Some Images

It's hard to believe that it has been a months since I last posted. Life's been pretty hectic getting back from Ireland. I'm finally getting caught up at work. Over the next week or so, I hope to get all my photos finalized and start posting some images from the Marathon and the rest of my time in Ireland.

To start off with here are a couple.

I'm pretty proud of this one. I was the second highest fundraiser for our team, raising over $6,800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I actually even raised a bit more than that getting closer to $7K!













Here is what the finisher's medal looks like. Cool, huh?















Really small version Dublin Marathon course map with quadrants cobbled together via Microsoft Paint.










Very small map from my GPS training watch.

Officially an Endurance Athelete

I did it! I am now officially an endurance athelete having completed the Dublin Adidas Marathon in just a few seconds over 6 hours and 30 minutes. A very respectable time for a first time walker. The conditions were perfect for the event. It was a relatively clear, cool day. The course was a 26 mile loop around and through the City including 5 miles is beautiful Phoenix park. We had a lot of support from the locals, lining the streets and cheering us and giving us a chorus of well done on as we passed by.

The last few miles were really tough but Coach Ellen hooked up with me and kept giving me short term goals to keep me on pace. See the red jacket up ahead? Catch them by Mile 24. I am so thankful to her and the rest of the coaches that joined me for a few miles on the course.

Physically, I made it through with just a few minor blisters. The feet were not a problem, which was a great relief. I had also been fighting a cold and had some stomach issues the couple of days before which was another concern but it all came together for me on race day.

After 6 days in Dublin, seeing the sights, I'll be spending the remainder of my time touring the countryside starting in Waterford and then continuing on to see the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula.

There's too much to tell right now but I'll be sure to fill in the details in future posts. I'm off to eat some fish and chips and drink a creamy Guinness!

Thanks everyone for your support.

Dublin Bound!

I'm Dublin bound, baby! In 3 short hours I will be in the air! It's been very hectic lately with me trying to get everything wrapped up so I haven't been keeping up on my blog. I'll try to post more regularly now that I am on VACATION.

Training Log (October 8 - 14)

After Saturday's 20 Miler, it's going to be a slow week training wise for me. I need to catch up on work, chores, etc to get ready for my upcoming trips the next 4 weekends.

Monday: 2.2 Miles at lunchtime. This is usually Balboa Park training night but the schedule only allowed a few miles of walking as we are supposed to be resting after Saturday's big walk. I decided to just do that during lunch and get a much needed evening off.

Tuesday: Picked up some Dr. Scholl's gel inserts to see if they would help my left foot. Did thesStandard 4 Miles around the neighborhood. Pad of left foot continues to be a problem.

Wednesday: Nothing

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Goal, Set, Match

I'm a week late reporting this but I have reached my fundraising goal of $6,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Thanks to everybody that contributed. I was officially awarded by purple and green Team in Training jacket. The San Diego/Hawaii chapter is the only one in the country that has jackets. I'm part of the club now.

Training Log (Oct 1st - 7th)

Monday: Easy walk around Balboa Park. Essentially a rest walk where we concentrated on stretching after the 18 mile walk on Saturday. Rushed back to catch the end of the amazing Padres/Rockies single game play-off.

Tuesday: No more Lake Miramar sessions. It gets dark too soon so goodbye to my favorite training session of the week. No walking today. Stayed home and watched the baseball playoffs.

Wednesday: 3 mile walk during lunch break.

Thursday: Laziness. I was supposed to go to the gym. Feeling so-so so I just stayed home to watch Cubs/Diamondbacks game.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: This is it, the longest mileage we'll do in preparation for the marathon. 20 miles of hard road. This week was a repeat of of last week's 18 miler with a couple tacked on for good measure. There were some fundamental differences, primarily that there were only 4 of us Dublin-bound folks that were doing the full mileage. The rest of the team did their 20 miler last week in prep for the Nike Woman's marathon the week before our Dublin marathon. It made for a lonely road towards the end. The Nike walkers were doing 11-miles. The run team was also out there but they were all training for Nike so they had short mileage too.

Tried experiment number 38 on trying to get my feet in order. I used moleskin again on the pads of both feet for some extra cushioning and blister protection.

Started out slowly to get warmed up and after about 2 miles started turning it up. I met up with Joanne who was one of the four doing the 20 miles. She was walking at a brisk pace so we chugged along eating up the miles. Somewhere around mile 4 or so, that now familiar pain in the pad of my left foot started returning. I ignored it until around mile 7 where I had to stop and make an adjustment. It felt like the location of the moleskin was putting pressure on that spot so I took my shoe off and removed it. Joanne kept going and asked me to try and catch up with her so she wouldn't have to walk alone on the long course. After making my adjustments, I took off trying to catch her. Joanne is pretty fast and strong having completed over 1/2 dozen marathons so I had to really move to catch her. Which leads me too an embarrassing situation. I'm keeping a brisk pace between 13 and 13-1/2 minute miles and manage to blow right past a key left turn in the course. I'm so focused on making up ground that I go a full 2 miles before I figure it out! Damn! Grudgingly take out the map and turn around. Find the San Rafael turn-off and get back on course. Now of course, I'm the last one out there as the other three walkers are well in front of me. I run into a TnT coach for the bike team and he advises me to just turn around now since I was just over 10 miles in at that point. I didn't want to retrace my steps when I went off course so I decided to keep going until I met someone on their way back and then just hook up with them. I got a little nervous that this would make me do too much mileage so I made a few calls to the coaches to figure out where everyone was at mileagewise. After some quick math, I figured I had to turn around at 11.5 miles which would give me the full 20 miles if I stayed on course this time.

