Two Good Runs

Sunday, April 18:

We three went for a Sunday morning run on the Gateway Trail. I ran ten miles while the girls ran a little less. We all visited the Manning Avenue bridge project, which seems to be making progress.

I felt good and ran fairly well until the last mile, when I walked a bit more. After my run I walked with my sweeties for a while, and we saw friends Norm, Scott, Steve, and Tom all cruise by on the Gateway. What a wonderful trail.

Splits: 9:28, 9:21, 9:19, 8:32, 9:55, 8:15, 8:56, 9:50, 9:13, 10:54, Total 1:33:41, pace 9:22.

Saturday, April 17:

Most of the St Croix Valley Runners were at the Trail Mix races Saturday, but I didn’t want to run that so I went to the Northland Tennis Courts in Stillwater to see if anyone else would show up.

Doug did! I haven’t seen Doug in half a year or more, I think. We took “Wayne’s Route,” an alternative 5-mile route, and had a nice time chatting while we ran. 45:35 for the 5 miles, pace 9:07, good enough.

I wore a brand new pair of Brooks Launch shoes. They were fine, this is my third pair. I've had NO INJURIES of any kind with the Launch in more than 500 miles, and it is now my shoe for almost all types of running from 5k to a marathon.

Silent Running

Not always a good thing. The Brooks Launch shoes are very quiet - one of the many things I like about them. Unfortunately though, they were too quiet Tuesday. On a lonely trail in the park I ran up behind a woman with two dogs. I thought she could hear me coming, but just in case, I said “hello” when I got near, maybe 15 feet behind her. But she hadn’t heard me, and apparently I had gotten too close, because she was very startled. Frightened. I don’t like to do that to people. I wish I could whistle while I run, or even sing, but no can do. I’ll announce myself farther away next time I guess.

Good run though. This was a recovery run after Sunday’s 18-miler, and could have been an easy run, but I felt really good and went faster than intended. 3.5 miles in 29:30, for a pace of 8:43. Huh. That's faster than my latest 5k race. It’s a masterpiece!

Breakfast after a nice run. The blueberries are frozen ones, just pour a few into a strainer and wash in cold water (gets the ice off), then right into the bowl.

OBX Marathon, North Carolina Outer Banks

OBX Marathon, Kitty Hawk to Manteo, on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Very, very nice. State number 24, marathon number 40. No plans for any more marathons this year.

Good stuff about the OBX Marathon:

• Incredibly, most (meaning more than half) of the course is shaded, either in neighborhoods or on wooded trails or roads.
• There WERE spectators! And they were enthusiastic. I taught a few little kids how to high-five, or I could hear their parents teaching them after I had swished by with my hand out.
• There are some small, rolling hills on a road that goes through the woods, and there is a tall bridge, but otherwise it’s really quite flat.
• There is a REAL expo. Not a huge one, and some of the booths were selling real estate, but running gear was plentiful too.
• They started the race in corrals, honor system, two minutes apart, which worked fine. I like that, even with just 1800 runners. My corral started 10 minutes after the first one, but it was the right place for me.
• Transportation is an issue in point-to-point marathons, and they did it well. We parked at the finish and took a bus to the start, but you could do it the other way too.
• They had put out “Burma Shave” signs along the way, telling facts about the area (highest sand dune in the USA, first flight, whatever, even some bad jokes. If you don’t know what a Burma Shave sign is, your youth may be a minor hindrance in reading this blog :-)
• Example series of signs:
  • First successful flight
  • in motor driven heavier
  • than air machines by
  • Orville and Wilbur Wright
  • December 17, 1903
  • Kill Devil hills, just south of Kitty Hawk
• There is a lot of history here, including the first powered flight and Roanoke Island. It might be worth an extra day (or several) just enjoying the Outer Banks. The beaches are delicious - be sure to get a motel with access.
• The race goes right through the Wright Brothers Memorial.
• And it goes along the waterfront for some distance (unlike Kiawah Island, you can actually SEE the water!).
• There is a swashbuckling pirate theme to the whole marathon (arrrrgh!).
• Nice booty bag (expo bag), nice long-sleeve tech shirt.
• People were very nice to my sweeties, even though they were near the end of the race.

