Marathon vacation to Greece, part 2

After the museum in Olympia, we were scheduled to all meet up for lunch and then a bit of shopping before heading out east to Nafplion for the night.  As a group, we started catching on to the fact that the tour guides were obviously being coached to bring us to various places for lunch and dinner.  This isn’t a crime, but the food and atmosphere starts to get pretty lame pretty quick so a few of us staged a little insurrection and ended up getting our own lunch at a really pretty street side café under mossy oak trees.  This didn’t go over all that well, but hey, we’re the ones paying the bills so in the end, all was forgiven.  I have no regrets.

Olympia is on the western side of the Peloponnesian peninsula and Nafplio is further east.  Between them lie mountains.  The two routes are either a longer route around the mountains or a shorter but harder drive through the mountains.  I think the original intention was to go around them, but road closures or something caused us to have to go through the mountains.  I loved it.  There were a few wrong turns and some very scenic overlooks that seemed more like what I’d expect from the alps than from southern Greece.  Nonetheless, we took a few small breaks here and there to break up the monotony.

One of the places we stopped at was a tiny mountain village whose name I simply cannot find any record of in my photos or notes.  It’s a shame too because it was really neat.  The day was foggy and overcast with some drizzle and it added to the gloomy mood.  Most folks hunkered down in one of the local cafes and chatted over cappuccinos while I and a few other adventurers climbed the steep windy cobblestone streets looking for the next exciting discovery.  One of the really amazing places we found was a bar that looked like it was carved into the side of the mountain with rough stone walls and candles sitting in nooks in the stone surrounding a small dance floor with a bar on one side.  Techno music was playing and the place was completely empty except for the bartender who greeted us with a smile.  A couple of classic Depeche Mode records were hanging on the wall over a small DJ booth in the corner.  The village had plenty of tourists, but they were all Greek tourists.  Our tour guide told us that foreign tourists almost never see this village since it’s out of the way and off the main travel routes.  I would have liked to have spent a day or two there, but the schedule was tight so off we went.  If anyone can identify this place from any of these photos, please let me know.

We arrived in Nafplion after yet another long day on the road and it was starting to take its toll on all of us.  We were sick of the bus and sick of tight schedules, but we were still friendly and joking with each other.  We checked into our hotel and had dinner downstairs.  It was a nice, but unexciting dinner and when it was done, Alida and I again found a few adventurous people to go out to explore the old town.  Alida and I always managed to end up with different people for these off-hours excursions and it made for a different experience every time as each of us had our own different personalities to mesh together.  We did a little bit of shopping and grabbed a gelato while checking things out.  This went on for an hour or so until everyone started closing things up at 10pm so we went back to the hotel.

Nafplion is a seaside town overlooked by the massive castle of Palamidi that dates back to the early 18^th century.  I think visiting the castle was supposed to be one of the tour stops but because of a time crunch, we just got to drive up to it and take in the vista from the castle’s walls rather than a full tour.  It was pretty, but off we went for another whirlwind day of Greek history and culture.

It was off to Mycenae and Epidaurus on Friday.  Mycenae was the site of a collection of ruins that date all the way back to the 1100s BC—making them some of the most ancient architecture and design we’d see on the trip.  I was kind of out of it for this part of the trip and while I did enjoy the ruins and the history lesson, I didn’t really take photos here.  Epidaurus on the other hand, was pretty impressive.  The theater at Epidaurus is known for its incredible acoustics.  The theater seats about 15000 on limestone steps, but due to its design, a speaker onstage at one of several key acoustic points can be heard unamplified with extreme clarity no matter where one sits, even in the “cheap seats” up top.  It’s uncanny how well sound carries there.

After this, it was north over the Corinth Canal and back to Athens to our new hotel and a pasta dinner.  We stayed at the Park hotel on the north side of town and it was very modern and sophisticated.  Friday night’s dinner was the closest we had to a “dress up” dinner even though I still wore jeans.  After dinner, there was more shopping afoot and after-hours exploration.  I suppose it’s the fact that our schedule was so packed with stuff to see that we had to sacrifice sleep time to get out on our own and see things without a guide.  This was both good and bad.

Saturday morning was off to Marathon for the lighting of the flame and the historical pre-race presentation.  To be honest, it was pretty lame.  It was a bunch of tousists out in a field watching interpretive dance until a guy in armor finally showed up and lit a torch.  Then we all piled back into the bus for the hour-long ride back into Athens before plunging ourselves into the race expo to shop and pick up our packets.  Unfortunately, we had delayed the race expo so long that they had sold out of much of the official merchandise, which really pissed off some of the people in the group.  Nonetheless, we all got some stuff and then we went to see the Acropolis: Athens’ most famous landmark.