Luckily I'm just getting to turning around and here come Joanne. I managed to "catch" her after only about 5 miles :) Get a call from the coaches to make sure I'm not lost again and that Coach Marcy was done training with her group and would be meeting up with us to do the last 8 miles. Everything is going great and then the pain in the pad of my foot starts returning. I ignore it and keep going hoping to finish. I'm going strong, and get ahead of Marcy and Joanne for a while. The pain starts getting pretty bad and I'm getting pain shooting up and down my index toe. I start to have doubts as to whether I'm going to be able to finish this thing. I find a nice bench and take off the shoe to inspect the area and see if I can figure out something. Coach Marcy to the rescue! She and Joanne catch up and I explain my symptoms. Marcy hems and haws and strongly considers calling for the aid truck to drive me back to home base. I don't want that. I explain my symptoms and how it feels like I don't have enough padding. If you remember I took off the moleskin around Mile 7. She has an idea to apply two strips of moleskin running on either side of the painful area running in the same direction as my foot. GENIUS. I start up again a little cautiously and the pain has greatly subsided. I think this application, raises the affect area off the road so it isn't making direct contact. I feel much better and can finish the mileage. The last 4 miles my time had slowed down quite a bit. I was doing 13.5 minute miles for the majority of the course but the last 4 miles were more like 14.5 to 15 minute miles. Very respectable.

Got back to home base and got a lot of ribbing from the rest of the team for my poor navigational skills. I then soak my obviously swollen foot in a ziplock bag full of ice. I happy I did the mileage! I think I could have gone the extra 6.2 that day but it's probably better for my foot that I didn't.

Sunday: Sweet nothingness. Sore!

Training Log (September 24 - 30)

Monday: Balboa Park. Did the big Laurel Drive hill today. Wore the new Superfeet inserts during training. They took a little getting used to but they felt fine at the end of the walk. I'm having a slight nagging knee problem and a bit of soreness in my left achilles tendon. I think it was a consequence of walking the 14-miles in my new shoes with insufficient arch support. Something to keep an eye on.

Tuesday: Interval sprints at Lake Miramar again. Nobody's stopwatch was working correctly so these were all untimed. This was the first big workout with the new inserts. It didn't go all that well. The arch support felt fine. No back or leg problems, either. The problem was that I started feeling pain on the landing part of the pad of my left foot. The spot right behind my toes started feeling like it was getting bruised. Not good after just 4-5 miles. The reason may be that the position of my foot is different with the inserts in. Possibly, I'm slanted a little bit forward so a previously "tender" area is getting more direct impact. Another possibility is that I just came down too hard during one of the interval sprints and I bruised the area. Going to have to keep an eye on that.

Wednesday: No time for a real workout today with class and all, so I just took a 10 minute walk.

Thursday: Home late from work, ate something quick and went for an hour walk around the neighborhood. With all this structured training, it's been a long time since I walked the neighborhood which I used to do it at least 3 times a week. Beautiful night and not too many freaks out so it was very nice. I didn't push myself too hard but the pain on the left pad of my foot started to become an issue towards the end of the walk. I'm nervous about using the new shoe inserts on Saturday. I was already going to use Moleskin on the pads of both feet to prevent blisters so this may be just enough padding to deal with this. I'm also thinking that I might have enough shoe room to add a second pair of socks for additional padding. Either way, I'm going to be taking the original shoe inserts along with me in the event the Superfeet inserts are giving me trouble.

Friday: Nothing, rest day.

Saturday: 18-Miles at starting at Hospitality Point. The walk went fairly well although I didn't feel nearly as strong as the last time I did the 18 miles. I've been fighting a cold and felt just a little weak. I tried out the new Superfeet inserts again with a slight twist. I used a double sock on my left foot to see if the extra cushion would help out the pain I've been having. About 5 miles in the pain reappeared. I had planned for this eventuality and replaced the insert on the left shoe with the original shoe insert and was able to complete the mileage with less discomfort. The last few miles were a bit unpleasant as the double-sock made it a pretty tight fit as my feet swelled. More data points to figure out what is going on.

Sunday: Walked about 3+ miles going to breakfast and cruising around the Adams Avenue Street Fair.

...and the rain came

You know you're getting a little cocky when 14 miles seems hardly worth getting out of bed for. This weekend's walk started at Ventura Cove and proceeded along the Mission Beach boardwalk for 14 total miles. I really felt like sleeping in but had to suck it up and get my butt down there for the 6:30 am start time. It was gloomy and overcast and smelled like trouble.

We were supposed to take a group photo but it was raining as I pulled up and it looked like a pretty sparse crowd. We sat in our cars for a few minutes until it let up and then gathered around for announcements. Bad news was no group photo that day. Too many people had bailed because of the weather. Good news was that I have reached 75% of my fund-raising goal of $6,500! After a few slaps on the back and some stretching we hit the road.

This was the first real workout for my new shoes. I was a little worried about taking them on the longer mileage having just gotten them the day before but I powdered up, cinched tight and crossed my fingers. We caught a break in the weather for the first 5-miles then BAMM, it was pouring rain. I got soaked to the skin in about 30 seconds but we kept trucking along. I was very grateful of my trusty baseball cap as it kept the water out of my eyes. The restaurant patrons along the boardwalk looked at us like we were crazy but a few cheered, which was nice.

Walking in the rain is a real mixed bag. On one hand, if there is no wind, it keeps you cool. On the other hand it makes shoe traction difficult, particularly when walking across metal grating. I wouldn't choose it but it honestly wasn't that bad. Thinking about it, it was probably good practice for Dublin as there is a good chance we'll see some rain there. Once it cleared up, the performance clothing I was wearing dried remarkably quickly. Makes sense since it designed to wick away sweat from your skin and cool you via the evaporative process.

