Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans – things don’t always work out the way they should. Much like the plan that my insoles would turn me into a rocket ship, launching me down the road toward surpassing my Chicago marathon goal.
It all seemed like it would work. I was finally feeling comfortable in my feather-lite trainers. Thinking that maybe I could get a bit better ride from enhancing the insole, I took the ones from another pair of shoes that I liked. This worked, but could there be even a better solution? Curse you Road Runner Sports and all of your promotional emails.
I just had to have them – the motion-control insoles would be the answer. They arrived, and I gave them a three-mile test on the treadmill. All seemed well. So I figured, this week’s long run was the shortest one I will have (6 miles), so why not try them there.
All was well for the first couple of miles. I was cruising up Mt. Belleville like a Kenyan. However, after the turn-around I started to feel some burning on my right arch. It kept getting worse. Did it stop Doug – no way! I kept on going all the way back to the house (which was also the finish line). After a cool-down and some stretching, there it was – a huge blister. All of my excitement last week for what?
Now that I have a pretty solid base of fitness built up, my perspective has changed. As I wrote before, now it’s all about tweaking and fine-tuning. Take something good and make it better. Well apparently using my old Kayano insoles in my trainers is about as good as it gets in the shoe department. Not a big deal, I guess I would rather learn this lesson now than have a bigger problem down the road.
I was thinking as I was running along the country roads early last Sunday, I must look like an ugly quilt. I mean, everything matches and all, but all of my stuff comes from different places. My visor came from the Ironman store (figured if I wore the Ironman logo, it might serve to intimidate the other runners a bit, at least until they cross the finish line well before me). My sunglasses are from some cycling catalog. I think they are Optic Nerve, not sure if that’s a good brand or not. Pretty cool though, they get darker as it gets brighter. Maybe they should make glasses that get darker if you fall off your pace, it might serve to hide your shame in long races. My shirt is some sleeveless cool max shirt from a guy in Kentucky where I order all of my real estate imprinted stuff. It has to be sleeveless so my Pythons can get out of their cages. In reality, my arms are not really pythons, I stopped going to the gym about three months ago after I figured that maybe I could lose more weight if I stopped lifting so much – I am so confused. I do have a pretty cool looking Special Forces tattoo on my right shoulder that makes up for my lack of having huge arms. Actually, the guy I order all of this stuff from is Ty Rideout and they do a spectacular job at great prices. Check out his web site. Virtually all of my clothing has my Peters Knese real estate logo on it. I thought about having a Peters Knese Racing logo made for more clothing, but that might be a bit much. My shorts were from a company called Race Day. They have a bunch of cool pockets for Gu and what ever else I might be carrying. Sort of running’s answer to a pop-up camper. You can fit all sorts of stuff in them both. My socks were from Puma (these cotton fellows could have lead to the blister problem). Good to wear around the house, but all cotton might not have been a good choice for the road and all of the big hills. I also was wearing my RoadID around my ankle, my Ipod with the sports band, My Timex Bodylink watch and it companion heart rate monitor and GPS armband transmitter. Its like you could frickin see me from space. Thank god I run at 6 AM, who is up that early to laugh at me? Finally, my Asics Gel DS Trainers, tied strongly on my feet. I may seem like I was planning to run around the earth, but actually only 6 miles on this day.
Anyway, back to the blister. I guess on the grand running scale, this was sort of a minor problem. I will be back on the treadmill tomorrow. I think I am going to make a pledge to keep things a bit simpler in the future.
Another thing I realized – my easy weeks from here to the end are gone. I have one hundred and three days until the Bank of America Marathon in Chicago. I guess that is about 12 or 13 weeks. During this time I will run three more half marathons, and six long runs of over 14 miles. This might give me something more important to focus on than insoles!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Must be the Shoes!
What have I become? My life has been reduced to watching for the UPS man to deliver my new insoles from Road Runner Sports (the coolest running store by the way – home of the “60 day perfect fit guarantee” – if you don’t love them, send them back! Take that Sports Authority). Anyway, the package came.
I learned long ago that marriage is a series of compromises. I overlook some things – she overlooks some things. However, now that my wife is a blossoming and aspiring runner, I can’t let her see all of my secret purchases as they come to the house (don’t want her to get any advantage on me). So naturally, I have them sent to my office. Now I hear it from my secretary “what did you order now?” I always tell her “secretaries day is coming soon, I just wanted to be prepared” “what, from road runners sports?” – They think they are so smart. I guess I am off point, back to the arrival of my package.
