The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Running

  • Running while Listening

    I ran a looong 10 miles today and as I sometimes do, I pulled up Usurpers by Derek Zumsteg and read by Steve Eley of Escape Pod. ((I suppose I should note that there are plenty of F-bombs in this story.)) I’ve listened to this story at least twenty times since it first was published by Escape Pod in 2008. This story is perfect for me to listen to while I run because at its core it’s about an athlete who dedicates his life to winning one race. Nothing will get in his way; everything else is subsumed.

    If you go and listen to it, have no fear; I’m not King ((Central character of the story.)). I don’t think I’m King. I have no desire to be King. However it is highly motivating to listen to the narration of a character who does only one thing, and that one thing he does very, very well. It’s a great story for pulling you through 20 minutes of a hard run because no matter how hard your run is, King’s is harder.

  • Brooks’ QR Code License is Revoked

    Remember this post, wherein I decried the myriad bad uses of QR codes? Maybe this image will remind you?

    IMG_0094

    Well, after 37.5 miles we get this:

    This is what you get when stick a QR Code on the the insole of a shoe

    Thanks for nothing, Brooks.

  • New Running Shoes and why QR Codes are Stupid

    Brooks Running shoes

    I inaugurated my new running shoes yesterday. On the left are the 407.03 mile-old Brooks and on the right are the brand spanking new (6 miles old) Brooks. The old pair lasted a year+ which is a bit longer than usual, but I haven’t been running as much in the past 12 months as previous years.

    Comparison of running shoes' soles

    You can see here the difference in tread between 6 miles and 407 miles. You can also see the sand still caked on from running on the beach at St. Simons, a very worthy send off for any running shoe in my humble opinion.

    There is a tiny bit of an issue with the new shoes, though. It is evidenced in this image:

    IMG_0094

    A QR code in the shoe? What the hell? First off, QR codes are probably the worst piece of metadata ever. Who wants to take the time to scan one of these, just to go to some website which is probably an advertisement? You have to pull out your phone, turn on the correct app, try and get it well lighted, scan the code, and then wait for the (probably horribly formatted) web page to load.

    “But!” I thought, “Maybe it’s useful information about the shoe? Size? Care?”

    Just to assuage my curiosity ((Actually more to prove what I already knew; that this is a horrible waste of reflective tape and my time.)) I scanned it (with great difficulty because, you know, it’s hard to get light inside a black shoe) and ended up at a facebook page about the Brooks running company.

    Bad, bad, Brooks. You do not win brownie points for sending me to a generalized corporate page, and you decidedly lose them for sending me to facebook! I hate facebook. So much so that I will never capitalize it again.

    Just to evaluate this on a rational basis, I will occasionally try to scan this code, because as you can see, it’s in my shoe, under the heel! How will this not wear down to uselessness?

    Argh! Don’t use QR codes, people! They’re stupid and useless, or at least the way they’re used is stupid and useless.  ((I recently saw a QR code on a billboard on I-75 in Atlanta. Seriously?! Everyone crash when you’re trying to scan the billboard!)) I can think of ways that a QR code would be useful, but I don’t see any of those executed, and more often, a less ugly method (just putting the menu of your restaurant in the window!) is more useful.

  • 2011 Tulsa Black Friday Turkey Trot

    2011 Tulsa Black Friday Turkey Trot, taken by an unknown person who messaged it to me, thanks!

    Jenn and I completed the 2011 Black Friday Turkey Trot this morning. It was a good course, relatively flat and fast, and a well supported race. It was run by Fleet Feet and I extend a heartfelt “good job” to all the organizers and volunteers.

    I say “relatively” on the flat course description because I live, train, and run in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, which are decidedly not flat. ((In fact, I found running the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco to be something of a let down; the hills were taller, but not harder.)) There are hills on this course, but most of them are gentle and gradual. There is one steep up and down over the railroad tracks which will get you if you don’t know how to maximize your efforts on hills like that, but that’s the only one. Unfortunately, you have to do it twice, because this course is a two-legged out and back, starting at 3rd and Denver, heading down 3rd past Kenosha where you turn around heading back up 3rd. You then make a right onto Detroit where you pop over the railroad tracks, go a bit, turn around and come back over the railroad, make a right back onto 3rd and head back to the start.

    This is also one of the few race courses where you can stand back from the finish line about a quarter mile and legitimately shout, “It’s all down hill from here!” Let it be known that if you shout that phrase, and it’s not true, Dante has a special circle in Google Plus waiting just for you and I will hate you for the rest of your life. It is not all downhill if there is any uphill at all, and you don’t understand just how painful even a slight uphill can be at the end of a race. Don’t shout that phrase!

