another guy from our group. We were running at about a 11 min mile pace.
Mile 16: this was about Curson Ave… there was a group handing out beer. The smell of it was making me sick. A man dressed as Marilyn Monroe passes me, blowing kisses.
Mile 18: was running with this other lady from our group. She was quite emotional at this point. I believe we were on Wilshire by the LACMA at this point - there was a lady giving free lapdances to runners.
Mile 20: I was running by myself, and it hurt to walk. My lower back was starting to hurt too. I started to do a “shuffle-run”. A man dressed as Santa Claus was on the street yelling ‘I’m not really here, I’m just part of your hallucination”
Mile 22: Leggers station, they were all cheering me on. Must continue. I had a classmate call me and ask why I was so out of breath. She was obviously one who forgot what I was up to this weekend.
Mile 23: started cursing to self about even thinking about running this damned event. started cursing that I signed up for another one in October. Kept shuffle-running. It hurt too much to walk. I had only run a max 20 miles during the training due to my knee injury in Nov/Dec. Was running through familiar ground on Olympic Blvd through K-Town. Saw my favorite Sundabul restaurant (SooKongDong), my favorite KBBQ place (ShikDoRa), and then the man that had the heart attack.
Mile 24: I’m getting close…..I can’t tell if I’m hot or cold. I’m amazed that I can continue my shuffle-run.
Mile 25-26: What an amazing end…thousands of people lining the street and the finish line. 5 hr 35 min. Received my medal. They gave me this big, soft, oversized aluminum thing to keep me warm. Called to find T but am totally confused by his directions. I kept walking forward. Eventually found him. Couldn’t walk up Flower street. He pushes me up the street. Eventually reached hotel.

.

LA for the most part can be known as an unfriendly place - street fights, you pass people on the street without saying “hello”… but what a turnout. The amount of support in regards to water stations, people with candy, orange slices, water hoses, beer, music, banging on pots and pans was unbelievable. Running was tough, but volunteering is just as tough….. so my gratitude to all those unknown people who yelled out “GO SHIZ GO”

Y mentions a quote which captures a marathon beautifully, “the first 10 miles is run with your legs, the next 10 miles with your head and the last 6 with your heart”. Perhaps this is what my great grandfather meant - by his age he was living with his heart - but somewhere I felt like I was able to accomplish a little something in his memory.

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Read JustJenn’s entry

In order to pick up your bib and chip, you have to attend the Emerald Nuts Life Expo prior to Sunday. I went early today, and honestly the crowd wasn’t too bad. I don’t know what it is about crowds - the older I get, the more I try everything to avoid them. Anyhow our goodie bag was HUGE. Kinda like a trick or treat bag for adults. Following other’s advice, I stayed away from taste testing anything I’m not familiar with. Well, except for those Jelly Bellys…..

Before I go through Sunday, I decided to go ahead and sign up for my next marathon. Nike Women’s Marathon… yes, the one with the Tiffany’s Necklace. Bay Area, late October, the weather will be just as cool as it is now Cheers to Clare for signing up with me!

Life has been a whirlwind. The second I think one thing ends, something else starts up - in full force. In some cases its been this darn cold which has me really run down, and I haven’t run in almost 2 weeks. This is disconcerting, especially since the LA Marathon is next Sunday. Oh well, everything one step at a time, I guess…

Gorgeous tulips this year, in fact I had the pleasure of watching them grow. How the flowers opened during the day and closed at night was fascinating. “Oh look, they’re open for business!!” I loved dinner at Off Vine, good food, good wine, good dessert and an overall wonderful evening It helped me get my mind off finals….

I participated in Gifty3, and my secret person Butty Glirl hooked it up with all of the important things in life - chocolate, snacks and yarn. Do you see that the State of Bliss bar is empty? Yes, it was empty the first night I tore into the box. Her blog makes me hungry…. there are days I crave “happy birthday cake” and these cupcakes look like they would fit the bill….

