Mont’s Full Fledge Weblog

In my ode to coffee I was in the midst of sleeping 6-7 hours a night.  I thought it could somehow replace the wonderful, elusive, and enticing thing called sleep.  I don’t want anymore coffee – it is about as appealing as the last few crumbs of Doritos after an all night study/paper write-a-thon.  I just want a bed, no interruptions, no alarm clock, and 8 peaceful hours.  Then I want a huge friggin’ steamin’ cup-o-joe!!!  I know I am not alone in this quest or desire, and isn’t that a sad statement about our culture! 

It was a good run!  I’d like to break down the mile by mile recap, but that might be more difficult then actually running today.  First of all, Steve I appreciate your comment.  While I may not agree that I always finish 2nd, 4th, or something, I have had a greater degree of success then I expect or aim for.  That is why today’s results were so gratifying – I ran a little faster then the pace I set out for in weather that was challenging to say the least, and on a course that was described as “moderately challenging.”  I did not kill myself to finish in the top 10, I just wanted to go out and have a good run in said conditions on said course.  I finished 15th and met all of the goals I set out for.  In fact, I didn’t even know what I finished until just a moment before typing this.  I decided to open myself to God on today’s run, move fast enough to feel a challenge, and finish without bleeding eyeballs and lungs that were going to explode.  Not to bring up a Bush analogy, but mission accomplished!

First the weather, I know what else.  It snowed about 2 inches during the 1 hour and 42 minutes I ran.  Snow before a race officially sucks.  Not only does it land on you, melt, and turn you into a frozen Popsicle waiting to start (good for the muscles), but it also turns the road to slop and makes going up hill a slippery extra challenge, corners a nightmare, and downhills a mix of humor and truly scary when going into oncoming traffic.  I invited God on today’s run and apparently he decided he needed a good laugh.  Snow sucks, blowing windy snow really sucks.  Nothing like getting up a hill to a stiff 15 mph wind gust!  Did you know that when running in the snow it will melt on your forehead, run down to your eyelashes and re-freeze?  No kidding, I would have to wipe icicles from my eyelashes because I couldn’t see.

The course: 16 miles of “moderately challenging” terrain.  Uh, maybe I’m just a big baby, but if that was a “moderate” challenge I would hate to see a severe challenge.  Thanks to my wonderful Garmin 305 I am able to track elevation changes along the course.  In three areas of the course there is a gain in elevation of 150+ feet in about 3/4 of a mile.  However, they save the best for last – at mile 10.5 you are at 242 feet elevation, by mile 11.8 you are at 656 feet.  I think that is like climbing the highest point in Florida in just over a mile – it took me 8:48 and the one time I thought about actually quitting to get there.  The last few miles were mostly flat (thank God), but by then your quads have taken such a pounding you have a hard time enjoying it.

Why was this enjoyable?  I got to see my kids at the bottom of one hill jumping up and down like I was the fastest person on earth yell “go daddy, you are doing great” with pure elation in their voice.  My wife stood in the snow (something Southern women love to do) and plead with me to keep up the pace – I was looking great.  My brother and Tammy stood there with their dogs clapping.  That is something special in itself; I don’t ever remember my brother clapping for anything I was doing (not that I was his biggest cheerleader, and I hope I get the chance to return the favor in someway someday).  During this I had the opportunity to wipe my eyes again and think how lucky I am.  There were approximately 50 people out on the entire course and 5 were there to cheer me on.  This is not to brag, but a humble recognition of how blessed I am.  The more I ran, the more God revealed how lucky I am.  I have my health (something that was in doubt two years ago), a great family, a beautiful (cold) place to run, and 800 other people either in front of me or behind me partaking in this mutually spiritual experience.  There is really something about the other runners.  How could I not be happy in that setting – and to do it at the pace I wanted was icing (pun intended) on the cake. 