As runners, we are all in the never-ending search for our “Holy Running Grail” A cooler shirt, shorts that have secret compartments for Gu storage, of course better and faster shoes, and now better insoles for my better and faster shoes. It may not make much sense from the outside looking in, but if you are a runner (and if your reading this you most likely you are) you understand – don’t you? Will insoles lead me to my journey’s end?
I can remember a couple of years ago my approach wasn’t quite so scientific. I picked my running shoes by what looked cool. If they matched my other cool things, then on they went. Now as a “seasoned” distance runner, it is all about function. An ounce here, the right material there – anything to drop a couple of seconds off my time. Think about how tough the cyclist have it. They can spend thousands on equipment - for what? I guess the reason the portly guys always have the best equipment is just to feel better about themselves.
My shoe journey went from what was in the closet, to shoes made specifically for running. Then, once I learned that certain shoes were built for certain runners, I had to make even more changes. After I became comfortable with a brand and a style, then I wanted to push the envelope; I went from motion control plus, to light weight trainers (how bold). Once I went to the trainers, I had to up-size them to account for the swelling on distance runs. Once I bought the right size, then I thought it was hurting the bottom of my feet. To fix that problem, I used the insoles from my motion control shoes in my trainers. It seemed to work. But what if, I asked myself, what if there were insoles that would make my trainers the perfect running shoe? (Enter the UPS man here)…
Maybe the journey for running Shangri-La never ends, but when I put my Road Runners Sports super motion control insoles in my size 12 Asics Gel DS Trainers, I will let you know.
I learned long ago that marriage is a series of compromises. I overlook some things – she overlooks some things. However, now that my wife is a blossoming and aspiring runner, I can’t let her see all of my secret purchases as they come to the house (don’t want her to get any advantage on me). So naturally, I have them sent to my office. Now I hear it from my secretary “what did you order now?” I always tell her “secretaries day is coming soon, I just wanted to be prepared” “what, from road runners sports?” – They think they are so smart. I guess I am off point, back to the arrival of my package.
As runners, we are all in the never-ending search for our “Holy Running Grail” A cooler shirt, shorts that have secret compartments for Gu storage, of course better and faster shoes, and now better insoles for my better and faster shoes. It may not make much sense from the outside looking in, but if you are a runner (and if your reading this you most likely you are) you understand – don’t you? Will insoles lead me to my journey’s end?
I can remember a couple of years ago my approach wasn’t quite so scientific. I picked my running shoes by what looked cool. If they matched my other cool things, then on they went. Now as a “seasoned” distance runner, it is all about function. An ounce here, the right material there – anything to drop a couple of seconds off my time. Think about how tough the cyclist have it. They can spend thousands on equipment - for what? I guess the reason the portly guys always have the best equipment is just to feel better about themselves.
My shoe journey went from what was in the closet, to shoes made specifically for running. Then, once I learned that certain shoes were built for certain runners, I had to make even more changes. After I became comfortable with a brand and a style, then I wanted to push the envelope; I went from motion control plus, to light weight trainers (how bold). Once I went to the trainers, I had to up-size them to account for the swelling on distance runs. Once I bought the right size, then I thought it was hurting the bottom of my feet. To fix that problem, I used the insoles from my motion control shoes in my trainers. It seemed to work. But what if, I asked myself, what if there were insoles that would make my trainers the perfect running shoe? (Enter the UPS man here)…
Maybe the journey for running Shangri-La never ends, but when I put my Road Runners Sports super motion control insoles in my size 12 Asics Gel DS Trainers, I will let you know.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Week two down!
All is going well on the road to Chicago! I just finished my second week of training and I have no bad news to report. My longest run so far was completed on Sunday morning at 5:30 AM. This nine-miler on a cool, June morning felt great. I opted for the flatter Scott Air Force Base route vs. climbing Mt. Belleville on Plum Hill School Road. Truthfully, there is no real “Mt. Belleville”, but this has to be the biggest hill in the area. The problem with it is that it’s about a mile and a half into the route so it feels like it zaps all of your energy right from the start for the rest of the run.
The world at 5:30 AM is so different from the rest of the day. Everything is still. The sun is rising and everything looks so pure and peaceful. Three hours later its all about traffic and noise.
Speaking of noise – I have resolved both my muted TV and ipod problems. I reset the power and the cable for my TV, and the sound came back! My father’s day gift was a new ipod – all is again well in my world!
So here’s where I am at: Two weeks and 49 miles down, Sixteen weeks and 530 +/- miles to go. Week three is a “step-back” week, with a shorter long run. Week four starts to get pretty serious!
The world at 5:30 AM is so different from the rest of the day. Everything is still. The sun is rising and everything looks so pure and peaceful. Three hours later its all about traffic and noise.
