Rockstar Runners

38,000+ run New York City Marathon

Over 38,000 people ran the New York City Marathon yesterday - sounds like it was quite the event! That's one of the races on my "To run" list. I posted a brief wrap-up of the race and my own personal running goals and failures over at Normal Rockstar - check it out!

Presidential Hopeful Mike Huckabee Featured in "Runner's World"

I've been intrigued recently about the running story of Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I posted a blog the other day on Normal Rockstar about why I would vote for Huckabee (if I could actually vote). Suffice it to say that the fact that he's a runner factored into the equation. Well, I found this article in Runner's World that was published in 2005 while he was Governor of Arkansas and it talks about how he ended up losing 110lbs, picking up running, and completing his first marathon. It's pretty inspirational - if you've got the time, check it out!

Technorati Tags: mike huckabee, republican, weight loss, running

"Spirit of the Marathon" a Superb Documentary

Glenn, myself, and Jeff went to watch the "Spirit of the Marathon" documentary last week along with at least 200 other running enthusiasts in the Nashville area (I know of at least one other theater in our area that was showing the movie that night). What a fantastic movie! I am not ashamed to say that near the end I actually got choked up (all three of us did, actually!). The producers did a fantastic job of taking us on a journey with six very different individuals as they prepared to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Filmed on four continents, we really felt a kinship with each runner being documented and I for one found myself feeling their pain, disappointment, and victories throughout the course of their training and the actual race day.

While they did a great job of drawing us into the individual stories, the filmmakers also did a fantastic job of filming during the race itself. There was some great bonus footage after the movie of some of the techniques they used to find and film the various runners throughout the course of their race (it would be a pretty daunting task to follow 6 individuals in a sea of 40,000 over the course of 26.2 miles!). The shots of Chicago are fantastic, and despite the black eye that this race received after their difficulties dealing with the heat this past year, I would definitely consider making this one of my next races based solely on what I saw in the movie.

All that to say that it was definitely worth the $10 to go see it. And if you missed it this time around, don't fret: they have arranged for an encore viewing on February 21st (click on the race bib to find the theater nearest you). If it was any indication, at the end of the movie the audience burst into spontaneous applause (well, we started it...) in appreciation of what a great job this movie did in helping to show people how achievable running a marathon is for the "common man". Go see it - and let us know what you thought!

Running Cramps - Side Stitch

The side stitch or cramp is something I think we all have to deal with as runners at some point.  I won’t call myself an expert on this by any means but I’ve compiled some basic information about it here so that we can all have a better understanding of how it occurs and what we could do to prevent it or at least deal with it when it happens. So for starters what exactly is the side stitch?

A "side stitch" is a sharp, intense pain under the lower edge of the ribcage caused by a muscle spasm of the diaphragm. Such pain can occur during vigorous exercise, such as running, and seems to occur more commonly in novice exercisers who have not yet established proper pacing and who tend to breathe more quickly and shallow. link

I’d like to think that I’m not novice anymore and I still occasionally get them!

However, about 30% of all runners will experience stitches at some point. What exactly causes them? On inhalation, we take air into the lungs, pressing the diaphragm downward. When we exhale, the diaphragm moves up. If the body has some trapped air/gas below the diaphragm, if we've eaten too close to exercise, or if we start exercising too vigorously, the diaphragm may cramp, causing pain under the rib cage on the right side. link

From what I can tell this explanation seems to be pretty consistent across the board.  There are some other theories but they all seem to do with the diaphragm.  So besides not eating or drinking right before we run what can we do to prevent the stitch?

 

Disney World Rockstar Runners Results

Sorry it's taken so long (thanks for the nudge, Mark!). Here are the final results for all the Rockstar Runners who participated in the Disney World Marathon and 1/2 Marathon weekend in Orlando:

1/2 Marathon (13.1mi)
Krista Lavender - 2:15:35
Tracy Lavender - 3:25:44
Glenn Lavender - 1:43:46
Erin Thiessen - 2:15:34
Billy Almaguer - 1:54:54

Full Marathon (26.2mi)
Glenn Lavender - 3:31:44
Jeremy Thiessen - 4:54:19

Congratulations to all runners who participated. Everyone completed their races, and nearly everyone achieved the goals they were shooting for. Look for some "Lessons from Orlando" from those who participated in the next week or so!

Success Story: Bob

Below are some excerpts taken from emails sent to me by an inspired friend we met on the road.

"We met back in May when you all played our church in North Carolina. You encouraged me to try to do a marathon…

Wanted to drop you a quick line to thank you again for encouraging me. I did my last ‘long run’ this past Sunday morning. 26 miles! Race Day is in a month, and my goal is of course, to finish. Alive.

I never would have thought I could cover that distance; and make no mistake, I AIN’T fast; rather slow and steady. But would never have had the discipline to try had you not put the mustard seed in my mind.

