The Five Finger Discount

September 1 - Already!! - I am really enjoying using the free shoes, but the 5 fingers..man they are a hoot!! I have been going back and forth, but earlier this week, I did a three miler with the vibrams followed by about one half mile completely barefoot. It was pretty fun - even if my times suffered a little. Been reading more about barefoot running as well - I ordered "Barefoot Running" by Michael Sandler. There is some pretty good info in there as far as injury prevention, some common sense stuff for running - mixed in with some way out zen-ish bullshit - getting one with the earth - meditation stuff - how being electrically "grounded" to the earth by being barefoot allows for proper connectivity with everything - I guess the guy went into orgasm when he saw the Avatar movie...I dunno about all of that crap - but I do have to admit that it is pretty dang fun to run barefoot - even for short distances - and it is true that you better be "one" with the earth - the part that you are about to place your foot on, to be more precise.
Sept 18th...
Well, I left the trails of the state park and ventured forth into the city for the 5k Autumn run for Autism. I haven't run in this large of group in quite some time. it seems like everyone runs with headphones stuck in their ears these days...which means that they have no clue what so fucking ever about what is going on around them. This is probably ok in most situations, but not at the beginning of a 5k with 300 participants. To make it worse, the first part of the course was a narrow out an back with two way traffic. I spent the first mile dodging a herd of clueless sidestepping plodders that had zero concern for what was going on around their personal Idaho.
I can only hope that people will not feel the need to carry such flotsam on a marathon. My final time was 29:58 with a 9.40 pace. There in lies the motivation to go faster - to be able to seed my self in front of all that nonsense.

Freedom - Just Another Word For Nothing Left To lose.

Monday, August 9th -

I get home to find that UPS has left my recent shoe purchase from Zappos hanging on the gatepost in a hefty cinch-sack. The sack came in handy because of me emptying the garbage this morning.
As I mentioned earlier, I had decided to order a pair of Nike Free shoes. Only in America can you market an item by the name "Free" while charging $85 bucks for it and have dumb asses like my self jump at the chance to buy it.
Actually, the name "free" relates to its design to be as close as a shoe can be to the feeling of running barefoot. It is marketed for barefoot wannabes that are not quite up to the task of running with their feet in the nude. Overall I am pretty impressed with its comfort and flexibility. A nice surprise ts the absence of a conventional tongue and adjunct seams that usually annoy the tops of my feet. Looking forward to trying these puppies out tomorrow.

Tomorrow, August 10th - 7 frigging AM in the morning.
Damn its early..must have coffee!! - After witch I don my new sleds and mosey my way down to the mailbox - the designated starting line for today's planned jaunt. It went really well, the shoes felt very natural and...wtf?? my body isn't accustomed to am workouts and my heart rate climbs quickly, but then settles out and had a really nice short run. These shoes kick ass. They are the single speed of running shoes. My times are starting to come down...life is good - so good in fact, I decided to do a 12 mile road ride after work as well.

Damn! overslept, so I will do a 3 miler during lunch. I also hope to take my Jabberwocky to Santos this afternoon - weather permitting. Crap - mid day running in August is just as stupid as always. Hot as hell and muggy. Still, had a reasonably good run, and my improved times are still holding. Hoping to ride this afternoon...Success!! I made it to Santos to do a fun blue ride...Cool group of people. I need to do more of this!! I love the look on peoples faces when they see I ride a completely rigid single speed bike. It just adds to the cool factor.

But back to running - I did not run on Thursday, but decided to rest a day and run Friday. I showed up at the prairie Friday afternoon and had a pretty awesome 2 miler. My pace is picking up, but I am concerned about my endurance over the long haul.
Between Ashley's 16th birthday party and other things, I completely missed my weekend run - It was supposed to be three miles - But I did manage to get in a lot of swimming on Saturday and a 11 mile ride at Santos on Sunday. The Florida heat went supernova by Sunday afternoon. We had to go recover with wings and beer afterward. Live is good.
I also found out that there is a half marathon on Dec 4 in Orlando. It could fit nicely into my schedule for training purposes. ...should probably start cutting back on the wings and beer thing tho..

Getting In the groove..