Didn't time myself this week but I did very well making it back to home base first along with super-quick Johanna. Feet were OK, although the big blister on the bottom of my foot from a few weeks back threatened to make a reappearance. Definitely going to use Mole Skin next week.

Signing off....

Shoe Saga

Not to completely understate it, but shoes are very important to a marathon walker. Duh. During the course of a normal TnT season, a person will usually go through two pairs of shoes. Most good quality walking shoes have about 300 miles of walking in them. After that, they may still look to be in good shape but they lose their supportive qualities and can negatively affect your performance and/or cause injury.

Shoe #1 : I got my first pair at Movin' Shoes. They are Asics Gel-Cumulous'. I tried on a few other types of shoes but this one seemed to be the one that supported my feet the best. I bought them at a 8-1/2 size which is a 1/2 size smaller than I usually buy my shoes. The guy helping me out swore up and down that they were big enough. I did have a bit of extra toe room but they were a little tighter at the widest part of my foot than I was used to. For the most part, they have served me well. When I started getting to the longer mileage, I would get a small blister on the tip of my "index" toe. My thought was that as my feet swelled, the tip of my toe was rubbing on the end of my shoe. This is a good solid shoe for me and it has served me well. Not perfect but serviceable. I used them on Tuesday nights training and it is obvious that they are played out. Step in...




Shoe #2: Picked up the ole' Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's. I decided to go up a 1/2 size to a 9, which is my "normal" size. They were definitely roomier and felt pretty good in the store. I used them twice during shorter mileage mid-week training and they felt good. Then the train walk... Blister city. Blogged about it and everything. Dealt with the blister and tried them one more time during short mileage. No go. My foot was sliding around in them. They had to go. So onto...







Shoe #3: Brooks Radius 7's in an 8-1/2. Picked them up this last Thursday. Didn't get a chance to train in them Thursday night and wore them today. Guess what, had to take them back today. They have some stitching right at the widest part of my foot and it felt too snug. I loosened up the laces, but that seemed counter-productive. Took them back in today to SDRI and swapped them out for...




Shoe #4: These are Brook's Glycerin 5's. I tried several more pairs on but these were the ones that were wide enough up front so that it didn't feel tight. Also no problematic stitching along the front squeezing my feet. Baptism by fire tomorrow with them as we are doing a 14-miler. I'm so glad I paid the extra $25 at SDRI for the membership. It allowed me to refine my shoe selection until I think I finally got something that is going to work well.

Much healthier

I got some good news in my diet/nutrition class today. Today we received our "Risk Factor Profile". When I started my diet program, 1-1/2 years and 205 lbs ago, I filled out a medical questionaire concerning my eating, exercise and lifestyle habits. You can imagine what it might look like for a 400 lb dude. Not good. According to the way this chart works, a healthy American has a Risk Factor Score of zero (0). Mine was +26. Biggest hits were being very overweight, not doing any exercise, high blood pressure, and not eating enough fruits/veggies. Poor. Today profile 1-1/2 years later, is much better. I now have a Total Risk Factor of -12! That is a net change of 38 risk factor points. My doctor says that I've added another 15 years to my life. This makes me very happy.

Training Log (September 17-23)

Monday: Balboa Park. 3 Miles of hills. Tried the new shoes again and they definitely have to go. My foot is slipping inside them and there is no way I wouldn't get a blister on a longer walk. They go back this week.

Tuesday: Lake Miramar - 5 mile walk with 1/2-mile sprints followed by 1/4-mile fast paced walking. The 1/2-mile sprints are something new for my training program. I was doing the 1/2 miles in just under 6 minutes. Sprinting for the 1/2-mile is a real workout and I pushed myself pretty hard. Those following along will remember that I was very fast the last time I did 1/4-mile sprints topping out at 2:41 quarters which is just under an 11-minute mile. The pace for the 1/2-mile was just under a 12-minute mile. Very respectable.

Wednesday: Had my HMR class tonight and even skipped my usual Wednesday lunch walk to have lunch with a colleague.

Thursday: Nada for exercise. Went back to the SDRI and talked to them about my shoes. I bought the membership when I got them a few weeks back and was able to swap them out with another pair. I had gone up a 1/2 size to account for swelling during the walk but it was too much and my feet were nearly swimming in the shoe, causing all kinds of friction. I settled on some Brooks back at my normal size that run a bit longer than other shoes that size. I'm going to have to give them a good workout in the next couple of days. I'm debating whether to use them on Saturday's 14-miler. Did some online fundraising selling stuff to other nerds like me.

Friday: Nada

Saturday: 14-Miles Ventura Cove. See separate entry.

Sunday: Recovery day. 'bout 1/2-hour walking around.

Mando

Today is the 1-year anniversary of my Stepfather, Armando (Mando) passing away from cancer. He and my Mom were married when I was 15 and living in San Jose. My Mom had been raising my brother and I alone, as a single parent, for 10 years at that time. I always felt that I had to be the man of the house during those years and it was a big change when he joined our household. I remember feeling a great sense of relief at that time like I could be a kid again now that my Mom was taken care of. A pretty silly statement since my Mom kicks butt and did just fine raising us on her own, but I was 15 at the time so what the hell did I know.

One thing I appreciated about Mando is that he always valued my opinion and never tried to displace me of my role in the family. I always felt that he respected me and that was the basis of our friendship and eventually our love as father and son. He was always so supportive of me and was alway encouraging. He was so proud of me when I graduated college and always wanted to know how I was doing at work. He used to give me such good advice about life. I miss the ridiculous great bear hugs he used to give me when I hadn't seen him in a long time. So ridiculous that he used to bend the frames of my glasses sometimes so I had to remember to take them off first. He taught me how to drive and how to shave. He looked after my Mom.

