LB In Costa Rica

Have you read my previous blog post about Costa Rica? It's pretty cool if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I'm still not done blogging about Costa Rica but I don't quite have time right now to write the blog post I want to, that the topic deserves. In the meantime I thought I'd post some pictures of myself, because I don't do that very often and I know that, as a blog reader, I also enjoy looking at pictures of the blogger I'm reading about.

Trying to look all tough at the stadium in Alajuela where I went for training and for a match. I was the first person on the field at the team's practice. I had free reign of the field for a few minutes so I think that's why I acted all tough.


This is a cool-looking sign in the stadium, nearby where the previous picture was taken. It's a plaque with the stadium's namesake on it - Alejandro Morera Soto, who was a famous local footballer.

Remember the crocodile bridge from last post? This was taken on the bridge. Had I somehow managed to fall over during this picture I would have fallen perilously close to the crocodiles and I probably wouldn't be blogging right now. Yay for me keeping my balance.

And this last picture is... well... not sure if I have to describe it...


Oh yeah. Paradise.

¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica Trip

I’ve had some pretty memorable trips in my time but I’m finding it difficult to recall a time when I had two unbelievably incredible international trips in consecutive weeks.

A week ago, I was in Morelia, Mexico, wondering if anything could match that. Now, I’m back from Costa Rica, knowing that something did.

I spent a whirlwind two-plus days in Costa Rica, getting into Central America late Monday night and flying back home all day Thursday. On both personal and professional levels, Costa Rica was a rewarding, unique, fulfilling, tremendous trip.

So much happened in the last couple of days that I really don’t know where to begin. From going on a run in Costa Rica and getting lost to being at an old, venerable and true Central American soccer stadium to visiting beaches and seeing some amazing wildlife to returning to the stadium and experiencing perhaps the most insane and frenzied passion I’ve ever experienced at a sporting event, the trip was non-stop action for me.

Now, I will save my run for a separate post but it was an adventure unto itself.

I suppose I should start with the best things first. Sit back and make yourself comfy…

There were four of us writers on the trip but only three of us were able to head out to the beaches on Wednesday. We’d done a lot of work on Tuesday, both in the morning when …. um, let me backtrack a bit. I went to Costa Rica to cover a soccer match as the LA Galaxy were playing Liga Deportiva Alajuelense in a CONCACAF Champions League match. If you follow soccer, that might make sense. If you don’t… well, that’s another post for another day. Anyway, at the hotel we were able to interview Landon Donovan and the team’s coach, Bruce Arena. That gave us some proper ammo with which to get started writing, so I got started, Costa Rican style of course.

Since we’d done a lot of work, actually, all of our pre-game stories were done by Tuesday night, we had Wednesday free to ourselves until about 4 or 5 p.m. So we rented a car, one of the other guys volunteered to drive and off we went to explore the Costa Rican countryside, determined to make it to a beach. We stopped after about 45 minutes for some breakfast and to stretch our legs.

Now, we had an idea of where we were going. Our destination was Jaco, although that could have changed since we only wanted to find a beach, not necessarily visit Jaco. One of the people at the hotel had told us about Crocodile Bridge, where supposedly there were some crocodiles relaxing underneath.

We came up on a bridge but didn’t see any signs or anything. But there were people on the bridge so once we crossed it, we parked and made our way back to the middle of the bridge and sure enough, down below…

… were our buddies the crocodiles. I’ve always referred to them as “cocodrilos” in Spanish but here they’re known as “lagartos.” Whatever they’re called, they’re kinda imposing.

Are you ready? Here’s probably my favorite picture from the whole trip:

Dude has his mouth open. For real.

So then we made our way back to the car. We had to stay on the straight and narrow.


We piled back in the car and kept driving. Our destination seemed close.

But it didn’t seem close. Although we were right by the ocean, we couldn’t see it. There were a lot of trees and vegetation blocking our view. Since I’d been here before, I knew the water was just on the other side of the greenery, so when the first hint of a break in the trees appeared, I did in fact see water.

We pulled off the road once more as we were right by a beach. The sight was stunning.


Absolutely beautiful.

And notice the best thing about these pictures: there is nobody there. We walked past a couple with a young boy and there was also an older lady with her grown daughter and (presumably) their tour guide there at this beach, but there wasn't anybody else there.

To be fair, I'm not sure if this was a great spot for swimming. There seemed to have been lots of rocks in the water, and not the small rocks you pick up and toss but the large ones that can tear a hole in the side of a boat. The water, though, was quite warm, so warm. I only went in to my ankles but it was so soothing and refreshing.

After a little bit there, we got back in the car and made it down to Jaco. Now, Jaco is close to where we went in 2009, to Quepos which is next to Manuel Antonio National Park, and I would recommend visiting Quepos. However, you can't exactly go wrong with Jaco either.


Now, Jaco looks easy to pronounce - hawk-o, it looks like, but it's pronounced haw-KOH, so it doesn't necessarily rhyme with taco.

I joked with the guys that I was going to move to Jaco and open up Jaco's Tacos, even though it wouldn't necessarily rhyme. And then, wouldn't you know, we passed by Jacos Tacos. I was so disappointed someone had stole my brilliant idea.

Well, anyway, more pictures from Jaco.


Now, these birds were strange.


Okay, well, strange maybe isn't the right word. Unique is more like it. I think the one on the left is a turkey vulture. It looks like it anyway. Not sure what the heck the one on the right is. I obviously photoshopped the one on there so they weren't together or anything but they were sorta close to each other.

I snapped some more pictures before it was time to head back to our hotel.


Parting really was sweet sorrow.

On the one hand, I was sad that my time at the beach had been so short, but on the other hand, I was grateful for every second I was able to spend there. After all, it was a gift, it truly was. I'd never imagined being anywhere near Costa Rica and then to have this thrust upon me was a blessing, a gift, a prize of some sort that I'm not about to slight.

Amazingly enough, the trip would just get better, for me of course. There was a little matter of a soccer game to attend and cover, after all. If you made it this far in my tale, I'm hoping you come back for another layer or two of it.

Stay tuned for the next part.

Back From Costa Rica

Greetings! I made it back from Costa Rica. I'm already working on a long post with pictures and stuff but I guess I can't wait to put up something so...

This will hold us over for now. And as you can see I made it to a beach. Yay!

Another International Trip

I'm heading out to Costa Rica later today. Ha, that's not something you say every day.

This will be my second international trip in a span of eight days. That's not something that happens often either. But that's how things work out for me. I go long stretches of time without traveling and then all of the sudden I'm thrust onto international flights in rapid succession.

