THE YUENGLING SHAMROCK MARATHON

  I just realized that the last time I posted was back in January!! I need to get better at it. So with that being said, I really haven't had much to write about up until recently.

  The Shamrock Marathon was really a last minute decision. Typically I will plan a few months head if I am going to race, but this time it was weird. I think I signed up about a week before the race. I had been running consistently over the past few months so covering the mileage wasn't going to be the issue. I was more or less worried about the speed factor. I hadn't really "trained" for a marathon per si. Like I said early, I had been doing my long runs and running them consistently, but I haven't done any real speed work or tempo runs. So my thought process on this thing was to use it as a training run for my upcoming 24hr Ultra race in April.
  A few days before I had really decided to run this thing I received a tweet from @ArthritisNRF asking me to join their team through @RacinForACure to help spread awareness. Well of course I had to jump onboard and that made me finalize my decision to run. Glad I made that decision too!
  Race morning I was having some ankle pain and stiffness. I wasn't sure if the pain would subside before race time or would I be dealing with this nagging issue all day. So before I left the house I took a indomethacine, hoping that it would take affect before race time. If anything, it would take the edge off.
  I arrived about an hour or so early and I still had to park about 10 blocks away. It wasn't an issue now, but I know after running 26.2 miles it would be.....Soooo not looking forward to it. Anyways, I ended up take a nap for about 30 min or so before I headed up to Starbucks to meet some friends before the race. One of the other runners had arranged for a media person  to do a couple of interviews with some of us. Apparently they were doing a story on our running group.
  The weather couldn't have been better. Cool and slightly overcast. So lets fast forward a bit. I ended up in the 2nd Corral, which was fine with me. I wasn't going to set a new course record or anything..haha. The corrals went out about a couple minutes apart. Don't know why I get nervous before a race. I've done this a few times and like I said, it wasn't like I was going to set a new course record or compete for the win. Today was all about having a good time and running with a few people.
  Horn sounded and we were off. Good early pace and my ankle didn't seem to bother me. The first few miles I was pretty reserve cruising along at about a 8:15/30 pace. Once things got spread out, I think around mile 5/6 I started to get in my zone. At the 7 mile mark I was under an hour and at halfway I was at 1:51. At this point I was thinking to myself if I can run 14 in under 2hr and 21 under 3hr, hell I have a chance to run a 3:40/45. So I pushed forward maintaining a pace that I wasn't used to running. Well it caught up to me at mile 22. Mile 22 is where the race "really" starts, at least for some people anyways. As soon as I hit the aid station and stopped for a minute, that was it. The wheels came of the bus. From that point on it was stop and go...Of course the negativity set in and the thought of giving up came across my mind. But as soon as thoughts came into my mind they went away. Survival mode kicked in and I was talking to myself trying to psych myself up. I kept telling myself  "you can do this, you've finished much greater distances. You are representing for all those who cannot through ArthritisNRF".  Heck I only had 4 miles left..Haha, 4 miles seem like an eternity. It could be worse though. As I was coming by the 23 and 24 mile markers there were people just coming up on the 15 mile mark and smiling!! Hell, I could be back there still. Needless to say I finished, 4:01. I don't really have a great finishing story other than I made it. I did pick it up at the end though. Had too, to many people watching. Although I didn't reach my 3:40/45 goal I did however raise some serious awareness for Arthritis National Research Foundation through Racing For A Cure.
   All and all it was a good day. It was fun and I might do it again next year. Although I don't think I have too many road marathon races in me. Trails are where it's at anyways. After I saw how much a race pic costs I will have to decline..$25 for a digital web photo?!?!?!  Really?

