Saturday, September 15, 2012

Oregon Warrior Dash 2012

i finally did it.3 years in and i got some friends to join me and i have pics as proof! hopefully they will talk others into joining. i know i got one more possibly doing it. signing up right after the race for next year gives a huge discount if you get in under their two week sale.

this year i finally wore a costume. i have always wanted to run dressed as an aztec warrior or an indian in just a loin cloth. the first year none of my family wanted to do it with me. last year no one wanted to do it with me. i looked at the clothes of aztec warriors and they wore animal skins like jaguars or made eagle headsets. the strongest fought in some elaborate outfits.

a few examples of what i mean
 

this year i was in LA and looked for some aztec outfits on Olivera st. i found one. $85 for a costume. no thanks. can't afford that. Jen said something about costumes and i said i would wear a loin cloth if i had one. stupid me. she of course took that as a challenge and started scouring the internet for ideas. i told her anything i wore had to be double secured so it didn't come off and scare any women and children that would be present. she was disappointed as her plan was to rig it fall off in the water and be there for the show.

after looking online and seeing some videos i told her i'll just go with a simple one. folds over from the front to the back with some underwear underneath for back up. not to difficult to make and with a rope belt it was surprisingly secure. the underwear made from the same material were for back up but worked to keep the mouse in the house.

race day. Dan came over with his family to pick me up. Jen was there and i was dressed in my, uh hum, loin clothe. i put some clothes on over it, after scaring Dan's son Lucas. Dan was painted up as a zebra warrior. he has his face and/or feet painted for every race. he brought along his paints so i could do my face and we could put the Barefoot Runners' Society.org on our backs along with a barefoot outline.

we took two cars because i wanted to stay and play. Dan had house work and his dad visiting from the old country. he wanted to stay and play but couldn't. the plan was to run it twice. my blood blistered feet said otherwise. not even the cheap alcohol made that discomfort go away.

after getting our numbers i undressed and announced to everyone " here's the money shot!". i heard laughter, a few gasps. i think a woman fainted. nevertheless it was time to bare it all.
waiting on Jen so we can get in the chute.

prerace. before Jen's freak out.


getting our backs done. with my dog getting nervous from all the people.
 Jen didn't tell her husband she signed him up for this, once again. we could have given his number to someone else but too late when we're already there. i'm sure we all have our prerace rituals. i poop at least twice before i leave my house. Jen didn't. she tried while we waited for her but people kept banging on the door and ended up knocking her water bottle down the porta potty. not someplace you want to dig into. how can you relax like that? she's a little high strung i tried to calm her down and told her we had plenty of time. half an hour.

i ran to my car because i forgot the paint in there. i wanted my back done up and Dan and Jen joined in. i wanted no question that i was barefoot. people did ask me if i was barefoot barefoot or barefoot shoes. i told them there's barefoot and then there's shoes. nothing in between. one guys girl heckled him for that. i think they're in the photo where we're all rinsing off in the "showers".

Jen had time to calm down. she was also freaking out about the race. she didn't do any strength work like she wanted. procrastination is a bitch. we got our backs done. walked Dan's family close to the finish line. dropped our bags near a tree and some other people. left my dog with Zdenka. then we got into the chute. i tried to wiggle up close but we barely made it in the chute. i think they allowed 450 people per wave. they don't count or check anyone but it was a lot of people. we had a decent spot and waited for the start.

the music was going, they shot the fire and we were off. i yelled when i crossed the start line. i yelled quite a few times. mostly when i conquered obstacles. they were a bit easier this year. everyone was saying the hills were more brutal than last year. i don't really remember because i was in bad shape last year. my time was 30s slower than last year yet i place higher. imagine that. 39.21 compare to 38.54. 816 out of almost 6000 this year and last year was 869 out of some 5500. slight improvement for me.

i definitely felt better this year. i wore my garmin. it again grossly miscalculated my distance. oh well. i kept up with Dan for most of it. i finished less than 5 minutes behind him. he didn't put his chip on. forgot. i had to walk up the hills at the end and of course i bombed all the downhills. Dan and Jen did also. after the second obstacle Dan got in front and i heard these young girls say "look, that guy is bf". i passed and then heard "so is that guy. haven't they heard of bf shoes?". ha! i wasn't slowing down to be a smart ass this time.

we climbed the bridge and there was this girl who went down facing the ladder while everyone else went on their back. i copied her and made it down fast. i already had a comment from the volunteers about my lion cloth. this time i passed a cute young girl who was yelling. i let out a yell. said something to her. thought about high fiving her but didn't. well, i also thought about grabbing her ass as well as a few others but i restrained myself. she looked at me when i ran past her and yelled out "you'll be more aerodynamic if you take that thing off!". i patted my love handles and yelled back "this is slowing me down".

i told a few of the young volunteers they shouldn't be looking at me because they were too young. i don't think they cared or maybe they weren't interested in looking at me as much as laughing at me. maybe they couldn't tell how old i am with the war paint on. i put a black hand across my face to signify power and good at hand to hand combat. red for peace and power. white, i don't remember why. blue water or lightening bolt on my forehead for speed. next time i will put the paint on at home and not in the car. the hand didn't look like much of a hand.

i remember Dan and i got to the wall with the rope climb about the same time and made it over the same time. i got there after some guy and was down before he got up. ha. we ran and i think he pulled away here. with no video i can't remember everything. i will attach a video at the end you can watch. you can also compare it to last year's race which i blogged about.

well what i remember is seeing Dan go through the barbwire. by the time i got there he was done and out of sight. Jen we had left behind at the beginning. i heard a woman yell to someone to go to the left and roll under it, so i did. i couldn't see if the guys behind me did as well but i was dizzy by the last one so i just crawled. i got out and walked until i could run. about 5 seconds.

on we went. i got to the cargo net and saw a guy running along the middle on a beam. i saw a woman try to stand and fall through the net. there were quite a few people crawling across it. i remember watching the video from last year where some kid just ran across all the rope. this guy ran on the beam so i copied him.

after that it was fairly uneventful. i wasn't passed by too many people. those that did i ended up passing again. the obstacles were fairly easy. there was one with about four logs half buried in the ground and you had to bear crawl under them. they were too close together to stand up. i got out easily and walked then ran. some guy started talking to me saying "the people who made that must have been over 5'5". they didn't plan on short people." i looked over and he was maybe 5'2" and buff. i laughed. whatever works.