My whirlwind travel isn't done either. I may have a chance to go to Honduras for a match in late October. That will be interesting as I've never been to Honduras.

Anyway, we'll cross that bridge in Tegucigalpa when I come to it. For now, it's on to San Jose's Juan Santamaria International Airport. Well, later this afternoon anyway.

I haven't had the chance to read up on you all so I apologize for not getting out and reading blogs as much lately. Next week things will be back to normal and I will have time to run and blog and read blogs and get to some things around the house.

Anyway, hopefully I'll check in from Costa Rica.

And if you weren't reading my blog in 2009 when I last went to Costa Rica and the land of Pura Vida, check out some of my posts from back then. That pretty much includes things that I won't get to do now. But I'm sure I will have different but still memorable experiences this time around as well.

Return To Costa Rica

Have you read my previous post about my visit to Morelia? If not, make sure you do after you read this one. Got some cool pictures up from my quick trip to Mexico.

Anyway, as the blog post title says, I will indeed be making another international trip here. I am headed to San Jose, Costa Rica on Monday. I will be there until Thursday, covering another soccer match.

Now, this trip to Costa Rica won't be like my 2009 excursion there. I also traveled there for a soccer game. That time it was the United States national team playing against Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifying match while this time it's the LA Galaxy playing Costa Rican side Alajuelense in a CONCACAF Champions League game. But that time Mrs. LB traveled down on the day of the game and we stayed an extra three days on vacation there. We visited the beach in Quepos, visited Manuel Antonio National Park and had an amazing and awesome time. It was unbelievable, to be honest.

This time, I won't be so lucky. San Jose is in the middle of the country and while it is a small country, it still would take a couple of hours to go to the beaches. And I just won't have that kind of time.

Still, a trip to Costa Rica is something I'm not going to pass up, and having the chance to take this sort of excursion, for work no less, is a blessing. I've worked as a freelancer for about eight solid years now, have covered soccer since 1998 and while I've traveled before for games and tournaments (Japan in 02, Trinidad & Tobago in 01, Dallas in 05, Seattle in 09 and 10, also been to Chicago, Salt Lake, Denver...) my big trips are few and far between. To have two trips like this so close together is a bit of a whirlwind but definitely something I'm enjoying and feeling so fortunate to have the chance to partake in.

One thing that will be different from my last trip to Costa Rica - I will definitely go on a run there. Last time I didn't run but this time you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to run. Costa Rica is safer than Morelia so I will head down there with the intention of running, and also I want to add Costa Rica to the list of foreign countries I've run in. Right now that list consists of Canada and Mexico. Woo hoo!

Anyway, I rambled on for longer than I intended to. If you haven't checked out my Morelia post, please do so now. Got some cool pics. And I'll be back for one more post before I leave for Central America on Monday.

Tres Cosas Jueves: Morelia Edition

1. Back In The Saddle: I am back. I made it back to Morelia unscathed. Morelia is an absolutely beautiful city. It's a very historic city, founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s, and is considered one of the birthplaces of the Mexican Revolution. In fact, one of the main figures of the revolution - Jose Maria Morelos - was born in Morelia and was honored by having the city renamed from Valladolid to Morelia in his honor. Anyway, I got back to LA in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and had to drive home for about an hour afterward. I got two hours of sleep, squeezed in a two-hour nap but was a zombie for most of Wednesday. I did not run in Morelia (no gym at the hotel, streets leading up to hotel were very narrow, no sidewalks and lots of traffic, so no ideal conditions) and didn't run Wednesday but I ran seven miles Thursday morning so I feel like a new and refreshed man.

2. What's Next? I'm still waiting word but there's a good chance I will get to go to Costa Rica next week. I'd leave Monday and return Thursday. Of course, I would not have time to experience the best of Costa Rica - the beaches and rain forests - but that's just a minor inconvenience. I'm not going to turn down a trip to Costa Rica and the chance to cover a soccer game there. No sir, no ma'am. I've been to Costa Rica before, for soccer, but worked a vacay into it as Mrs. LB flew down there the day of the US-Costa Rica match in June 2009 and we stayed for three days afterward. It was an awesome three days and the beaches really are stunning there. I would highly recommend Costa Rica to anyone who wants to experience nature at its finest.

3. Before We Move On Completely: I'm not quite ready to yet to put Morelia in the past. Some pictures from my time there:

Morelia from my hotel; kinda hard to see but if you click on the picture you should be able to see it a bit more closely.

In front of the Cathedral of Morelia, the city's prized building. I tried to upload a picture of the Cathedral from the outside but blogger was being dumb so this is the only picture I managed to get up. Grr..

This is another building that's important in Morelia's history. This used to be the entrance to town, hence the guard tower. If you came into Morelia, you had to pass through here. The church is ornate and has lots of gold inside, but because it didn't look like much it survived because looters never bothered to go inside.

Morelia is the capital of Michoacan, and the state has fame because of its carnitas. That's why a lot of restaurants you see will say something like "Carnitas Michoacan" or "Carnitas Sahuayo" (the name of a city nearby that is really famous for carnitas). Anyway, carnitas is a pork dish kinda like pulled pork sans the barbecue sauce, but much more tastier. You eat them with corn tortillas, salsa and pico.

Cheers! or should I say... Salud!


And now for some pictures about the reason for my visit...

This is the stadium, Estadio Morelos. The team's name is Monarcas (you couldn't tell, could you?). Morelia is famous too because nearby is a Monarch butterfly sanctuary. The Monarch butterflies migrate every year from Canada to the outskirts of Morelia and have done so for centuries. The club is named after them.

Standing on the side of the field as the Galaxy train (day before the match)

My pre-game meal: Carnitas Torta and a Coca-Cola. Don't usually have straight Coca-Cola but in Mexico it's something I had to have because it tastes different - better. So good.

Galaxy captain and US national team star Landon Donovan.

Well, that's that. Hope you enjoyed it.

Traveling Man

I mentioned it in my previous post but decided to post this here on its own. I'm heading out of the country for a few days, going down to Morelia, Mexico for work. I'm a freelance writer by trade and I'm heading down to cover a soccer game.

If you follow soccer, you might be aware of the game. Galaxy-Morelia. It's a pretty big deal (obviously since I'm headed down for it).

So yeah, it's gonna be great. Some friends/fellow writers are going and it's going to be an epic time, hopefully.

I've been to Morelia once before, in 2002 when my wife and I lived in Mexico briefly. We really enjoyed the city and I'm anxious to go back. Unfortunately, the crime has worsened substantially in Mexico since 2002 and even since 2006, when we took a family trip down there. I've been back, in 2009 to cover US-Mexico in Mexico City, and that was relatively safe. I should be okay.

