Results From the 21st Annual Senior Concerns "Love Run" in Westlake Village

The 21st Annual Love Run to support Senior Concerns' Meals on Wheels Program took place this past Sunday, June 8th, 2014. Meals on Wheels delivers two nutritious, freshly-prepared meals to homebound, hidden elderly in the Conejo Valley community 364 days a year. Funds raised from the Love Run enable Senior Concerns to provide Meals On Wheels scholarships to those who cannot afford the program and ensures that nobody is ever turned away. Learn more about Senior Concerns at www.seniorconcerns.org.

I've run the Love Run from time to time in the past and it is a well organized event. There is a 5K, 10K and a 1 mile fun run.

This past weekend's event had 754 participants in the 5K and 440 in the 10K. Some results:

Top 10 Males in 5K:

1. Sean Gildea  Thousand Oaks 22 15:35
2. Mikey Giguere Westlake Village 17 15:50
3. Cole Anderson Simi Valley 17 16:34
4. Timothy Wells   14 17:32
5. Phillip Wright     58 18:45
6. Andrew Harris   Thousand Oaks 33 19:00
7. James Locher     Ventura 45 19:13
8. Thomas Morley Westlake village 15 19:16
9. Rudy Gonzales Thousand Oaks 56 19:21
10. Steve Arce  Placentia 19:49

Top 10 Females in 5K:

1. Christy Jesson   Simi Valley  18  20:40
2. Bobbi Marie Ellias Newbury Park  17   20:44
3. Nina Greenberg   Oak Park  51   21:37
4. Ashley Alderman  Westlake Village  30  21:42
5. Barbara Ellias Newbury Park 52  21:46
6. Jody Vermeulen   Simi Valley 38  21:47
7. Stacy Mackintosh  Westlake Village 41 22:08
8. Alison Krane  Thousand Oaks 35  22:29
9. Rochelle Moncourtois    Moorpark 29  22:51
10. Sophia Tross Westlake Village  11  23:37

Top 10 Males in 10K:

1. Jerome Vermeulen Simi Valley 47 33:49 (Impressive time for a 47 year old...let alone any age!)
2. Scott Hambly Thousand Oaks 37 33:52
3. Clayton Graham Calabasas  24 35:20
4. Emman Labao  Sylmar 48  37:27
5. Jorge Rangel  Simi Valley 28  37:38
6. Jorge Rebolledo  Simi Valley  20 37:49
7. Teerth Patel  19 39:55
8. Scott Smith  Thousand Oaks  37 40:07
9. Chris Just 36 40:49
10. Nicholas Johanson Westlake Village 34  40:56

Top 10 Females in 10K:

1. Becky Ahern El Segundo 27 35:53
2. Jenny Mallen Newbury Park 23 37:46
3. Katrina Frame Newbury Park 31 42:19
4. Carolyn Smuts Huntington Beach 40 42:43
5. Madison Weinstock Thousand Oaks 17 43:17
6. Kimberly Vipond Westlake Village 34 43:50
7. Evelyn Gonzales Westlake Village 42 43:55
8. Jennie Labao Sylmar 40 44:32
9. Casey Hambly    Thousand Oaks 33 44:58
10. Laura Serrano Simi Valley 25 45:01

The oldest 10K finisher was 86 year old Francis Petracek of Woodland Hills, who completed the 10K in 1 hour, 23 minutes! Wow!

The oldest 5K finisher was 85 year old Jean Gosse of Thousand Oaks, who completed the 3.1 mile course in 41:26, 518th place overall out of 754 finishers. Way to go!

I was shocked to see there were five male finishers in the 75 to 99 age group in the Love Run 5K! Quite an impressive group of youngsters out there!

Gene Burke of Westlake Village, 77 years old, finished in 29:15, 199th place overall! Woah!!

Rod LeGate of Westlake Village, age 80, finished in 35:56!

Irv Cherno of West Hills, age 79, ran a 48:27.

86 year old Richard Ruwe of Thousand Oaks finished in 50:05!

And 78 year old Gil Good of Thousand Oaks ran a 50:14.