Tuesday August 3rd
The scheduled run today is for 2 miles - It went pretty good - the garmin ran out of battery, so I was free - free at last. Did the two mile run course for the greater gator duathalon at Paynes prairie. got to run in the morning, so it was nice. Walked in my 5fingers afterward. not too bad.

Wed Aug 4th.
Time to face the music - I had been avoiding it, but no longer...what do I actually weigh these days??? 211!! Damn - Who would have thunk it - when Samuel Adams talks about a full bodied beer - they are not necessarily talking about the beer itself. Oh well - I sorta figured that anyway - I have already restocked with veggie supplies for the week. Think I will leave off beer and animal products until the weekend. Done this before and it has worked well - just got caught up in all the noise of life and let my health fall by the wayside. A little weekend gratis should do no harm if I focus on the week. Apparently , the current marketing buzzword for cheating vegetarians is "flexitarians" - I guess for those times when the word "omnivore" wouldn't be socially acceptable.
Scheduled for a 3 miler - afternoon run - not too bad. Had the garmin on. It seems like I am addicted to looking at it way too often - note - turn off the hr alarms - when your taching, you are well aware of it and hearing an annoying sound does nothing to help get your hr back down. Ran out of gas towards the end - concentrated on staying upright and trying to enjoy..did the three, then put on the 5fings and walked another mile...

Thursday Aug 5th
Back to a 2 miler today..sort of muggy afternoon with a slight drizzle. Decided to run 1.5 miles out and 1/2 mile back, then walk the rest for a 3 mile total. feeling pretty good - Weirdest thing I could see a light mist ahead of me, but never felt it on my skin. I guess I was sweating more than it was raining. One good thing about running at the prairie - even a fat hairy guy like me can run with my shirt off and the deer dont seem to mind.
Decided to do my mile return walk completely barefoot. It felt good at the time, but I am not sure it was the best of ideas - the balls of my feet are sort of tender now. Oh well - supposed to take tomorrow off then do a 4.5 miler on Saturday - probably will have to do it on campus after an afternoon family commitment.
Oh yea - Ordered a pair of Nike Free shoes from Zappos this afternoon..

Saturday, August 7th.
This turned out to be a helluva day....Had to be at Santos for a trail workday all morning - then Brian & I rode for about 10 miles. This was my first time out with my newly built Single speed - damn it Rocks!! the rigid fork doesn't look like it will be any issue - it ran great. I gotta remember to save some time for riding!!
Got home in time to get a shower and head to Gainesville. After hangin out at a family event, came on campus around 8:30 pm to do my 4.5 miler - in a downpour. This works out to be almost 2 trips around lake Alice. The rain slacked off during the first lap and totally quit during lap 2. Overall it was a damn good run - Tarahumara style. No - not the barefoot thing - I had had a few brews after the mountain bike ride early that afternoon. Did not seem to be an issue.
What was an issue would be getting to bed just after midnight and getting back up at 3:30 the same morning to go fishing in the gulf....

Glad Monday is a rest Day - cause my ass is beat. Check my Email and have a note from Brian...

If you don't know about Dean, it's probably time. Karno ran 50 marathons on 50 consecutive days in all 50 states. Get the DVD.

what the fuck would he want to do something like that for??? was he running low on t shirts?

Bare-footed As A Yard Dog

This whole barefoot/sandal running thing really intrigues me. The Tarahumara run these crazy distances with nothing more than sandals made of discarded tire rubber and twine. Then there is "Barefoot" Ted McDonald, a self proclaimed " independent athlete committed to re-discovering primal human capacities and encouraging others to do the same".

The buzz is that running barefoot, or with sandals, allows your foot to work as it was intended, using all of the bones and muscles as they were intended, thereby allowing you to be "connected" to the trail in a more natural way.
Now, I can not say yea or nay at this point, but my experience in mountain biking closely parallels this mindset. A few years ago, I went out and purchased a brand new Trek full suspension mountain bike that incorporated all of the latest technology - multi link pivot points, 3 way rear shock, fully adjustable front shock, hydraulic disc brakes and 27 speed drive train. Price tag of $2500.00. Even with all of that "Technology", when I was on 50+ mile rides, I was getting passed by riders on steel framed single speed bicycles. Admittedly, some of those single speeders were in better shape than I, but there were plenty that were not.
After experimenting with a single speed bicycle for a while, I became much more fluid on the trail than I ever did with a full suspension. The Bike is lighter, accelerates better due to a straight chain line and no suspension compression, I can "feel"the trail, and when I approach a climb, I get out of the saddle and use my legs instead of just sitting on my fat ass and switching to an easier gear. No derailleurs and shifters to adjust - just lean back and enjoy the ride. Meanwhile, the Trek is gathering dust.
Less was more. Could this apply to running as well?

