Registration for the 2014 Boston Marathon Began on Monday, September 9th

Registration began began this past Monday, September 9th, for the 2014 Boston Marathon. I hadn't even thought about the Boston Marathon lately, let alone any marathon, other than the marathon I ran this past Sunday.

My 3 hrs, 8 minutes is about 17 minutes than the 3:25 qualifying time for my age group, which gets me into the second group of qualifiers allowed to apply to event. The first group, those that finished at least 20 minutes below their designated qualifying time, were allowed to enter starting on Monday. There's even a Registration Date Calculator for the event on the BAA website:

Qualifying times for the 2014 Boston Marathon are as follows:

Age        Men                                      Women

18-34     3hrs 05min 00sec              3hrs 35min 00sec

35-39     3hrs 10min 00sec              3hrs 40min 00sec

40-44     3hrs 15min 00sec              3hrs 45min 00sec

45-49     3hrs 25min 00sec              3hrs 55min 00sec

50-54     3hrs 30min 00sec              4hrs 00min 00sec

55-59     3hrs 40min 00sec              4hrs 10min 00sec

60-64     3hrs 55min 00sec              4hrs 25min 00sec

65-69     4hrs 10min 00sec              4hrs 40min 00sec

70-74     4hrs 25min 00sec              4hrs 55min 00sec

75-79     4hrs 40min 00sec              5hrs 10min 00sec

80+         4hrs 55min 00sec              5hrs 25min 00sec

Boston Marathon organizers indicate this will be a unique event and that entrants, volunteers may be asked for additional cooperation in certain areas, including transportation, baggage and other logistics.

"Among the changes, it is anticipated participants will be asked to submit to security checks of their personal belongings.  Participants may be asked to significantly reduce, or eliminate, the belongings that they carry with them on the transportation provided by the B.A.A. and into race areas.

Participants should be prepared for the possibility that the checking and pick-up of personal belongings will not be allowed."

BAA organizers are taking a particularly hard look it appears at what the runners can check in at the start of the race. They actually indicate as shown above that there is a possibility that personal belongings will not be allowed.

That would obviously be a drastic, perhaps overly draconian move. Unfortunately due to the 2013 bombing the organizers of the 2014 event have to be particularly cautious as to how to proceed.  I recall for example running the 100th Boston Marathon, quite a cold day, with snow on the ground while we awaited the start of the race in Hopkinton. Luckily I had gloves and warm, layered clothes to keep me marginally warm. But then I placed the items in a bag and retrieved them at the finish. Would entrants basically have to toss away their belongings next year? I guess we'll find out.

Have I registered? No.

Will I register? Haven't decided yet but leaning toward no because I'm likely to have a surgery in the next few months that may take me away from training for several months.

Would I like to register and run the 2014 Boston Marathon? I would for sure if I lived near Boston. But I dread the hassle and cost of travel to an event I've already run several times. That said, this will be a special event in more ways than one.

Ran a Decent Race, Meeting Expectations at Inaugural Ventura Marathon

In marathon running and other aspects of life, sometimes the most important thing is setting realistic expectations. Somehow I managed to set my mental expectations at today's Ventura Marathon in perfect alignment with my level of training. Worked like a charm.

One of the coolest marathon medals ever! A bottle opener! How cool is that!?Having done zero long runs on the roads the entire year, my expectations were set at "have fun and enjoy the race." You may ask, don't you usually enjoy your races? Well, to be honest, when I'm pushing my body to its limit in an "all out" race, I'm generally not enjoying it until after the race.

The race started at 7 a.m. at planned. Actually, I didn't even look at my watch, so it may not have been exactly 7 a.m., but there were no delays. Big plus! The weather was pretty much perfect! Overcast the entire race for me and temps around 65 to 70 degrees. There was just a very slight wind, which was perfect. And the course was extremely flat, without a lot of turns. The race was very well organized, there was police coverage at every major intersection, and the water stops were reasonably staffed on this out and back course. KUDOS to race organizer Josh Spiker! I think it was very well done!