I. Am. Quite. Impressed!

My Little Eight Year Old Kicked My $%^&* On a Hike Up Boney This Weekend

Last Friday night I took my 8 year old and our dog to the Edison Road Trail in Newbury Park when it was becoming overcast. And dark. He wanted to keep going up the hill to walk "into a cloud." We didn't quite make it and had to turn around, lest we get stuck in the dark. That was that.

The next day I got up and ran about 9 miles mid-morning, came home and decided to take take the same kid out for some fun. No dog this time. We stopped at Jamba Juice. While slurping our smoothies, he said, let's go hike up Mount Boney. Huh?? I said, how come? Because I want to hike up to Mount Boney while I am still in one digits. And I want to walk inside a cloud.

Basically, I discovered these were two things he wanted to accomplish on his pre-double digit age "bucket list."

Saturday was a bit overcast (the photo above was taken another day). I said, are you sure? Yep. Are you sure? Yes. I think I must have repeated it 5 times but he didn't back down. We had shorts on and I had jackets, along with a backpack, in the car. I went back into Jamba Juice to buy a couple bottles of water and some snacks. The temps were in the 60s, making it a nice day to hike up there.

As we drove over, in the back of my mind I'm thinking, how I will reward him for making it to the Danielson Monument, quite a hike in and of itself. The really technical, rocky, crazy steep sections of the path to Boney Peak come on an unmarked trail above the Monument, unsupported by the National Park Service. Most people who have been "up Boney" have been to the Monument, not to the very top. Boney Peak stands at over 2,800 feet, making the climb well over 2,000 feet from Newbury Park.

It was a great time. The entire time my son asked questions, starting with, how many miles is it? I estimate about 4 miles. How many feet is it? How many inches? How many centimeters? And so on, the day goes. And we move along, gradually, stopping now and then to observe something of interest. A gigantic red ant, a stink bug, a stick, a bench. Then more questions. What would happen if an asteroid landing here right now? What would happen if three coyotes came and tried to attack us? How many minutes does it take to get to the top? How many seconds?

We made it to the Danielson Monument and had a snack. Then he saw the sign below, that after years of running up here from time to time, somehow I never noticed it among the overgrowth.

So, you wanna keep going, or are you tired? We moved on, through the narrow, jungle-like sections with poison oak surrounding us, the steep, rocky, highly technical sections that he seemed to navigate like a pro, the ups and occasional downs, the twists and turns and occasional pass by some person's discards (quite disheartening to see that someone would make the effort to bring TP yet leave it up there after use). There's always gotta be someone like that out there I guess.

We left the parking lot around 1:45pm and reached the top around 4:45pm. My son got his wish, or wishes, I should say. He had reached the top of Boney Peak. And he enjoyed the feeling of being "inside a cloud."

He was thrilled climbing on large boulders that made me cringe. I had to keep my eyes on close watch on my little adventurer because the drop from Boney Peak would be the end. After 20 minutes of exploring, it was time to head down.

We made it back to the car in about 2 hours and about 100 questions. I was nervous about getting locked into the parking lot as it was getting late. He was starting to peeter out a bit so I grabbed his hand and helped him along a bit. Overall though I was quite impressed at his endurance and stamina. Then again, he managed to eat all the snacks I brought. I had to settle for a handful of BBQ potato chips as he scarfed everything down. Note to self: Bring more snacks next time.

So long story short, here we are 3 days after our little cross training endeavor, and my upper ass cheeks (technical terminology), an area of the body I never think about, are still SORE! Mount Boney is like training on a Stairmaster on steroids. My glutes weren't used to this type of workout. But I'm sure by tomorrow, or maybe the day after, they will be fine.

On the other hand, I've heard no complaints from the 2nd grader. He seems as spunky as ever. It's good to be young, when you can kick your old man's %^&*( and not even know it. Or maybe he did know it. That night, he said to me, you don't have to run tomorrow. You can take a day off, you know.

And so I did. I took a Sunday off. I rarely take Sundays off. But that little kid of mine had the upper hand. He knew dad would stay home on Sunday morning and cook him pancakes while skipping his weekly long run. And that's what he, or I should say I, did.