after that was some ridiculous hills. i had to walk a few. there were some steep ones. going up some woman yelled at me " a real man would be naked". i could only laugh. some other guy said i must be tough. i looked at him and asked him i looked tough. no reply. i guess the face paint may have covered up my still somewhat pretty face.

the woman wound up passing me uphill and yelled at her friend " i told you i would pass him Jackie, now he's going to let me wear it." she smiled and i laughed. i told her wait for the downhill. when we went downhill i passed her and told her " i told you so." she laughed and i was off once again. it was a lot of downhill where i passed lots of people. i didn't see her again.

did the cargo net climb and some girl asked if my feet hurt. i said no and i don't remember what else. some more downhill. people were sliding and going down on their butts on one part because they couldn't get any traction and were complaining about it. i ran by them and of course had to be a smart ass. "i thought you all would have better traction than me with those things on!" i couldn't hear any response.


uphill. they didn't send me the one with my tongue out.
made it to the end. jumped the fire where i gave and awesome pose. it looks like i got some air. one of the uphills they took my pic. i stuck my tongue out but they didn't offer that one to me. got to the mud and ran through it easily. i saw that little guy again. he made it through easily also. everyone else was going slow and complaining about how hard it was to be in the mud with shoes on.


Dan doing it.

Woohoo!!!!

i slid down the bottom and got my pic. no cutting off my chip this year because i bought a road id. more comfortable than a zip tie. Dan came and greeted me. Zdenka brought Mury over. he sniffed me and got his face muddy. you can see him in the pic trying to rub the mud off his face. Jen came in around 10-15 mins behind us. she's just a little ocd and can't handle wearing the chip on one foot. yeah, little ocd is like being just a little pregnant.

finished.
i don't have pics of Jen because she didn't put her number on her front side. makes it hard to get your pic quickly if they can't see your number. she didn't care either. i'm not looking through them. i looked i think last year and they had over 10,000 untagged photos from people whose number they couldn't see. damn.

Dan left after this. he wanted to stay and run again with me but Zdenka said no. dad was at home and there was plumbing to be done. he gave me his chip so i could record a time and get the beer. Jen and i went and drank some beers. my feet started hurting then. they got worse and i saw a huge blood blister on my right heel. still there a week later. i slammed it down hard on a rock.

we hung out and met a new friend Katherine who kicked ass. she ran in vff's in 33 mins. i also saw my cousin and his wife. he is surprisingly still alive after flinging mud in her eye at the finish line. way to go.had some beer and met some woman who wants to run with us. i of course checked out the many women there. one walked by slowly moving towards me. i thought she was going to pet my dog when she grabbed the back of my loin cloth and lifted it up to take a look. i was shocked and excited. the guy following her said something but my ears were ringing from the shock.

there was this one really hot girl there. i walked by her a few times to get her attention but nothing. she didn't smile at all. she was dressed as a girl scout with her friends. she had an ass that would make Jlo and Beyonce jealous. there were quite a few hot women there. this is the same place i ran havoc at the hideout. hornings hideout. i did talk to some girls and when Jen walked up they turned away. damn. she made a horrible wing man. going to have to find a new one for the next race. the hulkette walked by and smiled at me. Jen said "go get her". she was oblivious that she was there with the hulk. the guy was shorter than me but his shoulders were as wide as i'm tall. ya, i don't think so.


there's the hulkette, minus hulk. they were a big group with batmn being the number one costume there.

we went home after i imbibed 3 miller lights. yeah. cheap beer sponsr instead of good local brewer. when i got home i showered and just fell apart. i couldn't believe how much i ached. i can't wait for next year. Jen even had a blast and wa laughing when she finishe. she couldn't believe that she built it in her mind to be something huge when it was easy. i guess 5 mile training runs make 3mile obstacle courses easy.
Dan getting psyched for the race.

no, i'm not doing the chicken dance. lots of rocks under water.


 i plan on making loin clothes the next trend for bf'ers. if you're thinking of running an obstacle course, do it. personally i'm avoiding spartan until they stop charging spectators. that's just beyond greed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A818hfDZfU

watch this video to see the obstacles.

last year's race.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1127291906563333770#editor/target=post;postID=4142998418487536323;onPublishedMenu=publishedcomments;onClosedMenu=publishedcomments;postNum=25;src=postname

oh yeah. shout out to zap threads so i can win a free tshirt. ;)

http://nakedonsharppointystuff.blogspot.com/2012/09/another-zaps-free-shirt-giveaway.html

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

new guys

a couple of weeks ago i got to run with a few of the new guys to the oregon brs chapter. jim i ran with a while back on the newberry entrance to wildwood. chris i just met but he has joined the group before. john is a transplant from michigan. he couldn't stand the excitement we were all stirring up on the brs so he moved to join the shenanigans.

we met at miller park in newburg. it's a private park where you pay $3 per car. we all said our hi's, paid our fees, and went on our way after a quick peek at the map. with us i noticed a shoddy. i confronted him but he was tagging along with jim. after saying no way in hell he would ever run bf, he gave it a try about three weeks later. yeah.

we were able to start out slow which suits me perfect. once we got into the woods we started speeding up slightly. we hit the hills and i was left with two choices. stay slow and possibly get lost or speed up and start a new cycle of training. i chose to speed up.

it's only a month away from the warrior dash so i hit the hills keeping right behind john. he's been running for many years and i think about 4 bf. he ran pretty strong while i was breathing quite heavy. chris was pretty close to us while jen and jim dropped further back with his friend tony. we didn't let them get too far out of sight though.

afer what seemed like a good mile and a half uphill we finally went down. we wound up on the road that was the main entrance. john and i were bf so we walked down the lovely gravel road. the others caught up to us and we said our goodbyes to john in the parking lot. he had to go to the airport. lucky him.

jen promised us beer. she's on probation. if you're going to bring beer to a gathering you put it in a cooler and keep it cold. she did neither. she had it in her trunk for over a month. getting hot and sloshed around the whole time. when she said this i had already taken a big drink. post run it hit me hard because while i bitched i still drank.

jen got hammered right away. she and i had chris laughing so hard at us he almost hit the floor. we were being so goofy jim felt the need to use his phone to take pics and video. she was working trigger points out of my, leg. i had to hamm it up when i noticed jim taking pics. enjoy.

trigger point in the buttocks. yeah right.

this really does feel good.

john and chris prerun.

