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"Family planning.......Aisle 13."
Now that's what I call a full-service grocery store.
Next time I'll definitely visit Aisle 13 to see what sorts of counselors and fertility experts are stationed there. Maybe I'll pick up a few informational brochures as well.
In an effort to seem slightly less self-absorbed, I offer the following news items from the world at large.
(1) Uli Steidl will compete at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Osaka. I believe he'll be the first Seattle-area distance runner in a World T & F or Olympic event since Jen (Tonkin) Arthur ran the marathon in Edmonton in 2001. Before that, we go back to Brad Barquist in the 10K in Athens (1997) and Atlanta (1996).
(2) Scott Dunlap interviews Lon Freeman. Lon is the guy who crushed me and everyone else at the Miwok 100K earlier this month, causing many people (including me) to speculate that he may win Western States as well. The interview could be considered a testament to the value of cross-training; Lon's weekly mileage is "only" 50-80, but a typical week also includes 2-3 hours of swimming, 8-12 hours of cycling, an hour of "core building sessions," and two days of indoor rock climbing. Crazy!
(3) Rival plumbing companies battle for rights to famous phone number. I've heard the radio ads for Benjamin Franklin, The Punctual Plumber, and they're ingenious: "Benny, the punctual plumber/ Gotta get Benny on the line/ 866, that's our prefix/ Then 867-5309...." You know the tune, right?
(4) Eckert wins Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award at Carthage College. Good show, Uncle! Not only has he written his own organic chemistry textbook, but he teaches using the Socratic Method. This annoys some of his students -- especially the "Just tell me the answer!" types -- but, you know, it's good for them in the long run. You can hear more about his teaching philosophy in this radio interview.
Have I missed anything important, Phil?
Scott Dunlap, keeper of the popular "A Trail Runner's Blog," has posted his interview of me. This is just the latest installment in Scott's large collection of conversations with notable ultrarunners, including Seattle-area residents Krissy Moehl, Brian Morrison, and Van Phan.
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! I'm hoping that my own mom won't mind me sharing a song I wrote for her back in 2000, which might possibly resonate with other moms and their children.
My friend Do Peterson was the recording engineer for this project, in addition to providing backing vocals and guitar accompaniment.
In case they're not clear from the recording, the lyrics are shown below.
"Are you really gonna wear that tie?"
"Are you really gonna to wear those pants?"
"If you're gonna come home late,
Will you let me know in advance?"
She asks a lot of questions
To keep me from going wrong,
So I'll sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
"Did you bring Joe a present?"
"Did you remember not to gloat?"
"Did you help do the dishes?"
"Did you write him a thank-you note?"
She asks a lot of questions
To find out what's going on,
So I'll sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
S-U-S-A-N.
She's my mom; on her I can depend.
Whether I'm feeling great or I'm on the mend,
My mom will love me right up to the end.
"Do you have to run so far?"
"Do you have to eat so fast?"
"Shouldn’t you be cleaning the bathroom
Instead of watching this telecast?"
She asks a lot of questions
To keep me from going wrong,
So I'll sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom,
Sing a song of Mom.
As the results show, little went as planned at Miwok yesterday. For example, I ran the fourth-fastest time ever on that course, yet finished nearly 22 minutes behind ex-triathlete Lon Freeman, a guy I did not even list among the pre-race favorites. In fact, of the six men I did list (not counting myself), two of them (Eric Grossman and Dave Mackey) did not show up and the other four were not among the top four finishers. Brian Morrison ran strongly until slowed by some tightness in his knee, which eventually prompted him to drop out and save himself for Western States. Scott Jurek placed 5th in a slower-than-usual time, perhaps reflecting his limited recent training time on the trails. On the women's side, Nikki Kimball was slowed by food poisoning and suffered a rare defeat, though losing to fellow North Face superstar Kami Semick is hardly an embarrassment.
But let's begin at the beginning.
On Friday, I decided to do an easy out-and-back run over the last couple miles of the race course to get a feel for the course and make sure I knew how to reach the finish. The last couple miles include some steep hills, so I ran up and down, remembering only at the end that downhill running, with its remarkable capacity to damage muscles, is not an optimal pre-race activity.
As the race began the next morning, a guy in a white t-shirt took off ahead of everybody up the first major hill. "Is that Mackey?" I asked Scott and Brian. Nope -- Mackey is taller, they said. Could it be Grossman? No -- Grossman has a beard, somebody else pointed out.
We were now about ten minutes into the race, and I was still feeling good. "I'm going to apprehend the leader," I announced semi-seriously. And off I went.
I didn't catch the mystery man but stayed within a minute of him until mile 8 or so. Then I felt the first slight tingles of fatigue in my quads. At mile 8! This was very, very discouraging. Could it be the result of my ill-advised downhill warmup from the previous day?
I rapidly decided that I needed to do two things. First, run cautiously. Forget about Crazy White Guy and focus on running at a relaxed pace, even if it meant getting passed. Second, refuel aggressively. Drink lots of Gatorade and Gu2O to make sure my body had all the glucose and electrolytes it wanted, even if it cost me an extra minute or two in bathroom breaks.
Before the race, I had figured that I should be able to beat Jurek's 2005 time of 8:43, and maybe even Mackey's 8:28, so I carried their splits with me. At the Tennessee Valley aid station (11.9 miles), I was 2 minutes behind the Jurek of two years ago; at Muir Beach (16.0 miles) and Pan Toll (21.6 miles), I was 3 minutes behind. Not great, but at least I wasn't falling apart yet.
