Random Things Noticed

Random things noticed around the Internets and in general lately...


7-Minute Abs
This article by New York Times contributor/writer Gretchen Reynolds sounds good:  "The Scientific 7-Minute Workout"
       http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/
unless of course someone comes up with The Scientific 6-Minute Workout....  Then the 7-minute guys are in trouble...

(click on above image to go to the classic '7-Minute Abs' scene from 'There's Something About Mary')

"No.., no,  no not six, I said seven.  Nobodies coming up with six, who works out in six minutes?  You won't even get your heart going, not even a mouse on a wheel.  Seven's the key number here, think about it!"

Proving that even NY Times columnists know that 7 is the key number.
Anyway, I saw that article and totally made me think about the awesome "7-minute abs" scene from 'There's Something About Mary'.





Tired Legs
I now truly knows what it feels like to run on "tired legs".  After my first getting lost ultra-marathon experience last weekend after a few days I could tell I was good to go (no injuries) so started slowly running again and this weekend was an 18 miler (on good-old flat ground - my specialty :-) ) on Saturday, and some trail running today (Sunday), and my trail running legs were just shot.  It was fun to run on "tired legs" though.
So what to do to remedy this situation....   Swimming!  Going to go get my swim on this afternoon.





Rim to Rim to Rim to Rim to Rim to Rim to Rim
Whenever you think you are good at anything, there is always something around which puts things into there proper perspective and crashes you back to the reality of how utterly inferior & puny you still are at it.  Any ideas I may have had about being good at trail running longer distances (which I haven't had because I am absolutely the *worst* technical trail runner ever) would be / were squashed upon reading this:
    https://www.trailrunnermag.com/people/q-and-a/612-ras-vaughans-unsupported-sextuple-rim-to-rim
How about a little Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim action (that's right - 6 times!)
Crazy!  In this case 6 is the number  :-)





Camaraderie Scale
Now that I have run an trail race I have noticed the following vibe/difference for me / my twisted thinking between 1/2 marathons, full marathons, and trail/ultra-marathons.  I will describe it as the "Camaraderie Scale" (scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being low).

• 1/2 Marathon -  Camaraderie Scale:  2   As these are shorter and thus more track-meet'ish and over quicker, there is very little sense of camaraderie - at least in my jerk'ish mind.  I want to squash everyone I see/line up next to in 1/2 marathons, and am always looking for angry music on my iPod.  Although I always enjoy striking up conversations with people I finished with and also getting it stuck to me as much as I enjoy sticking it to people the last few miles.  This is one of my favorite things about the 1/2 marathon - just trying to put the wood to everyone around me the last few miles.
• Full Marathon - Camaraderie Scale:  5   At the start of full marathons I want to pummel most people around me (sorry being honest), thus low camaraderie - and thus again always looking for angry music on my iPod before the race (Metallica usually does the trick).  Although by around mile 20 whoever I am running with I feel a sense of camaraderie with as we are suffering at about the same pace (although I still want to squash them).
• Trail / Ultra-Marathon  - Camaraderie Scale:  9   In my vast experience (ba-ha-ha - one race), it seems like most everyone is "in it together" as everyone is suffering together and at least in my one race just laughing at the course/how silly it is to try to run that far and with so much elevation gain & loss.  And I think that most people seem to mutually understand that they have a screw or two loose to be out doing something so dufus'ish - thus making it all the more fun.  Also after the race there are a lot of fun stories exchanged (at least were at one I did).

Funniest race report ever

The funniest race report ever (by a pretty wide margin):

Trevor Wurtele (Professional Triathlete) New Orleans 70.3 Race Report

Can't Touch This

Finally song was digging on the most running this weekend  -  which the above race report re-reminded me of.  How did I not have this cheese-fest of a song on my iPod previously?!?!

The Hammer!  Can't Touch This

奥多摩 Race Report - Wowser!

So here goes my race report of the 奥多摩トレイルラン (Okutama Trail Run).

First things first...  This was not a Trail Run.
It was a mountain climbing ridiculous vertical / elevation suffer fest of the top order.

