Where, oh where does the time go? My baby is four. Four!!!
We started our day by eating cake. Actually, we started our day at 2 am because we're still a little jet lagged, so we waited until the sun came up to eat cake and open presents. It was Sarah's day and she decided she wanted to go to Everland. We headed out after lunch so we could nap in the car on the way there and stay for the fireworks.
Being that it was a beautiful fall day on the weekend of Chusok, Everland was packed. Luckily, we weren't planning on doing much other than enjoying the weather. First up was the ball pit. After a short wait, it was our turn for 5 minutes of compressed air fun. After dinner, we headed for the Cat Show. Yes, an animal show filled with cats. When the show was over, it was time to watch the night parade and get a good seat for the fireworks. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes of sitting still, Sarah started to snuggle up and fall asleep. We tried to wake her up, but she was out like a light and slept through the entire fireworks display.
All in all, we had a great time... and our late night even helped us get back to the right time zone. We'll have her birthday party in a few weeks, once I can get everything organized and back to the right routine.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Ready or Not!
This is how my morning started four years ago:
4:30 am Wake up and go to the bathroom. Man I wish this kid would quit kicking my bladder.
4:45 am Toss and turn. Maybe I'll be more comfortable on this side.
4:50 am No, it was more comfortable over on the other side. Seriously, can my belly get any bigger? Crap, did I just trickle a little?
4:52 am No, I don't think that was a trickle, I just emptied my bladder.
4:54 am It's got to be a trickle, I'm not even 36 weeks along yet.
4:55 am Wake up Ronnie... You may not want to go on that out and back today. I may have peed myself, but I may not have. No, we're not going to the hospital; I have an appointment at 8:30.
5:00 am Morning mom! How do you know if your water broke? No it wasn't a gush, it just felt like I peed my pants a little. Okay, I'll go to the hospital. No not right now, I'm going to get something to eat and take a shower.
7:00 am Wake up Holly, time to go to school.
7:30 am Hey, I'm heading to the hospital, so my friends Jamie and/or Tonya may pick up Holly today. No, I'm not in labor, but I may be later on. We'll call you and let you know what's going on.
9:30 am Well, Ms. Oliver, I see what I think may be amniotic fluid, but it's not for sure. Why don't you walk around the hospital a bit and come back when you think it's trickled again. -- Okay doc, but after trying to get up, I think I just trickled. -- Yep, that's what we're looking for. Nurse, go ahead and admit her, we're going to have a baby today!
And after getting hooked up to the juice, we did just that. Sarah Elizabeth came into this world at 2:40 pm. She surprised us all by getting here so quickly; even my OB didn't get there in time and she just works a block away!
4:30 am Wake up and go to the bathroom. Man I wish this kid would quit kicking my bladder.
4:45 am Toss and turn. Maybe I'll be more comfortable on this side.
4:50 am No, it was more comfortable over on the other side. Seriously, can my belly get any bigger? Crap, did I just trickle a little?
4:52 am No, I don't think that was a trickle, I just emptied my bladder.
4:54 am It's got to be a trickle, I'm not even 36 weeks along yet.
4:55 am Wake up Ronnie... You may not want to go on that out and back today. I may have peed myself, but I may not have. No, we're not going to the hospital; I have an appointment at 8:30.
5:00 am Morning mom! How do you know if your water broke? No it wasn't a gush, it just felt like I peed my pants a little. Okay, I'll go to the hospital. No not right now, I'm going to get something to eat and take a shower.
7:00 am Wake up Holly, time to go to school.
7:30 am Hey, I'm heading to the hospital, so my friends Jamie and/or Tonya may pick up Holly today. No, I'm not in labor, but I may be later on. We'll call you and let you know what's going on.
9:30 am Well, Ms. Oliver, I see what I think may be amniotic fluid, but it's not for sure. Why don't you walk around the hospital a bit and come back when you think it's trickled again. -- Okay doc, but after trying to get up, I think I just trickled. -- Yep, that's what we're looking for. Nurse, go ahead and admit her, we're going to have a baby today!
And after getting hooked up to the juice, we did just that. Sarah Elizabeth came into this world at 2:40 pm. She surprised us all by getting here so quickly; even my OB didn't get there in time and she just works a block away!
Happy Birthday my sweet Sarah-lara! We love you!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A Nice Soft Landing
Well, we made it back to the Land of the Morning Calm. Relatively unscathed at that... well, if you consider being on the road back starting at 6 pm on Sunday and making it here 11 am Wednesday. Sure there's an International Date Line in there somewhere, but you get the point.
Besides sleeping in our nice, soft beds last night, we were greated by a crisp, bright sun and big blue skied morning. Nice to be back when it comes packaged like that.
Besides sleeping in our nice, soft beds last night, we were greated by a crisp, bright sun and big blue skied morning. Nice to be back when it comes packaged like that.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Doubling Back
Again, I'm blogging while I should be sleeping. I'm sitting in the SeaTac USO watching the rest of my family sleep. It's what I'm supposed to be doing as well, but I'm fighting to stay awake just a few more hours so I can crash on the airplane. Exhausted doesn't start to describe how I'm feeling right now. My body has no idea what time zone it's supposed to be in. I think I'm about 6 hours off from the time in Korea; just in time to try to adjust it back, right?
