Brain tumors suck... Running and triathlons Rule

My Bday Run Dec22..

2012-01-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Just before the start...

So I tuned a year older this year… I cannot believe how time flies.. As like every year, I do my bday run!! Each year I run my age in miles, this year like in previous years, I simply added a mile to the previous year’s run. And ... Gulp!!. I cannot believe how fast time flies and how old I am getting. It appears that it was a few moments ago when I had my first memory… yes, I do remember my first memory… what was yours? Do you remember?

This year was different, for the first time I had a friend run with me the whole duration of my run. In the past I had friends join me for some parts of it, but this time my friend Jim was crazy enough to start and finish with me.

Somebody left a couch for me to take a rest...

Bright and early, Jim drove to my house and we started the awesome run. I knew it was going to be a great day, it wasn’t raining like last year. The weather was cold, but not wet, so I knew from the start that we were going to have a great day.
This wasn’t a race, it was simply a day to cover my age in miles and a day of having fun, it happen to be also Jim’s longest run ever, so not I wasn’t only celebrating my birthday, but Jim was about to complete something he had never done before.
Of course, our first stop was at SCCF where I had the chance to go to the bathroom and remove my hoodie, it was going to be a hot day. We continued our long run and decided to have breakfast in Burlingame, at Panera bread. We got coffee and a breakfast bagel, sat by the window and eat in earnest. Unlucky for Jim, he was sitting next a lady who had some gas problems, and lucky for me that I am hard of hearing so I did not hear her at all. The smell, I thought, was a product of our sweat. It turns out that it wasn’t… LOL.

Entering SF!!

Our next hard stop was at “The ferry Building” in SF where we got hamburgers and potato fries. Jim also ordered a yummy MilkShake. We needed all the calories we could get into our already tired bodies. It was a good recovery meal before making the final push all the way to Sausalito. After an hour of eating and resting, and of course facebooking, we got ready to go once again.
The weather had gotten a little colder, but as soon as we started moving again, I got warm and sweaty. Because it was the end of the year, we could notice a greater influx of tourists to one of the SF landmarks, The Fisherman’s wharf. We made out of there, unscratched, however there were lots of stares as you could imagine. Who are these people who are moving so slowly, pretending to be running and looking in as if they are in pain or something? They didn’t know that at this time we had run over a marathon already and Jim had the beginnings of a cramping episode. Thank God it didn’t happen totally…

Jim Stretching trying to avoid cramping!!

We reached the Golden Gate Bridge just in time to take a few pictures still with the light of day. It was beautiful and I just loved the series of pictures I took of the Golden Gate Bridge as we were far, and then closer and then really close and finally on the Bridge. As we were running on the Bridge, we heard someone honking, we didn’t know it then, but turns out it was our ride. Jim’s dog was sleeping and as soon as he “smelled” him, he started to bark. Apparently Jim smells so bad that his dog can recognize his smell even if he is on car driving over the GG Bridge and Jim is running outside, Funny.

First Bridge

First Look

Closer

Finally on it!!

We made it to the other end of the bridge and made our way to Sausalito. This was the only part that was scary simply because it was already getting dark and there is no shoulder in some of the roads from the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito. But, needless to say, we made it to the end. We finished my bday run, and Jim ran the farthest he has ever run… We had a good day. If you want to know how long was my run, here is a clue…. yes, it was over 40 miles +-2.

Western States Bound

2011-12-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

So I thought I had spent all my luck when I survived mybrain tumor…. And then I got picked in theWESTERN STATES 100 lottery this past weekend. So, it is all set, I have been invited to the Big Dance. My name was drawn along with some other 300 qualifiedcandidates to run this epic event. I amexcited beyond words… I didn’t think Iwas going to be picked by the lottery Gods, and somehow it happened.. woohoo!!

So this next year I have four main events..

8X dipsea trail run (unsupported) (I attempted once, it didn’tgo well, read about it here)
Rim to Rim to Rim (unsupported)
Western States 100 (first time and looking forward to it)
Ironman Arizona (Did this event in 2009, I am lookingforward to do it again)

These are my main events; there will be many others, butthey will be training runs that will help me to prepare for these four majorraces. I am excited about being able tohave another great year in the trails. My main goal is to keep healthy and most importantly to be able totiptoe the starting line for these four awesome events.

Woodside 50K, Dec 4th

2011-12-09T08:04:00.001-08:00

This year I stayed away from long distance running to pursueother interests, among them CrossFit and Triathlon. However, running is my first love and I fellin love with it all over again not long ago in one training run I had. Jim and Oliver, a couple of people from theCrossFit gym I train with decided that they wanted to do this and of coursethey didn’t have to twist my arm much for me to sing up for it

Jim and Oliver picked me up sharply at 7:00 am to take the10-15 minute ride to the starting line located in Huddard Park in Woodside. I am familiar with this park as that iswhere I usually ride my bike or go for early morning runs. It is a beautiful place and I feel blessedthat I actually live nearby that allows me to enjoy it without having to drivehours and hours on end.

We got to the park in with plenty of time and we weresurprised that no one from the racing company was there. They are usually early in the morning andfor some reason they were late. I foundthat a bit disappointing as this company is pretty close to my heart so I findit difficult when people “talk bad” about them even if justified.

Runners gathering to collect bibs before the run

When they finally showed up, we got our bib numbers, mine was#66, went back to the car changed my shoes and got ready for a great run on themountain. We walked back to the“starting line” just in time for the “gun” to go off and just like that we werein our way. I happened NOT to recognizemany people, obviously a sign of not doing many of these events oftenenough. However, I found KimEvanson, a fellow ultrarunner and agreat friend. Kim and I have shared thetrails many times and it was great to have her there.

Jim at the start

Here we go... :)

Kim and I started together and ran pretty well until thefirst aid station located at the top of Huddard park, just off King’s mountain road, a very popularbiking road. I wasn’t feeling bad and didn’t have the need to stop forlong. Kim made a joke about the factthat it took me so little time to ingest some food and was ready to rock androll almost immediately. We continuedrunning together through the “flat portion” of the run (about 5 miles) to thenext aid station. We left the aid station(perhaps a group of 10) and that is when I decided to push it a littlebit. Unfortunately and typical ofme, I missed a flag exactly at the samelocation I missed last year and ended up in somebody’s yard. I knew we were lost and had to retrace oursteps and got oriented once again. Weretraced our steps and added some distance to our 50K race. I learned later that Jim got lost in thesame area, but unlike Oliver and I he wasn’t able to find the right trai for along time at which time he had lost considerable time and decided to call itquits. It happens…

After we found the “right” path and as I was feeling good, Ipushed it a little bit. And all of thesudden I was running by myself so I kept the pace. I caught this lady right before the biggestclimb of the race starts and we ran together for some time. She was definitely good on the uphills andpushed me relentlessly until we reached the top and the aid station. I knew then that the majority of the climbingwas done and now I was going to run the “flat section” of the course beforereaching the first aid station and from there I had about 4.2 miles of downhillto the finish line. I ran pretty wellthis flat section, all by myself; I even stopped to take a couple of picturesand to “use the facilities”. This placeis so beautiful I am definitely going back more often to run there.

The mountain is so beautiful and the soil so soft, was like running on pillows.

I saw a family of dear here, I went for my camera and when I was ready to shoot, whey were all gone.. :(

Awesome place to run!

The required self portrait...

Six hours and a few minutes later I was crossing the finishline and I was feeling good, I was surprised as I didn’t train a lot for thisrace, in fact I had only two training runs and the longest was 10 miles. When I reached the finish line I wassurprised to see Jim there. He told meof his DNF and well, it sucked. He didgreat regardless and we are planning to do another race together shortly. Kim and Oliver came not long after me, andafter a few pictures went home. It wasdefinitely a great day.

This is Kim finishing strong!!

The after picture... San Carlos CrossFit representing!!.

Oliver Finished strong...

Jim's battle wounds!!

What to do next?… I am working on my race calendar for next year and can’t wait to have it finalized. Here is a preview... 100 mile run, an ironman a series of ultra marathons and bike rides.. It is going to be epic..

IM Arizona registerd

2011-11-21T14:23:00.001-08:00

So it is done.. I have registered for IM Arizona next year.. That was the IM where I did the best, and I hope that will be the place where I will PR once again.

Now I hope I will get a few other races on my calendar for the next year including a 100 miler, a 100 K, an Ironman, an open water swim... what else? 2012 is going to be EPIC...

Nike's Womans Marathon

2011-10-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

The starting line.. it was insane..

The Nike’s Woman marathon is in the books…

On October 16. Ilined up with thousands of women and a few very secure men and ran the Nike’s women’smarathon. Apparently you don’t need tobe a woman to participate in this event, but you have to prepare to be chickedover and over during the entire marathon. Here is my report…

A few weeks ago, Rujeko found out that she needed to be inNapa the same afternoon as the marathon. So it made sense to actually stay in the city the night before, run the marathon,come back to the hotel, clean up and then she would be in her way to Napa. So we looked for hotels, and I guessthousands of people had the same idea because it was tough to find a hotel. Iasked a good friend of ours if we could stay in her house, she agreed, but atthe very last minute we finally found a hotel which was very close to thestarting line. Great huh? Well not quite…

The day before the marathon we had dinner close to home anddrove to the city to the hotel we had reserved. We got out of the car and walked into thehotel, it looked decent… then I saw the signs everywhere about the rate forbringing a guest into the hotel. Sothis place can also be rented by the hour... but we were going to be there just one night, how bad could it be? Iasked about our reservation, and the person behind the bullet proof windowtells us that our reservation had been cancelled because they overbooked... I am like, WTF? And nobody took the courtesy to call us totell us that? Long story short, Iraised hell there, they finally “found” us a room and gave us the key. Rujeko suggested going check the room priorto bringing in our luggage. We did andI won’t go into details here, but needless to say we got out of there reallyfast. Told the front desk person thatwe were not staying and left the hotel looking for a bottle of disinfectant orrubbing alcohol. Now we had not placeto stay, we looked around but everything was booked, so we decided to drivehome and get up early for the race. Sowe did, we left the hotel and drove all the way home to our clean and comfortablebed.

The next day, woke up at around 4:30 am. Like I always do, I went to take a showerand started my little race routine which includes; bathroom, shower, lube,dressing for the race eat and getting my stuff together. Drove to the city and got there with plentyof time to find a good parking spot, we got into the parking structure andafter finding a good spot, I started to get ready for the race. Rujeko needed to go to the bathroom and weknew that the lines at the portapoties at the race were probably going to beinsane so we look for alternative bathroom facilities. We found one and after taking care ofbusiness, we went to the starting line.. and MY GOD… I never been in a place with so much estrogenin the air.. It was awesome..

It took a long time to cross the finish line and the thingthat annoyed me the most is that nobody respected the corrals; people just wenteverywhere they wanted to be. Peoplethat would be running 14 minute miles were in the 6:30 mpm corral, I mean… comeon!! So needless to say, when themarathon started there was a lot of zigzagging to pass around people that werewalking at mile 1, not cool.

It was a sea of purple in this race.. Amazing..

We settled into a nice pace and started eating the milesaway… one by one.. until Rujeko startedto feel sick. We tried to maintain thesame pace, but she wasn’t feeling good so I forced her to take iboprufins. I am such a believer of those things, theynever disappoint me.. And after she tookthem, they started to take effect… and she started to pick up the pace...

Blister happened... Despite the issues Rujeko did awesome.

I had a long business trip thus I did not run as much as I wantedto, my longest run before this marathon was the marathon at the end of theironman and that had been almost 1 ½ months, so I wasn’t in any shape to break anyrecords, but the whole idea was to runit together. This is our second marathontogether and we are already talking of the next one, and next time we are goingto train to do great. I saw many people, obviously, running their firstmarathon and it is always awesome to see the excitement in their faces. I love to see someone finish somethingawesome for the first time. Around mile 20 or so my foot started hurting, my shoesseemed to be too tight so I lose the shoelaces, but still they felt tight. I don’tknow what was going on, but I knew that because of that some other part of mybody was going to start hurting because I knew I changed my stride tocompensate for the pain in the left foot. And like I predicted, my hip started to get sore and by mile 24 I was inreal pain. I knew I had less than 2miles to go and I did dig deep in order to move forward. When I finally saw the finish line, I wastoo excited to feel any pain, so we bolted to get to the end. We crossed the finish line holding hands andit was a great finish to a great day. Icouldn’t’ be happier. We picked our Tiffany“medal” and started to make our way to the exit.

Overall it was a great race..


The views were freaking awesome

San Carlos CrossFit endurance team representing.. :)

After the marathon we took the bus back to the startingline. This was more painful than theactual marathon, the line to get to thebus was like 3 miles long or so it seemed, and once we were in the bus, thetraffic was so bad that we were movingvery slow and I was getting annoyed by the person behind me talking aboutherself all day long.. pfftt!!

All in all, it was a great day and most importantly it mademe feel blessed for just being able to do this. Next race? TBD…

Ironman Wisconsin 2011

2011-09-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

So it is done… Ironman Wisconsin 2011 is history and in the books. I reached the starting line with 2000 others in Madison Wisconsin the 11^th of September. This was a special day as we commemorated the 9/11 attack which took many lives. Personally, I wasn’t touched, but it affected me deeply, this race was a commemoration of that horrible day and a celebration of life.

This was a special Ironman event for me as well, because I brought a newbie to do this race with me. Oliver Gutierrez, a friend of mine and member of the San Carlos CrossFit Endurance team.

On Wed afternoon after arriving, getting our car and driving to the hotel, we decided to go and check downtown and get a bite to eat. The temperature was nice and I was hoping that we would have such weather on race day. I have been following the weather for almost a week and it promised to be great. IM Wisconsin is famous for having an unpredictable weather the day of the race, and I was hoping that the weather Gods would be kind to us on race day.

The following day, Oliver arrived and the next day another member of our team also arrived; Jim Maliksi and his lovely wife. He wasn’t racing, but he was instrumental for us being there, and he came to get inspiration as he prepares for his own adventure. I am sure I will be blogging his success in my next Ironman blog. We registered, we toured the expo, we bought things we didn’t need we checked the competition and we rested plenty.

The day before the race, we delivered our transition bags. Swim to bike bag, checked, bike to run bag, checked. Transition bags are key for a successful race, and having what you need when you need it is important. This blog is NOT about race strategy, but if you want to know more about how I do things please drop me an email and I would be happy to share.

The day of the Ironman, we got up early and ate plenty, got dressed and went to the race. Jim drove Oliver and me to the transition site, we delivered our special needs bags and checked on our bikes one more time…. put in our wetsuits… walked to the starting line… got into the water and then the cannon went off…. Ironman Wisconsin had started.

The water was warm, but at that moment, I didn’t feel the temperature. Just looking at 2500 other people whose race is about start with yours was enough to intimidate the hell out of me. I have done several Ironmans, and the thing that is the most exciting and the most nerve wrecking is the start of the race. Imagine you put all of your socks in a washing machine and then you start the washing machine in permanent press, now imagine you are sock. That is how it feels… it is amazing.

I started in the middle of the pack and settled in a nice rhythm, I didn’t do much sighting as I knew that 2500 people will be swimming in the same direction. The first 500 meters I swam as hard as I could in order to get into a good pace and avoid the slow swimmers and hoping to get in with a faster swimming group. I drafted pretty well and when I got out the water I had finished my 2.4 swim in 1:15 minutes, just two minutes short of my best time, I was happy. Got out of the water, stripped my wetsuit, ran to transition, got my transition bag and changed into my biking gear. Went to pick up my bike and I was off for a 112 mile bike ride.

I have mentioned in the past, two things will destroy your race, any race you do. Nutrition and pacing, I had a couple of races gone the toilet because I started a bit faster than I should have so I wanted to keep it steady and real. I had my nutrition brew on my saddle cages; I rely on these to take me through the race. Unfortunately there was a part of the pavement that was rough and also we went through some railroad tracks, somewhere there, my bottles flew and I did not notice until it was time to drink some. Imagine my disbelief when I reached back to get my bottle and I didn’t have it, I was “Fu&*#ed”. I had to rely on whatever they gave me at the aid stations, but I knew that it was NOT going to be enough. And it wasn’t… at about mile 40 I started to cramp, it was pretty bad. I got out of the bike several times to stretch and I could see my muscles twitch, it is pretty funny now, but back then it was pure hell. When I finally reached my special needs bags, I retrieve my extra nutrition and started to drink and eat in earnest, but at that time I had lost so much time and I wasn’t feeling pretty well. I knew my goal time was gone and all I needed now is to keep it steady, real and finish. I made it to the end of the bike leg, 112 miles of hills and turns and extreme heat.

I got out off the bike and a great volunteer took my bike back to transition, I ran to the transition tent, got my gear, changed my shoes, took off my biking shorts, ate a gu and left the changing tent. Now, in an Ironman event you get to have you own helper, this person helps you with transition and as soon as you get out of the changing tent you are greeted by an army of volunteers that will rub sunscreen on you. I tried to get rubbed pretty well so I was not going to get sunburn. I saw Jim there taking pictures; I said my hello and started my run. As soon as I got out into the course I spotted my beautiful wife. I can safely say, that this was the highlight of my race. We said our hellos, exchanged a kiss and just like that I was on my way to run 26.2 miles.

The run course is throughout Madison downtown and through the campus of the University of Wisconsin. We get to run inside of the stadium, along the fraternity/sorority row and other cool places within the university campus. The aid stations had wet sponges, and I used them all the time. It was pretty hot so having a wet sponge in my shoulders was a great treat. I also put ice in hat or inside my shirt to keep cool. I ran the first half, when I got to the special needs bags my feet were already in pain and I just didn’t have it in me to run anymore. I knew I was going to finish, the question was how long would it take me? I changed socks and started to shuffle once again. The shuffle turned into a walk and it remained a walk until about 200 meters off the finish line. I didn’t have anybody behind me so I enjoy running slow through the finish chute. When I crossed the finish line, I turned around and I bowed to show my respect to the race that had defeated me that day. And with that, I finished IM Wisconsin 2011 edition. It was AWESOME!!

After I finished, I went to pick up my bike and my transtions bags and my goal was to wait for Oliver. I sat in the car and I fell asleep, I did not wake up until Oliver came to the car. He finished his race strong, he is truly an Ironman. the conditions were far from optimal and he persevered and FINISH.

2011-07-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have seen way too many times people’s expressions when they come to the gym and realize that there is running involved in the workout of the day. It is funny to see all sorts of reactions; from happiness (me) to really unhappiness (I won’t mention names). The first thing I hear is, “I shouldn’t have come today” or “I hate running” or “running hurts”. In any event, running is not most people’s favorite WOD component, is it?

Interestingly, I also have seen many people that are great with lifts but throw in a running component in the workout of the day and they are screwed. I like that because that is my forte and I take advantage of it, right?

Well, when I started CrossFit, I couldn’t, for the life of me, do a double under. Every time double unders were involved in a WOD I simply would accept the fact that I would not be doing well and or it will take me a lot of time to complete the WOD. Then a wonderful thing happened, the more I practiced double unders following the coach’s advice and techniques, I got better at them. And now, every time I see double unders as a component of a WOD, I cannot help but be happy. Do you see where I am going with this? Running is like double unders and most things we do in CrossFit, it involves technique and practice to be good at it.

Running is like double unders, the more you practice following your coach’s advice and techniques they just happen. And then you start getting good at them and all of the sudden you are loving them. Running works just the same. I wrote a little piece a few weeks ago about running technique (see it here http://sccfendurance.blogspot.com/2011/03/injury-prevention.html). This will show you how by simply changing your stride it will minimize the hurt, it will improve your speed and the enjoyment of it. So, don’t wait for the next time running comes up in a Work out of the day, grab a coach and ask for help … and then go out there and embrace every workout with running as a chance to get better.

