Uwharrie Mountain Run 2014

Maybe my best race ever. Certainly in contention for the slowest. Two weeks ago, I resolved to skip Uwharrie all together. Even though I love it, running hurts me. Repetitively. My body is better rounded (or at least my stomach is) without it. I don't need it anymore. A few weeks ago, I found a lost gym rat on Sycamore trail, in Umstead, who is happy to swim, lift, head stand, or spin with me. Shout out, Evan. So trail running is obsolete. I go to a gym now. They have a sauna! And few snakes. 

My compulsive cantankerousness foiled a cold turkey quit. I'm still running the 4.6 mile Sycamore loop from the horse lot once a week. Sometimes, slightly more, when my mostly tame but decade younger pet gym rat pushes me. But 6 Umstead miles translate to about 400 feet in Uwharrie's rock garden. 

All was well until Scott Lynch my personal instigator-n-chief, invited me to a test run on Company Mill a week out from the Uwharrie Mutilation Run. We squeezed in the loop and brought one another up to speed on our ailments and broken parts. We started serious smack talking near the end. 

"My PT guy said I could take the tennis balls off of my walker." 

"With Aleve, I only have to take 2 pills all day."

"My foot is barely numb."

The goading quickly escalated into delusions of grandeur. If two guys limping to a finish with a combined age of octogenarian, fit your definition of grandeur. It was enough for us. We pinkie swore and decided to car pool toward a glorious resurrection. Or to finish.

The 8 mile option starts last. After running the 20 mile option for the last two years, it was a real treat to sleep in the morning of the race. I idly rose at 4:30 AM and headed out for the goad. 

Best no pressure race of ever. No stomach issues, no nervousness, slept like a drunk baby. After checking our email and playing a few rounds of Candy Crush, we decided on an entirely new and untested route to the race. A route 20 miles further than the back road options. (All I40 until the last possible minute rocks from Raleigh, if your in the market for a new Uwharrie passage.) We stopped at an untested McD's for our traditional coffee and apple pie. We were living on the edge. I think I saw Scott mainlining gluten. No rules, I entertained running in this year's race shirt.

Scott insisted on chipping in for fuel and he's very trusting. I may have suggested that my Ford runs on grain alcohol. We had an impromptu vote and established Maker's Mark as a fuel substitute and new tradition. To protect the race's teetotaller reputation, the timing was tricky. However, with a small amount of maths, a compass, a sextant, and a map we allowed that I could down my airplane bottle as we walked along the state highway, before entering the El Dorado outpost without breaking any rules. It was harder to justify the apple pie, which really should not be eaten by humans under any reasonable circumstances.

Somehow, we arrived early enough to catch the very beginning of the 8 miler race packet release. I was pushing for White Owl blunts as a new tradition, but was vetoed. I took the extra time to suit up for the race. A Yancyville Goodwill shop provided this year's race uniform. I suited up in my "new" duds to ward off the chill of the first 2 miles. The bait shop guppies were frozen again (but not solid this time.) The criteria used when purchasing my race ensemble derives from a complicated equation involving weight, ambient air temperature, the rotation of the earth and general funkiness. Fit is immaterial to the function so my final silhouette is usually a bit of a surprise. This year the Yancyville fashion scene did not let me down. My green hoodie was simple and sophisticated, but the purple jeans were fantastic. Hold on, its about to get fancy in here. Purple, button flied, and skin tight straight legs. They squeezed my quads tighter than my recovery compression shorts. It looked like the 1980's puked Paula Abdul on my limbs. I cut the ankles with a utility knife so they could be safely pealed off in a circulation emergency. Dapper and protected from the 29 degree morning, we caught the bus to the start.

We had about thirty minutes to share the fire with the rest of the race rabble. And five minutes of glorious flame all to ourselves as everybody responded to Kim's call to the line. As she counted down to the start, we hit the plastic loos. The race was off before either of us had exited. I was held up appreciating the pleasant pine scent of the liquid soap. I think Scott was admiring the hand towels. We came to an empty line. A lone smoking cigarette lay half burning in the road. (No kidding, I am dying to know where that came from.) A tumbleweed blew through and a crow called. The public encouraged us to get on with it and off we went. It was surreal, I have had dreams about oversleeping that start similarly. We kept it easy and ran to the that monster climb of the first mile. 