As tribute, I listened to all 3 downhere CDs while I ran. Great stuff, man!

I am running in the inaugural City of Oaks marathon, here in Raleigh. This is the weird GOD story. When you and I met in May, after I felt the first twinge of maybe, (that YOU, Glenn Lavender, YOU first stoked J) I Googled Raleigh marathon. Turned out that after a five-year hiatus, Raleigh was getting a marathon again. The week I looked it up,  there were 26 weeks left until the marathon, and when I cross referenced how far my longest run had been at that point, there was exactly 26 weeks left to train. Of course a marathon is 26, so it was just too many ‘coincidences’."

Post race report:

"My wife bought me a great GPS watch…thought it was fully charged….start it right before the race….it’s dead…I know better now…so my entire race plan of a consistent  run/walk went out the door. I counted for a while, but I got no idea what I really did…started listening to my mp3 player figured most of the songs I have are between 3:30 and 4:30 long, so I did the best I could…hey, you heard of a band called downhere? They’re great to run to. Actually since you are the impetus for my running a marathon, I went through all three albums, starting with downhere at the start, moved on to Substitutes, and finished with Wide Eyed… and just dug that great music…

It was tough, dude…I hurt my foot at 13, don't know what I did, and started cramping around 14 pretty badly...not only that, but the week before the marathon, I got sciatica in my left buttock cheek…great, just what every one wants prior to running their first marathon.

it was a struggle, but my half split was 2:18 (so I coulda/woulda/shoulda) done a 4:36 but running through Umstead (the second half while extremely beautiful was through a State Park here, but was just killer)…I finished it at 4:55....I was 91st out of 104 for my age group…I guess I wasn’t last!

I’m surprised in that my training run of 26 was so EASY by comparison…I fueled the same, slept the same….can’t figure the difference. Must be the walk/run ratio thrown out of balance by no timekeeping devise.

but…my goal was to finish. And I did…next goal will be to cut at least 15 minutes off my time and run a 4:40…didn’t you cut 40 minutes off of your time from 1st to 2nd?"

Wow!  Bob is really giving me more credit than I deserve.  I basically told him I thought he could do a marathon if he just got out there and gave it a shot.  He did the work and made it happen.  Always putting one foot in front of the other.    So a good reminder of how far a little encouragement can go.   If you have or know of any other stories of people affected by anyone in Rockstar Runners send them in and we'll try to get them posted!

Moving Forward,
Glenn

General Petraeus Uses Running to Identify Potential Staff

If you're looking for a new job or a way to move up the "food chain" at work, it may not be a bad idea to start running. It seems that running is becoming a common way of determining whether someone is a worthy hire or not. General Petraeus, the four-start general who is currently in command of the multinational force fighting in Iraq and an avid runner, says this in a recent interview for Runner's World:

"There's something about an individual who has self-discipline, drive, basic fitness, and the heart to run reasonably well that indicates the kind of spirit that you are after in people who take on tough tasks."

So next time you start to prepare for a job interview, it may not hurt to get a few runs under your belt, too - you never know if the interview will take place on the street!

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: General Petraeus, Iraq, running, work

Snow, Runner's Trots, and French Canadian Bums

One of the things I love about running is that it is something you can do no matter where you are. Since I became a "runner" three and a half years ago, I have enjoyed many memorable runs in such exotic locations as Thailand, Sweden, Morocco, England, and others. This past weekend I added another run to the "memorable" list - and for rather unconventional reasons.

I had a long run to do while visiting my brother in Montreal, so early Sunday morning I crawled out of bed, packed up my water and GU Energy Gels (they've got a new flavor out for Christmas - Mint Chocolate... it's actually pretty good!) and headed out to run the streets of Montreal.

Now, I will concede that I have not been as consistent as I would have liked training for my next marathon (Disney in Orlando on January 13th), so I'm not quite as far along as I would like to be at this point. I have also been training for the most part in the Nashville area where the average temperature up until the middle of last week was STILL around 70 degrees.

It was not 70 degrees in Montreal on Sunday morning.

Welcome to Rockstar Runners

Hello and welcome to the Rockstar Runners running club! Jeremy and I have been dreaming about this for a while now and I’m excited that you are here reading this and we are finally able to get things rolling. What is this whole Rockstar Runners thing you ask? Let me explain.

Quite simply, if you can get off the couch and get yourself out for a run a few times a week then YOU are a Rockstar! People will watch you and be influenced by this simple act more than you realize.

Jeremy and I have been traveling around the world for the last six and a half years with two other very talented guys playing in a rock band called ‘Downhere’.  During this time we have been doing our best to redefine what a Rockstar is. 

Over the past 4 years (since we have taken up running) we have been literally running all over the world. I would guess that by now we’ve run in most U.S. states and Canadian provinces as well as in Sweden, Denmark, England, Ireland and Scotland. During this time I have managed to run 4 marathons and Jeremy has run 2 as well as a half marathon.