Other stuff:

• At least seven miles of the marathon are on a coned-off lane of US 158, a 50-mph 4-lane highway that goes the length of the island. There is quite a bit of traffic, and no shade.
• Officials at the expo were a little bit arrogant about the lack of a chip-check ("no need"), and the information person didn’t know anything at all.
• The start area featured the seemingly obligatory, meaningless, high-volume noise (music), which meant that most people didn’t move to the start corrals until the very last moment.
• The medical stations didn't have any salt, which is often the best remedy for cramps. Why don't marathons figure that out? Grump, grump.

But, the overall experience was wonderful. I would highly recommend this marathon, especially in comparison with the Kiawah Island Marathon. Bring your own salt packets.

My Race:

• No serious pains AT ALL, just the normal sore muscles that are supposed to come from a marathon. I'll be running again by Wednesday;
• This was my first marathon in the Brooks Launch shoes. They seem perfect for me, a midfoot-striker, just like the old Brooks Burn shoes. Other shoes will have to measure up to these;
• I ran two minutes and walked one, as in other recent races;
• That works best in a flat race like this one;
• I felt stronger toward the finish than in the middle. That’s new. I did use Clif Shot most of the way, then a Hammer Gel at Mile 21 - could that be it? I doubt it;
• I started two minutes behind the 5:00 hour pace team, then got a couple of minutes ahead of them, fell behind at a potty stop, passed them again, then watched them gradually fade into the distance ahead as I took photos.
• I finished in 5:05:00, about five minutes later than I had hoped. But who cares?
• I loved this marathon, had a great time, was grinning and high-fiving most of the way.

Reasons why I didn’t run this marathon in BQ (Boston-Qualifying) time:

• I can’t run 4:15 any more;
• This is the third marathon in five weeks;
• It did get a little warm today, 70 degrees in the finishing miles, and it felt even warmer with the sun beating down on the Hwy 158 pavement;
• I didn’t care if I ran any faster (oops, sounds like a motivation issue);
• I stopped dead still to take about 130 pictures with my new toy, a cell phone with a 2 MP camera. I think that may have had something to do with it. But I got all of the Burma Shave signs.

Splits: 20:50 (2 mi), 10:33, 53:03 (5 mi), 11:33, 26:28 (2 mi + potty stop), 10:40, 13:42, 21:54 (2 mi), 11:26, 1:00:39 (5 mi), 37:45 (3 mi), 13:35, 11:12, 1:38, total 5:05:00. Overall pace 11:38. It’s a masterpiece!

My Computer Crashed!

Thursday, Nov 5, 2009:

And so did my watch! I had a blog post almost ready, and then BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! About a week ago now, accounting for some of the delay in posting. This has happened before on this laptop. There is a flaky connection between the motherboard and the hard disk, and eventually the hard disk gets corrupted and the boot files are overwritten with junk. Or so it seems. Repair doesn’t work - the only solution is to wipe the disk and do a complete reinstall of Windows XP. It’s a six-year-old laptop, crashed several times now, and I responded to this latest crash by ordering a new laptop. Ten times the disk, ten times the speed, twice the screen area, about the same price as six years ago. Meantime, this little old clunker is limping along again. I might try to keep it running, because it’s a lot smaller and lighter than the new one.

The watch crashed Tuesday. Tsk.

Today’s run was 3.3 miles in 33:11, pace 10:03. Some walking, but apparently mostly running, or the pace would have been slower. The watch worked OK today. I hope it keeps working - I don’t have time to get a new one right away. Brooks Summon shoes - gosh they felt clompy compared with the Launch shoes I’ve been wearing. Even compared with the Nike Lunarglides.

