Why is there a hole in my brain?

I volunteered for an MRI study at Baylor College of Medicine, where they give you a couple bucks and a copy of the structural data for your brain. It was an interesting experience, I've never had an MRI before.

They said they didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but even I can see that there's a big hole in my brain! What's up with that?!?!

Okay, I do study neurobiology myself, so I know there's supposed to be some fluid filled ventricles that run through the brain, so I guess it's normal to see. So, maybe there's supposed to be a hole there, but then what's up with the 'lack of hole' on the other side? There's either too much hole on one side, or not enough hole on the other side. Something ain't wright. And is it me or does it look like the right side is trying to take over some territory from the left side? And is my skull supposed to be so lumpy? The side view shows there's a big lump on the top of my head too.

And I think I can feel that there's something a little more 'holey' on the left side. Or maybe it feels a little less 'holey' on the right side. And sometimes I don't remember people's names and sometimes I can't remember some of the details about the things I learned in colege. Occasionelly I seem to have some trouble with abstraktergedanke. And one time I was watching something on televisiona nd during the comercial I started changing channels and I totlaly forgot what I was watching and I coundn't find it again. Now that I'm thinking of it, it was Smallville. Maybe I'm okay.

Listening to: Cat Stevens - Miles From Nowhere ('cause I'll drink to you, my baby)

Keith.

Jell-O Turkey - Jell-O Turkey - Jell-O Turkey

People seemed to like the Jello Turkey last year, so here you go. Enjoy.



I may post something soon. Times are rough with my running. I've got a bit of a pain in my quadricep ever since San Antonio. It's not too bad, but I've cut back on my running. I'm not sure I'll be able to get another 20+ miler in. I ran Saturday, an easy 6 miles, and it was okay. The best thing was that my buddy Robby Sabban, race director extraordinaire for the Seabrook Marathon, heard me complaining about not finding a hat to replace my NYCM hat, so he tracked one down for me that says "San Antonio Road Runners." Thanks Robby!

Incidentally, the Seabrook Marathon has added another half marathon on Saturday so you can have that option too. You can even run the half on Saturday and either another half or the full on Sunday and get a third medal, kind of like the Goofy Race at Disney. There's lots of cool stuff in the goodie bag, like a running hat, and trail running socks, and of course there's a shirt (a tech shirt) - all you need to bring is your shoes and a pair of shorts or something.

I suckered a couple of the people I work with into running the relay with me, and they've been training too. I still have to rope one more carcass into running or else I may have to run 2 legs.

Listening to: Beck - Nausea (I eat alone in the desert; With skulls for my pets)

Keith.

San Antonio Marathon - 4:29:06

Here we are at the start, from left to right, there's me, Holden, Phyllis, Tonia, and Rex, chilling out before the start, talking trash, guaranteeing crazy crazy things.

I did many things wrong the morning before the race, including not giving myself enough time to get to the start, not bringing enough money for parking ($10!), not having any suitable food before the race, not having any gels or anything to bring, and forgetting my watch. I got there only 20 minutes or so before the start, but it was enough time to find my buddy Holden, and my other buddies Phyllis, Rex, Tonia and Bart, and chit chat a bit.

I liked the San Antonio course. The first part is around about the downtown area that squiggles around for about 4 miles before heading South. Some people don't like it when there's a lot of turns, but I do, it keeps things interesting. The majority of the course is South of downtown and passes by the missions. The scenery is nice and a lot of it is much like the bayous of Houston.

I ran the splits of a veteran marathoner, with almost even pace for the two halves (2:14:25 for the 1st half and 2:14:42 for the 2nd half), and since I was telling people I wanted to run around 4:30, it seems as though I'm pretty freaking awesome. If you'd like to believe that then skip down to where it says "Overall, it was a great time".