Well, we've had a whirlwind visit to the States. We were in Seattle for two days visiting my grandma, two of my uncles and my cousin Emily. While I wish we could have visited with everyone, it was great to see who we could while we were there. We haven't been up that way since the girls were tiny.
On Thursday, we took off for Dayton. Our plane left at 12 noon, but we had to get on the road early to cross downtown Seattle. Note to self - midday flights are good, but take into account travel time and rush hour traffic. We made good time and hung out in the USO for a bit. The SeaTac USO is really nice. The girls ate a bowl of cereal and watched a movie while Ronnie and I made sure we had everything lined up for our return hop. The people that work in there are uber-helpful and pointed us to everywhere and everything we needed. Before we knew it, it was time to head to Dayton. We landed seven hours later --yes there's a layover in there -- and were greeted in the terminal by my mom and dad!
My parents and my sister and her family made the trip to cheer Ronnie on in the marathon. It was awesome to visit with them, although we were still massively jet lagged. Besides the marathon, we were able to visit a corn maze, go to a street fair, and quickly browse the Air Force Museum. We also got to meet up with a good friend of ours who is stationed at Wright-Patterson. Before we knew it, it was time to hug and kiss everyone goodbye as we headed back to Seattle for our hop.
Little did we know that would be a long trip back. Our plane was delayed two hours out of Dayton and we missed our connection to Seattle. But the airline put us up for the night at DFW and we were on the first flight out the next morning. When we finally made it here this morning, we had less than twelve hours until roll call. My aunt scooped us up to hang out for the day.
After grabbing a hand-patted hamburger, we headed to the mall. A few weeks ago, Holly announced that she was ready to get her ears pierced and we told her we would get it done while we were on our trip. We headed back to my aunt's house to relax and visit with my cousins Cindy and Matt, and their children, who dropped in to say hello. At last it was time to eat some dinner and head for the airport.
We checked in, got the briefing, and after about an hour, roll call began. We were the first ones called! Which brings us to hanging out in the USO, relaxing before our flight begins.
Like I said, whirlwind visit, but filled with lots of fun memories. Now to just get Ronnie to sit down and blog about the marathon.
Well, we've had a whirlwind visit to the States. We were in Seattle for two days visiting my grandma, two of my uncles and my cousin Emily. While I wish we could have visited with everyone, it was great to see who we could while we were there. We haven't been up that way since the girls were tiny.
On Thursday, we took off for Dayton. Our plane left at 12 noon, but we had to get on the road early to cross downtown Seattle. Note to self - midday flights are good, but take into account travel time and rush hour traffic. We made good time and hung out in the USO for a bit. The SeaTac USO is really nice. The girls ate a bowl of cereal and watched a movie while Ronnie and I made sure we had everything lined up for our return hop. The people that work in there are uber-helpful and pointed us to everywhere and everything we needed. Before we knew it, it was time to head to Dayton. We landed seven hours later --yes there's a layover in there -- and were greeted in the terminal by my mom and dad!
My parents and my sister and her family made the trip to cheer Ronnie on in the marathon. It was awesome to visit with them, although we were still massively jet lagged. Besides the marathon, we were able to visit a corn maze, go to a street fair, and quickly browse the Air Force Museum. We also got to meet up with a good friend of ours who is stationed at Wright-Patterson. Before we knew it, it was time to hug and kiss everyone goodbye as we headed back to Seattle for our hop.
Little did we know that would be a long trip back. Our plane was delayed two hours out of Dayton and we missed our connection to Seattle. But the airline put us up for the night at DFW and we were on the first flight out the next morning. When we finally made it here this morning, we had less than twelve hours until roll call. My aunt scooped us up to hang out for the day.
After grabbing a hand-patted hamburger, we headed to the mall. A few weeks ago, Holly announced that she was ready to get her ears pierced and we told her we would get it done while we were on our trip. We headed back to my aunt's house to relax and visit with my cousins Cindy and Matt, and their children, who dropped in to say hello. At last it was time to eat some dinner and head for the airport.
We checked in, got the briefing, and after about an hour, roll call began. We were the first ones called! Which brings us to hanging out in the USO, relaxing before our flight begins.
Like I said, whirlwind visit, but filled with lots of fun memories. Now to just get Ronnie to sit down and blog about the marathon.
Friday, September 17, 2010
This Space RENTED - The Virgin Marathoner
What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared, to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heartrending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottom of his training shoes.
It's only been 2 months since I ran the USAF Marathon and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. All it took was getting sick on a TDY to San Diego to give the free time to do it. So where do I begin a journey that consisted of running over 325 miles and taking about 52 hours of my time if you include the biking, swimming and other crosstraining that I did along the way. If you know me, you know I'm anal about things and I have an excel spreadsheet to track all of my workouts. What isn't included is all of the time spent warming up, cooling down stretching and generally getting ready to get out the door. So now I know where to begin. I better thank my wife Chris. She put up with my already long hours at work, which allowed me to do my weekday runs before I came home. She (being the morning person that she is), let me get out of the house early on the weekends so that I could get a long run in before it got over 90 degrees outside with the humidity to match. So Chris, thank you for letting me scratch one off of my bucket list. I love you. Next stop Kona.