I suppose that real mountain/ultra marathon running studs & studettes are used to this type of thing, but my two months of trail running on the weekends left me completely & utterly ill-prepared for the absolute elevation gain & loss beatdown which was applied to me.  My GPS watch recorded 10,372 feet of elevation gain and 7,466 feet of elevation loss (before I turned it off / it ran out of charge when I got hopelessly lost around mile 22 for about 1.5 hours - details below).
And while I don't historically have a firm concept of elevation stuff I do (somewhat) now.  The mountains we had to ascend in this race were like Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction crazy.  I can relate it to Camelback Mountain in Phoenix AZ in the US which I have climbed a number of times.  Camelback is like a pimple on a fleas ass for what we were exposed to here.  And the mountains were so vertical / steep it was just silly.  I was like climbing on all fours for a bunch of them.
It was just brutal.  Stated another way... the absolutely best way you could possibly spend a Saturday. :-)




So where to start...
We went to 青梅 (Ome) the night before, were in a nice hotel, and I got.... about 1 hour of sleep (super firm bed).  But I had saved up sleep during the week so was no problem.  And the Fam went with me which was awesome.

Then Sat morning off to the race start bright and early, there were around 200 (?) runners in the ~52km race, they also had a 30 some km race, and a 15km or something race - no idea how many runners in those affairs - they started later.

It was cool to see / be around trail runners (normally I am used to seeing/being around Marathoners / Half Marathoner people).  You had all of these really skinny people with bulging calves and quads/hamstrings.

Prior to the race this shuffled onto the iPod and I got all pumped up:

Metallica - St. Anger

I love getting all angry & worked up before races!

So the race was under way.  And straight away we were up a steep (for me - I am flat marathon / half-marathon runner) incline.  This would be a theme for the day...

Speaking of which, here is the elevation gain/loss from my Garmin watch, as well as the graph of:

(ok maybe I added the bottom line there)

Those two sections with the arrows on the left were like Camelback Mountain in Phoenix if you got to the top, and then... had to do it again.  And then again.  And then again, and again, and again and ok I think you get the idea.  It was just silly.

As we were into the 2nd one this guy who was in the group of about 4 of us who were scaling the mountains together said "They false advertised for this, this isn't a 'Trail Run' (as is described in the name of the race itself), this is a Mountain Scaling race".  It was pretty funny.
And on the way down on a bunch of these mountains were ropes to use as they were so steep you literally needed a rope to rappel down.  Again just silly - all you could do was laugh.

From about mile 4 to 15 I was sticking with this wily veteran stud guy (mid to late 50's(?)) who had his climbing poles, all the cool/current climbing gear, and you could just tell really knew what he was doing.  He was also a total Chatty Catty. Regaling us with trail running stories, details about course we were on, and anything & everything else under the sun.  He was awesome - like live entertainment for that whole portion of the race.  Plus he was totally dictating the pace - which I needed.
The problem was though his pace over time just put me into the ground.  After around mile 15 he dropped me like a bad habit and I just started falling apart from there.

Somehow I fell in line with a few guys and we were around places 12 through 14 in the race.  And the sufferfest was totally on.  And then at around mile 21 we were at the highest point in the race at the 2nd to last check station on the course, and pretty much only downhill remained from there.
And I was following a crew of three guys, which turned into two.  And then somehow.... we go wicked lost.

We ended up between these two mountains and had to do some like close to rappelling (a few places we would have rappelled if we had the equipment) and schwacking big time down this super step grade between two mountains with this stream down it.  And there was *no* trail to be found.
There were like three places where I thought for sure I was looking into a bear's lair and one would come out - fortunately there were 3 of us.
Also it looked like exactly like the terrain from 'Return of the Jedi' - you know where they are on second moon of Endor where Luke, Princess Leia, C-3Po, R2-D2, Han, and Chewbacca meet the Ewoks.  Anyway... I am not a Star Wars Dork - I just looked that up.  Ok back on point here.... so I was laughing to myself thinking that it would not seem that odd if an Ewok were to waddle out from behind some downed tree and say "Wok - Wok".
Translation:  "You go over that way to get back on the trail you jackasses."

