The Rose Bowl Half Marathon – Part #2

Feb 122011
 

My brother surprised me with a trip to the Rose Bowl where we were going to run a Half-Marathon.  I had never done a Half-Marathon before, and not only that, I was going to do it with no sleep and not having prepared for one.  We made it to the Rose Bowl around 7 AM, which gave us an hour to get ourself situated and mentally prepared for the race . . . in other words, it gave us an hour to goof around.

Around 7:30, my brother and I were in for another big surprise.  My parents, unknown to my brother and I, showed up to support us.  Not only that, but they had some Running Brothers T-shirts that they made themselves, which looked exactly like ours.  Having them there to support us was really great, not only that, but a lot of the racers that were there that day were commenting on how cool our shirts were.  And . . . I must admit . . . they are pretty awesome.

The Welborn Family at The Rose Bowl

It was nearing 8 AM and we were about to do our first event together, a complete surprise to me . . .

Stay Tuned for Part #3 . . .

The Flip Turn – Attempt #1

Feb 112011
 

In a previous post, I asked you all how to perform that flippy turny thing that swimmers do everytime that they reach the end of the pool.  One of our heroes, Peter from http://auggiesdad.sweat365.com/, came to my rescue with a video that showed the Flip Turn in action, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtP8xgzm6do. 

After viewing the video, I decided to test it out.  Normally, when I make it to the gym, the pool and surrounding areas are pretty much empty, but for some reason, that particular day, it was busy.  I decided to try my flip turns on the other side of the pool so as not to embarrass myself if I didn’t do it right. 

For my first attempt, I swam down to the other side of the pool and performed a mid-water somersault . . . water immediately rushed up my nose and I halted mid-turn bringing myself to the top.  Ok, that didn’t work. 

For my second attempt, I performed the mid-water somersault while blowing out through my nose so that water could not rush up my nose.  I coiled my legs up against the wall, and pushed off . . . “THUD!”  My head rammed into the bottom of the pool.  Not only did I not perform it well, but now I was going to have a large bump on the back of my head. 

My following eight attempts all ended in the same manner with either my head, or my hands ramming into the bottom of the pool.  Obviously, I did not get this technique down.  I began to think about it and the pool that I am swimming in is the pool at the gym.  One end is 3.5 feet deep and the other is 5.5 feet deep . . . I am 6’2”.  Perhaps, I could not do this technique properly because it’s impossible at those depths . . . just a thought.  So, I gave up for the day and thought I would ask all of you a follow up question.

Do swimmers still perform the flip turn at 3.5 feet or 5.5 feet?  If so, then I guess I will just have to practice it some more . . . and . . . perhaps . . . wear a helmet.

Ironman Training – Week #6

Feb 102011
 

One half marathon later and I’m still on track.

Weekly Amount:

Running = 13.1 miles
Biking = 46 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 62 miles

Overall Amount:

Running = 64 miles (47 miles to San Diego)
Biking = 178 miles (64 miles to Las Vegas)
Swimming = 25,200 meters or 15.7 miles (21.6 miles to Los Angeles)
Total = 256 miles (159 miles to San Fransisco)

The First Half- Rose Bowl Half Marathon

Feb 102011
 

The gun just sounded and the crowd of over 600 runners bunched up. In my prerace preparation I looked at the course map and elevation chart and I knew the first half of the race would be the easier part of the race. The first three miles were a slow gradual downhill, what I did not know what that a lot of race was a trail run and trails creates a whole other set of issues.

Less than one mile into the race the entire field is funneled to a small almost unnoticable trail. The single wide trail resulted in a lot of bunching up and walking, which was fine by me because I knew there was a lot running left. As the trail opened up we were running 3 or 4 wide on a rocky dirt trail in the Arroyo Seco River Bed. 

Wec continued under a few bridges, one of the other runners said one bridge was haunted. At first, the Suicide Bridge is very pretty and architecturally very impressive. But as the name sounds there is more of a story. Starting in 1919 people starting comitting sucide by jumping from it. In the four year span of the Great Depression nearly 50 people lost there lives right there. It is kinda creepy knowing we ran right through there. Local Legend is that several ghost spirits haunt the bridge. I didn’t have a close encounter but maybe Zeb noticed some unusally activities.

Unknowingly, Zeb and I escaped the ghosts and hauntings to start the return back toward the Rose Bowl. The next 6 miles were gonna be uphill, according to the elevation chart.

Zeb decided to start running at his own pace and started to pull away. Before the race we decided that we would run at our own paces. I knew Zeb would be faster and I just hoped to stay close. Eventually our friend from the start line with the fancy GPS watch came up and I asked how are we doing on our pace, she replied 8:43. I know I start faster and slow down toward the end so 8:43 sounds about right.

By mile 5 we emerged from the trail and were back on streets. My feet, knees and ankles appreciated it. Our support crew was cheering for us as we passed by the Rose Bowl. I don’t care who are, seeing familar faces cheering for you will always put a little pep in your step.

It turns out that at that point I was only 2 minutes behind Zeb . I was doing pretty good up .

Stay tuned to hear about the second half and the post race.

Zeb’s Surprise Challenge – The Rose Bowl Half Marathon

Feb 092011
 

As you may have read from several of our previous posts, my brother, Rocky, scheduled a mystery challenge for me this past Sunday.  I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but knowing my brother, I knew that it would be good. 