The truth is, I wanted to run a 4:20, and I had two major problems slowing me down, one in each half of the race. In the first half, I had some issues with my stomach and had a lot of trouble finding my rhythm for the first 11 miles. Perhaps it was the Powerade and the candybar that I grabbed at a convenience store. I eventually got over it and felt better, and the splits from the race do show that I had a section in the middle where I was running about 30 seconds per mile faster than the beginning or the end.

In the second half, about mile 22 or 23, I ran out of gas and crashed. I'd muster up some gumption to run again, and about a quarter to a half mile later, I'd walk. When my heart rate slowed down again, I'd do it all over again. The problem, I think, was just plain-old lack of fitness. I hadn't run anything longer than the Houston Half Marathon since the last marathon, and I think I should have. Perhaps my problems could have been masked a little better if I had brought my own gels, but I was relying on those from the water stations, and they were not always available when I needed them.

Overall, it was a great time. I'd like to do this race again. And for the next race, I know what I can do better: prepare food and money for the morning before, bring my own gels and maybe water, and run some more long runs.

The Sunmart 50K is only 3 and a half weeks away already. It seems very short. I'd like to do another long run before then, maybe 20-22 miles, and it would have to be next week.

Above is the gang from the CLFC, chilling out by the finish line with their aches and their pains and their medals.

Listening to: The Killers - When You Were Young (Can we climb this mountain? I don't know; Higher now than ever before, I know we can make it if we take it slow.)

Rock on please.
Keith.

San Antonio Expo

It's impossible to not get excited in this environment. Race numbers, chips, tee-shirts, the smell of determination fills the air.

At the expo, I found some free copies of Inside Texas Running, and I picked one up, happy to see it was the issue with my race report from my little run with Dean. I wandered around a little and, low and behold, I stumbled on some free copies of Inside Texas Running, and I picked one up, or accidentally two. Later on, I grabbed another. I chatted a little with Roger Soler and told him I registered for the TMC, and mentioned my concerns about Dean's run qualifying for the TMC. The conversation was a little confusing, so I don't know if it's going to count or not. Dean told me they would send a finisher's certificate, but I'm not sure if it will certify what I need it to certify. I'm starting to believe that, by the end of the season, I'm going to have to run 6.

I was trying to find a hat that says San Antonio Marathon, but never found one. My hat from the NYCM isn't even blue anymore, it's in pretty bad shape.

The tee-shirt for the marathoners is beautiful, my favorite race shirt ever. It's dark green with a tan and brown depiction of the missions on the front and it says:

SAN ANTONIO MARATHON 2006
marathon of the americas

And on the back, nothing. No collage of tiny logos, it's very nice. Usually, I wind up wearing a race shirt when it's the last clean thing in my closet, but this one I like.

So far, San Antonio Rocks! I'll have to come back just to waste time and check out the restaurants and stuff. Downtown is very cool, and there's music audible at every block. Every so often, the crowds reveal a person, maybe a man or a woman, young or old, but they all share the same look of purpose, and, of course, the same little grey bag, with the same complement of coupons and raceday goodies.

Well, I've got about an hour and a half until spaghetti-o'clock with a small group from the CLFC.

Listening to: some guy in some bar - You May Be Right (I've been stranded in the combat zone, I walked through Bedford-Sty alone.)

Keith.

Dean v. Lance

This morning was the last group run, a little 8 miler, as we taper. It was the first time back with the group since my last marathon, and it occurred to me, some people that promised me hugs, didn't pay up (Brenda, Vicki, am I forgetting somebody?).

Anyway, next Sunday, I'll run marathon #2 out of 5 for the Texas Marathon Challenge in San Antonio!!!

Set your VCRs. Tomorrow (Sunday), NBC, 12:30-1:30 PM, NYCM highlight show. Lance Armstrong is trying to break 3 hours supposedly, although, if he's like me, maybe he has an easy public goal and a challenging private goal. Incidentally, my goal for San Antonio is to finish in ten and a half hours. My old buddy Dean Karnazes, finishing up his 50 marathons in 50 days. I would like to see how fast he can run it after all this. Can he beat Lance? (I think he can)

I wish I was there. I was there last year, injured. Perhaps someday, I'll make a triumphant return to NY, and I'll win it.

