In my never ending attempt to punish my body and hate my knees I’ve been training to what I hope will amount to another full marathon this year.  Along the way I figured it would be a good idea to give a half marathon another shot.  If you’ve never been to Pittsburgh, I recommend you do, it’s called the city of bridges for a reason and running through its neighborhoods and streets is a very unique experience.

The morning of the race, we arrived with a little under 30 minutes to spare, which was not good.  I really didn’t get a good warm up run in and stretched out just a bit.  It was a cloudy day with chance of thunderstorms.  Which was an issues, since the race could get called off if there was lighting… the chances of getting hit by lighting are incredibly small, but I digress.

The race began promptly at 7:30 AM, but since I was so far back in the pack I didn’t cross the starting line until about 10 minutes after the gun went off.  The first couple of miles are always torture.  It’s really a free for all, you never hit your stride as you’re on the lookout for all other runners, ensuring you don’t step on someone or someone doesn’t elbow you as they are trying to squeeze by you.  At bout mile 5 is when the seas start to part and you really get to focus on what you came here to do.  The unfortunate part is that you hit the half way point before you know it.  For me this is the hardest part as I always feel that I’ve spent too much energy trying to make it through the pack that I start to run out of gas around mile 9.  Oh well, that’s what training is there for, right?  At the end of the day it was a great day for a race even though the rain was coming down pretty hard.  Final time below.

My only complaints about this event are the lack of Goo.  All they had for the runners was water and Gatorade, glad I packed some beans, but I was banking on some Goo to break up the monotony.  Second, I didn’t see any post race beer, not saying this is imperative, but I love me a beer or three after pounding out a 13 miler.  And finally, I should have used more lube.  Yes, my armpits were red and tender and it had everything to do with the huge amounts of water that came down on me while running.

~david

On December 13, 2009 I ran the White Rock Half Marathon and almost didn’t live to tell about it.  I will begin, like my previous post, on how horrible I am at training.  I had been training pretty consistently for a few weeks and was ready for the half marathon about 5 weeks before the actual race.  In the five weeks leading up to the race, I moved, went on vacation, and stopped working out in general.  I maybe had one or two runs in those five weeks… so, I’m sure you know where this is going.  Come race day, I was not prepared, but not being one to back out of a high amounts of pain, I still went ahead and gave it a shot.

Unlike last race, I didn’t have a huge urge to hit the john before the race, I actually felt pretty relaxed.  The race was huge and the weather was amazing, around 45 degrees, excellent running weather.

The race began and I felt pretty good.  I was running 8 minute miles and felt amazing.  Then came mile 8 and my slow decent into the pits of hell.  At this point I can tell I’m no longer “feeling like a champ”, I’m slowing down considerably, around 30 seconds/mile, and I just don’t want to do this anymore.  Mile 10 rolls around and I’m ready to get this over with, the torture needs to stop and I just want to walk the rest of the way.  Mile 12 rolls around and I feel what will soon manifest itself as a giant cramp in my left leg.  Sure enough about 100 yards from the finish line it hits me like a ton of bricks.  A huge knot in my leg, a cramp so intense I could barely stand straight as my eyes watered.  A Kodak moment for sure.  Regardless, the crowd was pretty thick at this point and they seemed to get a little louder when they saw me struggling, so I limped the last 100 yards and across the finish line.

Ultimately, I achieved my goal which was come in under 2 hours.  With a little more training I think I can knock out 1:45 and if I push really hard maybe even 1:30.  We shall see, I still want to qualify for Boston one day.

Distance
HALF MAR

Clock Time
2:02:11

Chip Time
1:52:39

Overall Place
1416 / 8365

10K Split Rank
723

10K Split Time
49:40

10 Mile Rank
939

10 Mile Time
1:22:36

~david

This past weekend On September 26th, 2009 I ran my first marathon.  The 2009 Akron Marathon to be exact.  Let me tell you a little bit bout it.

Background

I didn’t get serious about training until about two months before the actual race.  And by serious I mean only half serious.  I didn’t do a lot of runs during the week, I was lucky to maybe get 10 miles in.  However, in the last two months I did hit the pavement consistently, mainly using Hal Higdon’s Training Guide.  Regardless, by the time I hit my 20 mile run, I did not feel ready and was very nervous about this race.

Race Day

I didn’t sleep very much the night before and got to the site about 1 hour before the race.  First thing I did was hit the port-a-john.  I went and stretched for a bit and go for a very light run to get my blood flowing.  Afterwards, I stretched out some more.  Proceeded to hit the port-a-john again.  At 15 minutes before the race I positioned myself between the 4:00 and 4:30 race pacers and figured this would be a good spot for me.  My goal was to break the 4 hour mark, but ultimately was to finished.  Then the urge to hit the port-a-john hit me again.  However, it was so close to the beginning I didn’t know if I would have time.  I decided to suck it up and figured I would forget about it once I started running… bad idea!

The first 5K were great.  The weather was great (~60 F) and the rain was no where in site.

David Macias, 00:31:19 (NET) @ 5.2K Pace 8:56 , Predicted 03:54:13.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 15K mark, I’m still feeling pretty good, but I have a nagging sensation that I need to hit the john, but I figure I can still tough it out.

David Macias, 01:23:11 (NET) @ 15K Pace 8:55 , Predicted 03:53:47.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 25K mark I still feel pretty good even though I can tell I’ve slowed down some, but not enough to be a concern.

