The Calm Before the Storm

Apr 302011
 

Tomorrow is the big day, our first marathon.  I spent the past couple of days on a vacation in Temecula and now, I am prepared to run my first ever marathon.  My brother picked up all the race information for us yesterday and we are preparing for our race, starting at 6 AM tomorrow morning. 

Are we excited? 

Yes.

Are we nervous? 

Yes.

Are we scared as ______________?  (you fill in the blank)

Yes.

We are looking forward to the Orange County Marathon tomorrow.  We hope that all of our heroes (and if you’re reading this then that means you) are thinking about us tomorrow.  When you wake up, we’ll be at mile 1o or 11 and by the time you’re awake and ready to tackle the day . . . we’ll have completed 26.2 . . . hopefully.  (fingers crossed)

Temecula!

Apr 292011
 

Just got back from a lovely vacation in Temecula . . . well, semi-lovely.  Turns out it’s not the greatest place for someone who has quit drinking alcohol.  Temecula is known for it’s vast arrays of wineries.  As a younger man, I have been there on several occasions and dabbled with a little wine tasting here and there.  It was a good experience back then, s0 I figured, what the heck, let’s go back again.  While I had a good time in Temecula, it was definitely a different kind of good time.

I do have a recommendation for all of you planning on visiting the wineries or spending time in Temecula. . . Don’t Drink and Drive!  Within the first 10 minutes of arriving in Temecula we saw 5 different cars pulled over by police officers and that was the theme of the trip.  Every time we left our hotel were cops pulling people over on the side of the road.  And not only at night, but at all hours of the day.  If you’re thinking about visiting the wineries in Temecula, make sure you have a designated driver, hop aboard a shuttle or take a limo. 

Temecula even has it’s own casino . . . well, Indian casino.  This indian casino has blown up in the past couple of years and has a wide array of table games and slot machines.  A true gambler’s paradise.  We didn’t do much gambling, but we did slip in a twenty and won two bucks . . . that’s a ten percent profit!

Overall, we had a great time visiting Temecula and would recommend it.  It was great to stop my training altogether the last couple of days and let my legs rest.  My brother and I are hoping that we’re ready for the Orange County Marathon, although, to be honest with you, neither of us is sure that we are.

Mystery Challenge #2

Apr 282011
 

Rocky issued me the first mystery challenge several months ago.  I had no idea what to expect and when my brother showed up on Super Bowl Sunday at some ungodly hour in the morning he displayed our new Running Brothers t-shirt and told me that I would be running a half-marathon in a couple of hours. 

With no preparation and never having ran a distance amounting to that much in my life, I thought I did pretty good under the circumstances.  I completed my first half-marathon running the entire way and it was a really cool experience.  My brother’s mystery challenge was a huge success and today, I am throwing down my mystery challenge for my brother. 

The mystery challenge is set to take place on Sunday May 22, 2011.  The date is negotiable, so Rocky, if you need to change the date, just let me know.  Another great thing about this mystery challenge is that anyone who lives in Southern California is invited to participate.  If you are interested in participating in Mystery Challenge #2 . . . a mystery for Rocky, call me or send us an email at runningbros@gmail.com and we can tell you what the mystery challenge is so that you can decide to participate in it with us. 

The great thing about it is that if you don’t want to run, or bike, or swim, you don’t have to and you can still have a great time with The Running Brothers and friends.

David Archuleta and The Running Brothers

Apr 272011
 

Many of you may not know this, but I was working for a photographer running film back and forth from the rafters at the Anaheim Ducks games during the playoffs.  The work was not difficult, I simply had to go into the rafters of the Honda Center in between periods and change out the sim cards for the camera’s that were positioned at the top of the building.  Prior to the game, I was asked by the photographer of the Ducks to assist in the photographing of David Archuleta who was singing the National Anthem that night.  I was introduced by the photographer and shook his hand a couple of times.

He seemed like a really nice guy and was smiling constantly displaying his upbeat attitude.  I posted on my Facebook page that I was “hanging out” with David Archuleta and got a plethora of responses and jokingly, I said that he wanted to audition in the next Running Brothers Movie.  I got a good laugh out of that comment and decided to post it to my Twitter page.  The next thing I knew I was getting David Archuleta fans telling me how happy they were that he was going to be in our movie and watching our movie and making comments about it.  Although I had no idea that my Twitter post would lead to that reaction it was kind of cool.  We even had several of his fan sites pick up the story and run with it, saying things like, “David Archuleta to be in the next Running Brothers Movie.”  It was very cool, but I do want to clarify that I didn’t mean to be deceptive, I just thought it was a funny joke for my followers. 

Anyways, it was a lot of fun getting people to check out our movie and very interesting to see how die-hard David Archuleta fans are.  One thing I can say for certain is that David Archuleta is a super cool dude and if he were interested in being in the next Running Brothers Movie we would love to have him.

This was the picture that I helped to take of David Archuleta at the Anaheim Ducks game.

5 Days Until Our First Marathon

Apr 262011
 

I’m scared! 