Here I am running Miwok 100K in preparation for a 100 mile run.

San Diego 100 Miler

2011-06-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Warning, this is a looooong post..

I have a theory, my theory is that whatever a race I have planned for a long time is around the corner, work gets really insane and I barely have time to pack and get to the airport, literally. I am usually able to guess pretty well what I will need and in most cases I have what I need, well that changed in this race and it wasn’t a good experience.

I had traveled to Spain previously for work after Miwok and I didn’t have time to train more for this race. When I came back, work was crazy and it remained like that until the day I left for San Diego, it was Thursday at 9pm and I was still at work and I hadn’t packed anything yet. I made it home sometime during the night and I put in my suitcase everything I thought I needed. The basics, flashlight, gels, salt pills, a change of clothes, a warm shirt, my running tights, a hat, water bottles, gloves, extra batteries, nuun and a few bags so I can make them my drop bags, a few other random things and I was “ready”. Janet had sent me a list of thing she was packing so I used that as a guide.

The next day I drove early to the airport, met Janet and soon we were in our way to SD. And we learned that apparently you can blow up a plane with peanut butter and jelly, as the security guys wanted to confiscate this from Janet’s bag. LOL. She checked her luggage and made it to the gate on time. And then we were airborne. Landed in SD, got our car and drove to a running store to get some last minute stuff (compression socks) and finally to the race site for the runners info meeting.

Race Director giving us the last minute info and instructions..

The thing about these things is the friendship among all runners. This is the first ULTRA I do where the only distance is 100 miles. I have done others where there are different distances being run, so we knew that these guys, all of them were in for the long haul. It was awesome to reconnect and talk about “what else have you done lately”?

After we got our registration stuff we drove back to town, stopped at a grocery store to get food and we went back to our hotel room. I had to do some work and then started packing my drop bags. One thing about drop bags is that I usually get scared because I feel that I never have enough stuff in them. For the most part it is not true, but this time I actually needed more that I didn’t have. Finished packing my stuff took a quick shower and went to bed. It was 9:30 then and for some ungodly reason I started thinking... “What the hell I am about to do?” This thought kept me awake for a while and I was scared that I didn’t have it in me. And having those horrible thoughts in my mind, I finally fell asleep.

And then it was time to get up… Got up and I was excited, got my stuff ready, showered ate a bagel, a protein smoothie and some other stuff I don’t remember now. We decided to stop at the nearest Starbucks and get some caffeine before heading to the starting line. Got in the car and stopped at the local Starbucks… we checked the website before and it says that it opened at 5:00 am. Well, it was 5:00 am and it was closed. There were not posted hours and the guy inside looked at us and complete ignored us. He kept doing his stuff and not even acknowledging us or a little sign saying that they were closed would suffice. Nope, not even a wave, or a nod or nothing. We were pissed (it was early in the morning and no caffeine yet, can you imagine?). So we decided to drive to the race and stop at another Starbucks location. We found one, got our coffee and after a 45 minute drive we were at the starting point. We got our bibs, made final preparations, applied sunscreen (note to self, remove the arm warmers before I apply the sunscreen to my arms), filled our water bottles, went to the bathroom and just like that we were ready to rock and roll. And then it was 3 minutes to start, at this point I was beyond nervous, I was excited and ready to run, 1 minute to start and I was thinking.. “OOHHYYYEEAAA!!” 10, 9, 8, “holy shit here we go” 7, 6, 5, 3, “ok, here goes nothing”, 2, 1 Whooohooooo!! And we were in our way. I knew that there would be more than 24 hours before we were coming back to that place. But I was excited… and scared.

3 minutes to start.. yay!! Gulp

Ok.. here goes nothing.. :)

At the beginning of the race we took it really easy, people knew that it was going to be a long day so there was not hustling for position, there was just a bunch of people going for a “little” run and everybody understood that it was going to be a long day anyway.

Mile 1-25

These were the happy miles. We were fresh, we had company, we were happy and we simply were elated to be there. And it was very nice to talk to other runners and simply enjoy the views. You know... just being out there. I don’t really know how to express this, but being out there, putting one foot in front of the other for hours at end is really therapeutic. I know some of my friends might disagree, but the truth is, that is what keeps me going, what motivates me and what, I believe, makes me really happy. Ok… so back to the race. We started at the back of the pack and like in Miwok I started to keep score, every time we passed someone was a point, if we were passed it will deduct a point. For this particular race, I just wanted to be in the positive side and we did. It was because we probably started at the back of the pack or we simply were moving pretty well… And then, the heat showed up… and my God it got really hot out there.

Oh.. this was a fun time.. Snake was just chilling, Janet almost stepped on it and have it on film.. awesome.

The views were amazing

Mile 25-50, happier miles...

These were awesome, the views were amazing. We were running by ourselves and like we always do we tried to pace each other without killing each other. For some reason from the start of the race, I would lead a section until we got to the aid station, and then Janet will lead the next section. We kept that “unspoken” rule until mile 64, but more on that later. During this time we were actually moving well. There was this section around mile 44 coming out of the Pine Creek Aid station that had a really steep section, and it was paved too. I hate pavement, my IT bands don’t like it very much. The sun was high and we can feel the heat irradiated from the pavement. Not very happy about it, but we power through and made it to the top just to find out that they had popsicles up there. Well, the heat was so bad that even the cooler and the ice weren’t cold enough to keep the popsicles hard. We drank ours, and they were so refreshing. Sometime during these miles we found these creeks, it was awesome to dunk my hat in the cold refreshing water and put back on, Janet would do the same with her shirt, that cooled us down a little. And then… just like that we hit mile 64, and it was time to get ready for the night...

Happy times

Mile 64 -80 unhappy miles

There is a rule in ultramarathons… “If you are not feeling well, don’t worry, it will change, and if you are feeling great, don’t worry that too will change”. This was our worst time and the time when I realized that I didn’t packed enough stuff for the race, I didn’t have enough cold gear. The weather changed dramatically from being hot as hell to being cold as a freaking freezer. It was so cold I couldn’t hold my flashlight as it is made of metal and it got really cold. Janet wasn’t happy also and we seriously thought we were going to have a case of hypothermia or something worse. We couldn’t help each other, the only thing we could do was to keep moving… and we did. We made it to mile 72, they had coffee there and I drank tons of it. They also had spare shirts (from previous races) so I put one on since I only had a thermal and a windbreaker and I was freezing. We said our goodbyes and kept on going… at this moment we couldn’t run anymore. We were freezing and the next few miles were the worst. Somehow we made at around 5 am into the Sunrise aid station (mile 80.3). Heather VanNess was there and she was like an angel for us. She took care of us in many ways; she truly made us feel awesome. We sat down around some heater, warmed our poor selves and realized that our state of caloric intake and sodium was pretty down. Our hands were puffy and fat, a clear sign of lack of electrolytes. I took 3 and soon enough I started to feel a lot better. Had hot pancakes and coffee and after a 30 minutes recovery break, we decided to keep on going. And we did, left that aid station and ran all the way to mile 87, we were back.

Mile 87-99 (coming home)

The last miles were really runnable and cool, but my legs were toasted... I could barely keep moving forward.

When we got to mile 87 aid station, the sun had made its appearance and it was getting hot again. I changed my clothes into more comfortable cooling outfit, ate some, drank tons of coke, took another set of ibuprofens (I believe I took about 12 during the race) and just like that we were in our way home. We walked some, I hurt a lot (had some bad blisters), but it didn’t matter, we were almost there. We got to the final aid station at mile 96, we talked to some of the runners there, ate some, drank some and we ready to call it a day, just needed to do 5 more miles for the final leg home. We left the aid station and we knew we were done; it was just a matter of keep moving until the end. The good thing about this section is that it made me realize that we were in much better shape than other runners out there. We were finishing thing strong. And just like that we made to the sign that read “1 mile to go”.

The final Mile

OMG… we were almost there, just one more mile. Janet started to move a bit faster, then she started jogging and finally we actually were running. We tried to keep the pace but after 99 miles, it was hard. We walked some and then we saw the finish line. I took a deep breath, put a big smile in my face to hide the pain I was in and kept moving, we got to the finish line and just like that we were done.

We sat down for a little, drank some water, waited for some of the runners, cheered them, drank more and then I went to take a shower... I had some blister issues; I was in pain so I headed to medical and got my blisters treated.

This race was tougher than I imagined, this race showed me that I need to take my time to plan my gear next time. This race showed me that I should take care of my feet better. But most importantly this race showed me that I am alive and that I love my life.

Miwok 100K 2011

2011-05-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is my third Miwok 100k in a row.. The first time it was cold and wet, the second time it was hot and beautiful and I had a horrible time. This year was a different more challenging course and I wanted to redeem myself.

This time, I was actually looking forward to this. I was excited to the fact that I was going to have a pacer, Janet was coming to pace me the last 20 miles of the run. I knew from last year that people with pacers were passing me, I was on my own and I wasn’t in any shape to run faster of try to keep up with people and their pacers. In any event, I was excited.

The day of the race I woke up at about 2am and started my prerace routine, some canned fruit, a scrambled egg and a fruit smoothie, and a cup of earl grey tea too. I also made sure that I was going to take care of my feet; I didn’t want to get any nasty surprises. I have been running wearing compression socks, and I totally swear by them. They are awesome, they make feel so good and most importantly, I do believe it helps to keep my plantar fasciitis on check.

So after a healthy high glycemic breakfast, my ride arrived. Jason Jones a terrific ultra-runner came to pick me up. I got into his truck and drove away to the city to pick up yet another ultra-runner. I was planning to sleep during the ride, but I couldn’t. He and I had a great conversation and after we picked up the third runner, we talked some more.

We arrived at the start line with plenty of time, I got “dressed” went to pick up my bib number, delivered my drop bags and visited the boys room… and just like that it was close to 5:30 so we headed to the beach for the start of the race. And after a great speech of the race director she sent us away…. And that was it, Miwok 100K 2011 had begun.

Just Before the start... Awesome

Check the morning.. how beautiful was it. About to start Miwok 2011

The course was changed this year, and the first miles of the course it seemed pretty hard and steep. Within the first two miles I was already drenched in sweat ( and I sweat a lot) and my HR was up the roof. But I knew it was going to be a long day so I took it easy, last year I went out too fast and I paid dearly at the end . This time I didn’t want to make the same mistake.. .

The first five miles were brutal.. This is a new course, and my God it started uphill.. really uphill..

The views are amazing... check this out

The glorious SF Golden Gate bridge from above through the fog.. awesome!!

Coming back from to the starting line after the initial loop was great, I hate running in sand, but I managed to keep sand away from my shoes. I passed a few people coming out of the beach and then it occurred to me, I will keep a score. I will keep a point for everyone I passed, and if I was passed then I would deduct a point from my score. 1, 2, 3, 4... it was a great way to keep me motivated and tackle the course with earnest. I arrived to Tennessee Valley aid station and I promise myself I was going to take it easy there, which I did. One thing I like the most about ultrarunning events are the volunteers… these people are amazing, they really give it all and for what ? Just to see a few crazy people running very long just for the fun of it.. At Tennessee Valley I took my time to drink, refill and get something to eat. And just like that the first few miles of Miwok 100k had gone by. I kept keeping score, 12, 13, 14… and I was passed a few times but my score was still positive.. That was a good feeling. At the aid stations I actually stopped counting, but it did not matter.

The downhills were brutal.. the hills did not disappointed at Miwok 2011..

A “few” miles later I reached the Pantoll aid station, in there I saw my dear friend Leigh Mooser, and she really took care of me. Gave me all I needed, it felt like she was crewing me. I am sure she did that for all runners, that is why she is so awesome. And then I was off again..

So here is the funny thing, before I reached the Bolinas Aid Station I saw the guys at the front coming back… OMG… they had almost 20+ miles ahead of me… Unbelievable.. What gave me a good feeling is that I saw the Elites pretty much at the same spot I saw them in previous years, which meant I was going at a good speed. Bear in mind, I was NOT wearing a watch as I wanted to just “listen to my body”. When I reached the Bolinas Aid Station, I saw George Miller, and a few others I knew, that made me happy. And the thought that when I was coming back I was going to find my pacer Janet to take me to the finish line gave me some more needed gas. And I was off again, going down to the turn-around I found Abe, he was having such a great race. We talked for a few minutes and then we were off again, I downhill, he uphill. J I was wearing a belt that holds a bottle of gu, well I forgot to close the damn bottle and gu was all over my shorts, Pretty nasty. As soon as I go to Randall Aid station, I used some water to wash the gu off my shorts. Drank, ate, drank some more (Thank God for caffeine) and I was going up again. When I reached the Bolinas Aid Station again, I saw Janet my pacer. She had just arrived, she ran all the way from SF to meet me there. And after exchanging a few pleasantries we were off.

My Awesome Pacer Janet..

It was such a refresh to have someone to talk knowing that I had just over 20 miles to the finish. We kept, what I thought, was a good pace. Reached Pantoll aid station once again and Leigh was there to cheer us up. She had some avocado that I ate with earnest, I also had some pickles, cookies, and whatever they were serving.... and… of course coke… lots of it. My score was in the high 20’s and it kept getting better, but for some reason in the aid stations is where I got passed quite a bit. I spent too much time in there, but in reality it was all good.

The day was beautiful, the company was awesome, it was a great day and I was running.. I wasn’t having a bad time at all, I was in good spirits. When we got to the Tennessee Valley once again I knew the worst was over, we thought, we will have just 3 or 4 miles tops. But then we asked and it happened we had almost 5 miles to go.. my spirts just went down and I was like. OOOHHH SHIT… So after taking some Tylenol (I took 12 in total during the whole day), had some coke (probably drank over 2 litters of that stuff) and some gel we were in our way. The afternoon was georgous and we just kept the good pace. People passed us, but what the hell, I was about to finish my third Miwok 100K anyway.

Then we turn a corner and a couple of guys were there directing runners, and one of them told us, you guys are almost done, just over a mile to go. I heard that and I bolted, I took off like a bat out of hell. I ran so hard that mile that no runner could keep up with me, I passed a few in that last mile. Janet and I were breathing hard, I could hear her breathing so hard next to me, but I was on a mission. I wanted to make the last mile memorable. And then I started to see little lights, my vision was blurry and I wasn’t focusing, I just kept on running as hard as my body could. And with that last effort I crossed the finish line, I put my hands on my knees and started to catch my breath and little by little my vision started to come back. Rujeko was there and she came to give me a hug and that made me feel so much better. She is just amazing, I was happy. We ate, we talked, we ate some more, I took a shower, changed clothes got in the car and Rujeko drove us back to the city. First to drop off Janet and then we went to grab a bite to eat. She took me to a Ethiopian restaurant, pretty cool and I was so hungry I left her not much to eat. Then fall asleep in the drive home and when I woke up I was in our driveway. Took my things inside, took a shower and went to sleep. Oh, what a great day, Miwok 2011 is done, now lets wait for 2012.. oohhyeaa!!

Great photo after the finish.. OK.. I am officially pooped.. :)

Rujeko came to take us home and she just made me feel so much better.. :) she is got a way to do this all the time.. :)

Headlands 50

2011-04-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last Weekend… Janet, Abe and I went to the Marin Headlands and ran our very own 50 miler. We were registered to run Lake Sonoma 50, but it got cancelled. They said it was the weather, I was disappointed, and apparently the Lake Sonoma Gods were not going to have us run that race this year. In any event, we were pissed. What to do? What to do? Within an hour of the cancellation we had plans... We planned our “un_Sonoma” trail run. Abe, Janet and I decided to go run 50 miles in the Marin Headlands. We followed the course I know well from Headlands 100.

If you want to see the course, click on the picture above, this is a link to a google flyover.. Pretty impressive..

This course is pretty steep, we were planning to do 2 - 25 mile loops “washer machine” style (reverse direction each lap). Each lap consisted of approximately 5000 feet of elevation gain, which is definitely a challenging course.

Got up really early and after a quick stop at Starbucks, I was on my way to pick up Janet. Like always she was ready to go and excited about this little adventure of ours. This time, we picked our third amigo, Abe. He is currently training for WS100 so he was motivated to get this 50 under his belt.. The weather was awesome, it promised to be a great day.

Nutrition prepared the day before, GU, coke, bananas, chips, coffee, avocados, canned fruit, pickles, water and power juice.

Abe an I after the first 8 miles.. ready to tackle the next 42

We arrived to Tennessee Valley and got our gear ready, we knew there was a race that particular day so we tried to stay away from the area and took the smaller loop first, an 8 mile loop. We did it no time, and just like that we were back at Tennessee valley. We refilled our bottles, took some nutrition, I thought I forgotten my second water bottle, so I got my hydrapck filled with water and electrolytes and we were in our way for the first 17 mile loop. The day was glorious… it was beginning to get a bit hot. And it had been raining for a while so there were many areas where the water had accumulated and the only way around it was to run through it… which we did. Of course this might be horrible for blisters, but I was lucky and did not get one until the end of the day.

Abe feet after finishing the run... ha!

We had been running for 20 miles+ and all of the sudden I started to feel my plantar fasciitis acting up, I adjusted my stride, and just like that, it was gone. I forgot all about it until the end of the day. Janet asked me for ibuprofen and I swore I had some, but couldn’t find it. We ran for a mile or so then I remembered that I might had some in my hydrapack, I slowed down, took my hydrapack off and found the little plastic bag with ibuprofen and salt pills… score!!. She took some, I took some and we were rejuvenated. We came back to the car, mile 25 or so and ate in earnest.

I had brought pickles, coke, avocado, tortilla chips, gels, larabars, bananas, oranges, and I cannot believe I was eating all of it. I even drank the pickle juice Abe left for me. J We ate plenty and after we were satisfied, we took off for the next 17 mile loop in opposite direction. There are a couple of sections in the loop that are pretty steep. They are murderous on your quads coming down, and horrendously hard and demoralizing going up. Coming down from SCA trail I realized that one thing I will never be able to do, keep up with Janet on the descents. She is an awesome downhiller. Going downhill form the SCA trail, I felt my left toe slamming against the end of my shoe. I knew that mean trouble, I knew I was probably going to lose a toenail, it was painful and at one time I had to stop for a few seconds because the pain was really sharp. I had taken ibuprofen earlier, so I didn’t want to take anymore, but the pain was really bad so I decided to take another dosage I took it and once it kicked in, I could run with no problem. Janet and I kept the same pace; Abe on the other hand was always going ahead and then running back to get us. He didn’t seem to have any issues… I guess, I am just getting old.

The downhills were really hard on my poor feet... :(

And then after 17 miles we were back in the car again. This was a very short break; just enough to get our lights, eat some and get ready with the night gear including a long sleeve or something else. We also ate some more. The last 8 miles were glorious. Simply because we got to see the sunset form the mountain, it is an amazing sight. We also got to hear the crash of the sea and I realized once again how lucky I am of being able to be there and having such wonderful friends. Definitely something we all should experience.

People asked me what do you do and talk during such a long run, Janet and I know each other pretty well by now. Obviously I couldn’t repeat many of the things we have shared during these trail runs; it is great to have a friend whose interest aligns with yours so intimately.

Janet at mile... look at that big smile... I guess we were close to finish.

At the end of the run, we gave each other a hug, changed and when we were about to get ready to go, I realized that the car battery was dead. Yep, there was no way we were going to start it. We were in the middle of nowhere. Two things we were thankful for, a cellphone that had signal and Janet's AAA card. We called the tow-truck and I even took a little nap in the car waiting for it. The tow truck finally arrived, we started the car and we were on our way home. It was a great day... can't wait to do it again.
Now I feel ready for Miwok 100K in three weeks or so... wooohoo!!