Having a sore hamstring for months, my training has consisted of running, 35 to 45 miles per week, nothing speedy, nothing long, other than a 5K on July 20th and the Bulldog 25K on August 24th. No long runs the entire year and very little mileage on the roads. I cruised through today's marathon in 3 hours, 8 minutes, good for 2nd in my age group. If I hadn't taken a 1 minute porta-john stop

I went out fairly easy but still a bit too fast, with a 6:38 opening mile. There were both marathoners and half marathoners at the start, so it was hard to tell who you were running with. But my goal was to run at "keep a smile on your face" speed the entire race, so I ignored what people were doing around me. I was passed by dozens of runners over the first half of the race...faces that I got to see again later in the race.

My watch showed 34:02 at mile 5. I wasn't looking at my mile splits but a solid look female runner scooted by me and asked me. That's a about a 6:48 pace. Too fast. Then at mile 9 I realized I needed to make a pit stop. That's when I screwed up my watch timer but I think I had maintained that pace. But pit stops always seem to take a bit of wind out of my sails for a bit so I must have slowed, not to mention I lost about a minute of time. But I kept the smile on my face.

The turnaround was near the Hueneme Pier, where we ran in a large circular turnabout, then headed back to Ventura. This gave the runners the chance to see who was behind you, as well as ahead of you. My legs didn't feel particularly strong after the turnaround, but I slogged along, attempting to maintain a consistent pace.

Something clicked around mile 15 or so and I felt a sudden burst of smoothness in my stride. I believe it may have been some of the GU packets kicking in. I was just plodding along at a consistent pace, and so many familiar faces from the first 9 miles of the race appeared again. At the 20 mile mark there was no "Wall" this race. In fact, I was able to look at the 20 mile mark as the start of a 10K.

It worked. The stride was maintained without the soreness and death march feeling I anticipated, having run nowhere near this mileage on pavement all year. But I didn't start sprinting; I maintained and just gradually kicked it up a small notch. It wasn't until mile 23 that I felt comfortable kicking it up a few more notches, as targets appeared left and right.

The final half mile stretch of the race was along the Ventura beach path, which got a little crowded with pedestrians, but I managed to push myself through the final mile after passing my last duo of younger runners. The quads did begin freezing up this last stretch but I was close enough to the finish to push myself through the pain.

And...I finished. 3 hours, 8 minutes, 29 seconds. Exceeding my lowered expectations. And with a smile on my face.

Signed Up For the Inaugural Ventura Marathon This Sunday...But Should I Run It?

The Inaugural Ventura Marathon is this coming Sunday, September 8th. This 26.2 miler starts on Harbor Boulevard near the Ventura Pier and will take runners to the Port Hueneme pier and back. The course is roughly 95% on roads, included approximately 18 miles on Harbor Boulevard and the adjoining Channel Islands Boulevard as the course past Channel Islands Harbor to Surfside Drive near the Hueneme Pier.

A long time ago I signed up for the race, well before my latest spate of injuries, namely a hamstring issue, that has basically eliminated long runs from my training for quite some time. I could easily just skip the marathon or perhaps change over to the half marathon or 5K. I'm not in particular speedy shape and I have done very few runs of any distance on the roads, so running a full on marathon solely on roads is probably a bad call for me.

But, what can I say, I'm a stubborn runner. Although I have no delusions of a speedy time on the course, I'm intrigued by the fact that the course is flat as a pancake, with course elevation ranging from 20 feet to 56 feet (I suspect that must be the bridges on Channel Islands Boulevard). I can't remember a flatter course than this one other than the graham cracker flat Chicago Marathon.