The Acropolis is situated on a high hill right in the middle of the city and can be seen from a tall building anywhere in Athens.  The Parthenon is the most obvious structure there, although there are others as well.  Just below the hill is the new Acropolis Museum, which was only built a year ago.  Because Athens is such an old city with so much history, the excavation for the museum ended up uncovering a whole set of ruins from the Byzantine period.  Not wanting to destroy them, the museum was built over them and features many clear glass panels in the floor that allow you to look down onto the buildings and city below.  I’m told that they are planning to finish excavation and add it as a whole new previously unplanned wing of the museum.  The museum features many artifacts from the area as well as what is left of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles.  Google them if you don’t know what they are because they are incredible to see.  Unfortunately, we only got to see a tiny portion of them because the rest of it is housed in the British Museum in London, England.  This is an extremely divisive and controversial issue and our tour guide made no attempt to mask her contempt for the current situation.  My personal feeling is that they should be returned to be put on display at the Acropolis Museum along with the ones that are already there.

Back to the hotel for dinner and bed and then it was time for the Marathon race on Sunday morning.

Marathon vacation to Greece, part 1

As a marathon runner, I have always wanted to run the Athens Classic Marathon at some point in my life.  It just seemed appropriate to be there on the same course where it all began in 490BC when the armies of Greece stopped the Persian invasion and Pheidippides made his famous run to announce their victory in Athens.  It was certainly in my bucket list like so many other trips and experiences with no particular priority.  All of that changed in January at the Houston Marathon expo when I found out that the 2010 Athens Marathon would be the 2500^th anniversary of the famous battle.  That sealed the deal and I knew that 2010 had to be the year for me.

It turns out that Houston and Athens have a marathon exchange program with a winner being selected for the trip out of all the sub-4 hour finishers.  I didn’t win the drawing, but I did sign up all the same.  What followed was months of planning, coordination, and training which culminated on October 24^th with a flight to Greece to meet up with a group of Houston marathon runners for an eight day tour of the country and entry into the race itself.  It sounded perfect and Alida and I hopped the plane.

Greece is a country of  roughly 11 million people and about 4 million of them live in Athens.  Greece is also going through some pretty harsh austerity measures right now due to its struggling economy and as such there is a fair bit of social unrest.  Nonetheless, tourism is a major industry and we never felt unwelcome.

We opted to arrange our own flight instead of the tour’s flight.  The cost was about the same, but the flight schedule was more favorable.  The downside of this was that we’d be traveling alone and it was up to us to get from the airport to the first night’s hotel to meet up with everyone.  The metro was on strike so we took the bus.  It ended up not being a big deal at all and by the time we left, we had become very familiar and handy with the bus system in Athens.

We settled in and met up with the rest of the group that evening.  The first order of business was meeting the fellow travelers and the travel agent who would be accompanying us for the entire trip.  It turns out our hotel has a rooftop restaurant with an incredible view of the Parthenon.  It is also located only a block from Syntagma square, where the parliament building is.  After introductions, we struck out together to walk through the market district to dinner at a cozy restaurant.  Traditional Greek food was to be the fare for the entire trip, which is funny because it’s not really anything I have not had before—it was just usually better.  This trip has definitely given me an appreciation for Moussaka.

We got back late and discovered what would be a recurring theme for our vacation: start early, finish late.  That’s great for maximizing the Greek experience, but it’s pretty lousy for pre-race rest.  Oh well, I’ll rest later.

Monday morning began our first full day in Greece.  We all gathered bright and early in the lobby for a bus ride to the harbor, where we boarded a small cruise ship for a day-long cruise around the nearby islands with stops in Poros, Hydra, and Aegina.  The water was rough going out and a few of us got some mild seasickness.  Thankfully the water calmed as the day went on.  Poros looked pretty, but we were only there for half an hour so we didn’t accomplish much other than a scenic walk up and down the waterfront.

Boarding the ship, we had lunch on the way to Hydra Island, where we got to spend considerably more time.  Hydra was wonderfully beautiful in a postcard kind of way.  You had the deep blue water and white-walled houses lining the hills above.  The harbor area was fun as well with donkey rides and a WWII fort to explore as well as a marketplace with windy back alleys.  We broke up into little groups and spent an hour or so wandering around taking pictures and exploring where the streets went.  It was fun to cross paths repeatedly with others from our group who were doing the same thing.  Finally, after many photos and a few trinkets, we got back on the boat for the ride to Aegina.  While here, we opted for a small bus tour of the historic island with stops at the ancient Temple of Apollo, the Church of Saint Nektarios, and a pistachio farm.  Aegina is famous for its pistachios and as a pistachio lover, I simply couldn’t resist checking out what some people call the best pistachios in the world.  I have to admit they were pretty darn good.

