I’m Back!!!

Apr 202011
 

I have to admit, my training has taken a bit of a hit or as some people call it a haitus. I have not trained, other than soccer for about 3 weeks. It is easy to make excuses and most people are above naming them…… but I am not, so here is a list of the things that I blame for cutting in to my training time:

  1. I had a professional exam that required a lot of studying,
  2. Fish weren’t going to jump on to hooks themselves,
  3. Golf balls needed to be lost at a few golf courses,
  4. (I think the most common) Work is crazy; and,
  5. I had a blister on big toe and it really really hurts.

So I took my test and the results don’t come back for three months, work is still there but I am getting off earlier and I used some mole skin for my toe blister (btw- whoever created moleskin is a life saver). So to keep my training going I will have to let the fish be and save some money on golf balls.

Zeb at A Snails Pace

One other thing helped me get going. As you read in Zeb’s post, we got new shoes!!!! I have been an Asics shoe guy since they semi sponsered/supported or gave discounts to my high school cross country team. After our visit to A Snails Pace the highly informed and helpful staff told us Saucony’s would work best. They feel good so far. I already got about 4 miles in them and they are still working.

Joined Up With Some New Runners: Rocky Duran and Chris Sydow

Apr 192011
 

It had been months in the making, but we finally added “some color” to The Running Brothers team.  Several months ago, I told my friend Rocky Duran about our website as we had played soccer for over a year together and actually won the championships together the year before.  He decided to quit soccer in order to train for the L.A. Marathon, but we were able to still keep in touch through Facebook and get together to play some golf every once in a while.  For whatever reason, our schedules never meshed, but we talked about running frequently and finally, yesterday, we did it.

We ran about 5.5 miles up and down some pretty decent sized hills, which was some good training.  Yesterday was the first day I was able to run in my new shoes and man, what a difference!  My knee did not hurt me at all during the 5.5 mile run which gave me hope that I would be able to complete the Orange County Marathon on May 1.  When I did the half marathon in February, my knee began hurting after the third mile and I haven’t been able to run farther than that since then.  But, today I ran 5.5 miles with no discomfort whatsoever. 

With that in mind, my goal for the upcoming marathon will be to complete it in under 4 hours.  My half marathon time was 2:04, but, like I said earlier, the only thing that was slowing me down was my knee.  I really think that if me knee were not in so much pain, my time would have been much faster.  I’ll be eager to see what my time will be in the OC Marathon, but one thing is for sure . . . I will be going all out.

I’m not exactly sure what Rocky meant by “some color,” I think it’s because he thinks that he’s a really funny guy.  Rocky is such a colorful character.  Rocky, Chris and I were able to talk for most of the run, about business, about life and about running.  Overall, it was a great time as we ran through the hills of Chino Hills.  We talked about running together in the future, although, I’m not sure that I can keep up.   They say that they frequently run more than 10 miles on the weekends and that seems pretty intense, but I’ll give it a shot.

We Went and Bought New Running Shoes – Saucony Progrid Ride 3’s

Apr 182011
 

My brother and I went to A Snail’s Pace in Brea, California to get fitted for new running shoes yesterday.  If you have been keeping up with our posts, you will know that I have been experiencing some pain in my left knee when running.  My Uncle Steve, a former marathon runner wrote a blog post about ways that would help to alleviate knee pain and he said that the most important thing to eliminate knee pain was to get properly fitted shoes.

We arrived at A Snail’s Pace and were approached promptly by Katie Lowrie, a worker at the store who took us to a foot calibration machine.  Basically, you stood on this machine and it provided information about where you apply pressure in your feet.  She told my I had high arches and applied too much pressure on my right foot and basically said the same thing to my brother.  She then brought out the shoes she thought would fit best.  We tried them on and ran up and down the store.  She was trying to determine if we overpronated or underpronated . . . and as it turns out, we both had normal pronation. 

We got Katie laughing pretty good with all of our ridiculous questions and one-liners.  My brother thought that she was just doing that to be nice, but who knows.  After fitting our shoes my brother and I settled on the exact same shoes – The Saucony Progrid Ride 3’s.  However, mine were slightly larger at a size 15 and my brother got the 14’s.  (We all know what that means). 

We made sure to make Katie promise to watch our movie along with other member’s of the staff and got out of A Snail’s Pace having spent about $100 a piece.  Who knows if the shoe will help out my knee pain on those long runs, but it’s worth finding out.  And now, my brother and I have matching shoes, matching shirts and matching track suits . . . yeah, we know we’re cool.

Ironman Training – Week #15

Apr 162011
 

Weekly Amount:

Running = 17.5 miles
Biking = 60 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 80 miles

Overall Amount:

Running = 203.5 miles (38.5 miles to Las Vegas)
Biking = 652 miles (321 miles to Seattle)
Swimming = 57,200 meters or 36.7 miles (.1 miles to Los Angeles)
Total = 892 miles (81 miles to Seattle)

The Running Brothers Movie – Part 1

Apr 152011
 

Thanks for checking out our movie.  We would love to hear what you think so be sure to comment on our page.  If you enjoyed the movie, share it.  And if you want to get to know more about us you can “like” us on facebook, The Running Brothers and follow us on twitter, @runningbros. 

Part 2 of our movie will be online one week from today.  We really hope that you enjoy it as we had a lot of fun making it.