Still no panic, no urgency even. Course knowledge helps. The first year I ran the 20 I was naively hoping for a sub 10 min average. That first climb is so steep and switch backed, and skinny that it guarantees a bottleneck. You will walk that hill, or you will run it in the first 10 positions. My inaugural mile that year was 17:50 and I tried to make it up over the next five. It ended disastrously and funny. This year, with time outs for bathroom stops and cigarette breaks, we caught the back of the pack about five minutes in. From dead last we reached mile one at 18:58. And fully rested. It was probably my best start ever. I still had enough wind to sing most of the Britney Spears catalogue. Collectively, our gnarled cartilage appreciated the easy start and began loosening a bit.

At mile 2, I dropped my skin tight rocking 80s cold weather gear. Scott thought they were possibly the most obscene trappings on the course. Challenge accepted! I once made a drunken oath to complete my next marathon in speedos. (I think it was Susan Yuh Gregory and Jay Spadie, but who knows it was a drunken oath. It could have been to the Vikings for all I know. They like beer too. And oaths.) At my present recovery rate, I may not fit into my speedos by the time I can complete another full marathon. And I am almost 40. Should somebody almost 40 really be buying a new pair of speedos? Its time for trunks man. Seriously. Why not Uwharrie? Besides how often do you start a race with whiskey? And whiskey commonly makes idiotic decisions legendary. And I had half a stick of Body Glide left. 

Miles 2-5 breezed by and I don't think it was the Maker's Mark. The camaraderie of Scott's company, the low stress of a just finishing goal, and the promising allure of another piece of local pottery combined just enough risk with just enough achievement. And the still way too cold for European swimwear kept my pace up to ward off frostbite. My body's memory had suffered enough Uwharrie to begin preparing for the long haul of a 20. (Scott's last finish was the 40). 8 passed like a sprint. 

Mile 5 introduces the first and only major aid station for the 8. I've always breezed through maybe stopping long enough for a water bottle refill and a blood sugar check. Five still seams too early to stop in the 20 and your usually still full of enthusiasm and confidence. Not today. Scott and I purchased the full buffet. We requested a table with a nice view of the forest, but not too close to the kitchen. I ordered the pb&j, banana, cup of trail mix, salted boiled potato (does anything come close to that good on a trail run? maybe the soup), two mountain dews, potato chips, and a cookie. I have no idea what Scott had, I was too busy eating. We spent a good 5 minutes goofing off with the, as always, awesome volunteers. They eventually asked us to leave as we were eating all of their food and my lack of pants disturbed some of the more sensitive.

Hyped up on Mountain Dew and corn syrup, I left the aid station in really high spirits. We ran off trail to take pics of the still iced stream and waterfall and Scott took the first injury of the day in the rock pile. Madman that he is, he had openly mused that Uwharrie was not really as unrunnable as he had remembered. And now he was bleeding. Around 6, my tendons were about done and the complaint section of my brain was starting to light up. And I discovered that speedo square legs have about a 5.5 mile trail run limit, even with half a stick of Body Glide. We kept a nice even pace through these end miles. Scott paces very evenly and was too squeamish to run behind me after I donned the pink nightmare. His steady climbs helped me keep my composure at the point in a race where I usually start bombing the downhills and dying on the ups. I picked up the pace on the last mile and pushed it. We were finally, slowly gaining on people. My GPS splits recorded funny, but the last mile was sub 11:00 and the last .15 miles were 7:10 pace. I passed somebody just before the finish chute. I think the same carefree race approach would work really well on the 20. This was a great lesson in not taking yourself or the race so seriously. 

And there is new pottery in my room! 

Uwharrie has the best finisher awards in NC. I almost have a complete breakfast set now. Cereal bowl, milk cup, and now a butter holder. Thank you Jason and Kim (Bull City Running) for another beautiful event. The race swag rocks too. My favorite race shirts.