Finally, we got back on the ferry and headed back to Athens.  After a bus ride to the hotel, we decided to take a walk into the market in search of some shopping and a good restaurant.  Alida and I went out with four others from our group and ended up at a place called Tepina that had a great covered outdoor area.  We ended up sitting and chatting and sipping wine until about midnight when we called it quits and wandered back to the hotel.

One of the best things about this group trip was the fact that we immediately had two big things in common—we were all into marathons and we were all from Houston.  This means that we instantly had things to talk about at all times.  As we got to know each other over the course of a week, we developed a great mesh of personalities and never really clashed at all even when we got tired and cranky.

Tuesday morning brought an early day in the hotel lobby with all of our bags as we would begin our three day road tour of Greece.  We were introduced to our tour guide, Konstantina, who went by Tina (pronounced with a soft T like “Dina”) and Demitrios our driver.  Tina had a great sense of humor and a limitless capacity for going into as much detail as we wanted on anything we saw along the way.  Either that or she was really good at making things up on the spot.  Just kidding!  It turns out there is a very vigorous tour guide school process that takes years to complete.

We started with a four hour drive to Delphi, which is in the mountains west of Athens.  Delphi is well known for its ruins and the oracle of Delphi, who sat up on a rock and inhaled fumes coming from out of the ground until she got high and predicted the future.  The ruins at Delphi are truly massive and ancient.  There were even some small tunnels that were unmarked, but also unblocked and a few of us with particularly adventurous ideas grabbed Alida’s trusty flashlight and squeezed into them.  They twisted and turned and popped out in other places around the ruins.  It was a lot of fun exploring the place above and below ground.

Another noteworthy thing about all of the ruins around Greece is that they are completely overrun with feral cats, dogs, or sometimes both.  We first noticed it at Delphi, but time and time again there would be a pack of dogs or cats at any given ruins.  I guess tourists keep feeding them so they hang around.  We had a good time in Delphi, but unfortunately the weather turned on us and a thick rainy fog rolled in so we took shelter in the nearby museum, where many impressive ancient sculptures were on display.

After Delphi, we stopped off for lunch at a restaurant in a small town to wait out the fog where we were rewarded with a great view of the valley below.  Back on the bus, the two-hour drive to Olympia turned into a five hour affair.  We all kept a mostly good attitude, although Tina never could come to terms with the fact that athletes hydrate differently and as a result, we need more restroom stops.  I think this detail mystified and frustrated her throughout the week, but hey, it’s just how we are.  The really unfortunate thing about the foggy weather is the fact that we could not get a good view of the bridge across the gulf of Corinth at Rio.  It’s a modern suspension bridge and it’s the only link (aside from the tiny isthmus of Corinth) between the Greek mainland and the Peloponnesian peninsula.  After crossing the bridge, we had another hour or so to get to Olympia.  We arrived late that evening—long after dark—and had dinner and went to bed.  This was a shame, because our hotel at Olympia looked like one of the neatest places we stayed at during the whole trip and I would have liked to have stayed there for a while.

On Wednesday morning, I realized I was getting a bit stir crazy and wanted to stretch my legs a little.  I met up with Bob and Gustavo at 5:30AM for a pre-dawn run in Olympia.  When the sun came up, we grabbed breakfast and headed out to the ruins.  Olympia is an amazing town.  The ruins at Olympia were not only the home of the ancient Olympic Games, but also the Temple of Zeus, which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  Sadly, the temple was destroyed long ago by fire and all that remains are some buildings and columns, but the complex is still massive and Tina told us all about the 35’ high ivory and gold statue of Zeus sitting on his throne surrounded in his massive hall by marble columns.  We also saw the stadium where the original Olympic Games were held in ancient times.  We went to the track and all of us decided it was only appropriate to take a lap down and back on the ancient race grounds.  After the ruins, we headed to the museum at Olympia, which was full of very detailed sculptures including Hermes of Praxiteles holding an infant Dionysus.

That’s a lot to read so far and it's only the first half of the week, so I’ll pick up part two in the next post, along with another to cover the marathon race itself.

It's all Greek to me

In 490BC, an army of about 10,000 Athenians (and a small contingent of help from Palatea) held off a numerically superior Persian army on the plains of Marathon on the eastern coast of what is now Greece.  This represented the first time the Greek armies had beaten the Persians in battle and was of tremendous importance for the morale of the Athenians.  Victory at the Battle of Marathon is still considered by Greeks as one of the major triumphs of the ancient age.