The Occasional Hazards of Running Trails

I've enjoyed running local trails for over 15 years and am on them almost every day, barring rain and mud. A majority of my mileage is on trails and I enjoy the variety, the peace and quiet, the scenery and the chance of spotting wildlife, like a coyote off in the distance.

For the last few years I've been carrying my camera with me when I run so that when something photo-worthy appears, I'll be ready. Kind of a hassle for sure, in that the camera is not light, and I hold it in one of my hands (switching off to the other hand from time to time).  But occasionally it comes in handy.

This year, 2014, so far I've managed to trip and fall on the trails not once, not twice, but THREE times. I'm not talking a simple trip and catch myself, but a full on, snag my shoe on something, then topple almost flat on my face fall.

No, this is not a pile of poop on the trail. It is a root sticking out of the ground, I believe a remnant from damage done by the Springs Fire of 2013.

This has never happened to me before. Ever. Never have I fallen flat on my face before while running on any surface, and I've run all types of surfaces and have run and raced trails like Bulldog at Malibu Creek, the Catalina Marathon and all around town.

Mostly just scrapes and cuts from my latest encounter with the ground on a trail run.The other day was the worst of my three trip-and-falls. I was running along, la la laaaa, thinking of all the exciting workday activities, when, BAAAMMM, I was down. My right foot snagged either a rock or a root, and I had no time to react. But I did manage to get my right arm on the ground before my head, which saved my face, but got my right arm pretty good. Just scrapes and a little blood. Nothing broken. There were some minor scrapes and scratches on my shin and lower back. THANKFULLY my knees and face were spared.

After my body finished sliding, I got up, assessed the damage, picked up my camera (held in a case, so it was safe, unlike my body), and ran home.

So WHY does this keep happening? I'm almost afraid to continue running on trails because next time I may do some more serious damage.

I think it is one of, or a combination of, three things. I've noticed that the Saucony shoes I currently wear feel slightly too big. I have to re-tie them more often than most shoes I wear to make them more snug. I suspect that this is the main culprit...my shoes are too big and they are snagging things on the trails and damn near killing me.

But perhaps the other issue is that I'm carrying this camera around, looking around for nice shots. Maybe I should be looking at the trail more and the surroundings less...at least when the trails are rocky and technically challenging. That would make sense now, wouldn't it?

Lastly though, I'm turning 50 in a few months. Maybe I'm, well, just getting OLD. Yes, maybe I'm not lifting my legs up as much when I run (which actually is a good thing on the roads, as it is more efficient). Maybe I'm going blind (well to some degree I am, after dealing with a detached retina a few years ago and its impact on my eyesight). Maybe I'm just going senile.

Or perhaps it could be all of the above. I dunno, but I'm gonna continue running those trails until it kills me. Probably. Literally.

In the meantime, time for some new shoes.

Top 60 Year Old Runner at 2014 Big Sur Marathon Hails From Newbury Park

A good friend of mine, 60 year old David Louks, finished 42nd overall, 1st in his 60 to 65 age group and 2nd fastest age group performance of all time at the Big Sur Marathon held last Sunday, April 27th. This was Louks' 67th marathon and I'm certain it will not be his last. Big Sur is one of the most challenging, yet most beautiful marathon courses. Congrats Dave!

As for me, a few days ago I signed up for a local 5K, the 2nd Annual Run for Your Health 5K in Camarillo held this morning, along with my son. This was a small 5K, with only about 70 registrants, on a well marked course taking runners from the Camarillo Community Center, up Carmen to Las Posas to Arneill to Ponderosa and back to Carmen. Not the most exciting course in the world but with the help of local police they were able to cone off a lane for us the entire course.

Somehow I managed to win the race in 18 minutes, 22 seconds, slower than I felt I was running, but I was running all alone most of the way. This 49 year old body was followed by a 15 year old about a minute back. Fun stuff. I felt fine other than a bit of a stomach cramp that kept me from "pushing it" in mile three. My strategy with stomach cramping is to periodically breath in and blow out air quickly, though not too much (the last thing I need is to hyperventilate in a 5K). It kinda sorta worked for me, but not completely.

