Ran Half of the Camarillo Marathon This Past Sunday at a Training Run

On December 28th I ran one of my longest training runs of the year, at 14 miles. Then, having not partied on New Year's Eve, decided to do a 2 hour run up to Boney Peak and back.

The next few days my quads and calves were sore, but that didn't stop me from looking at the CVG Upcoming Races listing and thinking, why not sign up for the Camarillo Marathon this Sunday and use it as a training run. So, I signed up Thursday night and picked up my bib number on Saturday. My legs were still sore on Saturday.

Some local runners have bad memories from the well-publicized issues at the inaugural Camarillo Marathon in 2010, when there were issues with course logistics. I'm very pleased to say that the race was very well organized on Sunday. The race started at 7am and is a double-loop course now, with plenty of water/Gatorade stops and a reasonable number of porta-johns along the course. They did a nice job and I would recommend this course as a flat, very low key alternative to the larger courses. The beauty of race like this is that you can wake up not so early, drive over, park, run, finish and be home shortly thereafter.

In any case, I opted not to run two loops on Sunday. The legs were still a bit shot so I decided to run a just over 7 minute pace to not overexert myself. It was yet another day of sun and wind. It didn't get overly hot (mid to high 60s, maybe low 70s later on), but the Santa Anas were out in force and it was quite dry. It was one of those days where I drank at every single water stop but there was no sweat on my shirt to speak of as the wind immediately dried it up.

Had my only issue been sore legs, I might have continued to run the full 26.2. But of all things, my stomach wasn't feeling up to the task on Sunday. My fate was decided at a pit stop around mile 11, when I said to myself "it ain't worth it." Adding to my discomfort was the beginnings of chafing in the back armpit area (I wore a sleeved shirt, not a singlet, and the wind was wreaking some havoc). Having signed up not to race, but to train, I opted to keep it positive at the halfway point, bail out and head back home to hang with the kids. I paced myself to a 1:32ish 13.1 miles. Slow for me, but purposeful. I'm still a bit sore today.

The overall winner was 27 year old Amanda Phillips of Roseburg (I'm assuing Oregon), who blew away the entire field, women and men alike, in 2 hours, 52 minutes. I saw her on the first lap turnaround and she looked really smooth. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers were men who came in around 3:06 and 3:07. The race had only 122 finishers but I would run it again. www.camarillomarathon.com

Ran My Longest Long Run Since September 8th in Anticipation of L.A. Marathon

Training through the December holiday season is a bit of a challenge, among holiday festivities, shopping, parties, and, of course, colds. Yes, somehow I managed to catch two separate colds this month. Both of them were fairly short in duration, but as I age, I seem to encounter longer periods of chest congestion and coughiing after battling off the sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. I still wake up with a cough, but, I'm feeling pretty good at this point.

Speaking of catching colds, it was a specific Saturday lunchtime when the kids and I visited one of our favorite local restaurants, which I will leave unnamed as it is not important. The cashier, someone who I immediately recognized and said hello to from prior visits when he served the food, briefly turned away and looked like he was sneezing or wiping his nose. For a brief second I thought, this is not good. But I was in the middle of ordering and the kids were unwieldy. There was only one available table in the restaurant and it had plates on it. The cashier bussed the table. Then, minutes later, the same guy served our food.

Five days later...slight sore throat and lethargic. I KNEW that was a mistake but sometime's it's hard to steer clear of viruses. And when you're constantly getting inadequate sleep, you're more susceptable to catching a cold virus.

I digress. My training has been consistently light to moderate this month, even after I attempted to motivate myself to train more by signing up for the Los Angeles Marathon on March 9, 2014. So today, the last Saturday of 2013, I managed to get out there and run 14 miles on the roads in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Not a bad start to my training. I figure I have about 6 weeks of training before a 3 week taper. This is not an optimal amount of time, but I'm not taking this marathon particularly seriously.

I have fond memories of the LA Marathon in the mid-1990s, when I was a heck of a lot younger and able to train a lot harder in my pre-marriage, pre-kids state. My first sub-3 hour marathon was the 1995 LA Marathon in 2:48. The next year I ran my first sub-2:40 marathon at the 1996 LA Marathon. Then my PR marathon was the LA Marathon the next year in 2:35, back when the course was still a loop around Los Angeles. That was my 8th marathon. Now I've run 31 of them, with #32 hopefully happening next March.

Ran the Conejo Valley YMCA Turkey Day Dash Today in Thousand Oaks

Conejo Valley Guide helped get the word out about today's 9th Annual Conejo Valley YMCA Turkey Day Dash 5K and Kids Fun Run today and I heard the race had a PR of over 2,600 registrants. So as has been typical for me I chose to run the 5K today along with my son without having done any particular training for it. This is becoming the norm for me but it was fun.

On Veterans Day, November 11th, I decided to change up my 20 minute gym routine and work out in the morning instead of my normal early evening workout. Well, my lower back didn't agree with the change and decided to complain with a spasm. That spasm threw my back out for the entire week. With the help of my chiropractor, I was able to run again by the 16th.