The rest of the world remembers it for a different reason.

After the battle was over, and after much high-fiving and trash talking, a general dispatched the herald Pheidippides to run to Athens to deliver a message of victory.  Marathon and Athens were roughly 40 kilometers (~25 miles) apart.  According to the historian Herodotus, Pheidippides ran the whole distance without stopping, burst into the assembly, shouted his message, "Niki!" (Victory!) and promptly dropped dead.  It's all very dramatic, but it's not like he was calling for reinforcements.  You'd think he could have taken a walk break or something.  Is it really that big a deal if the world has to go another five minutes to find out your team kicked butt?  Sometimes bragging cannot wait.

Fast forward to 1896.  Pierre de Coubertin wants to revive the Olympic tradition and have the first Olympic games of the modern era in Athens.  While picking events that would represent the physical accomplishments of days of old, mainly running far and fast and throwing heavy things, he wisely chooses not to bring back naked wrestling.  However, he does include Pheidippides' famous historic run from Marathon to Greece.  On April 10, 1896, the gun went off and 2:58:52 later, a Greek water carrier named Spiridon Louis was the first across the finish line and the marathon race was (re)born.  I don't know what the water carrying profession paid back then, but apparently it kept one in pretty good shape.  Even today, going sub-3 on a marathon is considered a major accomplishment and is more than good enough to qualify anyone for the Boston Marathon.  Again, this was an important victory for the Greeks since the marathon was the very last event of the 1896 Olympic Games and the Greeks still had not won a single gold medal.  National pride was secured.

The marathon distance of 40 kilometers was a nice round number and you'd think that was that, but the British just couldn't leave well enough alone.  In 1908, it was London's turn to host the Olympics and of course they had to include the marathon.  While measuring out the course, it was determined that 40km just wasn’t good enough and they wanted the race to finish with the best view of the Royal spectators.  So the distance was changed to 26.22 miles.  This flip-flopped a few more times until that distance was made official in 1924.  Supposedly there is a tradition of shouting "God save the Queen!" (or something else about the Queen) at mile 24, although I have personally never seen or heard of anyone doing that.

So, here we are in 2010.  I have run several marathons and generally enjoyed myself and thus far have been able to avoid dropping dead.  Perhaps it's because I still have not delivered the message of victory.  I have always wanted to run the original marathon route in Greece and I figured I'd get around to it someday.  As it turns out, 2010 marks the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon in 490BC.  This is a pretty big deal since there are not a whole lot of things that have a 2500th anniversary.  When I found out about this back in January, I knew this was the year for me.

I have been training since the hot hot days of mid-summer and this Sunday, Alida and I fly out to Athens where we are joining in a tour which is part of a Houston-Athens marathon exchange program.  We will be joining several other couples on a tour in and around Athens that culminates in the Athens Classic Marathon on October 31st and follows the same route from Marathon that was run in 1896 (and again in the 2004 Athens summer games).

So wish me good luck, good weather, and a good race.  I'm loosely aiming to break four hours, although it's really not that important and I plan to stop occasionally to take photos of the monuments along the way.  I'll let you know how it goes.  In the grand scheme of things, this is just another training run for my major race in February.

Nine months later, I'm bringing the vegan diet experiment to a conclusion.

Today is my 36^th birthday and marks the end of my 9-month 100% plant-based diet experiment.  I’d say it was a success.  It’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve learned more in the last nine months about the food I eat than I realized I would.  It started off as my annual Lent challenge—even though I got excited and started two weeks early—and turned into something much bigger and better.  While on this diet, I have set a personal record for time at a 50-mile ultramarathon, a 70.3 Ironman triathlon, and ridden my first (and second, and third) century bicycle rides.  I need to thank Rich Roll for the inspiration and Brett Blankner and Christine Lynch for guidance along the way. 

So why am I changing things now?  There are a couple of reasons I am integrating meat back into my diet.  For one thing, my wife and I are going to Greece at the end of October for the Athens Marathon and it seems like a shame to vacation in Greece without getting the full culinary experience while we’re there.  Because of the race, I don’t want to shock my system with red meat, seafood, and cheese all of a sudden, so I’m easing into it.  Furthermore, while it was never my intention for this to be a permanent dietary change, in a way it really is because I am positive that the things I have learned over the last nine months about nutrition and balancing my diet are going to stay with me and have a lasting effect on the way I eat for the rest of my life.