Speaking of noise – I have resolved both my muted TV and ipod problems. I reset the power and the cable for my TV, and the sound came back! My father’s day gift was a new ipod – all is again well in my world!
So here’s where I am at: Two weeks and 49 miles down, Sixteen weeks and 530 +/- miles to go. Week three is a “step-back” week, with a shorter long run. Week four starts to get pretty serious!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Week one was a "weak" one!
"Hello" I yell into the canyon, and no one replies. So if you are reading this A) why? and B) - thanks and hello for real!
Week one is done. It was a "weak one" not in performance, but that I knew it wouldn't be too much of a challenge. It is sort of like going to an amusement park as a kid. You wait seemingly forever in line to get on the roller coaster. Finally, you get on and they lock you in to the ride. It starts out "click, click, click", and you're off! You get excited, but you know the really strong stuff is still pretty far off.
So starts my Chicago Marathon program. I did a total of 24 miles this week. It is sort of a step back from what I did before my program began. But these miles are for real. Now I know I am "locked in to the ride". I just need to make sure I stay on the tracks until it returns back to the platform!
Coasting mostly on the treadmill, I had plenty of time to reflect and ponder about a few things relating to the journey. Here are a few things I learned this week:
Thing 1). There are a lot of runners in the world! Not that you see them all of the time, but I find myself constantly engaged in conversation with them. I had an opportunity to play in a golf scramble this week with a couple of players I didn't know. One was a runner. We spoke most of the round about running, speed work, the races we ran, and virtually all things running. It seemed a lot more interesting than the golf we were playing.
Thing 2). Running on my treadmill is a lot more fun when the sound works on my plasma TV. Watching the local stations at 5 AM is a real drag. I prefer Robin Meade on Headline News' Morning Express telling me to "wake up sunshine!" Without sound, it is not the same. We have four remotes for this system and none of us have a clue on how to get the sound back on. I wonder if the running pioneers had it this rough! I am relegated to watching "Sunrise Earth" on HD Discovery. Great picture, but my five-miler was spent watching a loop of a giant moose swimming across a lake. Yikes! (I didn’t even know a moose could swim)!
It gets worse. I normally take outstanding care of the things I own. The exception to this, I guess, is my Ipod (s). My old-school first one was dropped - it broke. I sent it off to the Ipod doctor (there really is one), and they told me to buy a new one. So I did. It lasted about three months until I wore it in a five-mile St. Patrick's Day Run in St. Louis. Who knew that the Michelob Hospitality Tent offering free beer at the end would erase my memory. I went home, left it in my jacket pocket, washed the jacket, and found it in the dryer. It too was done for (it didn't take the Ipod doctor to provide this prognosis). My third one, the shuffle, was technically free. I bought it with my Amex rewards points. Free unless you consider the 25K of spending it took for me to earn the points. Anyway, never really fell in love with this fella. No screen and no clue of what song was up next. Notwithstanding, it shorted out last week on the treadmill while I was watching the moose on my muted TV. See how the tragedy came full-circle. If this is the biggest obstacle I encounter, I will take it.
Thing 3). I learned that my marathon journey will cover a total of 588 training miles over the next few months. I have 24 down and 564 to go. That is a long way to go! I read in Runner's World about a first-time marathoner who paid herself a dollar for each mile she ran. Then, the day after her race she used the money for shopping for something for herself. Maybe I could by a new Ipod and pay some kid from the plasma TV store $100.00 to come out and push the buttons that will make my sound come back on....
Thing 4) and thing last for this week - my fitness level in regards to distance running is perhaps better than ever before. I can play golf, have a few too many beverages, eat whatever I want, and still hit the road (or the mill) the next morning at 5:45 AM. I suspect as the roller coaster starts climbing a few of the "big" hills closer to Chicago, playtime will be over!
Week one is done. It was a "weak one" not in performance, but that I knew it wouldn't be too much of a challenge. It is sort of like going to an amusement park as a kid. You wait seemingly forever in line to get on the roller coaster. Finally, you get on and they lock you in to the ride. It starts out "click, click, click", and you're off! You get excited, but you know the really strong stuff is still pretty far off.
So starts my Chicago Marathon program. I did a total of 24 miles this week. It is sort of a step back from what I did before my program began. But these miles are for real. Now I know I am "locked in to the ride". I just need to make sure I stay on the tracks until it returns back to the platform!
Coasting mostly on the treadmill, I had plenty of time to reflect and ponder about a few things relating to the journey. Here are a few things I learned this week:
Thing 1). There are a lot of runners in the world! Not that you see them all of the time, but I find myself constantly engaged in conversation with them. I had an opportunity to play in a golf scramble this week with a couple of players I didn't know. One was a runner. We spoke most of the round about running, speed work, the races we ran, and virtually all things running. It seemed a lot more interesting than the golf we were playing.
