Congratulations Kristina and Martin!! Jenny and I had a wonderful time celebrating with you last night at Laurel wood Gardens. Everything looked wonderful, the food was good and the people were fun to be around. Plus the flowers looked yellow just like I said they would!

We had our own adventures during this one. We usually have backups for everything, but we are down to one camera and Jenny was using something entirely different. For some reason, the battery in my camera was the only one with us and it started to die after the formals (I thought it was fully charged and batteries usually last the whole time). Jenny ended up running home to grab another battery and charger. Thankfully, the battery made it to dinner. Jenny made it back before things started back up and I was swapping batteries every 15 minutes or so using one and charging the other. In the end, we didn’t miss anything. Light at the end of the day made it interesting for the formals. Ended up trucking everyone up on the hill moving them further as shadows came across. The shadows on faces are harsher than I like, but better than being dark or with a house in the background! Note to self, build a giant reflector that will blast light into the faces of a large wedding party.

Hope you enjoy this little preview slideshow. I will have the full album up by the end of the week. So, keep checking back in case I get the album up sooner…Enjoy!!

Jenny and I will be heading out in a bit to photograph Kristina and Martin’s wedding at Laurel Wood Gardens. It is a beautiful day out so for once, we don’t have to worry about the weather.

If all goes well, I should have a short preview of photos up Sunday and the album ready sometime this week.

Marathon cramping, those who have experienced it know how bad they will ruin your day and your marathon. My first two marathons were marred by leg cramps. In my first marathon at Disney, cramps came before mile 20. In Green Bay, around mile 22. This past Sunday at Gasparilla, no cramping! Why? The short answer, I don’t know. The most logical reason is better conditioning and maybe some small changes in hydration and nutrition strategy.

Did I do thigs differently as far as hydration and nutrition in each marathon, yes I did!

At Disney, all I had during the race was the Powerade that the race supplied. That’s all I drank and took at least one cup at every aid station. I also did not take any gels. I did scarf down some chocolate they handed out late in the race as I would have tried anything to stop cramping.

In Green Bay, I carried Carbboom vanilla/orange gels and ate one every 3-4 miles chasing each one down with a cup of water. I also had water at most aid stations and maybe had some Gatorade towards the end.

At Gasparilla, I carried five strawberry/banana GUs and had one at 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22 miles. Chased each one with a cup of water (maybe 4oz. if lucky). Drank to thirst the rest of the race. At 3-4 aid stations, I grabbed a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water. I just rinsed my mouth with the Gatorade and spit it out while drinking the cup of water. I read a study that said you get the benefits without drinking. All I know was the stuff was really sweet and I didn’t want to drink it anyway. This came only around or after 13 miles when I just felt like a little flavor. Another thing I did was eat 3-4 bananas a day in the three days leading up to the race to make sure I had enough potassium which aids in muscle function. On the run, when my legs started to feel like there was a possibility for cramping, I used my thumb and index finger to pinch my upper lip. I carried (for emergency purposes) but did not use Saltstick caplets. 

For you to better understand all things about hydration, fatigue, etc., I highly recommend you go to The Science of Sport site at www.sportsscientists.com . The site has the best articles to help you understand how our bodies react to exercise and physical stress. The short story on hydration is to drink only water to thirst as you will not lose enough electrolytes in sweat to do anything but can throw sodium concentration high drinking a ton of Gatorade. When you sweat, blood sodium concentration actually rises because you are losing more water than sodium, so the last thing you want to do is add more sodium. The reverse happens when you drink too much and dilute the blood of sodium. The body is a pretty smart mechanism, so listen to it!

So, what is the answer why I didn’t cramp up at Gasparilla?

I was definately in better physical shape. But, my planned pace was 10-15 seconds per mile faster than my previous two marathons thus I put out more effort. My running stride is way more efficient because I am running with shorter/faster strides and not putting near as much pressure on my calves. So, fitness is a definate possibility.

What about weather. Nope. Weather was near identical for Green Bay and Gasparilla.

Hydration? Maybe. I drank only to thirst at Gasparilla. I probably drank less at Gasparilla than the other two marathons. Is possible I drank too much at Disney and Green Bay throwing sodium concentration a little out of whack.

Nutrition? Probably not. The only difference between Gasparilla and Green Bay is that I started taking gels later and a bit further apart at Gasparilla. The Strawberry/Banana GUs I had at Gasparilla also didn’t have any caffeine.

What about all those bananas? Could be. I read somewhere about a guy who was a major cramper. He potassium loaded the days leading up to racing and didn’t have any troubles with cramping anymore. I figure it can’t hurt and I love bananas, so it’s all good!