Scott wanted to double back and check out the 40 milers and I wish we had, as I see the facebook reports and pics start to publish. I see a lot of familiar names on that list. It looks like everybody rocked it. I miss you tendon superpeople. I hope to see you by the end of the year as this rebuilding phase has to be about over. I really miss you all. But I missed the delicious beer, sweet potato fries, and local beef hamburger at Carolina Ale house on the way back even more. These treats are only compatable with T1 diabetes on race days. Your all God's beautiful unique flowers, but your no home brew and medium rare with all the trimmings. Recover well. I will see you next year (at the Ale house).

Slightly blurry after Maker's Mark.

Button fly and BETA VCRs. Man I miss my pager.

Compression Jeans.

SDBC your move.

Yes Josh. Fanny Packs are ridiculous.

Trail love.

Finish.

diatribeThirtyfive

Cross Training and Date Lines

A shadow of my former self.. Arizona desert in the AM.

So I find myself at that age where you never bounce all the way back. You just do your best with 85% and a Walgreen's Rewards frequent shopper card. You can get pretty far, with lowered expectations and a basket full of Tiger Balm, Moleskin, and Halloween candy. I gimped through the summer and finally decided I had rested enough. Returning to arch support, I find myself able to run. While barefoot walking and even standing left me crippled for days, a 2 lb, 28 mm heal-to-toe drop Saucony, propels me to speeds approaching 6.6 mph relatively pain free. 

My arches are still week. My latest barefoot experiment, performing a motorcycle valve clearance, ended in a three day limp. Suddenly, standing unshod on concrete for 5 hours is out of reach? So maybe running Umstead marathon, months ago, under trained in minimal shoes caused a few lingering issues. But that's ok. I'm embracing the role of a minimal heretic. A barefoot backslider. A perfidious Paleolithic. I love the idea of healthy strong feet. And getting kicked out of grocery stores without shoes on indulges both my freaky and rebellious streaks. But the quality of my clay appears wanting. And the theology isn't worth the sacrifice for me. 

Its back to high heals. Mizuono Waves, Asics Nimbus, Brooks Glycerine, Saucony Triumphs. The big ones that would challenge the most experienced exotic dancers. My closet is going to suffer. 20 pairs of minimals were evicted and three cobwebbed pairs of neutral plus moon boots emerged from under my bed for the first time in four years. Barefoot Josh may issue a foot Fatwā, but I'm willing to risk it. I might need training wheels, but I'm finally running semi-regularly now. And a full 2 inches taller.

This taller version of myself can participate in my favorite American tradition. The collection of little red squares on Garmin maps. I may not be the fastest person in the world, but I'm diligently working on my world footprint. 

im·pe·ri·al·ism
imˈpi(ə)rēəˌlizəm
noun
1.
a policy of extending one's red squares and influence through running: or mostly running with limited walk breaks if the terrain is really difficult. 

Still limited to a single continent. Hawaii and New Zealand belong to Oceania.

To punish my wife for eating the last of the Lucky Charms, I took her on a three week touring trek of Arizona, the north island of New Zealand, Hawaii, and Las Vegas with only a backpack and a 27 lb carry-on. Cleverly disguised as a combination birthday and anniversary celebration, my secret campaign for tiny red square neocolonialism launched just as my range slowly edged back toward 5 mile runs. My squares were getting crowded, it was finally time to break out of North America.

My rules of engagement are as important as they are arbitrary. To qualify for my map, Garmin recorded squares must:

1. Be a minimum of two miles. 

2. Be run. (With the exception of pausing for a picture, or when safety dictates. Or to consume any food item discovered on said run. Or for amazing views. Or when a bear has the right of way). Pretty much run the whole time, except for times when not running.

3. No HR monitors. Other than the camera and the blood sugar meter and the candy to treat low BS and the passport and/or travel documents and car rental keys and hotel keys; no distractions.

I've marked my territory in some semi exotic places. And gathered gps data. I've run to a glacial summit in the Canadian Rockies, run it's American counterpart in Montana, the Strip in Vegas, across Bermuda, parts of Cuba, Texas, Florida (several at the Mouse's house), a few states on parts of the Appalachian trail, near a few Great Lakes, the Big Apple, and several exotic parts of Durham. I've missed a few. Tragically, my Iceland trip preceded my first Garmin 205 Forerunner purchase by a few weeks, and once I forgot my watch entirely on a work trip to Illinois. My coastal highway tour of Highway 1 and parts of Cali, and Oregon were all surgical boot and no GPS. With few exceptions, though, the Garmin is packed immediately behind my diabetic supplies. 