The week prior to that I was fighting a head cold that led me to pull out of the Calabasas Classic 5K on the 10th.  Today I had no excuse of a head cold or back spasm but I certainly wasn't in great shape for a 5K. I gave it my best, labored effort and used my only gear...slow. With labored effort, I wheezed to an 18:17, good enough for 20th overall and 2nd in age.

Thanks to the Conejo Valley Y for making such a nice event happen on Thanksgiving Day each year. They really do a great job and I highly recommend this family-friendly event. 15 year old Logan Beteta of Newbury Park High School took the overall honors in 16:08. Nicely done, Logan! The top female was 20 year old Logan McNally of Simi Valley in 18:40, good for 25th overall.

Maybe, just maybe, one of these days, I'll be prepared for a 5K. But regardless, I had a great Thanksgiving Day and I hope all three of you reading this did too!

Beautiful Day For the 5th Annual Malibu Marathon Today That I Didn't Run

Today was a perfect day for running a marathon, or any race or a run of any type today. Yet another sunny, yet not overly hot November day in Southern California.

While I wasn't at today's Malibu Marathon as I was last year, photographer Suzy Demeter was and she captured this colorful wave of half marathoners running on PCH between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Today a course record was set by 34 year old George Kitonga in 2:35:10. A web search for Kitonga turns up he is originally from Kenya and has a marathon best time of 2:21:23 in winning the 2006 Memphis Marathon. The top 3 was rounded out by Ricardo Ramirez-Pacheco (age 42) in 2:37:01 and Shaun Maguire (age 27) in 2:37:50.

Jessica Stern (age 24) topped the women's field in 3:02:03, followed by Tammara Francis (age 31) in 3:11:00 and Stephanie Wurtz (age 31) in 3:12:29.

As for me, I've been battling a head cold that finally migrated to my chest, just in time for today's Calabasas Classic 5K that I signed up for like 10 months ago. While I actually feel fine, there's stuff in my chest that told me to back off 1 mile into the race. I was struggling to breathe so it just wasn't worth pushing through.

However, I didn't mind, as my son was running his 3rd 5K and I backed off my pace to see him run the final mile at a blistering pace to win his age group and set a personal best. My best race in the last 10 years!

Results From the 2nd Annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon on Sunday, October 20th

The 2nd Annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon took place on Sunday, October 20th. I ran the inaugural race last year and would have loved to run it again this year had my kids' activities not precluded me from doing so.

There were 243 finished in this year's event and top placing male finishers were Bradley Jones (36) of Camarillo in 1:19:45, Jose Lastre (29) of Oxnard in 1:23:46 and Greg Wondra (35) of Camarillo in 1:26:05. My 1:23:51 in last year's race got me 4th place last year but would theoretically have landed me one place higher in the 2nd annual event.

Top women finishers were Schatzi Sovich (46) of Ventura in 1:36:58, Rikako Takei (51) of Gardena in 1:37:31 and Jenny Loppnow (43) of Camarillo in 1:38:24. Wow, impressive showing by masters' runners in the women's race!

The oldest finisher in the half marathon was Ted Price Sr of Oxnard, who crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 39 seconds. Nice job, Ted!

There was also a 5K event, where 37 year old Jesus Perez took top honors in 17:18. Not far behind was top femal finisher, Melissa Hernandez of Oxnard in 18:42 - that time got her 4th place overall in the race. A total of 220 runners and walkers completed the 5K.

Not a bad showing for this 2nd annual event, which benefits the Boy & Girls Club of Camarillo at www.bgccam.org. Hopefully we'll see a 3rd annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon in 2014 at www.camarillohalf.org.

Author Malcolm Gladwell Holds the Canadian 1500 Meter 13 Year Old Age Group Record

First, an update on the dangling toenail. It was about two weeks ago that I first discovered a toenail with days that were numbered. Today was its final day. The toenail is gone, though I don't know where it went...which is ok I guess, as there's new toenail in its place.

The September Runner's World had an interesting conversation with Malcolm Gladwell. I'm a fan of his work, like The Tipping Point and Blink, and he has new book out called David and Goliath. Something I never knew about him is that he is an avid runner. And quite an accomplished one at that.

Gladwell holds the Canadian 1500 meter 13 year old age group record, with a 4:14, then ran a 4:05 at age 14. And he beat Dave Reid, who subsequently became the Canadian 1500 meter record holder.  When asked about that, he responds analytically:

"Age-class running, as you know, is completely unreliable. It’s based on this artificial thing, which is that people who are the same age have the same level of physical maturity. Which just isn’t true. And I always suspected, when I was an age-class runner, that I was just maturing faster than my peers. At 13 I would go to the line at a race and I would be the tallest guy in the race. Now, I’m not a tall person. I realized I was just maturing faster. And if you’re improving in those years, you’re improving your 1500 time by seven or eight seconds a year. If you have six months of maturity on someone, that’s four seconds! These races, these results, mean nothing at that age. All they tell you is that someone has a reasonable degree of promise."

