This route is all uphill and then all downhill. I’ve done it in the past, and ran it at lunch (long lunch!) sometime last winter. I remember it going a bit better than today.

The going was steep at the beginning, and so I just took it very easy, really let my legs just get warmed up with small steps. I used my arms as much as possible and really tried to keep my core engaged for the whole run. My heart was pumpin’ pretty good, but I felt really pretty good. I practiced focusing my y’chi and it is amazing how it just simply pulls you in. I felt good until about mile 5.5, when the steady downhill just started to do a number on my knees. I tried to really make my lower legs move in circles, and landed on my heels a bit more on the steeper parts. I think the real problem is the lack of total mileage I have put on my legs in between my long sets of running. The circular heels helped for a little while, but eventually I just had to slow way down and take it easy.

The last part of the route is flat, and I felt better during that part. I was able to really stretch my legs out and right now, my knees don’t hurt too much. I did sit most of the day after my run on the back of a motorcycle, so I got a little stiff, but the sharp pain I felt before in my right knee is no where to be found!

I suppose I am not the best model right now for how to train for a 1/2 marathon! I will say that as much as I do love to run, I love other things (hobbies) as well. Things around the office have been extraordinarily busy and I have been poor at managing my time to get out the door for mid-week runs. I feel very confident about my abilities as a runner now, though signing up for Seattle was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. I am excited about it anyway, and will have a great time at the expo and with all the fellow ChiRunners out there.

Really looking forward to hearing from those of you who are going to be there. You’ll come by the booth, right?

The weather this morning turned out to be lovely, and we were blessed with no rain and nice, cool cloud cover. About 1,500 runners, including coaches, girls and buddies, were in attendance for the 7th annual Girls on the Run 5K in Asheville. It’s quite a program, providing an active after-school extra-curricular option for girls at all different schools in the area (and around the nation).

Haylie’s goals were to: a)  jog the entire race and b) not get side cramps. I am absolutely thrilled to say that, together, we accomplished this amazing, incredible feat. It was Haylie’s first 5K!

At about mile 1, just after the first water stand, she turned her sweet face up to me and said, “This isn’t actually too bad!” I told her that I knew her mom would be extraordinarily proud and that I was proud of her, too. By the second water station at mile 2, we were both feeling a little bit warm, and sipped on some water before continuing on the race. The course was very hilly, so we worked on really pumping our arms on the uphills, and keeping our stride lengths very short. On the downhills, we really let it go and let gravity pull us along and get us down the hill. The last part of the race is one final uphill and then a full downhill to the finish line.

On the final downhill, Haylie wanted to finish with a burst, and we certainly did. Crossing the finish line with large smiles on our faces, we completed the 5k, injury-free and with joy.

Thank you, Haylie, for affording me the opportunity to be your running buddy. I am honored and will always treasure that experience.

Pre-race smiles!

buddies!

Look at that girl with her arms up! (I am there, hiding behind some people)

Since I spend many more hours running trails than on roads and streets, I’d like to offer some tips and suggestions for making this particular aspect of running, even more enjoyable.

Take care of Mother Nature and she’ll take care of you
The most important thing I’ve learned from my years of trail running is how important it is to take care of the trails you’re running, and there’s no better way than to devote a couple days every month to doing a little “housekeeping” so that you and everyone else can enjoy those trails more.  Here are some things you can do.

Trimming the trails
I went out this morning packing a pair of rose clippers, the kind you use to trim small shrubs. They’re easy to carry with you when you’re running and are great for clipping away overhanging branches that are a hazard to your head, or small roots that could snag your footfall. When I go out for a trail maintenance run I don’t plan on actually getting much of a run in. I stop for every obstruction that I can clear up with my clippers.

It’s springtime and new shoots are springing up everywhere along the trails. Some grow so thick they can block your view of the trail or soak your shoes if you brush them with your legs. These are the ones I’m after. I clip them close to the ground (or pull them up by the roots if they’re really small) before they can grow large enough to create problems. I always throw the clippings as far off the trail as I can so as to keep the natural beauty of the trail intact. In fact, I do my best to leave a trail looking as if it just naturally grows as a clear path.

Remove any loose rocks
Another thing I do is practice my foot agility by flicking loose stones off to the side of the trail with my toes like a soccer player maneuvers a soccer ball. Don’t ever try to kick a rock off the trail. You never know how deeply it might be buried. If it’s obviously lying there on top of the ground, it’s fair game. There’s nothing worse than landing on a loose rock and rolling your ankle, so these are constant targets for me.

Poison ivy removal
I am extremely allergic to poison ivy, so I caution any of you that are thinking of thinning the sides of your trails, to know what it looks like and take protective measures if you’re going to take it upon yourself to rid your trails of this toxic plant. I wear long sleeves, long pants and gloves when working with poison ivy. When I’m done, I wash my clippers in detergent and throw my clothes in the laundry by themselves, being careful to not touch anything but the inside lining of the clothing. Getting rid of poison ivy along the trails I run is a definite hazard, but it gives me lots of peace of mind. So, for me it’s worth the risk.