  Stay vertical and keep moving forward....Chris

A good start

  So here it is, halfway through the month of January and I am wondering where the heck the time goes. It seems like I was just putting up the Christmas decorations outside and now the wife and I are planning the spring break vacation as well as our summer vacation. Where does the time really go?
  Three weeks into the month and I wonder if New Year's resolutions are still intact. I think it's right around this time when people start falling off and revert back to their old habits.I think that's why every year I set small goals and not something that's not attainable. For instance, this year I set out to be a better person overall. For those of you who do not actually know me, I am not a "bad" person at all. What I mean is to improve little things to make me a better person as a whole. For example, listening. My wife will tell you that I have selective hearing. I cannot tell you how many times that I ask about something and she tells me "I told you about it last week". I swear I need a voice recorder. Along with listening I would like to spend more time with the kids, especially my oldest who is 15. The days of hanging out with dad are slowly coming to end and I can see her developing other interests; which I know are natural but still hard to deal with.
  All and all 2012 has started off pretty good. Everyone is healthy,training is going really well and I am keeping my resolutions in check. Stay vertical and moving forward my friends....Chris

A new year means new goals

  2011 was a very successful running year me. I accomplished a lot of firsts;  a 50K, 50 miler and a 100K. So it's only natural to raise the bar for 2012. While I don't think I'll race more than 4-6 races, I hope to accomplish a few milestones along the way. Of course the key to a successful running year will be my ability to stay healthy and injury free. I didn't have too many injury issues this past year except for the occasional Arthritis flare ups.
  I think one of my main goals for 2012 should be to consistently post my blog. I have a habit of forgetting to write stuff down. Like this post for instance, I started it back on Jan 3rd and it's now the 16th. I guess i need to get into a routine. 
  So what are my running plans for the new year? Well I hope to hit the 100 mile mark at this years Hampton Ultra Run and Relay in April. Last year I covered 50 miles in 11hrs and I learned a lot about what it takes to run long distance and about myself. Hopefully I can go the distance this year. I was tossing around the idea of running the Shamrock Marathon this year as well, which will be held a  month earlier. While I have pretty much stopped road races, I figured since it's right down the street from my house why not! Maybe I'll set a new PR there.  For the Summer months I think I will only run one race and that's the Xterra 21K held up in Richmond at Browns Island. I've ran this race the past two years, great race. My fall schedule is up in the air. Not sure if I want to run UROC again and try to better my time or try something else. It was tough training in the summers for a September race, we'll see though. JFK50 is on my mind as it's the 50th anniversary and I would like to to tackle Grindstone 100. The winter race will definitely be the Seashore Nature Trail 50k again. Gonna shoot for a sub 5hr.
  Well that's about it for right now. I will post shortly training stuff over the past two weeks. Stay vertical and moving forward my friends....Chris

Seashore Nature Trail 50k

The 3^rd annual Seashore Nature Trail 50k was yet another great success. To Mel Williams and the all the Tidewater Striders who volunteered their time to help make this race a top notch experience, a big THANKS to you. Oh and thanks to mother-nature herself for blessing us with great weather. For the last 2 years, well the first year really, the weather totally sucked! Last year wasn’t bad as the trails were actually in pretty good shape considering we had just had some snow a few days prior and once again those volunteers came through. Like I said, you couldn’t have asked for better weather; low to mid 40’s with a slight overcast. I talked with a few of the volunteers before the race and they said that the trails were fast and in great shape.

This was my 5^th Ultra and the one thing that I’ve noticed over the past few races, were all the familiar faces. The Ultra community is a pretty small tight knit group, so it’s not uncommon to see the same folk’s race after race. One big surprise for me was seeing Gill and Francesca from Bad to the Bone. I met Gill and Francesca at UROC this past September; fantastic people and great ambassadors of our sport. I just so happen to be wearing my UROC 100k shirt that day and every time Gill and I passed on the trails we’d yell “UROC”……

Going into the race I really didn’t really have any goals set. If anything, I wanted to better my time from last year (6:20). All week leading up I was worried about AS flare ups, but my hips, feet and lower back felt really good, which is kind of surprising because for the previous 2 weeks I was having lower back and ankle issues. I guess all the planets and stars were aligned! Feeling great, weather was great…ok, something isn’t right. I always have some issue on race day.

I always start out in the back, mainly because I am not a threat for the win and I like hanging back talking with all the other runners or the “Common Folk” as I call them. However, today was different. I didn’t start off like I normally do. I didn’t partake in any conversation or at least at first I didn’t. I seemed to be more focused on making my way through the crowd (304 I think started). Once I got into some open trails I just started getting into a groove. After about the first mile or so I glanced down at my Garmin; the damn thing never linked up! Ughhh!  To top it off it read “low battery”. I thought for sure I charged it. I new I only had about an hour or so before it completely died so I had to mentally adjust and not let it bother me. It finally died at mile 14.67, but it didn’t matter, I was still feeling good. At this point I was hitting 8-830 m/m which was surprising because I am normally pretty reserve. I knew if I didn’t slow it down I would pay for it later on.