In any case, it was fun going out there on a whim today and my 11 year old ran a solid 22 minute race too.

It was not cool out today after week of hot temperatures but it was somewhat less hot than over the last three days, which was nice.

2014 Boston Marathon Results for Ventura County and Adjacent Area Finishers

Fellow Bruin and American Meb Keflezighi won the 2014 Boston Marathon on Monday in his personal best time 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds, just two weeks shy of his 39th birthday. Meb took the silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Marathon, broke his hip during the 2008 Olympic Trials but still managed to finish 8th, won the New York Marathon in 2009 and finished 4th in the 2012 Olympic Marathon.

I don't think the day could have been any better from Meb K and there isn't a more deserving person than him. And he runs in Sketchers, which is kind of cool. Learn more about the Boston Marathon at www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon.aspx.

There were 70 local area finishers in this year's Boston Marathon. Congrats! Here they are:

Josh Spiker, Ventura 2:51:34

Randy Miller, Thousand Oaks 2:58:57

Juan Viramontes, Santa Paula 2:59:40

Sara Roche, Ventura 3:08:51

Joseph Jaurequi, Newbury Park 3:09:47

Sergio Aloma, Simi Valley 3:11:05

Emily Boggs, Newbury Park 3:11:16

Curtis Names, Ojai 3:12:30

Michelle Chille, Agoura Hills 3:12:38 (18th in division)

Rob Hennick, Moorpark 3:12:59

Clinton Cates, Camarillo 3:13:50

Justin Shakespeare, Camarillo 3:15:43

Benjamin Atkins, Westlake Village, 3:16:41

Paul Schwartz, Westlake Village, 3:16:47

Christina Lightfoot (great runner name), Westlake Village 3:16:16

Martin Simon, Newbury Park 3:20:28

Joe Herzog, Moorpark 3:24:40

Denise Millar, Moorpark 3:24:58

Shauna Potrawski, Simi Valley 3:26:49

True Randall, Ventura 3:27:35

Steve Arce, Westlake Village 3:27:48

Jason Griffith, Thousand Oaks, 3:28:45

Marla Randall, Ventura 3:29:12 (16^th in age group!)

