My Living Will

Someone suggested that it's a good practice to have my living will in writing, should something happen unexpectedly.

So, for the record, if I should become incapacitated in some way, I hope that there would be no attempts to unplug any wires or tubes that are in any way delaying my passage. In fact, each wire and tube should have a couple of back-up wires and tubes, and maybe some built-in redundancy.

Also, since lying in bed all day seems to be the most boring thing I could possibly imagine, I would like it if someone were to push me around town and stuff at least 3 times a day.

Additionally, I like watching movies at the movie theater, so it would be nice if someone would bring me there with all my equipment a couple of times a week. And perhaps if there is a comatose girl that I might like, ask her nurse if we could hang out, and maybe share an IV-bag.

So, I guess, I'd like it if my clothes and hairstyle were changed periodically so that I'm consistently 10-15 years behind the current fashion trends.

Also, if anyone I know is going on vacation, I'd appreciate it if you could take me along too.

And I do like rollercoasters, so feel free to strap me and my equipment in, and maybe tie my hands up in the air, because I like to do that when I go upside-down.

Also, if we go to a zoo, please make sure I see the monkeys.

Thanks,
Keith.

Bob's "Kemah Bridge Ultra"

On Thursday morning, Clear Lake Fitness Club's own Bob Linza ran 14 laps on the Kemah bridge. He covered 26.88 miles in 5 hours 25 minutes.
Unbelievable.

Rock on like Bob.

Keith.

I'm off to sunny Florida...

I'm leaving tonight, and I'll be gone until the 28th, and I'm not sure if I'll have regular internet access there, so you may have to go without my nonsense for a while.

I hope everyone has a nice break celebrating the holiday of your choice. If you're still undecided as to which holiday to celebrate, I suggest you avoid Christmas and go with one of the other ones. Christmas is a stressful time for people like me. I still haven't done any shopping.

You know who has the right idea, when it comes to celebrating Christmas? Old men. They don't have to buy anything, old woman does all that. Sometimes they don't even sign the cards, you can tell that old woman signed it for him. You just sit back and open presents, although you only get crappy stuff like tiny model trains or tiny model airplanes or clocks.

And it seems impossible for me to have a thoughtful gift for anyone at this point. That's why I wait until the last minute, because it's all crap, and you can't settle on crap two weeks in advance. So in all likelyhood, this is what the people in my family will get for the umpteenth year in a row.

• Old man: tiny model, or clock, or Shnickelfritz variety sausage pack.
• Old woman: something with a butterfly, or something to hang in the window. Also a plant.
• Middle aged man: desktop thing that is clever in some way.
• Middle aged woman: another bird feeder, more salt and pepper shakers.
• Young man: video game.
• Young woman: gift certificate.
• Boy: video game or money.
• Girl: money.

Those are the default gifts. If I'm unable to come up with something good.

Anyway.
Rock on.
Keith.

I'll think of all of you when I'm running on the beach.

Kelly Keane goes 5 miles with keithrselassie

Bill Dwyer from TNT-Woodlands mentioned to me that Kelly Keane was the sweetest person on earth, and I think you'd have to agree when you see how much time she put into her responses to my silly little questions.

But aside from being sweet, she is extremely fast! Kelly is a two time qualifier to the Olympic Trials, and she WON the Houston Marathon in 2005 with a PR time of 2:32:27. She is a Woodlands native, and she is uniquely suited to answer training questions, as she is involved on the coaching side as well. Starting in January, she will be coaching alongside her current coach Greg McMillan, and you should visit both of their websites for some great training information.

• Coach Kel
• McMillanRunning

I heard you recently had surgery. Are you fully recovered, or what is your recovery plan? How long do you expect it to take to return to peak form?

KK: I did have surgery 1 month ago. I was in a hard cast for 10 days, then put into a walking boot for 4 weeks. I have 1 more week to go in the walking boot. I had an injury to a peroneal tendon which just wasn't healing with rest. I basically had so much scar tissue built up, that it was restricting my range of motion. Dr Varner went in there and "cleaned it out"

I am recovering very well and am ahead of schedule. I expect to be in full form by the end of February and hope to be racing again in March.

So, no, I will not be racing Houston this year. I was really looking forward to it, but it is impossible at this point.

What is your diet like when you're training for a big marathon? Are there groups of foods you try to avoid, like fats, or refined sugars?

KK: I eat very well when I am training for a marathon. I consider my nutrition part of my training regime. But, I don't obsess over it. I eat healthy, but have an occasional beer or glass of wine, or even a bowl of ice cream!!

But generally, I do try to avoid refined sugars (empty calories) and foods very high in saturated fats.

I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, some red meat (especially if I am altitude training) lean proteins, fish, and of course lots of pasta. No secret nutrition recipes. I try to eat organic when possible, which is why my bar of choice is Clif Bar. I run twice a day, so my concern is always to make sure I get in enough calories, spread out throughout the day, so that I have constant energy through out the day. I generally eat 5 small meals a day, instead of three large ones. I always eat a healthy meal within 30 minutes of a hard long workout to replenish my stores and speed recovery.

Do you plan on returning to the Houston Marathon again one day?

KK: I hope to return to Houston again someday. The Olympic trials are coming up in 2008, so all my racing will be geared towards this. I received so much support from the Houston community and it has meant so much to me.

How does strength training fit into your training schedule?

KK: Strength training is a very important and integral part of my training regime. I strength train during the very beginning stages of my marathon preparation and later incorporate drill work/plyometrics into the plan.

For example, starting 20 weeks out from my marathon, I would Strength train at the gym (basic exercises like lunges, squats, ball exercises etc..) I do exercises specific to running. I do not use the leg curl or leg extension machine. Mostly free weights. I will do these exercises for 6-8 weeks, then progress towards plyos and drill work. (bounding, box jumps, single leg hops, etc...) I will do this drill work for 6 weeks. I usually stop all strength training 6-7 weeks out from my marathon. At this time the focus is only on running. I have to save my energy and strength for the roads.

(Plus, I am usually too tired from the higher mileage, that weights would just make me even more tired for my run workouts!)

In grammar school, they tell everybody to aim high and their dreams will come true and everything, but some dreams can be unrealistic, at least for the unwashed masses. What goals do you think are *reasonable* for a 4 - 6 hour marathoner to work towards?

KK: The last question is hard to answer w/o getting more information on the individual. That's why having a coach can be very helpful. They can help you realize what goals are realistic. The key is to always have fun, be smart with your program, work your butt off, and always believe in yourself.

A persons mind is way more powerful than any muscle in his body.

Thanks again to Kelly for her thoughful responses. You've always represented Houston very well, and I hope to see you representing our country in 2008.

Rock on.
Keith.

Cold rain v. Sunny Beach

Oh my lord.

The first hour was great. Nice and cool (43F), a little breezy but nice, and I felt strong and energetic. I got to the park a couple of minutes late, and missed the start of the club's 21 miler. But I caught up with many of them, and I enjoyed running and chatting with people as I tried to catch my normal training partners.

I heard stories of races past, including Austin's Capital 10,000, which draws 10,000 runners for just a 10K. And Susan told me about her 50 miler last week, and mentioned that not only did she run 50 miles on Saturday, but ran 20 miles on Sunday too, in preparation for her 3rd 100 miler early next year. She also had some good input on my foot pain.

But I mentioned the "R" word, and many people were disappointed that I did. I really should know better, because I can indeed control the weather with my mind. And it started raining just as I was about to go over the Kemah Bridge. It was that cold stinging rain, accompanied by a very strong crosswind on the bridge. I was totally soaked and the wind penetrated straight through to my bone marrow.

I wanted to do at least 18, although I had considered doing the full 21, just as long as the group was going farther. But the course loops back around by the park at mile 15, and I thought that was enough. I'm going to be in Florida next weekend, and the idea I had to kill this run at mile 15, and then run a nice long run on the beach in sunny Florida is about the greatest idea I've ever had.

I'm going to go down to the Seabrook trails tomorrow, probably around midday, for 4-6 miles. If anyone wants to join me for a slow and easy recovery run, drop me a line, and we'll set it up.

Rock on. Keith.

You can have my code. You can have any of this crap if you want it.

If you want the code for the blogger menu I wrote, you can have it. I posted a page with the minimum necessary elements on this page right here, so you can just view the source of that page. I'd post it here, but there's always some extra formatting stuff that happens, and it would be harder for you to just copy and paste it.

There's two parts to it, that should go in different places. There's a section of code with a few javascript functions that should go just before the closing </head> tag of your template. And the other part is the HTML code that goes in the <body> of your template. You shouldn't have to mess with the javascript part at all. The HTML part is a table with a bunch of images, and you can change who's on your blogroll by deleting the whole <img ... > tag or adding more.