Thing 2). Running on my treadmill is a lot more fun when the sound works on my plasma TV. Watching the local stations at 5 AM is a real drag. I prefer Robin Meade on Headline News' Morning Express telling me to "wake up sunshine!" Without sound, it is not the same. We have four remotes for this system and none of us have a clue on how to get the sound back on. I wonder if the running pioneers had it this rough! I am relegated to watching "Sunrise Earth" on HD Discovery. Great picture, but my five-miler was spent watching a loop of a giant moose swimming across a lake. Yikes! (I didn’t even know a moose could swim)!
It gets worse. I normally take outstanding care of the things I own. The exception to this, I guess, is my Ipod (s). My old-school first one was dropped - it broke. I sent it off to the Ipod doctor (there really is one), and they told me to buy a new one. So I did. It lasted about three months until I wore it in a five-mile St. Patrick's Day Run in St. Louis. Who knew that the Michelob Hospitality Tent offering free beer at the end would erase my memory. I went home, left it in my jacket pocket, washed the jacket, and found it in the dryer. It too was done for (it didn't take the Ipod doctor to provide this prognosis). My third one, the shuffle, was technically free. I bought it with my Amex rewards points. Free unless you consider the 25K of spending it took for me to earn the points. Anyway, never really fell in love with this fella. No screen and no clue of what song was up next. Notwithstanding, it shorted out last week on the treadmill while I was watching the moose on my muted TV. See how the tragedy came full-circle. If this is the biggest obstacle I encounter, I will take it.
Thing 3). I learned that my marathon journey will cover a total of 588 training miles over the next few months. I have 24 down and 564 to go. That is a long way to go! I read in Runner's World about a first-time marathoner who paid herself a dollar for each mile she ran. Then, the day after her race she used the money for shopping for something for herself. Maybe I could by a new Ipod and pay some kid from the plasma TV store $100.00 to come out and push the buttons that will make my sound come back on....
Thing 4) and thing last for this week - my fitness level in regards to distance running is perhaps better than ever before. I can play golf, have a few too many beverages, eat whatever I want, and still hit the road (or the mill) the next morning at 5:45 AM. I suspect as the roller coaster starts climbing a few of the "big" hills closer to Chicago, playtime will be over!
Friday, June 13, 2008
The Journey Begins!
Welcome Race Fans! I decided to chronicle my path towards the Bank of America Chicago Marathon that I will be running on October 12th, 2008. Not much great real estate information here, but for my friends and family who get tired of hearing me complain about how my knees hurt and how hot it was on my last long run, I am giving you the option to read about my tale of woe, rather than hearing about it on a daily basis. The journey begins on June 10th!
June 10th, 2008 – Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a Thousand Miles begins with the first step”. Well, although not quite a thousand miles, my journey began today. On Sunday, October 12th, 2008, I, a seasoned and grizzly distance running veteran (one previous marathon – Memphis 2007) will participate and complete the Bank of America Marathon in Chicago, Illinois. At 42 years old and 205 pounds maybe there are better pursuits. Planting a tree, washing my wife’s car, finishing my drywall project in my basement – too easy. I want to run another marathon. After all, I am a runner.
My passion for running began about a year and a half ago in Miami. While there on business, I looked out of my 28th floor hotel room and watched a couple running along the beach. I looked at myself – 40 years old, 230 pounds and decided that I needed a change. Thirty minutes later I went to the hotel gym and jumped on a treadmill. A mile later, I was hooked. Just like Forest Gump – “I was running”!
One mile lead to two, two lead to three. At three, I needed better shoes. With better shoes, I could run four. See where this is heading? My wife thought I was nuts. As 230 pounds turned to 220, my friends and coworkers thought I was sick. Are you losing weight? Portly Doug was turning into Running Doug!
I started entering 5K races in my area. First one, then, nearly every weekend – this was getting fun. Sometimes my wife entered too. I was getting a closet full of really cool shirts! Then, one day, it hit me – there is more to life than 5K’s. While reading Runner’s World I saw Elvis, no, not in person, but in the race advertising section. His image appeared in an advertisement for the 2007 Memphis Marathon. I would run the 2007 St. Jude’s Memphis Marathon!