I don't know exactly when I decided I was going to run the marathon, but I started tracking workouts on 17 Jun 2010. It may have been the email I got asking if anyone wanted to go on a TDY to run the AF Marathon, that's another story I'll get to later. I thought "Why not, I've been wanting to run one anyways". This would fill in the weak link in my Ironman pipedream, as I've never ran anything longer than a 15K, once. I found a 16 week training plan, (good thing the race was only 12 weeks away) and modified it to fit my schedule. Monday is crosstraining, T/TH is a tempo run of varying distance, W is a slow run just to add miles. Fr is an off day. Sat is the Long Run and Sun is a slow recovery run. So it would be for the next 12 weeks. As an incentive, my dear wife who knows that I'm a gadget geek at heart let me buy a super expensive GPS watch that does everything except run for you. I can wirelessly upload my workouts and you can tell what side of the street I was running on after it syncs up w/ Google Maps. The thing tracks, heartrate, elevation, pace (pick your format), cadence, laps and some other stuff I haven't figured out how to use yet. You can set it up to tell you that you are running too fast or slow. Your HR is too high or low, you need a drink and so forth. Playing with it (sts) during the long runs makes the time go by.
The funny thing about marathon training is that it's hard to run that many miles and not get hurt. I had some issues along the way. I started getting some mild shin splints as I pushed my first 25+ mile week. I got smart on running and switched to more of a mid/forefoot strike. I also joined the barefoot running cult. I you can run barefoot without hurting yourself then your form is correct, so the theory goes. Stepping on rocks doesn't count as hurting yourself. I'm talking knee, shin, hip problems etc. I also ended up taking about 2 weeks off in the middle due to the onset of Achilles tendinitis while I was TDY in Arizona. I kept the cardio up swimming and working out on an elliptical, but I didn't run for about 2 weeks. I found some strengthening exercises on the Runners World forum and rehabbed my tendon. I learned that ice doesn't really help me that much. I use iced on my shins and my Achilles tendon and they both got worse. The most important thing I learned was to listen to my body. Slow down on a hot day where you don't feel as good, but don't push it up on a day where you feel great because that will effect tomorrows workout. It's funny how pain makes you remember things better.
Anyhow, I replied to the email about the marathon and I guess I was the only one at Osan foolish enough to want run it. So as far as I knew, I was in like Flynn.
About 3 weeks before the race, I hadn't heard anything from the person running the team so I tracked him down on the global. Apparently they only had enough funds for 2 people, and I wasn't one of them. That sure as hell would have been nice to know, since now it was too late to sign up for the race. No problem, I figured. This is the AIR FORCE MARATHON. Surely they would make an exception for an active duty guy, flying in from Korea. The response I got was somewhere between _____ and _____. This is a family website, so I have to censor myself. Hey, there is a first time for everything. Needless to say I was a little aggravated. I had a Col call the race director to do some O-6 magic, no luck. So much for the little faith I had in Big AF, at least they validated my cynicism.
So once again, the good people at Runners World hooked me up. I started a thread about how to crash a race, but once again I'm getting ahead of myself. Did I mention that Chris's parents, her sister, her 2 kids, her new BF that we hadn't met yet and his kid were all going to meet us in Dayton? So race be damned, we were going to go to Dayton either way. Thus the thread about how to Gate Crash a race. If I'm there and spent all that time training, I'm going to run dammit. If you aren't in the know, serious runners frown upon Gate Crashing. I don't run for a finisher medal or a T-shirt, so I don't really care about an "Official Record" of my race time. I'll take personal satisfaction anyday. I got a lot of lectures from people, but I also got some really good tips and learned how to make a good knockoff bib once I've seen the official race bib. Good stuff to remember for later. Then someone suggested that I try and get onto a charity team. As I mentioned earlier, people always get hurt during training and there was a good chance that the various charities running the race have had some attrition. I got hooked up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and for a small donation, I was a legitimate entry. I had a hand written bib, hopefully the race director had to write it himself.
That wasn't as easy as it sounds. Apparently the whole time we were on the Patriot Express to Seattle, Mr Riggs, my POC with the charity was trying to get in touch with me. He contacted my Mother-in-Law Laura instead. He asked her to let me know that he'd made a mistake. He thought I wanted to run the Marine Corp Marathon not the AF Marathon, and he didn't have a way to get me into the race. Laura isn't one to put up w/ any BS. She filled him in on my story, I'm sure it took her 30 minutes to tell it, she is Chris's mother. She finally told him that she wasn't going to pass on that message, he'd have to tell me himself. He called her back later to tell her that he was able to get a spot in the race for me. Go Laura. So after landing, scrambling to get a useable cellphone, fax some papers and make a donation, I was ready to race. Except I still had to travel to Dayton, which as mostly uneventful.
Raceday
The race started at 0730, that meant we needed to be there by 0530 to make sure I found my way to the starting line before the race started. Chris and Erica handled the girls, and my new asshole-at-arms Mike got up early and rode to the race with me. I just met the guy 2 days ago, other than what Erica says about him via Facebook. Things were going well until I realized he was wearing a UF jacket. What in the hell is she doing w/ this guy? I guess we all have our faults.