Monday, August 2nd - Well - I couldn't stand it! I went to Lloyd Clark sports after work yesterday and tried on a pair of Vibram 5fingers - call it me doing my patriotic duty to stimulate the economy, consumerism, or what ever - got me a pair and went straight to Payne's Prairie State Park. (well not actually - I remembered that I didn't have any running shorts with me, so I had to go back into the store and get a pair). I did about 3 miles walk/run on a hiking trail . had a fuckin blast - no heart rate monitor, the sun was long and the deer were grazing. I didn't track time or pace, and I estimated my distance from previous runs. When I felt like walking - I walked. When I felt like running I ran - looking up and enjoying the scenery. I need to add this to all of my runs - even if just for a post run cool down goin barefoot..
Less IS more (and to quote a friend, "moderation is for pussies")

Did I just have fun?? Weird...

The Tiramesù clan? Cool!

So, apparently, there is a set of people that think running only counts if is over distances greater than 50 miles. Then, if that wasn't enough, there is an entire tribe of people in northern Mexico called the Tarahumara, that spend their entire lives running. They have supposedly figured out how to incorporate partying with ultra distance running events.
Let me get this straight - they stay up all night drinking beer, and the next morning they consume chia seeds and pinole, then embark on a 50 to 100 mile trail race in the Copper Canyons. Hmm..athletics & alcohol..you got my attention. I should read more.

It is the last weekend in July, and Michelle & I decide to go camping at Tomoka State Park, just on the other side of the inter-coastal waterway at Ormond Beach. Determined to keep on my self imposed running schedule, I brought along all of the necessary stuff. I had finished a Thursday afternoon jog on the beach, and the plan was to do a three miler Saturday morning before the heat really kicked in. I got up around 8ish, ate a banana and started to get ready. Michelle got up and decided she would ride her bike along side and offer support. I smiled best I could, while thinking to my self - why?? - not that I didn't want her involved. It is the fact that I wasn't planning on having a bunch of fun and knew what my temperament would be before it was over. No good could come from this. Well, I finished that one ok, and looking back, it was sorta cool having her along. As my weekend "long" runs start to increase in distance, it might be cool to have her along.
As usual, the humidity was up and I was sweating like hell. I decided to rinse off with the outside shower and got on my cruiser bike and rode the course I had just ran as a cool down. Upon my return to the camper, I killed a bowl of cheerios and took a brief snooze in the AC.
It is High noon and way to hot to leave camp and go to the beach, so I decide to read more about the Tarahumara. I go outside under a tree and proceed to sweat my ass off reading a book about running whilst nursing a 16 ounce beer. (I wanted to be in the right frame of mind). It is a very interesting read that brings together the tribal runners, as well as stateside ultra marathon runners. What separates this book from most I have attempted is that it does not rehash techniques and methods, but deals with the history of humans and running, and focuses on how these select group of people have embraced running to the point that it is not only enjoyable, but almost erotic.
There is also ample history and revelations concerning the running shoe industry. It turns out, while the industry keeps churning out the latest and greatest support shoe with ever increasing price tags, running related injuries keep increasing at the same or greater pace. It seems the more you artificially support you foot with these shoes, the less they are capable of doing on their own. Its like a welfare system for you feet, to draw a social corollary.
In fact, there is a movement afoot (couldn't help myself) to run barefoot or with a glove-like shoe that is the next best thing, but protects your feet from thorns, glass and such.
As I was reading all this barefoot running stuff, I looked up to see a couple of kids running down the campground road - barefoot as hell with their shoes (probably a parent requirement) in hand. Sorta drove home the point.
At this juncture, my beer is nothing but a dead soldier and I am completely soaked with sweat, as are the edges of the pages from sweat running down my arms. Good thing this is paper and not a Kindle. I was actually considering one of those things, but how well would they hold up to Florida humidity and sweat? The people in the advertisements that are using it on the beach and outside don't sweat, I guess. Friggin merchants of cool!
But I digress...