Those tags look like this:

<img vspace="0" onclick="window.location='http://keithrselassie.blogspot.com';" title="Keith" alt="link" height="0" src="http://home.earthlink.net/~manofaction99/Logos/keithrselassie.jpg"><BR>

If you wanted to add another link, you have to change:

• the URL within the 'onclick' event,


• the 'title,' which is the text that pops up when you hover over the image,


• and the 'src,' which is the location of the image.


• new links all have to have the 'alt' attribute set to "link" for that image to expand and contract with the others.

Those images are on my earthlink webspace, and it shouldn't be a problem if you just wanted to keep them there, or you could copy them to your space and link to them there, either way should work.

You should know that it looks a little different on Netscape/Firefox, where there's a little bit of space between each of the images. It still looks okay, but it's not exactly how I wanted it so it bugs me.

Keith.

Oh, by the way, I ran 2 miles. No time trial today, I was very tired and the track was wet. I'll do that next week.

4 miles on a route I haven't run in a while

4 miles, just like I promised.

I had a goal to break 7 minutes for the mile this year, and even though training hasn't been going perfectly, I think I'm going to the track to take a crack at it tomorrow night. I probably shouldn't even mention it. What if I don't do it? It would be mildly embarassing. Actually, forget I said anything.

Keith.

3 Mile Monday

3 miles easy. I'm still a little bit sore from this weekend, but everything kind of loosened up after I warmed up.

So, maybe, some people hear the bridge calling them. It would be fun to do, we could meet down by the Seabrook trails and people could either run on the trails, or head down the road about a mile and take a lap or two on the bridge. I live down here so I could do it whenever.

And since I'm so jealous of Cassie's new redesigned site, I've been kicking around the idea of redesigning this old blog. Check out this idea, tell me what you think.

And I forgot to mention yesterday but I saw Jessica and I on Channel 26 News as they were covering the Jingle Bell Run. They were showing two women who were dressed as christmas presents and you could see us in the background laughing at them because the one woman had just fell down and her box was all dented up.

Okay, sleepy time.
Keith.

Jingle Bell Run + Running Week in Review

I ran the Jingle Bell Run this afternoon in about 46 minutes (9:12m/m). I didn't bring my watch because I wanted to try to run just by feel, but I didn't really like not having it. Plus, there wasn't anybody calling out our times at the splits so I was pretty clueless as to how fast I was going. I did hear somebody say they had run about 7:30 for the first mile, so if that's true, I may have started out a little too fast. I missed the mile markers for 3 and 4 as well, which added to my confusion.

I had to stop and walk twice in the first half so that I can use my inhaler, because as you know, geeks are required to have asthma, and it bothers me most when the air is cold. I saw Jessica twice during the race, and it was nice to have someone cheer me on. I saw Sarah too, but she was focused on taking photos and missed me. And of course there's Jon, who was running "to pace Waverly," but she had already dropped him and JoePa whe I saw them after the turnaround. And we met up with Lisa after the race, and we all got a picture together - Jon, Waverly, Cassie, Me, Lisa, Jessica, Sarah, and of course Joe Paterno.

So, this week, I ran 5 days, about 28 miles, which is the most I've run since before the NYCM. And I had absolutely no trouble with my foot either yesterday or today, so I'm pretty optimistic about my running. My races weren't PRs, but they were both pretty strong efforts. There was an article in Runner's World a few months ago that compared running to bull riding, and that dude said you should get points for your time on the course, and for the conditions surrounding your race (i.e. the ferocity of the bull), and since I don't feel like I could have run either race very much faster than I did, I pretty happy with it.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	13.8 miles	5 miles	27.7 miles

So, 28 miles this week, and I feel pretty good, so I'm going to try to get back into a decent training schedule, and I hope my foot problems are behind me. I STILL haven't decided on the Houston marathon situation. In some ways, I feel like a marathon would really disrupt my training, and I'd probably have to recover for a month afterwards instead of being able to train that month.

Anyway, here's my plan for this week.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
3 miles	4 miles	2 miles	5 miles on the bridge	2 miles	18 miles	4 miles	38 miles

That's right. Running everyday.

Rock on, Bloggers. It was great meeting you. You should come down (or up) to the Clear Lake area and we can take a run (Pasadena sucks, Clear Lake is better). Does anybody want to take on the bridge?



Keith.

10.7 with TNT then the Blogger 5K

Is blogging really necessary if all of you were there?

With the help of Jon, I got in touch with Bill Dwyer, from TNT-Woodlands, who was extremely nice about sending me maps and organizing my visit.

This is me and Mike who was my tourguide for my 10.7 mile run this morning. If it weren't for him, I'd have had to make like 200 loops around the parking lot at Barbara Bush Elementary. The Woodlands is a great place for runners, much better than Pasadena, but Clear Lake is pretty cool.

Then I met the bloggers and ran the Woodlands 5K, as you know, and then we went to Jon's house and had a mess of burritos and kolaches and such, as you know because you were there. I finished in about 27:52 which I was pretty happy with considering the early mileage too.

I still plan on doing the Jingle Bell Run tomorrow, I just hope I'm not too stiff. Really, I just want the antlers.

Keith out.

Three miles and it's soo freaking cold!

Three miles and I ran the whole way. I only mention that because I had been mixing in some walking breaks as I break in my new shoes. Running in flats is very different for me than running in my old cushion shoes, but I'm getting used to it now. And actually I go significantly faster with the flats. I don't think it has that much to do with the shoe weight, but with the different running form it requires. I feel like I have a much faster top speed with the forefoot strike than with a heelstrike.

But it was too cold to be taking any walking breaks out there tonight. And just a few days ago I felt like it was too warm. I was hoping we'd have a month or so of transitional weather before it gets too cold. But maybe it will warm up a little bit this weekend.

Here's a fun poll. Winner gets a free something! I haven't decided what yet. Probably something that I have too many of, or maybe something that doesn't work anymore.

Guess my time for this weekend's Blogger 5K. (Keep in mind: My 5K PR is ~24:00, but this race will be the last 3.1 miles of a 15-16 mile run)
	less than 22:00 (don't pick this one)
	22:00 - 24:59
	25:00 - 27:59
	28:00 - 30:59
	31:00 - 34:59
	35:00 - 39:59
	greater than 40:00
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Rock on. Keith.

Dan Browne goes 5 miles with keithrselassie

I emailed these 5 questions to Dan Browne, and asked if I could post his answers on my silly little blog, and wouldn't you know he was gracious enough to accomodate. I greatly appreciate that he would take the time to address my questions. I didn't even have to trick him, and say that I had a lot of readers or anything!

Dan Browne, if you don't know, was one the U.S. marathoners in the 2004 Olympics, and is the reigning U.S. Half Marathon Champion, a title he won here in Houston last January. You can get some training tips, and read his journal on his website www.danbrowne.com, and apparently he even reads the emails from random fans on the internet. He's currently training under Coach Alberto Salazar as part of Nike's Oregon Project.


What workouts do you think provide the most benefit to your running?

DB: It depends on the distance. Mile repeats for the 10k and 1/2 marathon.
400's for the 5k and tempo runs for the marathon.

What is your training like right now? What is on the horizon?

DB: Training is getting back on track. I'm up to 80 miles a week. Hopefully I'll be there in Houston competing!

To what extent do you think performance enhancing drugs are used by elite distance runners?

DB: I have no idea really on that one. I've really tried to stay out of thinking about that stuff.

Will you continue running and racing even when you're really really really old?

DB: I'll run as long as the legs let me!

Do elite athletes feel a connection to the mid-pack marathoner, like we feel towards them?

DB: Yeah, definitely. We all go the same distance! That's the most important thing after all.

Thanks again to Dan Browne for his generocity. We'll be rooting for you when you come back to Houston to defend your title!

Rock on.
Keith.

3 miles while I enjoyed the Christmas lights.

There is a suggestion from my foot, that perhaps everything isn't as it should be. It's rather subtle. Or perhaps it's my imagination.

I ran 3 miles this evening around my neighborhood. It's so cold out there.

I'll keep it short, because I needsy my sleepy.

Keith.

Two miles: In the rain. - And a poll question

Well, I waited a bit too long, and had to run in the rain. Cold rain.
But I've recovered well from yesterdays run, so that's a good thing, and these two mile daily runs hardly seem like enough anymore. I think I'll bump it up to three.

I like the idea of getting up to the woodlands early next Saturday and running 12 or 14 miles before the 5K. That way I can get my long run in, and I can hang out with everybody. It might not be the ideal way to run a 5K PR, but I'm not sure I'm up for that anyway.

