San Francisco Marathon

Vanishing Point, originally uploaded by joppedal.

San Francisco Marathon 2009 was my first ever marathon. On top of that the race is held in my home town. There aren't that many chances you get to run with thousands of people across the Golden Gate Bridge - pretty cool stuff. Therefore it wasn't hard to convince myself to do it again this year. I thought about writing up a summary of the event but after reading this article it seemed unnecessary WSJ.

For anyone that's interested running a beautiful and challenging race come check it it out in 2011.

Double Dipsea - The Double Arse Kicker

After having spent the last five years living in the Bay Area I have heard a number of legendary stories about the Dipsea Trail. The trail starts out in Mill Valley in Marin and ends up on the beautiful Stinson Beach. Around six months ago I was exploring a number of trails in the area on my mountain bike, and I came across a sign that read "Dipsea Trail". After showering off the dirt I went online and did some research on the Dipsea Trail and the infamous annual race.

In 2010 the Dipsea Race had its 100th anniversary, and I thought that would be a perfect time to sign up. Sounds easy enough, but this race is unlike most other trail races. It's got a really cool handicap system (think golf), which creates a very interesting race dynamic. During the Dipsea Race you are competing against people of all ages. Some over 80 and some not even old enough to be teenagers. If the course isn't tough enough the really tricky part is to actually get in. No online registration. No credit cards. No dice. I didn't get in. However, Reilly Johnson did. She won. She's eight years old(!)

Read this Runner's World article for a great overview of the quirky race.

This morning the fog horns on the Golden Gate Bridge could be heard across San Francisco. The 40 minute drive to Stinson Beach was a wet one. The parking lot at Stinson was full of runners, and as I arrived I heard the most legendary race announcement I've ever heard: "Can racers above the age of 80 approach the starting line." The annual Double Dipsea race was about to kick off.

One hour later it was time for the last wave of runners. More than 500 runners were already kicking up the dirt on the trial. I have taken this trail for a test run in the past, and I knew I didn't need any competition from the other runners. The Dipsea Trail is a challenge enough in itself. My last run there with my buddy Joe Levy ended in blood and tears. At 9:15am we took off. The sun had started to burn through the fog. A group of guys at the front who were giving each other a lot of crap at the starting line sped off. At the time it seemed like a good idea to keep up the group. As the trail got steeper and my pulse started taking on a life of its own I realized that these guys are professional runners. I decided to let them do their thing and I'll do whatever my thing is - which at that point was focusing on finishing.

After a lot of up and down up and down I found myself in Mill Valley, and as we turned to hit the infamous steps I couldn't help but think that a double Dipsea was a bad idea (if I'd only gotten into the Dipsea instead...). My legs were burning and my heart was pounding at my ribs. There were people everywhere, all trying to keep their tired legs from tripping on the treacherous steps. Crossing the bridge at Muir Woods I knew what was ahead - Cardiac Arrest - an aptly named climb to the highest point of the course.

This point is by far the most beautiful part of course in my opinion. Amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and all single track. Another huge plus is that this section is all downhill apart from the final climb towards the end with another fitting name - Insult Hill. I had heard rumors abut some strategic short cuts and they were high on my priority list as my legs felt like a mixture of jello and crutches. In addition, I had extra motivation to finish the race early as the US were playing Ghana in World Cup.

Crossing the line at 2:05:30 I felt a sense of relief. Last time the trail kicked my ass. Now it's a tied game.

Kudos to the race organizers for a very well organized race. If the beautiful scenery is not inspiring enough in itself, it is impossible to run this race without being inspired by 70 and 80 year old people tackling this 2 x 7 mile course without hesitation.

Feel free to share your Dipsea experiences or post questions if you are considering participating in future races.

Boston Marathon Deferment

After bugging the BAA with emails over the last month today I heard back from the organization. I know many others are wondering how to ensure entry into the 2011 Boston Marathon so I decided to share the email.

Dear Athlete,

This email acknowledges your correspondence with the Boston Athletic Association regarding your inability to participate in the 2010 Boston Marathon due to travel restrictions caused by the volcano in Iceland.

The B.A.A. will extend deferments of entry to all affected entrants. Please note, as was stated on the race application, that entry fees are non-refundable and non-transferable to future races. If you choose to register for the 2011 Boston Marathon using the deferred entry, you will be seeded based on the qualifying time you used to register for 2010 and will be required to pay the related entry fee based on your country of residence.

You will be contacted again in the fall with specific instructions regarding the deferment registration process for the 115th B.A.A. Boston Marathon, scheduled for Monday, April 18, 2011. Deferred entries will expire in early November of 2010. If you have not

submitted your entry by the required deadline date your entry will be forfeited. Please notify us of any email or postal address changes so we can be sure to reach you.