So true. Age groups are an artificial means of grouping runners competitively. But then again, I can't think of a better way, short of "handicapping" runners based on past performances, regardless of age. As I approach age 50, however, I'm liking this age group approach more and more though. Survival of the fittest.

The Flapping Toenail; Another Side Effect of Marathoning

I have no shame in posting this image of my darkened toenails. Halloween is coming.I've tracked my running mileage since 1993 but have not kept a tally of toenails lost over the last 20 years.

It doesn't happen often happen all the time. I'd estimate about 10 of them through the years.  But they happen. Sometimes randomly.

A week ago after a shower I noticed something tugging on my 2nd toe. I looked down and saw that it was my blackened toenail, flapping around like a sail. It doesn't hurt, but it isn't ready to fall off yet on its own.

So I leave it be. I have to be really careful putting my socks on. But one morning or night soon, I will have a not-so-beautiful new toenail on my left foot.

It is usually the 2nd toe on both feet that takes the brunt of the impact. But somehow at this particular moment I have not one, not two, but three darkened toenails. I'm past the point of being vane about my toes.

A flapping toenail has never stopped me from running. That's the most important thing, to me at least. Long distance running and toe modeling don't mix.

Disposable Wipes Make a Worthy Addition to One's Post-Marathon Routine

Had a discussion with a friend about his 3 day family camping trip in which they had no access to running water for bathing. He was running 10 or so miles a day on this trip. So the most pressing question was, how does his family stand the smell!!?? (I asked him in a more respectful way then that. I think.) He said disposable wipes did the trick.

I didn't think much of it until September 7th, the day before the Ventura Marathon. After sweating through 26.2 miles, I generally want to head right home or hotel room for a shower. But this time I planned to meet my family after the race for the Ventura County ComiCon event at VC Fairgrounds. So what the heck, I brought a package of "wipies" with me to see how well they work.

As usual, I was smelling quite pungent after the race. But those trusty wipies actually did a great job cleaning me up...to the point that I didn't, at least in my own humble, olfactory opinion, have post-race stench. The next four hours brought no pained looks and plugged noses by those around me.

The Porta-John - One of the Most Welcome Sights to Marathon Runners

As I was picking up my Ventura Marathon race bib before the race a few weeks ago, I came across an awesome sight...this perfectly arranged line of porta-johns. Kudos to local Cal State Site Services for this beautiful line-up.

After 20 years of running and racing, I have no qualms chatting about the use of porta-johns. Well I don't like using the porta-john, they are a welcome sight, particularly when unoccupied.

Having access to porta-johns are a critical aspect of marathons as well as other races, as the lack thereof can cause massive problems and/or messes.

Well organized marathons have an adequate number of porta-johns at both the start of the race and dispersed throughout the course. Every few miles. The Ventura Marathon did a pretty decent job of that. In fact, I visited one of them around Mile 9 of the race.

The time and momentum lost in visiting a porta-john mid-race is not a good thing. But...as they say...when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. Probably my single biggest pre-race stress point is ensuring my innards are empty, yet have enough fuel in me to power me through the full 26.2 miles. I didn't quite achieve that goal in Ventura and that sliced probably two minutes or so from my time.

Perhaps I'll figure the timing one of these days. Perhaps not. After running 30+ marathons you'd think I'd figure that out.

Runners are Sometimes the Inspiration for Chart Topping Hit Songs

I flip through the pages of Runner's World magazing each month and have been doing so for years. In the August 2013 issue, there's a brief mention of Delihah DiCrescenzo, age 30. She has quite an interesting name, first off for the obvious. She was the inspiration for Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson's chart-topping hit "Hey There Delilah" that was nominated for 2008 Song of the Year (won by Amy Winehouse).

Although there was no "love" interest between the two (well, at least from her), she was treated to a visit to the 2008 Grammy Awards with the band. I don't know Delilah's current status, but my advice to Tom is...start running!

Delilah is now 30 years old and still based out of New York. Earlier this year she ran a personal best time of 15:36.45 in the 5,000 meters and in 2012 ran a 4:32 mile. That's pretty darn speedy. She also came pretty darn close to making the Olympics with a 7th place in the Olympic Trials Steeplechase race in 2012. More recently she won the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 4-Miler in 21:07 in Manhattan as well as two other road wins in a six-week period, according to Runner's World.

I find her last name, DiCrescenzo, kind of oxymoronic. DiCrescenzo is similar sounding to decrescendo, which basically in music terms to decrease in loudness, become softer. The last thing that comes to mind when I see her running times is a decrescendo.

The Plain White T's performed last month at the Ventura County Fair. I missed it!

Here's "Hey There Delilah" which happens one of my all-time favorite listenable over and over again songs.

And there you have it. Running word association. Though no mention of running in the lyrics:

Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely give this song another listen
Close your eyes, listen to my voice it's my disguise
I'm by your side

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah, I know times are getting hard
But just believe me girl, someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good, we'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah, I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away, I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall, we'd have it all

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way

Delilah I can promise you
That by the time that we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do

You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here's to you
This one's for you

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Read more: Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah Lyrics | MetroLyrics