There are plenty of other things to do to help out your fellow runners and I’ll write about them in future blogs. Until then, this will get you started on doing your best to give your fellow trail runners a nice clean trail to run on and everybody will go home happy.
Happy trails,
Danny

P.S. As an added note to this series on trail running, I’d like to let you all know that a new revised edition of the original ChiRunning Book has just been released and it has a new chapter on how to run Hill and Trails. We hope you enjoy reading all the new material we’ve come up with since the book was first released in 2004.

Seriously, for almost a month, we’ve been having these crazy days of rain. I think the longest it’s gone without raining here lately has been maybe three days. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, but literally every time I plan to run, I prepare to go running in the rain!

Took a 9-miler today and did it a little slower than my ususal 10″. I ran this route in Biltmore Forest. It’s a pretty hilly route, and actually matches portions of the Seattle course pretty well in terms of elevation gain.

The first 5.5 miles rocked, and then I hit a wall. Before I hit my wall, my running form felt good, I wasn’t listening to music, and I had a big smile on my face. After the first downhill, my knee started to talk to me a little bit, which I knew to be because my stride was coming too far in front of me. On the next uphill, my knee pain went away immediately. Good lesson for uphills allowing my form to be more or less perfect (or as perfect as it’s going to get!). It’s a lot of uphill for the first half of the run and then a fair amount of downhill at the end.

The last 1.5 miles were okay, but I attribute it to downhills and water (I stashed a water bottle at mile 6).

I imagined writing my blog about my running experience, stating that it was absolutely blissful and amazing and I was so proud of myself… and I think I can do that with about 85% certainty right now, but I was honestly irritated with my (slower) time and sluggish finish.

When I was feeling good, my brain and ChiRunning focuses were all over the place, but mainly concentrated on

• tracking (big toe and pinky toe coming ‘off’ the ground at the same time)
• using my arms appropriately, depending on terrain
• barely using my legs on the uphill
• trying to get my pelvis to rotate on the downhills
• trying to breathe as calmly as possible, but without restriction

It’s so beautiful in Biltmore Forest that it’s hard to complain at all. The rain made the entire neighborhood look like a rain forest, and that was pretty special.

I would say over all, it was a good run. I stretched pretty well when I got home, and also did about a 5 minute leg drain, but I have a feeling I’m going to be a bit sore tomorrow. My knee hasn’t started any painful motions yet (last week by this time it had), so I think that’s a great sign.

It's amazing what you can do ... when the force is with you.

So I went out there today. My dad was in town for a couple of days, so on the way back from the airport, I decided to just go do my run @ Bent Creek. I did almost 8 miles (I think, this mapmyrun.com is great, but the maps aren’t always really clear.) In any event, this is the closest approximation I have for what I ran.

Started off running about 9.30 am, which was a little later than I like to start, but luckily it wasn’t too hot. I ran into a bunch of other runners (not literally, but there were a ton of people out there today). It was nice to see some smiling, happy faces on people running by. I hope I looked as happy as they did. Sometimes I wish I had a running buddy, but on the long runs, I really like to go at my own variable pace…

Since I wasn’t sure where I was running exactly (I was going for time, 80 minutes), I just tried to focus on my form, really thought about keeping my pelvis level, my chin down (crown of my head high) and not letting my feet land in front of my hips. I had bursts of energy here and there and used the downhills to my advantage and went quickly.

I would say overall I felt really great. I hate to admit this, but since last week (about 7.5 miles) I hadn’t run at all, not all week! So I wasn’t sure how today would go, but I think it went okay. The race in Seattle is hilly, so I am going to try to make my next long training runs on/near/including hills to make sure I can hack it.

Really looking forward to running the 1/2 in Seattle, though a little disappointed that I won’t be going faster than Houston. I guess that’s not the ultimate goal, because all I really want to do is finish the 1/2 marathon with a smile on my face…

My knee is talking to me a little bit this afternoon, but a little arnica creme and some careful walking is taking care of that.

So, guess what? I did my LSD run in the rain today… I ran this route, about 7.5 miles. Wasn’t sure when I left to go running this morning how I was going to do. Surprised myself with it, and am glad to say that it went well.

It’s a hilly route, and the hills are pretty steep. As I was running, I was trying to imagine any knee pain that might come about, and really thought about not letting my foot land in front of my hip. I was really working the uphills with my arms, trying to imagine that my legs were very small and not requiring lots of oxygen. When I got to the top of the hills, I kept running, kept leaning: it’s a great little trick to KEEP leaning into the hill as you crest them as you are running. Danny taught me that when we ran together months ago, and I can’t explain it, but it really works to keep your momentum going after finishing an uphill running section of a route.

I didn’t take my watch with me today because I knew the route was about 7 miles and wasn’t concerned with what time it took, I just wanted to make sure that I got the distance running in for the week. Starting last week with 6 miles, each weekend LSD from now until the taper week will be one mile longer than the previous.

Last week was supposed to be 6 miles, but I couldn’t hack it and only ran 5… then this week I managed to run 7.5, and next Sunday is 8 miles. We’ll see how that goes.

I discovered something today: I get bored on flats. Yep, bored. My parents always told me when I was young that “anyone who is bored is boring” so I have always avoided using that term, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

I guess I could play with my Gears more, but on an LSD run, I just want to get through it safely and with enough energy at the end to make it home without walking. I suppose music might make flats are more tolerable… but thankfully the Seattle race is pretty darn hilly. Looking forward to it!

Hope you all are doing well and that your spring training is going well.