One last thing, to the guy who passed me at mile 15, just be happy I didn’t want my eyeballs to bleed or else you would have been mine – see you in Boston beeyotch.  I’m only kidding, kind of, not really, but it is the right thing to say.  He actually was a nice guy that I got to talk with after the race, very friendly.  I’m still could have passed him if I really wanted to. 

Check out the results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/08/nh/Jan27_13thBo_set1.shtml

#2 from NH, 5th in age group, and one blessed experience, it was a good day.

Running in Derry tomorrow, 16 miler.  Click here to check out the course

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/1/1_31/4797.shtml

They allow a maximum of 800, and it is closed so it will be full.  I know this will bother Steve, but I think the weather report is at least worth a look:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/USNH0053?from=recentsearch

So, tomorrow, 16 miles, nasty wind, a little snow and I can’t wait!  The wife and kids are going to come along and go to a nearby sledding hill in between cheering me on.  Then we’ll all enjoy some hot chocalate and a walk by Jack Frost’s old crib.  I’ll have to blog about it tomorrow.  The goal is fun, camaraderie with some other runner’s, family time, and less then 1 hour 45 minutes to 1 hour and 50 minutes…

It has been a while since I have written anything – not that there hasn’t been enough to write about, but just no time.  I have found that the one time I can enjoy 30 minutes is if I wake up at 5:15 before anyone else is moving.  Last night I got home from class at 11:15 and went to bed at midnight.  Now I’m not saying this to complain, but merely pointing out the wonderful existence of God’s bean – coffee.  I mean how did anyone wake up before this bean was turned into liquid heart starter?  Is there a more versatile beverage outside of water?  If you don’t drink coffee that is fine; it just means you don’t like God or his creations.  That last line maybe a bit drastic, but I’m just sayin’…

Steve challenged me to talk about something other then the weather when running.  Well, to be fair, he challenged me to talk about something other then running.  To bad, that is what is inspiring this blog.

I went for a 12 mile run yesterday and it was great.  It was great despite the crappy roads – I think the Claremont road crew has lost interest in snow plowing after the effort to clear the remnants of the latest storm were sub-par to say the least.  Not to complain to much, but it looks like they went out and cleared the first inch before deciding “ahh to hell with it-it’s just going to snow again tomorrow.”  It was great despite the fact that I headed out at 3:30pm (yep – bad roads and “rush hour” traffic or Claremont’s version of “rush hour.”)  It was a great run because I thought a lot about why I enjoy running – at what point was it pleasurable.  There were numerous occasions I found myself enjoying the run, but they kept coming back to two separate categories of thought that seemed to be either external or internal thoughts.  I’m not going to lie and say I came up with these categories on my own – I read them somewhere before and forget what book/website/magazine they were in.  However, this time I experienced them and that made it real. 

Internal thoughts: while running I constantly analyze the course I am on to judge where I’m at and where I want to be.  What is my pace, how do my legs feel, how much percieved effort am I putting out, should I go fast up this hill and back off down hill, are my arms tight, do my leg muscles feel tight, and etc.  Sometimes in the midst of a run everything just seems to be coming together so that the hills are coming at the perfect pace, there is no pain, the breathing is easy, it is as hard of work as it should be, and etc.  This is a great time to be aware of my own body – I’m not sure I have ever listened to my body before running in a way that did not meet a basic need.  Geez I’m hungry, need to use the bathroom, have an upset stomach…  With running it is like consciously experiencing the mind/body connection – not just responding to an instinct.  Plus, I am always thrilled when I can live out the motto I use to run “If I want to achieve more then I thought I could achieve, I have to be willing to work harder then I want to work.”  Listening and imploring my mind and body to work together to achieve more then I thought I could achieve by working harder then I want to work – that is the internal experience of running and what can make a great day.

The external experience of running occurs when I remember to invite God along on the run.  Sometimes I’ll be out and the internal conversation goes like this… “so much pain, I don’t want to be out here, everything is hard, and etc.”  At these times I just stop listening, slow the pace a bit, and take in the surroundings.  I can feel the sun, appreciate the sounds of my feet hitting the road, smell the lilacs in spring or feel the briskness of a January afternoon, and notice the perfection with which God painted the landscape.  It is almost as though I feel as though I’m running with God.  I’m not really out running, so much as being a part of the world.  These are the types of runs that can be a spiritual experience and simply can’t be explained, but have to be experienced.  You come to face your own soul and place in the world without distress.