Other than that, there was a lot of standing around trying to stay warm until the race started. I had the foresight to buy a cheap $4.00 sweatshirt at Walmart to throw away 1/4 mile down the road after the race started. That $4.00 sweatshirt cost me $125 before I could drag Chris, kicking and screaming, out of Wamart.
But I digress, the weather was perfect. Almost no humidity, at least not compared to Korea and it was in the low 50's. Temperature has a huge effect on running. As the temperature drops, you can run faster with he same amount of perceived effort. I knew this ahead of time and still tried to keep my pace to a turtle like 9:00 mile, despite wanting to takeoff. I compromised after the first and only big hill and began holding about and 8:30 to 8:45 pace except for a few downhills where I left my stride open up. I made it to the 10 mile point before Chris and the girls started looking for me. They saw me on the way out of the town though, and the girls had a fun time being cheerleaders for all of the runners.
All was going really well, I had my mp3 player blasting. I hate running in earplugs, so I got a Walkman that has a built in speaker. I was labeled "music guy" by some dude that kept pace with me throughout most of the race. I think he was intrigued when it went from Johnny Cash to GWAR. You can't help but run fast to Nitro Burnin Funny Bong. I eavesdropped on a few conversation, provided some peanut gallery comments to others, but for the most part I stayed in my little zone and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I made it to the 1/2 way point in 1:54 which included a minute or two to stop in pee behind some bushes.
If you want to know how accurate these GPS watches are, you can actually tell where I ran behind the bushes when you open up the satellite imagery.
I was initially trying for a 4+00 marathon but decided that I'd try to push it up and go for 3+45 since I felt good at the halfway point. That was probably a mistake. About mile 17 I felt the familiar tingle of an impeding cramp on my inner quad. The only other time I'd felt it was during a bike race when I was trying to go too fast, up hill without training for the race. Both times, I got some serious cramps, this time would be no different. I kept running, thinking it would go away on it's own. About 10 minutes later, I was stopped on the side of the road, rubbing out a full blown locked up leg. I got it loosened up and continued, and the began to feel the same tinge in my other leg, this is going to be fun. I tried to massage it while I kept running but didn't have much luck. I changed my strategy from slow and steady to sprinting until my legs cramped then rubbing them until it stopped, rinse, repeat. I grabbed a banana and an 800Mg Ibuprofen at the aid station at mile 19. You gotta love military strength Motrin.
Coming down the hill after mile 20 I heard Laura and Jerry saying something, I was pretty much blocking everything out at that point. Then I heard Chris and she was bringing me a banana. I didn't have the heart to tell her I just had one and could only eat 1/2 of it so I gave her a kiss and took the banana. Somewhere around 22 miles I did some math and figured if I could hold 8:00/mile for the last four I could salvage my 4+00 goal. Needless to say, as much as my lungs were OK with that my legs said otherwise. I managed to pick up the pace for a little bit but locked up for about the 20th time. Resigned to merely finishing as I saw 4+00 tick by on my watch, I continued on, cramps and all. I crossed the line at 4:08:50. Not bad for my first marathon considering I really had no idea what time to shoot for. Most runners will tell you if you finish your first one in one piece, consider it a success. I'm satisfied, not happy, so that provides some motivation for the next one. In Seoul. 20 Mar 2011.
Aside from being really sore for the next few days, messing up the bottom of my left foot (self diagnosed it as cuboid syndrome), rubbing a hole in the side of my right shoe from an old scar scrapping against the side of it, and getting a black toenail that is finally about to fall off. I'm fine.
It's only been 2 months since I ran the USAF Marathon and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. All it took was getting sick on a TDY to San Diego to give the free time to do it. So where do I begin a journey that consisted of running over 325 miles and taking about 52 hours of my time if you include the biking, swimming and other crosstraining that I did along the way. If you know me, you know I'm anal about things and I have an excel spreadsheet to track all of my workouts. What isn't included is all of the time spent warming up, cooling down stretching and generally getting ready to get out the door. So now I know where to begin. I better thank my wife Chris. She put up with my already long hours at work, which allowed me to do my weekday runs before I came home. She (being the morning person that she is), let me get out of the house early on the weekends so that I could get a long run in before it got over 90 degrees outside with the humidity to match. So Chris, thank you for letting me scratch one off of my bucket list. I love you. Next stop Kona.
I don't know exactly when I decided I was going to run the marathon, but I started tracking workouts on 17 Jun 2010. It may have been the email I got asking if anyone wanted to go on a TDY to run the AF Marathon, that's another story I'll get to later. I thought "Why not, I've been wanting to run one anyways". This would fill in the weak link in my Ironman pipedream, as I've never ran anything longer than a 15K, once. I found a 16 week training plan, (good thing the race was only 12 weeks away) and modified it to fit my schedule. Monday is crosstraining, T/TH is a tempo run of varying distance, W is a slow run just to add miles. Fr is an off day. Sat is the Long Run and Sun is a slow recovery run. So it would be for the next 12 weeks. As an incentive, my dear wife who knows that I'm a gadget geek at heart let me buy a super expensive GPS watch that does everything except run for you. I can wirelessly upload my workouts and you can tell what side of the street I was running on after it syncs up w/ Google Maps. The thing tracks, heartrate, elevation, pace (pick your format), cadence, laps and some other stuff I haven't figured out how to use yet. You can set it up to tell you that you are running too fast or slow. Your HR is too high or low, you need a drink and so forth. Playing with it (sts) during the long runs makes the time go by.