On the way to Bolinas Ridge (28.4 miles), I was caught by Brian Morrison and Rod Bien. Still just trying to get deeper into the race without serious problems, I was happy to have some company for a while, and we chatted freely about the current race and previous editions of it. We approached the Bolinas aid station just about even with the 2005 Jurek split, which gave me a huge mental boost. And when Brian and Rod lingered at the aid station, I surged ahead without them.
On to the Randall Trail turnaround (35.6 miles). About 1100 feet of elevation is lost over the last 1.7 miles, so I zig-zagged from one side of the fire road to the other -- sort of the opposite of running tangents -- to make the downward slope more bearable. About 4 minutes before I reached the bottom of the hill, I met Crazy White Guy heading back up, meaning that he now had an 8-minute lead on me. Oh, well. I in turn now had a 1-minute lead on the ghost of Jurek and at least a couple minutes on everyone else. About the first eight runners I encountered on my way back up the hill cheered for me by name, which was both flattering and, since I didn't know most of their names, embarrassing.
I continued to stay just slightly ahead of Jurek's ghost's pace through Pan Toll (now mile 49.5) and got an additional lift from seeing my great aunt and uncle there. With 13 miles to go, I felt assured of a second-place finish in an unspectacular but solid time.
And then on the three-mile downhill back to Muir Woods, a tall, skinny guy with headphones (later identified as Jon Olsen) went by me. As he approached, he said something about the runner behind him, trying to be helpful. Thinking that the skinny guy himself was not in the race -- how could he have caught me when I was posting such steady Jurek-like splits? -- I said, "Oh, I thought you were passing me." In the nicest tone possible under the circumstances, he replied, "I am passing you." Even worse, 4th place (Rod Bien, now accompanied by a pacer) was closing in as well.
I followed Skinny Music Fan to the bottom of the hill, and when we entered the woods, his pace slowed noticeably. I picked it up and blasted past him, regaining 2nd place; as I did so, he again encouraged me by name, again making me feel kind of bad.
Aside from his commendable sportsmanship, Skinny Music Fan had just done me a huge favor. By threatening my position and forcing me to respond, he had awakened me to the fact that my legs were now ready to run hard! I basically extended my surge through the rest of the race, dusting Jurek's ghost and also successfully overtaking the ghost of Phil Kochik (2006). I finished in 8:31:31, a time that would have been even more satisfying had Crazy White Guy not just run 8:09.
And so it's on to Western States on June 23rd. Crazy White Guy and Skinny Music Fan will both be there, as will Brian, Nikki, Kami, Rod, Phil, and about 400 other competitors. Right now my money's on Crazy White Guy ... but perhaps I'll surprise him.
The race: Miwok (a.k.a. "What, Me Walk?"), a very hilly 100K (9,500 feet of climbing and 9,500 feet of descent) over dirt roads and single-track trails in Marin County, California.
The goal: Extend my ultramarathon winning streak (currently at five). Failing that, qualify for the Western States 100 by placing in the top three.
The competition: Leading men should include Dave Mackey (ran 8:28 here in 2005, the second-fastest time ever on this course, trailing only Carl Andersen's 8:22), Scott Jurek (has placed 1st or 2nd in the last six Miwoks), Eric Grossman (eight overall ultra victories in 2006!), Erik Skaden (winner of the American River 50 last month; 2nd at Western States last year), Michael Wedemeyer (3rd here last year), and Brian Morrison (7th here last year, then came within 300 yards of winning Western States). The top women entered are Nikki Kimball (ran 9:10 here last year, second-fastest ever behind Ann Trason's 8:55; ALWAYS wins trail ultras, except that one time...), Kami Semick (remember that one time? beat Nikki in this very neighborhood at the 2006 Headlands 50K), and Bev Anderson-Abbs (has placed 2nd here behind Kami and 2nd at Western States behind Nikki).
The strategy: (1) Take it easy on the hills, since I'm not a great hill runner. According to the altitude profile, I'll be taking it easy for about 40 of the 62 miles. (2) Run with the leader(s) for the first 37 22 miles, then break away sometime after that.
The preparation: Very casual. Haven't run long, fast, or on hills in the last two weeks in an effort to finish recovering from the Mad City 100K.
The forecast: 0% chance of rain on race day; low of 54, high of 72. (Ah, California!)
I have never gone surfing, nor do I want to. But this morning I dreamed that I was in a nameless coastal town, running down the sidewalk toward the ocean with a surfboard in my hands.
As I ran, I passed another man running in the same direction and carrying an inner tube.
It was Dean Karnazes.
He was shirtless, of course, but so was I. We were headed for the beach, after all.
I passed him without a word, but I soon grew weary and slowed to a walk, and Dean caught back up. Knowing him to be an accomplished surfer, I asked if he had any advice on how to carry the surfboard so that running with it would be more comfortable and less tiring. He certainly did, and gave me a few pointers in his usual friendly manner. Then we continued down the sidewalk toward the ocean. End of dream.
What's most interesting to me about this little nocturnal episode is how, despite its apparent randomness, it tied together two things that happened just before I went to bed last night.
Thing #1: I went back to the lab for a late-night check on my bacteria, and I saw two kids skateboarding on the sidewalk by the building where I work.
Thing #2: I read Scott Dunlap's blog entry about the Big Sur Marathon, which describes an unexpected encounter with Dean while racing along the California coastline.
A "board sport" I know nothing about, a sidewalk, a celebrity runner, and a nearby ocean -- all perfectly normal items plucked from my mind to form a ridiculous, incoherent whole.
I don't know what theories of dreaming are currently in vogue among sleep scientists, but my personal sense of the process is simply that the brain sorts through recent experiences and plays Mad Libs with them.