A friend sent me this link to pictures of the Tough Guy Challenge in Wolverhampton, England.  I had never heard of the race, but as a runner and junkie for unique experiences, I’m intrigued.  I am planning to run the midnight sun marathon in Alaska next year, but I’m inspired by the spirit of the Tough Guy Challenge.  All participants are required to sign a waiver that states, “It’s my own bloody fault for being here.”   If you have a few minutes, take a look at the pictures from the race.  The photographer Mike King has some incredible shots.   He also photographed the Antarctic Ice Marathon.  I’ll pass on that one, though.

It didn’t seem to work on me, but according to a recent study of lab mice, running and heavy cardiovascular exercise actually increase your brainpower.  I had noted in a previous post that long distance running is proven to be good for your knees. Now they’re saying that it makes us smarter?  I was really looking for excuses to stop the marathon itch, but once the baby arrives, I think it’s time to give it another go.

Read the full article here

And all this time, I thought I was killing the life expectancy of my joints.  This article from NY Times Magazine sites a 10 year study of marathon runners and the impact on their joints over that time.  According to this study, running can actually help maintain the health of your knee.  Pretty interesting…I guess it’s time to sign up for another marathon.  Read here.

When we weren’t running 26 miles, we were eating in Nashville.  A few thoughts on the places we visited:

1)  Arnold’s Country Kitchen- This famous Meat and Three cafeteria was low on ambiance but high on southern                                                                     comfort food.  Especially the Collard Greens, Chicken Fried Steak & Fried Green Tomatoes.  

2)  Rotier’s Restaurant – French bread burgers and milkshakes in a classic family owned shop since 1945.  I opted for the grilled cheeseburger which is basically a grilled cheese with burger meat, along with a chocolate milkshake.  Amazing.

3)  Layla’s Bluegrass Inn – On the music strip on Broadway, this became our bar and music venue of choice.  We came back twice to hear the bluegrass band Jypsi.   

4)  The Loveless Cafe – 20 minutes outside of Nasvhille, on Highway 100, this motel and country kitchen is famous for biscuits & gravy breakfast and smoked BBQ pork for dinner.   We came for breakfast, but after seeing the BBQ out back, I wish we had been around for dinner.  They make fresh jam preserves to go with biscuits for breakfast.  And the gravy was a pretty nice addition to all of our meals.  

5)  Yazoo Brewery –  This was where we celebrated with a flight of beer after the marathon.  I was still trying not to pass out from the heat of the marathon, so it was a little hard to appreciate the beer, but I think the consensus favorite of our group was the Pale Ale & Dos Perros.  They had a great little tasting room and a backyard patio in what appeared to be an old warehouse or factory.  

6)  City House –  Our favorite restaurant of the trip (although Rotiers burgers put up a good fight).  Thanks to a local tipoff from Cousin Judy, we went here after the Yazoo brewery.  City House is a southern Italian kitchen with an outstanding menu of brick oven pizza, meat dishes, a few pastas and fish selections.  So good.  

That’s me at Mile 19 finally seeing Rachel.  Notice I’m not running, I’m clutching a stroller for stability and there is a fire truck behind me.   I think this picture best summarizes the marathon.  It was hot.  92 degrees at peak.   My IT band started to scream at me around mile 15, and then pretty much gave out at mile 22.  From that point on it was just a battle to keep moving forward.  From what I’ve read, more than 95 people were taken to the hospital on Saturday during the race and one 25 year old died at the finish line from a heart attack.  When the Chicago marathon of 2007 reached these temperatures they ran low on water and canceled the race altogether.   The Nashville Marathon was very well organized and there was plenty of water throughout.  After all the training, I’m glad they didn’t cancel the race, but it was pretty ugly out there.  All that being said, it was still a great weekend.  Better for the company & food than the marathon, but at least we all finished & even managed to celebrate over beer and an amazing dinner afterwards.  I’ll write a separate post about great food and music of Nashville.  

Thanks again to everyone that donated to my race and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  In all, we raised over $1,650! 

For a humorous video of my finish, click here, find the “Race Day Live Video Archive” button on right side of page.  Click that, type in my name and you’ll see me hobble across the line at 4:28:10.

Turned 30 on Monday.  I  probably should have some profound thoughts on that milestone, but I didn’t have any revelations.  Instead, I stuffed my face with an amazing homemade Chicken Parmesan from Cook’s Illustrated (thanks Rach), and topped that off with Bittersweet Ice Cream cake from Purity.  I then dragged my 30 year old belly over to The State Theater for a concert.  The show was Neko Case with an opening act of Eric Bachman / Crooked Fingers.  Bachman looks like a gentle giant holding a little guitar up on stage and Neko Case could probably kick my ass if she wanted.  They were both outstanding…and I can’t believe the quality of music that’s being brought to Ithaca.  Many thanks to Dan Smalls of Dan Smalls Presents for that.