The last year went by so fast. I miss him a lot.

El Grito - Del Mar

Went back to Del Mar Racetrack to pour beer for Premier Food Group as a fundraiser. Spent the whole day there from 9am to 7pm pouring beer after beer after beer. The nice thing is that they paid $100 and I made $35 in tips. Another $135 towards the cause. Ka-ching!

I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of $6,500. I'm at about $4,700 raised. Not too shabby. Got about a month left before the remainder is due.

Long day, so tired. I need a vacation from my weekends.

Hospitality Point or back in the saddle again

Well after a week lollygagging around nursing a blistered foot I made the Saturday session. I didn't do a lick of exercise for an entire week and was going out of my mind. I haven't gone more than a few days without exercise in over a year and half since I started my big diet. The blister had pretty much healed up and I felt good enough using a blister band-aid and a lot of anti-blister powder in my socks to give it another go. Still not trusting my new shoes for longer mileage, I reverted back to my old pair. It was a back down week after last weeks 18-miler. We walked 12 miles at Hospitality Point.

It was a pretty rough day for me. I woke up incredibly cranky and feeling generally irritable. All the lights were too bright, the music was too loud, the other drivers were too slow, it was too early, complain, complain, complain. I dragged myself out there and just tried to avoid people which is usually the best strategy when I'm feeling surly. The first few miles, I completely babied my foot and hung way back of the group. At one time I was actually bringing up the rear, grumbling to myself. I'm usually one of the fast ones towards the front end of the pack. Finally about 4 miles in, my pride showed up and decided to catch up with Christine and the others that I usually walk with. The only problem was that they were already at least a mile of ahead of me and they are no slouches when it comes to power walking. I turned it up and started overtaking some of the others. Got to my first aid station and was feeling good so I decided to skip it so I'd have a better chance of catching my normal group. More miles and then the second aid station. Still feeling good, had plenty of water decided to skip that one too. Big mistake. The nice thing about aid stations is that there is food, salt and water there. Somewhere between the second and third aid station I started bonking out. Bonking means just losing all your energy and feeling really tired. I hadn't been eating my normal snacks during the walk and now I was behind the food curve. Pace slows and then I happened to run into Coach Peggy who was making her rounds to check on her flock of walkers. She gave me some salt to replenish my electrolytes and walked with me until the next aid station (Mile 9ish) where I proceeded to eat two handfuls of M&M's, some pretzels, an energy bar and some red vines. Fortified with sugar, I bolted out of the gate for the final three miles. I never caught the other group but I got damn close. The last half mile they were in striking distance. I think I could have caught them if the course was a little longer but c'est la vie. Average for the 12 miles was right around 15 mins/mile. Respectable considering how poorly I started.

Train Walk (or powered by potatos)

This Saturday was train walk day. The team took a train from Solana Beach to Oceanside and then walked along the coast back to our cars! The route which follows along the coast and into some neighborhoods is a total of 18 miles long!

Here are a few photos from the day that started at the train station before 6:30am.








Waiting for the train at Oh My God O'Clock.


















Here it comes!




















Melissa on the train.
















Stretching in Oceanside before getting started.














On the road.









I had a blast on Saturday. I started out feeling pretty blah but was feeling a lot better after about mile 6. The energy gels really helped me out along the way. I think I did really well carbing (potatos!) up the night before and staying hydrated the entire day. I just need to make sure I get more sleep the night before. I tried to maintain a 15 minute/mile pace. Christine and I both finished very strong. We sprinted Miles 16 and 18 with a back down pace on Mile 17 to catch our breaths. I felt so strong at the finish that I'm sure I could have completed the full marathon that day. Check out these times! The last mile was my fastest!

Mile	Time
(#)	(m:s)
1	16:08
2	15:09
3	14:36
4	14:59
5	15:03
6	14:37
7	14:22
8	15:21
9	15:26
10	14:58
11	15:00
12	15:16
13	15:23
14	15:40
15	15:02
16	13:16
17	14:24
18	13:12

I felt great after the walk and also the day afterwards. I didn't even get sore. The only negative thing was that I got a big blister on the "pad" of my right foot. I apologize in advance for the squeamish among you.

















This is going to put a serious damper into my training for the week. I'm also going to have to figure out how to do a better job avoiding them in the future.

Getting Ready

Big day tomorrow. 18-Miles and I have to be in Solana Beach by 6:15am. Bought my train ticket today and started laying out gear.

Checklist:


Adidas Climalite Tee. This is made of a special fabric that wicks the water away from your skin so that it evaporates quickly. It helps keep you from overheating.














New shoes: The aforementioned Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's. Must remember to transfer emergency contact velco thingee from old shoes to new shoes.












New Cool Max Toe Socks. These keep your toes separated so that you don't get blisters between your toes. They are also made of a special material that pulls the sweat away from your feet to keep you cooler and blister-free.










Ultimate Direction "Uno" Water Belt












GU: "Expresso Love" Energy Gel with 2X Caffeine. You eat this gel on the go with a swig of water and you get an immediate burst of energy. I'm going to eat about 4 of them during tomorrows walk.











BlisterShield Foot powder for socks.













Band-Aids for my nipples. Yes, you read that correctly. Not very glamorous but it is very common for men to have to do this as they tend to get rubbed raw by the shirt on such a long session with the constant repetitive motion.







Other stuff:

Baseball Cap
Sunblock
Sunglasses

Back to the Gym

Decided to forgo my weekly Thursday night DeAnza Cove walk. I've had some very mediocre training experiences there over the last month or so. It is too far away from my work so I don't have time to warm up and stretch properly as I get there so late. Went back to the gym today and did 35 minutes on the elliptical and lifted weights for another 1/2 hour. The cross training is good for me. I also noticed today that I have a little soreness in my groin, probably from Tuesday's sprint session so I'm glad I mixed it up today.