So, does anybody have any good running routes for 12 - 14 miles around Barbara Bush Elementary? (I'll post this on the messageboards too)

Anywho, here's a poll question for you.

The winter olympics will begin 10 February 2006. What are your favorite winter sports? (You may choose more than one.)
	Biathlon
	Bobsleigh
	Curling
	Ice Hockey
	Luge
	Speed skating
	Figure skating
	Skiing
Free polls from Pollhost.com

They unveiled the medals yesterday. Click the image for the full story.

Rock on.
Keith.

Distance is relative

"I guess you went running this morning?" said my neighbor, as he was walking his little dog "TJ" around my complex.
"Yeah, 12 miles."
"12 miles! Without a lion chasing you?" he chuckles, "and, what time did you get up to run 12 miles?"
"A little before 4:00."
He laughs again. "You know, you sure know how to make a guy feel bad."

I think it's a funny conversation, because I was already feeling kind of bad, because the full marathon group at the club was going 18 miles, and I only went twelve. But, I guess, even if I went the full distance today, I would still have room to feel bad, because there's a group of people at the club that are racing in Huntsville next weekend. Two people (that I know of) are doing the 50 miler, and I think a couple others are only doing the 50K. There's one guy that is planning to run a full marathon distance entirely on the Kemah bridge. And I'll bet even they know people they are impressed by too.

My twelve miler was a little rough today, and I was very tired, although I had no trouble with my mystery foot pain. I have lost fitness these last few lazy weeks, there' s no denying that now. I had considered doing the full 18, but it was apparent early on, that even 12 miles would be a worthwhile accomplishment at this point.

But I have to make these long runs a priority again, which means, I think I'm going to have to miss next week's Blogger 5K, so that I can get in another long run. I'm upset about that, I was looking forward to meeting everyone. Maybe some of you will be at the Jingle Bell Run, on Sunday, I think I can still make it out to drag myself through that one after a long run on Saturday.

I'd like to do something around 16 miles next weekend, and hopefully get up for the club's 21 miler on Dec 17. So that's the tentative plan as it stands right now, provided that I don't have a reoccurrence of my mystery foot pain.

Anywhay,
Rock on.
Keith.

2 more miles. This weather is great.

Things are hurting less each day. I mentioned a while ago, that I wanted to change my running form, to what I'm convinced is a more natural stride (see Crazy Barefoot Man post). And that's what I've been doing on these short daily runs.

Since I don't have the guts to run barefoot, I bought a pair of Mizuno racing flats, which are practically like running barefoot. And the first couple of times I ran in them, my calves were extraordinarily sore the next 2-3 days or so, but it's getting better each time. And it does seem like I'm settling into the new stride.

We'll see how this plays out. I think if I ease into it slowly I won't get hurt.

You ROCK!
Rock on!
Keith.

2 more miles

Sometimes, I run everyday. I think that's what I'm going to do for a while. Short distances though. It seems easier for me to find a rhythm with running and healthy living all around, if I stick to a consistent daily schedule.

I once read an article that said that running everyday was best for your cardiovascular development. Let me see if I can find it. Ahh, there it is. There's a link to it over in the bookmark panel.

Basically, the guy's argument is that the hard-easy approach is a remnant of training programs that were developed for weight lifters. He says the best stimulus for cardiovascular development boils down to - frequency, intensity, and duration. According to that guy, people who run hard-easy, wind up running too hard on the hard days, and then are wiped out and don't get anything out of the easy days. So, he says running a consistent moderately hard distance, at a consistent moderately hard intensity, daily, is best.

I'm not proposing that anybody follow this guy's approach, although he was a coach and his team won some crap, but I guess there are plenty of coaches that follow a hard-easy approach and they win crap too, so I guess you should just do whatever you want to do and you can find a coach to tell you to do exactly that. In fact, let that be my advice for runners : Do whatever you want to do.

Rock on.
Keith.

I like greenbeens, I like milkshakes...

Hey America!

I'm glad everyone liked the Jell-O turkey. Apparently the place that sells the turkey jello mold also sells a human brain jello mold. I might have to buy that one.

It's good to be out of work today. I spent all day in seminars for our annual Texas Methodist Hospital/University of Houston Neuroscience Colloquium.

Most of it was pretty interesting, including some stem cell stuff, and the speaker didn't say this explicitly, but, from the results he had, it seems like it might be possible to grow an entire human brain inside a mouse's head. Wait, that's not stated just right, what I really mean is that it might be possible to grow an entire mouse brain out of human brain cells - yes, that's what I want to say. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the direction he was taking his research.

But the talks weren't all closely related to my interests, so I did have time to amuse myself. I started a top ten list for biology geeks, but haven't finished it yet. Here's what I have so far:

Top ten rejected protein names:

Polymodal Ubiquitous Kinetochore Elastase (PUKE)
Focal Adhesion Ribosyl-Transferase #1 (FART-1)
Small Nuclear Oxoglutamic-Transaminase (SNOT)
Hyper-Oligomeric Ligation Enzyme (HOLE)
Alternate Superoxide Synthetase (ASS) - which can bind "HOLE" to form "ASS/HOLE Complex"


And I also came up with some new lyrics to the Meow-mix song.

I like greenbeens.
I like milkshakes.
I like lemon-greenbeen milkshakes.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnyhow.
I've had a lazy long weekend. It seems my motivation for training is somewhat diminished. My goal race for the fall has passed, and I don't feel like I have the energy to train very hard, so I've just been taking things easy and running only a little bit. It's kind of upsetting, because it feels like I've already lost some fitness.

I ran two miles tonight. Two miles still counts. I think I just ran so that I could write in my blog.

Anyhow. Rock on.
Keith.

Jell-O Turkey for my blogging friends.

Here's a Jell-O turkey someone on the internet made. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, and you should know that I'm thankful for all my fellow bloggers.



I ran another easy three miles around my house, and didn't have any pain in my foot, so that's great news. I wore a new pair of shoes that I bought because they're practically like running barefoot. They're not the Nike Free's but a pair of Mizuno racing flats that are so light and flexible, I think it's almost the same as barefoot, but offers me enough protection from rocks and whatnot. So, we'll see if this is a good idea, that will instill a more natural running stride, or a bad idea that I'll be paying for with injury. I think it's an interesting experiment, I'll keep you informed.

It has been a pretty busy week, even though it was so short. I had to meet with my graduate advisory committee, so that they can approve my topic for my oral qualifying exam in February. (I'm a graduate student in Biology) The idea is I'm supposed to design a set of experiments to test a hypothesis, and the system chosen has to be something different from what we're actually working on. So my proposal was on the mechanism by which migratory birds can sense the magnetic field, and they liked it, so that's what I'll be reading about endlessly for the next couple of months.

Anywho,
Turkey on.
Keith.

8 miles with the half marathon group

So, my foot didn't hurt AT ALL today, what's up with that? Not that I'm disappointed, but it does make me wonder... I had joked about my pain being imaginary a couple times, but now, as soon as the doctor tells me there's nothing wrong with it, it stops hurting! Maybe it was imaginary.

And maybe all my other problems are psychosomatic too, like the tremors I get when its really cold outside, the spontaneous bleeding from the ears I have when I stick something in there, and maybe when I uncontrollably shout "Oh no you didn't!" at the Jerry Springer Show.

And Lisa was at the club today! It was very nice to meet you, finally. I hope you liked our bridge. I have a love/hate relationship with that bridge.

I only went 8 miles, so we stopped at the base of the bridge, but I could hear it challenging me to take a lap, but I thought it would be best to take it easy until I'm sure I won't be finishing my runs in pain. And boy was it cold out there at the start, and I'm very glad the club gave everybody a pair of running gloves, because my hands would have been frozen by the end.

My next big race is still up in the air, although I do plan on doing the next Blogger 5K in the Woodlands. The club is planning an 18 miler for the marathon group in two weeks, so I'll try that, and if my feets don't fail me, I'll consider doing the full Houston marathon, otherwise I'll probably stick to the half.

Rock On.
Keith.

Doctor visit, and an easy three miler

So I went to the doctor, and got some x-rays of my foot and all, and apparently there's nothing wrong with me. I guess I'm a little disappointed that they couldn't find anything wrong, and moreso because I feel like they didn't really try. The doctor said it was probably "normal wear and tear."

I wasn't able to see the orthopedist that I wanted to see, because you have to go to a regular doctor first. I wanted to see him because he works with athletes and might have some input on why I've gotten injured and maybe I could ask some questions about running and training and stuff.

The doctor I did see actually told me that "running marathons is great and all, but it's not really what we're meant to do." I didn't feel like arguing how our long legs, springy feet, and large buttocks are specifically designed for running long distances (Bramble and Lieberman, Nat'l Geographic summary). So, she might have well have told me to "ignore whatever I say that you don't like."