The Oakland Marathon

2011-04-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

On April 27 I went to Oakland to run the Second Oakland marathon. It has been a while since I ran a road marathon… and I had forgotten how hard they are... ugh!

The day before Rujeko, Jim and I went to get our packets. The drive was hard since Mexico and some other Latin American country were having a soccer match at the Oakland Coliseum, what usually would take about 30 minutes to drive. It actually took around 1 ½ hours. By the time we got to the expo we were already tired and moody. We got out packets, walked around the expo, bought some nutrition and, took a look at some shoes and then we were in our way out. I say we spent about ½ hour at the expo, no more than that. By this time we were already hungry and ready to get something to eat…

We drove back to the city and went to this really cool Italian restaurant. It is a family style... each small plate will serve 3-5 and a large plate will serve 8-10. Can you imagine the size of those suckers? Well, Jim, Rujeko and I decided to get some spaghetti and gnocchi (small servings), but between the three of us, it was pretty much gone pretty fast. We even had room for dessert, cannoli… awesome.

Rujeko and I waiting for our table at the restaurant... ready to carboload.

After a great meal and a good desert, we were ready to get going. We drove to the marina with the idea to take some pictures. You see, I bought a SLR camera a while ago and I have wanted to learn how to take pictures… so having Jim as a teacher was pretty nice. He is a superb picture taker guy.

Learning to use my camera... Look at one of my first attempts. Thank you Jim.

The following day, both Jim and Oliver came to my house at around 5:45 am. We packed my car and were on our way to Oakland. We found parking pretty easy and were ready to start running in no time. It was amazing that I actually found parking pretty nice. This is definitely a good thing about the Oakland marathon; it was easy to find parking. Easy to get to the starting line since there were not that many participants.

The San Carlos Crossfit Endurance Team ready to tackle 26.2 miles of running.. From left to rigth, me, Rujeko, Oliver and Jim

The starting line was fun, the announcer was exciting and then the national anthem, then the countdown and we were off.

And here we goooooo..

I came there with idea of pacing Rujeko to a Boston qualifying marathon of 3:45. Well within the first mile we both agree that it was not going to happen as she was having issues with her tummy. Nevertheless, we actually found a good rhythm and ran without much problem. Interestingly, I found many familiar faces at the run. People that I usually would see at ultras, so it was a real treat to say hello to friends that I only see at ultras

What I like about the Oakland marathon was the fact that I got to see a different part of Oakland. This place is really nice and most importantly, people were really nice too. They were genuinely happy to see us there. And I have never seen so many police officers in one race, and they were very friendly and cheering people too. It was simply awesome; I came out with a different vibe about Oakland. I think I will make this marathon an every year affair from now on...

The first half of this marathon is pretty hilly, the hilly part ended in a pretty steep hill. I mean pretty steep for a regular marathon. The last downhill was pretty murderous, kind of remind me of some ultras I have run, but in an ultra, those are expected… in a regular marathon? No bueno… And when you are trying to maintain a pace, that freaking downhill trashed my quads. I just kept going, hoping that I will not go facedown, as it was pretty easy to do. After this murderous downhill about mile 10, -11, the course leveled up and it was mostly flat.

The weather was glorious; I truly believed that the weather wasn’t that bad, it was just perfect to run 26.2 miles. I was feeling pretty good, Rujeko on the other hand was having some stomach issues thus we fell out of pace within the first mile. She is a trooper regardless and I felt I did my work as she kept saying, “If you were not here, I would have stop by now”. So I did my job, I kept her positive and most importantly, kept her moving. This is our first marathon together and we did not kill each other… So that is a good thing.

Obligatory finisher picture...

After the race we met with fellow runners, Oliver and Jim and headed out to San Francisco to enjoy a very “healthy” breakfast... It was awesome...

This was by far one of the best marathons I have run, not because I did it in certain time, or because I felt good or anything. It was great because of the company. Rujeko, despite her stomach issues, did great and I am glad she convinced me to do this with her. We are definitely coming back to Oakland next year.

My dear friends and SCCF team members, Oliver and Jim did great as well.. Our next marathon will be at the end of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride... yay!! Bring on the Pain!! ..

Kaiser Permanente 1/2 marathon

2011-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to join a bunch of runners at the Kaiser Permanente half marathon. Rujeko and I decided to run this together as a preparation for the upcoming Oakland Marathon which we also are going to run together. I am going to pace her, hopefully, to a Boston marathon qualifying time.

We woke up pretty early as we needed to drive all the way to the Golden Gate Park. After scrambling to get my stuff together we started the drive. It was uneventful until we got to the area where the finish line was supposed to be. Apparently everybody else thought to get there on time as well, and by the time we got there, not only there wasn’t any parking nearby, but the amount of cars in the road was amazing. Little by little we made it out of there and decided to park at close to the starting line. And again, I think everybody thought the same thing as the amount of cars circulating the starting line was just as crazy as the finish line. Somehow, we made it into the Golden Gate Park parking lot, expensive, but we had little to spare. We got into the parking lot, changed into our running clothes and made to the start.

We made it to the starting line and after a quick visit to “the bushes” for me and the porta-potty for Rujeko; we were in among 10,000 runners ready to start the run.

The weather was wonderful, not too cold or hot, perfect running conditions. Now, bear in mind that I have been experiencing some plantar fasciitis issues, so I didn’t know if was going to be able to run the whole thing yet alone pace Rujeko to a decent finish time. Thank God I was able to run the whole thing and did not have to stop at all.

We clocked our first mile in 9:13 minutes, not too shabby, but taking in consideration we were navigating lots and lots of slow people… second mile was 8:13… now we were talking… That was a more decent pace… We kept a good pace until about mile 9 or 10. At that time we slowed down considerably, it got hotter and Rujeko wasn’t feeling good. We ran well when we felt good, and slowed down during the rest stations. Our nutrition strategy worked well, and drinking patterns was awesome. Not issues with nutrition, we just need to do a bit more speed work. At the end we ended up finishing in 1:52:35 which is a decent 8:35 minute per mile average. Taking in consideration that our first mile was pretty slow, we actually ran faster than 8:35 mpm after mile 1. Not bad really…

All in all, this was a great experience and looking forward to run the Oakland marathon together too... woohoo!!

Unfortunately at the end, we learned that a fellow runner died on the course that day.That is pretty sad and I wonder why? Apparentely there was a slow response from the emergency team. It took 22 minutes from the time they were notified to the time they actually arrived on the scene. That seems a lot... don't you think?

Pictures? Damn it.. We forgot our camera!!

A new beginning

2011-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I wrote in this blog.. I have been so busy, but I want to start once again. This is the first of many posts this year I am sure of it.

A short recap of 2010…

It was an awesome year indeed. I got to run in many trails, I got to bike some major bike rides and finally the most important news of them all, I got engaged AND purchased a house. Yep, that is right, I am engaged to a wonderful and beautiful woman. Looking forward to the future.

I also continued my CrossFit adventures and they are getting better and better. I keep posting great times and I also realize that CrossFit is like math, the more you do it the better you get at it. It has been an amazing journey, and because of that I feel younger and fitter than I ever felt before. I workout at Carlos CrossFit, a great place I proudly call my own. In there you grunt, you sweat and increase your performance. They offer no mirrors, no chrome, just results; which is a great slogan if you ask me.

This year, my racing calendar is pretty cool it involves a little bit of everything. Here are the most important races I expect to complete.

Oakland marathon March/26

Lake Sonoma 50 M April/2

Miwok 100K May/7

San Diego 100 Miler June/11

Ironman Wisconsin Sep/11

In addition to competing on IMWI, I am also taking a trainer role. I am training a couple of individuals to compete and complete IMWI. It is going to be fun. I will post updates here on that front as well.

So there you have it… those are my A races for this year. Of course there will be others, the PCTR trail runs calendar is very enticing, I am sure I will be on those trails a lot.

Now, keeping checking back, I will post regularly from now on…

Thanks for reading.

Mount Diablo 50K

2010-06-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

So last Friday I was making plans to have a mellow weekend.. I thought.. a nice easy ride on Saturday, probably a 12 mile run on Sunday but other than that it was going to be an easy mellow weekend… or so I thought..

I got a Facebook invitation from Janet to run Mount Diablo 50K with her and Abe.. Abe is Janet’s friend currently training for Western States 100. I saw the wall post and I had my mind made up…huh… thank you.. but no thank you.. I just have reconnected with some friends from elementary school and junior high. Some of them my age are already grandparents… I mentioned to this “friend” that was trying to get me to run Diablo with her. S he said…. "Well prove you are not a grampa… come run with us"… and that is all it took. All of the sudden I was frantically trying to sign up on line, I got a friendly reminder from Sara saying that registration had been closed, but I could still sign up on site.. I went home and found my running gear. All I needed now was a good night of sleep and some carbo-loading. Friday afternoon was beautiful so I thought.. I should go somewhere I can sit outside and enjoy the fine sunny afternoon. I joined Rujeko in Redwood City and we went to the only place that it had available outside sitting outside, Milagros a Mexican restaurant. Now… bear in mind, I was trying to carbo-load for a long run the following day… I ended up eating lots of avocado, chips and salsa, corn and beans and other Mexican delights.. NOT necessarily a good pre-race meal.

The day of the race I woke up early… the sun was already up and I couldn’t help but smile of the crazy thing I was about to do.. I dressed; put Vaseline in “certain” locations to make sure I was not going to chafe, and I even had enough time to put a load of laundry. For breakfast, a banana, a power bar and a glass of orange juice was on the menu, and I was on my way to pick up my running buddy.

We drove to Mount Diablo, it had been a while since we saw each other so we had time to chat about the new developments in our very sedentary lives. And then I could feel my stomach doing something that it shouldn’t be doing, not on race day anyway. Just before arriving to Mount Diablo Janet spotted a Peet’s caffee and I made a really fast turn to get in there… it was a relief to have found that place, not necessarily for the coffee or tea but for its “facilities” . Thank you Peet’s coffee.

The start, picture by Alan Geraldi

We arrived at the race start and it was great to see all of the ultra peeps. I met Janet’s friend, Abe. He is training for WS100. And of course it was great to see Sara from PCTR. Like always, in every ultra, everybody was smiling and feeling optimistic about the day which by the way it promised to deliver a nice warm weather for us. Mount Diablo did not disappoint. I haven’t run a single Mount Diablo when it isn’t hot. I mean, is that why they call it Mount Diablo, cuz it is always hot?

Janet and I just before the start of the race.

After listening to the instructions we were off. We knew it was going to be a long steady day so we stay at the very back of the pack… a Million people passed us and we were totally unconcerned about “racing”, we just were happy to be there and running that mountain. The morning was already hot and humid and I just coulnd’t imagine how much hotter it was going to get. I started taking in water pretty fast and took salt pills with earnest. I knew I was going to need them if I wanted to have a good day in the mountain. My tummy was making noises and I was afraid that eventually that Mexican food I had for dinner the day before was going to catch up with me… thankfully it didn’t at all.s the day went by I completely forgot about it.

Now going up in Mount Diablo is not easy, there are places where even footing is a challenge. Running is Not an option in many sections as it is very steep and very technical with many loose rocks and…. well… it is very steep.. I said that before right?. Abe caught up with us and we ran together until the first aid station. We stopped, we drank, and we ate, we chatted and continued our run toward the top. The day was already very hot and Janet and I were overheating. We remember that there was an aid station at the top; however this aid station was missing. This is the first time we do the 50K, so it is possible that the aid station at the top there only on the day of the 50Miler. Thank God there was a water fountain where we could actually refill our water bottles and be on our way once again.

We reached the aid station at Juniper campground where we made another quick stop and put our hands on that delicious fruit they had there. Watermelon and melon dipped in salt never tasted so good, and bananas too.. And of course, the coke… what a life saver coke on race days is. I never drink cola except on race days, it is awesome. Heather Van Ness managed to pour cold water on us and that was a nice touch. We said our goodbyes and we were on our way… As soon as we reached Mitchell Canyon Road which is the flat section of the run, we kept seeing people walking and some had children. So we kept assuming that the finish line was just around the corner… but it wasn’t. We finally made it to the end. We ate and drank some and we were back for seconds..

Janet and I finishing the first 25K

Now running in this mountain is always something special, the views are amazing. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera this time so I did not have many pictures, so I’m “stealing” some from different places and friends that took them on that day. The second loop was obviously slower, hotter and harder. However, I was in good company and we knew it was going to be a long hard day.

What is next… I don’t even know.. It could be another 50K… or a ride or something. One thing is for sure, I am so blessed to be able to do this and most importantly to have friends that challenge me all the time. As people, our lives are influenced and shaped by a bunch of factors... and relationships are definitely at the top of the list. I have been influenced by my parents, brothers and sisters, teachers, friends etc. My values habits, behaviors, passions and attitudes are definitely learned through association with others. I am so glad to have found great friends that inspire and encourage me… for that.. I am very thankful.

Happy kids... the start of the second loop...

Miwok 100K

2010-05-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of last year… the weather was horrible, I missed the starting line and it was cold, it was wet and it was windy… with all that I did better than this year.. What gives?

I could go on and blame it on my crew? Oopss.. I didn’t have one… Or I could say that I slept through my alarm Opps.. I woke up and I got a friendly call from my ride.. Or I could say it was my nutrition or perhaps the shoes… I could blame it on the weather… nope that will not go neither since it was a glorious day.. Damn it... Then what went wrong? LOL..

Look at the views.. aren't they amazing?

I got an early wakeup call from my ride, Amy an awesome friend who was coming to volunteer for the first time. I did everything right the day before.. I even went to bed early. When she called me I got out of bed jumped in the shower did my regular pre-race routine with plenty of time to spare. We drove to the starting line, got checked in and took a little nap before the start.

Check the profile... it is over 10,000 feet of elevation gain.. And the downhills are just brutal.

I woke up a couple of minutes before the start, got rid of most of my clothes as it promised to be a gorgeous warm day. I kept my arm warmers and my San Carlos CrossFit shirt... I made it to the starting line said hi to a couple of friends and we were off. The morning was glorious; the smell of the ocean was intoxicating and the views… OMG.. I cannot describe how beautiful was that morning… I could tell that we were going to have great weather it wasn’t cold or windy. It was just perfect for a nice 100K run…. And we were off….. And we were stuck. The race starts at the beach and then it goes into the trails pretty fast and there is not enough room to accommodate all the runners at the same time.. So unless you are a top dog you just have to wait and wait until all runners get on a single file and start the climb right away.

Check out another view.. this climb was long...

It was a great start for me and I was afraid to get sand in my shoes. I had that happen when I ran Headlands 100 with some very unpleasant consequences. I managed to avoid that which was a blessing. As the day went by I soon realize that I was going a little bit too fast. I tried to maintain a pace that definitely was a bit too fast for me… You know you are in trouble when you start seeing little rainbows in dry weather, and or you feel a bit dizzy…. That is how I felt just as I was passing the Bolinas Ridge aid station. All I wanted was some Sugar something that will lift me up. I knew right away that I was going to be in trouble and I wasn’t even half way there..

I ran a bit with Erika Lindland and then she left me in the dust, then I ran a bit with Victoria Folks and she also left me in the dust, ran with Catra Corbett and her bad ass self left me in the dust as well, and then my buddy Brian Harvey also left me in the dust. All I wanted to do was to sit down and never get up. Somehow I found the motivation to keep going.. I knew I was going to finish I just didn’t know how long was going to take and The ONLY time that I seriously consider quitting was on the return at the Tennessee valley aid station.. Good thing Amy was there cuz she motivated me to keep on going… and MY GOD I was spent by then. I was kind of dizzy then…

I tried to hang with Catra, I coudn't.
Remember pain is weakness leaving the body and you left a lot at Miwok (Catra Corbett)

But back to the race… starting in Rodeo Beach we go to Tennessee Valley via some trails I have never been on, they seemed different this year.. or perhaps was just the change of weather. The views were amazing not matter the time, no matter in which direction you look. It was a glorious day indeed… what a difference from a year ago when the weather conditions were totally different. Some days are magical and some days are just miserable, and this one was beginning to seem like the former… it terms of weather that is.. But definitely miserable in terms of how I felt. I remember that infamous time when I got lost in Mount Diablo and it took me almost 8 hours to complete a marathon… even then I wasn’t feeling like I was feeling on Sunday. By far, this is the worst I have felt in a long, long time.

Coming back from Randall aid station, into Bolinas Ridge aid station, runners would usually pick their pacers there.. And I could totally see the difference between those of us running solo and those with pacers. All of the sudden I was being passed by all runners and their pacers, I even tried to shadow a couple, at not avail. I was spent and no matter how much effort I was going to put, I wasn’t going to get any faster so I decided to suck it up and just survive the rest of the way. I knew I was going to be slow, the only question was how much slower than last year?

After what seemed like forever I reached the Tennessee Valley aid station, my lowest point in the race, but somehow I found to motivation to keep moving and so I was on my way with Amy’s blessing. The last climb was hard and then the very last part of the race was the hardest.. This one is a bunch of stairs and loose rocks going down steeply and then there is this damn paved bike trail that seems never to end. UGH!! At this moment every single step was painful and I just wanted it to be over with. I could see the finish line from the ridge, but I could also see the paved road ahead and I hated it, I hated every single step of that damn pavement. Then it was the final stretch… a hiker started to scream when she read the back of my shirt (San Carlos CrossFit), and she said that is where I am from. I hobble to the end, got my medal and my finisher’s bag… said hi to a few people but what I really wanted is to sit down and just pass out. After I picked up my swag met my ride and we left the site to grab a bite to eat. I ate and then I just crashed in the car, apparently there was a big traffic problem, I never saw it. The next time I opened my eyes I was already in front of my house. Took a shower and went to bed, the day was done..

This is the very last paved descent ugh.. brutal, I just couldn't run anymore and even walking was painful.

When I think of this day I think of an amazing lesson I learned. I learned that we all have wonderful days and sometimes things do not go the way we envision them to go. Some days are great, some days aren’t, and sometimes I will do great, others I won’t. However not matter who shows up (a great day or a miserable one) I am in control of how I react to them. Today might be a bad day, but there will be a sunrise and a sunset the next day, life goes on and so will I.

Solvang Double Century Bike Ride

2010-04-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” (Albert Einstein)

The city of Solvang CA, pretty nice town.. Didn't have much time to check it out..

Last year when planning my running schedule for 2010, I thought I would like to become a better biker.. Well, the only way to get better at biking is to get on the bike and ride… so with that thought and the encouragement of Janet I signed up for two major biking events this year… The Solvang double century and the Death Ride.. This is the race report of the Solvang Double century…

Check out the elevation profile....

And let me tell you something about training for a double century… My God it is hard. Not much on your legs but on your buttocks and on the time you get to do something else. So I after I did my share of riding I finally felt ready… Going into tapering I was nervous but I was also excited.

On Friday before the race I drove south to Solvang… Janet, my training buddy, had to work so she was going to meet me in Solvang that night. I did not go to work on Friday so I could drive slow and take my time.. So I packed the night before and on Friday I left aiming to get to Solvang by 6pm. I was excited but also a little nervous. This was the first time I was going to ride for so long and also ride at night, I did not know what to expect.

Bikes all nice and secured on the roof of my car to take the 5+ hour ride to Solvang.

My commitment to become a better rider meant that I needed to step out of my comfort zone and actually embrace the challenge. And I did, I spent long hours on the bike, climbed lots of hills and became comfortable to be able to get out on my bike at any given day and ride lots. Interestingly when I signed up for this race I didn’t know what to expect, thus I was stressed and afraid. But, I really tried to use the fear in my training, Fear is our biggest enemy, and “Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing” After I put the time on the saddle in training I thought, well I am ready, and I hope I will get to the finish line.

