Monday, April 28, 2014

Battle with the Blue Dragon

So I was registered for the Blue Ridge Marathon 2013 and had my unfortunate knee accident which canceled both Blueridge and the Disney marathon.  Disney was a bust but the race director of Blueridge is much cooler and let me carry over my registration.  So long story short between the ice storms,longer healing from my knee than I thought, and my hectic schedule my training suffered and I had to down grade to the half.  
Funny thing about half marathons people ask you why you aren't doing the full? Only half? I tell people that I am running the local Cooper River Bridge Run and they say "wow! You are running the whole thing?". It's a 10k!  Just over 6 miles is long but half of a marathon is "just half".... So 13.1<6.2...
So my wife had school so I took the kids and my parents from wonderful Goose Creek Sc to beautiful Roanoke Va, but first.. Let me take a selfie
6 hours of minivan hell!!!
It actually wasn't that bad. 
We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Roanoke.
Which the old black and whites make it look like a horror movie setting
You can check out anytime you like... But you can never leave!
I highly recommend the Roanoke Hotel. It is less than a half mile from the start and the hotel is awesome.
So the perfunctory packet pick up...
The pre race feast!

So went back to the room to chill
Then off to explore the city 
I would be lying if is said I slept well, I had already decided that I didn't care about times. I was here to I've fun and just finish. But first... Let me take another selfie
My Ink n Burn gears shirt, salomon twin skin shorts, and my trusty hoka one one Stinsons. The twin skins would prove to be a god sent, no hot spots, no chafe, best shorts ever!
My Stinsons however gave me a blister on my right big toe 
I violated the first rule of run club and tried something new for race day.
Epic bison bar for breakfast. No stomach issues at all, bought some other flavors, tasty but pricy about 3.50 a piece.
First we all hang around doing nothing
Then we get into our corals
I got an F... F for slow!
And we were off
Up
Up
Someone let a bear on the course!
Then an evil witch appeared.
And Roanoke she says is the name of her star...
Short trail section for the dirt dogs
As we started the descent down the back we encountered some friendly natives serving Moo-mosas!
Not a real horse but...
Real champagne and OJ!
Then back down
More hills.
My Sherpa Savior! 

The guy in blue is Chuck who blogs as "Disneydaddy". He was a lifesaver. I had ran with one of the 10kers down the back of the first mountain and I probably over did it a bit. Chuck was my guide and  travel companion for the rest of the run. He knew every turn, twist, and water stop. We saw his lovely family twice, wife son and daughter. He really did help me to dig down deep after I started getting bad leg cramps. I am endebted to him for his knowledge of the route and his support. Ironically guess what was in my bag from the expo that is didn't even see until the day after...
Should have looked first 
The pipes were calling
Fear the reaper? 
The money shot! My first official half marathon. 
In the hotel afterwards
Went back later that night and took a pic of the finish line. 
Had a really great time! Best race ever! For a small race they had more volunteers and neighborhood food stands set up. 
There was water, Gu Brew, gummi bears, bud light, Sam Adams, champagne, mamosas, pretzels, bananas, coke, and oranges! It was a freaking buffet! I didn't even need to carry anything. I did have a handheld but ended up filling it at the stops only to empty part of it to get colder refills.
Final thoughts. Loved the atmosphere, loved the crowd! Will be going back next year to do the full. For the record this was my first official half marathon... Everything else will be easy street after this... Thanks for reading!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Secret Identity

So here is my brief story...
I was once a roller blader/aggresive skater...
nope this is not me, but all my photos are from the 90's and on actual film.
So after many tricks and grinds and jumps and falls... the damage was done.
and this is what my right foot looks like now...
after this I had to quit skating... this made me mad, then I got sad, then I just got depressed.  I drank, alot... and then I ate alot.  And then much to my surprise I got fat! And stayed fat...
That's me and my son Reece. 

So my initial surgery was in 1997.  10 years later 2007 it was still hurting me after surgery. I thought it just normal, surgical arthritis or something.  Well after starting working as an ER nurse one of our docs told me it should't still be hurting so I went to an ortho and got the good news.  The right side of my foot had a bone fusion that had failed and the hardware on that side was loose.  So not only were my screws twisting in the bone, the joint there has no cartiledge and is rough bone on bone.
I went into get the plate and screws removed and have a revision that ended up being a bunch of bone chunks having to be ground out with the promise that I would need another fusion later.
This is were the hero's journey starts.  I decided to start running becasue the worst I figured would happen was the surgery that was already in my future.
I started the Bridge Trolls as a way to motivate myself.  
since I live in charleston SC home of the Cooper River Bridge Run a local 10K with    
about 40,000 participants.  It was a team of one, a gang with one member, my motivation for myself. And I ran

And I ran and I found that my foot felt better. I felt better. 
And somewhere in the middle of all this my knee got twisted and torn while working in the ER and several months and a surgery later I was back running. 
Of course with was just before I registered for the Disney marathon and the Blueridge Parkway Marathon.  
Surgery canceled Disney and I canceled Blueridge because I wanted to ere on the side of caution.  Pete Eshlam the race director was awesome and rolled my registration over to this year. 
Due to icy winter and my motivation failing me I down traded to the half this year. 
I really want to do the last chance 50k this winter.  I am drawn to ultras because of the community and the attitude.  It seems to be the only community in running where slow, long, trudged miles are praised.  
So that's a quick running biography of me.  So when you see me running slow, remember my right foot is in shambles, my left knee is shot, I have asthma, I'm fat, and I suffer from mild depression so my doubt shoulder angel is about the size of Godzilla. 
And that's why I love running because I'm not supposed to be able to do it!  Actually my shoulder angel is more of a Mechgodzilla with all my other surgeries.
Thanks for reading. More to come