My Man, Bart

A speaker at the Big Sur Half Marathon Expo was Bart Yasso.
A few weeks before we left for our Mt. Whitney climb, I purchased Bart Yasso's book "My Life on the Run". I enjoyed it so much, I xeroxed the last few unread chapters, packed it in my Whitney stuff and read it at night by headlamp before going to sleep on the mountain.
He turned his life around with a jog.
After running on all 7 continents, in all manner of races he's slowed down a bit due to complications from Lyme's disease. He's very active in fundraising and giving back to the community.
When his name showed up on the speakers list for the Expo I was thrilled!
We arrived in Monterey, picked up our packets and had a little time to kill before the lecture, so we wandered thru the vendors. I was looking at socks or something, I heard Matt call over "Lori, come on over here, there's someone I want you to meet". I slowly made my way a couple of booths over, still looking down at the tables of pamphlets etc. When I looked up there was Matt talking to Bart Yasso! Matt said "Bart, Lori has been running for about a year and a half. She's read your book and it's really inspired her."
Matt, thank you!!!
by the way, he will be in Laguna Niguel Nov. 20, for a book signing and fun run with the Fleet Feet crew. It's open to everyone!

High Tech and Low Tech

Whew, we made it to the finish line! Honestly, a few days ago, that was all I wanted out of this race. To finish. After 4 days of ice, ibuprophen and wrapping I was hobbling along on my sore left hamstring. I got a 5 mile run out of it on Friday, nice and slow on the Wood Canyon trail with out too much pain. I was cautiously optimistic...
I'd read about some compression tights-very high tech. Thick and strong lycra with strips of nylon sewn on top to provide support, much like being taped. I bought a pair instead of trying to run with the neoprene wrap, which kept slipping down during my Friday practice run.
Sunday at the starting line I realized I forgot my watch! How can I run without a watch? I won't know my pace! No time to go back, so I just let the crowd dictate the pace at the start. Mile 3 I asked a man for the time. 36 min. Yikes better step it up! The crowd was starting to thin and I was thinking I needed to make up a lot of time! So I ran this race in a very low tech manner. I listened to my body. Ran as fast as I could for as long as I could, then slowed to catch my breath. I had no idea of the time until I saw the finish clock. My chip time: 2:06:32. 7 min faster than 2007.
Matt is amazing. He'd run maybe 5 or 6 times to train for this and finished 2:17:59! Imagine if he'd actually trained...

Happy Endings?!

Sunday, Matt and I ran 10 miles through the back bay. It was a lovely morning, not too hot when we started out. By mile 7 I was starting to feel the heat and my left hamstring was starting to pull. Thinking it was just cramps I downed a HammerGel with some water and continued to limp along. After making the turn onto East Bluff, I trudged up the hill towards Corona Del Mar High school. My hamstring was feeling much better, it was probably the incline, and I happily trotted the last half mile uphill.
Fast forward to Wednesday(no running since Sunday). We decide to try another run, our legs should have recovered from Sundays long run by now. 2 minutes after we start, my left hamstring is killing me. I wave Matt on to continue. Our plan was to run 6 miles. I start walking. Run alittle more, pain, walk again. At 3 miles, our turnaround point, I caught up to Matt and we start back. It's downhill for about 1.5 miles and my leg feels better so I pass him, but last 1.5 miles back to the car uphill killed me.
I had gotten some advice from other runners, Rick S. and Bill R., both whom run ultra's, to consult a massage therapist. Well, the Long Beach Half is just days away and I can barely walk, let alone run...so, as fast as my little legs could carry me I dig up the yellow pages and leaf through the massage therapists. "Happy Endings", Ultimate Pleasure", "Exotic Massage"...What!!!! Maybe if I get an "Ultimate Pleasure" massage by a hunky guy I'll forget my pain?! Matt suggests I look under "Theraputic Massage" in the yellow pages.
Well, to wrap this up, I found a sports massage therapist who spent an hour working over my abused legs. This morning I woke up almost pain free and thinking about running...not!

Long Beach Half Marathon

2007 I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon. It was my first race over 10K, and I'd only been running 10 months. I bugged the heck out of every runner I knew, questions about mileage, shoes, gels, and injuries! Then it got hot, in the 80's at 8 am, still in the 80's at 6pm. How do you run in that kind of heat! What if the marathon was HOT!!!
Race day arrived and I did everything wrong...we(my honey and best buddy, Matt) got lost due to my bad directions, but he managed to get me to the starting line 5 min before the gun. I didn't stretch and I tied my left shoe too tight!
I found my pace group and the race started. The pace leader was great, it's amazing how they keep on time! It was a good run, I stayed with my group until the last 2 miles, I had to slow because that left shoe did me in...never occurred to me to loosen it. Finish time was 2:13. Woo Hoo I did it!
Well the 2008 Long Beach Half is a little more than a week away. I finally ran 9 miles today. Think I'm in trouble? Well, I still have a week, maybe if I run every day...

My First Blog Entry!

Hi All,
My life has gotten so full in the last year, I've met amazing people, climbed mountains and run hundreds of miles...it didn't seem fair to keep all this to myself so I'm sharing, just in case you wanted to share with me!

It's hard to know where to begin this internet stroll down memory lane. But I guess I would have to start with running, my life changes began with running.

January 2007, I was faced with a birthday. You know, one of those MILESTONE birthdays. I was in terrible physical shape. We live on a small hill in a city with alot of hills. Every July 4th we'd walk down the hill to watch the fireworks over the lake, then hike up the hill to home. The quarter mile hike up the hill took forever and left me breathless. So, in January with that birthday looking me straight in the eye I started running. I bought a pair of running shoes and DROVE to the lake that was a quarter mile away and ran...for 2 min...thinking I was gonna pass out right there, I stopped, walked 15 min to catch my breath and continued this until I got around the lake, 1.8 miles.

1 year, 9 months later I've completed about 10 5K's, 3 10K's, 1 half marathon and 1 marathon. Mixed into these traditional runs were 2, 5 mile Watermelon runs(really quite nice) and a 5 mile trail run.

Now with my story on board, my next posts will be about what's been going on the last few months...but gotta run along now...Long beach Half Marathon is Oct. 12!