What's the lineup for the Prefontaine Classic 2008? That's what I've been wondering too for the past couple of months. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to send an email to the organizers. I went to the main site - Prefontaine Classic and shot off an email to the id listed on that page. A week later I did get a response, telling me that they will be announcing the lineup this week. It also confirmed that Kenenisa Bekele will be running. If you look at their main page, it says Bekele as well as Meserat Defar will be attempting to break the men's and women's 5000 meter world record respectively. That's going to be something.
I was fortunate to get to go to the 2007 meet. Check out some pics here.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
London marathon 2009 - 80,000 applicants in a day
I just happened to be browsing the London marathon website and this is what I found:
Incredible. This is just a day after this year's race on April 13.
Due to an overwhelming response Phase 1 of the Flora London Marathon 2009 online entry ballot has now closed. The limit of 80,000 applicants was reached at 10pm on Monday 14 April.
Incredible. This is just a day after this year's race on April 13.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Hitting the wall
This is from yesterday's Osaka marathon. The lady in the Youtube link above is Kayoko Fukushi who was making her marathon debut. She fell down thrice in that last lap inside the stadium before finishing in 2:40:54. Just incredible. The video says it all.
Just for perspective, her half marathon best is 1:07:26.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
How much can premature celebration cost?
How much could it cost you to celebrate too soon? Well, in this case, $60,000 and the rights to a marathon title.
This year's Chicago marathon apparently had an exciting finish in the women's race. Adriana Pirtrea had been leading Berhane Adere for miles. With less than a 1/4 mile to go, Pirtrea had a good lead of 80 yards. Unfortunately, she took the win for granted and started celebrating a bit too soon - jogging towards the finish and high-fiving spectators. Little did she realize when Adere caught up with her and blew past her and went on to win by 3 seconds. First prize - $125,000. Second prize - $65,000. Seems like the ingredients for the making of a Mastercard commercial.
On another note, the race director closed down the course after about four hours due to the intense heat (topping 88 F) and humidity. One person died on the course, about 50 had to be hospitalized, and 300 odd were treated on the course. Sure sounds like a tough one.
This year's Chicago marathon apparently had an exciting finish in the women's race. Adriana Pirtrea had been leading Berhane Adere for miles. With less than a 1/4 mile to go, Pirtrea had a good lead of 80 yards. Unfortunately, she took the win for granted and started celebrating a bit too soon - jogging towards the finish and high-fiving spectators. Little did she realize when Adere caught up with her and blew past her and went on to win by 3 seconds. First prize - $125,000. Second prize - $65,000. Seems like the ingredients for the making of a Mastercard commercial.
On another note, the race director closed down the course after about four hours due to the intense heat (topping 88 F) and humidity. One person died on the course, about 50 had to be hospitalized, and 300 odd were treated on the course. Sure sounds like a tough one.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Chasing Kimbia
Came across this interesting site last week: chasingkimbia.com. In their own words:
Check it out. It makes for some interesting reading, especially if you are a runner. I found the entry for September 23rd very intriguing. It talks about the differences in the way Kenyan and American marathoners approach their goal. He gives the example of them trying to run a 2:08 marathon. The Kenyan goes out at a 2:08 pace on his first try and goes as far as he can. First time, maybe he gets to 25K at this pace. The next time, he gets up to 35K. On his third try, he might do 40K. Finally, he gets to his 2:08. On the other hand, an American starts off running a 2:16 marathon on his first try, a 2:13 on the second attempt, a 2:10 thereafter, and finally the 2:08. One is distance-based and the other is time-based.
chasingKIMBIA is a blogumentary that documents the lifestyle and training of some of the world's best marathon runners. In the fall of 2006 Matt Taylor lived with the athletes in their Boulder, Colorado apartment as they prepared for the Chicago and New York City marathons. The daily coverage was unprecedented for athletes of this caliber. Taylor's unrestricted access allowed him to provide a personal touch and a unique perspective into the lives of these otherwise super-human athletes.
Check it out. It makes for some interesting reading, especially if you are a runner. I found the entry for September 23rd very intriguing. It talks about the differences in the way Kenyan and American marathoners approach their goal. He gives the example of them trying to run a 2:08 marathon. The Kenyan goes out at a 2:08 pace on his first try and goes as far as he can. First time, maybe he gets to 25K at this pace. The next time, he gets up to 35K. On his third try, he might do 40K. Finally, he gets to his 2:08. On the other hand, an American starts off running a 2:16 marathon on his first try, a 2:13 on the second attempt, a 2:10 thereafter, and finally the 2:08. One is distance-based and the other is time-based.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Running through the seasons in merino wool
Has it ever happened to you that you put on a warm shirt to go running outside and discovered that it was a bit too warm? Maybe you put on a lightweight shirt and later found yourself staying out for an extended period of time and starting to feel cold? Surely there must be an easy solution to this problem than having to wear or take off multiple layers? Yes indeed, there is and it's called merino wool.
I discovered the joy of running in merino wool last year when I picked up a merino wool running shirt from REI. It's been a year, running through four seasons (or however many you can categorize California weather into) and I've been using it on a regular basis. Based on that experience, I can say that it's probably my favorite type of running shirt.