The drive was uneventful, I stopped at the outlet mall in Gilroy and got myself a few essentials, a new pair of shorts and a new biking jacket.. I arrived to the host hotel and checked us in, got our bib numbers and checked out their merchandise. The mood was pretty relaxed; it reminded me of the ultra marathon culture. Everybody is just relaxed and it seemed that everybody had done more than one double century… And here I am doing my first one, and did not know what to expect the next day.

After checking in, I drove to the grocery store and found myself some breakfast food. Stopped at a local Italian restaurant and order some carbs, drove to the hotel put our bikes in the room, inflated the tires, and sat down to enjoyed the rest of the evening…

Ride day..
We got up around 4:30 am… checked our bikes one more time, checked tire pressure, food etc. As soon as I stepped out of the room I thought to myself… Damn it is cold. I didn’t know how cold it was, but I sure felt it. Drove to the start, parked the car, checked in and we were on our way… First things first, I turned on up my lamp and Janet asked… “so you got the extra battery right?” I am like.. “What extra battery?” Luckily I had an extra flash light, a head lamp which actually worked well. But man it was cold and dark too. My poor hands and my feet were in pain not to mention my face as well. I wasn’t prepared for this kind of cold.. I couldn’t wait for the sun to show up and warm us up. We settled in a good rhythm, not too fast, not too slow, just consistent.. Then we hit the wind and OMG it was brutal, Janet and a couple of other people were a bit ahead of me and I could see them tilting over a bit, was a funny sight. And I am sure I was doing the same, a lady passed us and told us that we were riding funny, and I thought to myself, so this is what crosswinds feel like.. ugh!!

So then the sun started to warm up and I can feel my extremities come back to life. It felt good until I felt a sharp pain on the side of my leg, my IT band was starting to flare up and we were not even half way there. I got really scared, I could not pedal without pain and I felt absolutely horrible. We reached the second rest stop at mile 86 or so and I tried to stretch a little and took some ibuprofen and we were in our way. The funny thing about all of this that I remember me riding, but I truly don’t remember what was going through my head at that moment. I just remember I was in pain and it was a miserable time. We left the second rest stop and after a while the pain subsided (Thank God for Ibuprofen) and I felt strong again. I kept eating my newly discovered home made energy bars. They were good and filling and obviously were working. Janet had to remind me to eat as I tend to forget that…

One of the aid stations....

This is new to me... I never park my bike like that... ;)

The rest of the ride just got better and better. I think that the first century was harder than the second century. Once I passed the 120 mile mark which has been my longest ride ever, it was uncharted territory from there. But I felt stronger as the day went on… It was great.. We stopped for lunch and all they had was Subway sandwiches all with meat, I asked for vegetarian and of course they didn’t have any. I am glad I brought my own food including a can of goods which I almost forgot at the rest station. Thankfully Janet casually reminded me “are these your nuts?” A guy looked at us and started to laugh, he said “if you had that on video that would had been a great funny one”. We talked about that incident throughout the rest of the ride.

Are these your nuts?

No bad incidents to report, Thank God… except Janet got a Flat tire. She got a flat coming down on a very steep downhill.. She managed to get to the bottom of the hill. We changed her tire, took a well deserved break and we were in our way once again. I think, for me, this particular forced break was a blessing. Yes, we were coming out of a downhill, but I was really tired by now. We rode through some really nice areas including Morro Bay, along the beach in Pismo Beach, and by San Luis Obispo. All sights in this entire ride were freaking awesome, I was thinking that it was really a great day for a ride.

Janet chewing something or something.. :)

At mile 176 or so we had our last rest stop. It was here where we changed to our warm clothes once again. I put on my tights, arm warmers and jacket as the temperature was beginning to drop once again. We also got our flashlights ready for the night to come, ate some, and we were in our way for the last effort. Well as soon as we left the aid station we were welcomed to a very steep climb. The Drum Canyon climb, the road was very rough and then it got night and really dark. We managed to leave a few people behind as we were motivated to finish. We saw some people walking their bikes, but after a grueling day with more that 170 miles on the saddle there is no shame on that. The road was very rough and after we reached the summit we had to go down which was a challenge as it was steep, dark and the asphalt very rough. We managed to get down in one piece, and then it was just a few more miles to the finish line. Those were happy moments, we kept thinking.. WE DID IT.. Wow… I was happy and the best thing of all is that we finished in one piece, within the time limit and we finished strong.

Happy kids the day after.. :) We did it... Woohoo!!

I keep thinking.. Man I am such a lucky man. I am healthy, I got amazing friends including some as crazy as I am that will actually do this with me, and I feel blessed.

Rodeo 50K, an elvish experience..

2009-12-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

The last adventure of the year… The PCTR Rodeo Beach 50K.

Fabric $7.00
Tights $3.50
Running 50K in an elf costume- Priceless

A year ago we ran the Muir beach 50K, in that particular race a friend. (Fred Ecks) decided to run as Santa. Janet and I told him that if he was up to, we wanted to be his elves next year (this year). He moved away to Colorado (poor guy), and well, we decided to do it anyway…

Fred Ecks, I mean Santa running Muir Beach 50K last year.

Of course we did not want to spent lots of money on costumes, so we searched for an affordable costume idea.. I found one and we decided to go for it.
The weekend before, Janet and I decided to go for a double Dip Sea trail run. It was her first long run in a while and it was my return to the trails. I had been training for the Ironman in flat easy courses, so needless to say the experience was a little painful. OMG, after we were done with the dipsea trail, we were in pain. And for the whole week following the run I was very sore…. It was laughable, really. We used to train in this trail all the time and now… well obviously we are out of shape.

The day of the double dipsea run, we drove to the fabric store, parked the car and the minute I got out, I realized how much my poor legs ached. I was limping and laughing at the same time, Janet was in the same condition. We found the fabric and bought enough for the costumes and left. Jon Burg and Kim Evanson joined in the festivities. And all of the sudden we were about to have a host of elves running this 50K. Lazy elf (me), Sleepy Elf (Janet) Finisher Elf (Jon), Doctor Elf (Kim), Honorary Elf (nicole). Jon being a Costume making expert managed a really “aerodynamic” and more professionally made attire than ours

Just when we got there.. we look like dorks huh?

The day of the race we got there early, put our costume on and left the car. I have never dressed up for a race, and I don’t think Janet also. Jon on the other hand is always looking for excuses to dress up… We got lots of smiles from the fellow competitors, lined up at the start and waited for the GO from Wendell.. It was a fun start; people kept giving us compliments and looks of disbelief since we were planning to run the 50K "on that".

At the startting line.. from left to right, Finisher Elf, Lazy Elf, Sleepy Elf and Doctor (Cool) Elf.

The best thing of all is dressing up and running a great race with friends. Honorary Elf (Nicole) was doing her first 50K on this race, one of her goals for this year. She had no idea that she was going to be embarrassed by a host of crazy elves.. She did not have a good start but managed to hang on.Her stomach was not collaborating. We, being magical creatures and all, were bouncing along the trail having a great time. We even managed to find Santa. He was riding a horse (not a raindeer), and was wearing a bike helmet…. Obviously NOT the real Santa. We took a picture of him anyway.

The weather was perfect, although a little windy on the ridges, but for the most part it was an amazing day. Perfect weather conditions for running. The best thing of the whole race, people and the fact that we were there to have fun and nothing else.

Look at this sight... What an amazing day it was.

Finisher Elf tackling the stairs..

Taking a little break, what a beautiful day it was..

The lost Elf... Sabrina a member of my running group.

A funny thing happened, we were at the finish line, after the first loop so we needed to get out and do another smaller loop to finish the 50K. As we were getting ready to leave, the first male (Nathan Yanko) came in breaking the course record. WTF? He finished in the 50K in the same time it took us to finish 30K and he wasn’t wearing an elf costume nor was he a magical creature. We laughed and went back to finish the race. Nicole was feeling a lot better then, we talked, we laughed, we talked some more, we laughed some more and then we had less than two miles left. So we picked up the pace… Didn’t want Nicole to believe that all 50K’s were this easy, well it didn’t work, she finished ahead of us and with a big smile in her face. She is officially an ultrarunner now. Welcome to the dark side of running Nicole.. I hope to see you on the trails for more fun and I promise you, they get better and harder too, I wonder what your goal is for 2010?

This is the spot where Nicole became an official ultra runner.. At mile 26 or so... yay Nicole..

After the finish, she holding her "not longer a 50K virgin" coaster from PCTR.

Ironman Arizona

2009-12-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

Well, So I drove 12 hours from San Mateo to Tempe AZ . I was not looking forward to the return, but I knew it was going to be just as great. You see, I had to make a decision a while back, drive or fly. I always wanted to go on a road trip and since I signed for this IM, I decided I wanted to drive, fast forward a year later and BAM I was in my way to AZ and after a grueling 12 hour drive I got there… But that is what I wanted huh?
The trip was uneventful, left home around 6:00 am in the morning and did the mandatory pee stops, food stops and gas stops, but other than that I was moving all the time. I was afraid that LA traffic was going to slow me down, but it didn’t. It was moving quite well and in fact with all of those cars in the highway I was moving pretty fast. I kept looking at people for signs of other triathletes making the pilgrimage to Tempe, but found none.

I really liked the road by Pismo Beach. The weather was perfect and I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I knew that I was on the clock so I had to just keep going. I took some “moving” pictures though.

I had plenty to think about while driving there.. It was me myself and I… and Jessica packed really nice and comfortable in the trunk. I was listening to my Ipod and song after song I kept thinking how much of this I can actually stand. No play list was long enough, so I switched to shuffle… and MY GOD… what an experience. I have all sorts of music there, but I started to listen to the actual words of many of the songs I have…. And… well needless to say many were so freaking pathetic. It reminded me of a “this American Life” episode from NPR about breakup songs. They all have that theme, that sorry ass theme… you know what I am talking about. The “you don’t have to love me”, and “please don’t go” theme. And the most pathetic of them all, “I’ll do anything”, and I was thinking, WTF? But then, just like breakups, in the middle of the shuffle came this song that was about to become my personal anthem. I heard it before, but now I know it by memory, Guru Josh project, Infinity. It goes something like this.

Here's my Key Philosophy A freak like me Just needs infinity

I played that song again and again and again, and the more I played it the more I like it, and before I knew it I was in LA.

Driving through LA was very interesting, and made me more aggressive driver. Crap, I was not going to give any room between me and the car ahead. I know, drafting is illegal, in triathlon that is, but in LA traffic is a necessity, or is it called tailgating. I don’t think I will be able to live in such city with such traffic, I will probably cut my veins pretty fast and then I was there…. Found my hotel and checked in, took a shower, grabbed a bite to eat and hit the sack…. Ahhh… felt so good..

The next morning I went to the swim, just before departing my hotel room, I thought, I should go early so I can stop at a coffee shop and get myself something to drink/eat. I had no idea that Tempe is so freaking confusing (for me at least). I could not figure out where I was supposed to go, and then I could not find a parking spot. Well, I made it finally to the swim area, I had just enough time to get on my wetsuit and take a dip on the lake. And OMFG, have you had brain freeze? Well that is how I felt when I hit the water. Water was so damn cold and my feet and head were hurting. As soon as I started swimming, things got better, blood started to flow and then I was OK. But the initial shock was a little hard. Another interesting fact about this swim is that the course is straight in a wavy canal. So If I want to stay to the shore, I will have to swim the extra yardage. Most likely I will be in the middle and hopefully will draft somebody and find my way around…

The practice swim, God the water was freezing.

After I froze my butt in the water... :(

After the swim, my friend Dolores and I went to check in. Checking in at an Ironman is pretty good experience, most volunteers are in awe that you are going to put yourself through that kind of pain. And the first question usually is, is this your first? The second question, did you bring your family? The answer to those questions for me was the same, no and no. It is not my first, and I was there by myself, most people bring loved ones to share this moment. The IM race is kind of a big deal, and I was there on my own. It made me realize that the three IM’s I have done I have gone on my own, and it made me a little jealous and sad. But Hey, not time to be sad now, I have to get ready to do an Ironman damn it.

I don’t really know how the rest of the days went through; on Friday evening we had athlete’s dinner and mandatory meeting. It is here where they try to pump you up for the pain that is ahead. It is here where you learn of the amazing people doing this race with you, it is here where you feel the energy of the IM event.. It is pretty awesome. I was sitting next to Joe, a great friend of mine from Texas. We were chatting away and then, Mike Raily said please stand up if you lost weight getting ready for this race. My friend from Houston stood up, Mike said, remain standing if you lost more than 20 lbs, 30 lbs, 40 lbs all the way to 80lbs. There were only three people standing including Joe, they were called to the stage and were asked how much weight they lost preparing for this race. Joe had lost over 100 lbs, it was pretty cool. The next group of people called to the state was the oldest and the youngest IM participants. The youngest was 16, the oldest 70somehting. He was such a funny guy. He took the microphone and gave us a really good pep talk. He said, I love doing this, specially because half of my friends are dead, of the ones still alive ¾’s are in assisted living and or don’t remember who they are. It was hilarious and very inspiring as well. Finally they introduced Rudy Garcia-Tolsen. The first above the knee double amputee to attempt the race, he did not made the cutoff in Kona, and he was going to try to become an Ironman in Tempe… Amazing young guy, more on him later.

The day before the race I took my swim to bike and bike to run bags. In these bags you pack everything you need for those events. I was like, “what am I forgetting?” I see people walking around with these bags and they seem to be pretty full, mine were pretty minimal. I kept thinking, “what am I forgetting?” Happy to report that I did not forget anything, I guess people were adding more stuff than needed. Fuck, I could not remember for the life of me what else to put in there. I actually put two pairs of socks in my bike to run bag just because I wanted to have the feeling that I put something there. It was hilarious.

And then it was race day…. Wooohooo!!!

I woke up early, ate my usual thing, (bagel, cereal) and drove to the race start. I had plenty of time and I knew where to go this time. Arrived there with plenty of time and went to check on Jessica. She was there all pretty, I check her tires’ pressure, and loaded her with my nutrition bottles. I took a picture of her and told her to take care of me this day, I told her “please what ever you do, do not get a flat today”. A couple of guys looked at me like I was crazy, talking to my bike… and I thought.. “sheesh, beginners”

Jessica in good company with over 2500 other bikes..

My bike..

I put my wetsuit on, turned in my dry clothes and went to the starting line. I could feel the energy, and of course the fear of the IM virgins and experienced. And the funny thing is that I was anxious, just like the first time. I knew what to expect, but still it was nerve wrecking. Got into the water and or course it was damn cold. Just like the first time I got into the water, I felt like my brain had instantly froze and my feet, oh my poor feet. They started to hurt, like I was being slapped with a sack of needles. I could not wait to start the swim; I knew it was going to get better once I started the swim.

Then, a massive release of adrenaline as the cannon goes off and everybody starts to swim, and just before I turned horizontal to start the swim, I felt this kick right on my groin. It was painful and I just stayed there unable to start the swim. People in the back kept hitting me and pushed me and I realize that this was not going to get any better anytime soon, so I started to swim, forward, but slightly to the right, toward the edge. I grabbed a boat/surfer/something and my goggles were wet, tears were coming down my eyes.. I was in real pain and the race just had begun. I don’t know how long I was there it could had not been more than a couple of minutes, but then I felt better or the pain went away miraculously, and I started to swim. And then before I knew it… it was over. Got out of the water and went to the strippers or peelers what ever you call them, I went down and they pulled my wetsuit off.

The transition in an Ironman is something amazing, they have millions of volunteers and they are there to help you. Most of them are triatheltes themselves so they know what to do. As soon as my wetsuit was off, a volunteer guided me to get my swim to bike bag; he helped me to empty the contents and made sure I did not forget anything, from sunglasses, to my little salt pills, and helmet. I was out of the changing tent in no time and then I was greeted by the “sunscreeners” another set of volunteers whose only job is to make sure you get plenty of sunscreen. And then I was off biking for a mere 112 miles, not bad.

The bike is a three loop affair, in the way up we battled the wind some, and in the way back, I had the tail wind and I am sure I was cruising pretty fast. The fist lap was a pretty happy one. Lots of people and even though some were drafting or blocking, the majority were good sports. I had one incident, this guy passed me and as soon as he passed me he slows down. I was like WTF? If you are going to pass me, you are going to continue with the same passing pace, I got pissed so I passed him again. And then he did the same thing, so I told him to take a hike. To either pass me and keep going or let me go. So he let me go, never saw him again. I was drinking plenty and of course I got a need to pee, there were toilets in every single aid station, and in all of them there was a line. So I did what I had to, I stood up in my bike relaxed the muscles and just went, it felt good, I had to do it a couple of more times again. In my head I had my anthem and keep saying

“Relax Take your time The time goes by So naturally you'll receive Infinity”

And before I knew it the bike leg was over. I only stopped once, at the special needs bag, to exchange my nutrition bottles. Did the turnaround to start the last loop got ready to battle the wind again. It wasn’t as bad and was looking forward to the final turnaround so I could cruise and as soon as I made the turnaround I noticed that the wind had change directions. Now I had a headwind, not what I needed or wanted. But needless to say, I had a great bike leg. Unknown to me how much my swim or my bike timing was since I decided to go out naked (no electronics). I had my watch but the only thing I was monitoring was my nutrition, every 15 minutes I would take a sip, chased it down with water and repeat. It worked well. When we were passing mile 99 I was like.. OMG, it is almost over. And I was feeling great, so I hammered the rest of the way. Getting into town was awesome, lots and lots of people cheering and having fun. It was great.

As soon as I got to the dismount line, a volunteer took my bike away and I went to the changing tent again. Another volunteer had my bike to run bag and just like the first one, helped me to change and get ready for the run. I left the changing tent and got more sunscreen (too much I think) and I was on my way to run a marathon. I was happy and I ran the first two miles sub 8 (I started my stop watch when I left transition), and I thought OK Luis “Relax, take your time”. So I slowed down and settled in a pretty good pace. After all this is my event right? When running a marathon you know that you have a risk to hit the wall at mile 20, at the ironman you start with the wall. Soon I realized that I was pretty tired and my legs were not moving as fast as I wanted them to move. I maintained a pretty good pace and then the sun started to go down and my run was minimized to a shuffle and finally to a fast walk. I wanted to walk at the aid stations, which I did, but now I was walking in between them too. Not good, then two things happened, first Pam Reed caught me, Pam Reed is an incredible ultra marathoner. She had just finished IMFL two weeks before and there she was. I started to run with her and chatted some and at that moment I was inspired. I picked up my pace and did not stop running until I crossed the finish line.

I was running through a sea of liars, they kept shouting “Hey you, Looking good”. Are you kidding me? That is a lie, it is funny no matter in what state you are in a race, spectators always tell you “looking good” Is that a question or an affirmation? If their comment annoys the hell out of you, you probably ARE NOT looking good and you are about to pass out. They have no idea that somebody replaced your shoes with bricks, or somehow your shorts turned into sandpaper “down there” and your pee is of the color of coke by now. They don’t know that the blisters in your feet are about to pop, they don’t know that your whole body hurts like hell with every step, Looking good? I don’t think so, feeling good? Hardly! It will be great if instead of saying looking good they will say something like “You are awesome and even though you feel like $hit right now, it will feel good in the morning, and I am in awe for your awesomeness, I do want to have your babies (if she is hot), you are a freaking Superstar” or something like that.

During my run I saw a couple of friends Joe (the biggest loser) and Dolores. And then I saw that I had 2 miles left so I picked up the pace, and I ran pretty fast the last mile, as soon as I went into the last stretch, there was this guy who was coming from behind in an all out sprint so I took him on. We sprinted like bats out of hell until the end, the bastard bit me, but it added some emotion to the finish. This is my third IM and I not once I have heard Mike Riley say “Luis Velasquez, you are an Ironman”. He does it, but I guess I am too busy and emotional to hear him.

Oohhhyyyeeaaa!!!