After nine months of munching on grass and grains, am I going to celebrate with a thick juicy steak?  Not at all!  I’ve fairly well decided that red meat is going to be a rare occasion food.  The trip to Greece is a perfect example of this.  I feel mostly the same way about poultry, although I’ll generally pick it over steak if I have to choose between the two.  I can see myself having eggs every now and again and certainly that would open up a broader range of foods that use egg as an ingredient.  As for dairy, I plan to use it very sparingly.  I’ve made a permanent change to almond milk and I’m happy with that.  As much as I love cheddar and creamy cheeses, it’s the simple truth that my cholesterol dropped by about 100 points when I changed my diet and cutting out dairy was the biggest change of all.  I’m seeing more studies that say that dietary cholesterol has no effect on blood cholesterol, but that goes against everything I’ve been told and it seems to go against my own personal history, so I’ll await overwhelming evidence.

Over the last nine months, the one kind of meat I have actually missed occasionally is fish.  There have been several times when I would have enjoyed a nice salmon steak or a few choice pieces of sushi.  That is probably what I’ll have for dinner tonight.  I’ll be sure to tweet it, whatever I decide J  I’ve used the phrase ‘vegan’ on occasion for simplicity’s sake, although I have never truly considered myself one, aside from my menu choices.  While I chose not to eat any animal products and I’ve always looked for chances to encourage others about the benefits of an all-plant diet, I’ve been very self-conscious about not pushing my experiment on others and I have no problem with the guy next to me eating a big bacon cheeseburger.  The irony of adding fish to my diet is that fish are the animals that I do concern myself with about sustainability.  For instance, I consult my Monterrey Bay Aquarium seafood guide on my iPhone before buying fish or ordering at restaurants and I do plan to ask the waiter where the salmon on “tonight’s dinner special” came from.  I suppose I can thank Bruckner Chase for introducing me to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s sustainability guide.

All told, it’s been a good ride.  I’m very glad I did it, and while I can’t say there was a huge boost in my health (mostly because my health was just fine when I started) I’m certainly no worse off for the experience and I probably would not have the appreciation I now have for kale, quinoa, almond milk, olive oil, or tempeh if I had never tried it out.  If anyone reading this is considering trying a plant-based diet, I think you should give yourself at least 3-4 weeks at a minimum to really get in the groove and let me know if you have any questions.  I can recommend quite a few good cookbooks, food suggestions, or other resources to help you along the way.

#i8this Twitter Health Challenge

A friend of mine, Christine, put up a challenge a while back for everyone to post their meals on Twitter (even better if you take a photo too!) and tag it with #i8this. She didn't really know where this would go or if anyone would take part, but I certainly took part.

As it turns out, it was pretty popular. People started tweeting all kinds of healthy meals, even though the purpose wasn't specifically to eat healthy. We even got some pro athletes involved. We all wanted to brag about what we were eating and poach recipes and ideas from each other. I even went to far as to present the food on the plate in the most appealing way before taking the photo. It was a whole lot of fun and a few of us kept doing it even when the challenge ended.

Well, the #i8this challenge has returned, but this time with a purpose. Christine has brought it back with the intention of challenging the participants to pick something about their diet and/or health to pay attention to over the next several days. It can be a big thing or it can be a small thing. It's completely up to the individual. It's not a contest, although many of us like to rise to the occasion.

Here's how you play:

1. Ask yourself "What aspect of my diet/ health would I most like to improve"?
2. Look at certain foods or habits that you may want to remove or add.
3. Decide on a number of days that works for you (maybe 3, 5, 7 or 9).
4. Set your intention by making it known to other #i8this participants (via twitter or email me at christine@liveandeatbetter.com).
5. Try to be ready to start by Friday, though it is flexible. You can start now if you want. You're the boss.

I have until tomorrow to decide what I'm going to take up as my own challenge. I see healthy nutrition in two phases. Phase 1 is cutting out the bad stuff and Phase 2 is focusing on the good stuff. Phase 1 is easy enough because most of us know what we are eating too much of even if we don't like to admit it. That part doesn't really apply to me as much. Oh I'm sure there's something I could cut out, but I feel like I've gotten past that and I'm at a point now where searching for the next bad thing to cut out isn't really the most productive use of this challenge for me.

So... Phase 2. This one is tougher because it's like an open book before you. OK, I'll focus on the good stuff. What does that mean? There are all kinds of ways to eat healthy. The biggest thing my diet lacks is structure. Aside from my diet, there are some improvements I could make to my lifestyle in general to facilitate the improvement of myself. With that in mind, I'm going to do this for the next 9 days as my #i8this challenge:

1. Log my meals!
2. Quit blowing off morning workouts on days when I should do them.
3. Drink at least one extra bottle/glass of water in the morning and one in the afternoon.
4. Never go more than one day without eating dark leafy greens.
5. Get at least six hours of sleep every night. Eight is even better.