The cool thing about merino wool is that you can wear it when it cold outside or warm outside and it'll still maintain a comfortable temperature.It dries fast and doesn't hang to to sweat like cotton. I've used it in the 40F to 80F range with nary a complaint. Often, I might go for a hike/run combo and sometimes, I end up going elsewhere after the run, e.g., grab a bite to eat. The body tends to cool down after a while and it's in these moments that I find my merino wool shirt very convenient - I don't need to put on another layer. Then, of course, there are other benefits such as not having to worry about the shirt shrinking due to repeated wash-and-dry cycles and that it doesn't itch unlike some other materials. For temperatures below 40F, a lightweight shirt might not be sufficient depending on how you deal with cold. Likewise, once it gets above 80F, you might want to look at something even lighter such as some technical shirts made by Sugoi.
REI is a great place to buy merino wool shirts. Another good place to snag some bargains is Sierra Trading Post. Keep in mind that merino wool shirts typically cost more than a regular polyester shirt, but trust me, it's worth the extra money.
I discovered the joy of running in merino wool last year when I picked up a merino wool running shirt from REI. It's been a year, running through four seasons (or however many you can categorize California weather into) and I've been using it on a regular basis. Based on that experience, I can say that it's probably my favorite type of running shirt.
The cool thing about merino wool is that you can wear it when it cold outside or warm outside and it'll still maintain a comfortable temperature.It dries fast and doesn't hang to to sweat like cotton. I've used it in the 40F to 80F range with nary a complaint. Often, I might go for a hike/run combo and sometimes, I end up going elsewhere after the run, e.g., grab a bite to eat. The body tends to cool down after a while and it's in these moments that I find my merino wool shirt very convenient - I don't need to put on another layer. Then, of course, there are other benefits such as not having to worry about the shirt shrinking due to repeated wash-and-dry cycles and that it doesn't itch unlike some other materials. For temperatures below 40F, a lightweight shirt might not be sufficient depending on how you deal with cold. Likewise, once it gets above 80F, you might want to look at something even lighter such as some technical shirts made by Sugoi.
REI is a great place to buy merino wool shirts. Another good place to snag some bargains is Sierra Trading Post. Keep in mind that merino wool shirts typically cost more than a regular polyester shirt, but trust me, it's worth the extra money.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Dude, where's the track?
If you are a runner, chances are that, when faced with an upcoming move or planning a vacation to a new place, you might asked yourself - where is a good place to run near [insert your favorite place here] or is there a running track there? There are many ways to find an answer, but in today's age of Web 2.0 (or is it 3.0 yet?) where should you go first? But, of course, the web. With online mapping tools like maps.google.com, maps.ask.com, maps.yahoo.com, maps.live.com, and others, the quest for running places becomes much easier. If you are looking for running tracks, simply go to your favorite maps site and switch to the hybrid mode, input your intended location, and adjust the zoom level. Presto! Tracks are very easy to spot because of their oval shape with usually a patch of green in the middle. Also easily recognizable are running trails. This can also be used if you happen to be hunting for an apartment or house on craigslist. Most of the listings on craigslist have a link to a map. Click on it, switch to hybrid mode, and you can even measure distances from your intended location to the nearest track or trail.
If you are picky about measuring distances (like I am sometimes) then go to gmap-pedometer.com and zoom down to the level where you want, click "Start Recording." You can mark your entire route using a series of clicks on the maps and at each point (i.e., each click) it tells you the total distance. I use this quite regularly when I run new routes. This is especially useful when I want to figure out the distance between two points along my route where I know I can run fast without having to worry about traffic lights. Keep in mind, though, that this won't work as well if your route is hilly since the site doesn't account for elevation change. So, if you happen to be running up a mountain, it will tell you the distance in as-the-crow-flies terms, which invariably will be less than what you will be running.
Tools are cool, nevertheless, the good old method of asking people - in person or online - still remains useful, particularly if you want to know specific details about the neighborhood and other stuff that an online map site won't be able to tell you. Another good resource would be a running store in the neighborhood. Typically, most running store employees are runners themselves and have a good knowledge of places to run nearby.
Do you have any favored recipes for hunting down tracks and trails that you would like to share? Send me an email.
Good luck and happy tracking.
If you are picky about measuring distances (like I am sometimes) then go to gmap-pedometer.com and zoom down to the level where you want, click "Start Recording." You can mark your entire route using a series of clicks on the maps and at each point (i.e., each click) it tells you the total distance. I use this quite regularly when I run new routes. This is especially useful when I want to figure out the distance between two points along my route where I know I can run fast without having to worry about traffic lights. Keep in mind, though, that this won't work as well if your route is hilly since the site doesn't account for elevation change. So, if you happen to be running up a mountain, it will tell you the distance in as-the-crow-flies terms, which invariably will be less than what you will be running.
Tools are cool, nevertheless, the good old method of asking people - in person or online - still remains useful, particularly if you want to know specific details about the neighborhood and other stuff that an online map site won't be able to tell you. Another good resource would be a running store in the neighborhood. Typically, most running store employees are runners themselves and have a good knowledge of places to run nearby.
Do you have any favored recipes for hunting down tracks and trails that you would like to share? Send me an email.
Good luck and happy tracking.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Prefontaine Classic 2007
Last weekend, I was at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. This is an annual invitational meet of the top track and field athletes in the world and is named after Steve Prefontaine, one of the greatest American runners of all time. This year's field was especially stellar - Maria Mutola, Craig Mottram, Alan Webb, the Bekele brothers, Bernard Lagat, Daniel Komen, Asafa Powell, Jeremy Wariner among others.
The meet started at 12:30 in the afternoon, but we got there at 11:00. Surprisingly, the best seats are in the general admission section AA which is right in front of the finish line. You just have to get there a bit early; it fills up quickly. When you go to buy tickets at the website, look at the layout of the track and the seating arrangements before buying the tickets.