But at least I got some x-rays and it's clear that there's no fracture, and I think if there was some subluxation of the cuboid, that would be visible on x-ray too, so I guess that's not it either. Those were the two worst case scenarios that were keeping me from running, so even though it still hurts a little I did an easy three miler this evening.

Anyway,
Keep on keepin on.
Keith.

Quick post from work.

I just saw the doctor here on campus, and apparently my pain is imaginary.
What a load off my mind. Back to training.

Keith.

keithrselassie digest

Since everyone is very busy, and since at times I post a lot, I've included a "week in review" on the left panel for the busy blogger.
Rock On. Keith.



edited to add -
I've removed the digest. There's too much crap on this blog, I must prioritize...
Keith.

My Keyword Analysis

Since Steve got away with stealing this idea from Cassie, and she got away with stealing the idea from Brent, I thought I might get away with it too. And I think the results are pretty funny.

I had compiled a nice list of info I found on cu&oid pain, and I didn't want this page to be such a high probability match for cu&oid queries, so I changed all the instances of c-u-b-o-i-d to cu&oid, sorry if that makes it hard to read.

46.15%	cu&oid bone
12.82%	cu&oid sublu$ation
7.69%	cu&oid bone pain in runners
7.69%	pain around cu&oid bone
5.13%	keith kelleher
5.13%	cu&oid syndrome
2.56%	cu&oid support
2.56%	where would you find the cu&oid bone
2.56%	david s wander
2.56%	where would you find the cu&oid bone?
2.56%	define cu&oid fracture
2.56%	chiropractic cu&oid bone

Since "david s wander" was a guy I mentioned that had some input on my cu&oid bone, it seems like almost 95% of my hits come from people suffering from cu&oid bone pain, and 5% are actually searching for info on me!

And I think, from now on, if I want to mention my cu&oid bone, in a way that I think won't be helpful for people who are searching for ways to ease the pain, I will refer to that bone as "The Bone We Do Not Speak Of."

Rock on.
Keith.

Weekend update.

Jen: I lived off Exit 151 in Nutley. That was probably only 5-6 miles from where you lived! New Jersey was beautiful last week when I was up there, leaves changing and everything. I think New Jersey gets a bad rap, and everyone thinks it's all urban areas, and concrete, but it's a really beautiful place. The weather was a little warm for the marathon, but it was perfect for everything else.

I was going to get up and run 2-3 miles with the club this morning, but there was still some residual pain in my foot when I got up this morning, so I thought it would be better to keep nursing it. I don't want to take the chance that it's a stress fracture. I did go down and hang out with everyone though, and I showed off all the crap I got from the marathon and the expo.

Seeing everybody finishing up their runs this morning, and now reading about all the bloggers racing this weekend, I'm really sick about being injured. I know it's only been a week, but I need to get back into the swing of things, I'm so envious.

I'm going to see the orthopedist this week at work.

Run an extra mile for those of us on the DL.
Keith.

Oh yeah, there's a new poll question.

This town has a "crazy barefoot man" vacancy.

The crazy barefoot man says, and the other crazy barefoot man agrees, that there are some benefits to being crazy and barefoot. And, to my knowledge, there isn't a crazy barefoot man in Pasadena, and possibly in all of Houston! I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

Okay, maybe I'm not cut out to be "crazy barefoot man", but I think they do have a point about our shoes disrupting our natural biomechanics. I have no proof that it is the cause of my current foot problems, but they could be a factor. I threw out a pair of shoes last spring when I thought they were hurting me.

Since all good "crazy barefoot man"s are required to enthusiastically spread the crazy barefoot word, here's my first attempt at a "crazy barefoot man" rant:
Good morning Houston, CBM here (crazy barefoot man). You've lost touch with the ground, people! The human foot was designed to land upon the forefoot whilst running, not the heel. Take off your shoes and try to run landing on your heel, CBM says you can't do it. Your shoes doth weaken thy foots!

Hmmmm, not too bad, maybe I could be "crazy barefoot man."

Actually, my plan is to cut my mileage for a while, buy some minimalist shoes, and try to ease into a forefoot striking stride. I know nobody likes to suggest changing your stride, but I think it's more like correcting my stride. It seems like I'll be taking a step backwards a little, but I guess now is as good a time as any. I think I'll get one of those ChiRunning books or maybe the Pose Method book.

Anyhow, Rock on.
CBM.

NYCM - 5:23:53

Despite what you may have heard, the marathon is actually pretty hard.

I just got back to Houston, and I was unable to log on while in New Jersey or New York. Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on finishing my first marathon, I am very happy about it. The NYCM is unbelievable. There are so many people lining the streets to cheer on everybody, even people finishing as late as I did.

I think running through Brooklyn was definitely the highlight of my running career. There are so many people, and children who want to give you a high-five, and give you candy. Parents even hold their little babies hands out for you. I made sure I didn't miss anyone.

Well, I was hoping that my foot wouldn't give me too much trouble for this race, but I wasn't so lucky. I rested up as much as I could, and it was completely pain free when I got to New York, but we spent a few days kicking around New York and walking all over the city, by Sunday morning, I could already feel that something wasn't quite right. And I was pretty nervous about it, and sitting on the curb at Fort Wadsworth, at the base of the Verrazano bridge, I had a premonition. I had the strangest feeling like that moment was going to be the last thing I remember. If you've ever lost consiousness you know how weird it is when you slowly wake up and try to piece together the events that put you wherever you are are, on the floor. I was sure I was going to wake up at some aid station half way through the race, trying to figure out how I got there.

So at first I felt pretty good, and I got in about 8 pain-free miles, and then my foot started hurting. I started walking at the water stops, at about 10 miles, and I walked most of the incline at the Queensboro bridge at mile 15. At mile 16 I almost quit. At that point in the race, with ten miles left, you're really only one mile from the finish line. It's the perfect place to quit. But I wanted that friggin medal, so, my strategy is to delay, delay, delay. Delay quitting until it's too late to quit.

I was running strangely in the last part of the race, favoring my left foot, and I started to cramp up in my right quad and calf. This has never really been a problem for me in training. I took three PowerGels throughout the race, and each one seemed to keep me from cramping for a couple of miles or so.

Central Park was rough on me. It's pretty hilly, and the downhills hurt more than anything, so I couldn't even run there. I managed to hobble-run the flat parts and the slight inclines, and walk the rest.

But I made it the whole way, and I feel like I've earned that medal. I know this won't be my only marathon, but I'm not sure how long it will take for me to heal up. I might even have to go to the doctor. And I usually only go to the doctor when something is broken off (The price of machismo sure is high). This morning was the first time that the outside of my foot actually looked red and swollen.

This was my pace in five mile splits, so you can see how much I slowed down.:

1-5	10:32
5-10	10:37
10-15	12:44
15-20	13:57
20-25	13:43
25-26.2	13:47

So congratulation also to Jon Walk for his race and to my friend Susan Bell from the Clear Lake Fitness Club for her race too. They're both impressive runners too, Jon races everything, and Susan just ran a 50K two weeks ago. I run one marathon and I'm probably gonna be out of commission for at least a month.

Anyways, Rock on.
Keith.

Marathon Update: Keith J Kelleher at Finish in 5:30:16

ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert for Keith J Kelleher (race number 24523)

Keith J Kelleher has finished the ING New York City Marathon in 5:30:16.
Congratulations! If you are meeting this person at family reunion,
please be mindful that it could take up to 30 minutes for him or
her to get there.

Note that all results are unofficial.

Thank you for using the ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert
presented by Road Runner High Speed Online. The ING New York City
Marathon is the premier event of New York Road Runners. Please visit
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org for complete results, photos, wrap-up
stories, and motivation for 2005.

Marathon Update: Keith J Kelleher at Finish in 5:30:19

ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert for Keith J Kelleher (race number 24523)

Keith J Kelleher has finished the ING New York City Marathon in 5:30:19.
Congratulations! If you are meeting this person at family reunion,
please be mindful that it could take up to 30 minutes for him or
her to get there.

Note that all results are unofficial.

Thank you for using the ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert
presented by Road Runner High Speed Online. The ING New York City
Marathon is the premier event of New York Road Runners. Please visit
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org for complete results, photos, wrap-up
stories, and motivation for 2005.

Marathon Update: Keith J Kelleher at 20 Miles in 4:04:15

ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert for Keith J Kelleher (race number 24523)

20 Miles: 4:04:15
Pace per mile: 12:12
Projected finishing time: 5:19:58

Thank you for using the ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert
presented by Road Runner High Speed Online. The ING New York City
Marathon is the premier event of New York Road Runners. Please visit
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org for mile-by-mile coverage and athlete
tracking during the race.