Leanne Mohr, Camarillo 3:31:05

Ariane Hendrix-Roach, Oxnard 3:32:17

Emily Stone, Thousand Oaks, 3:34:58

Charles Brown, Moorpark 3:35:58

Janice Hyllengren, Newbury Park 3:37:11

Danny Vasquez, Oxnard 3:40:13

Brett Fuchs, Camarillo 3:41:37

Melinda Casaus, Ventura 3:42:17

David Moore, Moorpark 3:42:45

Marialuisa Vanore, Camarillo 3:44:42

Tom Schmidhauser, Camarillo 3:45:52

Jeffrey Vanneman, Simi Valley 3:45:54

Julie Ungerleider, Camarillo 3:46:56

Amada Garcia, Thousand Oaks 3:48:15

Leontine Shockley, Santa Paula 3:48:42

Sara Jones, Simi Valley 3:48:46

Kent Blankenship, Thousand Oaks 3:50:01

Brett Goldsmith, Simi Valley 3:51:12

Kelly Clark, Ventura 3:53:14

Melissa Hernandez, Oxnard 3:53:14

Wendy Raymond, Westlake Village, 3:53:38

Mallory Ham, Simi Valley 3:53:38

Hugo Ito, Oxnard 3:54:50

Michael Clarke, Westlake Village, 3:55:56

James Dawson, Ventura 3:55:58

Carolyn Talarico, Westlake Village, 3:56:13

Sarah Rossbach, Ventura 4:01:51

Ashley Graham, Oxnard  4:04:58

Joell Quirarte, Thousand Oaks, 4:06:52

Linda Houser, Simi Valley 4:07:51

Patricia Shapiro, Simi Valley, 4:10:09

Amanda Flaum, Thousand Oaks 4:10:12

Andrzej Bieszczad, Camarillo 4:14:32

Susan Duenas, Thousand Oaks 4:23:37

Nancy Aguilar, Newbury Park 4:30:13

Jack Redmond, Camarillo 4:30:59

Tina Burch, Newbury Park 4:30:17

Kathleen Broder, Camarillo 4:35:09

Darleen Hanlon, Westlake Village, 4:39:46

Courtney Kershaw, Agoura Hills 4:41:10

Laura Pedersen, Simi Valley 4:55:20

Mary Nelson, Ojai 5:03:02

Dorothy Baxter, Moorpark 5:06:39

Christine Kam, Ventura 5:07:19

Randy Pentis, Westlake Village 5:35:26

Dennis Silva, Simi Valley 5:43:03

Donald Aguilar, Oxnard 5:59:53

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Pleasantly Surprised at My Time at a Last Minute 10K Race This Weekend

Last Thursday, April 3rd, I decided it would be fun to run the local Aut2Run 10K race hosted by the Autism Society of Ventura County on the campus of CSU Channel Islands.

There were a number of reasons I decided to run the race. My sciatic nerve issue that kept me out of the LA Marathon has subsided and I've been running pretty much pain-free once again. But without any type of race on the horizon, I've been running fairly aimlessly. The race is just miles from my house. And believe it or not I've never seen much of CSU Channel Islands. And of course the Autism Society is a worthy charity to support.

For the last two weeks I've run on the track Tuesday nights with my 11 year old son and some other kids that are part of the local youth track club. My goal was to teach them pacing by running with them, so they could later take that pacing with them when they run 1600/3200 meters in competition. I found it a humbling experience running with these 5th graders as a few were pulling me along with them...until I forced them to hold back a little.

The first night I ran, I was worried about my hamstring issue coming back, but somehow held it together. We were running about 6 min per mile pace, which is still within my comfort zone. Barely. It paid off for my son because he was able to pace himself to a new PR in the 3200 on Saturday and meet the "varsity" standard. His pace was 6:09 per mile.

I was running to help the kids, but on Sunday it was apparent the 400 to 800 meter track intervals I was running with the kids also benefited me as I was able to creep below 38 minutes in the 10K this Sunday in 37:56, good for 3rd place overall. This translates into about a 6:07 pace per mile for 6.2 miles. Damn! Training with these kids apparently helped me!

For no particular reason I don't run a lot of 10Ks. I generally opt for 5Ks. In fact, the last 10K I ran was on August 18, 2012 in 80 degree heat in the San Fernando Valley and before that, sometime in 2010. My 37:56 was faster than both of these. So at age 49, nearly 50, I'm running the 10K distance faster than I was running it at age 45. I guess a little speedwork can pay off...when done in moderation.

The start time of the race was 7:30am, though it was delayed until 7:39am (yes, they announced 7:39, not 7:40, not 7:45, but 7:39). The typical pre-race maneuvering took place. Though I wasn't treating the race like an Olympic Trial or something, I do like to get a decent position at the start so I don't have to worry about maneuvering around people that shouldn't be there at the VERY FRONT. I was standing next to a gal that clearly should not have been at the front of the race, but thankfully she was next to me, not in front of me. I wish everyone would use a bit of common sense at these races. But, time and time again, many do not. They think, cool, I'm at the front. Like being at the front of the grocery store line.  Not cool...unless you plan to finish near the front. Which, in this case, this particular woman finished nowhere remotely near the front of the race.

I digress. After the gun went off, I found myself in 2nd place, behind a young man who, for some reason, turned left after the first straightaway. I followed him, in my race mental zone

But several seconds later, I heard yelling, "HEY! HEYYY! OVER HEEERE! THIS WAYYY!" and sure enough, %^&* ^*%^&, 50 yards or so into the race and I've taken a wrong turn. UGGHH. Immediate mental letdown. A split second I'm thinking %^** it. I'm done. Dropping out. But another split second later I opted to ignore those lost ~8 seconds as we backtracked towards the group. I went from 2nd to around 40th but heck, this was just a fun run. Keep going. Get over it. I did.