The first event was the women's javelin throw, followed by the women's 400m hurdles. Then came the men's long jump. Here's a pic of the eventual winner Irving Saladino in action.
The men's 100m followed soon after with Darrel Brown winning in a relatively slow 10.42 seconds, probably because of the 2.1m/s headwind going against the field.
The men's 3000m steeplechase was next. Paul Koech (seen below) won in a time of 8:08.08 - a new Prefontaine Classic and a Hayward Field record.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia, the 2004 Olympic gold medal winner was the favorite for the men's 800m race. He's known to sit back and kick it in towards the end. Even with about 1.5 laps gone, he was quite some ways behind the rest of the field, but then, true to reputation, he surged all the way to the front.
However, Nick Symmonds of the USA had other ideas and matched him stride for stride and beat him by width of a shoe - 17/100th of a second - in a new Pre Classic record of 1:44.54. He got quite an ovation on his victory lap.
All throughout this, the other field events were in progress - shot put, javelin, triple jump, long jump, high jump, and pole vault. At some points, I managed to see both the high jumper and the pole vaulter in the air at the same time.
Liu Xiang, the current world champion won the men's 110m hurdles and Torri Edwards won the women's 100m race. This was followed by the men's 400m dash and then the women's 1500 which was won by Gelete Burka of Ethiopia in a new Pre Classic record of 4:00.08.
Sanya Richards of the USA won the women's 400m in 50.74 giving way to what was probably the most anticipated event of the day - the men's 2 mile race. Among those lined up at the start : Craig Mottram (Bib #104 below), Tariku Bekele (#101), Alan Webb (#103), Matt Tegenkamp (#109), Dathan Ritzenhein (#102), Ben Limo (#105). Kenenisa Bekele dropped out at the last minute.
The race lived up to its expectations. Mottram and Bekele found themselves leading the pack quite soon and that stayed so till the end. Alan Webb was trailing behind and he never caught up. As they came down the final 100m stretch, with more than 30-40m to go, Mottram started celebrating, turning to the crowd and raising his right arm in victory. Bekele just didn't have it in him to catch up.
Mottram finished in a new Pre Classic and Hayward Field record of 8:03.50. Apparently, he gave quite the interview afterwards. Bekele was second, followed by Matt Tegenkamp in a new American record of 8:07.07. Here's Tegenkamp posing for the pictures after his finish.
Next was the women's 800m. Maria Mutola of Mozambique won it 1:58.33 and got the loudest ovation of the meet. Below is a picture of the field during the race.
Apparently, she used to live in Springfield, near Eugene, and the local folks love her. This was her 15th consecutive win at the Prefontaine meet. In terms of consistency, she is one of the all-time greats. Check out the pictures on my photo blog of her surrounded by photographers after her finish.
Next was the men's 200m which was supposed to be a match-up between the world 100m champion Asafa Powell, the 2004 Olympic gold winner in the 400m, Jeremy Wariner, and the 200m winner in the 2004 Olympics, Shawn Crawford. However, Xavier Carter decided not to play by the script and was the eventual winner, with Powell finishing in the third position and Wariner a distant sixth.
The last race was the men's 1 mile - the Bowerman mile, named after Bill Bowerman. Daniel Komen of Kenya won quite easily in 3:48.28, a new Pre Classic and Hayward Field record and the fastest mile ever on US soil. Bernard Lagat finished second.
Just like that, it started pouring heavily. The sun had been playing hide-and-seek behind the clouds all day but it was nice of the clouds to hold their rain till the end. This is what it looked like throughout the three hours we were there.
As we walked out the announcer started saying something about the Olympics trials next year on this field and out come a bulldozer and scooped up a giant chunk of the earth in the middle of the green field. Apparently, Hayward field is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation for the Olympic trials.
Eugene is a great place. I saw lots of runners while driving around. Lots of people including young kids and youth showed up for the meet indicating the strong support in the community for running. If you happen to be there on a Saturday, check out the Eugene Saturday Market. If you are driving you could stop by Crater Lake National Park which is about 140 miles away or Portland, about 110 miles away.
The meet started at 12:30 in the afternoon, but we got there at 11:00. Surprisingly, the best seats are in the general admission section AA which is right in front of the finish line. You just have to get there a bit early; it fills up quickly. When you go to buy tickets at the website, look at the layout of the track and the seating arrangements before buying the tickets.
The first event was the women's javelin throw, followed by the women's 400m hurdles. Then came the men's long jump. Here's a pic of the eventual winner Irving Saladino in action.
The men's 100m followed soon after with Darrel Brown winning in a relatively slow 10.42 seconds, probably because of the 2.1m/s headwind going against the field.
The men's 3000m steeplechase was next. Paul Koech (seen below) won in a time of 8:08.08 - a new Prefontaine Classic and a Hayward Field record.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia, the 2004 Olympic gold medal winner was the favorite for the men's 800m race. He's known to sit back and kick it in towards the end. Even with about 1.5 laps gone, he was quite some ways behind the rest of the field, but then, true to reputation, he surged all the way to the front.
However, Nick Symmonds of the USA had other ideas and matched him stride for stride and beat him by width of a shoe - 17/100th of a second - in a new Pre Classic record of 1:44.54. He got quite an ovation on his victory lap.
All throughout this, the other field events were in progress - shot put, javelin, triple jump, long jump, high jump, and pole vault. At some points, I managed to see both the high jumper and the pole vaulter in the air at the same time.