Tuesday, Nov 3, 2009:

My watch crashed! Not a good week for hardware. I finished a 4.2-mile run, pushed the button to record the finish time, and the watch went blank. Then it started up again, midnight, January 1. Darn. The time for this run isn’t important, but I just replaced the battery in this Timex watch and now it looks like I should probably have replaced the watch itself. It is six years old, almost seven. Probably time.

Before the crash, though, I clocked myself doing two of the loops at a 9:22 pace. I suppose the overall pace was in the vicinity of 9:30. Or so. I felt very good this morning. Except for the watch, it’s a masterpiece!

Sunday, Nov 1, 2009:

St Croix Valley runners, “standard” eight-mile Sunday run. We haven’t done this run in a long time, though, at least I haven’t. Cool at 7:00 am, 30 degrees or so, but great for running. Gauss, Candy, and I took it fairly easy and enjoyed the run. Time 1:31:49, pace about 11 ½ minutes/mile. It’s good.

Saturday, Oct 31, 2009:

BOO! St Croix Valley Runners, the usual five miles, but mostly in the dark. I was surprised how dark it was at the start, because I had run with these folks just two weeks before and it sure didn’t seem so dark then. But sunrise is racing forward about ten minutes per week these days. New guy Kent joined us again for the second time, and took off in front with Dave2, himself just back from a very successful 50-mile trail race. Then George and Paul, and finally Gauss and myself. We had a nice, easy run, finishing in 49:43, for a pace just under ten minutes per mile. Dave1 showed up after the run to let us know how his surgery went. He won’t be running for a while but seems cheerful..

Beautiful morning, enjoyable run.

Thursday, Oct 29, 2009:

North St Paul Community Center upstairs track, four miles running & one more walking. I felt a little pain in the bone just below the right kneecap, so I stopped running. No problem later - false alarm. But I was wearing the Nike Lunarglide shoes, and will stop wearing them for a while, after that maybe only on trails.

Splits: 9:06, 8:43, 8:58, 8:51, total 35:38, pace 8:55.

Sticky Twenty Miles

This is the weekend of the Lewis & Clark Marathon in St Charles, MO. We had planned for this marathon, and I had trained for it, but for several reasons we decided not to go. Nevertheless I still wanted to do a long run this weekend, three weeks in advance of TCM. So Sunshine and Sweet Pea drove me to Stillwater to run with the St Croix Valley Runners. I ran the usual five miles with them, mostly with Charley and Gauss. Then I strapped on water and took off through the city of Stillwater and cross country toward home, adding extra miles here and there to get almost 20, with more water stashed at about mile 13. Best of all, more than eight of those miles were on my favorite dirt road alongside the railroad track.

It wasn’t the best-ever morning for running, rather humid and plenty warm, temp about 72 and dew point 63. My visor was dripping three miles into the first five miles. But the heat didn’t feel dangerous, and the haze in the sky kept the sun from toasting my skin. I did feel some pain in the right knee, toward the outside, in the area of the meniscus perhaps. Happily, that went away in the first few miles. Later, toward the end, I felt some tightness in the hip flexors, but it also diminished and was barely noticeable at the finish.

This was the first long-run test of the new Nike Lunarglide shoes. They were fine, actually. Quite comfortable, no blisters, no problems. And the sole may even have taken on a little bit of curve, no longer as flat as pee on a plate, as my dad might say. I don’t think they are really designed for a mid-foot striker like me, but they are getting the job done and making less slapping noise than they seemed to make on the indoor track. They did pick up some rocks, but fewer than I expected and fewer than the Brooks Launch that I compare them against. So far I do like the Launch a little better though, just a bit smoother and quieter, and slightly lighter, but the difference is modest - they’re both good. I may end up using the Lunarglide for training and the Launch for racing at distances of 10k and longer, we’ll see.