David Macias, 02:19:19 (NET) @ 25K Pace 8:58 , Predicted 03:55:05.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 30K mark is where all hell breaks loose!  First, there were multiple warnings about this race that talked about doing hill repeats in order to be adequately prepared for this race.  I ignored them.

At Mile 16, I hit a wall and started what I called my shuffle of death.  I was in dire need of a port-a-john and I could tell my feet were dragging.  I finally hit the john around mile 18 and had a renewed sense of freedom, but it didn’t last long.  I can honestly say that the last 6 miles were the most painful miles in my life.  There were multiple times I thought to myself, “Just fall, fall and curl up in a ball, and someone will pick you up and carry you to the finish line.”  Alas, I didn’t fall and I didn’t stop.  I muscled through the nature stop on mile 18, the rain which began around mile 15, and the cramp on mile 22.  Ultimately, it was an amazing experience and can’t wait to do it again!

David Macias, 04:32:49 (NET) @ Finish Pace 10:24 . powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

~david

PS: A few pictures from the race.

My bib:

Crossing the finish line:

Left shoe destroyed:

Last weekend a couple of friends and I ran this 10k race. The weather was great, but the course not so much. It was really hilly and took a huge toll on you specially when going down hill. Overall, my time improved by around 30 seconds, which isn’t much. Will aim to bring my time considerably at the next race. :-)

Customary action shot below, honestly I look like death, but felt pretty good. I just can’t seem to take good action shot pictures.

david

PS: I will never run with a cotton shirt again and this is the first time I’ve ever ran with my IPOD, not sure how I feel about it.

This is the customary action shot. I love the fact that they have photographers along the course just taking pictures of you. I only notice them when I’m right next to them so I’ve never really had a good action shot. Like this picture, I always look like I’m about to fall over, but I promise you that was not the case for this race. If anything I felt great and I’m ready to go on to the half marathon.

Happy runnings,

david

This past Saturday we decided to run the Butterfly Boogie 10k benefiting World Craniofacial Foundation. The course ran through Katy Trail, which was my first time visiting that part of Dallas. The weather was great and overall it was a great event. My time was pretty decent and I felt great after the race. A few more week of training and I should be able to tackle a half marathon. My official time was:

77 10K: M 25-29 00:47:42

The cool thing was that I came in 77th overall in the 10k. :-) Not too shabby.

david

As some of you know I like to run. I have a 10k race this weekend and I’ve been preparing and hope to kick some butt. Now, one thing that comes with running is shoes. I never really thought that shoes played that big of a part in running. Yes, running in high heels might not be conducive to a good time, but for the most part most athletic shoes always seemed alright for running. That is until I started buying actual running shoes. Below you will find my last three pairs of shoes. All of them Asics.

At 7 o’clock you have the 2100s, at 12 o’clock you have the 2120s, and at 4 o’clock you have my newest pair, the 2130s. These shoes are by far my favorite running shoes, light, great comfort, etc. However, one thing I don’t like is the new look. These shoes are getting more reflective and closer to a women’s style of shoe. I can’t really explain it, but the moment I saw them I knew I didn’t like the look of them. Specially compared to the 2120s, which I love. On a side note, my parents hated my 2120s, saying they looked like girl shoes. Maybe my parents were on to something.

Enjoy your run through life.

~david

So, a couple of friends and I decided to run the Cowtown Marathon 10k. Which was a lot of fun.

So, we got there a bit late since, I forgot to set my alarm to ring on weekends. There were some issues with the registration and I had to stay behind while the race started. Once I was done, I was able to go on with the race, but I was already 20 minutes behind. Doesn’t matter, since it’s all timed with chips anyway. So, I start my run and finish it in around 55 minutes. Now, this is where things get sad. I get a call on the cellphone from my sister. She is on mile 7 and doesn’t know what to do. Turns out she missed the turn off between the 10k and the half marathon. So, she decides she is just going to run the half. About 10 minutes later I get a call from Julian saying he is on mile 9 and that he is now running the half. Finally, Iggie calls Julian to tell him that he is also running the half by mistake. Needless to say, 3 different people running separate from each other all ran a half marathon by mistake.

While I felt a little left out, I don’t think I could have physically ran a half marathon. The night before the game I had 3 soccer games all for the championship. We won all 3 games and my legs were starting to cramp up at that point. Just being able to get out of bed was an accomplishment for me. However, knowing that everyone else ran a half marathon with out any real training, gives me a little bit of hope. I’ve actually been doing some training and should be ready for a half. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

~david

See the pain:

The group:

So, one of my goals for 2008 is to run a marathon. However, due to injuries and just general laziness I’ve spent the month of January in a vegetative state. Aside from soccer on the weekends, I really didn’t do much more. So, I decided to jump start the month of February with a 5K race. So, while the weather was beautiful and the race atmosphere was great, I felt a little out of sync while running, but still finished the race in 27 minutes coming in 248 out of 689 runners. So, I ran a 5K knowing full well I had two soccer games about 3 hours later. Didn’t think much of it. The first soccer game went fine and we had an overwhelming victory. However, here comes the second game. I can tell I’m a little tired, so I decide to play as the goal keeper. Well, needless to say, within the first 10 minutes they had scored 3 goals on me and I had saved probably 4 others. They were good. So, around this time is when I started feeling the tingling of a cramp in my right calf. Sure enough, 5 minutes later I was on the floor with a one inch ball of pain. I was done for the evening and still feel the remnants of the cramp this morning. No pain no gain, but that was a hell of a lot of pain.

~david