52nd Annual Balboa 4-Miler September 3, 2016

Waking early we headed out to San Diego's Balboa Park, home of the San Diego Zoo, Food Truck Friday, and the Footlocker Cross Country National Championships.

Arriving fashionably early, parking was easy, we strolled over to the registration tent for bib pick-up. I had not previewed the course so I warmed up by running an out and back over the final mile. A portion of this included the infamous zig-zag hill. Feeling appropriately warm I headed over to the start area which was a large grassy field.

Greeting a few runners, I have not obtained a San Diego Track Club singlet yet, I received a few strange looks and questions about my Dahlberg-Kourtz Distance Project singlet.

Then after a few instructions from the starter, we were off and running. I clocked a flat mile 1 at 6:25, at the bottom end of Amanda's suggested opening pace. Suddenly there was a 100 foot drop over the next quarter. It would not have been so bad except that it was concrete covered with loose sand and leaves and a hard right turn at the bottom. I somehow survived and was now running on loose sand and dirt parallel to RT 163. Mile 1.9 to 2.0 was a rather arduous, and unexpected, 100 foot climb and my pace dropped to 6:42. And then just before mile 2.5 was a steep 50 foot drop. Then began a looping mild upgrade until mile 3.5, at which point I returned to the top of that aforementioned 100 foot climb. Now it was a 100 foot drop. Good times. After the downhill it was a short flat and sandy run to the start of the zig-zag hill and about a 1/3 of a mile to the finish. I managed to pass a couple of runners on the hill and one on the home stretch. Mile 3 was tough at 6:53 and mile 4 was a humbling 7:14. One runner easily passed me just before the chute. I once again handed over the tear-off portion of my bib. Tough course. I'll do better next year.
 
Our team, SDTC, took the win and the lead in the Dirt Dog Series lead after 2 races.

The gory details:
27th Overall Master Runner
4th in the 50-59 AG
1st in the 55-59 year olds.

AG Bling

JoAnne and I headed out to Old town San Diego for brunch and refreshments.



Refreshments at Fiesta De Reyes

Next stop and the third race of the series...the Bonita Stampede 8k, European Style XC, on September 10.

Season's 20K Prep, Oatmeal Cookies, and Butter

When I finished writing last night, I realized that perhaps this must be written on my woodworking blog( which I often neglect); however, since I began this as a follow-up to my Seasons 20k Prep blog, it shall remain. So I am guest blogging myself...I think.

So I was on my run yesterday, the last hard effort before the Season's 20k. I decided to run an out and back with the turnaround being Daniel's Farmstead in Blackstone. On an aside, the Farmstead is a transition point during the Greenway Challenge held this year on September 26th. The views are great from atop this hill and the farm, http://www.danielsfarmstead.org/history.htm dating from before the American Revolution, is a pleasant place to visit.

My scheduled run was 45 minutes at marathon pace and 20 minutes at half marathon pace. I was a bit slow getting out, taking 25:30 to get to the farm on a 23 minute goal. I headed back down the hill passing Spring Hill Farm, a little place with a few cows. I slowed to take a look as I have this obsession with butter and cheese making. I have been working on an Oatmeal Protein Cookie Recipe that requires some butter. I make my butter from heavy cream purchased from a local dairy and it does improve the quality/texture of the cookie. Running along I wondered if hand churning the cream into butter with a dasher, a la back in the day, created a different taste/texture than using the electric mixer as I do. There was only one way to find out.

At 45 minutes I picked up the pace and reaching the BMR high School, forgetting that the new school year was starting, ran through a crowded parking lot. Not wanting to run any more hills, I finished the last 10 minutes on the track. I took a slow walk home, creating a plan for an old school butter churn.

I have a lot of work to do in my shop and did not want to derange my schedule. The churn work did not start until later in the evening. I scoured around for a suitable container and some oak scrap. I found this old 1 liter jar that would hold enough cream to make about 1/2 pound of butter.

 The jar had a lip that would be perfect for minimizing splash. I marked the lid stock, attached it to a faceplate and turned a groove to fit the lip.

The jar lip fit well into the groove and I marked the outside diameter of the lid for turning.

A little roughing gouge work and a few minutes later the shaping was complete.

It took but a few seconds to secure the stock and bore the hole for the dasher handle.

I selected a spokeshave, jumped on my shaving horse and started rounding the dasher handle. Though I was trying to work quickly using power tools, I had to perform at least one task ol' school. Besides, the handle feel is much nicer than that of lathe turned.

I ran out of time and will try to complete the dasher tonight. 

Shoe questions that must needs explanation....

I can't find my Hulu password so instead of watching Murdock Mysteries ...

After five or so years of wearing the funny toe shoes, of a manufacturer to remain non-named, I still receive the odd look, the querulous comments, and occasionally reasonable question.

Why do I wear this shoe? Well, I fancy myself as capable of tossing around anecdotal evidence as well as the next guy...but I won't. I would prefer to run without shoes of any type. To be truthful, upon honor and by faith of a gentleman, I have never seen any data driven evidence proving the benefit of one type of shoe over another.

Wear what suits your feet best.

Though doubt of this continues to exist...what shoe one wears while training or racing matters not, unless, of course, you are getting paid to wear a particular brand.

With all modesty, and a bit of tongue in cheek...the Q and A.

Question: Are those comfortable to run in? ( I assumed the real question is "Are your feet comfortable while running in those shoes"?)

Answer: I wanted to reply that it would be senseless to wear shoes that are uncomfortable; however, as is often the case, people do wear shoes that while fashionable are not comfortable. My most reasonable answer is that I have little awareness of my shoes while running.

Question: Do those shoes have any support?

Answer: I don't know what that means.

Question: Ohhh, those are a fun color.

Answer: Not a question but I always agree for some unknown reason.

Question: Do you run faster in those shoes?

Answer: Umm...faster than? I think I am at least partially responsible for making others run faster. Who wants to be outrun by an old guy in funny shoes? That would be akin to being beat by the person in the port-o-potty costume.

Question: You must go through a lot of those shoes.

Answer: Again, a pseudo-question statement that, probably, is a life of shoe question. While I have several pairs in rotation, the oldest pair I have was purchased in March of 2013. How many miles? My workouts are by heart rate and time, except for mile repeats and such, so I don't count miles. All the data is on Garmin, but I suppose more than 40mpw and less than 65mpw year round would be a fair guess. I do not differentiate between shoes for training and shoes for races. I've attached three images to show wear patterns over time.

Question: Do you wear socks with those shoes? Followed by a quick, "well how could get your toes if you wore socks?"

Answer: In the winter I do wear socks that have individual toes.

Question: Do your feet get wet?

Answer: Yes, yes they do. If it's raining, snowing, or if I step in a pool of water.


I realize that many of you would question my credentials and ability to make the earlier statement about the importance of shoe types. You might say "But John who are you to make shoe judgements, you are so slow?" That may be true, but the reasons I am am slow has nothing to do with my shoes. I am slow because...

1. I don't run enough miles.
2. I drink too much beer.
3. I put too much butter on my tortillas.

Speaking of which...I am getting hungry