19.9 miles in 3:31:13, pace 10:37. As usual I ran a very-modified Galloway method, running two minutes and walking one. That works SO well!


Post-run brunch with gluten-free pancakes by Sunshine.

Victory 10k

This race is by the Minnesota Distance Running Association (MDRA). It’s been around a long time, it’s flat and mostly straight, always on Labor Day, and lots of very good runners show up. It’s a genuine Minnesota racing tradition.

I started OK, then slowed a little in the last two miles, finishing 8th of 17, smack in the middle of the M65-69 age group. That’s OK - some of the best runners in the state showed up today, and they ALL beat me :-) But no problems, no pains, just a fun run with comrades.

Truth time: Races are fun beforehand, as we all anticipate it, and afterward, as we all review the event and our individual experiences. But during the race, it isn’t really all fun for me. Some of it is, but some of the time I just wish it could be over soon, it’s such hard work. I wonder if everyone feels that way? I LOVE a 200-meter race - there is no time to wish it were over. By contrast, a one-mile race is ALL hard work, and I don’t enjoy much of it. A marathon is a nice mix, with at least the first 20 miles at a relatively easy, mostly enjoyable pace. From there on it’s a struggle, but the finish is always fun.

After the Victory 10k, I went with my sweeties in the 5k, to be company for them and for the extra miles. As I ran, I wished I had registered for that race too, because there is a double-header listing of people’s total times. I probably would have been last, but that wouldn’t matter.

Splits: 8:25, 8:08, 8:30, 8:30, 9:15, 9:10, 1:58, total 53:57, pace 8:41. Slowed at the end, running out of gas. Brooks Launch shoes were fine, soft and quiet.


Today's post-race fruit bowl. Grapes underneath, not oatmeal.

Brooks Launch & Nike LunarGlide Shoe Review

Three shoe models: (1) Brooks Burn III (discontinued model), (2) Brooks Launch, and Nike LunarGlide. I’ve purchased 21 pairs of Brooks Burn shoes over the years (they really ought to make me a tester and give me shoes), and now I’m looking for a replacement. Brooks says the Launch is their replacement, and I've had very good luck with Brooks, but I’d sort of prefer to find a Nike model instead because my son works at Nike. I don’t really know if the LunarGlide is an appropriate alternative to the Launch, but I was baffled by the overchoice on the Nike web site and finally settled on that one. I am a neutral runner, a midfoot striker with an efficient stride. My feet are average width, size 11 to 12 depending on the shoe. I want a light but cushioned shoe for both training and road racing, up to marathon distances.

Brooks Launch:
Men’s size 12, weight 22 ounces per pair, 11 ounces each. Sole curved upward beginning behind the ball of the foot, toe curved up significantly, heel curved up only slightly. The sole is flat from the arch all the way back through most of the heel. By contrast, the sole of the Burn is curved throughout, and the Burn has a "lateral arch lug" on the outside of the arch, not present in the Launch, though the heel of the Launch does come farther forward than the heel of the Burn. The tread has lots of narrow grooves which will pick up sand and small rocks.

Here is what Brooks says about it: "With an incredibly flexible outsole and seamless transition, this lightweight neutral trainer will get you from start to finish, whether for a tempo run or in a race. Add to that the lower-profile midsole and minimal upper, and it's 3, 2, 1 . . . blast off! Weight: 9.3 oz" Helpful, isn’t it? Marketing hype is so impotent when it replaces actual information.

The Launch is listed on Brooks’ web site under "neutral" and under "competition" shoes. List $90.00. I paid about $80. Made in China.

Nike LunarGlide:
Men’s size 12, weight 26 ounces per pair, 13 ounces each. Sole even flatter than the Launch, toe curved up less than the Launch, heel curved up only slightly. It does seem to have a structure similar to the Burn’s lateral arch lug, though the Nike web site doesn’t mention it. The tread is a bit more aggressive than that of the Launch, but with deep groves to pick up larger rocks and some small grooves to pick up sand.