TP in my leg.

getting silly now.

even sillier.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Havoc at the hideout



Havoc at the hideout. Two years in a row this race has owned me. Not just does it own me but i'm quite sure if I have another child it will come out and slap me for taking part in this race. This is the second race of the year in a series put on by xdog.

Xdog puts on a series of cross country races throughout the year. Some would call them trail races. I now call them bushwacking. Even though they have gone through and cleared a path, you're still knocking bushes out of your way. Hell, I had to back track once because I followed someone who took me the wrong way, even though we were warned not to follow anyone, I stepped in some stinging nettels. So did she so ha.

The race director made his announcements at the beginning of the race. Telling us don't follow people in case they go the wrong way. Following the trail was part of the challenge. He also told us there are two kinds of people that come. Those who go to one event and then continue coming to every event and those who never come back again.

This was the second bf race I did last year. I remember it being hard because of all the rain. There was mud everywhere. My feet were cut up from sliding in the mud over the rocks. It was hard, I fell a couple of times, yet I had a blast. I even finished with a smile on my face.

finishing last years race in good spirits.


I can tell you right now that wasn't the case this year. I was so relieved when I finished. I came into this race thinking I would improve my time over last year and do much better. That wasn't meant to be. Yeah, the course was dry but it certainly wasn't any easier. I almost feel it was harder. Especially running down the hard pack dirt road with all the tiny gravel bits spread out on it. It wasn't any easier last year but it definitely hurt more this time.

I remember running more of the course last year than this time. When I got to the big hill that I could barely crawl up last year, I was already reduced to walking. I made it up but was a bit disapointed that I had already been walking. I've been doing maf training. How the hell can I be in worse shape? Why wasn't I running? Dry conditions should be easier, right?

Apparantly not so. One guy hobbled by me. He hurt his ankle but I didn't ask him if he did it during the race or before. Everyone was suffering and complaining through this. I don't really remember passing anyone like I normally do. Oh well. This is how racing goes. Anyway possible but the way you wanted it to.


I learned my lesson from the last race. It was also too hot so I left mury with dan's wife and son. They played with him. I'm grateful that not only they went but agreed to watch him for me. 


mid race doing the required "X". i didn't put my arms high enough.
post race with a scared dog. 



this year's finish. i was done with this race before i crossed the finish line. it looks even funnier up close because of how puffed out my face is from exhaling so hard.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

races

i've ran a few races since my last post. it sucks not having your own connection. in the fall i start at my new school. let's see if i'll have more time to blog then. if i even have things to blog about other that running and studying.

after the shamrock i did the bridge to brews. i did the 10k with dan. jen had signed herself and david for the 8k. since he had no clue he didn't run and jen hurt herself so she didn't run either. wish she would've said something earlier so we could've given those numbers to other friends. oh well.

i was so looking forward to this race. for some reason it didn't live up to the expectations i gave it. running over the freemont was pretty cool. i passed a lot of people and got passed a few times. once the two races came together it was tough to tell who was passing me. only notice one pair of vffs. talked to one guy i thin at the beginning. once i told him i have no callouses and he was working harder than he had to, he ran away from me. fast.

i had a few beers after with dan and his son, no, the boy drank root beer. jen, dan, my friends james, his wife and her friend who ran the race. i guess the next highlight was when they gave me a ride to my car i stepped up to a tree in the street and just peed. these people in the car in front just laughed. i was a bit drunker than i realized. i'm going to have to limit myself to three beers post race unless i have a ride. or i eaten a big breakfast before i race.

dan, me, lucas, me and jen with david in the background. only pics i have from both races!


the next race was the cinco de mayo race on international barefoot running day. only jen and david ran with me. well, they did the 5k and i did the 10k. those two races joined together. maybe even the half joined up as well. the half got to enjoy a train going through their race giving everyone 25 minutes added to their run. i think it just happened again recently.

i have to blame nick for me no longer enjoying these road races. we ran the shamrock together for the first 6 miles and it was great. we talked the whole way and even with other runners. running alone has been boring now. not too many people talk to me and the ones that do are usually struggling to keep their own pace. no way i'm slowing down unless they are seriously curious. even then i may get shy and forget to tell them things they should know.

got my two free beers at this race and drank one of davids. talked to some women about adding in bf'n to her training. while i was running away from jen for some reason these girls talked to me and told me i'm famous. they always check my feet to see what color i've painted my toenails. nice.

after much searching i only found the one pic. for bridge to brews i painted my toenails gold with flakes. cinco de mayo i went green on my big toes with white in the middle two and red the last two. they looked awesome and i can't believe i don't have pics of them. lets see if jen reads this and sends me some pics after.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

dirt dash

the dirt dash at hagg lake was the first bf race i did last year. so when registration opened for this year i had to sign up. since i saw some people with their dogs last year i decided to take mury with me. he could handle running 5.3 miles no problem. he's a tough little bastard. well, at least he can run a lot for such a little dog.

i got there a little later than i had wanted. i screwed around too much in the morning and decided i needed to clean my bathroom before i left. it did need it but i could have done it another time. so no warm up run and another pre race poop was in order. horrible thing was the toilet didn't flush. gross.

we lined up in the back. some guy asked me why i was running bf. i told him because it's fun and easier. then i noticed i didn't have my hr monitor on. crap. i though i packed it. i ran and checked my bag but i looked in the wrong pocket. i had it but didn't see it.

some other girls ran with a black lab. i passed them slowly on the start. i didn't mind starting so far back. last year when it broke onto the trail there was a pile up and we just walked the first little section downhill, too many people to run. this year way less people and way more mud. it was the wettest march in history.

mury struggled right away to keep up with me. the mud was deep. i watched him jumping through it. it came to his belly. he was not happy at all about running this. the previous saturday was his first race. he wasn't happy with either so i won't make him do anymore. he likes to run free and in this race he did. maybe it was the mud or the people, either way it was his last race.

i passed a lot of people and don't remember anyone passing me. last year i fell twice. this year i set an unbreakable record of six falls. yup. mud. this one guy i passed in vff's told me he fell twice. i told him i was at 4. he said i have to catch up. i told him he doesn't want my record and he agreed.

no other great moments here. just was a fun race to be back at. when it was over i went in the lake to rinse off and tried to get mury to follow. he got stuck in the grass and water. he wasn't happy about that. i wasn't too happy that after i got in the lake i noticed a water hose next to the bathroom where everyone was rinsing off. i took mury there. poor guy was shaking and cold. since they only had horribly cheap beer there we took off and spent the day with my mom.

there are some pics of us online on the xdog website but i'm to broke to buy those and post them here so see if you can find us if you're curious.
after the beginning. mury chasing me in the background.

he was even madder than this at the end.



i'm on that page and mury is on the following. if you look closely yo can see him far behind me. i went alone this year. had some fun but not an epic day.