Not sure what the area is like around our hotel but I might just stick to running in the hotel gym for the two days I'm down there. We'll see.

Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up in case you don't hear from me for a couple of days. Who knows, I may chime in from Mexico with a post about how awesome my run was in Morelia, or how a treadmill in Mexico gives you as many headaches joys as it does in the US.

Hasta luego.

Mobile Blogging Test

This is a test of the emergency broad... actually, no. But is a test without any annoying screeching sounds.

There is finally a Blogger iPhone app. When I got my iPhone one of the first things I did was to get the Blogger app only to find that there wasn't one.

Great.

So finally on Thursday I read somewhere that Blogger had come out with an app for iOS. Sweet. Got it and, well, here I am.

Now I have mobile blogged before (or is it mobile-blogged?). With my blackberry I would just send an email to Blogger and it would publish it as a post. You just have to set it up on your dashboard but it's not tough to do.

This is different. You get more bells and whistles this way I would assume. You are supposed to be able to mess with pictures so let me see about that.

I included a picture I took of me and the girls Thursday morning from my phone.

Hmm, if I can take pictures and blog all from my phone I could do some cool posts, like a true post-race post. Not a recap but something with a picture or three and a bit more info than "I just finished my race!" type of thing. Or if you are traveling you could put up a post about stuff...

Speaking of traveling, I am going to Morelia, Mexico next week for work. Awesome! I leave Sunday afternoon and get back very early on Wednesday. We'll see if I can run there or not. Depends on where the hotel is.

Anyway, just wanted to test this out. So far, so good...

Race-less LB

If you followed this blog last year, you came across them. They weren't frequent in that they didn't appear once a week or anything, but they were fairly common. Much more common than this year.

Race recaps have indeed been in short supply in 2011 for the simple fact that I have not run many races this year.

Let me see, my races this year...

Surf City Marathon and Fountain Valley 5K in February, Diamond Valley Lake Marathon in April, Fontana Days Half Marathon and Camp Pendleton Mud Run in June and.... oh yeah, that's it.

Sad.

Last year at this time I'd done Surf City Marathon, ARMC 5K, Lefty's 5K, Run Through Redlands Half Marathon, Run For Rescue 10K, SBSD Mud Run, Camp Pendleton Mud Run and the San Francisco Marathon.

That's eight races at this point last year - twice as many as last year - and still I had two left at the end of the year.

The way my year has worked out, it's probably for the best that I haven't had more races as I was woefully undertrained throughout the summer. But now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, I feel those juices flowing, the desire to run races is once again present. I'm kicking butt and I want to test myself.

But alas, I won't get the chance to test myself much this year.

When I became pace leader, my initial thought was to make sure I did well in that job. Being pace leader became my focus and because it has been my focus, I have not looked at doing too many races. Logistically it would be difficult. Most races are run on Sundays so running a race would mean missing a day with the Lopers. Saturday races are out of the question until after Thanksgiving because of my girls' respective soccer teams and my own soccer duties. And there's not many Saturday races out there to begin with.

Now, there is hope. There are four races on the Loper calendar. There is of course the biggie, the LA Marathon in March, and there's the Surf City Half Marathon in February. I've done the full each of the last two years and I'll probably wind up running the half this year. There is also the Loper Classic but I won't be able to run that as I'll be volunteering that day for that race.

The next race I could run would be Mission Inn. I ran the half marathon last year and the 10K each of the last two years before that. I'm undecided on that one, whether to run the half or the 10K. I wasn't too crazy about the half marathon course but I feel like I need the challenge once more of running a half marathon.

That race is on Nov. 13 so it is still quite a ways away.

I don't know if I can last that long. I might have to look for some sort of race that fits my schedule in order to get the urge to destroy a race out of my system.

Then again, all this pent-up frustration could make for a strong performance at Mission Inn.

Either way, I want to just put on a bib and put my game face on once more.

The Beginnings Of A Pace Group

Sunday's Loper schedule called for four miles. It's not much in the grand scheme of things. Before too long that will be just about the midway point in our runs and then it won't even be that.

But Sunday's run really felt like it helped from the semblance of our pace group. I led the group for the whole run and kept a steady pace. Fewer runners ran ahead of me this time than last and the whole group was close, there wasn't too much spacing between the front and any stragglers in the back.

It felt like a pace group, not like a collection of runners.

It was nice being in front and having the runners stay behind me. There were some runners who I know can run faster than the pace I was holding but they stayed back, or level, with me. And when I was going a little too fast, I slowed down and the runners around me also slowed down.

Some runners went ahead, four to be precise, but three of them I know are experienced marathoners so that's fine. They can run on their own and be okay. The rest of the group stayed back.

It was a solid, strong run. Of course, it's only four miles but in a way that's good that we had this kind of run now. The miles will only keep increasing. Next week is five, then six, then seven, eight, nine and 10. Once we hit 10, we won't single digits again.

But that's the good thing about these short miles. While the first-year Lopers are just getting used to running longer miles, us pace leaders are getting the hang of this pace-leading thing. By the time we hit double digits we will all be ready for it.

END OF THE STREAK

So much happening on one day...

On Saturday, for the first time in 19 days, I did not run. I couldn't. I was much too sore to run. It was a bummer because it was the end of my streak.

All told, I ran about 95 miles over those 18 days and I really did get my legs to be stronger, which is what I wanted when I began the streak (although I didn't set out with a streak in mind).

It's not a long stretch of time in the grand scheme of things but it felt great to force myself to get out and find new ways to fit runs in. This boot camp that I just started - which is the culprit for my run streak's demise - forced me to find ways to get my miles in around that. And running two-a-days, which I did twice this week, also helped me get my miles in which forces me to be more disciplined.

Funny thing is, I ran eight times this week, which averages to more than one a day obviously, but still my streak ended. Irony.

Anyway, none of the progress I've made in the last three weeks will regress. In fact, I plan on leaping to the next level. The boot camp classes will help catapult me into becoming a more fit person, not just a better runner, but it will help carry over into my running as well. A strong core is such a benefit for a runner to have and that will be nice to have once more. My core is not strong as I don't usually work it out. Stronger leg muscles and more toned muscles will also help out when I run.

This end of my streak is merely a one-day break. Sunday's four-miler is the start of a new streak. We'll see where I am 18 days from now. That's the most exciting part about all this, just seeing my progress as I gain more and more strength.

Taxing Week

I am so tired.