Zeb at The Rose Bowl

I am, what some people would call, a night owl.  In order to prepare for this event, I decided that I would sleep very little the night before, so that I would be able to get a good nights sleep before this Mystery Challenge.  So, the night before I got 4 hours of sleep and I went to bed at 10 PM, the night before my Mystery Challenge, but going to bed and sleeping are two different things.  I did not fall asleep that night.  So, when my brother arrived at my house at 6 AM, I had not gotten an hour of sleep that night, and only 4 hours the night before.

When he came inside he furnished a gift . . . and it was . . . a T-shirt.  But, it wasn’t just any T-Shirt.  This T-shirt had a picture of our faces on the front and a picture of us running on the back.  Not only that, but safety-pinned to the front of the T-shirt were the numbers 642 and the words The Rose Bowl Half Marathon just above that.  My brother had entered us into the Rose Bowl Half Marathon.  It caught me completely by surprise and I was extremely excited.

We headed to the Rose Bowl with our brand new, kick-ass T-shirts for my very first Half Marathon . . .

Stay Tuned for Part #2

Help Me Lock Up My Bike

Feb 082011
 

I have a request for all of you heroes out there.  My brand new Cannondale bicycle is in my garage and my Dad is worried that while he is doing yardwork on the weekends that someone might grab my bike and take off with it.  I was planning on just getting a bicycle chain to lock up my bike, but since I have all of you as a resource, maybe one of you might have a better idea. 

Here is a picture of my garage.  Any suggestions?

My Garage

The Rose Bowl Pre Race

Feb 082011
 

I was looking forward to this past weekend for a long time. It was a three day weekend for me, it was Superbowl weekend, it was mystery challenge weekend for my brother, but I was most excited cause it was Rose Bowl Half Marathon for me.

With the Lacey Welborn designed shirts in hand I gave Zeb his shirt with bib number, 642, and revealed the mystery challenge. He was surprised and had a geniune look of excitement. I was releaved because he mentioned he wanted to skip the half and go straight to a full marathon but it worked with his planned training for the week.    

We left the house arround 6 am to get to the Rose Bowl before 7:15, which apparently was a little early. They close the roads for the race at 7:30 and they told me 1200 people were going to be racing, so I thought it would be conjested… it wasn’t. We arrived at 7:00 and I told Zeb of my pre-race rituals, since I am a seasoned half marathoner with 1 under my belt aready. The pre-race rituals included people watching, using the restroom before a line formed and drinking a gatorade.

People watching at these events is a whole lot of fun espesially before the race. The serious runners are running/warming up, the not serious runners are yawning and the in-between people like the running brothers are giddy but a little ackward. But everyone is social, friendly and unusally excited for 7:00 AM on a Sunday.

We were surprised by our parents, who showed up arround 7:30 with big smiles and awesome running brothers shirts. We spent a few minutes searching for a place to get them coffee which apparently didn’t exist. I guess runners don’t like a quick shot of gut-busting coffee before 13.1 miles.

We headed to the start line at about 7:50 just in time to hear a less soulful but much more acurate version of the Star Spangled Banner than Christina Aguileria version later that day. After hearing whispers about how cool our shirts were we ran into another nervous runner who wanted to chat. She was a Mom from South Pasadena training for the LA marathon and the Half fit right in with her training schedule. She had a Garmin GPS watch which had some pretty cool functions but very little battery.

Zeb and Rocky on The Starting Line of the Rose Bowl Half Marathon

So we know we were only seconds from the gun going off. I strectched out my calf one more time and looked arround to see the 1200 anticpated racers seemed much smaller and then with little warning…BANG… the race was on.

Stay tuned to hear about my race:  the first half, second half and post race. Zeb is also providing his step-by-step or if our knees could talk blow-by-blow account of day.

My Newer Bike – Part #2

Feb 072011
 

After finding out that is was unlikely that my new bicycle would work, I was bummed.  Corey Diaz, one of my former students at Don Lugo High School in Chino was working on my bike at Free-Wheeling, the local bike shop, where I had dropped off my bike the day before.  At around 2 PM, I received a call from Corey. 

“Hey, Zeb”

“Yes.”

“You know that problem that I told you about the bike not being able to shift gears and how I didn’t think I would be able to fix it?”

“Yes.”

“I fixed it.”

Horay!!!!  I thought.  I now had a brand new bicycle that was going to work, and not only that, but it was going to work well.  I was stoked.  Corey then told me that he was going to tune-up my bike and that it would be ready to go within a couple of days.  I pateintly waited and picked up my newer bicycle when he called a couple of days later.  And boy, did it ride smooth. 

Thanks to Chris Carlson and Corey Diaz, I now had a newer bicycle with everything I could ask for.  I’m a lucky guy.

Here is our previous article, Newer Bicycle Part #1 – http://runningbrothers.com/578/my-newer-bicycle/

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and the Running Brothers are at the BOWL!!!

Feb 062011
 

Mystery Challenge =Rose Bowl Half Marathon

Zeb and Rocky at the Rose Bowl Half Marathon

Several weeks ago I saw the Rose Bowl was hosting a half marathon and I thought that would be a great stepping stone on my way to the marathon. Zeb has been left in the dark about this until I showed up at the house at 5:30 AM. I had to sneak arround to get Zeb registered but I got it all ready to go.

Stay tuned to see how we did? Are we gonna finish? Is Zeb gonna be pissed? Who is gonna win? Where are we gonna place in our divisions… in the whole race?

More to come……

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