Running a new city or trail exhilarates me. Its such a personal way to see a new place. The slightly dangerous parts are second only to the private views in permanently etching the experience into memory. I love running with a passport. I love being warned about high bear activity. Or snakes or criminals or police or whatever new thing could get you. I laugh a lot on these runs. Their tough too. The most beautiful places are all uphill and on uncertain terrain and a lot of them have flying criminal snakebear cops. I've had a few close calls. I ran out of water on my glacier run 4 miles away from the trail head and came back beyond dehydrated and more delirious than usual. (Why didn't I put some snow in my empty water bottle at the top?) I've found myself pretty lost occasionally. Hundreds of ankle rolls and many near misses in foreign traffic add to the excitement. Every near miss just enhance the waterfalls, mountain views, herds of wild horses, sailboats, eagles, and once, a naked sunbather. Vacation runs are the only runs I've found more fun than races.

So, my AZNZHILV (Arizona New Zealand Hawaii Las Vegas) running recap and gps red square press into new red square territory:

My company invited me to The Boulders Resort in Carefree, AZ. Carefree other than snakes, coyotes, 110 degree temperatures, and frighteningly high restaurant prices. The opportunity for this leg of the trip arose after I had already purchased and scheduled parts of our anniverbirthday. In spite of the logistics involved reworking the dates and fees for airline rescheduling, we decided to work it in. There really was not much choice. I had no red squares in AZ and I've always been a sucker for a good business meeting. 

I enjoy seeing new places. Its kind of my wife's and I together thing. To maximize my meager means and thereby my exposure to new places and experiences, I tend to sleep and eat frugally. Penny goes along with it mainly because I hide her wallet in the morning when I wake up early for a run. My philosophy always spends money at the spa, then sleeps at the flea bag hotel. Buy a nice souvenir, dine on cans of tuna and trail mix smuggled from home in the luggage. This place was decadent almost to embarrassing and set a horrible new precedent. Here, our bathroom and closet were about the size of my bedroom at home. The minibar was stocked with Ketel One Vodka! My money prefers Popov cut with paint thinner. Afraid to temper our upcoming airport hotel experience in Vegas and to avoid taking on airs, I sagely suggested we sleep on the floor. Penny declined.

The hotel facilities lavished the traveling cross trainer. Hands down, one of the best equipped gyms I've seen. I found it on our second day and used the free weights, row machine, and a self-spotting bench press that allowed me to finally safely max out on weight. The outdoor bug splat shaped pool had a single Olympic lane down the middle. You did have to multiply your laps by 1.15 to take into account swerving around the slightly inebriated obstacles that kept drifting into the lane. The skinnier, less visible, revelers caused me the most issue, as my goggles did not make the weight cut off for luggage and were left home. Overall a very successful cross training outing, with the exception of my new found awareness of what drunk, wet, lane drifting, hairy man feels like. 

Selfie Rock.

The two desert runs I squeezed in were just shy of amazing. Both were taken early in the morning in exhilarating low temperatures. The 4 miler, interrupted by a few pics and a bunny, was long enough to end pretty warm. I discovered a trail ending in a steep climb up several stacked boulders. The second run ended in an OJ Simpson speed chase as 9 hot air balloons drifted toward me. (only neunzig luftballoons shy of a pop song?) Best of all, no snakes. But I did find a skin, to add to the danger flavor. Overall, my first desert runs were beautiful. The colors and shadows were in constant flux, the cacti made it feel authentic, the odd shaped stacked boulders lent a whimsy to the landscape. I did leave with the feeling that desert runs 3 through infinity will likely feel pretty similar. 