This week has been a bit of a difficult one. I've got my run streak going but I also started a boot camp style workout routine. The two worlds collide indeed.

Friday was particularly tough. I ran 2 miles at home to warm up after dropping the girls off at school, then as soon as I was done, jumped into my truck and went to the boot camp gym about 10 minutes before class started.

We warmed up a bit but I was already warm, and then we jumped right into it once more. I did single-leg step-ups (30 sec on each leg) then jump squats, repeated about five times; then reverse lunges using a rope (30 sec on each leg) then knee highs (basically, running in place with the knee coming up really high, hence the name), repeated about five times; then we put our backs against a wall and squated down so where our thighs were parallel to the ground and held a 16-lb kettle ball for 30 seconds and then side-stepped with a band around our feet rotating five times; then single-leg thrusts (30 sec on each leg) and squats, rotating five times. And then some other squats to properly destroy my thighs and butt.

When we finished of course I hadn't had enough torture so I went on a run and wound up running four miles. The first 2.5 miles were mostly uphill. In fact, one particularly rough stretch saw me go from an elevation of 938 to 1227, from mile 1.3 to mile 1.68. Yeah, that's pretty much straight up.

So here's the body count then thus far for the week. I've run 28 miles this week. My goal was to stay at 40 for the week like last week. I think that would make it my first-ever consecutive weeks of 40 or more. Not sure if that's going to happen though. Sunday I'm running four with my awesome pace group which means I'd have to run eight on Saturday and I don't know if my legs have eight miles in them. I may set out for 5-6 on Saturday morning and then see how I feel. One option would be to run whatever I can tomorrow and make up the difference before or after our group run on Sunday. But as long as I get out and run I'm not going to fret too much about the mileage.

I feel good. My legs feel good. Well, right now they don't actually because I had to hobble around just to sit in my office chair to write this blog post. I'm probably going to be sore as crap on Saturday and Sunday so getting out and running might be a chore.

Well, I'll let you know how things go on Saturday and Sunday. I know it's Labor Day Weekend and most of you probably won't be on your computers reading blogs but if you did happen to stop by, thanks for including me in your weekend and have a great, fun, safe and hopefully run-filled three-day weekend!

Tres Cosas Jueves

1. Run Streak Alive And Well: On Thursday morning I ran for the 17th consecutive day. It was just a 2-mile run (I'll explain why so little in a second) but it was a run nonetheless. A good run. Any run is a good run. My legs feel so good right now, every run I go on lately just lets me know that my legs are getting stronger and stronger. I've done two 10-mile runs during my streak and the difference between the first and the second was quite noticeable. I plan to keep this streak going as long as I can so I will be able to continue getting stronger while burning more calories and hopefully losing some weight.

2. Boot Camp: I started my first day of a 30-day boot camp workout. I got a Groupon earlier this year and finally redeemed it. It's for 30 days' worth of these boot camp classes. I didn't know what to expect but I wanted to run a little so I ran two miles - one mile out from the parking lot and then back - and had about 10 minutes to rest up before we started. That class kicked me in the butt. We warmed up, did some core work, then went right into it. There were four stations and you alternated two workouts at each station. There were either weights or ropes for one and then something involving the core (planks, tricep planks, burpees, mountain man pushups... yeah, wasn't too familiar with anything but the planks before today). So you alternate workouts - there's a group leader there, very energetic, telling you how much time you have left and stuff. So when she'd say switch, you switch. I was dripping with sweat pretty early on. It was all challenging. Somethings I couldn't do very well - mostly the core stuff - while the other people in the class - mostly women - were doing the core stuff just fine. We tore through all the different stations in maybe 35 minutes or so, so that was essentially 35 straight minutes of just alternating things. It was tough but worth it. I'll be back on Friday for more torture.

3. Disneyland Resort Trip: On Wednesday I took the girls out of school early and we picked up their cousin and went to Disney's California Adventure. Their cousin is going back home to Washington state on Sunday so we wanted for the girls to spend time with her before she went back. We all had a great time. We were there from like 11 until about 8. Tiring, mostly at the end, but worth it.

A few pictures:

Excited for the day

Nabbing an autograph

Daddy and a daddy's girl

Best Week Of The Year

Is it a stretch to call this the best week of 2011 for me? Well, maybe the best week that did not involve a race, how's that? The best training week of the year.

I can't remember a better week.

First, the stats

Distances

Mon - 10.07

Tue - 3.38

Wed - 6

Thu - 8.15

Fri - 6.05

Sat - 4.17

Sun - 3

Mileage for week: 40.82

That's seven runs in seven days. My total run streak is up to 13 consecutive days. And this is my highest-mileage week in months. I usually get close to 40 during January because A) I'm running 13, 15, 18 miles on Sundays and B) I'm refereeing HS soccer games and count the mileage. But this might be my highest mileage week ever of just straight runs, excluding the mileage I get from reffing soccer games.

How am I holding up? Physically, fine. I did feel some heel discomfort on Saturday morning, briefly, but I think that's because I ran eight hilly miles on Thursday and my heels don't like the hills so much.

I'm hoping to extend the streak for another seven days and get up to 20 so hopefully next Sunday I will be able to reflect on that. I don't see any reason why I can't keep going to be honest.

It's really, really hot right now. I was planning 10-12 on Monday but the weather is supposed to be ridiculous on Monday morning. I can't start until about 8 and the forecast for 8 on Monday is 78 and sunny, and it's supposed to be 86 degrees by 10, so I'm not sure a long run will fly on Monday. Might just go for 6-8 or I might get adventurous and split up the mileage, run 6-8 in the morning and do 4-6 in the evening. Oh yeah! Maybe I'll throw in some two-a-days here for kicks.

Regardless, it's been a great week and I really do feel like my legs are getting stronger. Days like the ones I've had are causing a snowball effect. The better I run, the more confidence I gain, the more confidence I gain, the more I want to run. I'm completely embracing this and am glad and grateful that I have the ability to run, both physically and with my job. Believe me, I don't take anything for granted. A month ago I wasn't running jack, and now this.

It truly has been the best training week of the year.

Hilly Run, Streak Lives

It's a streak now, a bone fide streak.

Ten days of running and counting. I made it to 10 on Thursday after knocking out 8.15 miles in 1:22:39. It was quite warm during my run but that wasn't the toughest part of the run.

Check out the elevation:

This is a run I've been wanting to do for a while but haven't been able to. Just wasn't trained properly enough to do it.