Some of this is easy. Some will require more discipline. I'm already doing all of these things sometimes--I'm just not doing them consistently.

Four months of vegan diet and counting

Back in January, I attended a triathlon camp in College Station with some fellow athletes I hold in high regard and some others who I had not previously met.  Don't be offended, guys.  Looking back, I hold you all in high regard now.  One of the guest athletes is a guy by the name of Rich Roll, who is a two-time Ultraman finisher and finished in 6th place last November.  The guy is an incredible athlete and one of the things that intrigued me about him was the fact that he turned his sedentary life around and his biggest tool has been switching to a 100% plant-based diet.  He has become a major advocate for a healthy and active vegan lifestyle and I continue to draw a lot of inspiration from his journey.

At that time, I was already eating a very healthy diet, at least by American standards (which might not be saying much) and I had gone vegetarian for a short period in the past just to see what all the fuss was about, but I had never approached it with any structure.  After spending the weekend with Rich and the other athletes, I decided it was time to give this a try.

My wife was up for the challenge as well and we got a few good cookbooks and went to town.  Over the course of the next 3+ months leading up to today, I have learned a lot about nutrition and food.  I have started making some bizarre concoctions in my Vitamix blender and taking the time to learn about the benefits of various foods like flax seed, hemp oil, quinoa, kale, almond milk, lentils, sprouted grains, etc.

It also gave me a better appreciation for making my own food from its component parts as opposed to just going out and buying the same thing off the shelf.  There's a lot of crap out there, even in "healthy" foods and a lot of it simply cannot be avoided because of preservatives added to improve shelf life.

My first big test of the new diet was about two weeks in when I ran the Rocky Raccoon 50-mile race knowing that I would not be sampling most of the incredible food they had at the aid stations.  I planned my own supplements and nutrition and the plan went off perfectly.  I set a new PR and was never hurting for food or energy.

It's been a lot of fun figuring out the journey that leads up to this race and beyond.  It's also been a lot of fun to watch my fellow triathletes learn and improve their own diets, just as I am doing.  I don't consider myself a vegan even though I eat a vegan diet.

The big test will be in about a week and a half when I race the Lone Star 70.3 triathlon knowing that these last three months of training have been done with only plant-based fuel and a hell of a lot of hours of training.  I have lofty goals and I aim to meet them.

We shall see...

Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile Trail Run

Last year I ran the RR50 for the first time.  I had just completed my second marathon and I wanted to try out an ultra.  I completed it in 11:04 and I was in way over my head.  I had never run farther than 26.2 miles and I had not done any trail running.  I got through it, but it kicked my butt.

Yesterday I ran it again.  I had set the bar (low) and I knew what I was up against.  I'm in better shape this time around and I had done some trail races in the last few months.  My goal was to actually race it this time and try to come in under 10 hours.

Rocky Raccoon is an incredible 50- and 100-mile trail race that Joe Prusaitis puts on every February at Huntsville State Park.  The location is outstanding for an ultra because it is a relatively fast course, it's fun, and Joe has a reputation for running an organized event.  Most importantly, it's close to my home!  It turns out that the 2010 race was the biggest ever and for the first time in the history of the race, Joe put an entry cap at 750 entrants.  Luckily, he came in about 50 short, so he was able to stick to his philosophy of accessibility to anyone at any time even up to race morning.  Who knows what will happen next year?

My education about ultramarathons has improved considerably over the last year.  This allowed me to fully appreciate the range of people running in this event.  You had everyone from first-time ultra runners to relative newbies like myself to veterans to established world-class badasses all running shoulder to shoulder.  As I write this the following morning, there are still people out there slogging away at the 100.  More power to them!  I saw Vermont Trail 100 shirts.  I saw several Western States bottle holders.  I even saw a couple of Badwater shirts.  One guy I talked to had just ran the HURT 100 just three weeks ago.  Needless to say, I was in good company.

Since Huntsville is only an hour and a half from my house, I decided to spend the night in my own bed and just drive up for the 7:00 start time.  I believe this is the way to go and I plan to do this from now on.  My wife crewed for me and so did my father.  In fact, my father volunteered the event for the second year in a row.  I am lucky to have such a crew who is willing to spend the entire day hanging around while I'm off running.  I probably only saw them for a total of six minutes during the race.

Speaking of which, let's get to the race.  We got there at a little after 6:00AM and the 100-milers had already started on their way.  I had plenty of time to pick up my packet and ready myself.  Luckily I didn't have to prepare and leave a drop bag since my wife could just bring me whatever I needed from the car.  It was 37 degrees before the sun came up and the high was expected in the mid 50's with 0% chance of rain and sunny.  Perfect running weather!  I got ready and milled around with my father and my wife in the starting area and then all of a sudden everyone took off.  I guess it's time to run, so off I went.