Liu Xiang, the current world champion won the men's 110m hurdles and Torri Edwards won the women's 100m race. This was followed by the men's 400m dash and then the women's 1500 which was won by Gelete Burka of Ethiopia in a new Pre Classic record of 4:00.08.
Sanya Richards of the USA won the women's 400m in 50.74 giving way to what was probably the most anticipated event of the day - the men's 2 mile race. Among those lined up at the start : Craig Mottram (Bib #104 below), Tariku Bekele (#101), Alan Webb (#103), Matt Tegenkamp (#109), Dathan Ritzenhein (#102), Ben Limo (#105). Kenenisa Bekele dropped out at the last minute.
The race lived up to its expectations. Mottram and Bekele found themselves leading the pack quite soon and that stayed so till the end. Alan Webb was trailing behind and he never caught up. As they came down the final 100m stretch, with more than 30-40m to go, Mottram started celebrating, turning to the crowd and raising his right arm in victory. Bekele just didn't have it in him to catch up.
Mottram finished in a new Pre Classic and Hayward Field record of 8:03.50. Apparently, he gave quite the interview afterwards. Bekele was second, followed by Matt Tegenkamp in a new American record of 8:07.07. Here's Tegenkamp posing for the pictures after his finish.
Next was the women's 800m. Maria Mutola of Mozambique won it 1:58.33 and got the loudest ovation of the meet. Below is a picture of the field during the race.
Apparently, she used to live in Springfield, near Eugene, and the local folks love her. This was her 15th consecutive win at the Prefontaine meet. In terms of consistency, she is one of the all-time greats. Check out the pictures on my photo blog of her surrounded by photographers after her finish.
Next was the men's 200m which was supposed to be a match-up between the world 100m champion Asafa Powell, the 2004 Olympic gold winner in the 400m, Jeremy Wariner, and the 200m winner in the 2004 Olympics, Shawn Crawford. However, Xavier Carter decided not to play by the script and was the eventual winner, with Powell finishing in the third position and Wariner a distant sixth.
The last race was the men's 1 mile - the Bowerman mile, named after Bill Bowerman. Daniel Komen of Kenya won quite easily in 3:48.28, a new Pre Classic and Hayward Field record and the fastest mile ever on US soil. Bernard Lagat finished second.
Just like that, it started pouring heavily. The sun had been playing hide-and-seek behind the clouds all day but it was nice of the clouds to hold their rain till the end. This is what it looked like throughout the three hours we were there.
As we walked out the announcer started saying something about the Olympics trials next year on this field and out come a bulldozer and scooped up a giant chunk of the earth in the middle of the green field. Apparently, Hayward field is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation for the Olympic trials.
Eugene is a great place. I saw lots of runners while driving around. Lots of people including young kids and youth showed up for the meet indicating the strong support in the community for running. If you happen to be there on a Saturday, check out the Eugene Saturday Market. If you are driving you could stop by Crater Lake National Park which is about 140 miles away or Portland, about 110 miles away.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Saucony Trigons - absolutely great running shoes
Today, I took out a new pair of Saucony Trigon shoes to replace my current pair that has 800+ miles on them now. The shots below are those of one shoe from each pair - one with 800 miles and the other with 0 miles.
These have been great running shoes. I got them on www.finishline.com for $30 on clearance. After a few runs, I loved the first pair so much that I promptly went on to order a few more pairs. These have been very comfortable shoes. Most of my running is on the road and sometimes on dirt trails. The first pair lasted me for just over a 1000 miles before I gave them to a local shoe store for recycling. This is the original Trigon edition. Now they are up to Trigon 4.
Disclaimer: No, I don't work for Saucony or own any stake. Just a very satisfied customer.
These have been great running shoes. I got them on www.finishline.com for $30 on clearance. After a few runs, I loved the first pair so much that I promptly went on to order a few more pairs. These have been very comfortable shoes. Most of my running is on the road and sometimes on dirt trails. The first pair lasted me for just over a 1000 miles before I gave them to a local shoe store for recycling. This is the original Trigon edition. Now they are up to Trigon 4.
Disclaimer: No, I don't work for Saucony or own any stake. Just a very satisfied customer.
Monday, March 19, 2007
A race in the park
This past weekend, I ran a 10K race. This was at the Shoreline Park in Mountain View, which houses the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a site for music concerts. This is what it looks like during the day.
More than a couple of years had passed since my last 10K which was in 2004 and which was essentially my last race. This was a condition-gauging race, with the prime objective being to see where I stand in my current state.
The race was conducted by a charity organization, Asha. One of my colleagues told me about them last year when he was training with them for a marathon. Check them out at ashanet.org. Their primary objective is education and they are very efficient in their fund-raising. Take a gander at their efficiency rating over at charitynavigator.org and you'll see that they score 39.70 out of a possible 40. Mighty impressive.