New Zealand arrived three flights and a whole in the wall Vegas hotel layover later. The nastiest leg was a 9 hour 20 minute hop where I lost the last of my flight phobia to shear monotony. Though now, I am terrified of coach airplane seats and I strongly suspect a newly developed pretzel bag allergy. My recollection of this part is pretty hazy, due in part, to insomnia, Olde English 800, and a handy Clonazapan prescription for anxiety. In total I flew, bused, delirium tremored, and hobbled for 36 out of 48 hours. The end arrived only after bending several laws of the space time continuum. At some point I crossed the international date line and finally landed in NZ when Elvis was still a delivery truck driver and phones were tethered to a wall. I arrived at our hotel about 12:30 AM. I think it was 5:30 pm, Tuesday July 34th in Raleigh. I combed my teeth, brushed my tongue, and passed out for a period of several moon cycles. 

After emerging from a refreshing coma Penny and I toured the city of Auckland at an airplane seat crushed hip flexor tame 2.8 mph as we re-acclimated to the world of bipeds. We got a set of wheels in the form of the popular Nissan POS SE (I don't know what the SE stood for) the following day and began a whirlwind tour of the North island. Our second day awake delivered us to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. I'll try to spare the travel details and focus on the running highlights. If you wish to know about glowworms or any part of any of my vacations, just ask. I will happily treat you to a 6 hour slide show with interpretive dance of the local customs. These caves were formed from water flow, and other than the glowworms were pretty much just caves. I found the area surrounding them to be magical. 

The whole island is volcanic and the lush green it mothers could make Ireland jealous. The caves butt up to a hiking trail that weds farmland and a lush jungle environment. I convinced Penny that this might be the only trail in the country and left her in the car for a brief running exploration. (Relax she had a book, and I left the windows cracked.) I started running through Jurasic Park like trail for a mile and suddenly stumbled through a few lingering ferns into Kentucky (a more beautiful, less methamphetamine ridden Kentucky. Just focus on the green rolling hills.) One of the most beautiful runs of my life. Too amazing to spoil with bloginess. The pics follow. They can speak for themselves. Or let the Hobbits try.

I managed a total of 4 NZ runs. The green blanket above, and two through cities, which though fun, were not overly remarkable or unique. The last trek was a safari of fun, overreach, exhilaration, and near disaster. On the waning days of our NZ leg I found a trail through the rain forest. 

The Bay of Islands on the northeastern side of the island are in a tropical zone that border the coast. Our hotel, the Copthorne, resided adjacent to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. The Reservation of the Polynesian decedents include some jungle trails. I found one at 7:15 PM and assumed I had about an hour until twilight faded into night. On an island without snakes, what could really go wrong? The rain forest trail ranked as nearly magical. The earth was teaming with life. It felt primordial. I quickly lost myself in the soft dirt and green fauna. Even the trees seamed sentient. A dazzling sunset, a waterfall, and a huge jungle chicken combined in awing and overwhelming my better sense of time. Sometime later, I regained my awareness and turned back in the faltering light. My Garmin battery failed when I was just under 2 miles out from trail head. Playing jungle scientist, I discovered the effect of diffuse light on subcanopy trails. My thesis: it gets damn dark fast! It went from funny to serious pretty quickly, but I had my headlamp and I reigned in the pace to account for roots, poisonous frogs, super occult chickens, and cannibal snares. 

A quick selfie pic by an ancient tree became exciting when something overhead started a growl-snarl-yelp-howl. I made a quick last minute will and testament on a close to full speed run. I am uncertain as to whether the legality of an iTouch video made in a foreign country at 10 mph would have held up in our court system. But upon further review, I do know that I successfully gave away my dignity in that video. I arrived at the trail head about 15 minutes after nightfall. Delighted, charged, piqued, anxious; alive. My last NZ run has become the standard for adventure to beat. Its going to be pretty hard to beat mystic yelping giant chicken jungle trail with night chase.  

Just 4369 easy air miles later. We were back in Hawaii. I managed 2 runs in 3 days. For one I conquered 90 flights of steps (6 up and downs in the hotel) for a very not very picturesque Hawaiian concrete landscape view, but it ended on top of the hotel roof for a pretty spectacular finish. And then I had a touch of inspiration insanity. I left my hotel early and ran to Diamond Head Crater. I arrived soon after it opened and before it filled with cameras, water bottles and general public. Public admission without a vehicle is only one dollar. The aerial view of Honolulu, stoking of ego, and the value of a taxi ride saved made the venture as profitable as it was scenic. When added to the miles already covered over the Auckland volcanic field, the emerging fiery volcano pattern reminded me of the Greek Phoenix mythology and my own recent running resurrection. Its been a long slow climb, but I think am starting to feel my wings flex again. Of course, that got me thinking about the University of Phoenix and then I thought about the time I waste on game apps. Could I have achieved a Master's in the amount of time I wasted on CandyCrush? Then I remembered where I was and tried the view again. Just under 6 miles and another beautiful vista enjoyed. 