    Jenn and I both enjoyed this race and would do it again. The wind was blustery, but hey, it’s Oklahoma. I think it was a wash at the end of the race because where we had a headwind on the way out, we had a tailwind on the way back (and vice versa, of course). I turned in about a 24:20 for the 5k, which was better than expected and Jenn did about a 29:45.

  • Marine Corps Marathon: Spectator’s Guide

    On the weekend of October 30, we traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Marine Corps Marathon.

    Looking Strong

    Aside from the fun times and fast runs and general weekend glee, I came away from this race with the thought that it’s not really a good one for novice marathon watchers.

    At first blush, it would seem that this is an excellent race for spectators: you’re in the District and it’s a loopy sort of course so you can see your runners several times; there’s the Metro system for access to and fro; and there’s all the things to see and do surrounding the race.

    However, these items actually exacerbate the situation (in my opinion) and cause some unintended headaches for the spectators.

    What are these headaches you ask? I’m glad you did, because I’m going to torture you by saying “I’m not telling!” At least not yet.

    This should be taken as a blog-post alert. The draft is drafty right now, and not yet complete. As I’ve been blog-silent for a bit, I thought I’d put this up to let you know that I’m not dead.

    So look for a post illustrating my points mentioned above.

  • Mount Desert Island Marathon

    Acadia National Park

    It’s two weeks and one day until the Mount Desert Island Marathon. I and Jenn and our friends Tim and Andrew will be meeting in Southwest Harbor to run this race. I’m quasi-ready for this race; I’ll finish, but I don’t think I’m going to enjoy the last ten miles or so.

    Whatever, my only goal is to finish.

    We’ve had the MDI Marathon on our list of races to do for a while. We honeymooned on the island, which plays home to Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor and other less-well-known towns. Conveniently, Southwest Harbor is where the race ends, and where we spent our honeymoon, so we’ll be back there for our lodging. It’s always nice to not have to climb into a vehicle to get to where ever you’re going after a race. We will merely walk a block down the street and collapse.

    Acadia National Park

    It’s going to be a nice re-visit to the location of our honeymoon, 8 years ago. Even if the end of the race will be filled with moaning and groaning and “oh my god”ing.

  • Running/Training Plan – 2012

    If you’ve been reading the blog, you may remember a statement of mine in an earlier posting that went something like this:

    I am delightfully looking forward to NEVER EVER EVER running a marathon again…

    Let me tell you, training for the Mount Desert Island Marathon has been a pain in the butt for several reasons. I will enumerate them for you:

    1. The MDI Marathon is on October 16th. October is in the Fall. Summer comes before Fall. Marathon training comes before the marathon, which is in the fall. Do you see where I’m going here? Marathon training in the Summer, in Atlanta, is torturous. It’s not so much the running in the summer—we do that all the time—it’s the weekend long runs that end up being such a burden. The only time we can do the 2 and 3 and 4 hour runs is on a weekend, in the early morning. This means being very careful about activities the previous evening. Yes, running can and will impact your social life.
    2. I have been fighting a recurrent calf injury for a while. I’m happy to say that it’s been doing well the last few months, but given the condition of my leg, I very gingerly entered into this marathon training schedule. I have been doing nothing ((Almost nothing. See here.)) in running besides this marathon. No 5ks. No 10ks. Nothing. I’ve been afraid of overstressing the leg and having to drop out of the marathon. That is no fun whatsoever and I didn’t get into running for it to be no fun.
    3. An add-on to item #2, because of my calf, I’ve been training for this marathon with one goal only: finish. It’s going to be slow and I don’t like to run slowly. I haven’t been doing any training that would increase my race pace beyond the approximate 5:00 completion mark. While that is in line with my goals, and I’m happy that I’m meeting my training goals, I’m still not happy about the particular goals, if you get my drift.

    I am not swearing off marathons forever. Jennifer likes running them, and I like running with her, so I’m sure I’ll do another one sometime. Her 40th birthday present to herself will be to run the Marathon in Greece, and I suppose I could be convinced to sign up for that one. For the time being, I’m going to concentrate on other things, rather than marathons, because I feel that the 26.2 mile distance was occupying too much space in my life.

