Firenze - part 1

The race is over and I am about to go to dinner. I have napped for three hours and feel a lot better. I started off strong and had a 2:01 half marathon, but then fell apart at mile 20. I needed more and more walk breaks and my calves started cramping. the weather was hot and sunny and humid (92% at the start of the race), but not as bad as Honolulu. that, plus water stops only every 5k, made my average pace go from 9:30 to 11:20 in those last 6 miles. I will post the GPS data later on. but first I need food. Here are the official results from the firenze marathon site. lots of calf cramps from dehydration slowed me down too. next time 2! water bottles. enjoy. btw, Florence is beautiful!!!
love,
doug

4875 MOORE DOUGLAS 04:33:13

Here are the results from my GPS watch. I forgot to stop it when I crossed the finish, so the time is a little off at the end.

runnnin' to the gate.

One thing that is nice about working in the presidio is only being a short distance from the Golden Gate bridge. It makes for a nice lunch time run.

Marathon partay and other things

Thank you to all of you who came to the fundraiser on Saturday night. It was a great time. Over $300 was raised for AIDS Marathon. Please keep the donations coming. I still have not reached my fundraising goal but with your help everything will come out perfectly. It is not too late to donate! You can still donate here. For those of you who couldn't make it, you were missed. I miss all of you in L.A. SF is not the same without you.

On Sunday I did a little 8 mile run down on REDondo Beach. It was one of the hardest runs I have ever done. Running with headache after a party the night before is not easy. Especially not on the beach on a very warm and sunny day. I started off the run dehydrated and then drank too much water and felt ill for a while. Mile 3 was probably the slowest mile I have ever done, because half of it was sitting down, trying to feel better. The shade was my friend for the rest of the run as I actively searched it out. You can find my run here.

I flew back to SF Sunday night.

No training run this last week :(

Ok. I admit it. I was unable to do my training run this past week. Why? Because I was at a conference all weekend and there was no time to run. I wont be running with my team this week either because I will be heading to LA for my final fundraising party, hosted by my friend Mary. Instead of running with the team, I will be running by myself, on the beach. It'll be tough.

When Geeks Run

My brother just sent me an article about how geeks are getting into running with help of the new toys, er tools. cuz if you are gonna run, you gotta stay connected.

10 mile recovery

Why did this run hurt so much? ow ow ow ow ow. it was like I had never even run before. every step hurt forthe first 3 miles. it was like my muscles were frozen and they didn't want to wake up. I guess this pretty normal after a long run like last week's 23 miles. This was my first run with my new watch. it isn't as comfortable as the timex, but it sure works well. Here is the route. The GPS gives the weather, as well as all the hills I ran. It gives my heart rate graphed against speed. It is so much fun!

new toy

I just got a new toy in the mail. A Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch. It is so very cool and fun. It is so cool it even picks up a GPS signal inside my house!!! Today is ths first day I have used it. I used to track my path walking johhny. Here it is: Johnny's Walk.
and here is a link to the forerunner.
And no, I didn't pay retail.

23 mile run

Yesterday I think I ran farther than I have ever run before. Sure I did that Honolulu marathon last year, but due to the heat and my injuries, I did a lot of walking. I feel that this training run was really a run.
It all started at 6am. Which is an ungodly hour to start. Not as bad as Honolulu's 5am, but still early. Florence's 9am start will be interesting too. That will be midnight in California time.
the route was great and just gorgeous. We started in golden gate park, ran over to the Presidio, through the Presidio, the old army base, and over the golden gate bridge. And we came right back and finished up with a long stretch along the great highway at Ocean Beach. The finish was awesome because they had balloons and little medallions commending our finish of our long trains run. It was a blast. And food. There is nothing I like better at the end of a long run than hard-boiled eggs. yum! Oh and mamosas. One of the other pace groups brought mamosas for after the run. Double yum! Then, with a mamosa still in hand, I had a little dip in the ocean for about 10 minutes to ice my legs. COLD!
my over all pace was 11'-13" for 23.5 miles, that includes a restroom break. We were also stopped by the AIDS Marathon coaches at mile 12 for going too fast. They made us do a penalty lap at this one place that the most gorgeous view of the city. I just couldn't believe the number of times on this run that I said, "wow. I've never been to this part of San Francisco before."