Marathon Update: Keith J Kelleher at Halfway point in 2:30:14

ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert for Keith J Kelleher (race number 24523)

Halfway point: 2:30:14
Pace per mile: 11:28
Projected finishing time: 5:00:28

Thank you for using the ING New York City Marathon Athlete Alert
presented by Road Runner High Speed Online. The ING New York City
Marathon is the premier event of New York Road Runners. Please visit
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org for mile-by-mile coverage and athlete
tracking during the race.

Only a few days left.

I'm excited and nervous about the race on Sunday. THIS Sunday! Holy crap.

I've had a bit of a recurrence of the respiratory problems I was having a couple of weeks ago, but I'm getting better and I should be back to 100% by THIS Sunday. My foot feels great, no problems.

I've added some more crap to this blog. Pretty soon this blog is going to be like the screen on CNBC, where there's only a little bit of room left in the middle for actual content.

Occasionally I come across something that's cool or funny or whatever, and I want to share it with the world, but I don't want to push the running related stuff off the main page with drivel, so I've added a "Wist" gallery for the left side. I would like to mention one thing, because I think it's cool, and you might too, even though it's not running related. There's a site called PostCrossing where you can sign up and send and recieve postcards from random people scattered around the world. I sent five postcards last week or so, and I got four postcards this week, from England, Portugal, Spain, and Finland, so I'm excited about it.

Here's my history map. Isn't that cool?!


Anyways,
Rock on.
Keith.

Letter to my foot.

Dear left foot,

We've been together for as long as I can remember, and I hope you know that I love you and your brother more than any other appendage. I know you've been abused with all this training, and I know I could probably stand to lose some weight, and make things easier on you. We can talk about that later.

I often think of the wonderful times we've had together.
Remember the time we ran through that stream in upstate NY? It was so cold I thought I was going to pee my pants!
Remember when we tried that robo-massager at the Sharper Image? Good times.

But I'm not just hoping to pull your heartstrings so things can get back to how they were. I see now that the old pattern of our relationship wasn't fulfilling for you, and I'm willing to work on myself to change. If you like it, we can do some stretches or something, or maybe we could add a small amount of barefoot walking and running so that you become stronger. And we'll definitely buy new shoes at 400 miles instead of 500 miles, and we'll get the Nikes you like, and I won't insist on trying different shoes every time, even if they are beautiful and exciting and promise to do things the Nikes won't do. I know now how much it hurts when you and I are at odds like this.

So, I'm willing to do my part, and you seem to be coming around, not hurting so much, and I appreciate your effort too. On the other hand, foot, just so we're clear on this, if you make me drop out of this marathon, I'll cut you off, and I'll throw you in the East River.

Love,
Keith.

P.S. Sorry about the toenail.

My next obsession?

I registered for the NYCM lottery on January 31st, the first day it was open, and it was running around in my mind even before that. Actually, I started running in October 2003, and watched the NYCM special on TV about a month later. I taped it. I've watched probably 20 times, same thing with last year's race.

After I run it, what will I do? Will I stop running? Doubtfull. There may not be much of a gap between obsessions, I've been working on another one for a while already.

I have some friends I was planning on visiting next summer. And at about that time of year, there's a little footrace they have, at a little mountain they have...

The Poll is back up. You can relax now.

So the majority of people that responded to last weeks poll question - How Macho are you? - are 50 miles worth of macho. I think I would have answered the same way. At least I wouldn't voluntarily walk for races less than 50 miles. Even though I'd probably benefit from walking breaks, if only just to hydrate, but I'm just TOO DAMNED MACHO.

The One Question Poll wasn't working earlier in the week, so I took it down, but it seems to be back up and running now. The problem was on earthlink's end, not mine. And I spent about 45 minutes on an online chat with an earthlink representative trying to convince him that there was nothing wrong with my code, it was their code that was messing up. And during the process, he hit my webpage like 20 times, and my StatCounter showed that he was in India, which was funny because he said his name was Darryl! Darryl finally admitted that I was right.

Anywho, my foot feels fine, as it usually does after a couple days rest, but for some reason my other foot hurts. I think I might fall apart before I even get to New York.

Okay, gotta go, tie game, bottom of the ninth, throwing error on #1, burke steals third. Biggio's got 3-0 count.

Rock on.
Keith.

References on Subluxated Cuboid Bone.

I seem to be getting a lot of hits on this page for people searching for info on subluxated cuboids! Perhaps there are hundreds of us out there suffering in silence, when everyone believes our pain is imaginary! So I'm considering this a community service, this post is for them. You are not alone! I feel your pain! I'll provide a reference here for links and everything I've learned about lateral foot pain.

Cuboid Syndrome information at MyFootShop.com!
Nice article, includes treatment, description of the anatomy and biomechanics, and procedure to pinpoint the location of calcaneal cuboid joint.

CUBOID SYNDROME
Very long and detailed article. It's worth the time and effort to understand it, as it is a bit heavy on nomenclature. Google is my friend in situations like this, you can type "define:anyword" into the google search box and it usually comes up with something good.

Subluxated Cuboid Bone
An easier read and a good overview. I think Subluxated Cuboid was the injury of the month for Instep Dance Magazine for November 2002.

Pubmed:Cuboid subluxation in ballet dancers.
Primary research article on cuboid subluxation. Only the abstract is free.

Runner has pain on lateral edge of foot.
My thread at heelspurs.com where I asked some doctors about this. They were helpfull and responded very quickly, which was cool. Basically they told me to see a doctor, but one guy did include a nice list of possible explanations for my pain.
Dr. David S. Wander said: "I know you said you're too stubborn to see a doctor, but the bottom line is you really have to see a doctor to receive an accurate diagnosis. I can make some educated attempts at your diagnosis, but without an examination I am simply guessing. Differential diagnoses can range from a slight subluxation of the Cuboid, Cuboid syndrome, a stress fracture of the Cuboid, a fracture of the base of the 5th metatarsal, a fracture of an accessory ossicle of the Cuboid, peroneal tendonitis, a partial tear of the peroneus longus or brevis tendon....etc., etc., I know you wrote "thanks for curing me over the internet", but I have a feeling that you're smarter than that and realize that a history and examination are crucial to determine the actual pathology. It is extremely important that you seek medical attention to prevent a possible long term disability if in fact you ignore a potentially significant injury. Get off the computer and get over to the doctor to make sure that you're able to keep running. Keep me filled in on the actual diagnosis. Good luck."

I did spend some time on these articles and I have 5+ years post graduate study in Biology, so if you are one of my compatriots stricken with this malady, and are having trouble with them, I can help. Just email me. And those cats at heelspurs.com are pretty good too.

Rock on.
Keith.

Nobody Touch Me ! (updated with additional paranoia)

Nobody touch me for the next two weeks. I have to heal up and I don't have a lot of time. I can't risk you doing additional damage to me. I've worked too hard, in the hottest part of the Texas summer, to risk getting tripped up by you, or poked in the eye by you, or infected by whatever it is you're culturing in your body. I think a 20 foot donut of free space around me should be enough to prevent most injuries, at the same time, it isn't tooo crazy. A 100 foot donut would be crazy, a 20 foot donut is sensible. So that's a 20 foot donut for people, and maybe a 200 foot donut for birds. I'm freaking out about the birds now too, today I saw a mockingbird that seemed to be exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

I'm still limping a little bit from yesterdays 10 miler. The blisters aren't the main concern, but the aching cuboid. I'm really going to rest up these last two weeks. I'm not too proud to use the little motorized shopping cart at the grocery store. Maybe I'll even rent a Segway for these last two weeks. Then I could still join in the group runs on my Segway, and maybe I could even keep up with the rabbits.

Maybe I should be doing things like this all through training. I think I'd get the most out of my running, if I was resting as much as possible, and zipping around in a little motorized wheelchair whenever I'm not running. I should probably even set up the mechanical breather, to save my lungs for my intervals. Instead of wasting my breath talking, I can communicate with blinks. I'd only get up to run, and to sleep, and to empty the jar. Everything else can be done by my helper monkey.

Rock on. Don't touch me.
Keith.

Ten miles in my new Red Shoes

I ran 10 miles with the club this morning. It was difficult getting myself out of bed since I've been out of the morning running routine.

My left foot began to hurt again about eight miles in, but it wasn't too bad when I was running. It does hurt a lot more now though. I've vowed not to run more than 6 miles from now until race day, that seems to be a safe distance before it starts to hurt.