Friday, April 13, 2012

foot traffic 5k

so this running shoe store opened up next to my work. cassie told me she was going to run the 5k so i thought i would join her. she didn't make it but mury and i did. i didn't get there as early as i hoped, i know it's a recurring theme with me.

i talked to the owner for a bit while mury followed his dog around. i was trying to walk around and warm up when the chef called me to come move my car. another person parked in the back wanted to leave. crap. i didn't think anyone would want to leave before all the festivities. i told him to grab my keys inside the pocket and move it. he did.

mury and i got near the starting line. i didn't really notice it was on the sidewalk. we were in the street and this pretty woman came over and started talking to me. i quickly checked. yup, huge rock on her hand. oh well. she wanted to know if i was running in my sandals and i told her i''m not sure. which i wasn't. it would be my third day in a row bf.

the owner started the race and called for all the fast people. he said basically if you're going to run 9m/m or below to go now so you don't run anyone over. i lined up. sadly we were behind a buch of young girls who weren't starting. i had to bust through them. i heard quite a few people yelling out that i was bf.

i stopped once to let mury do his thing. he kept up with me but i had to tugg can call him to keep him going. i saw the same woman passing me on the way back and she smiled. sadly i didn't see her at the store. when we finished mury refused to move. i let him off leash and started walking away. he followed me then but was just done with the leash.

we went to the store to check out the unveiling of big foot. the named him something like furberto salasquatch. don't quote me on that. i'm sure i got the first name right, not sure about the last name. it was a fun little race and i got faster. 2.5 minutes faster than the jingle bell 5k in december. that's quite and improvement. this maf training is paying off.

shamrock run

no more free home internet. that's right. i had free internet. no, i wasn't stealing. in order to steal you have to sneak and not want to be seen what you're taking. this was more of a gift. they had no lock on their wifi so i used it. was it nice? nah but it's over.

i ran the shamrock 15k with nick. we kept an easy pace going from the back. we got passed by everyone who was even further behind us. sad but i was trying to keep an easy pace and steadily speed up. nick was in some pain and didn't want to hurt himself more. we were fine with our slow pace. i wanted to start out well below my maf pace and just be over it into nearly race pace by the end. didn't work that way. i was in my maf zone when we crossed the starting line. nervous energy.

some guy at the start came behind me and said "dude, you're insane!". i just looked at him with a big smile and said "no, i'm crazy, you and everyone else here is insane running in those high heels." he got a confused look on his face. kind of like he didn't know if i was joking or he should punch me. lucky for both he just took off running faster. don't make smart ass comments if you can't play.

maybe about mile two nick had to stop for a business call. he didn't take them all before the race so we stopped at some coffee shop on Broadway. we weren't the only ones either. we ran through the pearl district before that and some bystander yelled at me " you're going to catch a cold!" i yelled back "so because you wear shoes you don't get sick?" he just laughed.

as we left the coffee shop the road had some incline. i told nick he sped up. he looked at me confused and said "no, you slowed down." damn. my ruse didn't work. i am slow uphill. very slow. since we kept a slow pace i decided to keep up with him. it paid off.

we went into the hills and were passing everyone. we passed a girl who sped up to talk to us. she told us she just spent $150 on some new shoes and here we were passing her bf and in huaraches. she wasn't happy. stupid us didn't give her details to join the brs.

nick had told me he had planned to speed up on the downhill and leave me behind. i just smiled. when we started downhill he couldn't keep up with me. i called for him to speed up and he just smiled. i love running downhill. it's the only time i can truly run fast. i let go a bit. my hr never got above 180. i could've gone faster a few times. i passed MANY people. one girl had a nice ass. i almost slowed down just to watch but kept on going. i gave one girl the thumbs up who was wearing some vff's. she was struggling. i hope my little bit of encouragement helped her.

at the finish line was the same thing. everyone standing right there instead of getting the hell out of the way. why is that? don't you know people are coming in and some are coming in fast? move. i did see Jesus at the finish. i asked him why was he wearing some Nike's. disappointing.

i waited on the side for nick. we never met up with Cassie, Dan, Jen, and Kevin. nick got to my place a little late and i parked too far away. i thought i picked a good meeting spot but where nick and i came from it was closer to the start then the other peeps were. i called them to meet us there but with 32,000 people we never met until the end. we saw Dan at the bag drop just freezing. it had rained lightly and Jen had dropped his clothes. bad move. i make sure to drop mine since everyone comes in at different times. i barely recognized Dan until he stared at me and smiled. see.

post race with fellow brs'ers



 OK, i can't rotate that pic. sorry but i'm just not that tech savvy. i painted my toenails green for this race. Jen made us tutu's but we didn't meet her so sadly i didn't get to race in a gloriously ridiculous outfit.


after drinking countless beers, they always find a way into my hands from strangers and me just grabbing them. we took off for some lunch. one reason i like to park far from the race is to have time to sober up while walking. it helps. what didn't help this time was seeing these two girls telling us this story that they got robbed while looking for a place to park before the race. some bum reached into the car. he was moving around so much they didn't notice him reach in to the back and take their purses. no racing, no purse, no charges. they had such a fun morning. i pet the girls dog in the beer garden because he was big with a Mohawk. I've never seen that before. i offered to buy them lunch. of course nothing came of it but a good conversation. well, at least i had some fun.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

crunch time

i have two finals next week with two research papers due. so of course it's more important for me to surf and blog. :) i will be studying my o chem here in a little bit and hopefully do some practice writing for my world religions class. thankfully o chem test is tuesday and WR on wednesday.

i have a list from o chem on what i should be studying. it's helping. what is harder is the research i need to do for my lab report due wednesday. anyone want to look up stuff on sunscreen for me? OMC if that helps.

for WR she gave us a list of questions that we will have to answer during class in essay form. not too hard as  we can use our book and notes. i need to do some practice writing, which i can bring but have to turn in something i've written during class. i have to clean up a research paper i wrote and write another 2-3 pages on a religion my group made up during class last week. not too difficult for me. if you didn't notice i can write a lot of BS.

