Standing On Top

Kona Marathon for Pancreatic Cancer Research

As many know and some don’t, My father was recently diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. After the initial shock and disbelief I think we are all wondering why the research on this cancer is so lacking and why is there no way to detect it early. Research is the solution, at least it is a step in the right direction.

So my oldest sister emails me and says she wants to run the Kona Marathon for pancreatic Cancer research as a fund raiser, my step daughter suddenly gets a desire to run a marathon and my youngest sister just jumped into the mix. All I can relate to is how freaking hot it was running in Kona and think they are all freaking NUTS but…

I am never one to turn down a challenge so I am in.

June 28th, 2009
Kona Marathon
26.2 miles on the IronMan Triathlon course!
Woooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooo!

http://www.konamarathon.com/
This will be a fund raising event and when we establish our team I will post the link to donate if you so choose

Aloha!

The Army Ten Miler (ATM)

The weather was perfect, maybe even a bit chilly with a temp in the mid 50’s and clear skies. Parachutes were dropping in from above doing all kinds of really cool displays of skill and then 4 Apache helicopters buzzed the crowd. You could taste the tension in the air. It was Electric.

The gun went off exactly at 8 AM EST with military precision and runners all around the word started into the 24th Army 10 miler, the largest 10 mile in the world. The official registration was almost 28,000 runners although the web site states only 26,000.

My goal was to run at a 10 minute mile average pace and no walks; anything better than a 10 minute pace was icing on the cake. My trainer and friend who was assigned the number 1222, I was running with 16826, insisted I start in the front with him instead of in my group which was in a 2nd wave 20 minutes behind the official start.

When the gun went off these people in the front of the pack don’t mess around and for the first few miles I ran a pace faster than I have ever maintained. I passed some people and some people passed me but I held my own. My first 3 miles I averaged around an 8:30 minute mile then I dropped back into a comfortable 9. I say [I]comfortable[/I] but I have never maintained a 9 for longer than a mile or two and after 3 miles at 8 it was… comfortable.

The next 5 miles were just an exercise of maintaining pace and at the 8 mile marker my average pace was just over 9 minutes per mile. Then it hit me; the 14th street bridge in DC is a long miserable concrete bridge to run on and the climb of almost 3/4 of a mile to the peak of the bridge took its toll and I was seriously sucking it hard. Then as I crested the top I was hit with euphoria. My hands started to tingle; chills washed over me as my body adjusted, the pain went away and I went into the zone for the last mile and was able to finish with a bang.

Unofficial time: 1:34:29

Pace: 9:15 Min per Mil

Distance: 10.21 Miles.

Never walked

In the end, I blew away my expectations and smashed my goal.

When I get the official chip time I will post it.

Seven Summits - One last look

My Recommendation - BUY THIS BOOK, Savor its pages

Get your Copy Now

Seven Summits is a fantastic book about two unlikely dreamers that come together and change mountaineering history. I have read many books on climbing Everest or mountains in general and I can say I enjoyed this one the most. The writing style was grippy but informative and I feel like Dick and Frank are my buds. I got to know them so well and journeyed the world with them . The Skill of the author is to be applauded as I felt that I stood on every summit and could see what they saw. There are hundreds of great Success principles that drip from every page. Frank Wells and Dick Bass are true success masters and through their journey they inadvertently tell a tale of persistence, determination, success and failure and eventually victory.The outcome is fairly obvious but even though you know what happens, turning pages is effortless because the real story isn’t about climbing mountains, it is the lessons of life they learn.

Seven Summits

“His minds eye saw a system of Chairlifts, Gondolas, and aerial trams beyond what anyone thought possible. He knew it would probably take another twenty years to see Snowbird the way he dreamed it, But that was okay: He was only fifty-one years old” from Seven Summits speaking of Dick Bass and his vision of Snowbird

This book may be about climbing mountains, it is also about success. There are several amazing stories being told and the success principles drip from the pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to further their lives.

I was tricked - Into Physical Therapy

My doctor sent me to a specialist that specializes in running orthotics to get fit for a device. When I arrived I found myself in a physical therapy office. When I spoke to the therapist she said that I wasn’t really here for an orthotic but the doctor cannot send me to her because she is out of his network. She is his Physical Therapist and used to work with him but has branched out and started her own practice. So, instead of going to his offices PT he sent me out of practice and is actually loosing money. :thumb: She does make good running orthotics but only as a last resort.

The PT spent about an hour working with me, measuring me, stretching, watching me move and told me that she believes I can not only run without orthotics, I may be able to avoid surgery all together. She believes that leaving the cartilage in my knee is important and taking it out is a last resort. Her specialty is running injuries and she found a weakness in my left Quad. This weakness stems back to an injury a few years ago where I tore the quad and this weakness has thrown everything off. It has cause my left hip to rotate forward and has thrown my gate completely off and may be the root of all my injuries, Knee and Shin.

I start running again this weekend and have two PT appointments next week. once Monday after my Sunday run Wednesday after my Tuesday run. I have many exercises to do in the mean time to build balance and strengthen my quads. We plan on continuing these sessions until I get this thing worked out.

Seems like good news all around and my team is coming together nicely

Oh, The Knee!

So a few weeks ago I went for a nice hike on Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland. Not a big mountain, just a 1200 foot bump in an otherwise flat farm country. The next morning I went out and put in a nice five mile run and felt like a million bucks. Strong, good lungs, solid legs. Then I stood up and the knee went south. For two weeks it has been sore and the Bakers Cysts was larger than ever.