But I was preoccupied with other pains from about three miles on. And I kept cursing that stupid "no socks" rule, and that stupid mayor. I know it's a bad idea to go without socks for the first time on a ten mile run. And I knew beforehand that I'd get a couple of blisters and it would hurt a bit, but it seemed like I'd be doing my part for the team. It's troubling that I knew it was a bad idea and I still did it.

I hardly ever get blisters, and I guess I forgot how bad they hurt. At times it was like someone holding a match to my toes. And I didn't expect to see at the end that I'd bled completely through my shoes, and the whole insides of my shoes were red. I'll spare you the imagery of what my poor feets looked like when I took my shoes off.

Stupid mayor.

Keith.

Posting via email.

If you see this then it works, I've posted via email!

On a suggestion by RunSteve on JonWalks blog, I'm setting this blog
up to recieve email alerts from the NYCM athlete update thing. So
you can log on to this blog and see where on the course I am!

Rock on.
Keith.

New feature: The Community Mural.

Okay, so in the past couple of days, I think I said that the new blog feature would cure poverty. I may have even said that it would bring forth a new world order. On second viewing, such statements may have been a little over the top.

But I think the it's pretty cool. It's called the Community Mural, and it is a online drawing program, written in Java, where everyone works on the same picture, and people contribute something of themselves to the whole. Stuff you draw and save will be visible by anyone who views the mural from now until the end of time. It definitely would be more fun if many people contribute to it, so if it doesn't turn out to be all that cool, it's probably because people don't use it, and then it's kind of your fault, not mine.

So I hope it works on your computer, it works on Macs (requires OS 10.3+ and Safari 1.2+) and all Windows PCs that I have access to, and I don't have a linux computer so who knows about that.

Here it is.

Rock on.
Keith.


Edited to add this:
I kind of decided not to contribute to the mural myself, but I already broke that rule, I couldn't resist. I drew a small picture of totoro in the corner. :)

Congratulations to the Astros!

Of course, I had to mention this, as I'll bet a lot of other bloggers are too. But I'm proud of the Astros, they've waited so long for this, and it's good to see them celebrating. I've always had a lot of respect for players that stick with their team through difficult years, so it's great to see Biggio and Bagwell finally get what they deserve. And there are still players like that, not everybody is just out for the paycheck. I'm sure if I was kid growing up in this area, one of them would have been my hero, much like Don Mattingly was to me as a kid.

Just an update about my running, because I guess this is supposed to be a running blog. My foot is doing pretty well. I've been keeping my running short and slow and it hasn't bothered me for a while. I am still worried, because if it is a subluxated cuboid bone, as Dr. Keith diagnosed, it seems like if I do run until it hurts, I will be completely back at square one in terms of healing, because it will mean that the bone is again out of position. I've trained so hard all through the hottest part of the summer, and an injury would be the only thing that can keep me from finishing the NYCM.

And I know I promised to release a new blog feature today, but I can't step on the Astros like that. I'll let them have their day, and then the world can go crazy for me tomorrow.

Rock on.
Keith.

nycm countdown.

Many of my loyal readers will notice the "nycm countdown" at the left of the blog. Don't worry, this is not the groundbreaking new blog feature that I've been pimping for a couple of days. I think the countdown is only mildly cool. The new envelope-pushing feature will be out tomorrow evening. And I promise you, it will freak out your brain.

I can't wait to vote for another Clinton.

George Clinton and the Cabinet Funkadelic



Sorry, I'm in a strange mood. I have too many deadlines coming up.

Haile is unsatisfied with victory.

"I am not so happy," he said. "The last five kms I was not pushing. I need more training."

This was Haile Gebrselassie's take on his 2:06:20 marathon victory in Amsterdam yesterday (Sunday 16 October).

I know he want's to break the world record, and I think he can do it, but it illustrates a commonality he has with me and probably you too. We're never satisfied. There's no finish line. Goals met are merely an advertisement for bigger and brighter goals just a few miles down the road.

Just a little nonsense for you today, that's all, no running to speak of. I'm going to work on the super fabulous bloggalicious new feature that will probably bring forth a new world order, which will undoubtedly reverse the trend of increasing violence and poverty on this crazy little blue marble we call home.

Rock on,
Keith.

Taper time.

There's a lot to talk about today.

I'm starting the taper as of this moment, and it is going to be very light on running, even more than a taper usually is. I headed out for a 15 miler yesterday and was delighted to learn that my foot was completely pain free, for about 6 miles anyway. Then it set in, gradually increasing in intensity, and I made what I thought was the mature decision (a rarity for me). So I bagged it after 8 miles, and decided to start the healing immediately. I had two 21 milers and two 18 milers and a handful of 15+ milers, so hopefully that will be enough.

I think the majority of the training is behind me, and I don't think I can make significant improvements to my fitness in just 3 weeks. I can, however, blow it. If I keep pushing it and my foot is in its current condition, or worse, on race day, I'll be looking at a very long and painful 26 miles.

The pain is rather dull, but increases as I go, but by my estimates I think I can still complete this marathon. For yesterdays run, I had two good days of rest, and my foot was pain free for 6 miles, but I made 8 without too much trouble, and I think I could have gone 12 or so before it got too bad to continue. So with 3 weeks of high quality rest, perhaps I can heal up to a point where I can go 16 without pain, and 26 without dying.

I think the key will be to stick to short slow running, making sure to stop before it starts to hurt.

I was going to try some Powergel for the first time on this run too. Lisa and Cassie, who were kind enough to respond to last week's One Question Poll Question - "To Gu or Not to Gu," convinced me that it did have a place in a training plan, and I should find out how it affects me. They've reawakened the experimental spirit in my training.

There is a new One Question Poll Question this week. This one will test your running limits, when I try to find out "How Macho are You?"

I have more to talk about, I told you there was a lot to cover. There is something else I have been working on. Probably the coolest new feature to this blog, or any blog I've ever seen. I don't want to oversell it, but it will absolutely revolutionize the free world. But it's not quite ready yet, I think I'll put it up on Tuesday or Wednesday. So tune in soon and I will freak your mind out with this revolutionary new technology.

Rock on.
Keith.

it's a crying shame

Poor Seminoles.

It's time to run the bridge again.

I ran 4 miles or so on the Kemah bridge this morning. 5:00 AM, which seems early, but one member of our group, Bob, mentioned that he started his long run this weekend, even earlier. Get this... Saturday morning... I started my 21 miler at 4:00 and I thought that was early, but guess what time Bob started his long run... One twenty A. M.

There are a lot of really impressive runners at the club. Go ahead, ask Bob how many marathons he's done. He doesn't even know anymore.

My foot isn't any worse than yesterday, so that's something.

It took every bit of energy I had to wake up this morning. Getting down to the bridge by 5 means I have to get up at a quarter to four, and I've been out of rhythm for a couple of weeks now. I stay up late, and sometimes oversleep. I did make it down to the bridge on time, but I slept for another hour after I got back home.

Rock on.
Keith.

Why don't you go buy yourself a present today? You deserve it.

possible subluxated cuboid bone.

update : For anyone searching for information on lateral foot pain, I've compiled a list of sites and stuff for everything I've learned about it. I'm not sure it will be any more helpful than google, but here it is anyway.
Compilation of my knowledge

--

Well, Dr. Keith, with a consult from Dr. Google, has diagnosed my foot pain.
Subluxated cuboid bone.

It's a partial dislocation of one of the bones on the lateral portion of the foot. It's described as a dull pain, which sounds about right, and I do sometimes feel like there are some bones moving around in there, in ways they shouldn't. But it's not too bad when I'm running, although I did pay the price a bit more a couple hours after yesterdays run. It's an injury that supposed to be reserved for dancers, because they move side to side a lot more than others, but I guess I can have such an injury because I'm a big clumsy idiot.

Dr. Keith did the appropriate chiropractic adjustments for me and made me a subcuboidal support pad which may or may not help, we'll see. I think it can be managed.

Alarm didn't go off this morning...

... so I had to fit this one in this evening. 7.5 miles down Nasa Road 1 to Galveston Bay and back. This has become one of my favorite routes, and I drove down there because I just couldn't bear to run another hour plus run around my house. My foot hurt me a little bit at the beginning and then again at the end, but it was quiet for the majority of this run.

Re: lisaleese's question

Go Seminoles! 5 - 0 !

Recovering from my long run.

Hey America,

Well, I hobbled around the rest of the day Saturday and Sunday too, but my muscles are pretty much recovered now. Although there does seem to be something wrong with my foot. There's some pain on the outside edge of my foot, when I stand or walk for long periods of time, and I've had something similar about 6 months ago on my other foot. I searched all the right messageboards to figure out what it is, but no one seems to describe it the same way. Last time I blamed it on a new pair of shoes that I had, and I do have a fairly new pair of shoes right now, so perhaps that is the problem again. One of these days I'll learn to stick with the brand of shoes that work (I like to try different shoes each time). So I've been icing it a little bit, but I am such a pansy. It's too cold for my poor little feets.