RACE DAY tomorrow. first race of the year!!! yeah! get some!

i'm getting excited if you couldn't tell. i'm doing the shamrock run with my friends, both shoddies and bfr's. well, one will be in huaraches and a girl i work with will be in shoes. pearl izumis i believe. pretty but too stiff for my tastes. this girl is faster than me. lets see what happens tomorrow though. my friend in huaraches is only wearing them because of some strange heel pain he's going through. he can't figure it out and wants to play it safe. he signed up for this race last year and had to miss it. both of them haven't been running well lately and plan to keep at my slow pace.

so my plan to race is to start out slow. do the first mile well below my maf pace and pick it up every mile. this course has 5 miles uphill followed by 3 down. i should be at the peak of my maf pace for the last uphill mile which is great. i love to let loose downhill and with 3 miles i should be passing everyone who passed me.

i picked up Maffetone's new book from the library the other day, "The big book of and fitness". i've only read a little as i've been trying to study more. from what i quickly gleaned, i need to start running harder at least once a week. it's time. so tomorrow i will finish the race above my maf pace and we'll see how hard i actually go.

a few other friends will be there and i know a few will be bf. at least two are doing the 8k and i know one is doing the 15k. i'm assuming another will do the 15k as he says he running to the race from his house, which isn't too far from the uphill portion of the course! must be doing some marathon training. dan, i won't be able to keep up with, still. pretty sure of that. maybe another year or two and i'll get closer to him but it's still too soon. jen has made some green tutus for everyone to wear. she's doing the 8k bf. proud of her. she's getting faster.

i just wish i could bring my dog mury. i can hear the little bastard snoring away right now on his favorite chair. he and the little girl are always fighting over it. he either jumps on her to sit on the back or sits next to her. kids.

so for today's agenda is get to some homework. take mury to the park while i work out, come home and hit the heavy bag. it's 7am now so i should be courteous and wait til 8am at least. more homework. lunch with friends. packet pick up, more homework and then off to work. the good thing about lunch is i will be with two of my best friends. the bad is they want to go to claim jumper. crap. i don't like corporate food. frozen and packaged crap so it tastes them same at every location. corporations are worried about making money, not quality. oh well, i'll live.

then tomorrow, race baby where i can freak out some 32,000 people in the rain/snow and some sun followed by at least one free beer, ha, free.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

teenagers and sports

i now have a teenage girl living with me. this girl is not my biological offspring but she does have my heart and i have raised her since she was a baby. by all means to me she is my child. my daughter is her older sister. they share the same blood, come from the same mother, and are only a year and a half apart. my brother and i are two years apart. he was the most important person to me growing up. we have drifted apart over the years. he won't talk on the phone. when i visited him in september we talked a little but he didn't want to hang out and do things. it saddens me but that's how life is working out. i don't want these girls to grow apart so i treat this one as my own and will even watch their little sisters from time to time. that and i was raised by someone who wasn't my biological father who still considers me his son is the reason i'm passing on love to these girls. it takes little time and money but the rewards i've gotten are huge.

if you like kids you know what i mean. that is until those girls grow up to be teenagers. oh my god. i knew women were hard to handle but raising a teenage girl, crap. you guys who don't have girls have no idea how much easier it is with boys. they say you have a boy you worry about that one boy. you have a girl you worry about all the boys.

that's not what this post is about. this one moved in with me three weeks ago now. she agreed to my terms about chores before moving in. now when i tell her to do something i get a lot of lip. expected, then she does it, somewhat. she hasn't done a good job cleaning. i can handle that. i wouldn't have done a good job at that age either.

she wanted to go to this school that i live next to. she went there last year and had lots of friends. her family moved sometime last year so her mother would drop them off here and i would take them home so they could finish out the year. she started the new school and had no problems. then dun dun dun! problem. she was getting bullied by the popular girl who wrote her a horrible note threatening her and even stole her ipod.

she seems to be much happier here. she has her own room and can freely move around the place without one of two of her little sisters following her. her mother tells me she seems a bit different. i thought she would as being a middle child she hasn't had much one on one time with her parents. yes, her father is around but like a lot of people he got himself in trouble and he has two other kids with two women, one of whom he lives with. he stretched himself without being prepared and hasn't given this one the time a child requires.

i'm enjoying the company. yes, she can be a bit of a pain in the ass. thats a teenager. her mom questioned my sanity for taking her blaming her for most of her fights with her husband. he won't discipline or she won't listen to him. she goes home three nights a week while i work. on sunday i took my oldest and her younger sister out and this one didn't want to come along. she stayed with her mom and baby sister instead. i hope i'm not confusing anyone too much as i don't really want to name the girls now aside from my oldest, this one, the younger one, and the baby.

now to sports. the girls, the older ones, are both talented athletically. this one was in dance class last year and did really good. she was pulled out because of her bad attitude and grades i believe. i want to put her back in. she want's to go do gymnastics now at the rec center close by. i keep forgetting to take her.

the oldest is a fast runner. i mean fast. she is incredible. i never knew to run on your forefoot until i saw her run. she looks like haile gebrselassie. her arms pump in front with her legs turning like wheels with her feet flying up to her butt. she is amazing to watch. a few years ago she wanted to do track because she lost a race to a boy at school. prior she was the fastest kid, always. this boy did track and beat her. so the following spring i went to go sign her up and she changed her mind.

this winter she tells me her friend wants to sign up and i am extremely excited. she doesn't do it. we talked about it sunday and she said next year. i'm trying to tell her do it now, don't wait. she doesn't live with me so i can't push her into it. her mom doesn't care much if she does or doesn't. i do.

my daughter keeps throwing up excuses about time, money, and whatever else to stop her from doing it. she sounds as negative as her mom. i wish she would live with me so i could try to open her up. i tried to take the girls shopping last year to get some shoes for hiking or running. they didn't like the options i gave them. new balance or merrell. well now merrell is giving away these women's pace glove and i want an extra entry. you too can get one by posting in your blog, if your lame enough to have one, or posting on facebook and by commenting on this blog. http://www.runningandrambling.com/2012/03/merrell-barefoot-pace-glove-review-and.html


good luck and thanks for reading.