Listening to: Nirvana - Stay Away (?)

btw, Pay up!
Keith.

Above average run at the Houston Half.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I had no clear goal for the race. I thought about running it easy. I even thought about running it in my Forrest Gump costume. My PR was 2 hours, 0 minutes, and 16.9 seconds from two years ago, and I did think that I could probably break it without too much difficulty.

So I thought I'd try to break 2 hours, and so it probably wouldn't be comfortable to run in costume. But then I thought, as long as I'm not going to run in costume, why don't I just Rock and Roll like nobody ever has before? Why don't I lace up my golden shoes with my golden laces and blow everybody's minds? Why don't I shock the world and run like a great and magestic golden firebird? Why not? Why don't I put on my shoes and fly? I'm fit like never before. And so, I was determined... This day, my feets would inspire the world. Who knows, I might even break the 50th percentile in my age group!

The first part of the race, I was trying to run on pace for 2 hours even. I had my GPS with me, so I knew the first few miles were right on pace. Before too long, I was seeing splits around 8:40, and I'm pretty bad at judging my pace, but I can usually tell if the level of effort is something I can stand for a given amount of time. It didn't seem too difficult, so I decided to stick with that level of effort. I didn't consciously pick up speed, but some of the later miles, around 8-9, I saw a couple splits around 8:00 and one at 7:44, and I thought there might be something wrong with my watch - but the distances were consistent with the mile markers.

It was around this time that I was finishing up my second loop, and I had a prime viewing location to see Sean Wade cross the finish line in front. I'm happy to say that I didn't get lapped - I was about 2 seconds away from it, but it didn't happen. I saw him again around mile 11 marker as he was warming down, and congratulated him, he told me "Keep it up. Two to go." He was accurate, there was about 2 miles to go, and the time was 1:34 - 16 minutes away from a 1:50 half marathon. That was something I hadn't really considered as a possibility before the race. I thought I might be able to handle a 1:55 if I had a good day. I reallocated a small amount of sugar to my brain to crunch the numbers, and I saw that if I had a couple more 7:40's I could break 1:50. So I beared down, did my EQ impression, and I ran the last two in 7:41 and 7:35. I crossed the finish line at 1:49:35.7 with a 10+ minute PR, and I was probably the most surprised person in the city.

It's a very good race, and doing multiple loops isn't bad like I thought it would be. It's kind of nice to get to see everybody multiple times. And I like the fact that it's the inaugural half marathon, I always wanted to get in on the ground floor of a race and run it every year.

It was a good day. And did you see my friends Linda and Brenda from the CLFC? They were the two fabulous babes in bikini's cheering everybody on, I looked forward to seeing them every lap.

It was good to see everybody again. It seems like it's been a long time. Jen, Holden, Jessica, June, Jon, Edwin, Vic, Steve, Joe, Bill - you guys ROCK! And I saw Lisa out there briefly, but I was running and didn't realize it was her until too late, and Erin cheering me on each lap as well - thanks E. Where was Barbara? and JD & J? I guess I missed them, I assume they still ROCK!, but I can't be sure since I didn't see them directly.

Listening to: Sponge - Molly (Sixteen candles down the drain.)

Good night.
Keith.

Discounts and Medals...

Okay, I'm in. I signed up for the Houston Half yesterday evening. I have to say the thing that affected my decision the most was the discount I was promised by Vic, and the medal I was promised by Barbara.

It should be good. Since I ran out of gas on Thursday morning, I've been gradually feeling better, and I'm starting to feel the itch to run again. I'm not clear on what my goal is. I think I might be in shape for a PR, but the real goal is San Antonio in just two weeks. But then again, two weeks should be long enough for me to recover, should I decide to run it strongly.

I'm also considering running in costume.

Listening to: Ben Folds Five - Philosophy (And you were laughing at my helmet hat; Laughing at my torch; Go ahead and laugh all you want; I got my philosophy)

Keith out.