Today, I also wore some new running shorts that I bought on Saturday. They are thinner material and are cut a bit shorter than the shorts I usually wear. I didn't have a problem with them on Tuesday 5-miler but I noticed my thighs rubbing together a bit today while on the elliptical. Every little thing like this will be magnified 10-fold on the 18-miler on Saturday so I don't think I'm going to risk it. I've done long mileage in my usual type of shorts so I'm going to stick with them.

Friday's a rest day and time to carb up for Saturday's planned 18-mile walk.

Speedy Gonzales

Had another great training session at Lake Miramar today. I got great sleep the night before, which for those that know me, realize how rare this is. I also prepared by drinking lots of water of the last few hot days and did a lot of stretching of my shins throughout the day. This was also the first tryout for my new kicks, the Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's.

Lake Miramar is a 5-Mile loop and the regularly scheduled Tuesday night training session involves alternating 1/4-mile regular fast-paced walking with 1/4-mile sprints. Today I clocked in at my fastest speed ever. I had three consecutive sprints of under 3-minute quarters. The times were 2 min 49 sec, 2 min 45 sec and finally 2 min 44 secs. This is less than an 11-minute mile! I'm pretty sure that is a new land speed record for Mexicans!

I got great feedback from Coach Peggy and really felt pumped up after the session. It feels great to make such good progress. Last week, I struggled to break the 3-min quarter (ie 12-min mile). I have a week to bask in glory as Coach Peggy is now going to increase the sprint distance to 1/2-mile segments next week to work on my endurance. Yow.

Fundraising

No training today. It was way too hot anyway. I spent a good 6 hours today at a local park handing out TnT pamphlets, talking to people and handing out water to overheated runners and walkers in exchange for donations. I don't want to be too mysterious about the location but I was asked to keep it a secret for the time being by the person that suggested it to me.

Brutal heat again and attendance dropped to just a few glutton for punishment stragglers after 12pm. I counted a total of 20 cars in the parking lot at that time, which is normally filled to capacity. I came back home to cool down and went back at 4PM to catch the afternoon crowd. Unfortunately they never showed up and after an hour of sitting in the sun with no foot traffic coming by, I decided to call it a day. I plan to go back at 6:30 am tomorrow and will hopefully stay until Noon or until I run out of water.

I've nearly reached about 60% of my $6,500 fundraising goal. I've still got a ways to go so I'll be hitting the fundraising trail pretty hard right up until the event day at the end of October.

Monday Night Training Team Picnic

The Balboa Park Monday night training regulars, (or is that irregulars?), had a little potluck under the stars yesterday after the walk. The picnic was timed to coincide with the final performance of the Live Organ Concert at Spreckel's Pavilion. The performance included excerpts from Camelot, Les Miserable, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, the Lion King and an amazing Medley from the Phantom of the Opera.

Attendees were Noel, Kathy, Anne, Mary, Erika, Lorraine, Christine and myself. Mary's daughter and her friend were also there but I'm afraid I don't recall their names. Nothing like enjoying some great food under a full moon in the company of good friends.

Me, Christine and Lorraine
















Erika and Kathy














Ann and Noel













Mary and Clan












Lorraine








Talking around the water cooler today, I found out that one of my fellow co-workers, Barbet was the electrical engineer that designed the lighting for the Pavilion. Small world.

Training Log August 27- September 2

Monday: Balboa Park ~ 3 Miles. Training cut a bit short for the sake of the picnic.

Tuesday: Lake Miramar. Interval training with Coach Peggy. This is the best session of the week for me primarily because I get personalized instruction from one of our top coaches. This is a5 mile loop around the lake and we alternate normal walking with "sprint" walking every 1/4 mile. Today, with a lot of help from Coach Peggy, my sprints were 3.0 minute quarters or 12 minutes per mile! This shatters my previous personal speed record of 13.5 minute/miles. It took a while for me to warm up. I think I've discovered why I have been having such a hard time on Thursday night training. My shins are extremely tight after the course of a normal day, which maybe why I feel so uncoordinated and that I'm "plodding". Started out the same way, and mentioned it to Peggy so we stopped and did some stretching exercises and then resumed. I noticed a dramatic difference right away. Everything just flowed so much better when I was getting good extension in my legs. Definitely something I will keep doing.

Wednesday: Class night so workout limited to 25 minute walk at lunch.

Thursday: 20 minute walk at lunch and about 15 minutes of walking to and from the trolley stops associated with hitting the Padre game. I also ran up every set of stairs I could fine much to the amusement of Christine.

Friday: Rest day in preparation for tomorrow's 13 mile session. Friday afternoons are my only time to run errands lately so I hit the grocery store, the bank, the post office, did some laundry, paid some bills and submitted some donation paperwork to the L&L Society.

Saturday: Mileage was shortened to 12 miles due to brutal heat and humidity. The mileage actually measured out to only 11.5 miles according to the various GPS watches people were carrying. We started at 6:30 am and got on the road shortly after 7:00 am and it was already uncomfortably warm. I did the 11.5 miles in just 1 minute shy of 3 hours for a pace of 15.6 minute/miles. Not too shabby. We took some really long rest stops at the aids stations to hydrate which really affected my overall time. Along the way, I ate 3 salt packets, 3 Gu's and assorted aid station junk food (cheez-it's, pretzels) for energy. I managed to sweat completely through my baseball cap to the point where I actually was able to wring it out. Today was the first day where I really felt that I hit a "wall". The distance was very doable but the heat just sapped all the strength out of me. I was pretty beat when it was all said and done.