I saw on Jon Walk's blog, that there is going to be a houstonbloggers page and logo which is really cool, and I'm glad to see that my name is included there.

On another note, one person has already noticed the new feature for the blog. A "One Question Poll," with this weeks question asking whether or not replenishing glycogen during your long run is essential to finish strong, or is counterproductive to your training. You can submit your opinion if you have one.

So far the leading answer is "Keith sucks."

Feeling like I'm back to my old form.

Like it says in the title, today I felt like I was back to my old form. Not my old old form, that would be bad. My old old form involves a lot of couch potatoing and unhealthy eating. The only goal that I had back then was to be buried in a piano box.

I had a great 21 miler this morning. I ran the whole way, with nice mostly even splits, just like the new old me. It is a great confidence boost for me, as you know as a loyal reader, I have been struggling, getting over an illness and getting over some of the mental barriers that I thought were behind me. On top of it all, the overall pace, was a few seconds per mile faster than my 10 mile race last week.

So it seems like pretty good ammunition for me to dispell the negative thoughts I have about that race, and about how "I've lost all my fitness," and "the NYCM is going to be a disaster for me," and "the piano box is waiting for me."

I ran with a woman from the club named Tonia, and two others, Nicole and Phyllis, joined in for segments. I have to admit, that Tonia carried me through this one, because it definitely wasn't easy for me. I could feel my legs start burning, as early as mile 10, and it was getting worse. I might have started walking if I was alone, but I decided to wait until it was really unbearable, to admit that I needed to slow down, but it never got that far.

Then I had breakfast with the rest of the club, and got to hear some stories about the St. George Marathon. I definitely can't miss that one.

Good news from St. George

7 runners from my club, the Clear Lake Fitness Club, ran the St. George Marathon this weekend. Some of them were interviewed for this article in the Galveston County Daily News : Club runners tackle Utah marathon.
Three of them, Rick, David, and Jackie ran fast enough to qualify for Boston, so I'm very happy for them.

I had breakfast with most of this group after our first 21 miler, and hearing them talk about this marathon made me sooo jealous. Ed had run it before and he said the whole race is incredibly beatiful. Running through the red rock mountains as the sun comes up seems like something I might just have to do someday. And it's two hours from Vegas, which seems like the perfect place for a post-marathon celebration. How much would you put on 26 Black?

There are several years worth of marathons on this list now. I also daydream about the Big Sur Marathon, and Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon, and maybe Goofy's Race and a Half. And of course, The Houston Marathon because I love Houston, and The Austin Marathon, because I like Austin too. I'm even under the impression that taking a crack at the Texas Marathon Challenge is in my not too distant future. And now there's St. George. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

While I'm listing this stuff, I have some inclinations beyond the marathon too. Namely the Big Bend Ultra Run, Sunmart 50K, and I hear nice things about the Tetons. This list oughtta keep me busy for a while.

-------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------

So I ran a bit last night and felt okay, and I ran 5 miles down on the Kemah bridge this morning, and felt pretty good, so there's some good news.

You see that, America? A week ago I was considering quitting running and getting extra extra fat and dying young and being buried in a piano box. A couple of decent runs later and I'm listing the marathons I want to do.

Space City 10 miler.

What a crappy run for me. I have no shortage of excuses, mainly the heat, and my illness. I finished around 1:44, which was 14 minutes slower than last year, and 10 minutes slower than a training run I had a few weeks ago. I think I'm fit enough to set a PR, but not today. It was too hot, and my legs were rubbery after only 4 miles or so. So I started walking, and it turned into one of the longest days of my life. I might still be out there, I'm not sure how, but I might be.

But I know something about myself. I've been running for long enough to realize that bad races are great for my training. A great race leaves me emotionally drained and sends me into a running slump that could last two months, knowing that PRs are going to be very difficult afterwards. But bad races seem to focus my training and usually are a good sign after all is said and done.

How about that for spin?

It's not just spin, I believe it.

Rock on.
Keith.

5.4 miles easy

I'll continue to post, even though it will push the big news down the page, where it's less likely to be seen. The big news being, the addition of a guestbook/questionnaire.

I ran with the half-marathon training group this morning, because the full marathon group was doing 12, and that's too far for the day before a race. I felt "okay," and the weather has cooled a little bit, so there's an outside chance that tomorrow's race won't be a complete disaster.

I'm very tired now, I didn't sleep last night, mostly because I was working on this questionnaire and the guest responses page. It came out very well, and like I mentioned yesterday, they have two of the greatest background images on the web.

From time to time I become possessed by this computer, usually it happens when there is some program I'm trying to write, and I'm testing different ways to get it to do what I want it to do. These webpages caused many problems, first of all because my ISP doesn't allow any kind of custom cgi scripts, or asp pages, so I had to make due with the one appropriate cgi script that they provide, and I had to write the GuestResponses page almost completely in javascript, which I am just learning. But they turned out good.

New feature for this blog.

As if this blog wasn't already the greatest bleepin' blog in blistory, I've added another feature. A guestbook unlike any other. A guestbook and a questionairre which will teach you, among other things, what is my favorite curse word? You'll learn a lot about me, and dare I say, perhaps you'll learn a little bit about yourself too. Also, the questionnaire has the greatest background of any website ever, and if that's not enough to pull in whordes of websurfers, I'll add this to the mix: You sign my guestbook and I'll sign yours, I promise.

Likewise with blog comments, leave a comment on my blog, and I'll leave one on yours. NO, TWO, I'll leave two comments on your blog for every one you leave on mine. Two for one, you can't go wrong with that. And they'll be clever comments too. Not just mindless "keep up the good work" stuff. I'll express sincere concern for your troubles with your bf, or I'll tell you that your right about something. I'll tell you you're right and you can use me as a confirmatory source in future arguments on that subject.

I could even help in other ways.

Need someone to call in sick for you?
(One guestbook signing and 5 comments)

Need someone to have your back when you tell your girlfriend's ex to stop calling?
(One guestbook signing and 20 comments)

Need to frame someone? - I know where to get a dead hooker.
(One guestbook signing and 100 comments)

So please sign in.

Take it easy peasy like a lemon squeezy.
Keith.

Still struggling

The announcement of my recovery was premature. My respiratory problems have reemerged, and made my running difficult again this week. I'm currently not too fatigued, but I don't really feel ready for a 10 mile race, like I planned for this weekend. But I'll get by, I'll get through it. On the upside, it looks like the weather may be pretty nice for the race, and I always perform best when expectations are at their lowest, and they couldn't be much lower right now.

Feeling a little better and running a lot better.

7.1 miles and I actually ran the whole way. Regardless of the fact that I shouldn't have any trouble with a 7 miler, and a few weeks ago I ran 21 with little trouble, I consider it a good run. But I've been having a rough time, and it was very warm this evening, so I say "Good for me."

After just a few days, a few bad runs, the mental barriers begin to return. Each mile feels like a milestone. Whereas a couple of weeks ago, those miles would have passed without notice, a drop in the bucket, as I chase some weekly mileage total.

All this week has been difficult, where my legs would feel like rubber after 1.5 miles, and I'd have to start walking shortly after that. I'm sure it was because I was getting over a chest cold, but my symptoms were very light, and my poor running was practically the only sign of illness. But it was lingering, and I actually considered going to see a doctor about it. And I'm a guy! I don't go to the doctor unless I need something sewn back on. I guess I'm really growing up.

Sad week for machismo.

This week in Texas, almost a million husbands swallowed their pride and listened to their wives and evacuated. And as a reward they got to run out of gas in gridlock traffic and spent 20+ hours on the roadside.

But machismo will return, because it's clear now that respecting Mother Nature is NEVER the right decision. Nobody will evacuate next time.

Beautiful day in Southeast Houston.

So far so good...

And it was beautiful this morning. Clear skies, cool breeze, no traffic at all. How could I resist a nice 4 miler this morning?
But the wind is picking up already. The trees outside are swaying more than I've seen them sway before, and it's still 18 hours or so before Rita's landfall.

Rita is expected to hit the coast sometime in the very early morning tomorrow, and my running schedule for tomorrow morning says "18 miles" so that's what I'm going to do. You can't argue with the schedule. It doesn't say "18 miles: weather permitting," or "18 miles: if you feel like it", it says "18 miles." And surely, doing stupid things and putting myself at risk is a great way to attract readers.