    For edification and enlightenment, here are my 2012 training and racing goals, in no particular order:

    • Maintain the ability to get up on weekends and run 13-15 miles, as a matter of course. This will serve two purposes: it will keep my base miles high, and it will let me run half marathons without too much trouble or training
    • Break 50:00 in a 10k. The Charles Harris 10k will be my race for this goal.
    • Work toward a PR in the Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon. This will be my “A” race for the year and I’d be delighted if I can come close to matching (or exceed) the performance I turned in during my ironman training year
    • Improve my 5k time from the first race of the year to the last by 8%, or beating 23:00, whichever is better ((This may seem excessive to people in the know. I’m basing the 8% off a 2:00 improvement from 25:00 to 23:00. The reason I don’t consider it excessive is because I think my first 5k of the season is going to suck, time-wise, but I have a lot of latent speed inside these legs which probably just needs to be reawakened.)).
    • Regularly do my mile-run-for-time to benchmark myself. “Regularly” is going to be “every 6 weeks” or so
    • Emphasize abdominal and hip exercises for flexibility and stabilization

    One of the reasons for the first bullet is because if you want to do long runs, you have to do long runs. One of my issues with marathon training is that I’ve always been starting from a base of near zero. Given enough time ((Most anyone can run a marathon with 6 months lead time and a committment to the training program.)), that isn’t a problem, but for the next time I sign up for a marathon, I want to start with a running base that lets me train like I want to race, not just finish. So, after recovering from the MDI Marathon, I’ll be back at weekend long runs of 13 miles or so.

    A strong base also allows you to add intensity to other workouts; workouts directed at (say) improving my 5k time by 8%. The better your base training is, the better your race-specific training can be, and it also helps prevent injuries.

    Of course, part of that strong base is training that concentrates on weaknesses. My back has been a continuous problem, and part of that problem surrounds flexibility, not just strength. I will be doing a better job this year of maintaining a program of both core strength and flexibility. Remember, it’s the exercises you hate most that you should be doing most often ((At least, that’s the way it feels to me. Single leg squats, single leg stands, plank and other core work is so mentally exhausting to me, as opposed to standard squats and bench press and the like which are physically hard, but not mentally hard. To me. Your mileage may vary.)).

    Races that I’m looking forward to next year, and have become tradition for me include:

    • Atlanta Track Club cross country 5k at Milton High School
    • Atlanta Track Club Peachtree City 5k/10k
    • Charles Harris 10k
    • Georgia Marathon (Half Marathon! Although I’m thinking about volunteering for the bike escorts this year)
    • Chattanooga Riverfront Triathlon (olympic distance)
    • Peachtree Road Race (10k)
    • Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon
    • Kaiser Permanente Corporate Challenge (5k)

    Also, with the exception of preparation for the Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon, which is my one “A” race this year, I want to be able to go out on a Saturday or Sunday and run a race just because the whim strikes me, and not worry about screwing up my marathon training. It’s a lot less important if I downgrade or drop out of a local 5k than if I have to cancel a trip we’ve been planning for over a year.

    That’s my plan. Of course, it’s only September and 2011 isn’t even over yet, but the end of my training year is nigh and I will be on the 2012 rotation at the beginning of November.

  • Open Letter to the Janitor who Called Security

    Men's Room

    Dear Janitorial Service Provider:

    I am sorry to have brought you conflict on an early Sunday morning. I am also sorry to have disturbed you during what is probably a pleasant working period, being all by yourself inside a large mall at 7:30 AM. I can understand how (if my assumption is correct) you may have been a bit peeved that a strange man dressed in running gear appeared in the bathroom you were cleaning. I can also understand that you may have felt threatened when I ignored your demand ((I choose the word “demand” very carefully. It was not a request.)) that I use the bathroom that was down two flights of stairs and around three corners and hidden somewhere in the parking garage ((At least, that was my perception of your directions for finding this bathroom)). The fact that you called security because I walked across to the women’s bathroom and used one of the toilets there is, of course, your prerogative as an employee of the mall.

    I would like to bring to your attention the concept of the False Dilemma, or False Dichotomy. This concept entails the presupposition that there were only two options available: one, that you grant my politely-worded request ((I later begged, if you remember.)) to use the bathroom despite your current cleaning activities; and two, that I go find the other bathroom in a large and confusing building. The False Dilemma supposes that there were no other options. For example: me using the women’s rest room, or, much more likely and apropos to this letter, that I would try to find the other bathroom you sent me to, but not make it before experiencing what is colloquially referred to as a “gastric event.”