The race was an out-and-back course and started at 9:20 a.m., a wee bit late into the day for a warm spring day. Most of my races have started by 7-8 a.m. If I were primed for an optimal performance, that might have been a concern, but in this case, it just merely a passing thought. There were about a couple of hundred entrants in the 5K and 10K inclusive. This was a low key race and there was no gun to start us off, just a human voice counting down from 10 downwards. Off we started. I found myself bunched up behind a few slower runners and started weaving my way gently to the front where I found myself in a pack of about 10-12 people. Mile 1 came even before I realized - in 6:20. Mile 2 and 3 followed in 7:28 and 7:52. This part passed by marshlands and we found ourselves fighting swarms of little bugs, the kind that you find on ripe fruit. Trying to keep them from entering the eyes and mouth. However, my legs were starting to tire by now and so, eschewing mouth-breathing wasn't really all that difficult. The turn-around came soon after and miles 4 and 5 were in 7:55 and 7:49. This was even worse since, by now, my face was covered in sweat and going back through the buggy area saw me come out with dozens of bugs stuck on my neck and face. A few made their way into my eyes. Soon after mile 5, there was a marker which said 0.2. That was a neat concept which I haven't seen before. What this means is that, at this point, you are done with 5.2 of the 6.2 miles that constitute a 10K and that you have exactly one mile to the finish. If I were in better shape, that would have been an invitation to change gears and blast it all the way through the end. However, the combination of tired legs and the bugs prevented me even trying to do so. I did manage a slightly faster mile and finished in 7:14 for a total time of 45:18. I reckon I finished about 7th or 8th overall. My pace was 7:18 min/mile. Can't say I was too disappointed but I had been hoping for a sub-44 minute time since that would've given me a sub-7:00 pace.
The guy that finished just before me (about 20 seconds ahead) ran the entire race barefoot. Part of the course was over dirt trails and I was impressed. The overall winner was a Stanford University track team runner who finished in 32:XX while looking like he'd just finished a leisurely Sunday morning jog.
My weekly mileage for the month leading into this race was a bit on the low end - 12.5, 19, 18, 16, and 10 - in addition to about 85 miles of biking and 0 miles of speedwork. Speedwork was something that I'd last done back in 2004. So, overall, I wasn't exactly expecting to do too well, however, I was satisfied with what I did. At least I know where I stand and this gives me a base to shoot from for the next target. I think I'll be aiming for sub-40 which is a 6:27 pace. It'll be tough, but it has to be done. :)
Shoreline Park is a nice place, especially on a night where a full moon is rising. However, it's probably not the best place for a race if the race has to pass through swarms of marsh bugs.
More than a couple of years had passed since my last 10K which was in 2004 and which was essentially my last race. This was a condition-gauging race, with the prime objective being to see where I stand in my current state.
The race was conducted by a charity organization, Asha. One of my colleagues told me about them last year when he was training with them for a marathon. Check them out at ashanet.org. Their primary objective is education and they are very efficient in their fund-raising. Take a gander at their efficiency rating over at charitynavigator.org and you'll see that they score 39.70 out of a possible 40. Mighty impressive.
The race was an out-and-back course and started at 9:20 a.m., a wee bit late into the day for a warm spring day. Most of my races have started by 7-8 a.m. If I were primed for an optimal performance, that might have been a concern, but in this case, it just merely a passing thought. There were about a couple of hundred entrants in the 5K and 10K inclusive. This was a low key race and there was no gun to start us off, just a human voice counting down from 10 downwards. Off we started. I found myself bunched up behind a few slower runners and started weaving my way gently to the front where I found myself in a pack of about 10-12 people. Mile 1 came even before I realized - in 6:20. Mile 2 and 3 followed in 7:28 and 7:52. This part passed by marshlands and we found ourselves fighting swarms of little bugs, the kind that you find on ripe fruit. Trying to keep them from entering the eyes and mouth. However, my legs were starting to tire by now and so, eschewing mouth-breathing wasn't really all that difficult. The turn-around came soon after and miles 4 and 5 were in 7:55 and 7:49. This was even worse since, by now, my face was covered in sweat and going back through the buggy area saw me come out with dozens of bugs stuck on my neck and face. A few made their way into my eyes. Soon after mile 5, there was a marker which said 0.2. That was a neat concept which I haven't seen before. What this means is that, at this point, you are done with 5.2 of the 6.2 miles that constitute a 10K and that you have exactly one mile to the finish. If I were in better shape, that would have been an invitation to change gears and blast it all the way through the end. However, the combination of tired legs and the bugs prevented me even trying to do so. I did manage a slightly faster mile and finished in 7:14 for a total time of 45:18. I reckon I finished about 7th or 8th overall. My pace was 7:18 min/mile. Can't say I was too disappointed but I had been hoping for a sub-44 minute time since that would've given me a sub-7:00 pace.
The guy that finished just before me (about 20 seconds ahead) ran the entire race barefoot. Part of the course was over dirt trails and I was impressed. The overall winner was a Stanford University track team runner who finished in 32:XX while looking like he'd just finished a leisurely Sunday morning jog.
My weekly mileage for the month leading into this race was a bit on the low end - 12.5, 19, 18, 16, and 10 - in addition to about 85 miles of biking and 0 miles of speedwork. Speedwork was something that I'd last done back in 2004. So, overall, I wasn't exactly expecting to do too well, however, I was satisfied with what I did. At least I know where I stand and this gives me a base to shoot from for the next target. I think I'll be aiming for sub-40 which is a 6:27 pace. It'll be tough, but it has to be done. :)
Shoreline Park is a nice place, especially on a night where a full moon is rising. However, it's probably not the best place for a race if the race has to pass through swarms of marsh bugs.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
New Year's in Joshua Tree
Got myself a circular polarizer filter last month. On New Year's day, found myself in Joshua Tree National Park looking up at this humongous cloud after a beautiful 3 mile run.