And then it was over, the rest was the standard end of the race thing. Here is your finisher medal, you shirt and hat. Lets take an overpriced finisher picture and then to the food tent. In there, I just could not eat anything. Waited for a massage, got my massage and then called my friend TJ. She came looking for me, I went to pick up my bike, put her in the car and then came back to see other people finish. The finish at an IM is very emotional, it is amazing. Love to see people crying in disbelief, it is amazing how we can push our bodies and still have plenty to sprint to the finish line. My friend TJ drove us to a food place where I got some real food and then back to the hotel and went to bed with a big smile in my face.

The end..

Finishing the IM triathlon has given me the most amazing feeling of accomplishment, again. It is very inspiring and most importantly, very satisfying. It is something amazing, but not impossible; we are stronger that we think we are. And not matter what is your physical condition if doing an Ironman triathlon is what you set your mind to do and are willing to do the work, you too can do it. Wanna try? Drop me a line, give me a call and we can talk it over.
I have decided that I am going to do one triathlon a year, and I hope I can do an Ironman a Year until I am 90. In the meantime, I will keep doing what I think comes natural to most of us, running that is. You put on your shoes and get out the door and you come back with a satisfying sense of accomplishment, it is effortless and it is fun.
Ironman Arizona was a great experience, seeing Rudy on the bike was very inspiring. He was all the way to the right, like as if he was not in the race and my GOD Rudy, you are an Ironman. (See Rudy Ironman Story here). I recommend to read this with paper tissue at hand, it will make you cry. I heard that he stopped at a red light, can you believe it?. He is an amazing person which really puts a reality to the old saying “I was sad because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no legs”. And now we can add, “And this man completed a freaking Ironman triathlon” How does that make you feel? I tell you how made me feel, it made feel inspired, it made me feel blessed.

Check Rudy on the course... Go Rudy, Go..

What I love about endurance sports is the sense of accomplishment that they give you. Our bodies are amazing machines that respond to stress, the more you stress them the more efficient they become. We are natural runners, our ancestors used to run their pray down. And now, I am going to get my brand new running shoes, open the box peel back the tissue paper, look at those amazing pristine shoes lift the box to my face and take in that smell deeply. Can you smell the potential, the toxins or the insanity? I smell potential; definitely potential. Yay!! Got to go running now..

Crossfit and Running

2009-09-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

So I have been doing CrossFit for almost a year now and it really has changed my fitness level. It even has changed the way I look at myself and how I train. In the past I had to have some sort of training schedule to complete and a race to train for. That was my motivation and that was what kept me going.

Last year, I did Mount Diablo 50 miler and then IM Cour D’Alene. After that I was pretty beaten, and had horrible plantar fasciatis and my IT band was killing me. I also was not very motivated to run anymore. So I took CrossFit as an alternative, as a recovery period. God, what difference has made.

Me and Tony Doing handstand pushups... A year Ago I could never had been able to do this..

I learned about CrossFit first from my friend Q (Jeff) , he was doing CrossFit and his times on the run were going down, significantly. A couple of friends from my running club started CrossFit and invited me along. I have seen them run and after they started CrossFit, they got stronger. So I went, and when I got there I barely could do 5 consecutive pull-ups. It took me a while to get going but once I got going, I could start to see the differences in my body and the way I was feeling. Yes, you still have to work specially if you are an endurance athlete, but having CrossFit has definitely made me a better runner and a fitter person, that is for sure.

When I started Crossfit, I could barely do a couple of pullups.. I can do Angie now, 100 pullups followed by 100 pushups, 100 squats and 100 Situps..

How it works physiologically? don’t ask me. .. Check the website (www.CrossFit.com), or come to Maddawg fitness in Redwood City, all I know is that it works. It has do to something with Increasing VO2 max, metabolizing fat, building muscle, getting stronger, and getting faster because you are getting stronger. . Therefore, performing more work in less time will increase your strength, fitness, and overall health! Who would have thought that a 4 minute Fran can make a difference.

Check out Fran, this is a great workout. It is amazing and grueling.

Just recently another friend, Haley, a marathon runner/triathtlete started CrossFit a few months ago. This past weekend she ran a marathon with very minimum running training and PR’d by 18 minutes… I know this thing works, it is amazing.

Check out Haley, isn't this low?

Personally, as a runner I have become stronger. At the end of 2008, I did 4 ultras in 4 consecutive weekends and I PR’d each one of them. And just recently I did Headlands Hundred and I never though I could finish in under 28 hours, and I posted a 25 hour and change time. I could have done faster, but there were other issues besides fitness that came into play. And now that I am training for an Ironman, I realize that I am stronger not only on the run but on the bike and the swim as well. Last year prior to IronMan Cour d’Alene at this stage of my training I had swum almost ¼ million yards and I barely broke 1 hour 15 minutes for the whole 2.4 mile swim. This time I have only swum 34,000 yards and I posted a 1 hour 9 minute 2.4 mile swim a couple of days ago. I am freaking elated.

Having found Maddawg Fitness in Redwood City, basically changed how I train. My perspective is now becoming stronger fitter person overall, rather than posting a PR in a race. All CrossFitters are amazing people and the most encouraging people you’ll ever know. I often hear people say they are intimidated by the thought of training at a CrossFit gym. Most of them believe it is a gym that it just involves lots of weightlifting and grunting. It is not a traditional gym, believe me. In this gym there are not TV’s, no Magazines, definitely not people in uniforms cleaning after your sweat or guys trying to pick up girls. Everybody sweats, everybody grunts and everybody gets fitter. The secret? One small class going at any given time. Each class is lead by a trainer who coordinates the warmup, skill development and workout. And the best thing of all, is the camaraderie between members. We all come from all different walks of life, different ages and different fitness levels. And they all encourage each other all the time. Oh, and here is another reason why do you want to avoid regular gyms.

Plate to Plate 5K

2009-09-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

The controversy:

Do you remember the Nike Woman’s marathon last year where one of the regular people finished way ahead of the elite runners by chip time, but her gun time she was slower. Nike didn’t want to acknowledge her at first because she was not in the elite group which to me makes no sense whatsoever. You go and run your race and if you win you win, I don’t think that the position in the field should have any merit on the results, period.

Interestingly, when we were looking at our results on line, some of my buddies noticed that their chip time was the same as their gun time. This did not make much sense since they were way back at the start of the race. Well apparently they “placed” in their age group, but because of this particular rule if you place in the race your chip time is overruled simply because if you knew you were that good, you should have gone to the front and battle it with the other folks that placed too. For my buddies and myself that does not make a difference, most of us are just looking to go have fun and have the best race we can, but if somebody place in their age group, they should have the recognition they deserve.. right?

I have to say that this particular race there so many people >3000, and all runners lined up at the start whichever way they could. Some of them went to the front and others, like me, wanted to get to the front but could not, and some like my other friends, they stayed back. The point is that I think that if there is not money involved, everybody should have their chip time reported, after all that is their real time, right? if money is going to be involved, then the people battling for the money can go to the front and gun time applies, Right?

Just after the race and before going to a "fun" ball game.. From left to right, Fred, Me, Joe, Calvin and Michelle in the front.

The Fun

This race was a fun one; I belong to two different groups, one eating club and one drinking club, both with a running problem. The Mid Peninsula running club and the Top Shelf Runners in San Carlos. Both are great and I love being able to run twice a week with my friends and then we go eat or drink depending on the day and the running partners.

This past Sunday, my Top Shelf Runners and I went to San Francisco to run the plate to plate 5K. I got to say I was skeptical abut this race since it is relatively short and relatively expensive too. Needless to say it took some convincing, but once I got into it I was eager and happy to be able to go do it. But it did not help that I had a couple of friends visiting from Houston so the night before I went to bed really late… but it is only 3.1 miles right? how bad can it be?

We met at the ATT stadium and had enough time to go for a little warm up run, and then it was time to go to the starting line. I was not counting that there were going to be so many people. I could not get to the front and I had to stay behind. The gun went off and everybody started moving slowly towards the front. When I finally reached the front it took me a whole lot to navigate through the mass of people, I knew right then that it would be impossible for me to PR this one.. I finished in 21:14 or so, not my best time, but I had a great time in this race nevertheless.

After the race we all congregated in a corner and cheer for the rest of our team members, once we were all accounted for, we went to get something to eat. No luck, all restaurants had an incredible waiting time and provided that our party was very large there is no way they were going to be able to sit us. So we decided to go to the ball park and eat ball-park food. I had an overpriced vegetarian burger, it was decent.

And finally we went to see the Giants beat the Rockies. And being the BB fan that I am, I was rooting very hard for someone to win, please no Extra Innings. I just wanted this to be over with so I could go home. Finally after an exciting game (I was told it was very exciting), it was time to go home. And that is how it ended.

In my way to the home plate and a 21:14 5K run..

Headlands Hundred

2009-08-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Oh crap… this has been the hardest thing I have done… Oh wait, I said that before, good thing I have bad memory. Well, it is done; the Headlands Hundred endurance run for 2009 is in the history books and I did better than expected.. OMG what a feeling.

The Headlands Hundred is an elite event put together by Pacific Coast Trail Runs an incredible organization. The course is too complicated to describe, better see for yourself. For a flyover of the course click here. But I have to tell you, it is amazing. I enjoyed it a whole lot although it was also very challenging. It has over 20,000 feet of elevation gain and consist of 4 25 mile loops. You go in one direction (clockwise) and then, you do the loop in counter clock wise direction. Very scenic and as I said, challenging. Check out the elevation profile Click on the profile below to see in full scale.

Let’s see, for starters I knew some people at the race. So I was looking forward to see them in the course. Sarah Spelt is an amazing person and I cannot tell you how lucky we were that she was there with her welcoming smile. She made the day for many of us..

For the longest time I debated even registering for this event, I even tried very hard not to think about it. But being the dork that I am, I was ready to sign up right when I knew I could do 50 miles on that course. I did a training run there with Mark and after that day I decided to register. That was a few weeks ago and then the week of the race was upon us. And just a few days before the race I got an email from my Pacer, Janet. She said she could not do it because she had fallen ill. And I started to panic, so I called a few friends and finally found Suki Martin. She agreed to pace me from mile 50 until the finish. That was amazing to think that somebody would just run with you for 50 miles. I am really thankful and I hope I can return the favor somehow.

Suki Martin and I after the end.. She was an amazing pacer.

The day of the race, met with Mark Thiedens at 5:30 am in the morning. I did not want to have issues with my alarm clock like I did during Miwok 100K. So I asked him to give me a call early in the morning. He did, and I had plenty of time to get ready and eat lots. Mark was very cool about driving, I knew that driving back might be an issue, but he did not mind. Joe Kelso was following him as well. Joe completed the 50miles in record time; he is a star in my book. But in any event, we drove to Rodeo Beach and once we were there I realized that we were about to run 100 miles.. Can you believe it?

Mark Thiedens and Myself before the Race

I met Kim Evanson, my doctor friend, the one that told me about a toenail necklace. Which by the way it will be three toenails richer in few days. I saw many other runners, too many to mention here. But the truth is I was in good company, I was in crazy good company, yay..

Kim Evanson prior to the race.. :)

Kim and I just before the start..

And we were off…

The weather was perfect, perfect running weather if you ask me. It could had been very hot up there or windy, but it was none of those things. In fact, I really believe that the running Gods were with us for most of the way. It was a little overcast and the windy was very mild. During one of my training runs in the course, the wind almost knocked me over. So I was afraid that it was going to be an issue, especially at night. But it was not, the wind God was asleep.

Kim, Mark and I settled in a good pace for the first few miles, we chatted a lot and we had plenty in the tank. Kim and Mark actually met before so we had plenty to talk about and we did. We talked about the weather , we talked about the infamous toenail necklace and other oddities. It was great conversation for a good few miles. We ran together until mile 15 or so, then Kim stayed behind and Mark and I pressed on. We kept looking back to see if she would catch up, but she did not.

The freaking volunteers were amazing; I really think they also need a coaster or a medal or something. Some of them were for the entire time that the race went on. I am amazed that people will actually take some of their free time to go spend it filling bottles, cutting up bananas, making peanut butter sandwiches, and giving encouragement to runners. Can you believe it? I think that it was harder to volunteer than actually run the race. I mean, mentally you got to be crazy enough to do that.

Anyway, back to the race, Mark told me that he wanted to use the bathroom, we were going for the first time close to the YMCA and there was a bathroom there. However, it was occupied. He said we will go to the next one and I just could not wait any longer. I peeled the banana and went right there. That was the first of only three times I went to the bathroom. Yes, I only peed three times during the entire race. Call me crazy, but I thought I was shutting down. I kept drinking water; in fact I drank a lot. But I guess I was sweating a lot too and the fact that I was not peeing made me think about kidney shutdown. You see, I took a preemptive Tylenol dosage, I took 4 Tylenols right after the first time I went to the bathroom. Mark asked me, “what is it hurting?” and I said “nothing really”. The fact is that I wanted to have some pain medication in my system, just in case. But anyway, I peed two more times, and for the entire second 50 miles I did not go to the bathroom at all. I was worried, but I kept drinking water, in fact I drank a whole lot, I was simply just not going. Thank God I did not have any issues, I guess I was drinking but not enough, or I was sweating a lot or something.

When I came back for the first 50 miles, Mark and I were still running together. We changed out socks, changed our clothes and I grabbed my flashlight, Suki was waiting for me and then we were off. Unfortunately I did not check my flashlight prior to the race, and for some reason I decided to check it after we climbed the first hill. Then I saw it, I realized that the batteries in my flashlight were spent. I panicked and Suki told me, ok, let’s go back. Mark said, “I am going to continue, I’ll see you later”. We started the trek back to the starting line and a fellow runner offered me a light he had at the next aid station. So I took his offer and decided NOT to go back and just pick up my light at mile 75. We got to the next station (Tennessee Valley) and I went looking for the runners bag, we found the flashlight and I was happy. Unfortunately, his battery only lasted a few hours and by the time I really needed the lamp the battery was done. Suki and I shared her flashlight which was a little difficult during the single track portion of the trail. She had to somehow light my way and her way, not an easy task. She even twisted her ankle, yet she was strong enough to get me through the finish line.

And then, I developed a big freaking blister on my left foot. I changed socks at mile 50 and my feet were OK then. Then I just remember that I got some sand in my left shoe, some sand that I did not take care of right away. Well I should have, at mile 70’somehting I knew I had a blister. I could feel it, I had no idea how big it was and it became very painful to run so I started to limp. Well, after a while my hip was hurting and then my right ankle started to hurt as well because my stride had changed considerably. After we reached an aid station I asked if they had any tape, I cleaned my foot well and put some tape on it. I knew it was going to hurt whenever I was going to take it off, but I had no other choice. After I taped my blister it felt better and started to jog once again. Just a little faster, but not fast enough to make up the time I had lost.

The Sun was coming up again and once I reached Tennessee Valley (the last station before the finish line) I knew it was the end. Suki started to run and I tried to keep up… we made it to the finish line in 25 hours and 30something minutes. I could not believe it, I was so freaking happy I finished yet alone finished such time, in such course. I thought I was under trained, I guess I underestimated myself. I told some friends that I was going to make it sometime between 28-30 hours, and here I was going almost 3 hours faster than my prediction. I was happy and I knew that if I could have taken care of my feet, drink more water and remember my flashlight batteries I could have done it under 24 hours. The truth is, I will never know. But there is always next time.

Suki and I finishing the race... yay!!

As I finish writing this report, I think about the feat that I just completed. It makes me freaking happy to know that I can push my body to those limits. And I am so looking forward to the next one, Western States 100 Perhaps.. I am also trying to understand myself better, what did I learn from this experience? Besides the obvious, take care of my feet, drink more water and bring extra batteries with me, I learned that I am stronger than I think I am and I love that feeling…

My running buddy, Mark...

From left to right, Me, Joe, Farina and Rujeco, Mark in the front.

Ironman vs Trail Running... Oh Crap!!

2009-07-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

So I have been asked by my triathlon friends.. Aren’t you supposed to be training for an Ironman in a few months? Don’t you know that there is biking and swimming involved in that one?.. I guess I know that.. I just don’t have the motivation to do the other two… no yet at least..

Ok.. so for those interested, I am going to do the IM in Arizona, but my focus will be different. I just want to do better than last year, I don’t want to go speedy fast on the bike, I just want to finish the bike and I’ll take care of the run, really.
I really want to do well on this race (100 mile in about three weeks), when I am back from it, I’ll start biking and swimming. If I quite remember, there were a couple of friends (Jess) who did this last year. She did awesome on the bike and I don’t think she trained for long. So, that is what I will do and I will conquer, I hope..

For those trail running buddies of mine, here is a little something I got out yesterday. I did go out to train in the Marin Headlands 100 course. It is going to be brutal and I can see myself finishing like in 36 hours or so, J. My buddy Janet will be pacing me after the 50 miler and I will, of course finish.

So back to yesterday, the Marin Headlands are beautiful. The truth is that I cannot believe how hard the course is going to be. Of course, that does really not matter since we are going to be blown away by the views and the beautiful sites. Make sure you even stop to smell the flowers and appreciate the whole view. So to all of those ultra runners out there, come and join the party, I promise you it will be a great run (equal amount of ups and down, not much flat at all). He, he…

Look at this view... Is not this amazing?

This is another great view Rodeo Beach..

This is the first time I actually ran that far without a friend of some sort. I did not like it at all, although there was no pressure to finish, I rather run with friends. I kept trying to go slower, but my feet were trying to move faster and at the end I was on time for a 24 hour finish.. If you know what I mean?, I did the first 25 miles in 6 hours, so all I need is to keep that pace for another 18 hours and I am set.. (joke of course). It will be beautiful and most likely very challenging for most of us.

So back to the ironman thingy… I believe that life gives us choices and it is important that we chose what ever makes us happy at the time. I don’t think that triathlons are a big part of my life anymore; therefore I will stay away from them for a while. Maybe I will change my mind, but for the moment I am not worrying about my time in Arizona. I will show up, I will compete and I will finish. That is all.

6X DIPSEA!!

2009-06-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

So Janet and I went to the dipsea trail to run it a few times. She is in the process of training for Western States 100 so decided to do a training run up there. The dipsea trail is beautiful; it is got amazing views and an insane elevation gain and drop. It is one of those trails that no matter how hard it is, I want to go back and run it as many times as possible… or whenever I can.

I picked up Janet early in the morning and went to pick up two more friends of hers. The day seems to be promising, the weather was beautiful and most importantly we were soooo looking forward to do this. In fact I had been having secret wishes that we would be able to do a octo-dipsea. I even dreamed of a customized license plate 8XDPSEA.

Arrived at the location, prepared our stuff and took off.. The first pass was uneventful; Janet’s friends were really nice to let us set the pace since we were going to be there most of the day. I am sure they could have gone faster, but decided to stay with which was greatly appreciated. We got to the beach for the first time, refilled our water bottles and started the treck back.. yay, 2X down.

Came back to the car and ate our usual, pickles, tortilla chips, pretzels, bananas, PJ sandwiches, coke and other indulgencies. We said our goodbyes and Janet’s friends left. Janet and I refilled our bottles and started the next pass. Since this coming weekend is the double dipsea race, there were a number of people training there displaying their dipsea trail apparel. When we got to the beach this one was really packed, the sun was high and it was getting really hot. We started the run back to Mill Valley once again and when we got there I was particularly thirsty and hungry. Before going to the car I stopped at the bathroom and tried, unsuccessfully, to empty my stomach. At this time I was not feeling that good…

We sat down, ate and refilled our bottles; we started the long trek back for the 5th pass. Just before cardiac hill I started to feel really bad. My stomach was not happy and for the first time in a very long time, my legs started to cramp. I told Janet so and she was nice enough to slow down for me, but the harder I tried the more I realized that I was not going to be able to keep up. So I told her, at the top of cardiac hill, I am going to sit down and take a breather. You go to the beach and when I feel better I will go find you. Easy right? She agreed and went on her own.