Wanna see me do the bee dance?

Okay, since I can't run anymore, I can blog about something else that I think is really cool, and once in a while somebody says they like to read about the science on my blog.

I attended another interesting seminar yesterday, this time it was about honeybees, and the way they communicate and the way the make decisions. I don't know how much you know about this, but honeybees can communicate the location of a food source to other bees by doing a little dance. They wiggle around and walk in one direction, and the length of their dance is proportional to the distance of the food source, and the angle they move in is equal to the direction of the food with respect to the sun. There's a little video of it on youtube, it's adorable : Link. So, in this way they can communicate the direction and the distance of the food they found to all the other bees.

They also do the same dance when they're moving to a new home, and they find a good site for their hive, and they want to tell everybody about it. It's pretty interesting because they all move together, and their decision making process is very efficient, as they always choose the best option. (They have very well defined preferences for their homesite - they prefer large volume cavities, with small entrances, that are high off the ground) The guy presented their strategies in the context that we could learn a thing or two when we have to make our own decisions as a group. How often does a group of people choose the best option?

They have scout bees that go out, and find sites, and return and tell everybody where they are. Initially there are lots of different sites, and some bees are doing their little dances for a variety of them, but dancing for the best sites persists and eventually everybody is dancing for the same site.

Some key points to their decision making process:

There are a lot of options initially, everything is considered.

No bee ever dances for a site without visiting it herself. So, there's no conformity for conformity's sake.

They take their time to decide. They have to take their time, only the scout bees are prepared for long distance flight. Everybody else is semi-dormant and just hanging out, and they can't just jump up and fly off the moment one bee comes back and is fired up and in love with some particular site.

The scouts report their opinion of a site a few times, but then they stop. Good ideas persist by the action of other bees, who have visited the site themselves and agree that it's good.

They wait for a fairly high quorum before they begin preparing for flight. By the end, 80-100% of the scouts are in agreement as to which way to go.

I think it's interesting anyways. There's nobody making the final decision, they decide together, and they make the right choice. There's also some interesting things about how they know when it's time to finally pick up an go too.

Anyway, I still don't know what I'll do about the race on Sunday. One downside to running as much as I have in the past few days is that I don't ever want to run ever again.

Listening to: Nothing

Keith out.

I can't do it.

I skipped the bridge run and decided to run 7 flat miles around my home later in the morning. I made it 3.4 miles before I quit and walked home in the rain. It was a good idea, but I can't do it. Maybe someday, when I'm physically and mentally stronger.

Listening to: John Mayer - Bigger Than My Body (Yes I'm grounded; Got my wings clipped; I'm surrounded by all this pavement.)

K.

coasting...

This big bump in mileage is an interesting experiment, you should try it.

I'm tired all the time, and I'm hungrier than I've ever been. I'm not sure if that part is psychological but they're making fun of me at work for having lunch and then having lunch #2 later on. I'm hungry, but somewhat nauseated too.

You know when your 75% through your long run, and your tired, but still running fast. And sometimes you even feel like you're coasting, and even picking up speed. That's what the last 3 runs have felt like the whole time. It seems like this training is probably very good for me, so long as I don't get hurt. I think it would be good for me to build mileage up to this point where I can do it for more than one week. It's something for me to think about for next year.

I ran 4.4 this morning, and 5 this evening. This day is the easy day and I was hoping it would be a little easier. I was curious as to my pace, so I took along Señor Limpio for my distance and splits. Tonights' five miler gave me splits of : 10:16 - 9:27 - 9:37 - 9:24 - 8:58.

It's very gratifying. I feel tired, but I can keep running, and it doesn't get much worse, and I seem to pick up speed.

Well, I'm zoning out and staring into space, so I think I should go to bed. The Kemah bridge is waiting for me in the morning. :|

Listening to: Nirvana - Stay Away (Give an inch, take a smile; Scratch an itch, scratch a style)

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssleeeep!
Keith.