As the fuming in my brain settled down, I was able to pick off runners like target practice. A mile into the race and I was still back in around 7th position, but I felt decent and it was actually kind of fun gradually reeling in people. I had figured that the lead runner would be out of range, but I could still clearly see him. He was not extending his lead.

If I had any "beef" with this course, I could not recall seeing a single mile marker on the course. Whether or not there were any, Near the 15 minute mark I had pulled back into 2nd place overall, within seconds of the lead runner. But at this point I felt unsure of how much to push this old body, not knowing how it would hold up. So for the next few miles I traded spots with one other runner, until roughly the 4.5 to 5 mile mark of the race.

As I pulled up next to the markedly taller (than me) runner, I said, "We can catch him." He didn't say anything back. I put the gas on a little, but the guy in front had a pretty significant gap on us. I was slowly narrowing it, clearly in 2nd place, but not quite knowing how much further we had to run. This knowledge gap is a problem when you're trying to compete.

Before I know it, an even TALLER guy passes me by, looking strong. It was a DIFFERENT really tall guy, even taller then the other really tall guy. At that point I was not able to respond. I was still pushing the pace, but I didn't trust my body to trail this guy. In hindsight, perhaps I should have tried. But without knowing how much further we were running, and with no recent 10Ks under my belt, I just kept my pace as the gap between us grew.

Minutes later I crossed the finish, feeling fine, about 20 seconds behind the winner, and 19 seconds behind Really Tall Guy. I am about 8 years short of equaling these guys' combined ages, so I felt pretty good keeping them company.

The day before, I volunteered to work the long jump pit at my son's track meet. I tweaked my lower back being one of the sand raker guys. So I gave that up and became one of the measurer guys. Little did I ponder at the time that bending down 200 times to measure long jump distances would make my quads sore the next day. That soreness was there with me on Sunday, but the Advil I popped in that morning seemed to take the edge off. My advice: THINK about what you're doing the day before a race or suffer the consequences.

I'm a happy camper that I can run a sub-38 10K race with the type of low key training I've been doing.

On that note, the Autism Society of VC did an outstanding job, had an amazing turnout, handed out outstanding looking medals and shirts to all, and raised $100,000. Very impressive. All while sharing useful information about autism. To learn more about the race and the organization, visit aut2run.org and www.autismventura.org.

Results From 29th Annual Great Race of Agoura Hills on March 22, 2014

The 29th Annual Great Race of Agoura Hills took place on Saturday, March 22rd. Once again I could not personally attend because my son has track meets on Saturdays this time of year. But since this is the largest and oldest race in the area, I have to at least check out the race stats!

Overall stats:

• Equinox 5K: 1154 finishers (497 male, 657 female) vs 1,456 finishers (652 male, 804 female) in 2013 and 1,409 finishers in 2012
• Old Agoura 10K: 1317 finishers (469 male, 848 female) vs 1,319 finishers (493 male, 826 female) in 2013 and 1,639 finishers in 2012
• Pacific Half Marathon: 524 finishers (234 male, 290 female) vs 441 finishers (203 male, 238 female) in 2013 and 549 finishers in 2012
• Cheseboro Half Marathon:1037 finishers (520 male, 517 female) vs 913 finishers (478 male, 435 female) in 2013 and 1,034 finishers in 2012
• Kids' One Mile: 296 finishers (168 male, 128 female) vs 381 finishers (205 male, 176 female) in 2013 and 443 finishers in 2012

In total, there were 4,328 2014 finishers, down 4% from 4,510 finishers in 2013 (which in turn was down 11% from 2012).  Half marathon participation grew 15% this year, while there was a significant drop (21%) in 5K participants.

Here are the 5 finishers from each race! Visit www.greatraceofagoura.com for more details.