The 50-mile run is a 3-loop course of 16.67 miles.  If I was able to keep to my schedule, each lap would take me roughly 3:20 to complete.  For the first lap, I wore a sleeveless compression shirt with a long-sleeve loose running shirt over it.  I wore running shorts and two sets of socks--Injinji toe socks under Thorlo mini-crew socks.  This turned out to be a great idea for my toes, which tend to get cold easily.  It would have been nice to have had some gloves.  My fingers got numb pretty quick and stayed that way for nearly the whole first loop.

It was pre-dawn when we started, but there was enough light to see without a headlamp and the sun came up within half an hour or so of starting.  My single biggest fear was going out too fast.  I have a bad habit of doing that and I wanted to keep myself in check.  I needed to hold 12-minute miles on average so I wanted to make a point to not go below 11-minute miles and certainly never below 10-minute miles.  On the whole, I was able to keep to this plan.  Ideally I also wanted to keep my heart rate below 150 as much as possible.

Running for 10 hours can be boring, so I looked for someone who was running about my pace that I could talk to.  I ended up coming across a man and a woman from San Antonio.  They were both Ironman triathlon veterans, but this was their first ultra and they were chatty so I stuck with them for the first lap.  I got to overhear conversations among the runners about doing the Leadville Trail 100 as well as Christopher MacDougall's book, Born to Run.  In fact, I have to wonder if his recent best-selling book glorifying ultramarathons had anything to do with the spike in registration this year.  Marathon entry numbers have been high for about a decade as the average Joe decides to get off the couch and take up the challenge of a distance race, even if only once ever.  Some people think that among those who have run a marathon, the ultra distance is going to increase in popularity as well.  I suppose I'm one of the guys who falls into that category.  One year does not a trend make and only time will tell if this theory is correct.

My diet would be a bit of a new frontier for me too.  Because I am on a 100% plant-based diet right now, I had to be particularly careful about what I ate.  At the same time, I didn't want to deny my body necessary calories and fuel for this endurance race.  I like Hammer gels because they are less processed than some and the carbs are long-chain maltodextrin, which breaks down over time.  Hammer is the gel I swear by and it didn't let me down.  Also, an old cyclict trick is to bring salted boiled potatoes on long rides.  It seemed like a good plan, so my wife made up three zip-locks of boiled Greek lemon potatoes and put extra salt on them.  I snacked on them as I ran and they hit the spot.  In fact, all I consumed during the race was Hammer gel, my wife's awesome potatoes, and a few handfuls of pretzels.  I probably had the equivalent of a full banana throughout the race as well to replenish my potassium.  I also downed four Hammer Endurolyte caps during the race.  I never felt like fuel was an issue for me.

The first loop ended just after 10:00AM and my time was 3:15.  I was right on schedule and feeling good.  After the sun came up, the compression shirt and long sleeve got a bit warm, so I changed into a short-sleeve running shirt.  Also, the bite valve on my Nathan backpack's water bladder was giving me problems so I ditched it at the turnaround and just ran with the backpack to hold necessary supplies.  This would be a chance I was taking as the only water I would get would be at the aid stations that were spaced four miles apart on average.  I would just need to drink up and be very conscious of my body's hydration situation.

A quick spray of sunblock and I was out for loop two.  I didn't know whether my running friends had left before me or after me, but I suspected they were ahead of me since I spent probably four minutes at the turnaround aid station.  I wanted to catch them so I picked up the pace just a little bit.  It turns out they were not ahead of me and I only saw them much later in the day running the opposite direction as I passed.  I did, however, run into Shannon Farar-Griefer, who was running the 100 here for her 5th time.  She had a rough morning, taking a spill in the dark and fracturing two of her fingers.  She was still at it though.  Shannon is an interesting character and I've read about her.  I was hoping I'd run into her and I was fortunate to strike up a conversation and spend about ten minutes running with her.  She's from California and she's the first (only?) woman to double Badwater.  That is to say she ran the race from Badwater to the Mt. Whitney portal, then she summited Mt. Whitney.  Then she ran the whole thing in reverse.  Incredible!  I'm glad I got to meet her.  We ran together for a while and talked and they she slowed down to wait for a friend she feared she had left behind so I went on ahead.