I went to find a nice place to sit-down, but before that I had to negotiate with my stomach and my legs. They were not collaborating.. oh Crap. So when I finally was able to sit-down, I actually was so tired that I fell asleep. When I woke up, I kind of had an idea of how long I had been sleeping so I decided to wait a little bit more before I went to find Janet. Well I miscalculated the time… fuck..

I got up, felt a lot better and started to run towards the beach. Not realizing that Janet had already gone to the beach came back and she was in her way to Mill Valley and to the car. When she passed through Cardiac Hill I was out, so she was running toward Mill Valley and I was running toward Stinson Beach.

As I was running I was getting scared by the minute since I was not finding Janet anywhere.. It was like where is she? Where did she go? When I got to the beach I asked a few of the fellows there and they did not see her at all. At this time it was already beginning to get dark, so I decided to go back to Mill Valley and brave the darkness. Darkness fell in no time and I was not even close to Mill Valley and I started to have thoughts of mountain lion attacks and stuff like that. It was funny…

Meanwhile in Mill Valley, Janet found herself wondering where I was. She waited for a while and then decided to go to the fire station and report his missing friend. The fire department sprung into action and they were about to deploy the search and rescue team. She got scared for me and I was scared for her too..

I finally made it back to Mill Valley after a few near falls, I actually made it out of the trials OK. As I got to my car my heart sank, there were police there. I thought, Fuck what happened to Janet. As I approached they asked me “is this your car?” and I said yes sir it is, and added. Where is Janet, what happened to her. I thought something bad had happened. They explained that Janet was OK and she gotten worried about me and decided to report me missing. She came back and we hugged and were happy to see each other.. yay!! The End!!

Now we have another excuse to go back and do it all over again…

Runner's Story

2009-06-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have been asked many times when did you start running? Every runner has a story, here is mine:

It was 2003; I was diagnosed with a brain tumor on October 9th. My ex-wife and I were scheduled to go to Chicago that particular weekend for the wedding of a good friend of ours. It was a Friday afternoon hen my doctor called home (how often a doctor calls your house with good news huh?). He said, we found a mass in your brain (after an MRI taken that morning), thus you have an appointment to see a neurosurgeon Monday morning. I was like, What the FUcK!! A mass in my brain? What did that mean? A tumor? OMG.. My ex-wife started to cry like crazy and I just went in shock, I could not believe it. It is one of those things that might happen to everybody else, but you really don’t realize what it really means until it happens to you.

So that particular Friday we decided to go to Chicago anyway. There wasn’t anything we could do for the weekend and staying home would have been horrible, so we went. We drove to Chicago from Midland Michigan (where we used to live) and made it to the rehearsal dinner. My ex was obviously very distressed and I, well I was sad and afraid, very scared. The very next day (Saturday) we went to the wedding, and we tried to have a good time. In fact I danced the night away and we laughed and tried to forget the fact that I had a fucking abnormal mass in the middle of my head. But the night went well, after the wedding we went back to our hotel and went to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up and I knew that the Chicago Marathon was being run that particular day and I asked my ex to go and see the marathon. We went to the finish area and it was amazing to see the elite runners finishing in amazing time. As the hours went by more and more people started to cross the finish line. I could see people crying and becoming all emotional as they crossed the finish line. I noticed that many runners had little signs in their shirts. “Cancer survivor”, “survivor”, “breast cancer survivor”, etc, etc. It was inspirational, so I turned to my ex and I told her, “Hey, look at that” pointing at the people wearing those signs and I added “Next year I want to run this marathon”. She started to sob and said, “Oh My God, you don’t even know if you are going to be alive next year, what are you saying is crazy?”. I replied, “Yes next year I want to run this marathon and you are running it with me”. She looked at me like I was crazy, and then a sparkle illuminated her eyes and she said “it is a deal, lets do it”.

After two brain surgeries, an incredible amount of physical therapy to relearn basic skills such as the ability to drive, write, even pee, we started training. For me was a very painful journey. I had never run more than 5 miles let alone a full marathon. But we stuck to our promise and we started to train, and on October 10th 2004, I and my ex-wife were among 40,000 other runners to start the Chicago marathon.

That day, my first marathon, was the beginning of a new life for me, the beginning of my life as a runner wannabe. I survived my tumor, my marriage did not. And then came to California and discovered PCTR and the great smile of Sarah, and of course my best running buddy, Janet, and the rest is history.

So that was my story, what is yours?

Redwood 50K

2009-05-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Elevation profile of the Redwood 50K, not bad huh?

Yesterday, Sunday the 10th, I went with a bunch of other runners to celebrate mothers’ day by running the Redwood trails in Oakland, Ca. This is another event put together by PCTrailruns. Sarah, the glue of the organization, was there to welcome all runners as we were making our way to register. This time, Rujeco and Sabrina came with me to do this race. Janet, my running buddy, was out of town. Met Kim Evanson at the starting line and we exchanged a few words. She had a friend visiting from the Midwest and she was going to run this one with her.

And we were off, this time I knew I was going to go slow since I really was not sure what was I thinking when I signed up for this race. I guess all I wanted was to go have fun and that was the goal. The day was glorious, it was sunny and warm, totally opposite from the run last weekend. The Miwok 100k was twice as long, twice as hard, twice as miserable and twice as lonely. It was great to be in familiar territory, everybody knows my name here, I love it.

The trail in Oakland is just beautiful.

As soon as we started I took off fast. Little did I know that the day was going to be a little longer, and humbling. I wanted to do well, but in the process, I soon realized that I was not in a position to push it. My legs were still hurting from last Sunday and my feet were still a hamburger. I settled in a steady pace and plow the miles away, when I got to the first aid station I got my usual, coke and coke. I also drank some coke and chased it with coke, man I love that stuff on a hot day. Running through the hills of Oakland I soon started to realize two things, everybody there seems to have a dog and everybody seems to be nice about picking up the dog poop, put it in a bag and leave it by the side of the road for the poop fairy to come and pick it up. What the hell!!, what am I missing. Is there somebody that actually comes and picks up the shit away, why just leave it there?. Leaving that crap in a plastic bag is not good, unless there is something I am missing. And the other thing that was funny, people talk to their dogs like they understood. They do not understand!! They are dogs. As I was running, this dog came in front of me, the owner says, “Fido you did it again, you keep getting in front of people”. It happened twice and I was cracking up, dogs do not understand, but a little apology would have been great. Anyway, I thought it was funny.

Pick up the crap!! Sheeshh!!

As I finished the first lap, I was still feeling OK. I ate some and then started the second lap (10K). This particular lap is a hard one; the hills are very steep and hard. There is no way you could actually run them, not me at least. So I walked them as fast as I could, and these 10K were the longest 10K I had run in a while. A guy came from behind and we started to talk. It was fun to have some company for a change. I was wearing my miwok shirt, and that shit was giving me some major nipple chaffing, so I took it off. It was hot and nice so it felt good to run without a shirt. I am a little self conscious about doing that, but yesterday I felt I had no choice. It was either that or bleed to death, so I took it off. As the hours and the miles went by I thought about quitting. I made my mind, I was going to quit after the 10K loop and just do 30K. My legs were already screaming, my feet were hurting and every step was a pain. So with that in mind I had nothing left but to “finish”. I picked up the pace and got to the finish line. As I was talking to the volunteers about finishing up, they kept telling me, “Come On Luis, you need just one more loop, you can walk those 20K”, and I was peer pressured to go on. So I did…. I ran in front of the finish line, to save face, and once I got to the beginning of the first hill I questioned my decision. However, there was not way in the world I was going to go back…. So I kept going.. and going… and going… I soon realized that I was not feeling as bad as I though I was. I run the flats and walked the hills, and I made it to the end. I was done..

Rujeco and Sabrina, this was Rujeco's first trail run.

As I was finishing and contently eating all the goodies at the finish line, I became aware that if there is one thing I treasure, is friends. It is great to be in company of such a group of amazing individuals. Sarah from PCTRAILRUNS is an amazing mentor and cheerleader. Janet my running buddy was not here today and I missed her a lot, Rujeco and Sabrina, what a pair. This was Rujeco’s first trail run and she did awesome. Kim and her friend were out there still when I finished, and I am sure they were having a blast, it is great to run these things with friends.. I truly believe that life gives us what we need when we need it. There are times that seem insurmountable, but we need to rely on friends to make it through the end. Things are the hardest when we decide to do it alone, and today was one of those days for me. I realize how lucky I am to have found such an amazing running partner in Janet.. Yay!! What is next? I truly don’t know yet…

Miwok 100K

2009-05-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

First, for the love of God if you are going to go anywhere early in the morning…
a) have 4, not three, but 4 alarm clocks in case you miss the first three.
b) have an awesome running partner that will call you when she is waiting outside her house wondering what happened to her ride
c) Do not have plans to PR if you get up late.

For some ungodly reason I missed the first three alarms, I woke up when my phone rang. Thank God I had my phone on and all I hear was the voice of Janet to realize that I should have been by her place at that moment. So I got up like a motherfucker and got dressed as fast as I could and got in my car and drove away. Now, you have to realize that I have a routine when I go to a race. Well, this time the routine went out the window. I forgot to go the bathroom, shower and make my bed (I do this all the time). I even forgot my drop off bag. Crap, oh well.

Janet was laughing hard when I got to her house, she got in the car and drove to the starting place. One thing that was good about this, there was not car line to the parking lot and the bathrooms were deserted. We checked in and we were ready to go for that little run we were talking about for a long time, a 100 K little run.

Janet and I were late, I never saw any of the runners, they were already in the trail. As we started to run, all of the family members and spectators were coming back to their cars. I have no idea how late we were, but oh well. The run starts in the beach and it picks up the trails pretty fast. We started slow, walking the inclines and jogging the flats and the downhills. I was happy to be there, I knew it was going to be a long day, but hey that is why we were there, right? It was going to be a long day, but we really did not know what we were against.

A picture of Janet in the rain, she still smiling.

For the last few years, I was told, the weather has been benign for this particular race. This year, however, the Raining and Wind Gods were out in full force all day long. It was simply ridiculous. As I mentioned before, I forgot my drop off bag, so I did not have socks, shoes, jacket or anything except what I had on. As we started to make our way up the mountain I was getting cold and started to move a little faster. Janet decided to take it easy since she will have an awesome adventure in the next few days, so I sped ahead. This is the first time that we actually ran separated since we started to run together more than a year go.

As the day went by and the day and my legs grew tired and I slowed down a bit, I got colder and all of the sudden I was shivering. My teeth were shattering and my hands were cold, I could not even open a freaking cliff bar. It was ridiculous and painful. The temperature was cold and the wind was amazingly strong. The rain kept coming down and I was hungry as hell.

How do you like the trail... nice huh? Wanna come and play with us?
Pic courtesy of Brian Harvey

This year, according to many, has been one of the toughest. There were a lot of no-shows, and I don’t blame them. But not us, Janet and I were going to run it regardless of who show up; rain or shine we were going to do it. But I was definitely not prepared for what it came next. I heard people dropped because they got too cold to the point of getting hypothermia, and I thought I was going to be one of them. I kept checking my fingers to see if they turned blue or something. Especially in the way from Bolinas Ridge to the turnournd at Randall, the weather in this section got really bad and there was not hiding from it. You see, the Bolinas ridge section is a single track on the mountain. The wind was incredible and I saw a couple of runners being knocked out by the wind to the side of the mountain. I have never experience a run such as this, it was challenging beyond my wildest imagination.

Can you see the Golden Gate Bridge?
Pic courtesy of Brian Harvey

I got the chance to see people in their way back and nobody made me smile more than Caitlin Smith. That girl is amazing and that smile never leaves her face. She is definitely a fucking rockstar. As I made it to the turnaround and started the long back, I saw Janet and Brian Harvey. Both were having a good day regardless of the conditions of the day, and all I could think was, I cannot wait to get to the finish line, change some clothes and get in my car. That was my motivation that kept me going. For a moment, it appeared that the weather was going to change for the better, but it was just a fluke, it got rainy and windy and cold again.

But what made this race fun is the company. Ultramarathoners are really cool people. I talked to Catra Corbett for a little while, Anil Rao and Brian Harvey among others. I also met Linda from Seattle. The distance was tough, the weather was tough, but it was so much fun. Loved it, it was a great day. And then my poor feet.. :)

I know this is nasty, don't tempt me to post my black toenails..

At the end we did it.. It was a long day, but my GOD it was an amazing day. As I was getting to the end I could hear the commotion down below. I could not see anybody because the fog was thick, but I could hear people cheering. that kept me going and when I got to the finish line I just wanted to find out who was the person screaming and it turns out it was a volunteer using a megaphone. What a great idea... :)

Happy kids displaying the finishers medals.. :)

Sometimes we think about what we are going through at this very moment in our lives. And yes, it might be tough; it might be cold and miserable. But if we stay the course and have a goal in mind the finish line is glorious. This reminds me of a really cool quote I heard once; “When quiting is no longer an option, you’re half way there” Which applies to most of us in most situations, not just racing. And the truth is, we are stronger than we think, when we think we cannot longer go, we actually can. So, what I learned in this race, I might not be able to stop the rain, or the wind or the cold, but they also are not going to stop me.

Mount Diablo Marathon

2009-04-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Mount Diablo marathon…

Mount Diablo… this is the mountain that started it all for me. It was here where I did my first trail run not knowing what I was getting myself into. I remember, I had run marathons before and I thought I was ready… Well I was not really. At the end of the day I had cried, had cursed the mountain and myself for having signed up for this race.. It was indeed the hardest thing I had ever done…..

Last year I did the 50 miler, it was awesome but coming from Moab 100 I was not sure if I was up for the 50 Miler. I entertained the idea, but the closer I got the race day, the more I thought about just doing the marathon and nothing else.

Just about to get started.. yay!!

Race started at 7 am, so I got up pretty early and drove to SF to pick up Janet and Kim. It is great when you do things like this with friends. Time goes by rather quickly and most importantly it is much more fun, really. It is. I picked them up around 5am and with my earl grey tea steaming and a big smile we took the bay bridge to cross into the East Bay and find our way to Concord where Mount Diablo is located. Now if you never heard of Mount Diablo it is a great place. The view from the top of Mt, Diablo is second only to Africa’s Mt Kilimanjaro it total visible land area. On a clear day, you can see the up to 90 miles in any direction. The view is spectacular… simply amazing..

Look at the runners.. this moutain is amazing.. woohoo!!

Had to go to the summit twice.. second time around was harder, but once we got there things went all right..

This is one of the few “elite” endurance sports put together by Sara Wendell and Aaron, the first family of ultrarunning. Along the marathon there is also a 50 miler taken place at the same time. Last year we did it and it was just as amazing. This year, however, decided not to do it since I figure I am still bitten from Moab 100 miler and too close to Miwok 100K. So I took it as a training run (well, that is what I like to think).

But in any event, Janet, Kim and I got to the starting line got registered and went back to the car to get ready. I decided to go to the bathroom and I had an unpleasant surprise, there was a line to get to the man’s bathroom. What the hell, I had to go so I had to wait. When I finally was done there it was time to get to the starting line. I rushed to the car and finish getting my stuff… as I was running back to the car I was forming this mental picture in my head of the things I needed to take with me. Salt pills, water bottles, power gels, cliff bars, iboprufin, and sun screen. The sun was already out and I knew it was going to get hot… as hot as last year…. Then, we were off.. I love to see the start of these races, a bunch of crazies running for hours.. I love it.

The three amigos at the summit... yay!! Beautiful sights.. amazing... Go there I promise you won't be disappointed.

Kim, Janet and Myself stayed together for most of the race. We walked when we had to and ran when we could Now you have to consider that Mount Diablo is one of the hardest races in the west coast. The elevation gain is insane and the trails are technical, specially coming down the mountain. The race starts with a constant climb all the way to the summit.. and when I say a climb it is really a climb. Janet, Kim and I made to the summit and of course it was already hot. I was drenched in sweat and as soon as I got to the aid station at the summit I went for the coke… and… the ice. I put some Ice in my hat to cool me down, and ate a ton of food. I knew I was burning more energy than usual because of the hot conditions so I needed to get more nutrition in. A bunch of cookies, watermelon, peanut butter sandwiches and of course cliff blocks did the trick.. oh yea, and some pretzels and potatoes too.

Then the descent started and this descent is as painful as the ascent simply because it is straight down, it can be really cruel on your quads and your toes if you are not wearing the right shoes. You should have seen my toes last year, I lost my 10 toenails after Mount Diablo last year. This year, it was just as hot and brutal. In our way down we saw the leaders cruising in the way up to the summit once again, and holy COW, they were cruising. It always amazes me how easy these runners make the course look. I am going to start running 150 miles a week, maybe I’ll get faster.. (ha ha… in my dreams I will).

We were running so fast that not even the camera could keep up with us..

I guess we slowed down a lot here.. :)

We reached the summit a second time and we knew it was going to be a long way back to the finish line. At this time the three of us were still together, and the last stretch home started. Janet took off and I tried to stay on her heels, she just left us in the dust. I tried to keep up, but all day long my IT band was giving me trouble so I just could not keep up, and NO I am NOT making excuses. I caught about 5 people in the last stretch of the run and when I got to the finish line I was just two minutes behind Janet. As I crossed the finish line I found a table and lie down for a little while. Janet came to ask me if I was OK and I was, I was just tired hot, dehydrated and mighty hungry. Sara had some strawberries that tasted like heaven, so I went at them and satisfied my hunger. We saw Kim finish and then we were done… Ah!! Great run, loved it.

After the run I had to sit down and just take my breath. It was sooooooo damn hot..

Mount Diablo is beautiful, I love that mountain and I know that whenever I am going there to run I am going to have a great time despite the fact that it will be miserable too. At the end of the day what matters to me the most is the fact that I am doing what I love to do. My life has been a blessing and I love the fact that I can do these things. It is one of those things that really make me soooo freaking happy. Running with friends in these beautiful California mountains is something that I am really thankful for.

What is next… Miwok 100K. on May second. Stay tuned..

PoST MOAB 100

2009-04-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

So here I am post Moab… my ankles are a little inflamed, I am going to lose two toenails for sure, my heart is happy and I feel like a million bucks…

How did it go? you may ask… the whole experience can be resumed in one word… just one word.. Fucking Amazing.. OK.. That is two words, but hey who is counting?

See the scenery... amazing

Leading to this race I was not nervous at all, I was excited. Janet and I have been exchanging emails and texts and getting more and more excited about it, and now it is here.. Two more days and we were about to embark in what would be the longest run I have ever done. For her, it is second nature. And now that I did it, she owes me an Ironman. Her first triathlon will be an Ironman, that was our deal and I am putting this here in writing for all to see. The pressure is ON! He he.

So I arrived in Grand Junction Co at around 10am and luck might have it that I got a work message in my way there. Grand Junction CO airport has free wifi so I was able to deal with work. I was not happy, but I had a few hours to kill before Janet arrived. She arrived just past one. I had already picked up the car and put my crap in it. Came back to the airport and when I saw that big smile coming out of the terminal I thought… we are ON.. yay! We hugged and were ready to hit the road.

First stop: Grocery store.. We looked for a grocery stop and we bought a bunch of food. 4 Tostitos bags, bananas, bread, peanut butter, jelly, nuts, oranges, pretzels, smoothies, coke, pickles and god knows what else I am forgetting. We loaded up the pt cruiser (I hate these cars), and headed to REI to buy myself a fleece. We knew it was going to get cold there and I am so glad I bought a fleece…

Our little shopping spree.. Some people will eat this in a week...