When I have the opportunity to experience both of these things on a run it is the “perfect run.”  Sometimes I experience neither and just get it done for the joy of race day.  I know that other people find similar experiences in different activities, but this is what running has become for me.  Is it an addiction?  Perhaps, but I have come to realize that I will always be “addicted” to something – I am at peace with this addiction.

Next blog won’t be so deep, but heck just re-reading this makes me want to lace up the shoes and head out into the storm…

I am absolutely certain that Joe, my son, is not aware of sink drain mechanics.  As far as he is concerned you dump it in the sink and as long as it goes down the drain it is gone.  Most of the time this is true I suppose, but environmentalist might argue this point.  At any rate, despite repeated discussion about how to best care for his bearded dragon’s food dish, Joe relied on the “if I don’t see it, then it is gone theory” and washed desert sand down the drain.  Desert sand does not fall into the category of “it is gone” and seems to mix with other sink drain items (particularly the left over corn his dragon doesn’t eat, and hair from God knows where) to form a substance more solid then mortar.   The gem of this event was breaking through the first blockage to find a series of other nearly occluded areas – clearly we have been disposing of desert sand (aka dragon litter) in the sink for sometime.  I won’t even begin to think about the health hazard this it to anyone using that sink, but we have somehow made it to this point without unexplained gangrenous organs.  I bet the arteries of a 65 year old life long smoker, who eats the Atkins diet, and exercises only when being chased by a large bear are cleaner then my sink drain.  For those of you who haven’t seen an angiogram (picture of the heart arteries) of said person, trust me they would be “torturous” to say the least.  Just for fun this weekend, I’ll be replacing the PVC pipe that runs from my sink into this other drain thing.  I may be able to talk about heart arteries, but I have never been a plumber.  Good times!  This whole process seems logical enough, but I’m betting a Franklin that I will be covered in crap, swearing, and think of burning my house down at least 10 times.  It is all right though, Joe already said the classic 7-year-old boy response “uh, oh Dad – sorry,” and “you smell bad, what is that black stuff all over your shirt?”  When I explained the process – he laughed, freaking laughed at the idea that I was doused in funky ass sink drain stuff.  Kids are great – glad my sister’s have one of their own, and the recent news of a friend expecting for the first time!  Good times!  Joe will be helping with the weekend project, he just doesn’t know it yet….

Today was a great day to head out and run.  The weather was nice, snow had melted back so I wasn’t dodging cars, and I felt pretty good.  It is always weird to be out on the road in New England the day before a snow storm.  I was thinking about it today, and maybe this will make me sound old, but there was a time when we had a only a general idea of what the weather might be like.  There was enough of a mystery that you would seriously wake up and say “hmm, looks like it is going to be a nice day.”  Not what I thought today “hmm, it is going to be nice today, particularly between 1pm and 3pm before high clouds will begin to block out the sun and drop temperatures 9 to 10 degrees and signal the start of the storm.”  Although predictable, this always seems to give a pressed quality to the time of day or whatever is going on.  Maybe I am the only person who knows the weather like that, or maybe it is a New England phenomenon.  I know my sister is San Diego probably doesn’t look at the weather, I mean why bother – 78 and sunny everyday during the Spring, 58-64 every Winter day, and etc.  At any rate, the one good thing about all this weather rant is that it seems to fade away while out on the road.  The sun is warm, the sounds are relaxing, and things seem all right.  As long as I am home before the high clouds build in at 3:12 pm.