The Las Vegas Strip provided the venue for the final leg of my three week running tour. I totaled 26.9 total run miles over some 25,000 total traveled miles. A record either in covered ground or my longest time for a marathon yet. I liked the way the numbers worked out. Another marathon still seams pretty far off into the future, but the upcoming Medoc 10 miler trail run seams doable. I am so much better rounded as an athlete (or at least an amateur, approaching 40, with athletic tendencies) than I was when I ran my best time at the Disney Goofy. My body certainly looks healthier. I lost that heroin chic, starving puppy body type that the 5 marathons per year were perfecting. Its of great interest to me what the results of a stronger more well proportioned me will produce when I finally get back to the marathon + distance. Look out front of the mid-pack of the masters age group!

Rotorua Museum, NZ

NZ coast on a morning run.

Best reason to run.

Polynesian geothermal spa. Second only to beer for reasons to run.
Speedo drag suits, second only to thongs for indecency.  

Morning run, ended in a traditional  Burger King and this giant Kiwi.

Diamond Head stairs leading to the crater's peak.

A few more stairs to the top.

Honolulu selfie from the top of the crater.

Diamond head.

Staircase vistas.

Hawaii from the top of the Shoreline Hotel Waikiki.

Serendipity, Las Vegas. The third best reason to run.

diatribeThirtyfour

A Slightly Incoherent Running Manifesto and Summer Recap

Lake Treadmill. 

Parallel to my legion of fans and popular world view, I generally picture myself as a long running, hardcore, off road, ruggedly handsome, rich, Patrick Dempsey haired, slightly eccentric (in the rich tradition, not the homeless man in tin foil hat, holding a cup of cat milk tradition) adventurist with the balance and grace of a leopard and the common sense of Ben Franklin. Over these last summer months, long running was subtracted from that image. The other attributes remain mostly accurate. 

I've switched back from minimal to arched footwear, iced, stretched, massaged, rolled, and slept under Feng shui'd magnetic crystals. I'm still unable to get over 6 miles without causing massive swelling to the 1st metatarsal on my non-surgery side. That quickly stresses the tendon and I get PF pain from the joint to the heel. My whining always showed stronger than my running.

After my T1 (yeah #1, USA USA) diagnosis, running became my vehicle to keep my insulin resistance low. Ridiculously low. I'm almost off the scale. Less resistance, less insulin injected. And God knows how much baby powder and horse laxative the chef's at Norvo Nordisk add to their proprietary rapid insulin recipe. 

Restricting the medical jargon to a minimum: Whether generated by your body or big Pharma, insulin is a hormone with inflammation properties. Inflammation makes heart attacks. Heart attacks suck. Its also the vehicle that delivers honey bun to your midriff. Mmmm honey bun. Insulin is similar to Glenfiddich consumption. A small amount is essential to life, but too much and you'll wish you were throwing up over the backyard deck. So easy on that mixing bowl of twice baked potato bagels and the bottomless trough of fried dough.  

The most important thing Wilford Brimley taught us, after Quaker Oats are awesome and its inadvisable to practice law in TN, is that Liberty will conveniently ship all the diabetic supplies you could desire right to your front door. Good news really, my pharmacy is almost 0.6 miles away. I don't recall him mentioning the often better than medicinal results of exercise and diet. 

As a carbon based life form I love carbohydrates, as a human I love to overindulge. So its a struggle to strive for carb consumption below 100g per day. When inactive, each gram raises my blood sugar about 4.5 points, peaking around 95 minutes after eating. I'm nervous when my BS gets over 140. (Blood sugar not Bulls%$t. My bulls%$t integer is way over 140). These targets translate into a Subway salad (11 grams) consumption rate that would make Jared blanch. 