A sunset soiree at Dukes of Malibu. Life is good.

My friend since first grade. We’ve kept in touch all of these years. The last time I saw her was 11 years ago, I haven’t seen her parents since I was in 3rd grade. They were in town and I had 12 hours to show them LA. Trust me, its possible. As cold as it was out in Santa Monica, it was nice and warm for them considering Minnesota was -20F~!

Audiobooks listened to: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, A Million Little Pieces, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, You\’re Not Alone: Conversations With Breast Cancer Survivors and Those Who Love Them, The Wedding (which turned out to be a continual to The Notebook).

Currently listening to: Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

My first half marathon! Although the run didn’t start until 7 AM, we still had to leave by 5 AM to get to Huntington Beach at a relatively early hour. Parking was a nightmare, and the fog was pretty thick. The Leggers had a booth where I met a running buddy, and by start time, the fog had cleared. We were trying to work our way to our pace group when the announcer started talking “…and 2 years ago I met…and ran my first half marathon…and I want this to be my last as a single man….” and he proposed over the loudspeakers!!!

Anyhow, we were off to a great start - a little more humid than what I’m used to, but was at a great pace. It got hot during the race, but the course by the ocean really helped. Overall it was flat, with a few hills. I could tell I was physically tired after getting only a few hours sleep the night before which began to take a toll (damn, its that thing called school that keeps getting in the way). I ended up trying GU for the first time and almost choked on the consistency. Good thing I ran this one, since the full LA marathon is only a few weeks away. 1:05:27 at the 10K mark, and 2:16:11 at the finish line, averaging a 10:24 mile.

Do you have days that go by and you sleep, or not sleep much but still you feel the same? But that’s another issue altogether. Saturday morning with the Leggers was another story. I set out that early, freezing morning focused on doing something like 16 miles (since my previously longest distance was 14), although the rest of the group who are on schedule were doing 24. I ran into another 10:30 (pace) who was on the I’m-injured-I-need-less-distance like me, so we decided to run together. Around mile 5 I got cocky and said, let’s just do 18 - this way next time we can do 22!

I saw some beautiful parts of Marina Del Rey that I hadn’t known existed, tripped and almost fell face flat on the cement, almost got run over by a cyclist (contrary to popular belief, by about mile 12 my legs don’t move horizontally as quickly). So we did. 18 miles with a negative split (faster on the return trip) including potty and water breaks, 3 hrs 20 min. What’s so strange is that I’m really not that hungry afterwards, just damn thirsty. Since the water stations only have water, I need a better method in carrying more of the Gookinaid powder I love - they should create a capsule that dissolves in water, or better yet something that fizzles in water like Airborne. I have a feeling I was pretty dehydrated since I came down with a migraine for the rest of the day. My legs are finally not in pain, 3 days later.

Not too long ago during the Leggers 14 mile run, something started happening in my knee around mile 10. I ran through it until mile 12, then walked the last 2 miles back to the center. Then I went through sheer pain for the next 30 hours, limping around where it hurt to go down stairs and to just plain walk. For some reason I thought it off as a fluke, got a McDavid Knee Strap, took 2 weekends off (one weekend to Stanford and another weekend sick) and went back for an 8 mile run. Bad idea. I finished, but again was in pain for about 30 hours. So I did what every sensible person would do. I thought about it and called my doctor for an appointment a week later . Well of course, it takes 2 weeks to get an appointment, but I waited it out. During that time I tried a 3 miler on a nice soft track which was o-kay, but not great. The doctor took some X rays (I knew I hadn’t hurt it in that way) and came to the conclusion that it was Patellar bursitis, gave me a prescription for Ibuprofin, instructed me to buy a knee brace, take 2 more weeks off and do leg exercises to strengthen my quads. Well the worst thing was happening - I wasn’t exercising and I was eating more through the holidays. This made me feel like a big piece of lard. And when you feel like a big piece of lard, all you want are your good ‘ole sweats (T calls it my holiday uniform).