The funny thing about marathon training is that it's hard to run that many miles and not get hurt. I had some issues along the way. I started getting some mild shin splints as I pushed my first 25+ mile week. I got smart on running and switched to more of a mid/forefoot strike. I also joined the barefoot running cult. I you can run barefoot without hurting yourself then your form is correct, so the theory goes. Stepping on rocks doesn't count as hurting yourself. I'm talking knee, shin, hip problems etc. I also ended up taking about 2 weeks off in the middle due to the onset of Achilles tendinitis while I was TDY in Arizona. I kept the cardio up swimming and working out on an elliptical, but I didn't run for about 2 weeks. I found some strengthening exercises on the Runners World forum and rehabbed my tendon. I learned that ice doesn't really help me that much. I use iced on my shins and my Achilles tendon and they both got worse. The most important thing I learned was to listen to my body. Slow down on a hot day where you don't feel as good, but don't push it up on a day where you feel great because that will effect tomorrows workout. It's funny how pain makes you remember things better.
Anyhow, I replied to the email about the marathon and I guess I was the only one at Osan foolish enough to want run it. So as far as I knew, I was in like Flynn.
About 3 weeks before the race, I hadn't heard anything from the person running the team so I tracked him down on the global. Apparently they only had enough funds for 2 people, and I wasn't one of them. That sure as hell would have been nice to know, since now it was too late to sign up for the race. No problem, I figured. This is the AIR FORCE MARATHON. Surely they would make an exception for an active duty guy, flying in from Korea. The response I got was somewhere between _____ and _____. This is a family website, so I have to censor myself. Hey, there is a first time for everything. Needless to say I was a little aggravated. I had a Col call the race director to do some O-6 magic, no luck. So much for the little faith I had in Big AF, at least they validated my cynicism.
So once again, the good people at Runners World hooked me up. I started a thread about how to crash a race, but once again I'm getting ahead of myself. Did I mention that Chris's parents, her sister, her 2 kids, her new BF that we hadn't met yet and his kid were all going to meet us in Dayton? So race be damned, we were going to go to Dayton either way. Thus the thread about how to Gate Crash a race. If I'm there and spent all that time training, I'm going to run dammit. If you aren't in the know, serious runners frown upon Gate Crashing. I don't run for a finisher medal or a T-shirt, so I don't really care about an "Official Record" of my race time. I'll take personal satisfaction anyday. I got a lot of lectures from people, but I also got some really good tips and learned how to make a good knockoff bib once I've seen the official race bib. Good stuff to remember for later. Then someone suggested that I try and get onto a charity team. As I mentioned earlier, people always get hurt during training and there was a good chance that the various charities running the race have had some attrition. I got hooked up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and for a small donation, I was a legitimate entry. I had a hand written bib, hopefully the race director had to write it himself.
That wasn't as easy as it sounds. Apparently the whole time we were on the Patriot Express to Seattle, Mr Riggs, my POC with the charity was trying to get in touch with me. He contacted my Mother-in-Law Laura instead. He asked her to let me know that he'd made a mistake. He thought I wanted to run the Marine Corp Marathon not the AF Marathon, and he didn't have a way to get me into the race. Laura isn't one to put up w/ any BS. She filled him in on my story, I'm sure it took her 30 minutes to tell it, she is Chris's mother. She finally told him that she wasn't going to pass on that message, he'd have to tell me himself. He called her back later to tell her that he was able to get a spot in the race for me. Go Laura. So after landing, scrambling to get a useable cellphone, fax some papers and make a donation, I was ready to race. Except I still had to travel to Dayton, which as mostly uneventful.
Raceday
The race started at 0730, that meant we needed to be there by 0530 to make sure I found my way to the starting line before the race started. Chris and Erica handled the girls, and my new asshole-at-arms Mike got up early and rode to the race with me. I just met the guy 2 days ago, other than what Erica says about him via Facebook. Things were going well until I realized he was wearing a UF jacket. What in the hell is she doing w/ this guy? I guess we all have our faults.
Other than that, there was a lot of standing around trying to stay warm until the race started. I had the foresight to buy a cheap $4.00 sweatshirt at Walmart to throw away 1/4 mile down the road after the race started. That $4.00 sweatshirt cost me $125 before I could drag Chris, kicking and screaming, out of Wamart.
But I digress, the weather was perfect. Almost no humidity, at least not compared to Korea and it was in the low 50's. Temperature has a huge effect on running. As the temperature drops, you can run faster with he same amount of perceived effort. I knew this ahead of time and still tried to keep my pace to a turtle like 9:00 mile, despite wanting to takeoff. I compromised after the first and only big hill and began holding about and 8:30 to 8:45 pace except for a few downhills where I left my stride open up. I made it to the 10 mile point before Chris and the girls started looking for me. They saw me on the way out of the town though, and the girls had a fun time being cheerleaders for all of the runners.