Also, after much trepidation, I decided to have a massage session with David the masseuse who attends all our training sessions. Those following along know that I've had a persistent knot problem in the meat of my left calf muscle. Well, David, found it, pinched it and got it to go away. It hurt like blazes for a good 30 seconds until it finally released. Best $10 spent ever. Well except that one time in Tuscon but I don't want to get into that right now.

Lastly, picked up some new kicks today. I'd really worked my existing pair of shoes quite hard so they weren't giving me the support I needed any more. I also had been getting blisters on the tips of my toes. I went to the San Diego Running Institute which is a great place to buy shoes. They were very scientific and measured my feet with calipers and pressure pads that show on a monitor how my feet carry my weight. Really cool. I picked up some
Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's. These are very similar to the shoe I had been wearing, providing neutral support, but they are a little sturdier. Apparently the shoe I have been wearing is meant for people that weigh around 150-160 lbs which could explain why the support didn't last as long. The news shoes are meant for those weighing 180-200 lbs so they are more appropriate for me. Can't wait to try them out.

Fundraising Weekend

After a quick breakfast after Saturday's walk, I headed over to the Del Mar racetrack to pour some beer for fundraising. The folks at Premier Good Group allowed about a dozen of us to volunteer to work the beer booths during the races and the subsequent Ziggy Marley reggae concert. Better than that, they donated $140 to each of our funds and allowed us to keep all our tips. It was 1o hours of non-stop beer pouring. I made a $142 in tips to go along with the $140 in pay so it was a good fundraising day.

Sunday: San Marcos Street Fair Fundraising. Back for more at the street fair. We assisted the beer and wine vendors for tip money. It was hot and muggy but it was a decent way to spend the day. Don't know what the tips worked out too yet but every little bit helps.

Training Log August 20-26

Monday: Balboa Park - 4 Miles. I cut the normal 5-Mile walk down to 4 to be able to catch the Laurel and Hardy silent's at the Spreckles outdoor amphitheater. The short films with shown along with a performance of a live organist. Great time.
Tuesday: Feeling ill took the day off.
Wednesday: 2 Mile walk at Lunch. So busy, just trying to squeeze some miles in.
Thursday: 5 Miles at DeAnza Cove. Not feeling it again. I'm not sure what it is about this location. I might be the day of the week. I'm probably going to give up this training session and make this a gym night. I need to work in some weights to strengthen my knees.
Friday: Day off
Saturday: 9 Miles in Encinitas. Felt strong the whole way. I decided to really push myself this session. The weather was overcast and cool. PERFECT for walking. I did the 9 miles in 2hrs 12 minutes which is a pace of 14.7 minute miles. This is big improvement of my previous time. Coach Ellen walked with me for a couple of miles and timed me and I was doing 13.5 minute miles when I walked with her. My endurance is up too so I'm going to keep pushing.

Training Log (August 13-19)

Monday: Hills and thrills at Balboa Park. 5 very hilly miles!

Tuesday: The normal Lake Miramar session was canceled so Christine and I got together for a walk along the San Diego Harbor. I guestimate it was about 3 miles.

Wednesday: Skipped the normal workout and went to the Padre game with a few friends. Walked about 30 minutes to take Debbie to her car.

Thursday: DeAnza Cove: 3 lame miles. Knee is bugging me so I took it easy today in preparation of Saturday's 15 mile event.

Friday: Off day. Big Miles scheduled for tomorrow. Had a great pasta and chicken dinner to be sure I have the energy for Saturday. Laid out my gear as we have an early start.

Saturday: 15 Big Miles at Coronado. Started out at 6:30am, as in the morning. It was already hot as Hades and just got worse as the day went on. No shade, brutal heat, 15 miles. I luvved it! This is the furthest I have walked to date. The pasta dinner the night before and all the stretching I've been doing really paid off. I felt strong the entire way and really picked up the pace. Went through 3 bottles of water along the way. I also experimented with energy gels for the first time. These are little packages of GU that you eat while exercising to give you an energy burst. The one I ate also had caffeine in it for an extra whammy. Let me tell you, these things work. I took one at about mile 10 and bam! burst of speed. Great workout. Only drawback was getting a blister on the tip of my right "index" toe. I think my shoes are slightly too small and as my feet swell the tip of my toe starts rubbing. I'm almost due for my second pair of shoes anyway so I'll make the change then.

Afterwards, Christine and I went to my friend Matt's baby shower at Crown Point. We got there, scarfed down and promptly laid out on a blanket and dazed. Good times. Burnt out. Matt tried to get me into a round of volleyball, but I passed having exercised enough for the day.

Sunday: Still wiped out from yesterday. Exercise limited to 20 minute walk for coffee.

Recommitment!

Turned in my recommittment paperwork today. I have a goal of raising $6,500 to be able to attend and compete in the Dublin Adidas Marathon. Today, I committed to making up the difference if I can't raise the full $6500. I'm currently stuck right around $3,000 and am starting to get a little worried. Need to start doing some serious fundraising!

Training Log (August 6-12)

Monday: Balboa Park. 4.7 Miles. Nothing spectacular to report, just putting the miles in. We deviated from our normal route to add the Upas street hill to the walk. The hill is fairly short being about a block and half long but is very steep. Got the blood pumping.

Tuesday: Lake Miramar. 5 Miles walk with interval training. Did some one on one training on my walk form with Coach Peggy. The interval training was 1/4 mile normal pace, followed by 1/4 mile sprint for the entire 5 miles. I'm still trying to get the walk form down. Lately, I'd more concerned with just getting the mileage in rather than getting the form down perfectly.