Here is what Nike says about it: Boasting ultra-light, ultra-strong Flywire and the next generation of LunarLite system technology, the men’s LunarGlide+ combines a soft core within a firmer carrier to achieve a previously unattainable blend of cushioning and response from heel to toe." Equally helpful.

The LunarGlide is listed on Nike’s web site under "cushioned" shoes and under "stability" shoes. List $100.00. I got them at an unusual price of about $60. Brand new, though. Made in Vietnam.

I ran ten laps on an indoor track with my last pair of Burns to get warmed up, then ten with the LunarGlide shoes, then ten with the Launch, then LunarGlide again, then Launch again. Both pairs of shoes were perfectly comfortable and well-cushioned, fitting properly in the heel, arch, and toe box. Both felt smooth, with no hitches between footfall and toe-off. I felt no noticeable knee or hip twinges during any of the runs. The Burns were the quietest, the Launch next, and the LunarGlide last. The LunarGlide shoes were pretty noisy, in fact. Note that the noisiness seems to correspond to the flatness of the sole.

I’ve always assumed that the slap-slap sound indicated an inefficiency of some sort. Doesn’t it take energy to make sound? Truth be told, though, the LunarGlide shoes seemed to be as efficient as the Launch. I was surprised when I laced up the LunarGlide shoes for the first time and slapped through the first two laps nine seconds quicker (total) than I had averaged during the warmup in the Burns.

I tried to run with the same "perceived effort" throughout, resulting in a pace of 9:03 min/mi for the warmup laps (always slower), then an average of about 8:23 for the rest of the test. Perceived effort is iffy, of course. The result does not show a clear advantage in speed versus effort for either the Launch or the LunarGlide, no surprise. I’d be happy to run a race in either.

The LunarGlide shoes did, unaccountably, seem to want to propel me forward. Nike’s web site mentions "men's-specific flex grooves to encourage an efficient stride." I don’t know what that means, but if you already have an efficient stride, does that help make you more efficient, or does it just encourage you to run a little harder? I couldn’t tell in this short test. I'll try both pairs on the road - neither is going back to the seller.

Good stuff:

• Both pairs of shoes fit nicely and felt good.
• Both seemed as efficient as my old beloved Burns.
• The LunarGlide shoes have "Nike+" monitoring technology, if you care. I don’t.

Complaints:

• The LunarGlide shoes are too noisy. I really don’t like that.
• Both shoes have treads that will pick up rocks and sand. We mostly run on roads and trails, not tracks, and these shoes will drop sand & gravel in the house and, what's worse, into each other. Why don’t shoe manufacturers get that?
• The Launch is not quite a direct Burn replacement because (a) It has no lateral arch lug, and (b) The sole is flatter. I don't think it's made for a midfoot striker, as the Burn was.

Despite the drawbacks, I haven’t found anything better yet. I may end up settling on one of these, without a lot of enthusiasm. But road testing is yet to come. Perhaps these will seem better with some road miles on them.

Splits for ten laps (0.74 miles): Burn 6:41, LunarGlide 6:10, Launch 6:20, LunarGlide 6:13, Launch 6:07.

Really Ugly Shoes

I bought 21 pairs of Brooks Burn shoes, over five years or so, before they were discontinued. Brooks waited a year, and then offered up the new Launch as the Burn replacement. Meantime, my son works at Nike, so I would like to find a Nike shoe to replace the Burn. A few days ago I ordered a pair of Nike LunarGlide shoes and also a pair of the new Brooks Launch.

They are both so ugly! I can't believe it. I don't really care - I'm old and can take it if people point to my shoes and laugh, but I'm surprised at the lack of good taste at both shoe companies. Admittedly, there are other color choices for each of these shoes, but those were not available in my size at the time I ordered.

Enough whining about color - I'll try these out and "review" them sometime soon.