All was going really well, I had my mp3 player blasting. I hate running in earplugs, so I got a Walkman that has a built in speaker. I was labeled "music guy" by some dude that kept pace with me throughout most of the race. I think he was intrigued when it went from Johnny Cash to GWAR. You can't help but run fast to Nitro Burnin Funny Bong. I eavesdropped on a few conversation, provided some peanut gallery comments to others, but for the most part I stayed in my little zone and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I made it to the 1/2 way point in 1:54 which included a minute or two to stop in pee behind some bushes.
If you want to know how accurate these GPS watches are, you can actually tell where I ran behind the bushes when you open up the satellite imagery.
I was initially trying for a 4+00 marathon but decided that I'd try to push it up and go for 3+45 since I felt good at the halfway point. That was probably a mistake. About mile 17 I felt the familiar tingle of an impeding cramp on my inner quad. The only other time I'd felt it was during a bike race when I was trying to go too fast, up hill without training for the race. Both times, I got some serious cramps, this time would be no different. I kept running, thinking it would go away on it's own. About 10 minutes later, I was stopped on the side of the road, rubbing out a full blown locked up leg. I got it loosened up and continued, and the began to feel the same tinge in my other leg, this is going to be fun. I tried to massage it while I kept running but didn't have much luck. I changed my strategy from slow and steady to sprinting until my legs cramped then rubbing them until it stopped, rinse, repeat. I grabbed a banana and an 800Mg Ibuprofen at the aid station at mile 19. You gotta love military strength Motrin.
Coming down the hill after mile 20 I heard Laura and Jerry saying something, I was pretty much blocking everything out at that point. Then I heard Chris and she was bringing me a banana. I didn't have the heart to tell her I just had one and could only eat 1/2 of it so I gave her a kiss and took the banana. Somewhere around 22 miles I did some math and figured if I could hold 8:00/mile for the last four I could salvage my 4+00 goal. Needless to say, as much as my lungs were OK with that my legs said otherwise. I managed to pick up the pace for a little bit but locked up for about the 20th time. Resigned to merely finishing as I saw 4+00 tick by on my watch, I continued on, cramps and all. I crossed the line at 4:08:50. Not bad for my first marathon considering I really had no idea what time to shoot for. Most runners will tell you if you finish your first one in one piece, consider it a success. I'm satisfied, not happy, so that provides some motivation for the next one. In Seoul. 20 Mar 2011.
Aside from being really sore for the next few days, messing up the bottom of my left foot (self diagnosed it as cuboid syndrome), rubbing a hole in the side of my right shoe from an old scar scrapping against the side of it, and getting a black toenail that is finally about to fall off. I'm fine.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Hop To It
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
At least, that's what I should be doing, rather than blogging. It's the price for crossing the Pacific.
After holding a tan ID card all but one year of my life, I have finally caught a military hop. As I write this, I'm sitting in my grandma's condo in Seattle rather than on my side of the world.
A few months ago, Ronnie was picked up to run the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio. I couldn't let him run without having the best cheering group in the world (see post about Go Daddy Go). Lucky for us, the Air Force has started bringing the rotator back into Korea.
So we got up early Tuesday morning and headed for the Osan Terminal. It was crowded with a lot of Space A hopefuls. Finally it was time for roll call; we were called the first time around, but they only had one seat. We decided to wait until the second call, crossing our fingers that they would have 3 more seats open up. In the meantime, the girls made fast friends with another family who was space-a'ing as well. They made it on the first call, and I was crossing my fingers again because the kids were playing well together. Would be nice to have some friends to play with on the flight. Second call came around and we were in!
Our tickets had us each in the middle seat of a row; lucky for us the people around us were really nice and decided to switch. Guess they didn't want to entertain our kids for us. The flight stopped in Misawa, Japan to pick up some more passengers and we had to deplane. At first I was thinking we would have to stay in the gate area, but they opened up a side door for the smokers. We played outside for most of our layover, and even enjoyed watching air show practice by the F-16 squadron. About three hours later, we boarded and were on our way to Seattle.
The girls did incredibly well on the flight. We had enough to entertain them, the crew fed us really well, and they went to sleep without a fight. This is where waking up early paid off; they got a good 6 hours of sleep before we landed. We made it to Seattle a little after 7 am local (about 11 pm in our brains).
Holly was too funny. She was concerned that our Korean friends wouldn't know where to go because the signs were in English. My sweet considerate girl!
Anyway, we made it through immigration quickly, got our bags and cleared customs, signed up for our return flight, and headed to get our rental car. All in a matter of an hour. Before we knew it, we were sitting in IHOP enjoying some breakfast and coffee. After breakfast, we hit the road to travel about an hour north to my grandma's house.
We wound up stopping a little over halfway there because the girls were starting to get the faroff gaze. We headed for the local mall to activate our cell phone. Our stop wound up being right by my uncle's house, who swooped us up to relax at his house for a bit. The girls were having a great time playing with Cousin Emily and the puppies, while Ronnie and I visited with my uncle. After an hour or so, we decided to get back on the road to grandma's house, but not before making lunch plans for the next day.