While there are no 18, 20, 22 milers in my logbook this entire year, I do have a couple recent hilly 15.5 milers on the Bulldog 25K course in the last 6 weeks. So my legs are reasonably strong for climbing and descending hills on dirt trails, but I've done pretty much diddly squat on the roads. That could be a major problem for me lasting through the entire 26.2 miles on the hard pavement. I did do a 2 hour, 20 minute trail run on April 7th and about 17 miles in Hidden Valley on March 17th, but that was a long time ago. I will have to think carefully about my choice of shoes for this run. No racing flats for me this go-around.

So let's see how it goes for Sunday. Perhaps I'll run with my camera and just take it easy and have some fun.  The weather in theory could also be a factor as we are currently in a heat wave, but it is supposed to crescendo by Friday (two days from today), then taper off over the weekend...not to mention, this run should have ocean breezes much of the way.

Happy With My Performance at Bulldog 25K in Agoura Hills Yesterday

Yesterday I finished my 6th Bulldog 25K (and previous 30K) course in a respectable time of 2 hours, 56 seconds**, good for 9th place overall. I had some tough competition in the 10 year 40 to 49 year age group, with a 44 year old 2 1/2 minutes (7th place) ahead of me and a 45 year old a minute (8th place) ahead of me, the 49 year old geezer, at the finish.

** Due to an unexpected illness the original times across the board were adjusted by 1 minute, 31 seconds for everyone in the race, so the time has been changed to 2 hours, 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Still happy with it.

The picture above was taken when I jogged this course a few weeks. All summer long there's a marine layer but, wouldn't you know, no such luck on race day. It was clear blue skies and fairly high temps the whole way, with some reprieve with ocean breezes after cresting the 2,528 foot Bulldog peak. The course has over 4,000 feet of elevation climbs over its 15.5 miles. Equally brutal are the pounding downhills, which brought grief to my big toes, particularly my left big toe, yesterday. I'll need to revisit my choice of shoes next time.

I was quite pleased with my performance as aside from running trails and some hills in training, I've done nothing noteworthy, no tempo runs, speedwork, etc. Just plodding along, 40 miles a week, holding my camera to take pictures. My right hamstring is still a bit touch and go but it is manageable. The time was about 5 minutes faster than my time in last year's 25K. If I enter next year and stay healthy, the 50+ crown perhaps can be mine! :)

The unofficial results show the winner, 23 year old Geoff Burns coming in a mild boggling 1:35:48, which would be a course record by over 6 minutes! I believe he recently ran a 15:22 5K, so he definitely has the speed. He was 6 1/2 minutes of the 2nd place finisher. Pretty spectacular performance.

There's another good reason for me to run again next year. The 50 year course record is 2:05. If I maintain my current fitness level and don't get run over by a bus in the next 12 months, that record will be mine...

Learn more about the Bulldog 50K/25K races at www.trailrunevents.com/bd.

P.S. Thanks to K.K. for the positive inspiration :)

Seeing the Humor in Running a 200 Mile Relay Race

Many, many years ago, a couple of runner friends at work talked me into running the Hood to Coast Relay, a 12 person, 195 mile relay race in Portland, Oregon. I had never really wanted to run a relay race and have not pondered the joys of running a relay race again since then. Why? For the same reason, I think camping is the equivalent of pretending to be homeless. I don't enjoy it!

It's not that I don't love the outdoors or anything. I love the outdoors. I just don't like sleeping outdoors in a sleeping bag in a tent. I'd rather just sleep in my good ole comfy bed. But that's just me.

Similarly, I love running...trails, roads, varying distances, alone, with friends, casually, competitively. But I don't like running at 3am for 6 miles, finishing, hopping into a van all sweaty, towel off, attempt to sleep and get up 5 hours later to run another 7 miles. Then do it yet again 8 hours later. Especially when I'm sharing the van with 5 other smelly guys who have not showered.

However, a lot of people apparently LOVE running relays, like the popular Ragnar Relay series.  I'd rather run a boring 10K or half marathon, head home, shower up, have a beer and call it a day. However, to each his own. The humorous animation below sums it up for me.