I went to a conference today and listened to a Doctor discuss her methodology for identifying trends in the quality of healthcare provided to the “oldest old” (80+ years old).  She started to talk about the statistical method and software she used to extrapolate meaningful data from over 1.5 million medicare claims.  It actually was fascinating, and scary to think that in Salt Lake City, UT the average 80-year-old woman has ~ $3,000 medicare dollars spent on her care / per year and in Ft. Lauderdale the same person would have ~$8,000 medicare dollars spent on their care.  Why?  No reason other then regional variations in the amount of care delivered.  So you would think that the older person in Ft. Lauderdale is livin’ large and in charge – tuned up to the max, but no.  In fact, the morbidity and mortality is higher per person in Ft. Lauderdale.  So more care = worse outcomes and higher taxes for you.  I’d try to explain all the controls she had in place to do this research, but I would probably mess it up.   I may be off on a few miniscule details – but the reality is that this over expenditure on care for no outcomes benefit is the case when accounting for a whole range of factors.  Somewhere along the way, as I was leaving I began to think ”when did she sleep over the past 10 years?”  She has been doing all of this research, had children, completed a MD, MPH, PhD, and a geriatrics fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.  She is about my age and being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Pretty crazy, I wonder if it is lonely being that smart and driven?  I am making no judgements because I have absolutely no idea what her social life is like, but I just don’t know when I would be able to talk to anyone and get that much work done.  I woke up this morning thinking how busy things are for me working, going to school, caring for the kids while Christina finishes 40+ hours of clinical a week for school, and trying to get ready for the Boston Marathon.  That’s her first 13 hours of the day, before the 4 hours of research.  Nothing like a little reality check when I get out of my own head.  Just wow…

The thing about training in the Winter in New England is you have to be prepared for anything.  Although, I’m guessing people say the samething all over the country.  Today was a good run in that I ran despite the conditions.  It has been unusually warm here the past couple days and there is something about looking out the window and seeing a 50 degree day that just beckons a runner.  However, a front was moving through and the temps were going to change quickly so I wanted to head out in front of the storm to catch the last of nice weather.  I thought I was doing just that as I headed out on a negative split 8 miler.  It was gorgeous the first four miles and I was so busy patting myself on the back that I didn’t notice the clouds thickening.  About 2 miles from making it back it started to rain, then really rain, then get windy, then get cold, then rain and repeat.  The last 1.5 miles goes right along a main road. 

I’m already soaked, cold, and tired when a series of four cars go by and splash water that just make wet mix with mud.  Now I know that I am out on the road and that means I’m going to get soaked.  I don’t expect anyone to go out of their way to make it easier for me, but do you have to aim for the puddle?  Do you have to glare like I’m making your life miserable?  I pay taxes to use the roads as well.  Trust me, I still enjoyed the fact that I was running, heck there is something that is fun about running in the rain – the road isn’t a lot of fun but the running is still nice and you stay cool.  Plus it is like a chance to splash in puddles like your mom always told you not to do as a child.  But there is nothing fun about dealing with ding bats who seem to think that a vehicle gives you the right to own the road.  Share the road man!

Glad I got that off my chest… 

I have decided that people should watch food burn before deciding to make it a regular part of their diet.  Not only is it fun, but incredibly enlightening.  I’m not talking about wasting gobs of food, I know about world hunger and would feel guilty about wasting to much food.  But let’s be honest, there is not much of a chance that the extra tortilla chip I toss in the fire was ever going to make it to a third world country.  Plus most American’s could probably stand to throw half their daily intake into a fire.

Yes indeed, a benefit (one of the few) of living in New Hampshire is a wood burning stove that can be entertaining in a way that must be primal.  Sitting around the fire, watching it snow, or whatever.  Adventually that get’s boring, and it is time to burn some crap.  I’m sure my neighbors love when I experiment with burning different items.  Not ecologically unsound items like plastic, but twinkies, tortilla chips, and spinach.  After watching the white hot flames fly off of tortilla chips, and the weird way a twinkie tends to melt into a pile of mush then proceeds to burn with the intensity of an oil spill I’m pretty sure I’m not going to have one of those for awhile.  Yep, that is it – we can shrink the American waste line with a little more burning.