If p->q, then q->p.

Elite guys run at least 70 mpw, so if I run 70, then I'm elite, right?

If you just joined us, I got the wild hare to run as many miles as I can this week, as the last week for intense training for the San Antonio Marathon, and somehow I settled on 70 miles for the week. I've had a couple weeks of recovery since my last marathon, so I'm feeling anxious, and I'm trying to desperately cram in a bunch of training in the last week before my taper.

After two days, I'm still on track, with 20 miles so far, but this is going to be very difficult. I'm already tired, and this morning, for some reason was even worse. I struggled through 4 miles around my house. This evening, I scheduled myself for 9 miles at Memorial, so I was concentrating all day on resting, hydrating, and fueling. I had a big salad for lunch, and I had some rice for lunch #2, and I had a few plums and some cake from my buddy Heather's birthday. I guess I did a good job preparing myself, because the 9 miles wasn't as hard as I had expected. Lap 2 was difficult, but somehow lap 3 was okay. Maybe it's because I saw Vic early in lap 3, and Vic Rocks! I'm pretty tired now though. I have a very early wakeup call tomorrow, so it should be interesting to see how I feel in the morning. My guess is not so energetic.

I'm considering running the half on Sunday. Barbara and Vic both mentioned it, and I'm not too good with peer pressure. I think if I had some friends that were into drugs in high school, I'd probably be a smack-addict right now. And everybody's running it.

But it's 40$. Is there a medal? The website doesn't mention one. And I wanted to run with my buddy Tonia, who can't make the group run on Saturday, and has to run on Sunday.

Listening to: System of a Down - Chop Suey (Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup (You wanted to); Why'd you leave the keys upon the table (You wanted to);)

Keith tired. Keith go sleepy now.

When will I crash and burn?

It's been a while since I've done any silly attention-seeking stunts, hasn't it?

I ran again this evening, as well as this morning, and I had an idea. Sometimes they stick, and this one took hold, so let's rock on! I have three weeks until San Antonio, so this is basically the last week I can really tire myself out, and the weather is so nice! Let's see how many miles I can run in one week. I had 3 or 4 weeks in the low 50's over the summer, and I'll have to check my log, but I think my record is something like 52 miles. I like to bite off more than I can chew, so I'm going to shoot for 70+, here's the plan:

	AM	PM
Monday	4 miles	2.9 miles
Tuesday	4 miles	9 miles
Wednesday	4 miles	5 miles
Thursday	7 miles (bridge)	4 miles
Friday	4 miles	3 miles
Saturday	16 miles
Sunday	10 miles
Total	72.9 miles

I know I might benefit more from longer runs once a day, but this is only about the numbers. This is about machismo, and I've got something to prove dammit!

Feel free to guess how many miles I will end up with after Sunday. Will my body hold up? (my cuboid is fine, but ever since the marathon, there is something funny going on with one of my right toes) Will I tire out and quit? Will I oversleep and miss some morning runs, or will I become too busy and miss some evening runs? Will I lose interest in this silliness and try to be more reasonable?

Listening to: Ben Folds Five - Zak and Sara (Sara told the friendly salesmen that, "you'll all die in your cars" and "why's it gotta be dark?" and "you're all working in a submarine.")

Keith.

Bread and Butter.

It's been a long time since one of my routine 4 mile runs through the hood. Everything has been some kind of a special run, or a race, or in another city. It's nice to be home.

I'm looking forward to getting back in the rhythm, although I guess it's almost time for my next marathon, so that should shake things up again. I miss the streak. That was the most enjoyable time for me. My soul thrives on consistency. I'm enjoying some nice fresh fruit and listening to some Ben Folds. He's coming to Houston next week to play with the Houston Symphony, and I'm going to the show, so that should be cool.

Listening to: Ben Folds - Give Judy my Notice (Tears fall, but that don't mean nothing at all. Cause I said it first, yeah that's why it hurts you.)

I'll rock on if you rock on.
Keith.