But getting back to Hood to Coast...you know, it was actually kind of fun. Fun enough to be talked into doing it another year. Perhaps you should put a 200 mile relay race on your bucket list.

Ran My First 5K in Over Three Months and Earned a 54,750% Return on Investment

The sky above Dos Vientos the morning of the race on July 20, 2013

After messing up my right hamstring in my last 5K on April 13th, I finally felt "safe" enough to try another race.

It took a dozen visits to my chiropractor to finally get to the point where I felt I could run "fast" again without pain in my hamstring. That said, on Saturday, I had not done any speed interval training or races since getting sidelined with my issue.

Having run pretty much one speed...slow...for the past 13 weeks, didn't give me much confidence. So I treated this race very "unseriously." What does that mean? Very little preparation, both logistically and mentally. I'm talking about:

• Didn't sign up for the race until the night before
• Didn't do anything special the night before, like eat "the right" food, go to bed early, pin my bib number on my shirt, etc. (though I did brush my teeth I'll let you know)
• Didn't set the alarm, figuring, well, uh, hoping, that I'd awaken in time to drive 5 minutes to Dos Vientos for the 8am race, even though I didn't get to bed until 12:30am
• Didn't wear my special racing flats - instead, I wore my Skechers "Go Run" shoes that I use in my training shoe rotation (that said, these shoes, are really, really light, so they are just fine for racing in, in my opinion)
• Got up at 6:45 am, brushed teeth, laced up shoes, and decided to get a car wash and gas (for my car, not me) first instead of driving directly to the race to warm up
• Got there in time for some brief warmup, a little socializing, and a few photos on this cloudy Saturday morning (like the image above)

So basically my strategy when I know I'm not physically prepared for a race is to take my mind off of that by, just, well, going with the flow. Life's too short to treat every local 5K race too seriously!

Well I guess the strategy paid off because I ended up winning the race overall in 18:53. Now this was quite a slow time for me, but the course was not an easy one, with multiple climbs along Borchard Road. This was a race where hill strength was more important, in my opinion, than leg speed (though some of both would be nice). Some younger guys took the early lead. I passed them on the uphill. They flew past me on the downhill. But after the turnaround, what went downhill, had to go back uphill. About halfway into that uphill, the guys looked like they were running the wrong way on an escalator. I just kind of plodded and plugged away and passed them by, figuring I'd see them again after cresting the top of the hill.

Lo and behold, somehow I maintained the lead through the remainder of the race, good for an overall win. In most races, even hilly races like this one, a winning time of 18:53 would normally not take first place overall. But hey....I'LL TAKE IT! The key I've found to winning a race through all these years, is finding a race where your faster competition will not be present.  Ha!

This race had a decent payback for me. I spent $35 on the entry. The t-shirt and goodie bag had a value of about $15, leaving $20 invested. I won a $50 Roadrunner Sports gift certificate, so my one day return on investment was about 150%. Annualized, that would be a 54,750% return. Yay!

Now back to the grind. I'm still a bit sore from this race 2 days later. Ouch.

Had Good Intentions to Run the Miller Family YMCA 5K on the 4th of July

But...I didn't actually run the race. In fact, I had signed up myself and my 10 year old to run the 5K together but he ended up sleeping until 9 a.m. that morning and I didn't want to drag him out of bed.

The Miller Family YMCA in Newbury Park hosted its 3rd Annual Independence Day 5K/10K, Classic Car Show and Pancake Breakfast on July 4th. I hadn't done a race since the 5K in April that trashed my right hamstring and am still not 100% recovered to run another "full on" race. But I thought it would be fun to run with my son to start out the holiday.

Near the start of the 5K.

He was out too late the night before bottom line, and with plans to watch firewalks that evening, I didn't want to wake him. So I went over to the race anyway to check it out. I actually placed my bib number on my shirt and timer card on my shoelaces, but changed my mind before the race based on how my hamstring felt. So I decided to just go for a run instead and cheer on some of the runners.