Monday, March 5, 2012

third maf test

yesterday, saturday 3/3, i went out for my third maf test. i took a water bottle and mury's make shift water bowl. last time we went to the track he followed me around and around. i saw him looking for water and with it being winter they had the fountains off. i had tied him up so he wouldn't chase me anymore. all that did was drive him crazy and bark every time i got far away. i didn't want to go through either event this time.

 after the thursday night run with Jason Robillard i thought i blew my maf training. so i was surprised that i saw a drop in my times. a big drop. i ran 4 miles in 48 minutes compared to 52 last time. and average pace of 12:05 compared to 12:30. that's a big drop in a month! i saw the drop come a week ago. the day i went to the dentist for an emergency exam i went for a run and noticed my time dropped even with me hurting my achilles. i will blame that on the nsaids i was on.

mury the little shiznit head, was harassing the three other runners out there. one guy complained and i told him to just give him a little kick. the dog wants to play but when he gets that close just take a little swing towards him and he'll run away. i was almost done by then so i just kept going. no stopping this time. i felt good and my foot didn't go numb. only my mind did. i don't know how people can get excited to go run on a track. at least those three didn't look excited to be there.

with this progress i'm definitely going to run the shamrock 15k at my maf pace. i'll still blow away close to half the competition.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

i met Jason Robillard

who the hell is that, right? well i take it if you're reading this blog then you know. it's not like this is a popular blog where some joe six pack will stop by for a read of the bf idiot's blog. just in case a little back ground.

i first found bf ted's forum through google. they had a few guys there who dominate every thread. some good guys who are well educated that seek and share all relevant information to running and being bf. Jason was one of those guys. i later found the BRS where he was a founding member. he was a high school teacher at the time.

he wrote a book about how to run bf. sells it on amazon. he later made a second edition and gave it away as a digital copy. i have one. good read. he was now sold the rights to a big publisher and is working on a rewrite. in this time he also got a gig to make a video and work with merrell in the production of their new "barefoot shoe" line. ya, i know, it's an oxymoron but if you're like i was as a newbie you didn't know what else to call them but bf shoes. now i know.

anyway after producing some videos he went and did clinics. from there he and his wife shelly,http://shoelessshelbell.blogspot.com/, sold everything and now live on the road with their kids and niece. you can read about their adventures here, http://robillardadventures.com/. he previously started this little blog where you can read more about him through his own words. http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/

ok that's more than enough background. he's a very small time running celebrity. he just did a tour of the NW so i went out to meet and run with him. met him at the awesome store foot traffic. ofhttp://www.foottraffic.us/about_us.php. nice people there who put on a run every thursday followed by some beer drinking in store. if that's not enough everyone goes to rogue brewery for guess what? more beer drinking.

i walked in with nick, both of us in our luna sandals. i introduced myself to Jason right away. we corresponded a little on FB. i told him there would be a few hundred people there. i think i stressed him out over nothing because i was thinking of some other stores first thursday run. woops. anyways there were two other guys there in huaraches and one more showed up. Jason was wishing he brought his but he didn't and was wearing flip flops. perhaps he doesn't know podiatrists warn against those things.

one guy Chris is a lurker on the BRS. another guy is lomad on forums, Tim in real life. the third guy makes and sells his own huaraches. Brancas, http://www.runbranca.com/. his name is Brant. we talked a little and he left before i got his contact info. he's at the Chiro school where i'll be going next year so i hope to track him down here soon. i may have to get some of his sandals next as i tried his on and they were comfy.

Daniel showed up with his huaraches in his hand. i stored them in my bag in the back room and after a quick ABC tutorial we were off. A is for alignment, B is for balance, and C is for cadence. well i tried to set my watch as i wanted to stick to my maf pace. we got to the waterfront and everyone was already going up the bridge before my watch got satellite reception. there were us bf'rs and minimalists as well as a few shoddies who ran. i took off at a 180 bpm, slightly above my maf. when i got on the bridge i could see almost everyone running down the path. i picked up my pace and kept it up until i caught up to Tim. we ran together a few hundred yards before he turned around. he's having some trouble lately.

when i got on the path i saw Jason coming back with Nick, Dan, Chris, and Brant. i stuck out my thumb to hitch a ride back with them. talked with Jason and the other guys as i led them back. Jason says my stride is a little long. hmm. i thought it was supposed to open up as you go faster. he takes really short quick steps. i was surprised. i should've said something. maybe that's why my feet have been hurting me more and more lately. he's also not as big as his pics made him look. i wonder if he lost some weight from his earlier pics. they made him look taller and bigger .

so back at the store we drink, talk, and get free water bottles from merrell. thanks guys. there's talk of going to rogue brewery for some more beer. Nick has time so we go. i was wanting a burger. we got there and found everyone in the back of the bar occupying three tables. Nick and i sat in the back table that was full of everyone's crap. Jason was seated with the others but joined us. it was cool. i enjoyed our conversation until some of the young girls joined us. i had to talk to them especially since i like Kelly. she's a cute little thing that works at the store. Laura had her bday, she's six, legally that is. 24 in real time. ya, leap year baby. i think i met another girl but i don't remember her name and then another cute little girl sat with us but i didn't ask her name.

at 9:15 i pointed the time to Nick. he felt he should be home by 9:30 to not get the boss mad. i didn't want him in trouble but he was having a good time and like any kid he pushed his luck because understandably he didn't want to leave. neither did i but i had to get home and get the little girl to bed since she had school in the morning. she kept texting me to pick her up later and later. i showed up by ten to get her.

here are some pics from Nick's wonderful phone. his is printed without his written consent. hey, you sent them to me so too bad. these just prove my point i need to get my own real camera as the quality sucks. especially the ones Nick took.

