Happy Anniversary!

Today marks my first year on the web.

3,398 visits.

5, 770 page views.

Many thanks to my fine regulars.

I hope to add sound and video files in the coming year.

Hoo-ray for cyberspace.

A Mere Ten Mile Run

EZ Saturday. We ran a brief ten miles in preparation for the next intense phase of training.

No final results yet from the Santa Barbara half-marathon. But I received the promise of some from the Master Time Smith.

Back writing on my foreign animated show after a two-month hiatus. (It takes a long time for outlines and scripts to be approved as they must pass among different authorities on three continents.) But income will be useful as we just had new gutters installed and are in the midst of exterior painting.

We're broke but looking good.

SB Half Marathon Time Woes

All the half-marathon chips were tabulated and matched with tags torn off each runner's number bib. The revised final results for the Santa Barbara News Press Half Marathon are in!

Eighteen more runners were added to the official finisher's list.

I wasn't one.

I sent another email to the Santa Barbara Athletic Association's master tabulator. I asked if there wasn't anywhere else he could check for my chip. As the race was my best half-marathon effort, I said I'd really like an official time.

So far, no word back.

Perhaps they're waiting to count the absentee chips.

SB Half Marathon Photos and Update

No news on my missing stats. How vexing! I paid to enter their race. The least they can do is list my finishing time. Every event where I ran awful, from Pacific Shoreline to the Santa Anita 5K, managed to zip my pathetic results right up onto the web that very day.

Come on, Santa Barbara. Don't let me down.

Thanks to teammate Sharla for the photos. That's me pictured above at mile 6. Below we have the San Gabriel Valley participants in chipper pre-race mode.

K's Run

Re. my last post, I should run for K more often. I set a personal record of 2 hours, three minutes and various seconds for 13.1 miles. The only reason I don't have a more precise finishing time is because I was left off the official results. (I emailed some nice person associated with the race and they're taking care of that.)

A beautiful course that mostly followed the ocean, the race started and ended at Leadbetter Beach near the campus of Santa Barbara City College. I liked that fact that there was a small field of around 1400 half-marathoners. However the residents of Santa Barbara didn't seem 100 percent behind the race. Cars were often lined up, impatiently waiting to slice through the pack and get on with their day. Bicycle riders, especially along the beach, attempted to share the pathway with a horde of runners eager to finish strong. It seemed a collective decision had been made on the part of many to simply pretend there was no race.

But they failed and, if certain motorists were any indication, there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Meanwhile the racers had a blast. TNT was out in force. Teams from the San Fernando Valley, South Bay, Santa Barbara and my own San Gabriel Valley Team talked and encouraged each other the length of the run. Beginning around mile 6, I played hopscotch with a young TNTer from the San Fernando Valley. We supported each other, one passing the other over the next seven miles. Afterwards we shook hands. (She also posted a good finishing time.) That's part of why I enjoy Team in Training. There's running, then there's the company of runners, then there's the special camaraderie of TNT runners.

Anyway, K, you picked a great race. We did just fine. Here's a photo of the San Gabriel Valley Team from our 10k . ( I'm the gray-haired one in the back.)

Enroute to Santa Barbara Marathon

Off today to Santa Barbara. Tomorrow morning is the SB Half-Marathon. This will be my first half since Pacific Shoreline back in February. (Where I began Injury Fest '06.)

My friend K asked me to run for her. We've known each other almost 30 years and she recently hurt her foot and can't get around. K suffers from a variety of exotic and mundane aliments including allergic reactions to most everything. Nevertheless, one could learn grace under pressure from her as she keeps a clear head and good sense of humor while dealing with health issues that would break many.

K's wide-ranging blog examines a wealth of topics from orchids and zoological dung studies to live-blogging hurricanes.

I will be honored to run for K this Saturday.

Her example inspires me.

Happy Halloween!

Sweet Sixteen

Well, more like an Okay sixteen miles. This is the longest I've run since last October, training for Honolulu. Once again Shannon and I ran together. Pace was erratic because we couldn't start from our usual Rose Bowl spot because of a UCLA football game. Thus, I wasn't sure where the mile markers were. But we managed to do just fine.

Next week, the Santa Barbara half-marathon!

Running Ten Again

Dinged my heel working out, so I didn't run all week. Today we did ten miles. For whatever reason, turnout was rather sparse. I ran with the 11-minute pace group. To be precise, my teammate Shannon and I ran solo most of the way. A beautiful autumn day, mild temperatures, great running weather.

This afternoon, former teammates Nick and PJ tie the knot. They've known each other since grammar school and have decided to travel the rest of the journey together. I wish them the very best.

And so say all of us.

Racing a High School Girl

Bought new, light-weight running shoes for track practice and shorter races. They weigh considerably less than the heavy honkers I wear for long distance and marathons.

This afternoon I was trying them out around the Rose Bowl. I'm running a moderate pace, on my fourth mile, when I pass a teenage girl. I hear her speed up, so I speed up. She keeps pace behind me and speeds up some more. I up the pace ante yet again.

Suddenly other teenage girls start cheering. Apparently they are her teammates. "Come on, Nikki! You can beat him!" I realize I'm in a race with some kid on a high school cross-country team.

For a few seconds, things went my way. I held the lead as we zipped toward a pack of walkers and joggers. I cut around a mom with a stroller, but Nickki looped around two oncoming joggers and zoomed ahead. A teammate with a clipboard and a stop watch cheered as she crossed her finish line.

Nikki shook my hand as I ran past.

I kept good form and pace until I passed over a small hill out-of-sight. Then I sucked in air like they weren't making any more and finished my last mile at a reduced gait.

But man, those shoes! I felt so speeeeeedy!

Damp 14 Mile Run

First sprinkles of the year showed up at mile 6 of a 14 mile run. Just enough to wet the rocks on the hills we had to climb. But the weather remained cool — a perfect distance climate.

I finished strong but felt rather stiff the rest of the day. After our upcoming 16 mile practice, I'll be heading home to soak in an ice bath. This ghastly practice actually speeds recovery.

Fourteen miles is the furthest I've run since spring. I'm slowly making my way back up the marathon ladder.