We went to bed around 4 pm local last night; but here I am wide wake at midnight. But I'm looking forward to our visit with family and friends before we hop back in less than a week.
At least, that's what I should be doing, rather than blogging. It's the price for crossing the Pacific.
After holding a tan ID card all but one year of my life, I have finally caught a military hop. As I write this, I'm sitting in my grandma's condo in Seattle rather than on my side of the world.
A few months ago, Ronnie was picked up to run the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio. I couldn't let him run without having the best cheering group in the world (see post about Go Daddy Go). Lucky for us, the Air Force has started bringing the rotator back into Korea.
So we got up early Tuesday morning and headed for the Osan Terminal. It was crowded with a lot of Space A hopefuls. Finally it was time for roll call; we were called the first time around, but they only had one seat. We decided to wait until the second call, crossing our fingers that they would have 3 more seats open up. In the meantime, the girls made fast friends with another family who was space-a'ing as well. They made it on the first call, and I was crossing my fingers again because the kids were playing well together. Would be nice to have some friends to play with on the flight. Second call came around and we were in!
Our tickets had us each in the middle seat of a row; lucky for us the people around us were really nice and decided to switch. Guess they didn't want to entertain our kids for us. The flight stopped in Misawa, Japan to pick up some more passengers and we had to deplane. At first I was thinking we would have to stay in the gate area, but they opened up a side door for the smokers. We played outside for most of our layover, and even enjoyed watching air show practice by the F-16 squadron. About three hours later, we boarded and were on our way to Seattle.
The girls did incredibly well on the flight. We had enough to entertain them, the crew fed us really well, and they went to sleep without a fight. This is where waking up early paid off; they got a good 6 hours of sleep before we landed. We made it to Seattle a little after 7 am local (about 11 pm in our brains).
Holly was too funny. She was concerned that our Korean friends wouldn't know where to go because the signs were in English. My sweet considerate girl!
Anyway, we made it through immigration quickly, got our bags and cleared customs, signed up for our return flight, and headed to get our rental car. All in a matter of an hour. Before we knew it, we were sitting in IHOP enjoying some breakfast and coffee. After breakfast, we hit the road to travel about an hour north to my grandma's house.
We wound up stopping a little over halfway there because the girls were starting to get the faroff gaze. We headed for the local mall to activate our cell phone. Our stop wound up being right by my uncle's house, who swooped us up to relax at his house for a bit. The girls were having a great time playing with Cousin Emily and the puppies, while Ronnie and I visited with my uncle. After an hour or so, we decided to get back on the road to grandma's house, but not before making lunch plans for the next day.
We went to bed around 4 pm local last night; but here I am wide wake at midnight. But I'm looking forward to our visit with family and friends before we hop back in less than a week.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
If There Was Any Doubt...
So remember the post where I told you Holly is a tropical storm magnet. As someone once said, the proof is in the pudding:
See where it was tracking towards China and then hooks a hard right back towards Korea. Yeah, that was about the time we landed in Jeju. I'm telling you, there's something about that kid!
See where it was tracking towards China and then hooks a hard right back towards Korea. Yeah, that was about the time we landed in Jeju. I'm telling you, there's something about that kid!
Adventures Southward
Much to the girl's happiness (and my sanity), Ronnie returned from Arizona last week. He was out there for a few weeks for a training course. We had talked about doing something over Labor Day weekend, possibly going to Jeju Island, but suspended our plans for his marathon training. Because really, who wants to run while they are on a mini-vaca?
Well, that plan went out the window, as I started checking around to see if we could do a quick weekend trip in October, heading south to soak up the last bits of summer. Unfortunately, every flight I wanted was booked and the hotels all had premium pricing. We decided to go for it anyway, he would just have to run while we were there. After some hasty trip planning, we had flights, hotel and a loose plan for our trip.
Jeju is a volcanic island off of the south tip of Korea. It boasts the highest mountain in Korea (Mt. Halla), many waterfalls, and lava rock beaches, as well as being a large producer of tangerines.
We took off on a Friday evening so we could enjoy 2 full days on the island. We woke up Saturday and started off trying to get on a tour bus. Yeah, that didn't work because we needed reservations in advance, so we rented a car. We took off and decided to do the western half of the island, starting by heading up Mt. Halla. Our first stop was the southern overlook from Mt. Halla - it was breathtaking! The sky was bright blue, the water was a blue-green and everything in between was green. Unfortunately, the mountain peak was obscured by clouds. We continued our adventure to the north side of the island, finding Yongdu-am (Dragon Head Rock) and meandering our way down the Korean A1A. Once we got back to our neck of the woods, and a short hike later, we found the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. We made it back to the hotel in time to clean up for supper and catch the volcano show from our balcony.
Sunday brought us cloudy, drizzly skies (more on that to come in the next post). Since we headed north and west the day before, we headed to the eastern half of the island and tried to find as many covered activities as possible. We started our day at the Teddy Bear museum. The displays and scenes were too cute; they had storybooks, events from history, priceless pieces of art and even a Louis Vuitton bear. Afterwards, we headed to find Oedolgae, a rocky tower in the ocean caused by an eruption. We continued our Korean A1A adventures down the southeastern coast, stopping to enjoy the sea splashing on the lava rock beaches. Since we had made it to the eastern coast, we decided to look for Micheon Cave, one of the many lava caves you can explore. We meandered our way back to the hotel and decided on seeking out the infamous Jeju black pork for dinner. After dinner, we got back to our hotel in time to wind down and head to watch the volcano show up close.