Second Stop: Food. We drove to Moab, about 1:30 hrs from Grand Junction and looked for a decent restaurant. We found this Italian place and we ordered tons of food. I ordered a bowl of minestrone soup, the big pasta dinner and cheese cake.

Third stop; the Hotel. We checked in our hotel and and went directly to our room. We started to put our shit together and realize that I did not bring with me another running shirt. So I venture out and went out looking for a running store. I did not find any; Moab has three types of establishments only. Jeep rentals, bike rentals, motorcycle rentals and that is it, nothing more. If you like to spend some money on renting a car or doing something “fun” like that, Moab is the place to be. I found a climbing store and they were selling some running shirts of a marathon that happened 2 years ago, so I bought two and went back to the hotel. I have been trouble sleeping, but this time I passed out really quick. In most cases I am usually awake most of the night thinking of the race. This time I was out, completely, the last thing I remember was…. I don’t even remember. Ha ha.

The next day Janet woke me up and I said, “the alarm clock did not go off”. And she said, “yes it did.. You turned it off”…. I was like … “I did?” I am usually a light sleeper, but this time I was out completely..

Janet made some coffee and drinking felt so good, I needed to caffeine and the warm feeling since I knew it was going to be cold. We wanted some desert heat, but that did not happened that early in the morning. We were fucking cold, we picked our bib numbers and set up our little aid station thing. We met some new friends, David Crocket an ultra crazy man (he won this race last year). We also met people that I wish I could remember their names. I had brain surgery, remember, so I am bad with names. I will remember their faces though. We unloaded the car with all of our supplies and when I took the jar of pickled cucumbers, I laughed. We went back to the car to warm up a little and then to the pre-race meeting. Lined up at the start and then we went off.. wohooo!!!

This is base camp... The people in the aid stations were awsome. Specially cuz they had ramen noodles with potatoes at night.. yuummmyy!!

Our own little aid station.. at the beginning of the race.. bags full of food..

The first 5 miles were amazing… I could not believe how beautiful that place is…. It is just unbelievable. Wow... I felt blessed to be running there and even happier that Janet was there with me. We kept saying, OMG look at that, look there, over there, see those cliffs… holy shit.. Amazing. And I kept thinking… wow I wonder how this would have been a couple of million years ago. It was just breathtaking.. Janet laughed every times I would say, I wish I would know what this place looked like a couple of million years ago. And all of the sudden I realize that by tomorrow morning I would probably be still running here, but we were ON and there was not stopping.

Morning in Moab, pictures do not make any justice of how beautiful this is.

The freaking course was beautiful, but there were things we or I was not used to it. I hate running on pavement, and this area has an amazing amount of sheath rock which is basically pavement. A million years ago this place had some sort of eruptions and you could see the lava flow which eventually hardened and became huge sheath rocks. So needless to say, but mile 20 my poor IT bands were feeling it already. I thought to myself.. holy F*^K, I am not going to like this for the next 80 miles or so. But somehow I managed to ignore the pain and kept on going. Of course thank God for ibuprofen, It was great to look forward to the next two stops and take our ibuprofen fix. That was a treat indeed.

Just before the race, as the sun was coming up in the horizon.

Janet burning the course... you see the concrete, well it is not concrete but might as well be called concrete. Sheath rock is hard and miserable on my IT bands.

Just me and the mountain..

Janet and I, like always, talked about everything and nothing in particular. We also met bunch of other runners and talk with them while they were passing us or while we were passing them. It was great. The first lap was cold, the sun was rising and it looked awesome in the distance. We thought, it is going to get warm pretty fast and it did. When we got to the aid station for the first time we shed our layers and I was running on shorts and shirt..

The first 54 miles were uneventful; we ran a very consistent pace. Not a big deal, our goal was to finish the first 50miles while it was still light and we did better than that. The sun was still out, the temperature was still nice and our feet were still in pretty good shape. Then the sun went down and the temperature dropped like crazy. All of the sudden I realized that I needed more clothes. I put on my running tights and went out for a lap with running tights and a light shirt. I thought my poor balls were going to fall off, the cold was getting to me really bad. It was painful, but managed and when I came back to base camp I put my shorts on top of my tights. What a difference that made.

At night we had a little issue: You see I think that many of the glowsticks they had were a) either too old or simply too cheap. They did not stay on for long. Janet and I reached that point where really we did not know where to go. So I suggested to go in different directions, I took the left and she took the right and see if we could find any familiar marks. I was afraid that we were going to get separated and lost, so I kept checking where she was until I could not longer see her. Then something happened, I saw a light in the distance, I was off course and started to walk toward Janet’s direction. She found a glow stick and we finally were on course once again. A volunteer was replacing the sticks, but from the on we tried and succeeded to concentrate on finding the glowsticks before moving on.

Now the funny and most demoralizing part of the race is that when you reach the finish line you are at about 97 miles or so… We needed to go back in the course for a “quick” 3 mile. So when everybody is already there happy we needed to get up and run to the cone for the last 3 miles. I think those 3 miles were the ones that messed up my poor ankles. Man I still hurt, my right ankle is really in pain 4 days after the fact.

At the end of the race people were waiting for us, they gave us our medals and they gave Janet her Champion Medal. She won first woman… that was insane.. Happy for her.. yay!! I finished 5th in 27:01 out of 45 starters and Janet finished 1st in the women’s category… yay!!

The famous pickled cucumbers... yay!! Loved them.

I have a new respect for pickled cucumbers.. OMG.. They are awesome. When Janet suggested getting them I was skeptical, but it took one bite in the middle of the day and I was sold. Thank God we did not have any, ANY stomach issues except the fact that I was farting for a long time.

Happy kids after 27:01 hours of running and 100 miles. A few centimeters shorter I was told, swollen ankles, blistered feet, but happy... yay!!

I could not drive all the way to the hotel, I was way too tired. Janet took control of the wheel and took us there. We went to the room lie in bed removed my shoes and passed out. I woke up and took a shower, just bending down to clean my feet was painful, but the water felt sooo great. Cleaned well and treated my feet, popped the blisters and added disinfectant. We ordered food, ate and went back to sleep until the next day.. yay!!

As I was flying back I kept thinking, does this make me any different? In my flight from South Lake City to SF a blind man sat next to me. We starting to talk and learned that his name was Harry Cordellos. Nothing there really and as the conversation went on, we started talking about running. He told me that he has run over 150 marathons, several ultras, he is also a competitive water skier and he was flying from Colorado after a week in the slopes. The man is blind, totally blind. I was WTF. Came home and googled his name and he is indeed a remarkable individual. And here I am feeling like a million dollars because I ran 100 miles when this man totally blind has done amazing things. So am I special? , hell not. But I am blessed that I can do this. We were talking about life in general and how we humans tend to take things for granted, we take life for granted, we take our loved ones for granted, we take friends for granted, and we take sight for granted. We take the opportunities that are given to us for granted, we take love for granted. And my god, nothing is guaranteed in this world and as long as I have what I have, I’ll always be thankful. I will always treasure my health, my friends, my family, the fact that I can run and the fact that I smile even in my darkest moments. He said something that really made me almost cry, he said ‘Luis, most people know that there is a God, You and I KNOW God”.

And I cannot wait to start my new adventure.. yay!!

On the road to Moab 100

2009-03-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

There are things that I really look forward to, sleeping in my own bed with clean sheets, eating a great meal that I cooked, taking a shower EVERY morning, spending time with people I love AND Running 100 miles. Yes I am sooo looking forward to do this, yet IT is also scaring the shit out of me. Yes I am fucking scared, but the truth is that like dying, running 100 miles is part of my journey. Running 100 miles is something that I have to do, not once, not twice by several times. I know it, I can feel it. Moab 100 is the beginning. Running an ultramarathon turned out to be a life changing experience for me. I have almost become a runner damn it.

Pablo Cohelo, one of my favorite authors wrote, “From now on whenever you want to find out something about something, plunge straight in” By not experiencing something fully, we deny ourselves the opportunity to really live at our full potential. Does this make sense? We spend so much time dealing with mind issues, in most cases we know what to do. In a way, the whole category or mind issues that can be dealt with one word, which is SURRENDER. Surrender means just let go, whatever it is that comes up between you, your heart and your journey. And give your best, just as Steve Prefontaine said once “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”. So plunge straight in and give your best. If your best is not enough then it is not mean to be, but you experienced it fully and that is what is important. And remember nothing is totally lost for ever and nothing lasts for ever, really at the end of the day even a stopped clock is right 2 times a day…

But back to what is important.. Holy shit 100 miles? A friend of mine told me a couple of days ago, you are a crazy F&*K, am I? And I guess I am… woohooo!!

The road to MOAB 100

2009-03-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

The trail is imply amazing.. check out these trees... wohoo!!

So Moab 100 miles is in less than 3 weeks.. Holy Shit…

This past Saturday Janet and I went to do a training run on our own.. 50 miles in the trails of Woodside. It was freaking awesome.. For the last week Janet and I been emailing each other about this run, I was a little nervous, 50 MILES is definitely not 50K, it is a hell of a lot more. I was a little nervous cuz we were going to do this on our own and I was afraid that we were going to mess up somehow… not enough food, getting lost, getting sick and all the host of horrible things that happen on a 50 mile run.. you know what I am talking about.

This tree fell across the trail. And I wonder, if a tree falls and nobody is there to hear it fall.. bla bla bla bla..

Janet navigating through a fallen giant...

Words cannot express what I feel about running in trails.. It is amazing.. Do you think I am FAT?

Janet made the 8:50 am train to the station which is about a mile from my home.. I picked her up and drove to the start of the trail. We decided to follow the PCTR Woodside 50K route and then add another 20 Miles to complete our 50 Miler. It worked really well; we got lost a couple of times, but found our way back pretty fast. I personally loved this experience… I am simply elated..

Nutrition: Ha this is a good one, during our run Janet and I prepared a bunch of food, we pretty much finished the whole thing. A bag of Tostitos, a bag of pretzels, 8 peanut butter sandwiches, a bunch of bananas, two containers of sliced oranges, two litters of coke, two bean soups, a whole package of Oreos, I don’t even know how many cliff bars and some power gels..oh and I a bag of dried fruit (we did not finish this one). I wonder how many calories was that?

We stashed some food behind this tree.. Thank god no critters came and steal it away..

We started slow since our mission was to complete the 50 miles without much regard for timing. I had borrowed a garmin so I could keep track of the mileage. However we soon realized that wearing a gamin in the thick forest is not very accurate, when it loses the signal it simply triangulates so it was off a bit. Nevertheless the reason I wanted was because if we ever got lost, we could potentially use the garmin to find our way back. Thank God we did not need it for that. Oh and another thing, by the time we hit the 6:30 hour mark, the freaking Garmin was out of battery.. We outlasted the garmin thingy..

Sorry I don't have a picture of the Garmin... But here are two happy krazy kids!!

We started a little late because we wanted to run in the dark and test our night vision ;).
As we reached our little aid station (my car) we got changed into dry clothes and got our flashlights. After running for six miles to our next aid station, I realized that my lamp was losing power or battery. It was getting dimmer and dimmer and by mile 12 of the last 20, my flashlight was gone. So we started using Janet’s for both of us, that one did not last long neither. So all of the sudden we were in the middle of the freaking forest and our lamps were definitely not going to sustain our way back to the car. So when we got to our food place, which happens to be close to a road, we decided to run on the road instead. We could have not made it back into the trails with our light situation. The last 3 miles we ran on the road in complete darkness, I will only fire my lamp for a few seconds if a car was approaching so the driver could see us.

51 miles baby!! Wooohoo!! and here could have gone further... I was feeling so good... next time we are bringing extra batteries... and more food... definitely..

This is definitely one of the best runs I ever had, we were not fast by any means, but this run gave me a sense of accomplishment, 50 miles is a loooong freaking way. Janet and I talked about the fact of how fortunate we were of being able to do this.

Lets see what else.. The trails are amazing, they were a little wet which reminds me I bought shoes the night before and I was planning to wear them for part of the run., but I opted to wear them for the whole thing.. I know this is something you are not supposed to do, but oh well. My new shoes went 50 miles in their maiden run..

This tree caught our attention.. It twisted around and around... How? Nature is simply amazing.

Ha!! By looking at the world a little different I realize how much I am thankful for. Many times we concentrate and focus on the ones that have it all, or the ones that have what you want. Couting our blessings is a ticket to being happier, when I consider the few events that happen last week, a friend’s wife died, a friend’s grandmother died, and another friend was diagnosed with Cancer. . Holy fuck… and here I am running 50 miles!! Wow!! What a blessing!! My family is OK, my best friend’s mom is back home after a few days in the hospital, I am healthy, I have a job, I have great friends and I CAN run… wohooo!!! Thank you GOD..

Saratoga Fat Ass 50K

2009-02-25T23:30:00.000-08:00

My aid station was my car..

Please see other pictures here...

What a run.. Wow…. It was great. These Fat Ass runs are very interesting because there are not trail markings… all we get is a map and a good luck and we are in our way. I decided to wait for someone that knew the course so I could follow him/her. Well I picked the wrong people to hang with. They dropped me pretty fast and all of the sudden I was on my own. I tried to navigate the course on my own but I came to the conclusion pretty fast that I will never survive on my own in the wild. Damn.. So I decided to wait for somebody that knew the course. A couple of people show up and I tagged along. After a little while two of us were ahead and I assumed that the person I was following knew the course. We took one wrong turn and we were lost… We finally navigated our way back to the starting line and the following two loops were much easier.

Check out the trail.. felt like running on pillows.. It was amazing..

Although the last loop we had a little incident.. we were running and all of the sudden this person comes out to his porche and informs us that we are breaking the law since that was private property. We were, WTF, where did we miss the trail? We went back and found the trail once again, we cruised to the finish lane from there..

These little bridges are pretty cute.. The smell of wet soil is amazing.. Love it.

Pre race, getting ready for the run, or was it at the end of the first loop I don't remember anymore. Andrew and Me...

Some of the runners prior to the start..

During the whole run, we kept going around a shooting range; you could hear the gunshots again and again. In more than one occasion I thought about a stray bullet, not a comfortable thought. I just don’t understand the use of firearms as a sport.. What is the point? Which brings me to other activities that I don’t think they should be considered sports, ultimate fighting? WTF is that?

This is my second FatAss run, I loved them both.. The only thing missing in this particular run was my running buddy, Janet. But she was out for a good reason. She and I are going to run the MOAB 100 Miler in 29 days… OMG, I am getting scared now.

This race was put together by Keith Bloom, I hope I can help sometime to do something like this. Running is just not about winning or getting a t-shirt, it is about going out there and enjoy yourself and your friends. The views of this particular run were so beautiful, the weather was perfect. Sunny and the ground was so soft.. It was like running on pillows..

Andrew, Keith, Anil and myself after the run... Felt fucking awesome.. :)

What is a FatAss run? Here is a quick definition.. FAT ASS is the name given to a series of low key runs that are frequented by experienced runners & walkers and characterized by the phrase "No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps". Yes, the runs are totally free to enter and are put on by passionate runners who are also running. Think of it as a bit like meeting some people for a bushwalk - except it's a run. Because the runs are not races in any sense, there is no guarantee of anything other than a course to run (maps and directions will be provided). There are no course marshalls, and no course markers, and you should not expect any aid either -they are not intended for beginning runners.

Overall this was a great run... I had a great time. As the time to the big dance, MOAB 100 Miler approaches I am getting scared.. I cannot wait to get there and I hope that I don't get injured before the race.

Ha... today while writting this update I ate chocolate. I ate too much of it that now I am wired and I need to hit the sack.

Fremont Fat Ass 50K

2009-01-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Quarry Lakes Regional Park, Fremont CA.

Yesterday (Saturday 24) Janet, Kim and I went to Fremont to run the Fat Ass 50K. This is very small run put together by Catra Colbert and Mike Palmer put together. It was a self-sufficient run; we had to carry everything we needed to make it until the end. There was a single aid station with water, a few cokes and chips. I had my camel back, but instead of water I carried food. I was the mule although Janet did not need any of the stuff I had and Kim relieved my weight by one cliff bar.. The run took place at the Quarry Lakes East Bay Regional Park. Apparently this place was at one time a sea salt harvesting facility. It has lots of paved trails frequented by cyclists and runners… It also has dirt trails which we use, it is a really cool place to run..

Catra Colbert and Jerry RDs and bad ass ultra runners.

Kim and Janet drove from San Francisco to pick me up bright and early. We drove to the East Bay through the San Mateo Bridge. Neither Kim nor Janet were familiar with the bridge and they were surprised of its length. It is one of the longest in the world (25th). The first time I crossed it, it reminded me of the King Fahad Causeway that goes from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain.

So anyway, we drove to the East Bay and got a little getting lost for a few minutes, but eventually we found the place. There were abut 25 people running the 50K and the weather looked promising. We parked and started getting ready to start our little running adventure of the day.

Fat Asses pre-run picture.

Janet, Kim and myself a few miles from the start..

What none of us knew was that most of the course was pretty flat. It wasn’t that hilly, but it was hard. The reason? we ran a lot on paved trails (bike trails) and my knees and IT bands are not used to run that long on pavement anymore. The longest I have run in pavement is 10 miles and at a fast pace, so not really a big deal. But being on paved trails for more than 3 hours and your knees will feel it. My left IT band started to flare up, luckily, I usually carry an IT strap with me and this time I was glad I did. I braced my left knee and I could run again… until.. my right IT band started to flare. So I switched from left to right and from right to left as needed. I had a moment where I simply could not run anymore.. I was in pain and hungry, I asked Kim and Janet to take a small walk break and I believe they were relieved to do so. Prior to that we were cruising and none of us wanted to stop the momentum. We walked for about 5 minutes and then picked up the pace again. The truth is that we did not want to lose track of Catra who was just ahead of us. The course was a little complicated and having someone that knew the course ahead of us was a good thing. Being in pain I was not going to miss a turn and do extra miles…. And as Janet put it, "I am in pain right now so I want to make sure I am doing the whole 50K"…

A paved hill.. Oh crap!! my poor IT bands. Janet had some calf issues too.

Kim did not show any signs of pain whatsoever, and not having had a long run in a long time, she did great she is a tough cookie.. Janet and I on the other hand had our issues. Janet had some calf problems and I had IT band issues. Nevertheless, we trucked through and finished.

My best Running Buddy!!!

The day was overcast with sporadic very light drizzle. It was a little cold in the morning that I had to wear arm warmers and gloves, as the day started and I warmed up, I removed the globes and the arm warmers. It was a great day for running. Loved it… yes I hated that my IT bands were not liking it. I think this is something I need to deal with since I intend to do the IM in Arizona this year. Last year I did IMcDA, IT bands were OK since I practically walked a lot of the marathon because plantar fasciatis issues. But in any event, this was a great run and looking forward to this new year full of ultras and personal accomplishments.

Once again thank you to Catra and Mike for putting this race together and Kim and Janet for being such a great running buddies.

We are done... OH MY.. fun fun fun...

As I was running yesterday, I kept thinking about stuff. For the first time in a long time, I was not involved in every conversation we had going on during the run. And I thought about thinking… I thought about what was thinking at the moment. I have been reading this book called the Power of Now and one of the thing the author talks is about being in the moment. Most of us think about the future and the past, start creating “what ifs” and we really become prisoners of our own thoughts missing the present moment. Being in the present is what is important and what keeps us alive. I am not thinking of the future anymore.. It is not here and will never be here. All we have is today and nothing else…

What is next.. There is another 50K next weekend that I just learned about… I might do it and if I can rope Kim, Janet or both into doing it with me.. It would be amazing.. Until then..

IronMan inspiration

2009-01-19T00:17:00.000-08:00

The best video I have seen in a while... Man talk about motivation... I cannot wait for IM training to start for me.. I am going to rock my IM this year..