Not really, but I quit training for our first marathon in 6 days.  My knee was bothering me on each run, so I decided to rest it entirely until we run in the Orange County Marathon. 

I have been getting a lot of advice the last few days about my knee and the consensus is that it is a problem associated with the IT Band.  Wikipedia had some information on the IT Band which you can find by clicking here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome.  But basically, it is what my sister and my brother’s girlfriend’s sister, an athletic trainer, had told me all along.  That I would need to stretch the IT Band and the more stretching that I could do to it, the less likely it would be that it would hurt me in the future. 

Starting tomorrow, I think I am going to go to the gym to lightly work out my upper body and stretch my IT Band and maybe do some brief elliptical work.  With just six days to go I’m a little stressed about the prospect of running a full marathon, but I’m excited as well.  At least I will know that I will have a time to improve on for future races.

Ironman Training – Week #16

Apr 252011
 

Weekly Amount:

Running = 18 miles
Biking = 62 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 82.5 miles

Overall Amount:

Running = 221.5 miles (20.5 miles to Las Vegas)
Biking = 712 miles (261 miles to Seattle)
Swimming = 61,200 meters or 39.2 miles (71 miles to San Diego)
Total = 974 miles (1 mile to Seattle)

Accomplishments:

Zeb Swims to L.A.

Melt downs and Blow Ups

Apr 242011
 

I really like Top 10 lists, Sportscenter does a great job with plays-of-week and their other lists. So recently I saw a list of the 9 Biggest Sports Meltdowns, Temper Tantrums and Blowups. Running and other more cardio personal events didn’t really make the list. I thought these temper tantrums and blowups were limited to team events but John McEnroe proved that theory wrong. So maybe it is more about events where you can compete against a clock that leaves people to only look inword when them reach their goal or fall short.

To find some motivational stories about running, I wanted to find some motivational running stories. These stories, for a lack of a better description, were BOORRRRRING. The number 1 on the list of “The 10 Best Moments of the Decade for U.S. Distance Running” was ……drumroll……Olympic Marathon Medals for Kastor and Keflezighi. While it seemed like a motivational story it was not that exciting.

I also think every runner has their own best or most favorate moments, so far in my career I have a few high school memories and crossing the finish line at my two half marathons. Hopefully, there is more to come.

Do you remember any of your favorate running or sporting moments that maybe didn’t get the aclaim they deservered.

Exotic Animal Siting on a Run Through Chino Hills

Apr 232011
 

I’ve grown up and lived in Chino Hills for almost my entire life.  And all of my running, biking and swimming has taken place in other cities.  This past week; however, I have been running through my hometown . . . and you’d be amazed at the type of things you encounter when you run through the town that you call home.

Can you guess what my favorite animal is?  I’ll give you a hint.  The first three letters of the animals name matches mine . . . This is Zeb writing by the way.  Have you guessed it yet?  No???  Man, you’re slow.  Ok, this animal also has black and white stripes all over it and looks like a horse.  Wow, finally you guessed it.  Don’t think you’re some kind of genius now.

Anyways, I thought Zebras only lived in Africa, or at that zoo.  I had no idea that Zebras actually lived in my hometown, but they do.  And it was awesome.  When I went to take it’s picture it was standing about 15 feet away from me, but as soon as it realized that I was taking its picture, it came right up next to the fence to pose for a picture. 

Running has it’s advantages, as you are likely to encounter things that you would not normally see.  For me, I was able to see my favorite animal up close, like I had never seen one before.

Chino Hills Zebra

The Running Brothers Movie – Part #2

Apr 222011
 

Thank you for watching The Running Brothers Movie.  We hope you like the outcome.  If you haven’t seen Part #1,  you can click here to watch it – http://runningbrothers.com/982/the-running-brothers-movie-part-1/.  If you like our movie(s), please be sure to share them with your friends and post them to your Facebook pages.  The most fun we get is hearing from people who we’ve never met before that tell us the movie was awesom, so don’t be shy, tell your friends. 

Thank You From The Running Brothers!!!!

Novelty Running

Apr 212011
 

I have always been a sucker when it comes to shopping. I buy some stupid things and I get excited when I get something new, I think everyone does this to an extent. I also understand that it is not a financially healthy addiction. Nonetheless when I am trying to get motivated to do an activity, I usually buy something to get me excited about it.

To start studying for a test I will order a special book, to start a home improvement project I will buy a new tool when another tool I have would work, and when I need to start working out I need something new. This time I got new running shoes. I can think of a few other things that I can resort to when my motivation is getting a little low:

  1. Running watch
  2. New shorts
  3. Swimming googles
  4. New handle bars for bike that allow me to stretch out a little more
  5. Icy-hot (I have never used it but people say it really helps mucsels and I want to try it)
  6. A new gym membership

So when I am losing some motivation I may resort to some of these. I should probably try to keep my motivation beacause of the good workout feeling but I guess I am a shopping addict. Is there anything that you buy or use that help to keep you excited about working out?

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