We look forward to your participation in the 2011 Boston Marathon.

Regards,

Boston Athletic Association

Registration Office

One Ash Street

Hopkinton, MA 01748

508-435-6905

Please reply to registration@baa.org with questions.

Bay to Breakers - Almost Inhibition Free

If it takes two to tango it takes skills to salsa. One thing is for certain, I don't have any. After my first ever salsa lesson on Thursday this is now a well established fact. However, the magnitude of how much I sucked at it was bordering on comical. Then to make matters even worse I believe this was a kind of Rueda de Casino, which means we had to switch partners all the time. I told myself this builds character as I introduced myself to yet another lady whom I was supposed to lead. "I hope it's OK that we just do the basic steps?" My newfound aspiring salsa seniorita responded with a patient smile and three seconds later with a canned OUCH.

After repeating the same impressive procedure with about 30 different women I thought to myself if it would be less embarrassing to walk down the streets of San Francisco in my birthday suit.

On May 16 it's time for the 99th annual Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. It's a 12k race starting at Embarcadero St (Bay) goes through the city due west to Ocean Beach (Breakers) - course map. The first race was held in 1912 to cheer up San Francisco residents after the horrendous 1906 earthquake. From being known as the Cross-City Race to it's name change in 1965 up until today, Bay to Breakers is the longest consecutively run footrace in the world. With more than 110,000 participating runners in the mid 80s the race was recognized as the biggest footrace in the world. Pretty cool. Over the last few years ING has been the main sponsor of the event, and as they say on their website in their own special corporate way; Boston has their marathon, The Big Easy has their Mardi Gras, and San Francisco has Bay to Breakers.

To be completely honest the pull of Bay to Breakers is not its recognition by the Guinness Book of Records, the result of the significant cash prizes for the podium finishers or the actual race for that matter. The real attraction is the show, the craziness, the floats, the alcohol, the costumes, some very elaborate and some more, actually a lot more minimalistic.

Growing up in Europe I'm somewhat used to public nudity, like girls being topless at the beach, but the line is pretty much drawn there. Bay to Breakers only has two lines. The starting line and the finish line. This event is off the hook! In fact so much so that last year there was considerable controversy over new rules that were introduced which were supposed to limit alcohol, floats and the number of dudes wearing nothing but hats.True to the spirit of the event, no one cared and happily ignored the new restrictions.

This is the day you don't bother with recovery drinks or ice baths. The post race drink of choice is tequila, beer or anything else that requires a valid ID and that you were born in May 1989 or earlier. Bay to Breakers, it appears, is the day you can get away with more or less anything and the SFPD looks the other way.

It is the biggest event in San Francisco. The whole city comes out to join the party. If you live here there are few acceptable excuses for not joining in on the fun. If you live somewhere else and you wonder if it's worth the trip, the answer is obviously YES!

Leave your inhibitions at home and register.

Cramp Your Style

Cramps, originally uploaded by david_brage.

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night gasping for air, desperately trying to stretch your leg out in an attempt to battle the sudden onset of an old foe - the hamstring cramp?

Well, I have. Many times.

My dad has told me that you simply have to take some magnesium and calcium supplements and you'll be alright. That's easy enough. That is, until you forget. Once a cramp kicks in it takes a long time to forget though. The memory is etched into your brain like "I love you mom" on the back of an iPod for Mothers day.

When you cramp nothing else matters. The world stops. The pain is really that intense. I have never really reflected on what a cramp is until now. Yesterday I ran my third marathon, and my buddy Cramp showed up and decided to bring along some friends. Before they decided to crash the party things were going really smoothly. Up until the first 13.1 miles I was well under 6:30 min/mile splits and I could see #1 and #2 in the race who where only about 50 yards ahead of me. I felt really good and enjoyed the rolling hills of China Camp just north of San Rafael. About 18 miles into the Marin County Marathon I hit a wall. 6:30 splits turned into 7, then 8, then cramp, then plural. It was all over.

After having both hamstrings and both quadriceps playing a punishing game of cramp-off throughout the last 5 miles of the race I finally crossed the finish line in 3:25:39 and 7th place overall. 28 minutes slower than my PR I guess I should have been somewhat disappointed but I only felt relief. After taking a not-so-comfortable ice bath I started doing a background check on my foe.

Here's a quick overview of what I found:

Dr. Ross Tucker defines cramping as "spasmodic, painful, involuntary contraction of the skeletal muscle that occurs during or immediately after exercise".

OK. Now what causes this nuisance?

Well, this is where it starts to get interesting. According to Physical Therapist Rachel Miller two things cause muscle cramps: 1. sweat, 2. dehydration. A marathon requires our hamstrings, quadriceps and a symphony of other muscles groups to work constantly over a long period of time. This produces heat, hence our body temperature rises. Thank God for sweat glands. These help us keep the temperature down. In addition to body liquid our sweat includes important electrolytes.