To make a four-month long – long story a short one, I trained hard, ran a lot of longer races and runs in preparation, knocked myself out and gave myself a serious concussion during a beer-laden ATV accident, developed a truckload of self-doubt, never finished a long run further than 13.1 miles, entered the race and finished! I finished partly because of guts, but mostly because I could not stand the thought of having the seven-person roving Doug Peters cheering section (Consisting of my wife, mom, aunt, sisters, and significant others) see me fail. At 40 years old, it would be a bit too late to find a new family resulting from the overwhelming sense of failure associated with not finishing… Replete with custom signs (Run Doug Run, Doug Peters is #1, You can do it, etc), neon-orange boas, and a lot of enthusiasm (my sister’s art management degree and event planning experience paid off big), they powered me (or maybe pulled me) to the end.
The 2008 event will be a story with a happier ending! Not that the last one didn’t end happily (I did finish), but I want more of a “hard work + training = better results” scenario. I also plan to do this one without seeing any orange feather boas (sorry crew, but I have flashbacks of the orange boas contrasted by my mom’s white hair – it gives me instant knee pain!). This year I will be more focused and serious. Besides, I have one marathon, a handful of halfs, a 10-mile Turkey Day run, dozens of 5k’s, hundreds of Southern Illinois training miles under my belt, and more basement treadmill mile than you could count (if it’s a crime to like running on my treadmill while watching my 42”plasma TV in my climate-controlled basement better than the subdivision streets and country car-filled roads of my area, then I am guilty as charged). This year I will be ready! Just me and 45,000 perfect strangers on the streets of Chicago, no concussion, no self-doubt, no excuses. Oh, by the way, my first training run today was three miles.
June 10th, 2008 – Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a Thousand Miles begins with the first step”. Well, although not quite a thousand miles, my journey began today. On Sunday, October 12th, 2008, I, a seasoned and grizzly distance running veteran (one previous marathon – Memphis 2007) will participate and complete the Bank of America Marathon in Chicago, Illinois. At 42 years old and 205 pounds maybe there are better pursuits. Planting a tree, washing my wife’s car, finishing my drywall project in my basement – too easy. I want to run another marathon. After all, I am a runner.
My passion for running began about a year and a half ago in Miami. While there on business, I looked out of my 28th floor hotel room and watched a couple running along the beach. I looked at myself – 40 years old, 230 pounds and decided that I needed a change. Thirty minutes later I went to the hotel gym and jumped on a treadmill. A mile later, I was hooked. Just like Forest Gump – “I was running”!
One mile lead to two, two lead to three. At three, I needed better shoes. With better shoes, I could run four. See where this is heading? My wife thought I was nuts. As 230 pounds turned to 220, my friends and coworkers thought I was sick. Are you losing weight? Portly Doug was turning into Running Doug!
I started entering 5K races in my area. First one, then, nearly every weekend – this was getting fun. Sometimes my wife entered too. I was getting a closet full of really cool shirts! Then, one day, it hit me – there is more to life than 5K’s. While reading Runner’s World I saw Elvis, no, not in person, but in the race advertising section. His image appeared in an advertisement for the 2007 Memphis Marathon. I would run the 2007 St. Jude’s Memphis Marathon!
To make a four-month long – long story a short one, I trained hard, ran a lot of longer races and runs in preparation, knocked myself out and gave myself a serious concussion during a beer-laden ATV accident, developed a truckload of self-doubt, never finished a long run further than 13.1 miles, entered the race and finished! I finished partly because of guts, but mostly because I could not stand the thought of having the seven-person roving Doug Peters cheering section (Consisting of my wife, mom, aunt, sisters, and significant others) see me fail. At 40 years old, it would be a bit too late to find a new family resulting from the overwhelming sense of failure associated with not finishing… Replete with custom signs (Run Doug Run, Doug Peters is #1, You can do it, etc), neon-orange boas, and a lot of enthusiasm (my sister’s art management degree and event planning experience paid off big), they powered me (or maybe pulled me) to the end.
The 2008 event will be a story with a happier ending! Not that the last one didn’t end happily (I did finish), but I want more of a “hard work + training = better results” scenario. I also plan to do this one without seeing any orange feather boas (sorry crew, but I have flashbacks of the orange boas contrasted by my mom’s white hair – it gives me instant knee pain!). This year I will be more focused and serious. Besides, I have one marathon, a handful of halfs, a 10-mile Turkey Day run, dozens of 5k’s, hundreds of Southern Illinois training miles under my belt, and more basement treadmill mile than you could count (if it’s a crime to like running on my treadmill while watching my 42”plasma TV in my climate-controlled basement better than the subdivision streets and country car-filled roads of my area, then I am guilty as charged). This year I will be ready! Just me and 45,000 perfect strangers on the streets of Chicago, no concussion, no self-doubt, no excuses. Oh, by the way, my first training run today was three miles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