Poor poor Five-Dog!

Motivation comes and goes quickly these days. I ran 6 miles this morning, and I'm hoping my base is strong enough to withstand a little downtime at this moment. Atlanta was tiring, and a few days off have been disruptive as always. I'm tired, and I think I'll take a nap right now.

Well, my poor dog, The Five-Dog!, finally passed away shortly after I got back from Atlanta. His fever had returned, even while taking two different kinds of powerful antibiotics. It seems the infection was too much. I've tried to keep myself busy and spend some time with some very good friends.

He was a runner too, but like most, he never reached his full potential. When I adopted him from the track, they gave me his racing history, and his 5/16 mile PR was 31.52 seconds (1:40 m/m : 35.7mph)! It also shows his last place finish in his last race. Apparently he got tangled up in the first turn, fell, and broke one of his back legs. The comments for the race still show that he "trailed in." The injury ended his running career, and he got to retire early and spend 23+ hours per day on my couch.

He always had a limp from that injury, but at times, it seems he would forget about it, and run around like a crazy animal, jumping and spinning around, more than 360° in mid-air. And when I rented a room in a house near the medical center, he could get excited about something, and bound up and down the stairs repeatedly, three strides to the top, and two to the bottom, and repeat. I'd grab him to try to calm him down and he'd be so wired, I couldn't contain him and he'd continue his rampage.

He scared me another time, when I found a pool of blood on the floor. I looked all over him, and couldn't find any cuts of any kind, and I couldn't find any cuts on myself either. I concluded that he ate something and was bleeding internally, and probably only had a few moments to live. But it was very confusing, because he was so happy, and excited. Later on I found his injury, in the one place I didn't look, which was at the very tip of his tail. Apparently he wagged his tail and beat it against the wall enough to open it up. Then, I looked around and saw the blood on the walls where streams of blood had flown off his wagging tail and left streaks on almost every wall in my apartment.

My old lady friends and everyone else around here always ask about him, so I'm not really looking forward to those conversations over the next few days. He was always happy to see them, and he would have been happy to see you too.

Listening to: Michael Nyman - Unnamed

Keith.

Pressing on...

Last week I posted a question as to whether I should kick the caffiene and junkfood and negativity and live the life as I should, or if I should stay on the edge, where there's always the risk of quitting running and getting world-record fat.

It's funny that the opinions expressed only slightly favored living the good life. :)

My friend Jenny, that I've been training with 'virtually' for a couple of years through coolrunning.com said that I seemed like a different runner, ever since the marathon. She noted, that just how I write about running seems like it's just an undeniable fact of life now, that will always be there, and I think she's right. My attitude has changed since the marathon. It's much harder for me to deny that I am in good shape. I know I'm not that fast, but I was running strong at mile 25, and it takes a lot of work to get there. Not everybody can do it. I'm never comfortable patting myself on the butt, but it's true. What happens next isn't even a question.

I know a proud and strong Keith isn't good for my hitcount. You never know though, maybe next week, I'll have a bad run, and my attitude will come crashing down. Maybe at that point, I'll melt up some ice cream and peanut butter and Velveeta and mainline it right in my arm! Aaaaiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee! Velveeeeeeeeeta!!!!

Listening to: Robert Plant - Innuendo (Till the mountains crumble into the plain; Oh yes we'll keep on tryin'; Tread that fine line; Oh we'll keep on tryin' yeah.)

Keith.

More running in the city.

7.3 miles yesterday, 5.4 miles today. I think I'm not quite recovered from the race. I've been starting to feel sore and achey after just a few miles. I'll keep it short tomorrow, and see if it helps. It's nice to get to know the whole city by running through it.

It was raining this morning, as I was heading out. I hesitated, and thought about spending some time on the hotel treadmills instead, but just then, the doorman told me to have a nice run in the rain, so I said, "okay thanks," and had to go. I ran from midtown to downtown and back. I mapped it here. Yesterday, I ran around Georgia Tech and Piedmont Park, and ran in some crazy circles and stuff because I only vaguely knew where I was going.