When I saw this video I had chills in my stomach.. I had an amazing time in IM last year, and I am sure I will do better this year. My fitness is better and I am motivated... Very motivated to do well.
I rode my bike today... while driving to start my ride I listened to some music and I randomly picked a song. I picked Eminem's Lose yourself... Wow.. what a powerful message that is.. I am a not a rap fan, but this song hit home..

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

The chorus goes like this

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

Interestingly a friend of mine shoot this video when I did Ironman this year.. It is only a few seconds long.. I was not aware of this video, but it is pretty cool. check it out

DipSea trail Again and some other thoughts!!

2009-01-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

Janet and I went to run the DipSea trail today.. The day was so freaking beautiful.. I loved it… It was amazing.. and the thing is we rocked the course.. AGAIN!! When we did the Quad DipSea last December, we finished the double in 3:06, that was including the aid stations and the start which was very crowded. Today we finished in 2:59:08, it was a great day.

Of course during our run we talked about everything and nothing, it is amazing how time flies when you are having fun. No, neither of us was miserable today which sometimes happen in a long run. Not today, today we both felt great. I did not bring my camera, so I did not take any pictures., but the day was amazing. Not to many trail runners today, but a ton of hikers. In one occasion we were running down a steep hill, very technical with roots and rocks and stuff like that. Two hikers were looking at us in disbelief.. it was funny to see their faces.

This is one of my favorite picture of us running the DipSea Trail..

Next weekend we are running a 50K (http://fremontfatass50k.blogspot.com/) , we are looking forward to that one run. My ankle was bothering me a little today, I think I need new shoes (always an excuse to get new shoes). The ones I got have been working for me so I think I am going to go and get another couple of pairs before they go out of production which usually happens all the time.

Hey.. by the way… not to get too philosophical here, but I was just wondering.. Do you know your purpose in life? When do you know when you have accomplished your purpose? Oh Crap.. my head hurts…

But in any event… Life is great and I just want to say… Wow… What a ride. I have been working really hard on living a healthy lifestyle… With the intention of living a happy long life.. Talking to a friend today she asked me.. How do you define happiness? How do you know you are happy? I did not know what to answer really, but she said. Well in my view happiness is when you are satisfied with what you are and what you have in the present moment. I was like.. hummm.. then I guess I will never be happy because I want more… I really believe that we are never satisfied with what we have, we always want more. I do, don’t you?

Crystal Springs Water Shed Run.

2009-01-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Janet and I went to run at the Crystal Springs Watershed. It is a protected area and not available to the public. The only way you can get in there is with a docent. The docent has to open the gates he/she must remain with you for the duration of the run/walk. Suki Martin and George Miller, our docents were the “supervisors” making sure we were not got lost and or abuse the trails.. The views were amazing and as always it is good to get out there and run.

This time it was for a cause as well, the Coast Side Running club is sponsoring an scholarship fund for one or two deserving cross country high school runners. This run was part of their efforts.. We were privileged to run in this beautiful pristine area in exchange for a donation that would go directly to their scholarship fund. I think it is an amazing cause.

A pic of the runners previous to the run..

Of course the source of this run was Janet’s email. She forwarded me the invitation and I gladly accepted. I have run this trail before, a year ago with my running club So I knew how beautiful this trail is, so without hesitation I wrote Geroge (the organizer) and put my name down. It is alwasy fun to run with Janet, she is such a talker and a good listener too... Or maybe she pretends to be.. :)

So this is officially my first long trail run of the year, although I ran 10 miles on the first of January in Woodside with Nicole. However a long run to me is anything longer than 15 miles… I guess I am moving up a notch.

The run is of course was self supported, so we did not have any aid stations or anything of the sort. I usually get hungry really fast, so I made sure to eat plenty before going there and took a couple of bars with me. There was something wrong with my tummy, I just could not get in the grove until mile 16 or so. I had to go to the bathroom two times and I was not very happy. As I said, I was hungry; thank God they had some fig-newtons. I had some of those, they gave me a new wind, therefore I miss the assorted items of the aid stations put together by Sarah and Wendell (PCTR). I was not feeling all there, thank God this run was not a 50 K, otherwise I would have been in so much trouble.

But back about the trail, as I mentioned, this is a beautiful place. The trail (fire road) is well maintained and not technical at all. There were some climbs, nothing major and Janet and I like always talked a little (not). We always have something to talk about, this time we talked about.. hummm.. … Well if you really want to know you have to join us in the trails.. It is fun, really fun.

Happy kids...

Suki Martin (our docent and ultra runner phenomenom) and me..

Another set of good news, a few weeks ago I signed up for the lottery to get a slot at the Miwok 100K. Yesterday they announced the people that got slots to run this great race, Janet and I both got in. I am really excited it will be 100K or pure fun.. I haven’t gotten sick since Mount Diablot 50Milers, and my IT band has not flared since a few months ago. I believe that the new found fitness and lack of injury has been because I started to do CrossFit. Saul, my trainer has explained how doing some major strengthening will help my running, I can see it and I am happy.

All right, for this month I hope to do another race 50K perhaps, that will help with the Moab 100Miler training. I am so excited about this.. but then again I get excited really easy over really little.

Wanna see more pictures?.. click here and click here

It is a new year!!

2009-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

So 2009 is here and I wonder where 2008 went.. I am in awe how time passes by so fast. I think that 2008 was a great year for me when it comes to running and my career. I finishe several ultras including 4 in 4 weekends... that was the highlight of my year. I finished Ironman Cour dAlene, I also completed my MBA. That was great.. In matters of the heart that is a different story.. It sucked, but I am sure that 2009 is going to be a great year.

A fellow blogger mentioned something about following your heart. It is amazing if you could do that all the time. The thing is that many times the things that your heart wants and needs are beyond your reach. You simply cannot have them so it becomes painful and the only thing you can do is move on. It might be painful to let go but at the end it is the best thing for your mental health. You should not have people in your life that don't add value to it.

To finish the year well.. I decided to go skydiving.. So on the 28 of december I went to take the jump.. It was sooo much fun.. I really enjoyed that and I hope to do that again sometime... It really was an amazing experience. I love it..

I started the new year well.. Hopefully it will continue to be as good as the last.. I have a few goals that I want to accomplish... I want to do 4 marathong/ultras in 2 weekends.. I will do Ironman Arizona and Moab 100 miler.. Those are my three ambitious goals among other things. I also hope to finish a book manuscript at the end of the year.. I hope to meet new people and most importantly to keep myself healthy... Wohooo!!!

Rodeo Beach 50K

2008-12-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

It is my birthday today...… YAY…. I cannot believe one more year is gone… (crap, I am on a schedule here and I am not getting any younger)

Once again I had the joy to participate in an amazing run thorough the trails of Marin, The Rodeo Beach trail run 50K.. Another incredible event put together by Wendell, Sarah and Aaron (http://pctrailruns.com). This is my fourth ultra in four weeks, I never thought I could do this. I got to say I have to thank Janet for being such a great running partner/inspiration and Saul J, my crossfit coach (http://www.maddawgfitness.com). This thing really works. Since I started crossfitting I have lost some unwanted weight, my running times have decreased considerably and I feel so much stronger.

The days was simply amazing, the weather could not be any more perfect. The forecast was right on the money… It rained the day before and it rained the day after, but for 24 hours, the conditions were just perfect for a perfect run. Unfortunately Janet, my running buddy was not able to make it, so I ran this race solo.

But there were lots of familiar faces there… including Sabrina Okada, she did her first 50K. She is a seasoned runner, but never had done anything larger that a marathon. This day she went out and conquered… More on that later..

As usual, after getting up and devouring a not so healthy breakfast, I brew myself some tea and got on the road. It was cold in San Mateo and I was a little afraid that the weather was going to be too frigid, but fortunately it was a glorious day. In my way there I missed a turn and ended up in Sausalito. I turned around and in my way back I saw one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. I actually had to stop in the side of the road and just stare… it was glorious.

As soon as I got the the site I went to check in and of course had to say to the regulars. I loved to see the familiar faces and the new ones too. I saw Sabrina and we started to talk. She was a little nervous, but I knew she will have no problem finishing the race, in fact I was watching over my shoulder most of the race. She is a tough cookie.. She will be running the Tokyo Marathon soon if I had some money laying around, I would love to go do that one too..

And we were off!! Of course this is one of my favorite parts of any race, the start. After hearing the usual instructions regarding the course markings we were given the signal to go. I started as usual… S L O W. At any race, this is when Janet and I start our 6+ hour conversations about nothing and everything.. Well, I truly missed her today and she missed out an incredible day.

Check out the trails... beautiful aren't they?

One of the many hills... pretty steep, technical and beautiful

It was déjàvu, just the weekend before we ran many of these very same trails specially coming into and out of Tennessee Valley. Going for the first 30K is fun because you have company at all times. Going out for the last 20K could get pretty lonely and it did. Nevertheless, the views were amazing and it is a really an incredible privilege to be able to see all of this. We ran through what it appears to be some sort of old military buildings. I kept thinking to myself, I wonder how much concrete was used to build this place. Steel doors, tunnels, and watch towers, an incredible spot, I wonder what it looked like in its prime.

Check out those doors, I wonder how many secrets they hold?

Sabrina finished her first 50K in 6:32... you go Sabrina.. woooohooo!

I cannot describe what it feels to run these trails and what does to my soul. As I was running by myself, I did a lot of soul searching. Thought about my life, my goals accomplished for this year and about the next year. I thought about my parents and the fact that I am not going home this Christmas and the reason why I am not.. I thought about what the next year will bring and I think I even had a couple of emotional moments. No, I am not sad just amazed of how my life has turned out to be. This year has been a great year, my life has been a great ride.

Muir Beach Trail run 50K

2008-12-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

Muir Beach Trail run 50K

This is why I run the trails... look at the view... Amazing huh?

Another great run this past weekend… Sara and Wendell (http://pctrailruns.com) put together these races that are just amazing. They truly know what they are doing. I guess that is what happens when you love what you do. Amazing organization, they truly have changed the way I see running.

But on with my little report for this race, it turns out that I have been nursing a bad throat for the last three weeks. It all started when I felt I was losing my voice at the end of the days, especially after working out. In fact during the Woodside 50K I was already not feeling well. Janet also was not feeling good; she had some issues of her own as well. We decided to play it by ear… and by Wednesday I got this little note from her.. She simply said… “Ready to sign for muirwods? I got the registration page open” . I remember I was drinking tea and when I got that email I just laughed out loud so hard and I spilled my tea all over my desk... It was hilarious... But on with the story, my response to her note was “lets do it” and that was it... We were on…

Happy kids... we did great considering we were sick. Here we were at the ridge, don't let the smiles fool you... We were damn cold, but it was sooo much fun.

As the week went on, I seriously had doubts about even starting the race. My throat was not getting any better, but I managed to keep a positive outlook. Saturday came and I was up and ready to tackle the trails. Picked up Janet bright and early and we drove to the starting line. It was cold and night before it rained. In fact the forecast called for rain and we were worried about it, but neither of us wanted to be negative about the race. As always we met a bunch of regulars.. Fred Ecks who decided to dress as Santa and ran the whole race like that.. It was great to see him. We have decided that next year if Fred runs as Santa we will dress up as elves..

Fred Ecks running as Santa... Look at him go..

But back to the story, we got to the starting line and as Janet went to check us in I sat in the car thinking.. Damn it is cold out there.. But hey… we are here and we are going to do this thing. As I was getting ready, I met this guy from France, Olivier Nepomiachty… He was soo excited and happy to be there. Unfortunately, he twisted his ankle really bad, the remarkable thing is that he finished anyway. It took him over 7 hours and change but he finished. He is definitely a real trooper..

The day was cold indeed, thank God I was wearing enough clothes.. Janet let me borrow her arm warmers and I am glad I used them. This run has lots of open spaces and it windy and cold. However the day did not turn out as bad considering the forecast. It was supposed to rain and it did rain for about 10 minutes. As we were getting back to the starting line to finish the first loop it got rainy and cold. We turned around and went for the second and last loop. Sometime after we got to Tennessee Valley, Janet told me that she thought about telling me to call it quits at then end of the first loop. I am glad she did not say anything because that is what I was thinking as well..

Janet at the ridge..

Luis in his way down to the finish line... :)

Went for the second loop and as we were finally making our way back to the end we realized that we were running at a speed that would be faster than this very same run last year. We did this in 6:46 and this time we finished in 6:22 which was fast considering that we were not feeling 100%.

I can see that I am getting stronger I love so much to run in these trails. As I said in previous posts, this trail running thing has been a blessing for me. We are definitely a pair of tough crazy kids. Janet and the trails have been a blessing..

Hapy kids just before the start... It was damn cold I tell you..

As I prepare for the next one (next weekend) I am going to miss my running partner. But I’ll do my best to make her proud.. She is definitely a very bad influence and I love her for that. Our running adventures for the next year will be amazing.. We have a 100mile race in March and she will be running Western States 100…. Woohooo!!

Me at the ridge... Look at the view.. Isn't this incredible.. Man I cannot believe how lucky I am.

A view of the Golden Gate bridge from the trail... It was an amazing day, look at the view!! Damn.

An view of what Janet called Heart Attack hill.. People were breathing sooo hard here it was almost painful to hear.

What is next? see you on the 20th of December at Rodeo Beach 50K.. Yeah Baby!!

Wanna see more pictures? click here

Woodside 50K

2008-12-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

Damn… another great run today.. I am sooooooo freaking happy and excited about my performance yesterday.. I simply cannot believe how strong I am getting. It must be all the weight I have lost over the last 2 months.. Went from 154lbs to 142, that is right 12 lbs lighter and I can feel them off.

So last year I went to run this race in February. The day was miserable, raining and my IT band flared up really fast. I walked to the finish line after a miserable 30K, Janet drove me to Isabel’s house and I had to wait for about two hours in the cold because a miscommunication with Isabel. So it was not a great day, this course owed me a good run… damn it.

Taking in consideration that we ran the Quadruple dipsea trail last weekend, we were prepared to have a long day racing the Woodside 50K. Janet picked me up this time and drove to the race start. There were not too many of us for this particular race. We saw two people wearing the quad dipsea shirts, we acknowledged each other. Met Brian Harvey, my scar buddy, this guy is also a great runner and he and I share a commonality, brain surgery and a passion for trail running

Scar buddies!!

We started slow since we knew we were going to have a long day in the course. Many people passed us really quick and we settle for a nice easy pace. As the day went by we started to pick up the pace without realizing it. We thought we were going slowly. There was this guy who stayed with us for a big part of the race. We talked for a while and shared running stories. My shoe become untied and he took off really fast; we finally caught him a few miles before the end of the race. At that moment we realized that we could go under 6 hours, we could not believe it. What the hell, I personally could not believe it since if I did go under 6 hours it would be probably a PR for me. So with that in that in mind we picked up the pace, really picked up the pace and went for it. At one point we saw a runner in the distance and we were probably doing 8 minute miles or so, we were cruising and I remember her face as we passed her. She made one of those faces that say it all, “how can you run that fast after so long?”

Janet and I were so happy, in our way back we could not stop thinking and talking about it. Went to get some Jamba Juice to celebrate, she dropped me home and we talked about doing it again next weekend. Yes, another 50K next weekend, that will be three ultras in three weeks… we are soooooo bad asses.

The highlight of my day wasn’t the fact that we ran a great race, or the fact that I felt good. The highlight of my day was at the end of the race. I was talking to this guy who also did Quad last weekend and he asked my name, I said Luis. He said, “Luis Velasquez?” I was like… wow… he knows who I am. It was a great feeling indeed.

I am excited about this race, I am really happy about the outcome. Yet I see myself humbled by the experience. When we saw the leaders coming back and see how fast they were running it was amazing. 5 hours 52 minutes is a decent time, but when you compared to the winning times it is just a turtle pace. But it does not matter, a PR is a PR and I take that any day.

As the end of the year approaches, and I am about to see another number added to my age, I realize that I am a blessed individual. I have lived a full life and I wish with all of my heart that next year will be better than this year. I have gone through a lot in my life and I know that no matter what, the only thing we have today is today. People in my life bring joy and I hope they always will.

Quad DipSea trail Run

2008-11-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

The Quad DIPSEA…

A happy pair just before the race... did not know much what to expect.

Well I did it… The Quad DipSea was an amazing race.. What can I say about this race.. There is no way I can describe it.. Lets see, woke up early in the morning and made my way to the city in a rush to pick up Janet. The day was a little cold, I thought, but I was hoping it will warm up a little. I did not have time to get my usual pre-race “breakfast” so I got a bagel and a banana and ate in my way to the city. Janet was kind enough to brew a cup of tea for me… We were in our way..

I got to say, I was a little nervous about this race. Not only because of the distance and the elevation gain, but because I was afraid that my IT band was going to flare up. I was also nervous because the elevation gain is dauting and most importantly I was afraid that I was not going to be able to keep up and I really wanted to do good. We trained here so we kind of knew what to expect.

And we were off… Seeing all of those racers was an amazing sight. Specially while going up the stairs and looking up or down and all you see is a mass of bodies trying to move up the first flight of stairs, and you knew that this group was amazing. Anybody that attempted this race is a bad ass runner.

Check out the start... going somewhere? I took this picture at middle point of the first flight of stairs.

Same stairs starting our second and final loop..

Janet and I kept a steady pace through the first loop… we made it to cardiac hill feeling relatively well. Cardiac hill is a very steep ass hill that you definitely cannot run unless you want your heart pump out of your chest. A steady walk to the top put us at the first aid station where we ate plenty. I love watermelon and they had it there... I usually dip the watermelon on salt to make sure I have proper amount of sodium since I sweat like a pig. I also got a peanut butter mini sandwich and a gu and we were on our way to Stinson beach.

Before getting there we saw the leader coming back.. Erik Skaggs is an animal He ran the full race in 3:52:16 what It took us 6:21:00. Can you imagine running that fast in those conditions?. It was amazing, that guy was running fast. We finished our second leg (midway point) at exactly 3:08 a full minute faster than our best time in training. Janet said, “Damn, we are going too fast”. I agreed, but it felt right.

We ran a very strong third leg, I was leading coming into Stinson beach and Janet said.. “you got some reserves huh” And I had plenty… I felt really strong and Janet was there with me until Stinson. Going back she took the lead and we passed a couple of people. We talked about catching up at least 5 people in our way back and with that in mind we picked up the pace a little. It was great to focus on somebody and just pass them… Reached the aid station and we were feeling strong that we really did not need to stop for long. We started moving along and we passed 5, then 6, then 7 then 12 and finally the 14^th person. At this time we were trucking and not believing how well we were doing at this point of the race. We decided to see if we could make it 15^th, but unfortunately we did not see anybody else ahead of us so we literally sprinted to the finish line to make it under 6:30 which was a very lofty goal of ours.

And I feel s good, I think I want to do it again.

All in all I got to say, this has been one of my most memorable races. Felt strong throughout the whole race and with the insane elevation gain and loss I was afraid that my knees or my quads were not going to be happy.. I was afraid that my IT band was going to kill me and I would have to limp to the finish. None of it happened. We ran a great race and I have earned the right to wear the shirt they gave us with a Quad DipSea logo on it.. Oooohhyyyeaa!! We rocked the course.

I have been going through some stuff in my life right now, and this race along with an incredible thanksgiving dinner made me realize that I am a very fortunate individual. I am surrounded by great people that care about me and even after 20 years some remember me quite well. Janet has been a running blessing and I am so glad we are friends..

All in all I think everybody seemed to had enjoyed themselves, but then again If you are running this type of races, and you think that punishing yourself is fun… come and join me in my next adventure which probably be a 50K next weekend.

Wohoo!! What is next… 50K next weekend? Why not?