Cheseboro Half Marathon (Men):

1. Scott Hambly 1:20:54
2. Chris Price 1:22:37
3. Kit Mock 1:23:12
4. Adam Brosh 1:23:23
5. George Eyles 1:23:29

Cheseboro Half Marathon (Women):

1. Jessica Stern 1:30:47
2. Anissa Faulkner 1:31:29
3. Elaine Woodward 1:31:51
4. Stacia Watson 1:35:33
5. Kaitlin Reed 1:35:36

Pacific Half Marathon (Men)

1. Jose Lastre 1:25:01
2. Geoff Burns 1:26:07
3. Ian Clampett 1:28:15
4. Martin Muoto 1:28:49
5. Gilbert Lemieux 1:28:58

Pacific Half Marathon (Women)

1. Vi Hau 1:25:19
2. Carly Johann 1:34:08
3. Gina Johnson 1:34:10
4. Elizabeth Lluch 1:34:57
5. Montana Martinez 1:36:02

Old Agoura 10K (Men)

1. Daniel Haim 37:38
2. Nick Ungermann 37:42
3. Bryce Wendel 37:57
4. Jonathan Lee 38:28
5. Steve Monke 38:59

Old Agoura 10K (Women)

1. Heather Worden 40:55
2. Caitlin Jacobsen 43:08
3. Sara Sadraie 43:16
4. MaryAnn Carraher 43:25
5. Lupita Medina 43:32

Equinox 5K (Men)

1. Chandler Ross 17:00
2. Ravi Guha 17:43
3. Brandon Severson 17:50
4. Phillip Wright 18:27
5. Ryan Harris 19:02

Equinox 5K (Women)

1. Liz Camy 17:09
2. Carol Montgomery 18:16
3. Sarah Shulze 19:13
4. Michelle Ip 19:35
5. Susan Dorrough 21:07

Kids 1 Mile (Boys)

1. Griffin Archer 6:07
2. Jack Gilbert 6:39
3. Tanner Wolfe 6:44
4. Connor Najdowski 6:48
5. Spencer Driggs 6:55

Kids 1 Mile (Girls)

1. Hadley Barber 7:28
2. Nicki Langford 7:30
3. Kassandra Cummings 7:36
4. Reese Wolfe 7:36
5. Livia Shore 7:37

Sciatic Nerve Back to Normal Three Days After the Marathon I Didn't Run

The Channel Islands seen from Newbury Park the night of the 2014 Los Angeles Marathon.

After bailing out of running the 2014 Los Angeles Marathon due to a lingering sciatic nerve issue in my right hamstring, I thought about driving downtown to pick up my number as a momento, as well as to pick up my t-shirt and goodie bag and scope out the vendors.  I really wanted to go, but it was a Saturday, and between the several hour round-trip drive and dealing with traffic and crowds, I decided to ditch the idea and spend the day with the kids.

From an economist's standpoint the $170 entry fee was a sunk cost since the entry was non-refundable. Some would argue, how can you NOT pick up your t-shirt and goodie bag!? You PAID for it! Sure, I would have loved to get my 2014 LA Marathon t-shirt. But the cost of retrieving that t-shirt would be about $20 in cash, wear and tear on the car and about half a day's time. And my kids didn't want to go. I passed.

On Sunday, marathon morning, March 9th, I ran for about an hour. Though I was still impeded by the injury, it wasn't quite as bad that day.

I turned the TV coverage of the marathon on and, as usual, was disappointed.  There was way too little coverage of the race, tons of commercials and lots of fluff. I may not be in the majority on this, but in the rare times that a full marathon is televised, I want to see the top runners, both the elite athletes and the faster amateur runners. I'm a purist. I want to see runners and running when watching a televised marathon. There are other shows for human interest stories.

But watching the marathoners in the heat made me a bit thankful for my injury, as I would not have enjoyed running in the 80+ degree heat the runners experienced. My injury was a convenient excuse to kick back and relax that day and to steer clear of the unseasonable heat.

Three days later, on Wednesday, March 12th, I awoke, laced up my shoes, headed out the door, and....to my surprise...no annoying pain in my right hamstring. I ran cautiously down the street, thinking the respite was only temporary. But lo and behold, the pain was gone.

By the following weekend, I felt like I could run a fast marathon, but there were no other marathons to run and I had other plans. The injury gave me an extra week of taper. All rested up and nowhere to run.  This week I'm not quite 100% as the loss of an hour's sleep due to DST my body is still revolting against. But for the most part I'm running injury-free.