Then I went home and slept. I feel much better today.

Foot pain

A few Weeks ago I got some new shoes because my old ones were blown out. I had run too much on them and the outside support on my left shoe was gone. It was like smacking concrete. I didn't realize what was going on at first, but when I had to stop after 5 miles because of the pain, I knew something was up.

I have gone through a number of things trying to figure out what it is. Plantar Fasciitis? A deep bruise from running with no cushioning? Achilles tendiniitis? They could all be culprits. I have been having pain in my lower calves for along time, and when I was stretching recently I could really feel a pull in my Achilles tendon down near my heel. Beneath my heel it feels fine, so I don't think it is Plantar Fasciitis.

I have been using the RICE method to heal up. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate. With more emphasis on the resting and the compression. I think it would be worthwhile to see my accupunturist, Andreas, just to loosen thing up some. I'll post more as things come up.

What I have been upto...

I am running a marathon to raise money for people living with AIDS. I am out to raise $40000 and need your help to keep these people rockin!

Last December I had the honor to run in the Honolulu Marathon for people living with HIV/AIDS. With a lot help from a lot of great people I raised over $5,000 for the AIDS Marathon organization, with the proceeds going to help people living with HIV/AIDS in California and around the world. This year I am doing it again, only bigger and I need your help.

In 2005 I was able to run for 26.2 miles and train for 6 months knowing that I had a great team of people supporting me and that I was running to help countless others who are living with AIDS. I was running for their lives.

Running for somebody else was very humbling; being at service to others, knowing that their needs are greater than my own. Living with AIDS in the US is not the same as it was even 5 years ago, but it is still a struggle. It is a larger struggle for those around the world and in Africa.

I had my own struggles while training. I had injuries that kept me from my weekly runs with the group. Sometimes after a run my knees would freeze up and I couldn't walk. But I knew I had to keep going, for myself and more importantly for people in the world living with HIV and AIDS.

On marathon day, halfway through the marathon in Honolulu I was exhausted. The heat was really bad. My co-pilot Will was doing his best to keep my energy up and keep me focused. I was tired. But every time I came around a corner there were people cheering me on, calling out my name, supporting me in my running and supporting the cause I was running for. Their energy became mine and I suddenly was able to accelerate, where moments before I was having a hard time moving at all.

Through the support of others I pushed myself further than I ever could have by myself. I don't just run for me. I run with AIDS Marathon so I can give back to the group that really showed me that real living is a feedback loop. In the same way the supporters energy became mine, I know that by supporting AIDS Marathon, my energy, and those supporting me, is received by those that we are helping in even greater quantities than we are giving out. and that is beautiful.

This year I am back in San Francisco and am training hard for another marathon. On Thanksgiving day I am travelling to Italy to run in the
Florence Marathon. I have a promise to raise at least $4,000 for AIDS Marathon. This year my running and fundraising goal is $40,000. yes.
with the extra zero. And I cant do that by myself.

I have put in close to 200 miles in training this season, and I have at least another 100 to go before Marathon Day on Nov 26th.
Will you donate to help me reach my goal? Will you be on my team to make a difference and rock out?!

Dont forget, all donations are tax deductible.
If you can donate, please go here:
http://aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=SF-4440&EventCode=FL06

or, If you would like to help me in my fundraising plans, please email
me. If you can help, thank you. if you are not able to help, thank you for taking the time and please let others know what I am up to.

thanks,
doug

Florence 42Km course.

Check out the course for the marathon...all along the river.
http://www.firenzemarathon.it/B3P_FirenzeMarathon/B3PortalConfig/DinamicPortalFiles/FileComuni/Percorso/PERCORSO.pdf

Another year, another marathon!