What I'm doing correctly:

1) I have "explosive" power, meaning that I can take off very quickly.
2) The length of my stride is correct. I'm not lifting my feet too high off the ground or taking too long of a step so I'm not wasting energy.
3) hip motion is about 90% there.
4) Walking heel to toe and really pushing through each step.

Things that I need to work on:

1) Turnover. As far as I can tell this means how quickly I repeat the complete step cycle. I need to work on my rhythm so that it all flows.
2) Breathing. I'm still breathing shallowly from the upper part of my chest. Good walkers breath low from their diaphram. I also need to breath more regularly when I'm sprinting. I tend to hold my breath when I'm pushing hard. This is bad.
3) Spacing Out: Got to stay a little more focused and not let my mind wander too much over the long mileage. When I do that my form deteriorates.
4) Endurance. I may have "explosive" power but I can't sustain the boost for very long. More walking time, particularly the interval training will help this.

This was one of the best training sessions I've had to date. It was a great work out.

Wednesday: 3 Mile walk around my neighborhood. I had a very action packed day and I didn't get home until 9pm. Didn't feel like working but I really needed to get some miles in so I just walked the neighborhood for 45 minutes.

Thursday: Back to DeAnza Cove for some more interval work. We were supposed to walk 4 miles today but I think we walked a little bit further, more like 5 miles. I felt very fast today. I started out a stiff and had to keep reminding myself to loosen up and use all the techniques I practiced with Peggy on Tuesday and establish a rhythm. There were times today when it all gelled and I was walking with great form. Very exciting. I'm very curious to see what my actual speed is. I don't usually time myself but I think I'm going to start so I can track my progress. I'm the kind of guy that needs to have a goal to push for so I'm going to do some pondering as to how fast I want to be. I'm now convinced that I can do the 26 mile distance which was a big concern for me. It's time to start setting a time goal for the actual race. That and tracking my speed and distance is an excuse to buy a new electronic toy. *grin*

Friday: Much needed scheduled rest day. Need some time to run errands, do laundry, clean up!

Saturday: 9 Miles along Vacation Isle West A nice little walk along Mission Beach. Lot of people out doing some early morning exercise. Lots of walkers, joggers, bike riders. Getting pretty muggy nowadays.

Sunday: 30 minutes of walking just around town doing errands.

Big Miles

Today's training was a 13 mile walk starting at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I was particularly worried about my calf as it has been giving me a lot of trouble over the last few days. I spent a good 15 minutes stretching before the walk. The weather was pretty reasonable when we started at 7am but turned nasty, muggy and hot before we finished. It was mighty uncomfortable for the last half of the walk. The calf ended up being fine but I got a few good warning signs to consider.

1) The last 1/2 mile or so, I got a "hot spot" on the ball of my left foot. I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a bad blister if I had continued much further. One of the mentors told me last week that she applies Vaseline to her feet before big walks. Umm, no thanks. My walking partner, Christine promised to unveil the secret of how to avoid blisters next week. The secret supposedly involves some strange teflon-based foot powder for your socks. Beats rubbing Vaseline between your toes.

2) I got a decent sunburn even though I was wearing a baseball cap and it was overcast during the entire walk. Felt flushed and stingy the rest of the weekend. I'm definitely going to start wearing sunscreen during the walks.

Feels good to have worked my way up to a 1/2 marathon distance. I felt very strong at the end of the walk and felt that I could have gone at least another 5 miles if it wasn't for the budding blister problem.

Ghost Story

I decided to forgo training again today. My left calf has a huge knot in it and I want to make sure that I'm ready for Saturday's longer mileage.

I have my Mom in town visiting and we decided to go out to dinner with my Aunt, Micaela. We chose a tasty Japanese place and settled down for some Seafood Udon and Nigiri.

Both my aunt and my mother are widows. My stepfather, Armando (Mando) passed away last September from prostate cancer. My uncle, Jose (Tio Pepe) died of Leukemia about 5 years ago and is one of the two people I'm personally walking for.

During dinner they both start talking about seeing the ghosts of their respective husbands. Seriously.

Here's one of the stories my Mom told. In Mexico November 2nd is the Day of the Dead, a holiday where we remember our dearly departed. My mother and her neighbor, Brenda prepared a beautiful ofrenda for my stepfather pictured here. Check it out. The one they prepared is very elaborate and involved a lot of handiwork and materials, including multiple types of colored paper. They spent a lot of time hand cutting the paper into various shapes and designs as part of the decoration over the course of a couple of days. Well, it seems that during the preparation, the green colored paper went missing. They looked high and low for it including back at Brenda's house and they weren't able to find it. Both remember seeing it with the rest of the paper but couldn't find it. They continued on without it.

On Day of of the Dead, friend's arrive and gather chairs from inside the house around the ofrenda which is outside under a covered patio for the celebration. They bring small gifts, tell funny stories, remember Mando and generally have a good time. After the party is over they bring the chairs back in the house. The next day, my Mom was planning on taking down the ofrenda but decided to leave it up for another week as Mando's birthday was on November 11. On the 11th, they have another get together around the ofrenda and gather around outside again. The next day, my Mom is cleaning up and finds a piece of the missing green paper beneath one of the chairs inside the house. This is one of the same chairs that had been hauled in and out of the house on two recent occasions with no one seeing the missing paper. She says that she immediately thought of Mando and laughed to herself and picked it up and went on with cleaning up. A few minutes later she returns and finds three more pieces of green paper under the SAME chair!!! Somehow three more pieces of paper had materialized out of thin air in a place she had just checked!

My aunt also told a few stories that I won't get into but involve actually seeing my Uncle's ghost in the hallway of their home. One thing in common is that both my mother and aunt say that they felt no fear at all during these encounters. They say that they felt as if it was a playful event. I find that particularly interesting for some reason.