As you can see it's quite hilly. I started at my house and ran straight up a street that takes us over a hill and into a neighboring county. Over the hill, I usually turn around and come back but that would have only gotten me six so I ran a little more on the other side of the hill and then came back. So that's the same peak that I ran over and back.

The crazy part (since this is the first I've ran this with my micoach app, all of these stats are new to me):

at .75 mile the elevation was 942 ft.
at 2.1 miles the elevation was 1289 ft.

That's a gain of 347 feet in 1.35 miles. It took me a little more than 14 minutes to run that stretch. Now, that's the tough part, right? Well, on the way back you drop that much, 347 feet down, in 1.35 miles, so you can go pretty fast for that stretch.

Crazy stat from the way back.

Mile 5.25 - 1060 ft
Mile 5.94 - 1289 ft

That's an elevation gain of 229 feet in less than three-quarters of a mile.

Now, this hill I ran a lot when I was training for San Francisco. This and the one I ran last week were the two hills I used to train for the hills of San Fran. It worked obviously since I ran that in 4:37:51, besting my then-PR by about five minutes.

So the streak continues and it lives on after a tough run. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Awesome Running Days

I just finished a run that's got me so amped that I wanted to share it here.

You know how in the summer I wasn't running nearly enough? (yes, I know it's still summer but the girls are back to school now so bear with me)

Well, since the girls went back to school I've had more time to do more things, including running. I just ran six miles and it's the ninth consecutive day I've gone on a run.

This run was particularly grand. I've been wanting to get my legs back and I think this week I've taken some major steps towards doing just that. On Monday I ran 10 miles and today I ran six miles in 53:45. That's at a sub-9 minute pace.

Here are my splits

Mile 1 - 9:16

Mile 2 - 8:54

Mile 3 - 8:48

Mile 4 - 8:54

Mile 5 - 8:55

Mile 6 - 8:56

It was just a run that started out sort of leisurely but my legs felt good, felt strong and I just went with that. I ran the first mile in 9:16 and wondered if that was too fast and was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to hold that pace but as the miles went on, I got stronger and felt strong throughout. I think after four miles I felt a little spent but I pushed through that and had some nice bursts of speed in the last two miles, including the last quarter-mile or so, which was uphill.

These are the kinds of runs that motivate me to keep running, that drive me to pursue and the ones that I'll remember for days and weeks and months.

I'm so grateful I was able to experience that and that I now have the time to commit to running. And that's why I didn't sweat the summer too much. I enjoyed my time with the girls and now I'm enjoying my time and making the most of it.

Tree Tings Tuesday

I know, it ain't quite Thursday yet but I felt like banging out a few things now and I can't change the calendar so I improvise.

1. LB The Speaker: I volunteered, they accepted. Before the start of the Loper season, I volunteered to speak in one of our meetings. We meet for 30 minutes before each of our Sunday runs and the topic varies. I offered up my services to talk about motivation. By sharing my story I hope to motivate fellow Lopers to get through their long runs and overcome whatever challenges they may face. On Nov. 27 I will have the chance to share my story with the Lopers. I actually already have, as I gave a speech at the 2010 Loper Banquet. That was one of the highlights of my life, to be honest. I still get chills thinking about the standing ovation I received. I mean, honestly, how many times in your life are you going to get a standing ovation? And it was heart-felt, not a token standing o. I'd wanted to give the talk sooner but late November will work well also. We'll be on the cusp of knocking out long run after long run at that point, plus the holidays are always a time where a little extra motivation is needed. A while to go before then but it's been finalized. And this time, unlike my speech, I will record it and share it here for you all to see.

2. Cluster Eff: Yvie said this to her mom on Sunday: "Sometimes my room is a Charlie Foxtrot." This is very true, her room sometimes is pretty bad. I think it's hilarious though since she used the term perfectly. I told her a while back... "Yvie, if there's ever a situation where something is like a gigantic disaster and it seems like everything is going wrong, you can used the term 'Charlie Foxtrot' to describe it." Nice to know she listens!

3. Not Rockin' Out: I sacrifice a lot for my girls, including music. I've burned several musical soundtracks and the girls have enjoyed them quite a bit. Commonly found in our CD player: Annie, Sound of Music, West Side Story, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. I'm thinking of burning Phantom of the Opera and throwing that into the mix. I don't have Oklahoma but that might be another one. Any other suggestions? I know I'm digging a hole though with each new musical I introduce them to but oh well. Mrs. LB is big into musicals and she wanted the girls to enjoy them as well. I guess I'm doing my part, despite how much my ears suffer.

Pace Leader Challenges

LB, the Pace Leader.

It's official. I led my first run as a bone fide pace leader on Sunday. Two miles!

And it wasn't great.

Sigh.

Now, the group of runners assembled was fantastic. There seems to be a great mix of first-timers and veterans and we will have other runners join our group here as the weeks go on. My fellow pace leader was also great and offered a lot of info to the runners and was strong in her part during the run.

But the run itself was a bit of a disaster. Pace leaders are supposed to lead (duh) but I had runners get in front of me for a lot of the run. That threw off the pace and the run was way faster than it should have been.

I'm trying not to get too disheartened by it and even though I tried to get over it on Sunday, I suppose some feelings still linger about it. I'm guessing though that the only way to get past that will be to redeem myself next weekend.

After our run, we had more time to get together and talk as a group, so we did introductions and we had the runners all say their names and how many marathons they've run or what kinds of runs/races they've done recently if they hadn't done a marathon. We have runners who have done 0 marathons, 1 marathon, 2 marathons... all the way up to someone with 58 marathons. I didn't count exactly but I think about half of the 20 or so runners there were first-timers.

Of course my goal will be to keep them all there, all engaged, all motivated to run and of course pace them through runs.

Anyway, before we did introductions I told the group that that run was WAY too fast, that it was my fault for that. I also talked to them about staying behind the pace leader. I am going to have to hammer that point until they get it, and keep reeling them back when it happens. It will happen, of course. It's just natural.... one runner gets a head of steam, wants to stretch their legs and gets in front of the pace leader. That only draws the leader forward though and if it happens too much or for too long it will speed up the group.

So, I suppose that if that's my biggest headache at the start, it can't all be too bad.

And I really did enjoy meeting all the new runners and all the potential marathoners in our group. I know how grandiose and glorious it is to run a marathon and I would love nothing more than to help these runners experience that for themselves.

Oh, one more thing. I made it out Monday for a 10-miler. I worked on my pacing. Not bad, huh?