Lip pinching? Where’d I pull that one from?? Again, this was another thing I read somewhere. I don’t know if pinching my lip actually helped, but I didn’t cramp, so doesn’t hurt. I did this when my legs were tired and felt like the possibilty of a cramp was coming.

You are probably as much or more confused than when you started reading this and there is not any single thing that may have kept the cramping away for me.

I have done months of research finding out what works for different people and reading what actual science says about the issue. Since I didn’t cramp at Gasparilla, I hope I have found what works for me and will never have another marathon destroyed by muscle cramps.

It all seems to come down to listening to your body. If thirsty drink. If you have a craving for something salty, grab a sports drink or something salty. Everybody is an individual with individual needs that the generalized, drink and eat so many ounces every few minutes advice of endless articles just can’t address.

Who would think that stopping for 20 little seconds at a porta-potty could make such a huge difference when trying to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time? Well, going potty did just that during my qualifying attempt at the Gasparilla Marathon Sunday. While running mile 22, I decided I would stop at a potty for some minor relief. I didn’t have to go particulary bad or anything but also figured it would be good to see if I was getting dehydrated. In the back of my mind, I thought about possible consequences of letting the legs stop running as sometimes they don’t come back to life after a break.

As you can clearly see from the race splits below, I was running great up to my break at mile 22 causing my worst mile time of the race. But, also took a while to get my pace back completely blowing the qualifying time. At least a positive is that every mile after the potty break was faster than the mile that preceded it.

So, the moral of the story is this…unless you are going to crap all over yourself just let it fly in your shorts. The shorts are already wet with sweat, so who cares! Grab some water at the next aid station and wash your legs off if you feel the need. Odds are, nobody will ever know you did anything!

Are running race courses really the length they are supposed to be? Courses are certified by the USATF to ensure paticipants that the course is the length it should be. Seems that every so-called “certified” course usually shows as .1 mile longer on my Garmin 305 watch that uses GPS. I have also mapped out many courses at www.mapmyrun.com to verify. I know Map My Run is accurate because you can map a high school track and it comes out to exactly .25 miles (everybody knows that 4 laps of the track equals one mile).

Usually this is not a big deal since everybody runs the same distance. But, it was a big deal as far as the Gasparilla Marathon is concerned where I missed the Boston Marathon qualifying time by just 9 measly seconds.

Here’s the rub, a marathon is 26 miles 385 yards or 26.2 miles. My Garmin measured the Gasparilla course at 26.31 miles. I verified this on Map My Run which measured 26.35. At the end of the race, .1 miles is about 35 seconds for me.

So, my Gasparilla finishing time was 3:16:08 based on a “Certified” course of 26.2 miles. Two sources tell me the course was really about 26.3. That means that if my Garmin and Map My Run are correct, I actually did run a Boston Qualifying time. According to my Garmin, my time at 26.24 miles was 3:15:35!!

Note: I emailed and received a quick reply from Susan Harmeling who is the Gasparilla Distance Classic Race Director. She stated that the course is measured using the shortest possible path to complete the distance and that it is possible I could have run farther due to not taking that shortest path.

Entirely possible even though I try to cut as much of each corner as possible. It is hard to tell since you don’t know what the measured line is unlike in the largest marathons that have the course marked with a line on the road. Hard to believe could add up to running 200 yards extra, but anything is possible!

Thank-you to Susan to replying to my email so quickly!!

Here is the good, the bad, there wasn’t really any ugly of the 10th and last Gasparilla Marathon.

Overall, I am pretty happy with how I ran yesterday. I finished with a time of 3:16:08, placed 84th out of 2090 finishers, and 13th in the 35-39 age group. A major goal of mine was to complete the race without cramping and run the whole race. Goal accomplished!! I even beat Superman and didn’t get passed by any of the pace teams! The bummer of that time is that I missed qualifying for the Boston Marathon by nine seconds. Weather was perfect with a starting temp of 44 degrees and 55 at the finish. The wind did kick up on the way back up Bayshore from mile 22 on which didn’t help.  The race started staring at an awesome full moon centered directly in front of us over the road. The first six miles went through Davis Islands. I was impressed that there was actually some people that setup chairs in their driveways to cheer runners considering it was still dark. Miles 6-11 wound through downtown. The half-marathoners split at mile 7 and we joined back up with them at mile 11. This is where my major complaint to the race organizers is. Joining up with the half-marathoners for a second time meant that I was running into the thousands of mid-pack slower runners. I ended up having to weave in and out of all these people which wastes energy. For three or four miles, it was almost impossible to get to water stations. At one station, the volunteers were overwhelmed and I tried to get a cup of water off the table but the cup was empty. The half-marathoners finally turned around to their finish about mile 14 while I continued out and back Bayshore Blvd. I kept the pace pretty good until mile 22 where the wind started to pickup and my legs were fatiguing. After some mental math to figure out the pace I needed to run to stay under 3:16, I picked up the pace but didn’t quite execute right. My last desperate push came at mile 25 where I ran a 7:26 mile and picked up to almost 7 minute pace to finish, but it wasn’t good enough.