Geekfest is nice. Despite having accomplished nothing in this field, I've gotten to know a lot of people, and now there all scattered around, some in Minnesota, and Connecticut, and Austin, and Seattle, and Germany, and wherever. Everybody makes the trip back for the big Neuroscience meeting, and it's nice to catch up. I've seen almost everybody, with some notable exceptions, like my buddy Shigeo, who is stuck in Japan.

Tomorrow's the last day. It's a pretty exhausting thing. I'll be glad to get back home.

Listening to: Horatio Sans - Season's Greetings (I wish it was Christmas today.)

Keith.

Geeks Rule!

Geekfest 2006 goes to the home of the Braves! The Geek-Factor has never been higher anywhere on the east coast, and I'm proud to say, with me here, it's just a little bit higher.

I'm reporting to you live from the ATL, here for the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience. Geeks from all over the globe have traveled here, over 25,000 of them already, and we'll be here for most of the week, reporting all our findings about various kinds of geekery. I'm staying at the OMNI Hotel, which is just a hundred feet from the convention center. It's very nice here, as long as you don't go outside. Outside, you're gonna die.

There are several sources of stress that should be relieved after this week. This meeting is not really a vacation, and I'm supposed to present my data tomorrow too. I wasn't nervous about it, but I started getting nervous today. I've been telling myself that nobody that knows my project better than me, I'll let you know tomorrow if that's true.

I did get back to running this morning. 3 miles and I felt like a hundred dollars. My muscles didn't feel sore at the beginning but started to rather quickly. But it was a good run. Atlanta's not all that bad, I was just being an ass, earlier. There are a lot of nice hills here, and it was cold, like forty-something.

Listening to: Rick Ross - Hustlin' (I know Pablo........Norieaga, the real norieaga, he owe me a hundred favors.)

Keith.

Off to the A-T-L

Still no running for me yet. And I'm beginning to get a little itchy to get back into it. I planned to go this morning, but I strained my back on Thursday changing a flat tire, and I have to baby it a little. And I've got about a bajillion things to do today, since I'm leaving for Atlanta for a convention this afternoon.

So, I'll be out of town most of next week, but I should still have internet access, and of course I'll have access to my running shoes and the outside. I'm looking forward to running in Atlanta.

Anyway, I still have to pack, and kennel up my double-b, and I have to go to the store to get some food for him to have at the kennel.

Listening to: Limp Bizkit - Counterfeit (?)

My vices: sugar, caffeine, and sarcasm

Thanks for all your kind words, everybody. You guys rock!

Just to address a couple of comments:

Steve: I didn't talk to him a whole lot, just some encouragement from him at mile 21, and some chit-chat at the book signing. Seems like a nice enough guy. Firm handshake, looks you in the eye and everything. He was a little shorter than I thought though, maybe 5'7" or so.

Vic: You owe me a real hug.


Through last night, I felt fine, much better than expected, but getting out of bed this morning was surprising. Everything is sore, and there's a minor problem with one of my toes. It's swollen and hurts to bend it. I think it's probably nothing. The good news is there's no problems with the bone we do not speak of.

I'll think about running tomorrow night. Maybe an easy lap around Memorial.

I feel like I've overcome a barrier by just getting myself to the start line uninjured and still motivated. I have about four weeks before San Antonio. I have to admit, I'm more excited about running well at the Sunmart 50K in December.

There are so many improvements I can make. Perhaps, it's time I kicked things up a notch. I only pretend like I'm an athlete for a few hours a day, maybe I can pretend I'm an athlete most of the day, or maybe even all of the day. What would happen if I started eating like an athlete? Or if I started doing more than just base-building? What would happen if I started weight training, like I've been saying I'm going to do one of these days?

I guess the dieting is the main thing. I could stand to lose 10 pounds or 15 pounds, and I'm sure the ultra-convenient food I eat is not the ideal fuel for a finely tuned athlete like myself. I have a book called "Eating for Endurance," by Phil Maffetone. I've had it for months and haven't even opened it. Maybe I should open it.