I spoke with John Fedoroff of Thousand Oaks, age 44 and overall winner of the 5K in 17:19, a somewhat pedestrian time for someone who was the overall winner of last year's Malibu Marathon in 2:37. He noted the hill in the first mile of the race was pretty challenging. Maybe he's right, as only 3 of the 430 finishers completed the 5K in under 20 minutes, including 2nd and 3rd place finsihers, Brandon Rista, age 21, of Newbury Park (18:55) and Justin Spina, age 33, of Newbury Park (19:55), respectively. John's entire family ran the race as he went back to cheer them on after crossing the finish line!

Top female finishers in the 5K were Sara Pearson, age 20 (hometown not indicated) in 20:18, Swathi Samuel, age 15, of Newbury Park in 20:47 and Nicole Burch, age 13 of Newbury Park in 21:13 (wow!).

The 10K started 10 minutes before the 5K and I managed to catch the eventual winner, Logan Beteta, age 15, of Newbury Park, running below between the 2 and 3 mile mark of the race. He handily won in an outstanding time of 34:24.

Miller YMCA 10K winner Logan Beteta, age 15, from Newbury Park.Filling out the top 3 of the 10K were 38 year old Chris Clarke of Newbury Park (36:41) and 30 year old Steve Cox of Newbury Park (38:50). Thirty eight year old Jennifer Todd off Newbury Park was way out in front in an outstanding time of 39:10, followed by 30 year old Janelle Achenbach of Thousand Oaks (44:35) and 51 year old Tina Burch of Newbury Park (45:54). I strongly suspect a family relationship between Tina and Nicole, 3rd place finisher in the 5K. Like mother, like daughter, as they say! (again, I'm making an assumption here...)

Bodily Ailments in Process of Being Resolved at the Chiropractic Office

Good fridge or bad fridge? Maybe good fridge as it forced me back to visit my chiropractor.My training has been hampered for several months now due to a problem with my right hamstring that I tweaked at at 5K race in April. Additionally, I kindly yet ignorantly decided to help a friend lift a refrigerator into a truck without wearing some type of lower back support. The combination of the two left my walking like a zombie right out of Night of the Living Dead a few weeks ago. As a result, after a long hiatus from chiropractic care, I paid my favorite local chiropractor, Dr. Stanley Jensen of Jensen Walkin Chiropractic in Camarillo, a visit.

The first issue to resolve was my back. There was a delayed reaction between the time I helped with the fridge and the following day, when I felt the lower back "go out" (technical terminology). When I blamed my friend for my back ailment, he mentioned perhaps it was the two hours of swimming and messing around in the pool with the kids that did it. Nah. It was the fridge.

As is usually the case with my chiropractic experience, the day after my initial adjustment is often worse. I'm in more pain. I have less flexibility. I'm more miserable. But having gone through this cycle for so many years now, I know that the pain and suffering is part of the recovery process. Kind of like the day after the marathon, which is usually the day that I'm at my peak soreness.

So after my initial adjustment on Monday, by Wednesday my back was back to about 60% normal at my second adjustment, and on Friday, back to 90%. That was two weeks ago. Last week, after resolving the back issue, the goal was to remedy my nagging hamstring issue. I actually can thank my friend who asked me to help move the heavy refrigerator as the back spasm it caused forced me to finally get back to my chiropractor to resolve the chronic hamstring issue that wouldn't go away!

I pretty much run through all pain, unless it is practically impossible to do to, like last year, two weeks prior to my Malibu Marathon, when I developed a sharp pain in my lower left calf halfway into a long run. It the pain is sharp I stop running. If the pain is dull, yet nagging, I stil run. That's the mode I've been in since mid-April. I can't run fast and I can't run much more than an hour due to the annoying pain.