Time to start pondering when and where to use my current level of fitness. Or at least maintain it.

The 559 local Ventura County area runners who completed this year's L.A. Marathon is at THIS LINK.

Sciatic Nerve Issue or Hamstring Issue, Whatever It Is, I'm Out This Sunday

Today is the day of reckoning for me as today is the day I have to make the call whether I'll be running the LA Marathon or not this coming Sunday. Why today? Because the $280/night hotel that I reserved in Santa Monica at the finish line requires 72 hours notice for cancellation, and I ain't gonna spend $280 for a room I'm not gonna use.

I had a few solid training runs this training cycle and thought I had a shot at a sub-3 hour performance at age 49 (based on a recent half marathon performance), but running 26.2 miles competitively with an injury is not my idea of fun.

My chiropractor says it is a sciatic nerve issue. Since the sciatic nerve runs from the lower back to the ankle, it is easy to confuse a sciatic nerve issue with a hamstring issue. But he says the nerve is inflamed and that in the area near the hamstrings and that's causing me the problem. The pain is not present during normal activities, including walking. I can still run, and even yesterday felt ok at a decent pace for a few miles. But...the dull pain and interference with my stride in my right leg is still there.

So I'm out.  Spent $170 on the entry but that's ok, I'll drive down to the LA Marathon Expo on Saturday to retrieve my t-shirt and call it a day. The injury will run its course and I'll be back. I'll continue to run...cautiously.

Three visits to the chiropractor in the last 10 days have helped, but he can't work miracles. I also roll my hamstring/lower glute area on a roller device to help the issue but what I also need to do, is use an ice pack on the area...something I'm not particularly fond of. But I gotta do it to help ease the inflammation. Last year it took me 3 months to alleviate the same issue, though a year ago I think it was worse than it is today.

There will be more marathons in my future...just not this particular weekend. My almost-50 body is rebeling but I'm putting up a fight. Dammit!

Hamstrung by Hamstring This Past Sunday

Since reaching my 40s, it seems my training has regularly been a routine of two steps forward, three steps back. I've had a few good performances and enjoy running when I'm injury-free, but find oh so often find my body disagreeing with me. Sunday was one of those moments.

Having run a solid half marathon 3 weeks prior, a 20 miler the weekend after that, and a slow 22 miler the weekend before (3 weeks out from the Los Angeles Marathon), I decided to run one final half marathon, but not as a race. My goal was to run about a 6:45 per mile pace, just slightly faster than the pace I'm looking to do at the marathon to break 3 hours.

Yes, I paid some serious cash (about $65) to run this race that I wasn't racing, but to me that was a small price to pay to practice for race day, with mile markers, water stops and other runners there to simulate race conditions.

The Seaside Half Marathon in Ventura was this past Sunday. A nicely organized, fairly small, out and back race starting at Promenade Park in Ventura, going up the bike path up the coast, turning around near the Faria Beach area. Plenty of sun with constant ocean views. And decently supported.

Within the first 5 minutes of the race, I felt my right hamstring become a little tight. I considered stopping for a second, but thought perhaps it would loosen up. It didn't. It was a bit of a nagging stiffness that impeded my stride. But I figured, well, I'm not running "all out," so let's just grin and bear it. Bad move.

Yes, two weeks out from the LA Marathon and my right hammie is hamstrung. I visited my chiropractor a few days ago and plan to visit him again. He says it is a nerve issue, which I believe to be the same issue I faced nearly a year ago at a 5K race. It took over 3 months to eliminate the problem. I'm hoping this time I can be pain free by March 9th. Kind of a longshot. I definitely will not run LA if my hamstring continues to feel the way it still feels today.

So perhaps next time I will learn...DROP OUT if something feels awry. Don't run through pain that feels like an injury. It ain't worth it. I slowed up quite a bit after the 10 mile mark, stopped and stretched at mile 12, and completed the half in 1:31.

So let me finish this so I can roll my hamstring on my roller and sit on some ice. Hoping for the best but mentally prepared if I have to bail out. But I won't be at the starting line if I feel any pain as it ain't worth it!