Mile 1 - 10:03
Mile 2 - 9:50
Mile 3- 9:58
Mile 4 - 10:04
Mile 5 - 10:24 (ah! my phone rang!)
Mile 6 - 9:50
Mile 7 - 9:52
Mile 8 - 9:52
Mile 9 - 9:43
Mile 10 - 9:30

Pacing Others

On Sunday, my incredible fitness adventure will take me on yet another once-unimaginable turn as my pace leader duties will begin in earnest.

Along with a fellow marathoner, I will pace the Loma Linda Lopers' 10-minute-per-mile pace group. This new part of my fitness journey will be challenging. Now, I've conquered so much from then until now that this might seem like just another challenge to overcome. However, this will add a new wrinkle - it's not all about fitness anymore.

I have to lead people. That requires being a leader of people. Which requires leadership qualities.

In some ways I think I'm more of a lead-by-example person. But this is an undertaking that will require more than that. I don't necessarily think it's an impossible task but it's one that will take me a bit to get the hang of.

I do after all have some fears about this whole pace-leading thing.

Such as...

* The Right Balance: If this group is anything like the other groups I've been in with the Lopers, we will have veteran marathoners and runners who have not run more than 5-6 miles. Finding a balance between the two groups of runners within the group could pose a challenge.

* Pacing Myself: I fear that I will either take the group out way too fast or way too slow. I'm not a speedburner by any means but sometimes I run in the 8-minute range, and sometimes I run in the low 9s. In fact, my comfortable pace is in the low to mid 9s. So an excited LB means a sped-up LB which could mean running closer to 9 minutes per mile than 10.

* Speaking Up: If you've ever talked to me in person, you know that I don't have a loud booming voice. I wish I did sometimes. I have to consciously project my voice when trying to talk to a group of people. If I just talk loud, it may not be loud enough.

* Guru? Hardly: I want to show the group that I am capable of being a pace leader by sharing things I've learned since I've taken up running. But I don't want to come across as a know-it-all.

* Finishing Strong: When I was training for my last marathon, in April, I struggled with finishing my long runs up strong - by long, I mean my 18- and 20-mile runs. For my 18-miler, I was done at about 15. We've got some time until we hit double digits, let alone 15, so I have time to work on this.

I'm sure there are more areas that I've worried about and pondered over but I can't think of them now. Hopefully I just put them out of my mind for good and that's that. But this list is just some of what I will try and focus on and improve over the course of my life as pace leader.

Now, my co-pace leader is an awesome runner, faster and stronger than me but we're both very dedicated and optimistic. We are on the same page in terms of what we want the group to be like and what we want our focus to be. We want our group members to have smiles on their faces after each and every run, and we want to focus on finishing runs, hopefully strong, instead of focusing on our time. Sure, we want to keep it as close to 10 minutes per mile as possible but we're not going to obsess over it either.

Anyway, with my co-pace leader around I think we'll have a strong group before too long. I just have to sort through my own challenges first and go from there.

The Run That Won

Thursday's final score: Mt. Rubidoux 1, LB 0.

Thursday's run was a bit taxing. Not sure if it was the weather (sunny, high 70s at start) or maybe improper nutrition (I had cereal for dinner on Wednesday, sad face). Or maybe I just over-exerted myself (but I had a good reason to do so, trust me). Or maybe I am still reeling from Saturday's hike (my legs feel fine now but still...).

I ran up Mt. Rubidoux. Instead of the usual four miles it takes to get up there, my journey was five since I have to park a little further away now.

Anyway, here's what the run looked like.

All those peaks and valleys suggest that I was really all over the place with my pace. The higher the line, the faster my pace. I was up and down and up and down and very inconsistent.

How does that compare with another run?

Here's Tuesday's six-miler.

It was a bit more steady, but it wasn't on a hill at all.

This is what the elevation was for today's run.

So I went from 789 feet at the start to 1299 feet, a change of more than 500 feet in about 2.5 miles.

I tried to do the run hard too, and that may have been my problem as well. Once at the top I had to take a break. I was breathing very hard and the sun was just shining down on me. Once I got back to my truck, I was dripping in sweat. I drank an entire bottled water in one drink, then pounded another one.

All in all, a pretty draining run.

Hike Up Mt. San G - Bad Idea

I don't know what I was thinking.

I'd never been hiking, really, nothing like the hike I attempted Saturday. For my first real hike, I chose to hike up the highest peak in Southern California, all told a 20-mile hike.

Dumb idea. Actually, it wasn't my idea as my overachieving brother talked me into it. Looking back on it, it would have been better to have done a shorter hike to get acclimated to hiking and then work our way up to the monster hike we attempted Saturday.

I'll try to keep this blog post short but here goes...

My three brothers and I got up to the trailhead at about 5:45 a.m. on Saturday and about 20 minutes later we set off on our quest. If I'd have known then what I know now, I would have turned around or told Danny that I was only going up 4-5 miles. Ah well.

Now, we started off at about 6,000 feet elevation and were supposed to gain about 5,500 feet over the course of 10 miles. The first mile seemed like it was just one constant uphill and it kept climbing and climbing. There were few parts where the path leveled out, mostly it was just going up and up and up.


I felt fine the first mile, the second mile, the third.... I was doing great by the time we got to eight miles. We still weren't quite sure if there were two more miles to go after eight miles or not, we'd hoped it was more like one mile remaining, but we had energy and were hoping to get to the top soon.

I could tell I was in some high altitude here. I'd take a few steps and I was feeling short of breath. That feeling got worse, became more amplified when we got higher than the tree line.

Yeah, this kind of was a bit unsettling. I was at such a high elevation that trees couldn't grow there. The only things around me were rocks... rocks big enough you could sit on, rocks that fit in your hand and rocks that resembled thick sand.

Me and my brother Hugo, about 20 minutes before reaching the top.

At this point, we'd gone for more than nine miles but every step was difficult and more challenging than the last. The air was thin and our bodies felt it. We'd been at it for well over six hours at this point and all I wanted to do was to get to the top. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I was at the summit. It was an open area and there were maybe two dozen other hikers up there. Danny had gotten there first so we found a spot to sit in, waited for our other brothers and celebrated our achievement by eating sandwiches.

A friend wanted some of my sammie:


Now, I was so tired once at the top that I took my shoes off and, after downing one of the best sandwiches I've had in my life, I laid down somehow, found a sort-of comfortable spot and rested. And slept. For probably 15 minutes, I slept on the top of the highest peak in Southern California.

After about an hour, were rested and recovered enough to attempt to start our long journey down. But not before posing for a rare family photo.

The Bueno men

We were feeling refreshed and hopeful that we could get down to the bottom in about four hours. But the thin air tried to hold me back, and it did. My three bros seemed to have more energy than I did as my steps were slow, my breathing labored. We were making good time though and stopped at around the two-mile mark. I was parched, drank a lot of water and after about a quarter-hour we were off again.