My mom is a retired clinical psychologist and is not prone to crazy talk. I'm not sure what to make about all this but it sure made for some gripping dinner conversation.

Not feelin' it today

Met up with the team and walked DeAnza Cove for a bit of interval training. Couldn't get the mojo working today. I felt stiff and uncoordinated the entire 5 miles. I think the problem stems from Tuesday walk where I hit it hard without stretching since I arrived late. I've had some pain in my legs the last couple of days that makes me think I may have strained something. The 6pm starts are killing me as I can barely make it on time to meet up with the group and don't have enough time to stretch very well. Going to have to figure something out.

Two other walkers, Coach Ellen and Roxanne were also having leg/shin problems and took it slow today. Wear and tear is starting to show so I'm going to be a little more careful.

Did some more torturous sit-ups with Kat and Erika today. We stepped it up a bit and did 3 sets. I'm still sore from Monday's single set. I also threw in a few push-ups for good measure.

Friday is supposed to be a rest day but I'll probably do something light, possibly a short bike ride. Saturday is big miles again and I want to be sure that my legs are back to normal.

Ingmar Bergman...

...died on Monday.

Didn't know the guy at all. He is a movie director....was a movie director. Pretty well known if you are into movies. For me, he connected so clearly to what it is to be human. Several of his movies touch on themes that all humans can relate to. The professor in Wild Strawberries who reflects on his long empty life with great regret and dazes into dreams and memories as he grows older. The daughter in Autumn Sonata who one night, rails against her mother unleashing a torrent of repressed resentment for a lifetime of neglect. The priest in Winter Light who questions his faith. Viewing the world with wonderment and amazement as children do in Fanny and Alexander.

I spent a lot of time watching his movies and they have affected how I look at life. Reason enough to feel the loss of a someone I never met.

Back on track...

After a long weekend away doing very little exercise and eating mucho rich food, including my first french fries in a year and a half, I'm hoping to get back on track this week.

Monday: Met up with the TnT regulars at Balboa Park for a nice 4-mile session. Tried to work on my form a bit. Kat, somehow talked me into doing some sit-ups after the walk session. Some little torture she calls "bug-crunchers". She took pity on me and we only did one set although she threatened more sets in the future. The session started at 6pm and I since I get out of work at 5:30pm, I don't usually get a chance to eat beforehand. After a big walk, a man hungers. Erika threw out the idea to get sushi. Kat had to be somewhere at 8:30 so we had an hour to find a place. We ended up going to Whole Foods and eating it there. I was a little dubious of eating sushi from a supermarket, even if it is from a health store but it was pretty good. I hadn't been in the store in a while and didn't realize that they actually cook in the store. Had a nice little picnic on one of the outside tables and then called it a night.

Tuesday: Rushed to the Lake Miramar TnT session. I got there a few minutes after 6pm and saw two teammates, including Mentor Kathy, at the meeting location. Parking was at a premium and it took me a few minutes of driving around to find a spot. In the meantime, my teammates took off without me! In fairness, they hadn't seen me. They had a decent head start and I decided to do a little speed walking to see if I could catch them. They were pretty quick, but I was able to see the distance closing slowly but surely. I caught up with them around the half-way point, 2.5 miles in, and was kinda proud of myself. The rest of the session we walked at a nice clip. Kathy has one of those hi-tech watches with a GPS in it that tell you how far you've traveled and what pace. We walked a total of 5 miles at a pace of 15.22 min/mile, my fastest yet. I got a late start so I was even faster than that! Burned a little over 600 calories.

A Wedding

Roamed a little further than normal this weekend. Here is a photo taken of my brother, Angel and my new sister-in-law, Phoebe mere moments after they were married this past Saturday in Santa Cruz, CA. Sorry about the red-eyes! The wedding was a great success. They were married outdoors in a beautiful setting surrounded by a ring of redwood trees. Good times.

Congratulations!

In the battle of function vs form there is no clear winner here.

Global Warming Got You Down? Try Zegna's Solar-Powered Jacket

By Sara Gay Forden

A sporty jacket with solar panels on the collar

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Global warming zeitgeist has made it to men's fashion, if the runways of Milan are any measure.

Fashion executives and store buyers are stocking slimmer, lighter suits next spring made of high-performance fabrics that repel water and don't wrinkle, they said at shows during the last week of June. Some can even recharge your iPod. Favorite color: a pale, pearly gray.

``The world is a lot warmer, so you need to buy a suit that you can wear 10 months out of the year,'' said Colby McWilliams, men's fashion director for Neiman Marcus Group Inc., based in Dallas. ``What we're seeing in the spring is the technology in the fabrics to make the suits more comfortable and low- maintenance.''

For the truly ``green'' conscious, Ermenegildo Zegna SpA, known for its luxury men's suits, presented a sporty jacket with solar panels on the collar that can recharge a mobile phone or an iPod. The $750 coat, something James Bond might be proud to wear, will be in stores in November.

``We haven't solved the problem of global warming, but the Solar Jacket shows there are steps one can take in the right direction,'' said Gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of Ermenegildo Zegna.

The solar panels detach and can be used independently. Five hours of sunshine can recharge just about any portable electronic device, Zegna said. Available as a bomber jacket or in longer styles, the coat was developed in partnership with Starnberg, Germany-based Interactive Wear AG, a maker of wearable electronics. It comes with adaptors for different devices.

Extra `Juice'

``This is truly a solution for the guy on the run, who loves his gadgets and can always use a little extra `juice,' especially if it is `green,''' said Tom Kalenderian, general merchandise manager for men's wear at Barney's, the New York chain owned by Jones Apparel Group Inc. that Fast Retailing Co. and Isthithmar PJSC, the Dubai investment firm, have bid to buy.