17 Days Until Our First Marathon

Apr 142011
 

Time is running out and we are about to run our first marathon.  I have tried training the last three days, but have had to stop early each time because I get this pain in my knee.  Yesterday was my longest run so far.  I ran 4.5 miles, but had to stop on account of the knee.  My brother and I have decided to go to A Snails Pace, a running store in Brea to see if they can get us properly fitted for some shoes. 

I’m excited to see if a difference can be made just by the types of shoes I would be wearing.  I really hope that it does, because I want to be able to complete this marathon.

The Running Brothers Movie Launch

Apr 132011
 

The Running Brothers: Part 1 will be released at 12:01 AM Friday morning.  We had to break the movie down into two parts because it was too long.  The movie, seen by a select few, has received high praise thus far.  Just listen to the rave reviews of our critics.

“That was a funny movie.” – Grandma

“It looked like you guys had fun.” – Dad

“Hahahahaha.” – Mom

“A great movie.” – Sister

“I haven’t laughted that hard in a long time.” – Dusty

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought.” – Cindy

Be prepared for one of the greatest movie events of 2011 with the opening of The Running Brothers.  The movie will not be shown in theaters and will only be available to those who visit our website, www.TheRunningBrothers.com.  See you at one minute after midnight on Thursday.

Pacific Electric Bike Trail

Apr 122011
 

On a nice Saturday day, I decided to call up my brother to see if he wanted to go for a bike ride and he said, “Absolutely.”  So, we met up and looked up bike trails in our area on Google Maps.  We found tons of different trails in our area, so we went to the closest one.  Turns out Google Maps “sucks” when it comes to planning out bike trail routes.  We went to three different ones and all of them were innaccessible.  But, we traveled from one to the next until we finally found one . . . The Pacific Electric Bike Trail.

The Pacific Electric Trail is supposed to be able to connect Rialto to Claremont; however, the trail is not complete.  According to www.socaltrailriders.org, the trail should be completed in 2011.  But we got on the trail somewhere in Rancho Cucamonga and headed west.  The trail was a really easy ride with virtually no hills.  The only problem for me was that you had to wait at a signal every time the trail crossed paths with a street, which was quite often. 

But we reached a dead end where some construction was going on, so we turned around and headed east for quite a ways until the trail ended in I believe Fontana.  It was a very pleasant ride until we encountered some dangling electrical lines.  Fortunately, my brother was there to snap a quick picture of the event. 

If only I had seen that sign beforehand. 

I had a really nice time with my brother traveling down the Pacific Electric Bike Trail.  It will be interesting when they complete that trail, but I love Claremont and the Upland area and it would be great to just hang out there from time to time and take a nice bike ride along a pleasant trail.

The Running Brothers Movie Premier

Apr 112011
 

We premiered our first Running Brothers Movie and it was a smashing success.  The release of our movie is still a few days away, but the editing and sound in the film are award worthy and while the acting may be sub-par, the story line is killer.  If you want, you can check out our screen play to the movie in a previous post.  Although we did ad-lib from time to time, for the most part we kept to the script. 

We’re excited to show you all our film, but it’s going to take us a couple of days in preparation to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch.

Our Fourth Hero: Greg Hardesty

Apr 102011
 

He competed in the 135-mile Coastal Challenge, “a six-day stage race on incredibly brutal and gorgeous terrain in Costa Rica . . . (he) explored a lot of rain forests and other terrain . . . running as long as 35 miles in a day to as short as 18 miles on another day.”  Who is this crazy person who would agree to participate in such an exhausting event?  Can you believe that he completed the entire 135-mile race by running?  This man is our fourth hero and a co-worker of my father’s at The Orange County Register . . . Greg Hardesty.  Greg is an ultramarathon runner. He has participated in over 24 ultramarathons and agreed to share his wisdom with The Running Brothers and our heroes.

Greg Hardesty

Ever heard of an ultramarathon?  I didn’t until today.  Ultramarathons are basically running events that are longer than the traditional 26.2 mile marathon events.  Greg says that he is the “worst trainer in the world,” because he doesn’t diet or stretch, and runs relatively low mileages . . . he tries to run between 40 and 50 miles a week.  (If 40 to 50 miles is considered the worst training in the world, then I know I’m in trouble).  He also says he runs on hilly terrain which he believes is the best way to train. He also works out at the gym and performs “serious” workouts on the StairMaster. He says that recently he completed a half marathon on one (impressive).

Greg recommends taking training slowly . . .performing long runs on the weekends and using a lot of hills. 

He is passionate about his career. He loves honoring people through his writing, who die before their time.  Writing has encouraged him to seek understanding for what truly makes a person happy.  He says that “too many people get caught up in planning and acquiring material goods,” but miss what is important in life, “enjoying it.”  He’s a man who lives with passion, which is also a reason why he says he is “poor.”

Greg lived in Japan for six years and recommends that every person should have the experience of living abroad for at least a year.  He said that at times he felt uncomfortable, but that he really got a sense of happiness when he constantly placed himself in uncomfortable situations, because it forced him to “live in the moment” and “be truly alive.”

Competing in the 135-mile Coastal Challenge along some of the most beautiful Costa Rican terrain he has seen and competing in 24 ultramarathons are just some of highlights of Greg Hardesty’s eventful and exciting life.  He certainly deserves to become one of our heroes as his passion is undeniable and his willingness to push himself is second to none.  Some may call him crazy for running 40 to 50 miles a week and competing in running events with distances of over 100 miles, but we call him our hero. 

Greg Hardesty is a reporter for The Orange County Register and the father of two children.  He is a member of a great group of runners of all levels, whose website is www.socaltrailheadz.org

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