My knee was starting to speak up.

A few more miles later and were bound to beat our goal time of reaching the bottom before 6 p.m. But my knee wouldn't shut up.

Eventually, my knee was screaming and I couldn't ignore it any more. I grabbed a long thick stick and used it as a crutch. I tried to balance myself with it in order to help shuffle my leg down the path as it hurt when I put any weight on it. Had I known beforehand how beneficial it would have been to have a hiking pole, I would have bought two and taken them with me. Instead, I was relying on a stick.

I had slowed to a crawl. My knee was in agonizing pain and I was barely moving. I had no idea where I was and no idea how much longer it was going to take.

Eventually, though, my knee started to feel better. Perhaps taking off some of the pressure from my leg helped as I was able to walk semi-normally.

After about five hours, I finally made it down to the bottom. Part of me was happy that I had done the hike but most of me was disappointed that I had attempted it in the first place. It took us a few hours longer than we had planned for, so of course our families were worried. With no cell coverage and some dead cell phones, they feared the worst while we had no way to quell those fears.

Ultimately, the hike was too long to have attempted. But we did it and came out relatively unscathed so it was a difficult learning experience but sometimes those are necessary in order for us to progress.

I'm not opposed to hiking but I do want to be much more prepared next time, with hiking poles in tow and attempting a much less demanding outing than the one that slapped us around on Saturday.

Big Pair Of Days

The next two days will be memorable. I hope I can survive to tell you the tales of each respective day.

SATURDAY

I'm heading on my first hike. Well, it will be my first official hike. I've hiked across Disneyland dozens of times but not sure that counts. I'm going with my brothers to hike up the highest peak in Southern California, Mount San Gorgonio, which is 11,530 feet above sea level. Nothing to sneeze at, is it? According to some Web sites I've seen, the trail we're taking - the Vivian Creek Trail - is a demanding trail that features a 5,600-foot elevation gain, which mean's we'll be starting around the 6,000-foot mark.

I've never been on a real hiking excursion like this but my brother Danny has. I'm putting my faith in him. I figure I can run pretty good so my legs should be up for such a difficult hike as this. My only concern right now is what to wear. Being the runner I am, I'm probably going to end up hiking in my running clothes. Well, shorts for certain. We'll see about the shirt. Danny's provided me with a list of provisions to take so I should be good on that end too.

It's supposed to take us 10-12 hours to do the whole hike, from bottom to top to bottom. We're leaving my house at 5 a.m. to get up there so we can start the hike around 6 a.m. or so, hopefully earlier. I'm used to getting up early and going on long runs so this will be a bit of a change of pace, getting up early to go on a hike. However it goes I'll make sure and let you know all about it.

SUNDAY

The Lopers season starts on Sunday! I'm going to assume my official role as pace leader. Okay, well, that will mean that I will help out with the newcomers, so I wont' actually have a group to lead on Sunday, although once everything is said and done on that day we will put people into groups so I could have a list of runners that day. But then, I think I remember last year having the choice to join a group... ah, I don't know what I'm talking about.

I guess the bottom line is that I will be the 10-minute pace leader for real on Sunday, so I'll be able to introduce myself as that come Sunday. It will be interesting once the actual running part of the season starts on the 21st. I actually wanted to explore my thoughts regarding myself and being a pace leader and my hopes, desires, fears, etc. are before taking on this new challenge in my life.

For now, though, I will be content with helping out on Sunday however I can as a bona fide pace leader.

Birthday Goodies

Since I started running in 2008, I've been an Asics man. Not sure what made me choose that brand in the first place but I did and I had success with my first pair that I opted to make my second pair an Asics... and my third pair... and my fourth pair... I probably should have had more than four pairs of shoes in that span but let's save that for another day.

Anyway, being as it was my Geburtstag/cumpleaños/birthday on Tuesday, Mrs. LB took me to the local running store and I splurged and got me some new shoes.

What do you think?

Daddy got a new pair of shoes!

They're the Adrenaline GTS 11 model, which apparently is popular. What I liked about them was that they felt very light on my feet. The Asics I've had haven't felt heavy or anything but these shoes made my current pair feel like bricks by comparison. I'm excited to try them out... as early as today!

The shoes were awesome but I didn't stop there. I also got me...

so comfy

I splurged and got me a good pair of running shorts. Not that the pairs I have now aren't good but these... wow. They made me feel like a runner just by putting them on. I tried them on at the store and I felt like going on a run right then and there. They have built-in underwear, the longer kind that I prefer, so that will help out a great deal.

But I also bought...

where the magic happens

... some of the long pair of underwear I prefer. Sorry but I can't model them for you. Well I suppose I could but not sure how that'd go over with my readers.

I have now six pairs of running/workout underwear. I like them because they hold everything together comfortably and prevent chafing, two good qualities to have in workout underwear.

Ah, but that's not all. I also got me some of these:

sock it to me

This would be known as a 10-dollar pair of socks. I could have paid like two bucks more and gotten six pairs of Adidas socks at Costco but I've been wanting another pair of socks like these. I have a similar pair of socks that I bought for nine bucks a while back and those are really good and comfy socks. Hoping for the same from these.

And finally I nabbed some of these on the way out:

GU times six

A good supply of GU. It's funny - I swear by GU but I've not tried four of these... or is it three? I've tried the orange and lemon ones - love the lemon the best, it's my favorite flavor - and I think I may have tried the chocolate one at some point. Haven't ever seen the blackberry so am interested in trying it out. Also, Mrs. LB grabbed the Roctane and threw them in as well. The guy checking me out... the guy at the counter... you know what I mean... anyway, that guy said to ease into the Roctane as they are like an ultra GU or something.

"Ultra? Hear that? Your favorite word," I told Mrs. LB.

Ultra... dem's fightin' words 'round here. I bring up and ultra-marathon and Mrs. LB instantly shoots it down. But she did say something new on Tuesday. If I can get to the point where I run marathons and... how did she put it?... "I'm not worried about whether you can walk back to the car or hotel without collapsing" then she would be open to me running an ultra.

Woo hoo! Just another reason to train harder now that the Loper season is upon me.

And with all my awesome new running gear I got for my 3_th... (or is it 3_st) birthday, I'm gonna do so with pleasure!




Full disclosure, I turned 36 on Tuesday. I am washed up :)

Time Will Soon Be Back On My Side

I'd like to think my blog reflects my life. What goes on in my life is right here for everyone to see.