Jenny and Tommy had their own adventures trying to keep up with me. It was great seeing them early in the race at miles 6 and 11. Unfortunately, our plan for them to hop on the buses that shuttle people down to two spots on Bayshore ended up a disaster and we never saw each other again until almost an hour after I finished. I really could have used some shouts to get my butt moving in the latter miles.

Another beef we have is with Metro PCS who provided race updates via text and email services. The only update anybody received via text was my finishing time. Metro PCS sucks!!

All in all, it was a good experience and I learned a lot about myself and some things to do and not do at future marathons. I will be posting some more observations of the race and post training techniques and other tips that have worked for me and hopefully may work for you.

I will be doing nothing but short recovery runs this week as my ham strings are a bit tight. Overall, I have very little soreness and  came out feeling good. Then I will be picking up training for the Kentucky Derby Marathon April 24th. Next race on the schedule is the Zephyrhills Founders Day 5K next Saturday.

Here’s some pictures all taken by Jenny.

Tampa Convention Center over the Garrison Channel.

Start of the Gasparila full and half-marathon.

Nice shot of runners crossing over the bridge from Davis Island

Running easy and on pace at mile 6.

Relaxing after the race using The Stick to massage my tired muscles.

A great looking and well earned marathon medal.

A happy marathon finisher!

Was amazing how many people were running the Gasparilla half and full marathons wired up with MP3 players and other gizmos attached to themselves with music blaring in their ears.

Early in the race, I was passing one woman who had the volume cranked to the same song repeating over and over. I forget the name of the song (maybe “Crank up the Volume”?). It’s one of the songs that is popular at most sporting events. I thought I had gotten rid of her, but she must have gotten an energy spurt because I started hearing her behind me again. What she didn’t realize was all the people around her laughing.

Later, after the marathoners rejoined the half marathoners, I came upon another woman blaring the music. I could hear her from 10-20 feet away. I can’t imagine what was happening to her ear drums!

People with the tunes blaring at races are a hazard to others and themselves much like dingys who text and talk on their phones in a car.

Thanks to the multiple voices in my head, I do not even train using a mp3 player. Not matter where I go, I have my little friends chattering away at me, no batteries required!

If you must listen to music while running, PLEASE be courteous to others and at least turn the volume down so those around you don’t have to suffer.

Thanks to my Newton Running Distance Racers (www.newtonrunning.com) one thing I did not have to worry about was my feet hurting. My Newtons performed great the whole race. My feet looked and felt the same once the race was over as before the start. Even when I got my feet wet spilling fluids, my feet didn’t have any issues. I highly recommend Newton Running shoes to anyone who wants to have the most comfortable pair of shoes and learn a more efficient running stride.

Pretty much ready to go for the Gasparilla Marathon in the morning. Got back a little while ago from an easy 15 minute jog to get the blood flowing, stretch, and roll out my legs with my Stick. Put a little Shoe Goo on the lugs of my Newton Running shoes so they don’t wear down any further. Jenny is in the kitchen making everybody’s favorite pre-race spaghetti dinner.

For some reason, I don’t think I have been this excited to go run a marathon (this only being my third). My training and racing has gone really well so I am feeling pretty confident I can run the time I want.

Here it is laid out for everyone the race goals. The main goal is to run under 3H:16M to qualify to run in the Boston Marathon. The time goal is 3:08-3:10 (7:15/mile)which will maybe give me a chance to place in my age group. I would love to place with this being the last marathon for Gasparilla.

The race starts at 6Am so we will be getting up at 3AM to get some food in the stomach. I slept in until about noon today figuring won’t be getting much tonight.

I finally broke down and created accounts on Facebook and Twitter. I did so since most people are using them now. So, I have it setup so that anything I post here will also post there. If you would like to follow me on either Facebook or Twitter, you can do so by clicking the appropriate button over on the left side of the page. Hopefully, they will work right, I think I set them up correctly!