But we saw no Ewok, and we did not make it back onto any trail.
So the three of us just kept schwacking down until we came out on to a country road, then finally made it out to a real road, and miraculously found the last check point station (which was in the opposite direction from the finish direction which at this point in the day was demoralzing to say the least) punched in our little check point things, and then turned around finished the race off together (the three off us).  What a great couple of guys - Tatebayashi-san (trail running stud) and Uchida-san (owner of a 2:45 PR full marathon - wow that is fast).
With our 1.5 hour'ish (hard to know for sure) getting lost adventure we finished up in around 9 hours and 35 minutes (still unofficial).  Here is my Garmin GPS watch up through our getting lost episode and it running out of batteries.
   http://connect.garmin.com/activity/310901328

Finally here are a few of the pictures from the finish of the race:  The three of us finishing together, another of us under a tent, and me doing who knows what.
It looks rainy because it rained for about the last 4 hours of the race.

What an absolutely awesome experience!  Absolutely no better way to spend a Saturday.

I will now proceed to walk like a 95 year old lady up and down stairs for the next ~3 days.

Maebashi 1/2 Marathon Race Report - 走ろう！Bostonのために

So earlier today marked the 14th running of the 前橋シティマラソン  (Maebashi 1/2 Marathon).

Making this a quick race report as gotta hop a flight for China here later today for work, but here we go....

The weather SUCKED with a big fat capital S.

It was around 40 degrees most all of the race and raining.  And early in the race dare I say sleeting a little bit.  I was freezing my hiney off the whole race.

The fam went with me and snapped off a few pictures before the race:

It says "走ろう！Bostonのために", which translates to "Run for Boston!" or more colloquially with the emphasis there "I'm F#*!ing Running for Boston!".

Here is another one of:

This one is right next to the registration sign for the race.

It was really cool, I had a few people come up to me say nice stuff, a few people asked to take a picture with me, and got a ton of warm looks.  It made me feel warm inside, which was needed given how frigging cold and rainy it was just beyond that door behind me there!

So I went from the warmth of the indoors arena we were in out the starting area and stood under a bridge until the last possible moment and then went and lined up.  Saw only two other foreigners all day - again like no foreigners around Japan these days it seems (at least out in the boonies where we live)...

So got to the starting area and this rap song which I dig came on:

T.I. - Bring Em Out

Don't like most newer rap, but like this one as is great to run to and gets me all fired up.  What can I say, I am not a refined music connoisseur, gimme some hard rock, old school rap, or anything that has a good beat to run to, and I'm good to go!

So the race was underway and it was time to Bring Em Out!

It was so cold, rainy/sleety, and with a decent wind that after about the first mile I was like - this is ridiculous, I am going to either freeze or slip on some water on the road, lets just make this a decent tempo run.
So it was with that mentality that I got going, and then around mile 3 my left shoelace came undone.  Ugh!  What a pisser!  Plus I had cheap gloves on that I planned to throw off in a while later in the race, but had to then as otherwise I would not have been able to re-tie them.  So that was about 45 seconds lost which really pissed me off.

From there I kept putting in the miles and slowly began coming out of my hypothermic state :-)  -  although my feet stayed frozen all race as you could not help running through puddles in the roads, there was too much standing water as it was raining pretty good the whole race.
It was a good race as everyone who I was running around seemed to be quite serious about what they were doing - as I think only the die hard runners probably ended up running it.  I bet they had a bunch of people decided this morning "Screw this - you'd have to be an idiot to run in this weather" (thus making me either a die hard runner or an idiot...  keep your thoughts to yourself at this point).

So blah, blah, I ran around, and we saw the leaders coming back down around mile 9 or so as there was a turn around a bit after that, always love to watch real runners putting work in.  And probably in about 10th to 15th place was a lady who looked to be like a college aged runner, and she was flipping flying.  I am interested to look up her time later - it was awesome - she was really moving!