Throughout the day the sun peeked in and out but the temp stayed about mid 40’s. The trails were in great shape and pretty fast.  Fellow runners were few and far between. Every now and then I would come up on someone or someone would pass me and the encouraging phrase of “looking strong; keep it up” would be said and I would reply as I always do, “as long as I am vertical and moving forward, all is good”. Ultra runners are the best people on the planet, very cool and down to earth. Even as the front runners whizzed by, they’d take a second to give a quick shout out.

For the first 20 or so miles life was good. I think I hit 24-25 mile mark just under 4hrs. I thought to myself that there was a slight possibility that I could get a sub 5hr finish. Well as anyone who has ever ran a marathon or longer can tell you, a lot can happen in 7 miles. The wheels started to come off around 5 to go. I was developing a cramp in left inner thigh. I could feel it coming on. I keep telling myself “do stop, if you do, your DONE”. Well of course I didn’t listen. I had slowed down considerably as this point. People were passing me left and right (it seemed like they were anyways) and I could see my sub 5hr slowly slipping away. What made matters worse is that I didn’t have any concept of time because my Garmin died. I had to ask fellow runners what time it was as they passed by. Finally I stopped to massage the area and resorted to a fast paced walk. At this point all the negative thoughts started flowing, but as soon as they came they went away just as fast. I had a moment of clarity. I thought to myself; “There are people that have AS who cannot even walk let alone run 31 miles. I am out here representing those people and secondly, dude, you just ran UROC 100k a few months back and finished. With only a little less than 4 miles left you cannot stop now.” So I started to pick up the walking pace…than a little shuffle and then finally progressed to a moderate jog.  The last .5 miles were on pavement which actually worked out better for me. I came across the finish line in 5:29:19 which was 50 min better than last year, so a new PR was set. I’m pretty happy with that.

Another Seashore Nature Trail 50k is in the books. I have a few goals for 2012 that I mentioned in my previous blog. Who knows, maybe a sub 5hr next year! Well that’s it for now. Merry Christmas to everyone and remember, stay vertical and moving forward my friends…..Chris

My intro to the blogging world

So here we go. I never thought that I'd find myself posting Blogs and Tweeting in order to communicate with others but in today's world, technology rules.
  I guess my whole reasoning behind this is to share with other people my experiences that I encounter through running and the day to day struggles with Ankylosing Spondylitis. As stated in my profile, I was diagnosed with AS in the fall of 2006,  just before I found out I was going on a 9 month deployment to Kuwait. At that time I had very little lower back pain and discomfort in the hips and pelvic areas. In fact, the only reason why I went to the doctor was because I had Iritis. After the numerous blood tests and xrays it was finally determined that I had the early stages of AS. Classic signs; Male, 33, Iritis, HLA B27 Positive and constant lower back pain. Yep, that's me!! As with most people, at first your in denial and to be honest I haven't really come to grips with it until recently....5yrs later. During the last 5yrs I haven't taken any medications other than 800mg Motrin or Aleeve, which only take the edge off. It's only been within the last year or so that I have really noticed a difference in flexibility and pain. I've stayed active by running. Logging in 50-60 mile weeks and competing in Ultra marathon races; 50k's, 50 milers and most recently my first 100k(62 miles). However I do notice, as I said earlier, that my flexibility isn't as good and the pain is a constant 7 out of 10 most days (10 being worst). Hopefully this will all change very soon. I recently went back to the Rheumatologist to seek help. I guess when it affects your way of life something needs to be done. I will be taking HUMIRA starting on the 27th of this month. Fingers are crossed that this will help.
  For some upcoming events, I will be running a 50k on the 17th and for 2012 I plan on attempting to run my first 100 miler.  For the first 100 miler I will be blogging on my success and my failures and all the peeks and valleys that go along with dealing with Arthritis while training for this run. I hope some of my stories will inspire others to go out and be active. Stay vertical and moving forward my friends.