I scheduled a meeting with a new Doc that runs named Dan Pereles, MD or Doctor Dan. He was great, he reviewed my MRI and history and said that at some point I would need Surgery to repair a torn Meniscus. In the mean time to get me through the summer I was administered a healthy Cortisone shot with some numbing agent. The needle was 20 feet long. (The needle gets longer every time I tell the story).

Today, the knee feels better. Probably more the numbing agent than the Cortisone as I think that takes a few days to work. I can run this weekend so I am pretty stoked. I will post my first run results after I run!

It Couldn’t Be Done

 It Couldn’t Be Done
Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

High Intensity Interval Training - HIIT

Over the past two months or so I have been doing Curls, Squats, Tri’s, Push ups etc. I have been working my upper body like crazy and my abs and chest very hard. In my arms I see a massive difference. Even shirts feel tighter in the arms and people have made comments about my arms.

BUT… I still have too much fat to look ripped at all and I want to be lighter. It is no longer something I want to do or should do but it is an insane burning MUST! The weight I am packing while I run and climb is killing my knees and feet. I literally workout with a 40 lb pack on every day and it is time to take it off. My leverage is my body, I need to keep my Legs, Knees, feet and Hips healthy and always packing this weight is hard on them. If I ruin the body parts, I loose the ability to do everything I want.

I am dedicating my training to Building muscle Mass and eliminating Fat. How? I am going to continue what i am doing and add HIIT 3 days a week. The hill by my house is about 1/5 of a mile long and about a 20-25% grade. Needless to say it is a brutal beast. Yesterday I ran 4 45 second sprints up the monster and it about killed me. Gee, I remember the day I could not make it up once, anyway, I will continue to abuse this hill until I can sprint it 8 times full out with 2 minute rests in between. Over eight weeks I should be able to pull that off and really trim up.

All day yesterday I felt like someone had kicked my ass and I was so tired. I laid around and watched a movie and realized that the routine of running the monster is just what I need. Fast, Furious, painful, pleasurable, Measurable, Tough and effective workout.
Plus, this will really get my climbing muscles in shape!

Mauna Kea

Here is a little update and some really cool photos from the top of Mauna Kea. After some hikes I started having fits with my knee so we drove partially up Mauna Kea and then I trekked the rest. I had a blast. Although it isn’t a technical or high climb to 13800 it is still a challenge. I had to keep reminding myself to breath deep and even or I would get light headed. All in all I was a mountain goat. Too bad the damn knee is giving me fits. I think that when I get home I will look into getting it fixed.
The temp on top was about 5 F after a 45 MPH wind. I way under dressed and froze my butt off. We were told to expect 25-30 F

Anyway, here are some really cool pictures.
Enjoy
Me at sunrise on the Summit

THe Shadow of the mountain at sunrise extending to the west

At the Summit, Mauna Loa in background about 200 feet lower.

Sunrise, True Summit to the right just before we made the final climb.

View from the top at Sunrise

Back on the Snow! 25 years too late

So last Friday I did something I have not done for (I am ashamed to say this) 25 Years. I went Skiing.

When I was 5 years old my father taught me how to ski and by the time I was 12 I was a pretty good skier. In my teens I was completely unstoppable and then there was the “M” word. I was confined to a life of servitude and skiing was not in the plans. The last time I put boards on my feet was maybe 1983.

Now I had went Snowboarding twice in 2003 and that was totally different. The first time was OK but nothing I really got excited about and the second time put me in the hospital with a collapsed lung for a total of 12 days. But Skiing, that was my childhood passion. Man did I love to ski.

So there I was after 25 years, Laying in bed visualizing the slope, the skiing, the curves, the turns, the smells, the feels, Everything and it was as if I was there and never came down from the hills. The next morning I stopped by my buddies who owns a rental shop and he hooked me up with the best gear. I was nervous but the memory was all there. I could feel the slope. As I drove up the canyon in SLC I was very aware and bleeding of nostalgia. I was headed to the resort, Solitude, where I first learned to ski over 40 years ago. The hill had changed but a lot had remained the same. The little shack that stood at the end of Inspiration Lift (Long gone) was still there. The smells were the same and the sounds were all crisp. As I walked from the jeep to the hill the crunching snow gave me chills. All those years skiing came rushing back like a freight train and there I stood, at the lift line ready to climb on the lift. 25 years of talking myself out of liking snow melted like a snow cone on a hot summer day. I sat back and I was off.

The plan was to take a very easy beginners hill and make a few turns. Got to get the feet under me I kept saying but what I meant is I got to get the fear under control. I talked a lot on that first ride up the mountain, nothing much to do but talk. It cools the nerves, It defocuses from he fear. Then the top came and reality set in, It was time to deliver and I skied off the lift and stood at the top of the run. I looked at my friend that was there for me and off we went. I made a few turns and suddenly as if I was injected with super human memory, every cell in my body remembered and I started carving up the hill. Before i knew it I was hammering moguls, cutting the slope and tucking for speed. I WAS BACK!

By the end of the day I was exhausted, every muscle was burning and we made an intense 14 runs. All were on Blue or harder slopes and several were Black Diamond. In the end I had to fight back a tear just as I am doing now because I look at 25 years I went before I took this wonderful gem back into my life. I realized that all the years of telling myself I hated the snow were a cover for the pain of something I had purposely given up and now that pain is gone and I have moved one step forward. Another step towards the top of the world…