I'll only do it if it would make for good blogging though. Would you folks like to hear about that? Or do you like to hear about me struggling with my snack-cracker addiction? Do you really want to see a Keith that's strong and empowered, fueled by fruits and whole grains and unrefined love? Something tells me that a Keith that is flawed and tormented and fueled by sugar and caffeine and sarcasm is more compelling.

Listening to: Wierd Al - Dare to be Stupid (Put down the chainsaw and listen to me.)

Keith.

The Endurance 50 - Texas

Hey bloggers. I finished! I'm exhausted. Dean ran it in 4:12:20, and I was about 5 minutes back, finishing in 4:17:12 (9:49 m/m). You can read his report here.

Here are my splits:

1 : 10:11	11 : 9:10	21 : 10:13
2 : 9:11	12 : 9:16	22 : 9:27
3 : 9:25	13 : 9:09	23 : 9:54
4 : 9:43	14 : 9:21	24 : 10:14
5 : 9:54	15 : 9:20	25 : 10:55
6 : 9:14	16 : 9:15	26 : 9:47
7 : 9:25	17 : 8:54	26.98 : 8:53
8 : 9:03	18 : 9:13
9 : 8:53	19 : 9:45
10 : 9:26	20 : 9:49

It rained very hard at the beginning, and less hard later on. But I'll take cold rain over hot sun any day of the week.

The distance on my GPS came out longer than expected, and it had lost signal a bunch of times, but I do think the course was a bit long too, and I made a wrong turn around mile 23 that cost me a couple minutes. Another thing that cost me a couple minutes was the dead legs and no energy after mile 22. It was pretty rough at that point. The last couple of miles were incredibly exciting, knowing that I was going to be able to run the whole way in, and run a decent time, like I thought I could. Did you think I could?

Dean was all over the place, pacing very inconsistently. I'll bet it hurts him to go so slow. For the first five miles, he was out of sight way behind me, and then somehow, with no notice, he passed me. And then later he was way way behind again, and then, at mile 15, boop - there he is, and just as quickly, beep - he was out of sight behind me. I started struggling around mile 21 and he passed me for the last time. He asked how I was doing, and I said "I might make it." He was very reassuring, and encouraging. It was at this time, when someone else asked him what his heartrate was at that moment, and he looked at his watch and said "110." 110!

So, I didn't get on the bus, but as it turns out I don't think there even was a sag-bus, sucking up runners that dropped off pace, like I expected. There were even several runners finishing well over 5 hours. But knowing the course was a problem at the end, and it was unclear which way to go, when everyone was spread out. It's basically my first marathon, not counting the time I hobbled through the NYCM - 66 minutes slower than today. When people ask what my marathon time is, I usually say, "well, I've only done one, and I was injured." Not anymore. I'm proud of my 4:17.

I got a bunch of stuff in the goodie bag, including:

An Endurance 50 tee-shirt

A Timex running hat

A NorthFace visor

A pair of running socks

A water bottle with Dean on it.

Another water bottle that says Endurance 50, and one of those stretchy things that make it easy to carry.

A Luke's Locker ID tag

A sample of Optimum Power cereal

A Cytomax Gel

A package of Cytomax Drink Mix

A coupon for some free insoles

I think I get one month of coaching, but there's nothing in the package about it. We got some emails about it.

A copy of his book "Ultra Marathon Man," which I got signed.

A picture frame for our group photo, which is also signed.

Dean told me that they send a finisher's certificate, which would be valid for the TMC, but I'm not sure how they know I finished or not. I got him to write something about the TMC inside the book, so at least I can scan it and send it to Roger Soler, so he knows that Dean vouches for me for running the whole way. And I vouch for him, Dean ran the whole way too.

Listening to: Ben Folds Five - Narcolepsy (I know you don't know what I mean... yet.

Whoo hoo!
Keith.