Anywho, I was hardly looking at my watch the whole race, knew I wasn't going to get a PR, but around mile 10 after coming off a small cramp I was like "Man I feel great, ok new rule - nobody passes me the rest of this race, time to get busy!".  And so I started going to work, and then around a mile later one of my absolutely favorite running songs and videos which goes with it (well the video doesn't come on the iPod but you get the idea) came on:

Breaking Benjamin - So Cold

I love everything about this video.  It seems like everyone in it is running so free and running so fiercely.  And there are a couple times in the video where people just go flying by other people.  I love those parts.  And so I was just like "F-this, I feel great, I am getting mine - time to start picking off some chumps big time!"
It was so fun, my splits for miles 11 to 12, 12 to 13, and the last change were 6:22, 6:16, and 6:13.  Which is fast for me.  I was flippin loving it!  (Editors note: one guy I put the wood to around mile 12 passed me right near the end.  It was awesome)

It was so fun!  I just feel so alive out running!

Anyway, I ended, the fam was there to greet me, and we went back into the big sports complex so I didn't get hypothermia, and I changed into some dry clothes.

It went in the books as 1:27:52 still unofficial per the Garmin.  Here are the splits:
   http://connect.garmin.com/activity/300783510

If I hadn't stopped to tie my shoe it would have been a new PR so I will take it!  I should have applied myself those middle miles more.  Oh well such a great time.
Not even freezing rain can stop me from having a great time running.  So fun!

Gotta go to the airport to hop a flight....

Maebashi 1/2 Marathon Eve

Tomorrow running the 前橋シティマラソン (Maebashi 1/2 Marathon).

Am so fortunate to be able to run in the first place.  So many things to piss you off in the world.  Absolute top of the list currently the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  So glad they arrested one and put the other down.
Moving to watch all of the images and video footage during the week.

Thing I am digging on most this week and which makes me be proud to be from the US is this:

The Boston Bruins' longtime National Anthem singer Rene Rancourt turning it over to the Boston Garden crowd on 4/17 (Wednesday night - two days after the tragic bombings) about two lines in.  So awesome and so moving.
Things like this and love in general wins out every time.

Tomorrow's forecast is for cold, crappy, rainy weather.  Just gonna lace 'em up, run with a heavy heart, proud to be an American, and just go for it!

Best Run Ever?

Wow what a great weekend of running!

Sat my pretty standard long run 20 miles along the Tonegawa river from our place, and then this morning (Sunday) two and a half hours of trail running and hiking bliss all over and around Kinyama and Niita-Kinyama Jyou (Niita Mount. Kin Castle) which is only about 15 minutes from where we live.

I have been starting to go trail running at this smallish mountain to have some small semblance of preparedness for my first trail running / ultra marathon in May (I am in for a total shellacking in this race).

And this morning was one of those runs where you feel light on your feet, you are in attack mode the whole run, and when you are done you still have tons of energy.  I wish I would have felt like this in my most recent full marathon....  Oh well, what are you gonna do.
What a stupendously awesome run though!

I am totally digging trail running these days, and ultra-marathons seem to be pulling at me lately (easy to say as I have never run one :-) ).  I absolutely cannot wait to get put in the suffer chamber at my first one here in a bit.  Yee-haw!

And as I have been thinking about trail running / ultra marathons more recently I have been reading about them more as well - and this weekend was the Lake Sonoma 50 Miler.  And I got checking out iRunFar's (great website btw) live coverage of it and I loved the quote from this picture:

     https://twitter.com/iRunFar/status/323113004331827200/photo/1

Dave Mackey:  "I feel almost as good as your girlfriend."

Absolutely hilarious!  I am totally pirating that quote and working it into my repertoire.

Other randomness....

Our oldest turned 12 this weekend (wow so fast...), and here is a picture after we went out to lunch at a nice restaurant:

And as this weekend is the Boston Marathon (go Shalane Flanagan & Kara Goucher!), the singer is from Boston, and has the same name as my favorite beer, I offer the following awesome running song:

Sammy Adams - All Night Longer

Love this song!

Finally next weekend at the Maebashi 1/2 Marathon my 1/2 Marathon PR of 1:27 is going down big time!  Can't wait!

Yee-haw, Running Rules!

Duck and Run

Running, running, running...      it is so awesome.

Getting back into the swing of things after full marathon epic implosion two weeks ago.