According to Wikipedia in chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. In physiology, the primary ions of electrolytes are sodium(Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), chloride (Cl−), hydrogen phosphate (HPO42−), and hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−).

My dad was right all along!

According to Wikipedia all humans require a subtle and complex electrolyte balance between the outside and inside of our cells. Yup we are talking about osmosis for those that remember biology 101. This is the natural process that regulates the hydration of the body and apparently is critical for nerve and muscle function. Luckily we are all blessed with a number of mechanisms that keep the concentrations of different electrolytes under tight control.

Wikipedia can also tell us that muscle tissue and neurons are considered electric tissues of the body. "Muscles and neurons are activated by electrolyte activity between the extracellular fluid orinterstitial fluid, and intracellular fluid. Electrolytes may enter or leave the cell membrane through specialized protein structures embedded in the plasma membrane calledion channels. For example, muscle contraction is dependent upon the presence of calcium (Ca2+), sodium (Na+), and potassium (K+). Without sufficient levels of these key electrolytes, muscle weakness or severe muscle contractions may occur."

There you have it! "...severe muscle contractions may occur." I can guarantee that it did occur. Could it really be that easy? Folks, just remember your electrolytes?

Other research disagrees with Dr Miller (and the impressive description from Wikipedia) and has found no correlation between dehydration and cramping. Schwellnus' and Noakes' research suggests that age, running experience, higher body-mass index, less and irregular stretching, and it-runs-in-the-family (no pun intended) are all factors that play a part in causing cramps. Finally, exercise-related conditions, such as inadequate training, hard racing, long-distance running, muscle fatigue, and hill running also contributed to their developing muscle cramps.

Well there you have it. There may be lots of reasons why cramping cramps our style. I will do my part to prevent him from crashing another race by:

1. ensuring healthy osmosis by inviting my new friends from the electrolyte family along

2. preparing my quadriceps and hamstrings better

3. more doooownwaaard doooogs and stretching

Please share any advice and/or relevant experiences.

Going Home

It's Wednesday morning in Dublin April 21st.

I have a 5 o'clock shadow that would put both Homer Simpson and George Michael to shame. In my carry on I have one clean t-shirt, one clean pair of underwear and one clean pair of socks. I have no idea how I managed to get that right a week ago. Room service is on its way, and I just received a text message from Aer Lingus:

"On current information, we hope to operate your flight EI125 21th [yup that is 21th not 21st] April to schedule. Please check in as normal. Enjoy your flight. Aer Lingus"

It looks like my luck of the Irish is turning. The Eyjafjallajökull ash plume has been haunting me and hundreds of thousands of other stranded airline travelers for a week now. It looks like there has been a significant change in the weather and winds are now carrying the ash plume east towards the US.

Picture taken from the MET Office: http://bit.ly/98v47p

The IAA has yet to make a statement today but wrote yesterday that airlines will be focusing on positioning aircraft and crews and that getting back to full service may take up to three days.

I'm crossing my fingers for today and hope to make it back to the States. If you are one of the many people struggling to get home here are some helpful links:

MET Office volcanic ash concentration charts

The Irish Aviation Authority

Eurocontrol

Eurocontrol on Twitter

List of European Airports

The man in seat 61...

"Haikersentralen" a hitchhiker's guide to and from Norway

Institute of Earth Sciences: Nordic Volcanological Center

Dublin Airport next!

The Marathon to Boston

That would have been... What if I could... I should have...

That was me 12 months ago.

I have for a long time been intrigued by running a marathon but didn't know if I could pull it off? Plenty of people I know have run marathons. Could I? Should I? I'm a passionate bike rider. Waking up at 7am on Saturday mornings is normal. I love getting out on the road and see the morning sun paint the landscape in a delightful golden tint. It makes me feel free and alive. I love it!

Some of my friends think I'm crazy to ride for hours solo. Exactly what I was thinking about people running marathons. Crazy! Work requires a lot of travel, which means less time in the saddle. As I got more serious with my riding I felt a strong urge to maintain an exercise regimen when traveling.

Solution. Running shoes.

Last spring I was in Toronto and broke in my newly purchased running shoes North Face Boa, endorsed by Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathonman. This was my fourth time in the city, and I'd never seen anything but the airport, conference rooms and hotel rooms. I assume this sounds familiar to other business travelers? Lake Ontario here we go. Consumed by the beauty of the surroundings I quickly forgot that I was out running. 6 miles later it dawned on me that I had been running for almost an hour and it wasn't a loop. I had to go back.

Once I got back to the hotel I learned two valuable lessons:

1) ALWAYS remember chafing cream

2) I actually enjoy long distance running(!)