Loop two was kind of a mellow loop.  It's where you are covering ground you've already seen and yet you know there's still most of the race ahead of you.  It can be a challenge to keep your spirits up on loop 2.  A little over halfway through it, I realized my feet were less comfortable.  I think the swelling from four hours of running was not compatible with the two sets of socks I had on.  I resolved to run to the next park bench and then remove the Injinjis and just run in my Thorlo running socks.  Once I took care of that, my feet were much happier.  I don't really remember a whole lot more from the second lap.  It was pretty unremarkable and I ran it by myself.  I let my mind zone out for a lot of it.  Just as well, I suppose.  I remember looking down at my GPS at one point and realizing I "only" had a marathon left to run.

As the turnaround point approached for loop three, I tried to think of what I wanted to change.  I had things set just about the way I wanted them, so I resolved to try to spend very little time in the aid station thinking about the final loop.  Much better to just get out there and get moving and so I did.  I was still all smiles, but you can see the fatigue in my eyes.  As I finished loop two, there was a guy charging in behind me.  I'm pretty sure he was finishing his third loop and he was still looking strong.  Impressive!

Loop two finished in 6:25.  I was still on pace, but I was really starting to feel it in my legs.  It wasn't even so much the miles, as the hours.  After another application of sunscreen, a few cups of water, a bit of banana, and a kiss goodbye, I took off for my third and final loop--the loop of truth.

The third loop was less fun mostly because I felt like a slave to my GPS.  I kept nervously glancing down at the pace to make sure it never got to 12:00 minutes per mile.  Most of the third loop stayed in the 11:50/mile range, which was a little too close for comfort.  About halfway through the third loop, while crossing the dam, I overtook Tammy Massie. I had seen her at last year's race, but didn't get to talk to her.  Tammy is a character.  The best way to describe her is to say she's a free spirit.  She wrapped her water bottle belt in blue sparkly fabric and ran with a bright pink top and a pink flower lei.  She made a joke as I ran by and we struck up a conversation.  It turns out she was also running the 50 and trying to finish under ten hours for a new personal record, so I ran with her for the rest of the race.  She was unfailingly positive and had words of motivation for every single person we passed on the trail.  Everyone seemed to know her by name too.  She's a bit of a fixture at Rocky Raccoon having run it several times.  She told me this is her 11th 50-miler and she is training for her third 100-mile run coming up soon.  Go Tammy.

I was pretty run down by that point, but we decided to walk all the hills (some of which really weren't that much of an incline) and run (shuffle) the flats and downhills.  I called ahead to my wife, who met me at the last aid station 4.5 miles from the finish with my Houston Dynamo shirt.  That's the shirt I always wear when I cross the finish line of a big event.  Those last 4.5 miles were tough going, but the clock seemed to be ever so slightly in our favor and when we turned the last corner, we knew we had it in the bag.  Unofficial finishing time: 9:50:09.  Here's the story as my Garmin Forerunner 310xt tells it.  The best victories are the ones you were not quite sure you could achieve.

After getting my medal, having some water, and finally sitting down, I took stock of my surroundings.  Plenty of 100-milers were at the aid station between loops three and four of their five-loop course.  people were digging out their headlamps because it would be well after dark by the time they returned.  More power to em but I cannot imagine going out again for two more loops.  It was hard enough seeing 50-milers heading out for loop three when we were within a mile or two of the finish.  We told them "good job" but in my heart, I was thinking about how glad I was that I was not in their shoes at that moment.

Sitting down felt good and this year I actually knew what changes my body would go through within minutes of finishing so it didn't freak me out like it did last year.  Here's how it works:  First you feel tired but happy to be done, so it's not so bad.  Then you sit down and you're ok for a minute or two.  Then your body starts to cool off and the body shakes begin.  You feel fine, but you're shivering uncontrollably.  You don't get any appetite for a good ten minutes after the race ends and then it all hits you at once and you become ravenous.  Then a low-grade fever kicks in and you sit there miserable for the 90-minute car ride home before just wanting to crawl under a blanket and hibernate.

Not this year!  As soon as I was done, I threw on sweat pants and my race hoodie.  I popped a couple of Tylenol and had the food ready for when the hunger hit.  I still got the shakes, but it was no big deal.  The real highlight of the trip--and this is a gem--is the ride home.  Check it out!

We put an air mattress in the back of the SUV and loaded it with pillows and blankets.  This was seriously first class.  I wouldn't have minded if the trip home took two hours.  The added bonus was that my wife had a comfy place to take naps during the day while I was out on the trails.

I mentioned earlier that my father volunteered to work the turnaround station.  My wife helped out as bit as well.  When I finished my first lap, they were both there with water jugs refilling bottles and packs for the runners  Throughout the day, my father had an opportunity to hear some of the "tall tales" of ultra-running legend and he got some fun photos too.