Anyway, so the last Wednesday of the last year I did one of my weekday short runs (2 miler with Mia) where my knee was fine, I was more worried about the additional burden on my heart! New Years Eve I awoke to a misty, cold and dark morning but I made myself go for the Leggers 10 miler, a short holiday run. This time we went North - which is a route that takes us up an incline the first half, than decline the returning half. The path starts in Santa Monica, down Ocean, up San Vicente and turnaround at Barrington. Ironically we pass my doctor’s office on the way. It started misting/raining at one point, my fingers were freezing (my hands are usually warm but I seem to have a problem keeping them warm when I run) but, I FINISHED. And most importantly, NO KNEE PAIN. I followed it up with my regular weekday runs (two mornings of 2 miles and one morning of 6 miles) and today went back for my 14 miler (everyone else is at 22 miles). AND FINISHED. AND NO KNEE PAIN. It would have been better had I had a more filling meal last night and more than 4 hours of sleep

So what have I changed? I’m still doing my knee exercises, and most impotantly I started taking some vitamins and supplements. These are a combination of what my Leggers mentor and others have mentioned. 1) women’s daily multivitamin, 2) Apex Max Recovery - aids in muscle repair and recovery, and 3) Apex FIT Joint Support. I’m usually not one to have problems taking pills, but all three of these are pretty big horse pills. To add to the burden is that the Apex ones have a horrible smell and taste. Then a friend of mine realized that good ole Alacer Corp - Emergen-C came in a version that included the same amount of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate as the Apex FIT. Since I take the regular Emergen-C anyway, this was a real life saver.

YAY! Countdown to March 19!!

Alright, I’m down to a 4 month countdown to the LA Marathon. I’ve hit a slight problem… my damn right knee. I ran a 14 miler a few weeks ago that just about killed it (altho I speculate it was more from our dancing in Vegas) and with 2 Sat’s off (due to a damned cold) and a knee brace I thought it would get better..

short run yesterday of 8 miles and was paying for it last night… guess I’ll be visiting the physical therapists this week…..

its not the number of red vines I had for breakfast this morning, nor the number of mints I ate while writing my paper and its certainly not how much I spent at Titos in the last month. I ran my first 13 miles today with the Leggers.

Well, published schedule mentioned that it was only 12 miles, but at the end my Polar watch indicated we were closer to 13. Including a potty break and 4 water breaks at 2 hr 20 min, we were under a 11 minute pace. Every other week is a longer run, and although the schedule starts to vary as time progresses, basically 2 miles is added to the former distance. In-between thoes weeks are half distances (next week’s run which I’ll miss is only 6 miles). ONLY 6 miles. It wasn’t too long ago that was a distance I could only dream of. 5 more months until the LA Marathon.

I can never seem to have a cheap hobby/pasttime. Whether it be knitting, jewelry making, scrapbooking, skiing, bowling, salt water tanks, reading magazines, everything seems to add up more than initially intended. So when I picked up running, I was ecstatic. All you need is you, some old clothes, shoes and outside. Of course over time it added up - new shoes, water belt, some clothes, entry fees. Now after my second week with the Leggers, this has added up to membership fee, LA Marathon reg fee, new shoes, new non-cotton clothing to match the new shoes (ClimaCool Adidas!), Gookinaid hydration fluid, and of course, a watch.

But not any old watch - I need one that will help me train even on Saturday mornings I can’t make the Leggers. This means - heart rate, pace, distance, and splits. I did some reading back when I first heard about the Suunto T6 which is a personal trainer on your wrist, but for $450 I would have to sell my left foot. I decided that I didn’t necessarily need the whole EPOC calculation and would be happy with the HRM (heart rate monitor) and distance/pace. There were two models which satisfied that - the Polar S625X and the Garmin Forerunner 301 - but at $450 and $325 respectively, I can’t justify spending that kind of money. Then I recently read about the Polar RS200SD - RS is their new line for Running Sports, and SD is for Speed and Distance.