My hypothesis as to the cause for my injuries is often wrong. I thought I had strained my hamstring muscle. Nope, Jensen indicated it was a nerve issue, of which I cannot recall the name of the nerve he mentioned. He's resolved some extremely chronic, recurring issues for me in the past and I trust him to make the right assessment. Whatever he's doing now, it is very slowly...but surely...getting a little better each week. So I'm hoping to be back to running with a smile on my face soon.

Ventura County Sheriff Reminder That Pedestrians in Bike Lanes is Prohibited

Today a press release from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office came out and it was kind of a downer for me. It was a reminder that since 1/1/77, California law prohibits pedestrians (e.g. walkers, joggers, runners) from using bike lanes when sidewalks are available. I do a lot of running facing traffic in bike lanes early in the morning. Uh oh...

Press release from local.nixle.com/alert/5015878:

Jogging and walking in bicycle lanes when sidewalks are available is against California Vehicle Code law.

With the beautiful warmer days ahead, many people will be heading to the roadways and sidewalks throughout the city to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. We want to make sure that everyone enjoys this nice weather safely. It is very important to remember that bicycle lanes are for bicycles and not for jogging or walking.

Violations of this law can result in the violators receiving a citation.

California Vehicle Code---21966. States no pedestrian shall proceed along a bicycle path or lane where there is an adjacent adequate pedestrian facility (Added Ch. 751, Stats. 1976. Effective January 1, 1977.)

Be conscientious of all of those around us enjoying the outdoors and be respectful of the laws designed for our safety so we can all enjoy a great summer.

Clif Bar Mountains 2 Beach Marathon and Half Marathon Results From Last Sunday

The Clif Bar Mountains 2 Beach Marathon and Half Marathon took place this past Sunday, May 26th, on Memorial Day wekeend. The course begins near Nordhoff High School in Ojai with a 10k road loop followed by over 10 miles of downhill, paved bike path before beginning a road and bike path loop near the Ventura Oceanfront. There is a net downhill of over 700 feet over the course.

We saw some of the final finisher coming through back up the bike path from Marina Park to Surfers Point underneath the pier.This I believe was the 3rd year of the event (previously called the Ojai 2 Ocean Marathon) and it has fast become very popular , selling out registrations for both the full and half marathon. I think it is safe to say that this is the fastest marathon course located solely in Ventura County. There 1,258 finishers this year and the top 3 finishers were:

• 41 year old Ricardo Ramirez of Sun Valley in 2:31:23
• 22 year old John Svet of Brea in 2:31:57
• 52 year old Matt Ebiner of Covina in 2:32:55 (Run at age 52 and just 6 weeks after running the Boston Marathon 2 seconds faster! In fact Matt is something else...according to his El Camino College website, he is currently ranked #1 in the WORLD for age 50+ marathoners and ran the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Trials Marathons. Wow Matt, let's get you transfered out to a local Ventura County college!)

The top female finishers in the race were:

• 33 year old Jenni Johnson of Tustin in 2:51:34 (16th place overall)
• 20 year old Paige Burgin of Los Alamitos in 2:53:20 (23rd overall)
• 29 year old Jill Himlan of Santa Barbara in 2:55:25 (32nd overall)

A total of 54 runners, or 4.3% of the total, ran under 3 hours at Mountains 2 Beach. That compares to less than 1% of runners at the Los Angeles Marathon, 2.2% of runners at 2012 Santa Barbara Marathon and 1.1% of the runners at last year's Rock 'n Roll Marathon in San Diego as a comparison.

The fastest marathoners based in Ventura County were:

• 38 year old John Kitt of Ventura in 2:52 (18th overall)
• 28 year old Jose Lastre of Camarillo in 2:55 (30th overall)
• 40 year old James Casper of Newbury Park in 2:55 (33rd overall)
• 37 year old Joseph Jauregui of Newbury Park in 2:59 (51st overall)
• 28 year old Melissa Hernandez of Oxnard in 2:59 (54th overall, 6th female)

Congratulations! Learn more about this race at www.mountains2beachmarathon.com.