    You see, I respect the fact that the sign said the bathroom was closed. However, my condition was such that I had no time left to find a suitable establishment to relieve myself. I was in a state that demanded immediate attention or else there would be a mess to clean up. I like to think that I did you a favor by not attempting to follow your directive and instead violated your order and societal norms to use the women’s rest room. The fact I did so meant that neither you nor I would have to deal with the unfortunate likelihood ((Yes, I thought it was likely that I would not make it to the bathroom downstairs in time)) of a diarhettic episode in the middle of your mall. I’m sure you didn’t want to clean up my waste, and I also didn’t want to deal with the aftermath of such an event.

    That is why I cheerfully nodded to you—after requesting several times and explaining why I wanted to use your bathroom—and proceeded to choose the option I did. You left me with no good options, so I chose what I saw as the least worst.

    Next time you are presented with a situation such as this, with someone politely begging you to use the restroom, I urge you to remember and perhaps take pity on that person. Then, there will be no need for a security guard to escort me out of the building.

    To the security guard who escorted me from the building: I appreciated your calm and businesslike manner, however after explaining to me why it was unacceptable for me to use the women’s restroom and also to ignore the staff person’s directive, and my acknowledgement that I perfectly understood, it’s rather insulting to tell me twice that “No, I don’t think you do.” For reasons and reference, I point you to the paragraph earlier in this essay regarding the False Dilemma.

    Yours very sincerely,
    Bill Ruhsam
    Runner

  • Training Continues; Paranoia Sets In

    We’re training for the Mount Desert Island Marathon. You may recall that I’ve been having some calf issues which caused me to DNF out of the Georgia Marathon. Well, training has begun again for the next big race and it’s kind of a pain. Why?

    Every little tiny twinge or ache in my calf makes my brain immediately start whirling around thinking, “Oh gosh! Is it too much? Am I pushing too hard? ((Ha! Today’s run clocked in at a 12:00 pace which is way slower than I’m used to)) Am I injuring myself!? Am I going to have to give up running!?!? Dogs and Cats, living together!!!”

    And so on and so forth. I have to monitor the sensations coming from my leg very carefully because I don’t want to injure myself again and spend another two months going to physical therapy. Today, for instance, I went out for a 5 mile run at a slow pace and started feeling some “stuff” around mile 3. It went away but came back at 4 so I decided to walk the rest of the way. Discretion being the better part of finishing the race I’m signed up for.

    This is an exercise in discipline, but it also means I don’t enjoy running nearly as much as I’m used to. I can’t zone out and get into the flow very easily when I keep getting jerked back by calf sensations.

    The best I can do is the best I can do. I’ll continue to train at a very low intensity, once again keeping “finish the race” as my only goal. I probably should get back into the pool soon as I have a triathlon in August, but I can probably dog-paddle the swim if necessary.

  • On Training, Running, and Sunglasses

    I started training again. I’d been sidelined for a while due to a pulled muscle. I went through physical therapy and did the exercises I was supposed to do for injury recovery, but other than that I basically sat on my butt for a couple months. My waistline and weight started to inform me that it was time to get back to it, so I did.

    I’m back at the gym, doing “early season” ((it’s the beginning of my season, so I call it early)) weight training plus as much core work as I can comfortably stand. I’ve started upping, slowly, my running amount to avoid any more calf strains and just finished my first “real” run since the injury. It was outside, 3.3 miles in 90 degree heat. Ack.

    Normally, I ease in to the Georgia summers by running at lunch through the spring and into the heat. Not this time. My first noontime run and…ugh. I’m sure I’ll be fine next week, but this one really sucked.

    Which brings me to today’s interesting observation. To preface that observation, I’ll note that I don’t like to wear sunglasses when I run. They get sweat running on them and dig into my ears and generally just annoy me. However, I run in the high sun a lot, which means I need something to keep from having a permanent squint all the time. Therefore I wear a visor which I keep pulled down pretty low. The visor serves two purposes: It keeps the sun out of my eyes; it keeps the sweat out my eyes, too.

    Today, however, I really could have used some sunglasses. I was running along my normal work route which is mostly sidewalk. There used to be a section without sidewalk so I’d run on the road, however they’ve installed brand new concrete to fill in the gaps in the sidewalk. Yay! That makes me happy! Except that the brand new concrete is uniformly white as opposed to the dimly off-taupe of the older sidewalk sections. As I started running across the new sidewalk and the sun blazed down upon it, reflecting its cruel rays, I cried out, “Oh my eyes! Stop the madness” while flailing about and blood seeped from my tear ducts ((ok, not really, but it was really bright)).

    In some cases, I will wear sunglasses, yes.