Tonight Rachel and I are off to Nasvhille for the Country Music Marathon.  I’m still feeling the IT band, but I’ve been getting physical therapy and rubbing Tiger Balm every day.  So we’ll see how it goes.  If you want to track the race progress, they will have live results at the 5k, 10k, 10 mile and two other spots during the race on their website.  The race has a staggered start at 7am.  I’ll report back next week on the race outcome and Nashville life.

Thanks to everyone that donated to this race and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  If you still want to make a donation, they can be made here.

Winter Training in Ithaca.

The IT Band

Well, the 18 mile run went smoothly, but last weekend during an “easy” 14 mile run, I had a ton of trouble finishing the last mile.  The right side of my right knee was screaming at me, and not even the soothing sound of Bob Boilen could distract me from the pain.  So I checked with a trainer at the gym and a coach I’m working with through Team in Training, and it’s an aggravation of my IT Band. The medical term for the condition is Illiotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) or “Runner’s Knee.”  This is the same problem I had when I ran the NYC marathon in 2005.  Essentially, it’s an inflamation of a band that runs along the outside of your thigh.  When it gets inflamed, it snaps against the outside of your knee and hip.  And unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do, other than rest, take anti-inflammatories and stretch.  So I’m hanging up the sneakers for two weeks, and will try some swimming/biking in the meantime.   It’s a bummer of timing, but hopefully I have enough in the tank to get me to the finish line in Nashville.

The 18 Mile Route

Sunday was the longest marathon training run thus far…and I probably picked the worst time of the weekend to do it.  We were visiting friends in Rochester on Saturday and didn’t get back to Ithaca until mid-day on Sunday.  I waited until 3pm to start the run, and the rain began around 3:15.  I ran most of the 2.5 hours in 40 degree rain.  Not the most pleasant experience, but once again, the podcasts were a great distraction.  You might think that listening to a story about the collapse of the banking system would only make the run more draining, but it was somehow invigorating.  For a great 30 minute story told in layman’s terms about the current banking situation, listen here.

Rachel snapped a before, halfway and finishing shot from the run.  She met me at 9 miles with a bottle of Gatorade.  What a woman…

Before

During (Halfway)

After (With Russ & New Ball)

Just returned from a trip to NYC and then Las Vegas for work.  A few thoughts on the week…

1.  It felt great to return to New York, not as a resident but as a visitor.  I missed the energy, the food, the diversity, the history, the friends and family.  But while the place will forever be a special place to me, we get along much better when we don’t live together.  

2.  Las Vegas.  I guess it’s important to have a place of unabashed indulgence and materialism.  It’s a part of life, so why not let it exist in one place, in the middle of the desert in Nevada.  And I guess this is how the city planners and hotel management intend it, but I honestly felt like I was in another world the whole time.  I felt completely disconnected from reality.  I couldn’t get a newspaper in the hotel and the news channel on TV was hidden after 30 stations of Vegas radio.  But if the stories I heard while there are any indication, Vegas is not recession proof.  There are numerous developments being scaled back or canceled altogether.  One of the employees at my hotel told be about a group of investors that bought a hotel, demolished it, and then ran out of funding to build their new resort.  And all the taxi drivers were complaining about a drop in tourists. But with all the bad news going around, nobody seemed to care in the casinos.   The juxtaposition between Obama’s national speech on the recession and people dropping thousands at craps tables was pretty fascinating.  

3.  But if tourism is waning, the healthcare industry appears to be strong.  I was attending a conference for the AAOS (American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons) and there were plenty of companies shelling out upwards of $100k for a booth exhibiting their technology for a few hundred orthopedic surgeons.   

4.  Marathon training is going well.  Fundraising is not.  It’s probably not the best time to be asking people for donations.  But I’m pretty short on my goal.  Nonetheless, the training is on track.  I ran 16 last weekend and 14 on Sunday.  Running in an upstate NY winters is cruel, but it should make race day in Nashville that much easier.  Right? 

5. Podcasts are made for marathon training.  They really help pass the time.  This American Life and Planet Money have really gotten me through miles 10-16 with a much needed distraction.  They also make me realize how unnecessary live radio and TV are.  Sure, there will always be a need for live news and entertainment, but the majority of programming serves better on-demand.  

6.   My mom’s dog, which came to the family 7 years ago left on Tuesday after suffering a stroke.  All that dog ever wanted was affection and food.  I think Rachel married me as much for access to my mom’s golden retrievers as anything.  Here’s a picture of her with Cougar on one of their early visits.  R.I.P. Cougar

English economist John Maynard Keynes, seen here circa 1940, believed no one in America was smart enough to run it

During a 14 mile training run for the Nashville marathon today, I listened to another great podcast by the folks at Planet Money.  Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg, the duo that brought the brilliant podcasts about how we got into our current economic mess (see previous post), released a new report, making  sense of the  stimulus plan.  Specifically, where does this figure of $750+ Billion come from?  What’s it being used for?  And why does Obama and his team think it will work?  The short answer is John Maynard Keynes.  The long answer, takes about 10 minutes, and you can listen to it here (click on the listen now button in new page)