Joshua Tree is a beautiful desert. Once a year, in spring, the desert blooms and you'd never guess it was a desert if you looked at the pictures of the flowers blooming.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Effects of donating blood on running
The last few times I donated blood, I've been trying to see how it affects my running. A few months ago, I tried biking about five hours after blood donation. That felt alright. Next time too, I biked the same distance (~4 miles) and about 40 hours later, went for a 7 mile run. That too went off without problems - no blood, no tears, only sweat (it was a hot day). This month, I went for a 3.5 mile run at about 8:00 minute/mile pace and after about 5 hours, went in for the blood donation, and about 3 hours after that, went for another 3.5 mile run. I consciously dropped my pace to around 8:40 minutes/mile from my usual easy run pace of 8:00 minutes/mile since this was a first experience for me. I was mentally prepared to slow down to 9+ minute pace and even walk if needed, but, to my pleasant surprise I had no problems whatsoever. Indeed, at the end of the run, I felt that I could have gone at 8:00. Next time I think I will increase either the distance or the speed, most likely the distance.
One of the things that happens with blood donation is that you instantaneously lose a pound of body weight. Maybe that makes you a bit faster. Of course, don't tell that to the nurse at the blood center. This time, when one of them found out that I run, she made it a point of telling me - "Absolutely no running for at least 24 hours."
Browsing the web, I came across a wide spectrum of experiences that other people had - from feeling absolutely normal to feeling very weak, from nausea to headaches. If you are racing, then blood donation seems to have more of an effect than if you are simply out for a jog. However, I wasn't able to find any specific study on this subject. I'll post links here if I find them.
One of the things that happens with blood donation is that you instantaneously lose a pound of body weight. Maybe that makes you a bit faster. Of course, don't tell that to the nurse at the blood center. This time, when one of them found out that I run, she made it a point of telling me - "Absolutely no running for at least 24 hours."
Browsing the web, I came across a wide spectrum of experiences that other people had - from feeling absolutely normal to feeling very weak, from nausea to headaches. If you are racing, then blood donation seems to have more of an effect than if you are simply out for a jog. However, I wasn't able to find any specific study on this subject. I'll post links here if I find them.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Today I went to the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll half marathon.This was the inaugural edition. I went there to see Meb Keflezighi, the American champ. Unfortunately, by the time I reached there it was about 8-9 minutes past the hour. The winner, Duncan Kibet, had already finished in 1:00:22, which, according to the announcer, was the second fastest time on U.S. soil, after Haile Gebreselassie's. Later I checked the results and couldn't find Keflezighi on there. Wonder if he didn't show up or didn't finish?
The shot above is that of the women's winner - Silvia Skvortsova of Russia. The other shot is that of a guy in a mohawk. Check the time - 80 minutes. That's about a 6:07 pace. Pretty impressive. Wonder how many minutes he could shave off if he shaved off his mohawk. There was another guy a few minutes later, wearing what looked like capris.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Encounter with a hawk
This past weekend, we went to a nearby park to get in a leisurely run. After the run, we were cooling down by the lake, looking at the little ducks on the water, when out of the blue skies something descended swiftly. Not Superman, not an airplane, but a bird, and at a speed much faster than a 4 minute mile pace. We turned and looked - it was a hawk with a pigeon gripped tightly in its claws. I was lucky that I had my camera with me. Over the next half hour, I watched the hawk literally eviscerate its prey. Here are a few pictures from its Sunday brunch. In one of the pictures, you can see a sailboat on the lake in the background in the right.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Running in Alaska
I was in Alaska this month for a couple of weeks. Summer is Alaska has got to be the best time and place on this planet for running. Long days and many trails. Anchorage, which is in the south, gets about 20 hours of daylight. Technically, the sun rises around 4 a.m. and sets around midnight at this time of the year (mid June to mid maJuly). However, even those 3-4 hours without the sun are kind of like a twilight zone - you can see everything quite well. The city seems to be crawling with trails. Two minutes into a trail and you don't feel that you are in a city. What this all means is that you can go out for a great run whenever you feel like it, without having to worry about the need to carry little LED lights or about getting back before it turns dark.
From Anchorage, I hopped on to Seward, a port city about 120 miles south and the site of the second oldest race in the USA - the Mt. Marathon race. This 3.5 mile race is held every year on the 4th of July and this year was the 79th edition. It starts from the town (at the intersection of 4th and Jefferson) and goes about a half mile on the streets before hitting the base of Mt. Marathon. What follows next is just under 1.5 miles of unmaintained trails that seriously question your ability to persevere, while taking you up 3022 feet (from the 30 feet elevation at the start), with the average slope being 38 degrees and the maximum being 60 degrees. Far from a little hike in the woods. (Check out the caution notice in the picture.) The total race is about 3.5 miles and the record for the course is 43 min 23 sec, set in 1981. Getting into the race is next to impossible if you are a first-time aspirant. You can pay your $45 application and hope it gets selected in the lottery. Most likely, you will end up writing it off as a donation. If not, there's always the auction for 10 slots, which is held the day before the race. This year the highest winning bid was $1170. During the July 4th weekend, the town's population swells from about 2500 to about 30,000.
I didn't make the selection cut, and didn't feel the desire to shell out a thousand bucks, and so, instead I decided to run (more like a fast hike) up Mt. Marathon by myself, a couple of days before the actual race. I made my way up slowly, struggling to summon all my horsepower in order to lift my weight against gravity and a much more formidable entity - the slope of the mountain. Combine this with the slippery trail and you find yourself in situations where you are hiking all hunched up (think of an imaginary 50 lb backpack on your back) or just plainly on all fours like a bear, except much slower. Time passed by, almost in slow-motion, until, finally, I found myself at the top, looking down below at an amazing view of the entire bay below. It's a beautiful sight from the top well worth all the trouble. Coming down is equally challening. It took me just under an hour to do the whole thing from the base of the mountain. After the hike, I fueled myself at the Resurrection Art Coffee House, a cute little coffee shop at the intersection of 3rd and Jefferson, followed by lunch at a Greek restaurant - Apollo. Salmon pizza! One of the best I've ever had. Seward is a cute little town. Check it out.
