I've never valued time to run before. I mean, I've always enjoyed running, but TIME to run has never been a "serious" problem before now. When I was in school, I had time before class, between classes, after class, between work. It was just a matter of squeezing it in whenever I could. And as long as I didn't waste a lot of time between things I didn't really have a problem with it.
Then there was that whole skip across the country thing. All I had was time. Four straight months of nothing to do but run. Oh to have that luxury again. I've picked up a second job at Potomac River Running, the running store pretty close to my house. It rules, and I like that I now have people I can actively engage in super nerdy running conversations with, but it's added some kind of craziness to my schedule. The only time I can feasibly get a run in is before my tree climbing job....at 4 am. Now I know how some of my running friends who have recently had babies feel; micromanaging time down to the microsecond.
It's a good lesson to learn, but I thought I'd have quite a few years before had to be more responsible with my time.
In other news, the book is doing well, and people are liking it! Even better, the people that say they like it, done have a last name that starts with 'Mc' and ends in 'Glade.'
If you haven't picked it up yet, don't be afraid, it'll be entertaining at the very least.
Amazon.com....'Six Miles Per Hour McGlade'
Check it out and tell a friend or two.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Clothes.
I don't normally post too much about gear (other than socks). But I've had two finds recently that were surprising to me, so I'm going to write about it.
I'll go with the oldest first. And when I say oldest I mean OLDEST.
I received my first pair of running split shorts for my birthday. My 19th birthday. They were fairly standard and made by Asics. I liked them immediately and wore them for almost every run leading up to my first marathon. I ran the race in them...and two other marathons. And a 24 hour race. I wore them for about 90 percent of the trans US run. I didn't even notice them wearing out. I just kept wearing them. I continued to wear them for countless runs between the end of the long run up until last Sunday.
After being shredded by so many miles I've decided to retire them since they now rub my legs somewhat uncomfortably. But thank you Asics for making a short that lasts this long.
On to the NEW discovery. The NTS mid weight hoody by Smartwool. This piece of clothing is the most versatile thing I've ever worn. It's great for a run in the mountains when you have no idea what the weather will be like. I received it a couple months ago but didn't discover what it could do until recently.
If you want to wear it just as a long sleeve it works well for that. Getting warm? Roll up the sleeves and unzip it a little bit. BAM! Wicks sweat away and keeps you comfortable. Getting chilly ears? Hood it! The hood is scuba style, so while it does look like its from the future, it does stay up very well. Hands getting a bit cold? Pull down the sleeves, hook your thumbs into the sleeves and curl your hands. I was blow away by all this stuff even though it looks like a standard base layer. Wild stuff.
In other news, the book seems to be taking off which is a very good thing. People who bought it right away are just finishing it and so now I'm getting the first round of reviews from people. So far, everyone likes it. : ) If you haven't heard yet, I wrote a book, it's called Six Miles Per Hour and it's on Amazon. Check it out and tell everyone you know!
I'll go with the oldest first. And when I say oldest I mean OLDEST.
I received my first pair of running split shorts for my birthday. My 19th birthday. They were fairly standard and made by Asics. I liked them immediately and wore them for almost every run leading up to my first marathon. I ran the race in them...and two other marathons. And a 24 hour race. I wore them for about 90 percent of the trans US run. I didn't even notice them wearing out. I just kept wearing them. I continued to wear them for countless runs between the end of the long run up until last Sunday.
After being shredded by so many miles I've decided to retire them since they now rub my legs somewhat uncomfortably. But thank you Asics for making a short that lasts this long.
On to the NEW discovery. The NTS mid weight hoody by Smartwool. This piece of clothing is the most versatile thing I've ever worn. It's great for a run in the mountains when you have no idea what the weather will be like. I received it a couple months ago but didn't discover what it could do until recently.
If you want to wear it just as a long sleeve it works well for that. Getting warm? Roll up the sleeves and unzip it a little bit. BAM! Wicks sweat away and keeps you comfortable. Getting chilly ears? Hood it! The hood is scuba style, so while it does look like its from the future, it does stay up very well. Hands getting a bit cold? Pull down the sleeves, hook your thumbs into the sleeves and curl your hands. I was blow away by all this stuff even though it looks like a standard base layer. Wild stuff.
In other news, the book seems to be taking off which is a very good thing. People who bought it right away are just finishing it and so now I'm getting the first round of reviews from people. So far, everyone likes it. : ) If you haven't heard yet, I wrote a book, it's called Six Miles Per Hour and it's on Amazon. Check it out and tell everyone you know!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Holiday Lake 50k
The Holiday Lake 50k is like no race I've ever run. It's a trail race and I've done those. It's a David Horton race, I've done those as well. It's listed as a 50k but is actually about 33.5 miles, I've even run races that are listed as one distance and end up being a little long. I have no problem with any of these things. My problem is with road marathons. And that is how this race is run.