The thing is I like grapes, pineapples, pizza, Chinese, Mexican, Italian food, Lucky Charms and donuts more than a registered sex offender like's a white cargo sized van full of candy. Bad example, I would appreciate a van full of candy. Any of these foods spike me into unacceptable BS levels, unless I'm working out. When the body exercises all those muscles suck up (more technical medical jargon) any available glucose from the blood stream. You get really insulin sensitive when taxing the body. So much so, that a healthy anatomy cuts its insulin production nearly in half to compensate. Its harder for me to cut injected insulin, so I eat my way to balance. I'm usually the only one at the food tables before a race starts. 

I know, a lot of words, but I wanted to outline my motivation. I have found running to be the most effective form of exercise for BS control. Following a marathon, I can eat nearly anything without consequence for almost three days. Directly following my new career as a full time insulin injector, I became reliant on my mileage as my primary diabetic control mechanism. A great tool, but when your only tool is a hammer you eventually f&$# up your thumb. This blog has churned out more injury than races. At the start of this summer, my hamstrings and calves were so tight, from repetitive stress issues, I couldn't touch my ankles. Toes were out of the question.

Limited to infrequent 5 milers for the entire summer, I was forced to find alternatives to replace my usual 100-150 miles per month. My cereal addiction depended on it. I went kicking and screaming. For me, running trails is fun, biking more of a corporeal punishment. But, I found that a summer spent cross training provided some unanticipated benefits. Flexibility improvements and a more balanced physique brought me new insight. I'm not measuring my body in minute miles anymore. Fitness consists of a balance of stamina, strength, and flexibility now. And while my ability to churn out endless 9 minute miles (never near an age group winner anyway) has slightly diminished, I can easily turn lights on and off with my feet now, freeing up both hands to carry extra stuff. Boasting a 33 percent increase in strength, I am almost as buff as Roger Rabbit. 

The point of all this, if any, is that running became too key a component in my life. I ran through injury. I ran at really dumb times (the summer at lunch time, then back into khakis for work comes to mind.) I started rubbing my hands together and cackling over garmin charts. (Although in this community that behavior qualifies as mostly normal). In my experience, most runners are at peak health 50% of the time and gimpy 60%. It mirrors an addicts behavior.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the rest days I cannot change,

The courage to change the tapers I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

So this entry is a brief overview of my summer cross training. My running methadone. I'm starting to slowly mix running back in now. I signed up for Medoc's 10 mile option. I may never get the full mileage back, but I'm not losing sleep over it anymore. Every time you run out the door may be your last run. Its still my first physical love, but its not the only one anymore. When it comes to exercise, I get around.

I made Group On my first stop. I sampled everything with an elevated heart rate and measured it in beats per dollar saved. Hot yoga, curling, swim lessons, sausage grinding, whatever. Especially if it offered a few weeks access to facilities. My biggest score, Triangle Rock Club, mockingly located in Morrisville, became my favorite. Forty bucks knocked down to $20 with an online coupon, bought me a training indoctrination, free equipment rental and unlimited visits for two weeks. And they have a decent gym. Two weeks, for anybody without Popeye's forearms translates into about 4-5 visits. I had to have a little extra recovery time for muscles toned only carrying 20 ounces of Hammer Perpeteum at a time. In one nook, suspended from the ceiling, they have a small area with a long pipe that you can try to advance yourself on hand over hand. Super fun and my favorite part. I liked this place so much I considered paying the monthly $60 fee and making it my new physical cornerstone. But we've been down that road. Three months from now it would be a blog about forearm surgery.