This will be just the first of the rediculously stupid things I'll do and then blog about on this site. Maybe next week, I'll run 15 miles in the hottest part of the day with no water. I'll run 16 miles consisting solely of laps on the Kemah bridge. I'll run 10 miles down I-45 during rush hour traffic - in the HOV lane! I'll use my RunningBuddy2000 to avoid the hassles from the cops about single people using the HOV lane.


That's just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned to see what stupid things I'll do.

Rita Go Home!

Ran three miles, still very tired for reasons unbenownst to me.

On another note, I'd estimate at least 3/4 of the population in my Pasadena neighborhood have evacuated, even though this is not an evacuation zone. It makes me wonder if I should have evacuated too, but apparently most people are stuck on the interstate, running out of gas, and possibly in a worse position than me.

So everybody's stuck on I-45, with no gas, and the current theory on what went wrong was that the evacuation plan didn't include all the voluntary evacuees from inland areas.

So the forecast sends Rita this way, then the next time its farther east, and now its back to being a little closer to us, so it's unclear how much of a problem it will be for us, and now Dr. Neil Frank says it might cross the coastline and stall out and rain on us for a year and a half. I have learned quite a bit about storm surge dynamics and eyewall wobble.

I'll keep all my lovely readers informed on the state of the city and how bad it gets here in the Southeast Houston area. Maybe that's a good hook for me to get some more readers. I'll post during the storm. And of course this is a running blog, so I guess I'll go out and run during the storm and then I'll blog about it. So stay tuned, I'll have war stories about dodging tornadoes and flying debris. I'll run into the evacuation zone and maybe I'll even run down by Kemah and I'll run and swim around and give an update on the status of everybody's homes and boats as I run by them.

Something is wrong with me.

I guess I'm still not feeling well, although most my symptoms have subsided. I'm only a little congested, but I had a lot of trouble with a three miler today. My legs were like rubber after 15 minutes of running. I hardly feel like the same person that was able to run 21 miles a couple weeks ago with very little trouble.

"Don't drop me, I'm the one that knows the route!"

Well, my weekly running goals fell apart this week, so it has kind of turned into a rest week. It's funny because I was thinking earlier this week that I should make this week an easier week, and then I can put in two solid weeks right before the Space City 10 miler. So I get a good rest week, with some added guilt for missing some scheduled miles.

I did put in 4 solid miles on the Kemah bridge on Thursday morning. And today's group run went well, after a bit of a shower very early on. I ran most of the way with a woman named Valerie, and it's funny, I think she only let me keep up with her because I knew the route. But we kept a good pace, I ran 9:20 per mile for 9.3 miles, which makes me feel good about my chances for setting a PR at the 10 miler (90:47 - 10/2004).

Keep on Rock-and-Rolling!
Keith.

Long long run.

Ufta, that was a long way.

Ufta was one of the words I learned when I was visiting relatives in Minnesota when I was a kid. The other one was bunza.

4:00 AM, we (Tonia and me) started down Nasa Road 1 and I felt like Gebrselassie. After about 5 miles we slowed down because it was going to be a long long day and we were going a bit too fast to keep up for 21 miles.
8 miles in is where the torrential stinging sideways rain began, just in time for us to slog over the Kemah bridge. But the rain kept me cool and took my mind off the huge distance I was trying to cover. The Kemah boardwalk was cool with no one around, and there were sheets of water flowing off the rooves. Then it was back to the park to finish up on the lucky pig trail. The trails were deserted and a bit flooded, but we saw several deer including some very small ones, and some type of giant rodent. No pigs.

I felt surprisingly good at the end, much better than a 30K I did a few weeks ago when it was much hotter.

Here was my route : HONK!

Then the group migrated over to Skeeters for a ginormous breakfast. A few hours later, I'm hungry again.

So that's all, back to sleep.

Life is like a bridge.

Stay with me on this one as I get philosophical.

Life is like a bridge.

Some people cross it and some people don't. Some people don't like bridges and get anxious when they drive over them. Sometimes there are people fishing from the bridge of life. At the same time, there are others that are sailing under the bridge, going a different way. Sometimes they're going fishing too. Either way it's not a safe place for fish.

You see, the bridge is like a gateway from one state to another, and the water is like reality, and we are the fish, you see?

So there you have it, life is exactly like a bridge, much like the Kemah bridge, where I ran 4 miles this morning.

Better today.

4.4 miles while the dryer dried my stuff.

Let me ask all my lovely readers something.

How do you choose marathon pace for the first marathon? Should I go with standard long run pace, or maybe a little faster?

The race predictor calculators say I should be able to run under 3:50, but that seems rediculous.

One of the 10% of my runs that falls below average.

I've estimated that 1 out of 10 of my runs falls below the average. Which is mathematically possible so long as those 10% are way way way below average. I'm exaggerating a bit, because it was nice for about 8 miles, and bearable for 2 more, and I had to walk a bit of the last two.

I drove down to Nasa Road 1 to run around the Space Center and Mud Lake. I'd rather not have to drive anywhere, but I find it difficult to psych myself up for another 2+ hour run around my neighborhood. I've been on these roads a billion times, and it seems that all I'm doing lately is dodging school busses, and crazy half-asleep parents taking their ugly kids to school.

I saw a skunk on NR1. And I saw a guy walking with sunglasses on already, it was before the sun had even risen. Both the skunk and the gangsta passed without incident.

Unsuccessful pighunt.

Okay, okay, so I may have promised that today's post would be better than average. I had a feeling that today would be the day when I would finally catch one of those magical pigs on the Seabrook trails and make him grant me a wish. I was prepared for a high speed chase, for possibly an epic hand to hoof battle. I was prepared to fight dirty, smearing mud in the pigs eyes, biting his little pig ears, punches and kicks to the groin, whatever it took.

I didn't even see any pigs, only a few stupid deer and a little black snake. So the post to end all posts will come at a later time, perhaps next Sunday. It has become more and more obvious that the main focus of all this training has nothing to do with some silly footrace, or testing my limits, or expanding my self confidence or anything like that. I just want to catch one of those pigs.

I felt a little tired, with rubbery legs for a while, but I managed to find a nice rhythm and enjoy this run. 10 weeks to go.

15 miles

I've decided I'm going to write this blog as if there actually were people reading it.

As you all know, it was a bit of a difficult week for me runningwise. And a few extra days off and a few difficult runs had me convinced that I had lost fitness in just a few days. "You've never been slower or fatter," said my inner voice. But I guess that was a bit of an exaggeration, and I felt pretty good today, and even had a good rhythm going for much of it. I didn't feel overly dehydrated or overheated at the end. So I'll count it as a rest week and move on.

For my records, this was my route : Bah!

Today was Ballunar Festival Day at the Space Center. There were at least 50 hot air balloons so that was cool. And one guy at the club led us through some Yogo stuff so that was cool too. I'm going to spend some more time stretching out, I occasionally have some minor tendonitises in my achilleseses, so I should pay more attention to them.

I hope all my lovely readers have a great day. Stay tuned for the next installment! I guarantee it will be the greatest blog entry that has ever been concieved by mortal man. You just might name your children after me when you read it. You might even change your grown kids' names.

Bridge

4 trips on the Kemah bridge with the club.

I felt quite sluggish and tired, which makes me think my motivation problems aren't 100% psychological.

Trying to kick the whybothers.

Ran only one mile today, because it seems I have a kind of a head cold. I call it the "whybothers."

Getting up at 4:00 for 12 miles... why bother?
Preparing a healthy dinner... why bother?


I think I'll sit down tonight and write out the reasons for bothering to do all this. I guess I learned something in that Cognitive Behavioral Psychology class.

10K at the trails.

It's become a bit of a weekly ritual for me, an easy sunday evening 10K at the Seabrook trails. I felt good and ran the whole way. I did start late and it was quite dark for the return trip. For part of the run, I even ran with my arms outstretched in front of me so that I wouldn't run into a tree. A more intelligent person would have walked a bit until the darkest part had been passed.

I saw three deer cross the trail just in front of me, but didn't see any of the magical pigs.

After a run in the dark, whether it is late like today, or rediculously early, things look and feel differently. The air seem cleaner, lights are brighter and more vibrant.

-- 11 weeks until the NYCM.

The first post.

I'm currently training for the New York City Marathon, my first marathon. This week was a recovery week, where my weekly mileage was about 32 (38 counting tomorrow). Last week was a weekly mileage PR for me (50.4 miles), with a long run PR as well (18.4 miles).

I guess things are on track for the marathon which is 11 weeks from now. I have no major aches or pains, although I was excessively fatigued from last weeks long run. Only yesterday did I start to feel like my old self.

Today's run went well, I started around 5:10 AM and ran 3 miles with Jim and Tonya from the Clear Lake Fitness Club. We then met up with the main group and I ran 9 more with the group.