And while out enjoying my first decent long'ish run since then, a head clearing 18 miles of running bliss, a great track shuffled onto my trusty iPod (quick tangent, I think my current Shuffle is soon to die, I seem to burn through them like running shoes, especially when it gets warmer and I sweat on them like an idiot - "What?  Who knew you weren't supposed to sweat on them..?!?" ):

3 Doors Down - Duck and Run

Love this song!

And some great lyrics from the song for my running (and life in general) mindset;
     ...
     This world can turn me down
     But I won't turn away
     Oh no, I won't turn around.
     All my work and endless measures 
     Never seem to get me very far
     Walk a mile just to move an inch now 
     Even though I'm tryin' so damn hard.
     I'm tryin' so hard.
     This world can turn me down,
     But I won't turn away, 
     and I won't duck and run
     'Cause I'm not built that way.
     When every thing is gone
     There's nothing there to fear
     This world can not bring me down
     No 'cause I'm already here.
     Oh no, I'm already here.
     Down on my knees, I'm already here.
     Oh no, I'm already here.
     I must have told you a thousand times, I'm not running away.
     I won't duck and run...
          I won't duck and run.
               I won't duck and run!


Love those lyrics 'cause there is absolutely no way I am ducking and running from accomplishing my goal of getting under 3 hours in a full marathon.  I won't duck and run...  I won't duck and run!  
I suck at a lot of things, but determination is not something I have ever been short on.  That flippin' time is going down!!!



Also today was the first day the temps started coming up here in good old Gunma Japan, so it got my mind wandering as it will during a long run - especially when you have A.D.D. like I do.  So anyway - my mind jumped around to Global Warming at some point during my run, which got me thinking about this hilarious video by Will Ferrell, so I had to watch it when I got home from my run.

Hilarious.

On the docket tomorrow AM is some trail and mountain running due to my impending ultra marathon in May, coupled with the fact that I am currently a crap trail and mountain runner - I am in a for a total ass whuppin' in that race - should be great fun!

Happy Running!

I am Talking Scorched Earth...

It has took me only one day for my anger to begin festering after my Epic Suckage of a full marathon last weekend, and it is boiling over now (a week later).  Somebody is going to pay for my epic suckage of a race.  And that someone will be the Maebashi 1/2 Marathon (前橋シティマラソン) on 4/21.

Here is a video clip which captures my current mindset pretty well (put the video to the 1:30 mark):

Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder

To quote from Les Grossman himself (again from about the 1:30 point of the video):
Now I don't know what kind of pan-Pacific bullshit power play you're trying to pull here, but Asia Jack is my territory (it is my territory - I live here in Japan! :-) ) .  So whatever you're thinking, you better think again. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to head down there (to The Maebashi 1/2 Marathon) and I will rain down in an ungodly f#*!'ing fire storm upon you, your going to have to call the f#*!'ing United Nations to get a f#*!'ing binding resolution to keep me from f#*!'ing destroying you!
I Am Talking Scorched Earth Mother F#*!'er!
I will Massacre You... I WILL F#*! YOU UP!

so hilarious...!


After taking out my pent up frustrations and putting my current fitness to use on the puny Maebashi 1/2 Marathon, it is officially on as a life mission that will run under 3 hours in a full marathon!  No more screwing around!!!  I am 100% all in.  I absolutely *despise* not achieving things I put my mind to.  And something like this which I can fully control myself..., it burns me all the more.  No more lame excuses!


Anyway, enough of my chip-on-my-shoulderness  -  here are a few fun pic's from last weekends race:

Riding the train on the way to the race with our oldest - both doing the lean.

Another with me and our oldest - ain't she cute!

Our youngest was cold and tired.  So she took about a 1/2 hour nap - pretty funny picture.

The dude that won the race running by where Aki and girls were set up right near the finish.

Me finally getting near the finish.  I think I am half smiling because I can see the porta-potties up on the right and I am pondering whether to run through to the finish line or directly to a porta-potty to take care of my brutal diarrhea I had been bottling up for over half of the race.

Up close to the camera.  Half smiling only because the misery is almost over.


Finally here is running video & song which I absolutely love:

Breaking Benjamin - So Cold.  Awesome.

Running can be cruel, as it was in last weekend's marathon, but is it is also absolutely awesome!!!