The trails are mostly flat, and the course is fast. This fact meant I had no opportunities to take any walking breaks except while I was choking on a Gu on my way up a small steep incline. Even though normally I have huge problems during races that are run faster, today wasn't one of them. I felt good and had very few issues.
The start of the race, as with all Horton races, started with the National Anthem and a prayer. I have to admit, we sang the worst sounding Anthem I've ever heard. We must have changed the key 15 times in the 3 minute song. It sort of just turned into a monotone reciting rather than an actual "song," as the word might be defined. Yet, as this group of 300 or so non-singing runners stood in the wee hours of the morning, everyone did our best to sing the National Anthem. And I have to hope that counted for something. No one was "too cool" to give it a shot. I liked that.
Anyway, the race consists of a loop around Holiday Lake and when you get all the way around the lake, you turn around and do it backwards. Not literally running backwards, you retrace your steps. Thought I'd clarify.
The first loop went well enough and I finished it in 8th place, in 1:56 ish for maybe 16ish miles.
See, in a Horton race theres a lot of "ish" moments. The miles are never exact. ISH miles. If you ask him about a section and he says it's flat, just assume it's rolling hills. Flat-ISH. If a climb is listed as being a big climb, it means it's hell-ISH. And there's always lot of food so there are always dISHes. Last one. It was Holiday Lake, so there were probably fISH in there. Okay I'm done.
Regardless of how many actual miles the loop is, the way back was fairly uneventful. I traded places with a few people, some people passed me, and I passed some others. At the end of the race I PRed by 1 hour and 12 minutes, finished in 6th place and in 3:59....ISH.
-- Patrick
The trails are mostly flat, and the course is fast. This fact meant I had no opportunities to take any walking breaks except while I was choking on a Gu on my way up a small steep incline. Even though normally I have huge problems during races that are run faster, today wasn't one of them. I felt good and had very few issues.
The start of the race, as with all Horton races, started with the National Anthem and a prayer. I have to admit, we sang the worst sounding Anthem I've ever heard. We must have changed the key 15 times in the 3 minute song. It sort of just turned into a monotone reciting rather than an actual "song," as the word might be defined. Yet, as this group of 300 or so non-singing runners stood in the wee hours of the morning, everyone did our best to sing the National Anthem. And I have to hope that counted for something. No one was "too cool" to give it a shot. I liked that.
Anyway, the race consists of a loop around Holiday Lake and when you get all the way around the lake, you turn around and do it backwards. Not literally running backwards, you retrace your steps. Thought I'd clarify.
The first loop went well enough and I finished it in 8th place, in 1:56 ish for maybe 16ish miles.
See, in a Horton race theres a lot of "ish" moments. The miles are never exact. ISH miles. If you ask him about a section and he says it's flat, just assume it's rolling hills. Flat-ISH. If a climb is listed as being a big climb, it means it's hell-ISH. And there's always lot of food so there are always dISHes. Last one. It was Holiday Lake, so there were probably fISH in there. Okay I'm done.
Regardless of how many actual miles the loop is, the way back was fairly uneventful. I traded places with a few people, some people passed me, and I passed some others. At the end of the race I PRed by 1 hour and 12 minutes, finished in 6th place and in 3:59....ISH.
-- Patrick
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Finally done.
So stoked. When I got back from the run across the US in April of 2010 (man that was a long time ago) I started writing down accounts of my trip. I had this blog, that more people followed than I was aware of; but I also had a personal journal I had written in as well as a ton of memories. I wrote them down mainly for myself. When I'm a dinosaur someday, around my 115th birthday, I wanted to remember everything that happened and everything I went through. But most importantly, I wanted to write it so I could remember all the people that helped me cross the country on foot.
After I finished it, it was very rough but when I got to the end I realized that it was more of a story of good people rather than another "running book." After letting a few people read the super rough edition, I recruited the help of several other people to help me edit it and publish it. Here it is, the done copy, ready to be read.
http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0096050049/Six-Miles-Per-Hour.aspx
-- Patrick
So stoked. When I got back from the run across the US in April of 2010 (man that was a long time ago) I started writing down accounts of my trip. I had this blog, that more people followed than I was aware of; but I also had a personal journal I had written in as well as a ton of memories. I wrote them down mainly for myself. When I'm a dinosaur someday, around my 115th birthday, I wanted to remember everything that happened and everything I went through. But most importantly, I wanted to write it so I could remember all the people that helped me cross the country on foot.
After I finished it, it was very rough but when I got to the end I realized that it was more of a story of good people rather than another "running book." After letting a few people read the super rough edition, I recruited the help of several other people to help me edit it and publish it. Here it is, the done copy, ready to be read.
http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0096050049/Six-Miles-Per-Hour.aspx
-- Patrick
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