Prior to that run I had never run farther than 10K. That day I decided to enter my first Marathon.

Three months later 6am in the morning I have remembered to apply chafing cream, and I am nervously waiting at the starting line of the 2009 San Francisco Marathon. For some perfectly illogical reason I have limited my training to no more than 13 miles.

We're off and I'm struggling to pace myself. The rational part of my brain is telling me to go easy - "you don't know what will happen after 13 miles". The competitive part of me is telling me to "go all in".

At mile 18 I realize that with a really strong finish I could qualify for Boston! I start doing the math, and I would have to do 5:30 per mile splits for the remainder of the race. Impossible.

The last mile felt like a marathon in itself. As I crossed the finish line on Embarcadero St the timer said 3:17:01. It is difficult to describe the feelings that were going through my body. I had blown my goals out of the water!! My legs were killing me. I did it!

After finishing 2 bottles of Muscle Milk I was thinking Boston is only 7 minutes and 1 second away. That night I registered for the Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon. 2 days after I learned valuable lesson number 3: ice baths.

A few months and hundreds of miles later it was race day again. Better prepared and ready set a new PR. In San Jose I crossed the finish line at 02:57:48 and completed all three goals that I set for myself. New PR, qualify for Boston Marathon and sub 3 hours.

I submitted my application to the B.A.A. as soon as I could and got really excited when I received the email confirming my entry. In the 6 months that followed I ran into fellow running enthusiasts in Chicago, London, Oslo, Stockholm, New York, Miami, Atlanta, LA, San Diego, Montreal, DC, Calgary, Austin and of course in the Bay Area.

I guess you could say I became a runner. You know you're brain washed when you start looking forward to the next issue of Runners World arriving in the mail, or when you see someone else out running and you wish you had laced up too. I even read a book about running. A friend of mine recommended reading Born to Run. I read it and so should you. It's a fascinating and exciting read, even for non-runners!

It's interesting to see what becomes 'normal' as you start identifying with being a runner. Getting up before sunrise. Wearing a headlamp. Not to mention wearing spandex(!) Eating copious amounts of food, using silly terms like "hydrating" and "carbo-loading" etc.

April 12th 2010 I had packed everything I needed for the Boston Marathon. My stuff was all neatly laid out on the floor, and I went over every item to make sure I didn't forget anything. I had even bought 2XUcompression socks for post-race recovery. What I lacked in preparation for my first marathon I had made up for this time around. I didn't want to leave anything to chance. After all, I had worked [out] a year for this.

April 13th I flew from San Francisco to London for business. I had a flight booked back to Boston from Heathrow on the 18th. Not ideal but doable. I had planned everything in detail, even where and what to eat for dinner on the 18th. However, there was one thing I hadn't planned for.

Eyjafjallajökull.

If you haven't heard of it you were either safe and sound in your home town during the third week of April or out running Caballo Blanco in the middle of nowhere. Eyjafjallajökul is an Icelandic volcano with a temper, and it has caused the biggest disruption to commercial flying since 9/11 and left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded.

Friday April 16th all planes in the UK and most other European countries were grounded. After a few hours of research I discovered that the Irish air space was still open, and I had found a rather creative way of getting to Dublin from London. I made a game time decision. Flying from Heathrow, where I was staying, to Dublin would normally be a one hour flight. With all planes being grounded getting to Dublin meant two trains and a ferry. There was no way a volcano would throw a wrench in my marathon plans. I calculated it would take me 41 hours to get from London to Boston. It was either that or no race at all.

One cab ride, and two train rides (and countless sheep) later I had moved my way west from London through Wales to a small town called Holyhead on the west coast of the UK. Chaos ruled at the ferry dock. Thousands of people were trying to get to the UK from Ireland and vice versa. When I finally made it onboard the Ulysses to Dublin I learned that the Irish Aviation Authority had closed the Irish air space. Just the perfect birthday present! After a few hours of sailing in calm seas and under a sunny sky we ended up in Dublin.

Running marathons teach us a thing or two about not giving up. Stubbornness and stamina. My flight to Boston was leaving the next day. Hopefully. The race was two days away. Upon reading Aer Lingus' website "all flights today are cancelled. This information will be updated as the situation progresses" I still didn't give up. The optimist in me felt a little bit like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber "so you're telling me there is a chance". It was Saturday night April 17th.

Today it's Tuesday April 20th. Robert Cheruiyot from Kenya set a course record time in Boston 2:05:51 and won $150,000. I've turned 33 and I'm still waiting for a flight back to San Francsico.

Lesson number 4: Sometimes you just have to realize that you need to stop running and just accept the situation you are in - a perfect, yet difficult, exercise for an exercise junkie.

Can I have another Guinness please?