This cool little watch (yes, little, unlike the Suunto hulks which would take up half my arm) has everything I want it to do, for much less (retail $210). Its relatively new and quite popular, so it was a bitch to find (the only place currently in stock in he LA area was in Encino at Phidippides). The reviews have been great (Review 1, Review 2) and the interesting difference between this one and the Polar S625X and Garmin 301 is that this distance is monitored by footpod technology rather than by GPS - so if and when I end up running through tall buildings or in the Canyons (like up in Temescal) - I never have to worry about losing accuracy.

My heart rate currently measures 72
Update: Its been almost 2 months and I can’t leave the house for a short jog without this thing. It really does work well - and I haven’t even done a calibration yet. There are so many different views, by heart rate, by distance, by speed… I upload my running stats to the website which keeps nice track of everything, and its interesting to compare good/bad runs on heart rate/speed and it helps me to strategically plan better for my runs. Also at races, I no longer have to rely on the chip reports to know how I did

… so what if I watched XX in my pajamas half awake? As a wise man once said, “its a new day!!” A few nights ago surfing Active.com, (the Samurai 5K is tomorrow) I found a link to a running group called the LA Leggers. Not knowing what it was all about, but wanting a more regimented running schedule, I signed up. Turns out this group trains specifically for the LA Marathon. But what caught my eye was the number of pace groups they had available - everything from 8 min mile to 14 min mile run and 30 min mile to 17 min mile walk - which was nice to see, which meant a huge variety of people. The group meets every Saturday morning for a training run, and I came in a few weeks late so I jumped in straight at 3 miles (it increments every week). I took my 30 min 5K time and decided to join the 10:30 pace group which worked out great…. we meet at the Santa Monica Senior Citizens Center (drop off your stuff!) and the run right up along the beach…. it really was nice. Afterwards they have water, fruit and bagels (carbO!!) and a guest speaker. They give you a workout schedule for during the week, and many other goodies with your registration. The group works around the training methods of Jeff Galloway, so the walking/running intervals was definitely new, as was the nice yoga-esque stretching we did afterwards. I don’t know what my school schedule will be like yet, but I’m determined to give this my best shot!! 7 months to get to 26.2 miles!

5K
29:57 (no PR)
Low tide sand - hard packed, but definitely more of a shock obsorber.

Registration started at 6 AM - we found great parking right by the pier. My shoes got sandy walking down to the shore, and it was definitely a workout. We found a sick sea lion (which at first looked like a bed of kelp) and did our good deed by calling animal control (luckily they have dispatchers 24 hrs) who came within 10 minutes (faster than most ambulances in LA) and called for backup from the marine life conservatory in Long Beach. They rolled him up in a tarp and drove him away for some medical attention. The race itself was great - wonderful breeze, it was half way out then turn around and come back. My difficulty came when my attention span started to run short since the scenery didn’t change much….

0:27:59
439th place over all 5K runners (out of 1335)
139th place out of all female 5K runners
17th in my female age division

Hey, that doesn’t sound all that bad for these daikon legs! I took over 2 minutes off my time from the Revlon 5K run, and there were HILLS this time around. This was a gorgeous event, in a gorgeous area. The 5K course was from the Laguna Hills mall through Laguna Woods (formerly known as Leisure World) and down to the Community Center. Parking was much better than the Revlon event, and this time they had chips! These are awesome - you tag them on your shoe, so no matter when you pass the start line, your time starts then. So you can relax, and hang out in the back without having to push through the crowds.

I’ve found some real nifty watches that are like trainers on your wrist - and expensive as my monitor. This one will monitor your EPOC rate and other stuff, so you don’t have to work out harder than you need to - in the optimal range.

We had some great breakfast out in Dana Point, where I found a yarn store with a sale - and couldn’t resist some Debbie Bliss yarn. The walking trails in the area have a path for horsies - which is quite unusual to see coming from LA….. another unusual sight is a hummingbird nest in plain sight…