Another place to get in some great running is Denali National Park - about 240 miles north of Anchorage. Here, the sun sets after midnight and is back up around 3:30 a.m. I had one of the most memorable runs ever - at 2 a.m. Beautiful, surreal twilight - like the kind you see in some of the movies. I went for a 3 mile run along the road, with not a soul in sight. The only moving entity I encountered was a fox with a rabbit in its mouth - early breakfast. Denali is beautiful - and that's an understatement.
Alaska is an absolute paradise for running. At least, in the summer. Winter might be a different story, but that's another topic for another day.
From Anchorage, I hopped on to Seward, a port city about 120 miles south and the site of the second oldest race in the USA - the Mt. Marathon race. This 3.5 mile race is held every year on the 4th of July and this year was the 79th edition. It starts from the town (at the intersection of 4th and Jefferson) and goes about a half mile on the streets before hitting the base of Mt. Marathon. What follows next is just under 1.5 miles of unmaintained trails that seriously question your ability to persevere, while taking you up 3022 feet (from the 30 feet elevation at the start), with the average slope being 38 degrees and the maximum being 60 degrees. Far from a little hike in the woods. (Check out the caution notice in the picture.) The total race is about 3.5 miles and the record for the course is 43 min 23 sec, set in 1981. Getting into the race is next to impossible if you are a first-time aspirant. You can pay your $45 application and hope it gets selected in the lottery. Most likely, you will end up writing it off as a donation. If not, there's always the auction for 10 slots, which is held the day before the race. This year the highest winning bid was $1170. During the July 4th weekend, the town's population swells from about 2500 to about 30,000.
I didn't make the selection cut, and didn't feel the desire to shell out a thousand bucks, and so, instead I decided to run (more like a fast hike) up Mt. Marathon by myself, a couple of days before the actual race. I made my way up slowly, struggling to summon all my horsepower in order to lift my weight against gravity and a much more formidable entity - the slope of the mountain. Combine this with the slippery trail and you find yourself in situations where you are hiking all hunched up (think of an imaginary 50 lb backpack on your back) or just plainly on all fours like a bear, except much slower. Time passed by, almost in slow-motion, until, finally, I found myself at the top, looking down below at an amazing view of the entire bay below. It's a beautiful sight from the top well worth all the trouble. Coming down is equally challening. It took me just under an hour to do the whole thing from the base of the mountain. After the hike, I fueled myself at the Resurrection Art Coffee House, a cute little coffee shop at the intersection of 3rd and Jefferson, followed by lunch at a Greek restaurant - Apollo. Salmon pizza! One of the best I've ever had. Seward is a cute little town. Check it out.
Another place to get in some great running is Denali National Park - about 240 miles north of Anchorage. Here, the sun sets after midnight and is back up around 3:30 a.m. I had one of the most memorable runs ever - at 2 a.m. Beautiful, surreal twilight - like the kind you see in some of the movies. I went for a 3 mile run along the road, with not a soul in sight. The only moving entity I encountered was a fox with a rabbit in its mouth - early breakfast. Denali is beautiful - and that's an understatement.
Alaska is an absolute paradise for running. At least, in the summer. Winter might be a different story, but that's another topic for another day.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
runtheplanet.com - running routes around the world
www.runtheplanet.com is a site with descriptions of over 4200 routes in over 3100 cities all over the world. It's been running since 1996 and is still going strong. I find myself quite often referring people to this site when they are looking for places to run on a trip somewhere, especially to other countries. I've added a couple of descriptions myself. I encourage you to take a look and while you're there, add a few of your favorite routes.
There are other forums, newsgroups, and bulletin boards where you could find more information about running in specific cities by posting a question or by searching the archived messages. However, what I like about runtheplanet.com is that I can simply type in the city name and it will take me to a page with descriptions of all the routes for that city. The difference is that it is solely focused on running routes unlike other media where there is a lot more information about a lot more topics.
There are other forums, newsgroups, and bulletin boards where you could find more information about running in specific cities by posting a question or by searching the archived messages. However, what I like about runtheplanet.com is that I can simply type in the city name and it will take me to a page with descriptions of all the routes for that city. The difference is that it is solely focused on running routes unlike other media where there is a lot more information about a lot more topics.
Monday, May 29, 2006
London marathon - live on the net
In April, I saw the London marathon (more precisely, a tiny part of it) live on the Internet. The quality wasn't really anything to wax eloquent about. Nonetheless, for a runner deprived of live TV coverage, it was a blessing, especially given the field. At least, you could hear the commentary clearly.
It would be interesting to see if we could leverage the power of technology even further. Imagine a marathon (or any other race) website streaming the live coverage along with a list of the top N runners at any given time. You click on any name and it displays the current data for the runner - current heart rate, current pace, average pace, and other interesting statistics. Given the plethora of personal monitoring devices (e.g., heart rate monitors, etc.) that exists today and the availability of wireless networks, the task in itself shouldn't be too complicated. Of course, it would be up to the runner whether he/she chooses to have that data streamed. On the other hand, if everyone or even half of a field in one of the big ones such as London or Los Angeles decided to go for this, it could pose some interesting scalability problems for wireless delivery.