 me n Jason

Nick with Jason

one day i may learn how to put captions to each photo. Jason is a cool guy and i'm glad i was able to meet him. i overheard him talking with the merrell rep about bringing him back out here perhaps in october or november. that'd be cool.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

cold mud

today a few of us got together to run this morning. we had planned on 9:30am. a respectable time for a sunday morning. well saturday morning i got an email from Clay who was the first person to ask for a group run this sunday. he wanted to go at 8am instead because of other obligations. damn. everyone agreed. reluctantly.

i actually made it out there early and met travis. dan was there next then suzanne and jen followed shortly. clay, the one who asked to go earlier showed up last. nice. we had all said our hello's then went walking to the trail. suzanne and i were talking when we passed under a tree and bird shit dropped right in between us. we were like "what?" did that really just happen? damn. i looked in the tree and there was this little bird eyeing us to see if he got us. little pecker. i talked her into getting her shoes from her car as she hadn't been bf'in in a few months.

when we all got to the trail and started running we quickly broke into two groups like i thought we would. only this time we split into three. suzanne left me and jen behind. she was moving uphill quickly but not quick enough to catch up to the other guys.

when we passed wild cherry suzanne was just coming back. she was ready to leave but i talked her into going some more. yeah, i have some massive powers of persuasion. we got a bit passed dogwood and then dan caught up to us. travis and clay took off. we went to the road then up and back down wild cherry all the way to leif erickson. the girls took so long to get down we wound up just walking back to the cars from leif erickson.

after chatting for a bit i said i'm leaving. my right foot went numb from the pain in my achilles and the cold mud. the mud was damn cold. it must've been 34F when we went and only 38F when we got home. my feet never got warm. they are warm now. damn well hot. they are tingling so much from the pain. funny how two weeks ago i ran for three hours and felt much better than i do today. i slept for about two hours when i got home. frustrated jen because she was trying to show me some yoga poses she learned at a runners workshop.

this dog is still sleeping. he's barely moved since we got home and he's just snoring away. i don't think he'll get up and eat today. oh wow, i just saw him lift his head. i'm sure he'll go right back to sleep and won't even move when i go pick up the little girl.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

pain

who likes pain? masochists and sadists. i for one don't care for it. i don't like to be in it and i don't enjoy giving it. why is this post about pain? two reasons. i'm in it. deep. i mean deeeeeeeeeeep.

i got a root canal yesterday. i noticed my tooth started bothering me back in january. i was planning on making a check up when my mom told me last month she made an appointment with a dental school. cool. check up and cleaning for what, $90 instead of $400. i'm in. i'm a student without any insurance so i'll take it.

i went to my first appt and the girl kept touching me. i thought whoa, this chick digs me. i had to ask her about it on monday when i went for my second appt because i noticed everyone there was touching me. my shoulder that is people. or person since people don't read this. hi jen. anyway first appt wasn't much more than poking and prodding. i went for my second appt and the girl didn't make it. that is she didn't save it so i went there for nothing. that was after i spent $30 on sushi. thanks.

so we made an appt for this monday just past. no prob. thursday came and problem showed up. oh, side note, i went to the chiro school for my campus visit. awesome. when i got home my tooth started hurting. friday i was in some pain. saturday i was chewing on cloves at work and miserable because i forgot my orajel at home. pain was coming on stronger. sunday morning i had plans to go for a run and then to a yoga workshop for runners. i went for a run because i didn't want to leave mury hanging like that. i had to call jen to find out when the workshop was because i was without internet. i was thinking it was at 11:30am. it was at 1pm. damn. i had plans to go eat with mom and luis for his bday at 3. hmm.

as i was talking to jen my tooth got a shooting pain. i mean sharp. it was like a hot needle getting stuck into my jaw from my tooth. ow. i never had this kind of pain before. i made it to my appt on monday and told them of the pain. they took xrays and didn't clean my teeth as planned because of this. they couldn't see anything wrong with my tooth so they suggested i go to my dentist or an endodontist.

i called my dentist tuesday after lecture and before lab. they could get me in so i got permission and skipped lab. $100 later she tells me she's been watching this tooth and it was gonna be $2500 for a root canal. i gotta shop around. she's hot but damn that was a lot of money. people i know told me they paid $1000 and $1200. i paid twice as much? not cool. even more pain.

what's sad is i got it done yesterday and i'm sitting here still in pain. it's radiating down my jaw and wiping me out. i went to work after and the boss sent me home. i asked her for the night off. she said i could work. i thought i could too as i have before. not this time. my roots went deep, so did the pain. i can't even focus so i can do my lab. and it really isn't that hard.

on top of that the BRS is down for the count. it was bad enough when it migrated i lost my internet. then i got it back and it's down for "fixing". come to find out the guy who owned the site and gave it to TJ wants money for it. TJ built it to what it is and now he wants some of the action. she pays for a lot of things herself and just started getting advertising. ok, he did all the ground work. thank you. but he let it go. it's time for him to give up total control. instead he has a for sale sign on it. not cool.

i miss my bf peeps. i have no one to talk to. no one to make fun of. i can't be on the phone with nick and jen all the time. oh what to do what to do. hopefully they get it worked out quick. i miss that place.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

my longest run

on friday i went out for my longest run to date which includes the walk to warm up and cool down. i went to upper macleay park so that i could access wildwood. the plan was to meet daniel on ww. i was going to be out for an hour at least so i could be warm and meet him on the top of the hill. to get up ww takes me twenty minutes. i'm slow, don't do well on hills, and doing my maf training.

i thought this time i would get there early and be nicely warmed up so dan didn't have to walk uphill with me. he can power uphill in minutes. he moves faster uphill than most people can move on flatland. either i missed him or he just didn't go. i went to where i told him i'd be and didn't see him. so if he did go out, i haven't asked him yet, he beat me and just kept on going. this is highly possible.

when i went to the bench at the top of the hill i turned around to go back up the trail. mury just stood there staring at me with a look on his face that asked "where are you going?" he didn't follow until i called him and he stayed far behind me until we got to the road that meets ww. from there we went up and then down dogwood. this is my favorite way to go. it's the only way i get to go fast. i get some enjoyment on the flattish parts of ww, but there isn't much of that. i still have to watch my hr as it can soar quickly if i just let myself go as fast as i want.