Monday was our last morning on the island, and it was even more rainy and windy than Sunday. For good reason too, a typhoon was blowing through. Ronnie and I have decided we are definitely returning before we leave Korea next year.
Well, that plan went out the window, as I started checking around to see if we could do a quick weekend trip in October, heading south to soak up the last bits of summer. Unfortunately, every flight I wanted was booked and the hotels all had premium pricing. We decided to go for it anyway, he would just have to run while we were there. After some hasty trip planning, we had flights, hotel and a loose plan for our trip.
Jeju is a volcanic island off of the south tip of Korea. It boasts the highest mountain in Korea (Mt. Halla), many waterfalls, and lava rock beaches, as well as being a large producer of tangerines.
We took off on a Friday evening so we could enjoy 2 full days on the island. We woke up Saturday and started off trying to get on a tour bus. Yeah, that didn't work because we needed reservations in advance, so we rented a car. We took off and decided to do the western half of the island, starting by heading up Mt. Halla. Our first stop was the southern overlook from Mt. Halla - it was breathtaking! The sky was bright blue, the water was a blue-green and everything in between was green. Unfortunately, the mountain peak was obscured by clouds. We continued our adventure to the north side of the island, finding Yongdu-am (Dragon Head Rock) and meandering our way down the Korean A1A. Once we got back to our neck of the woods, and a short hike later, we found the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. We made it back to the hotel in time to clean up for supper and catch the volcano show from our balcony.
Sunday brought us cloudy, drizzly skies (more on that to come in the next post). Since we headed north and west the day before, we headed to the eastern half of the island and tried to find as many covered activities as possible. We started our day at the Teddy Bear museum. The displays and scenes were too cute; they had storybooks, events from history, priceless pieces of art and even a Louis Vuitton bear. Afterwards, we headed to find Oedolgae, a rocky tower in the ocean caused by an eruption. We continued our Korean A1A adventures down the southeastern coast, stopping to enjoy the sea splashing on the lava rock beaches. Since we had made it to the eastern coast, we decided to look for Micheon Cave, one of the many lava caves you can explore. We meandered our way back to the hotel and decided on seeking out the infamous Jeju black pork for dinner. After dinner, we got back to our hotel in time to wind down and head to watch the volcano show up close.
Monday was our last morning on the island, and it was even more rainy and windy than Sunday. For good reason too, a typhoon was blowing through. Ronnie and I have decided we are definitely returning before we leave Korea next year.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Pacific "Hurricane"
A few weeks ago, I mentioned there was a tropical storm that popped up out of nowhere on Holly's birthday. Well, we had another opportunity this week to experience a typhoon.
I have to admit, I was kind of excited to see a storm. Ronnie and I are native Floridians, and it really doesn't feel like summer is coming to an end or back to school time if there isn't a threat of a tropical depression. We haven't been through one since Bonnie and Danielle came to visit us in North Carolina for Holly's birth and then we were chased around Florida by Charley, Ivan and Jeanne when we brought Holly there to show her off.
Earlier in the week, some weather briefs came out and mentioned the possibilty of a storm heading our way later in the week. We checked the weather and kept an eye out on everything. By Wednesday they determined that yes, the storm was coming, it would be around a Cat. 1 storm and it had the potential of turning and hitting us head on. Again, being that we're used to this sort of thing, I had run down my essentials list a few weeks ago and determined that we were ready to rock and roll.
I have to admit, I was kind of excited to see a storm. Ronnie and I are native Floridians, and it really doesn't feel like summer is coming to an end or back to school time if there isn't a threat of a tropical depression. We haven't been through one since Bonnie and Danielle came to visit us in North Carolina for Holly's birth and then we were chased around Florida by Charley, Ivan and Jeanne when we brought Holly there to show her off.
Earlier in the week, some weather briefs came out and mentioned the possibilty of a storm heading our way later in the week. We checked the weather and kept an eye out on everything. By Wednesday they determined that yes, the storm was coming, it would be around a Cat. 1 storm and it had the potential of turning and hitting us head on. Again, being that we're used to this sort of thing, I had run down my essentials list a few weeks ago and determined that we were ready to rock and roll.
Wednesday morning imagery
Typhoon Kompasu made landfall in Seoul early Thursday. This was the first typhoon to hit Seoul since 2000, and the first big one since 1995. The local area seemed to be pretty lucky. There were a lot of downed trees and some power outages, but nothing too significant. Actually, the damage on base seemed to be worse than what we saw off base. We lost power for about two hours, but some folks on base are still without power right now.
So, our first typhoon was a success, if there is such a thing. Ronnie and I haven't lost a step in being prepared in advance of a storm, we had plenty of food, alternate sources of cooking and the kids had plenty of things to occupy themselves with during the time we were home, and I was able to do the sorting/purging I've been trying to get too but it's been too hot.
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