As you might know by now, I am now training for another marathon! Which one? The Florence marathon. That's right Florence, Italy. What a great reason to go traveling around the world. It's gonna rock. I haven't been to Italy before so this trip will be something special. Right now I am thinking of landing in Rome, going up to Florence for the race, and then heading to Venice, and then back to Rome to fly out.

Training started back in June. Sorry for not updating this sooner. Once again I am training with and running for the National AIDS Marathon Foundation. I have a fundraising goal of $5000 and need your help. The money I am raising helps to support people living with HIV/AIDS as well as research to stop this pandemic. To Donate, I put a link at the top of the page.

This year I am the leader for my pace group, making sure that we stay on pace and not go too fast. This is a long race (26 miles, I hear) and they want us to make sure we finish.

This last weekend we did 12 miles. We keep switching our training sites between Crissy Field, right near the Presidio, and Golden gate Park. Its a nice having more scenery. Last year, while I was training in SF, all the training was in Golden Gate Park.

The stick

Now I know what you are all thinking.

What about your IT bands? How did you make it through with all the pain?

How? Easy. Because I had no pain!

But Doug, how did you get rid of the pain?

I was worried. The day before the marathon I did a warm up run and I was in a lot of pain after just a 3 mile jog. Thank God for the marathon Expo. Not only did I get lots of great running gear, I also discovered "The Stick".
This thing saved me. I was able to break down all my tight muscles in my legs and lower back. It did what the foam roller was supposed to do without the pain. The foam roller just hurt. When using the stick I can just feel it working. It was amazing. Since bringing it back from the marathon, I have brought the stick to work. Everybody loves the stick. My supervisors, my directors, my production managers, my coworkers, my friends.

But what caused the pain? Did it come back?

No. The pain has yet to return. Ya see, I found that my shoes are what caused my IT band problems. My shoes. They were TOO stable. They made my feet pronate more, tightening my IT bands. As long as I had those shoes no amount of acupuncture or massage was going to fix the problem permanently. So I bought new shoes. Brooks.
When I was home at X-mas I went to this great running store, whose name eludes me. They did a stride analysis with my original suaconys (too stable) and 5 other pairs and styles till I found the one pair where I felt no pain; a great pair of Brooks that were $40 cheaper than my Sauconys.
Yay me.

Yes. I finished. Yay me!

so I finished. It was a long time ago. So here's the story. Best as I remember it.

let me start with the quick synopsis....
My time was 5h21min20 secs
Go here to see my full details. and enter my name.
Go here to see some goofy photos of me running. And then click on "see my photos".

It was a really hot day. 85 degrees and lots o' sun. On the day before and the day after there was intermittent rain. But on the day of the race it was hot with no clouds. I think it was the hottest Honolulu marathon they have had. Even the times of the winners were really slow, comparatively speaking. I mean, hey. They kicked my ass.

My friend Will came out to run the thing with me. This was, hands down, the best part of the trip. This was his 6th marathon of the year. To sum it up, he was slumming it, walking, er running, the marathon with me. Ok, we did a bit of walking.

I had a Timex "Speed and distance" gps for the run. I was surprised to see that at the end of the race I had run 27.4 miles. How is that possible? It's only a 26.2 mile course. Then I realized. I ran an extra 1.2 miles just weaving through all the people that I passed throughout the race.

I finished the run with a 100 yard final sprint. Yay me.

The finish was really pretty emotional. I was surprised about how emotional it was. I really felt like I accomplished something huge. in the end I raised over $5000 for AIDS and HIV research thanks to all of you.

But Honolulu was not just the marathon.
I also had some fun too. I did some surfing which was awesome. I did some snorkeling, which was gorgeous. Went to the USS Arizona memorial. Went up to the North Shore to watch the bonsia surf competittion but the waves were too small. they were only 6-8 feet tall on the front face. but I saw some pretty amazing surfing. I need to get out there and start doing some surfin up in SF.

It was really a great experience and I will do more. I am talking to Will and my friend Kurt to run the Florence, Italy marathon next november. In the meantime I am getting ready for a sprint triathlon later this summer.