I took my limp to its logical fashion conclusion and tried pirating for awhile. From SC I repossessed one of the kayaks given to my family as a Christmas present a few years back. She satisfied my exacting criteria, the red schooner fit into my company truck with an extra inch on the windshield and rear hatch sides and my family had tired of moving around her to gain access to their shed. Lake Crabtree is merely 14 minutes from my house and the easiest access point to water larger than my bathtub available. Cardio without leg involvement gives the kayak high marks and I found it pretty fun. Though, I outgrew Crabtree rather quickly. Hugging the shoreline, the entire circumference is slightly less than 5 miles. I found myself circling a time and a half to twice to complete a good 2 hour paddle. I rechristened the pond lake treadmill. With highways on both sides and bordering a walking trail, your never really away from it all. Eventually, boredom overcame good sense and I ventured into the two restricted channels. Past and under the mysterious highway overpass, I found only shallow still water and an ornery turtle. I'll keep the vessel in my x training repertoire, but a new water discovery is essential for next year even if it requires further portage. Extra gold stars for exercise with the best suntan. Frowny faces for every time I had to check under the seat and the bow for spiders or snakes. (I store the boat in the crawl space under the house.)

The Morrisville Aquatic Center performed swimmingly as a key element in running replacement therapy. In compiling this, it appears that most cross training leads in someway through Morrisville. Reasonably priced at $6 per day for a "non-resident" like myself. (I guess that's better than illegal wader.) The pool is uncovered in the summer and boasts a blow up dome over the fall and winter months. Like the Silverdome, only 200 times smaller. The facilities are fair. Aged but well cared for, they match me well. The pool is only 25 yards. Yes, that is correct, 70.5 laps to the mile. And I am only really proficient in the sloth quick breast stroke. Thank you small town Indiana high school. It became my habit to swim a mile or slightly over, (9 laps breast every tenth lap freestyle,) then hit the onsite weight room. Great low intensity HR zone 1 and 2 workout. The weight equipment fulfills all of my needs (i.e. its mostly very heavy). Good cardio equipment, although I tended to avoid it on non-legs day. They also have included classes. Pilates, Yoga, Spin. I think I even saw a karate class. Could have been just a random guy in a kimono. I'm still using the aquatic center months later and will probably keep it as an adequate, but extremely unsexy pillar of my training. I do my best to brighten the place up with my extensive speedo collection, but I'm only one middle aged person. I can only do so much.

Courtesy of the pay per view feature on Time Warner Cable, I was introduced to yoga. I followed the yoga for runners 30 minute episode, until it was etched into my muscle memory. TWC has since replaced it with yoga for golfers. I'm convinced yoga for billiard players and finally yoga for puzzle enthusiasts will follow. Combined with some advanced stretching, this new discipline has brought the most balance to my exercise regimen. It effects blood sugar levels extraordinarily. A half an hour yoga session performs almost as well as a run. Big bonus on the lack of perspiration. Yoga barely qualifies as a glisten, where a heavy run literally leaves its mark in dry salt on my forehead. Your new flexibility rocks. Think about all the new sex moves you can attempt now. On the other hand, your masculinity factor is unlikely to pass the Susane Summers mark. Downward dog in running tights and a head band is really hard to pull off for the male sex. And don't even get me started on finding leg warmers in manly colors. You finally master the abilities to try the Kama Sutra's Wheelbarrow Handstand position, if only the woman in your life was not laughing so hard at you. 

All summer I averaged 30 running miles per month. A long way from my nearly 200 mile December two years ago. The climbing, kayaking, swimming, yoga, biking, ellipticaling, free weights and Quidditching were more than enough to replace the lost miles. Honestly, I feel a lot better. Its nice to be sore in new places. At my highest mileage, my legs would always twitch as I fell asleep. In retrospect that seams a bit unhealthy. I'm a long way from marathon capable presently, but my world didn't end. And I don't look like I so desperately need a meal in the next 30 seconds. My chest is almost 3 inches bigger (although still only an A cup), I can bench 225 (two 45 lbs on both sides which looks really cool), I can carry two suitcases through most airports, I can swim 1/110 of the way to Cuba and if I drop a quarter I can pick it up without bending my knees. The foot is still jacked up, but I'm pushing it gently. 

Medoc is just around the corner. I haven't been over 4 miles in months. On paper, I can make it if I add 1 mile per week. I think I'm going to try it. If I can't make it, maybe I can wrestle Medoc instead. If its too far to run, I'll walk. If its too far to walk, I'll sit. I've added to my mantra. I used to tell myself, "Push the envelope." 

Now I tell myself, "Push the envelope. Don't be stupid." Its a big world, if your injured (and most of us are or will be), go find a good Group On. Now excuse me, its time to get my mileage up.


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