Hold It Just a Damn Minute!

A marathon? That is twenty six miles and some change. What am I thinking? I don't even like running. I barely completed my final run in boot camp. Sure I've done a few local 5k runs and a couple of sprint triathlons, but you could sum up my running ability in one word - suck!. I have tried it off and on for the past 10 years..at my best, my pace for the first mile was barely under ten minutes (followed by a 12 minute mile). I have a Garmin forerunner HRM -GPS to make a digital history of just how bad it really is. When I start a typical after work loop around lake Alice, (~2.5 miles), the first thing I do after I start is begin calculating in my head how long this misery will take. I then lean forward and watch my feet strike the ground for the next couple of miles. When I am done, I do have to admit that I feel pretty damn good after the fact. Some of the mental stresses of the day are gone as well - so perhaps this has a purpose.
Twenty six miles? Can I actually hold out that long? Well I have ample time to find out so lets try for a 4 to 5 mile run - slow (as if that was optional) and see how it goes. This is clearly a distance-endurance problem and not a speed problem.












http://beta.mapmyride.com/workout/26974924/

Damn! I got some work to do. It doesn't help that the heat index was over 100, but that is pitiful.

You need to get a copy of the book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougal. Helluva good read. It will put you in the mood.

OK - Will Do. Just what I need - Another book espousing the virtues of running penned by a gazelle.

Moutain Biking - My Sort of Sport

Mountain biking is, in my opinion, the ultimate sport. It is the the perfect blend of athleticism and alcoholism. Racing does take place, but, unlike its distant cousin road biking, is not necessary. In some circles it even downright scoffed at. It is perfectly acceptable to ride as hard or as easy as you want, stop when you want, & pack as much shit in your camelbak as you choose. When you get back to the trail head - put up your stuff and open up a cooler of beer. What could be better. You don't even have to wear that dorky-assed cycling clothing unless you want to.
Mountain Biking also affords its enthusiasts ample opportunity to lust after and purchase a dizzying array of upgrades and accessories, thereby satisfying the insatiable desire to continually purchase more crap than necessary. Will it make you go faster? Probably not, but you sure will look much cooler maintaining your same old pace.
Throughout the year, there are events for racers and non racers alike. I tend to lean towards "festivals" - three day events sponsored by clubs for the sole purpose of riding, eating, drinking, and more of each. The only racing that goes on at these events are "clunker crits" - races infused with adult beverages that involve bicycles that are in such bad shape that a homeless person would turn their nose up at the though of being seen on them.
Yep, This is my sport. I have tried other sports - turns out being on team sports requires more tolerance of assholes than I have patience for. I do some road riding as well, but roadies take themselves waaaayyy to friggin serious. Especially considering the goofy clothing they wear. I enjoy fishing, but lets face it - despite how hard the marketing geniuses try, fishing is a pass time - not a sport. Golf? Yea, right! Next! Actually, a while back in the 80s, I did enjoy the hell out of racquetball. I was in the navy at the time, left for a six month cruise, and when I got back, I found out that the racquet sports gods had deemed racquetball a sin of the highest order and banished it from the land.
So Mountain biking it is! I can ride group or solo, be out in the woods all day, have a beer afterwards. Its all good - no need to explore further - what could possibly go wrong??
Its July 2nd, 2010. I am minding my own business on face-book, amazed once again about the amount of stupid assed shit people deem worthy to tell the whole world about.
suddenly, a message icon comes up from a good friend that now resides in Mexico. We talk about the demise and health issues of some of our classmates. The rest of the conversation follows-his part is in italics.

I'm thinking about the Ocala Marathon in January. Any interest?

all 26? that is pretty bad ass of you...I run slow as shit btw...but I aint done one b4...

The training for one is usually 18 weeks. I am slow as turtle shit too. Getting done in less than 6 hours is what I'm aiming for.
I'm doing #4 in NY state this august and will probably do a couple more this year just to keep my head straight. It would be a cool thing to go back to Marion county and see some people. I would be even cooler to do the marathon (or even the half) with you as part of the trip.

What the fuck? I'm game! what could possibly go worng?!

This, after all, was a challenge call...plus, I had never done one before. You can get away with almost anything once......