when we finally get down to the stone house my timer goes off. 2.5 hours running. it took a good ten minutes to walk back to the car. it took over twenty minutes for us to get up macleay trail to ww so i could start running. running up from macleay is no fun as it's filled with cold mud, wet decayed leaves, and lots of sharp rocks. cold feet don't handle sharp rocks so i wait to get to ww before i start running. true, i could just drive to aspen trail and get to the same spot in a two minute walk but i like the challenge of macleay. plus it isn't as far as a drive.

so we spent three hours on the trail. i felt incredible. i wanted to keep running but had to go to work. i ran late because i had to shower this dude and get ready then eat. my back/hip were hurting from that much running. i put on my rock ports to go to work. it felt weird wearing heels but i needed some cushioning. the merrells are good but not enough.

mury wouldn't eat while i was home. he just slept after his bath. he was wiped out. i tried to feed him when i got home. nope. i took him for a walk and he was barely moving. he looked like he was in pain. he didn't even move much in the morning but he at least ate sometime in the night. seems to be his newest habit. so i decided to go for a little road run to shake out my legs. little dude kept up no problem. i let him off leash in the corporate park and he was off looking for squirrels. he was in no pain whatsoever. he's amazing. he recovers pretty damn fast. must be his diet.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

glass

on my run today i stepped on a piece of glass. yes, i was barefoot. it bugged me like a piece of gravel was stuck to my foot. everytime i checked there was nothing but dirt. like always i walk to finish my run and cool off. i had a harder time walking then running.

i got home and went to the bathroom after putting my dog outside. i took a few minutes to figure out how to get it out without tweezers but i did it. i used tiny scissors. scraped it out. it was about a millimeter big piece of clear glass. no idea where i picked it up so no way to avoid it again.

i know what any others would say. put shoes on you idiot. well, F you! shoes hurt too much. i didn't bleed and you can barely see where it went in. i suppose i should go use some peroxide to clean it out.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

punching bag

i finally did it. i went and bought a punching bag. a big heavy stand that has a speed bag platform on the backside of it. i spent a lot of money today but it's quite an investment in myself and my girls. i will be using it quite a bit for days i don't want to run.

i've been wanting a bag for many years. i had one some twenty years ago. my brother sold it. now i have one that i can take with me to wherever i move. the only thing i'm doing now is looking around my place to make sure i have room for everything or if i'm going to have to get rid of something.

i get it next weekend as it's being delivered by thursday or so. bought the little one a set of bag gloves with open fingers. she didn't want to use my gloves. nyah. jeez. i hope the speed bag is not too big. i'll find out next weekend but then i can always return it if it is. i know i can't get a pro size just yet, too fast. i want to try and jerry rig a double end bag. love those things.

Monday, January 16, 2012

i almost killed my dog today

i went for a run today to go meet and run with Dr Ray Mclanahan and his PT partner Sanatan. they do group runs and intros every monday. dan and i went down to run with them. it turned out to be more of a clinic and no run was involved. so dan and i ran back to his car. from there i ran across the river on the waterfront. portland is known as "rose city" as well as "bridge town" because the willamette river cuts through the center of it.

as i was finishing my run and going down the off ramp of the bridge i let my dog's leash go. he got excited and sprinted off to the left. i told him go get the birds and he crossed in front of me and jumped off the bridge. my heart stopped as i watched him fall thinking i just killed my dog. i watched him panick in the air when he realized what he did and then bounce in the dirt. i ran as fast as i could over to him. he sat there in shock not moving until i got there. he came to me slowly as i had to unhook the leash that was caught in a bush.

i started looking him over to see how he was. a bum came over to see what just fell. he was in shock it was my dog. my dog was in shock and i was horrified. my heart was racing. i squeezed all of his bones to make sure nothing was broken. he didn't even flinch. he just sat there shaking, scared. i talked to the man for a minute and then walked my dog so he could shake it off.

he did fine on the walk. we got to an open field and i saw some seagulls. so did he and he got excited. i let him off leash and off he went chasing them. he was prancing around after they flew off. i knew then he forgot all about what happened. i however haven't. we got home and he went straight for his food. he ate and has been laying around moving from spot to spot since. i'm just going to have to check him tomorrow and make sure he's not bruised or has internal bleeding.

i got so damn lucky today. i was only worried about cars and here he gave me something else to worry about. little bastard. i'd miss him. it would be to soon to see him go especially with something avoidable like that.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

the new year

wow. almost two weeks have passed since the new year. actually, it was two weeks ago since new years eve passed. this will be my first post of the new year. funny because it's just before i want to leave to work somewhat early. it looks like this won't be a long post but a short summary of the new year.

school started this week. taking organic chem of course and world religions. the world religions is going to be a lot of work. it is a prereq for nursing students so i'm going to stick with it. never mind that the deadline for dropping with out paying passed yesterday. it helps there are some cute young girls in there.

i went for a run at forest park on new years day with jen. we both wore shoes as it was a bit cold. some man asked us if it was our new years resolutions. we both scoffed and looked at him in disgust and answered no. come on. if you have to make a resolution to do something, especially if you wait until new years, you're not going to make it. i don't care what it is. i learned a number of years ago that i fail at new years resos. i resolved then to not make them anymore and i've been quite happy.

a highlight of winter break was i tool my daughter on a trial run. well, she mostly walked while i "ran". my maf pace keeps me quite slow on trails. i'll post soon about my first maf test i did last week. it was still exciting for me to get her out there even though it was only once and she barely ran. she was stomping the whole time. i wonder if she lost that beautiful form that she has. god i hope not.

i have also entered two bloggers contests to win a pair of merrell road gloves. i have trail and tough gloves so some roads would round it out for me. i actually tied the lace for work last night and they were quite comfy. that  is the tough gloves that i wear to work and the trails for the occasional run and to lab. i keep them in my car along with some black driving mocs in case i ever need to wear some shoes.

 http://www.maplegrovebarefootguy.com/2012/01/merrell-road-glove-giveaway.html
http://www.runningandrambling.com/2012/01/merrell-road-glove-review-and-giveaway.html

check out those links for some reviews on the road gloves or almost any other shoe  you want to buy. gotta go.