More than just in words, though, that has been true of late.

Posting has been sporadic of late.

Part of that has to do with my lack of runs - tough to blog about running stuff when you haven't been running. But part of that has to do with the reason why I haven't been running - lack of time.

School will start on Tuesday however, and that's going to free me up for the whole day now as Kennedy starts first grade. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to have a party from 8-2:30 every day. There are a lot of things that will require my attention on a daily/weekly basis. But I will be able to fit some things into my schedule a bit easier starting on Tuesday. Well, actually Wednesday. On Tuesday - which is also my birthday (!) - Mrs. LB and I will spend some time relaxing - out for breakfast, perhaps a movie, possibly pedicures... yeah, pedicures... but I digress...

Anyway, one of those things that I will be able to fit into my schedule is blogging. Yay for blogging!

I like to just sit down sometimes and craft blog pieces. Usually that's at a time when I'm alone and I'm feeling it, I can write a good blog post or three. I like to spend time at Panera, drinking coffee, writing about whatever... sometimes it's work-related, sometimes it's for the blog, often times it's alternating between one and the other. I tend to write best when I just have an open-ended time period ahead of me... well, I take that back, sort of. I can put out a lot of copy when right up against the deadline and that's when I'm the most efficient writer but in terms of the content, the better stuff comes up when I'm not under any pressure, relaxing, drinking coffee...

I hope that happens often in the days/weeks/months to come.

A Post About Nothing

I hadn't planned on writing a blog post today. I mean, I didn't run on Tuesday and it will be tough to fit in a run today. But I have time to blog right now and figured I'd take advantage of it this way.

What to write about.... Oh, I know. Recently there was a thing going around blogs where bloggers revealed seven random facts about themselves. I'll go ahead and do that now. I'll reveal some things about myself and hope that doesn't chase you away from this blog :)

1. Hatin' On The White: I don't know what it is but there are a lot of "white" things I don't like. I'm talkin' food here, people :) Anyway, in no particular order, some things that I just don't really care for at all - Alfredo sauce, cream cheese, ranch dressing, mayonnaise, sour cream... and I'm sure I missed another thing or three.

I don't know what it is that makes me not like those things. Alfredo sauce is the best way to ruin pasta for me. I can't have any sort of creamy sauce in my pasta. It has to be tomato-based or like an oil-based thing or otherwise, forget it. I do like cheesecake and a few other things with cream cheese in it but I put butter on my bagels, not the Philly spread. I guess aside from my wife I just don't do white ;)

2. That One Guy...: I'm horrible with names in movies. Like, if I'm watching a movie I can't pick up on characters' names. It makes it really confusing when in the middle of the movie they start to refer to other characters who are off-screen by their first names. I can't keep things straight sometimes that way and it bugs me because I can easily get lost. I always have to lean over to my wife and ask "Are they talking about Leonardo DiCaprio's character?" or some crap like that.

3. Permanent Siesta: If I didn't care about my family and my wife's family as much as I do, I would seriously try and move Mrs. LB and the girls down to some tiny Caribbean beach town. I'm not even joking. I've been to the Caribbean once, to Trinidad & Tobago, in 2001 for three weeks and it was really awesome. I only went to the beach once while there but it was something else. I picture life there or in Jamaica or St. Kitts or the Virgin Islands or wherever to be stress-free. Who cares about the world when my own world is paradise. I know it wouldn't be like that every day but I'd like to find that out for myself.

4. Travels: So the countries I've visited, in order of the most time I've spent in each foreign land, are: Mexico, Japan, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany, Costa Rica, Canada, France. The next new foreign country I'll visit will be.... dunno. I'm putting my money on Honduras. See, I write about soccer for a living and there's a lot of soccer in Honduras and soccer has taken me to Japan, Trinidad and Costa Rica (and Mexico a couple of times) so I'm guessing Honduras is next. Just a guess.

5. Domestic Travels: So the states I've visited, in no particular order... okay, maybe geographically from West to East... : California (duh), Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois. I had a three-hour layover at the Miami airport once but I can't count that as having visited Florida. Boo.

6. Tentative: I'd like to teach. Wow. That's actually progress from my stance on the profession. I was a teacher once, for six months back in 2003-04. Professionally, it was the most horrible six-month stretch of my life. It was a disaster and ruined my hopes of becoming an effective teacher. I think I'm a bit removed from that time though and now I might be ready to consider teaching again. The situation was tough for me - inner-city kids, a community I was unfamiliar with, a long commute. I think if it was closer to home, it could be different. But it might not be. And it's not the best time to try and become a teacher here in SoCal. For now, I'll just stick to writing for a living and volunteering in the girls' classes. I might get back into substitute teaching here soon. That alone might make me *not* want to teach.

7. Tatted-Up: I have two tattoos, on my left calf and on my back. I want to get some Japanese Kandji on my forearms but Mrs. LB has protested that thought. I'm trying to get her on my side for those. I'd also like to get my daughters' names tattooed on me but not sure where. And I'd like to get a tattoo on my right calf to reflect my marathons and my running, something with a 26.2 and... well, a buddy of mine sort of designed something, with a 26.2 surrounded by flames, bursting through a finish-line tape and I'd put a small star on the tape for each marathon I've run. Does that make sense? That sounds pretty awesome but I have to see if he has that design handy and then we can work on it or something. That may very well be my next tattoo.

Okay, there you go. Seven random things from me. Hope it doesn't scare you away :)

Back In The Swing Of Things

Finally.

It only took eight days but finally I was able to run. I knocked out a six-miler on Monday. It wasn't exactly the distance I had planned for but I just couldn't stop at four, and then when I got closer to five I figured to just go for six. I wound up running for one hour and managed to get in 6.27 miles.

It was a bit liberating to just get on the treadmill and run. Yes, the 'mill. The only way to have gotten that run in was at the gym so I took my girls there, paid the six bucks it costs for the kids club and then hopped on the 'mill.

I felt good. My legs felt a bit heavy and I didn't feel quite as smooth as I normally do but I figured I'd have some setbacks. But they weren't major setbacks, just minor stuff.

I don't want to get ahead of myself and plan things but I do think that I will run again either Tuesday or Wednesday and then Thursday for sure. The girls are staying the night at their grandma's on Wednesday night so I will have a bit of time early Thursday morning. I may try and head out at 6 a.m. and will play it by ear and see how I'm feeling and just run.

Once school starts, I know I will increase my miles substantially so between now and then I just want to spend the time transitioning and getting back into the rhythm of things.

It's nice to feel like I will get into a rhythm here soon enough.