It would be interesting to see if we could leverage the power of technology even further. Imagine a marathon (or any other race) website streaming the live coverage along with a list of the top N runners at any given time. You click on any name and it displays the current data for the runner - current heart rate, current pace, average pace, and other interesting statistics. Given the plethora of personal monitoring devices (e.g., heart rate monitors, etc.) that exists today and the availability of wireless networks, the task in itself shouldn't be too complicated. Of course, it would be up to the runner whether he/she chooses to have that data streamed. On the other hand, if everyone or even half of a field in one of the big ones such as London or Los Angeles decided to go for this, it could pose some interesting scalability problems for wireless delivery.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Recycling old shoes
Last week, I collected a bunch of old shoes from colleagues at work for recycling. All I had to do was send out a company-wide email and put up a large bin in an accessible area. The shoes came flying in. I'll be dropping them off today at a nearby running store that I'd contacted before embarking on this drive.
I learned something in the process. Most of us don't recycle shoes since we don't know that it can be done. Instead, we just put them in the garbage and ultimately it ends up in a landfill somewhere. However, if more of us knew about recycling, more of us would be willing to do so. One of the questions many of them had was: what happens to recycled shoes? I must admit, I didn't know much other than that they were broken down to be used for playground surfacing. I looked it up online and it's a bit more exciting than that. They actually break the shoes into their constituents such as fabric, foam, and rubber. These are then ground up into tiny bits which then go into the surfacing of playgrounds, soccer, football, and baseball fields, athletic tracks, padding under the floors of basketball/volleyball courts, weight room flooring, etc.
So, if you want to do something similar, it's very easy. Simply contact your local running store and see if they recycle shoes. Most would. Keep in mind they only recycle sports shoes. No dress shoes, no hiking boots, no thongs, no sandals. You could then contact your neighbors or work colleagues and tell them about your sole intention. Most people are very willing to cooperate and would be more than happy to get rid of their old shoes sitting in the garage/attic/backyard, if they know that their shoes are going towards a worthy cause. Go for it!
I learned something in the process. Most of us don't recycle shoes since we don't know that it can be done. Instead, we just put them in the garbage and ultimately it ends up in a landfill somewhere. However, if more of us knew about recycling, more of us would be willing to do so. One of the questions many of them had was: what happens to recycled shoes? I must admit, I didn't know much other than that they were broken down to be used for playground surfacing. I looked it up online and it's a bit more exciting than that. They actually break the shoes into their constituents such as fabric, foam, and rubber. These are then ground up into tiny bits which then go into the surfacing of playgrounds, soccer, football, and baseball fields, athletic tracks, padding under the floors of basketball/volleyball courts, weight room flooring, etc.
So, if you want to do something similar, it's very easy. Simply contact your local running store and see if they recycle shoes. Most would. Keep in mind they only recycle sports shoes. No dress shoes, no hiking boots, no thongs, no sandals. You could then contact your neighbors or work colleagues and tell them about your sole intention. Most people are very willing to cooperate and would be more than happy to get rid of their old shoes sitting in the garage/attic/backyard, if they know that their shoes are going towards a worthy cause. Go for it!
Sunday, March 05, 2006
gmap-pedometer.com to map running routes
Check out http://www.gmap-pedometer.com. It's a google maps hack that lets you calculate the distance of your running route. You click "start recording" and simply double click on each point that you want and proceed to the next one on your intended route. The cumulative distance is shown so you know how far you would've run. This is a very useful tool for runners who would rather not have to measure their route in a car or wear a GPS unit.
Just out of curiosity, I compared it to ask.com's maps feature that I wrote about in my last post. For a specific route, I calculated the distance using both these methods. What do I get? Exactly the same distance. I think they differed in the second or third decimal point but that could be attributed to where I placed my points on the maps. This one was slightly faster than ask.com, but it's not exactly a fair comparison since this is a utility that was built on gmaps. It could have as well been built on ask.com. Overall, I think it's very good.
Just out of curiosity, I compared it to ask.com's maps feature that I wrote about in my last post. For a specific route, I calculated the distance using both these methods. What do I get? Exactly the same distance. I think they differed in the second or third decimal point but that could be attributed to where I placed my points on the maps. This one was slightly faster than ask.com, but it's not exactly a fair comparison since this is a utility that was built on gmaps. It could have as well been built on ask.com. Overall, I think it's very good.
Friday, March 03, 2006
maps at ask.com makes it easy to map running routes
ask.com unveiled its new interface this week. I played around with the maps feature and found it to be immensely better than any of the current offerings out there. You can put in a start point and add as many destinations as you want. But, that's not the best part. The most compelling feature, in my opinion, was the ability to drag and drop the pins that represent the destinations. You can drop it anywhere on the map and it will automatically calculate the new coordinates for you.
This is exactly what I'd been wanting for a long time. In the past, when I would want to map out a route using web-based maps, I had to put in the street intersections for pairs of starting and ending points and do that for all the segments that made up my intended route and finally add up all the distances to get my final mileage. Needless to say, it was a tedious task that required quite a bit of time. This makes it really easy. Very impressive.
I don't expect it will be as accurate (down to the decimal) as using a bike odometer. Nevertheless, it could be a good tool to get a general idea of how long a route is.
Off to find a few new routes to go running.
This is exactly what I'd been wanting for a long time. In the past, when I would want to map out a route using web-based maps, I had to put in the street intersections for pairs of starting and ending points and do that for all the segments that made up my intended route and finally add up all the distances to get my final mileage. Needless to say, it was a tedious task that required quite a bit of time. This makes it really easy. Very impressive.
I don't expect it will be as accurate (down to the decimal) as using a bike odometer. Nevertheless, it could be a good tool to get a general idea of how long a route is.
Off to find a few new routes to go running.
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